Abstract
The quantum electrodynamic correction to the equation of state of a plasma at finite temperature is applied to the areas of solar physics and cosmology. A previously neglected, purely quantum term in the correction is found to change the equation of state in the solar core by -0.37%, which is roughly estimated to decrease the calculated high energy neutrino flux by about 2.2%. We also show that a previous calculation of the effect of this correction on big bang nucleosynthesis is incomplete, and we estimate the correction to the primordial helium abundance $Y$ to be $\ensuremath{\Delta}Y=1.4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$. A physical explanation for the correction is found in terms of corrections to the dispersion relation of the electron, positron, and photon.
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