15 research outputs found
Non-linear screening corrections of stellar nuclear reaction rates and their effects on solar neutrino fluxes
Non-linear electron screening corrections of stellar nuclear fusion rates are
calculated analytically in the framework of the Debye-Huckel model and compared
with the respective ones of Salpeter's weak screening approximation. In typical
solar conditions, the deviation from Salpeter's screening factor is less than
one percent, while for hotter stars such corrections turn out to be of the
order of one percent only over the limits of the Debye-Huckel model. Moreover,
an investigation of the impact of the derived non-linear screening effects on
the solar neutrino fluxes yields insignificant corrections for both the pp and
CNO chain reactions.Comment: To appear in Phys.Rev.
Screened alpha decay in dense astrophysical plasmas and magnetars
This paper shows that ultrastrong magnetic fields (such as those of
magnetars) and dense astrophysical plasmas can reduce the half life of alpha
decaying nuclei by many orders of magnitude. In such environments the
conventional Geiger-Nuttall law is modifed so that all half lives are shifted
to dramatically lower values. Those effects, which have never been investigated
before, may have significant implications on the universal abundances of heavy
radioactive elements and the cosmochronological methods that rely on them.Comment: 15 RevTex pages, 3 ps figures (minor revision). This work was
presented during the conference ''Supernova, 10 years of SN1993J'', April
2003, Valencia, Spain. Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.