Magnetically Catalyzed Fusion

Abstract

We calculate the reaction cross-sections for the fusion of hydrogen and deuterium in strong magnetic fields as are believed to exist in the atmospheres of neutron stars. We find that in the presence of a strong magnetic field ($B \gsim 10^{12}$G), the reaction rates are many orders of magnitude higher than in the unmagnetized case. The fusion of both protons and deuterons are important over a neutron star's lifetime for ultrastrong magnetic fields ($B\sim 10^{16}$G). The enhancement may have dramatic effects on thermonuclear runaways and bursts on the surfaces of neutron stars.

13 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Motion and Ionization Equilibrium of Hydrogen Atoms in Superstrong Magnetic Field

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Powering Anomalous X-ray Pulsars by Neutron Star Cooling
• Screened alpha decay in dense astrophysical plasmas and magnetars
• The role of electron-screening deformations in solar nuclear fusion reactions and the solar neutrino puzzle