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Nuclear Reaction Rates in a Plasma: The Effect of Highly Damped Modes

Merav Opher·Reuven Opher
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Abstract

The fluctuation-dissipation theorem is used to evaluate the screening factor of nuclear reactions due to the electromagnetic fluctuations in a plasma. We show that the commonly used Saltpeter factor is obtained if only fluctuations near the plasma eigenfrequency are assumed to be important (ω\sim ω_{pe}\ll T (\hbar=k_{B}=1)). By taking into account all the fluctuations, the highly damped ones, with ω>ω_{pe}, as well as those with ω\leqω_{pe}, we find that nuclear reaction rates are higher than those obtained using the Saltpeter factor, for many interesting plasmas.

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Merav Opher, Reuven Opher. 2000-06-22. Nuclear Reaction Rates in a Plasma: The Effect of Highly Damped Modes. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0006326

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