Nuclear clustering and the electron screening puzzle

Abstract

Electron screening changes appreciably the magnitude of astrophysical nuclear reactions within stars. This effect is also observed in laboratory experiments on Earth, where atomic electrons are present in the nuclear targets. Theoretical models were developed over the past 30 years and experimental measurements have been carried out to study electron screening in thermonuclear reactions. None of the theoretical models were able to explain the high values of the experimentally determined screening potentials. We explore the possibility that the "electron screening puzzle" is due to nuclear clusterization and polarization effects in the fusion reactions. We will discuss the supporting arguments for this scenario.

arXiv comment6 pages, 3 figures. Invited talk at the 8th Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics International Conference, June 18-23, 2017, Catania, Italy

References in corpus (7)

• Frontiers in Nuclear Astrophysics
• Nuclear Astrophysics with Radioactive Beams
• Alpha Cluster Formation and Decay in Quartetting Wave Function Approach
• Ab initio many-body calculations of deuteron-4He scattering and 6Li states
• Measurement of the 10 keV resonance in the ${}^{10}$B($p,{\alpha }_0$)${}^7$Be reaction via the Trojan Horse Method
• The electron screening puzzle and nuclear clustering
• Novel and simple description for a smooth transition from $\alpha$-cluster wave functions to $jj$-coupling shell model wave functions

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Indirect methods in nuclear astrophysics with relativistic radioactive beams