Enhancement of thermonuclear reaction rate due to screening by relativistic degenerate electrons

Abstract

Contrary to the prevailing view based on a qualitative argument, it is shown through quantitative analyses that the screening effect of the relativistic degenerate electrons does produce a significantly large contribution to the enhancement factor of the thermonuclear reaction rate in the dense stellar matter. Physically, this feature stems from the fact that the relativistic effect acts to enhance the screening by 'softening' the electrons against compression. The computed results for te enhancement factor are parameterized in a form of analytic formulae to facilitate practical uses in the calculations of stellar evolution.