The effects of vacuum polarization on thermonuclear reaction rates

Abstract

view Abstract Citations (8) References (13) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS The Effects of Vacuum Polarization on Thermonuclear Reaction Rates Gould, Robert J. Abstract Added to the pure Coulomb potential, the contribution from vacuum polarization increases the barrier, reducing the wave function (u) for reacting nuclei within the range of nuclear forces. The cross section and reaction rate are then reduced accordingly by a factor proportional to u squared. The effect is treated by evaluating the vacuum polarization potential as a small correction to the Coulomb term, then computing u in a WKB formulation. The calculation is done analytically employing the small r power-series expansion for the Uehling potential to express the final result in terms of convenient parameters. At a temperature of 1.4 x 10 to the 7th K the (negative) correction is 1.3 percent for the fundamental fusion process p + p yields d + e(+) + nu. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: November 1990 DOI: 10.1086/169366 Bibcode: 1990ApJ...363..574G Keywords: Nuclear Astrophysics; Polarization Characteristics; Stellar Physics; Thermonuclear Reactions; Computational Astrophysics; Coulomb Collisions; Wentzel-Kramer-Brillouin Method; Astrophysics; NUCLEAR REACTIONS; QUANTUM MECHANICS full text sources ADS |