Electron screening and its effects on Big-Bang nucleosynthesis

Abstract

We study the effects of electron screening on nuclear reaction rates occurring during the Big Bang nucleosynthesis epoch. The sensitivity of the predicted elemental abundances on electron screening is studied in details. It is shown that electron screening does not produce noticeable results in the abundances unless the traditional Debye-Hückel model for the treatment of electron screening in stellar environments is enhanced by several orders of magnitude. The present work rules out electron screening as a relevant ingredient to Big Bang nucleosynthesis and ruling out exotic possibilities for the treatment of screening, beyond the mean-field theoretical approach.

4 pages, 4 figures, more references included. To appear in Phys. Rev. C

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Cited by in corpus (18)

• Standard big bang nucleosynthesis and primordial CNO Abundances after Planck
• Frontiers in Nuclear Astrophysics
• Non-extensive Statistics Solution to the Cosmological Lithium Problem
• Low-lying Resonances and Relativistic Screening in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Nuclear Reaction Screening, Weak Interactions, and r-Process Nucleosynthesis in High Magnetic Fields
• A short survey of matter-antimatter evolution in the primordial universe
• Screening corrections to Electron Capture Rates and resulting constraints on Primordial Magnetic Fields
• Dynamical Screening Effects on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• New Thermonuclear Rate of 7Li(d,n)24He relevant to the Cosmological Lithium Problem
• Big Bang nucleosynthesis as a probe of new physics
• Cosmological Lithium Problems
• Self-consistent strong screening applied to thermonuclear reactions
• Primordial Nucleosynthesis
• An Effective Field Theory Approach to the Stabilization of ${}^8$Be in a QED Plasma
• Revisiting the Gamow Factor of Reactions on Light Nuclei
• The Cosmological Lithium Problem Revisited
• Quarks to Cosmos: Particles and Plasma in Cosmological evolution
• Relativistic Coulomb Screening in Pulsational Pair Instability Supernovae