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In this work we investigate the dynamics of self-sustained detonation waves that have an embedded information boundary such that the dynamics is influenced only by a finite region adjacent to the lead shock. We introduce the boundary of such a domain, which is shown to be the separatrix of the forward characteristic lines, as a generalization of the concept of a sonic locus to unsteady detonations. The concept plays a fundamental role both in steady detonations and in theories of much more frequently observed unsteady detonations. The definition has a precise mathematical form from which its relationship to known theories of detonation stability and nonlinear dynamics can be clearly identified. With a new numerical algorithm for integration of reactive Euler equations in a shock-attached frame, that we have also developed, we demonstrate the main properties of the unsteady sonic locus, such as its role as an …