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Title: The electron screening puzzle and nuclear clustering

Abstract

Accurate measurements of nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest within, or close to, the Gamow peak show evidence of an unexpected effect attributed to the presence of atomic electrons in the target. The experiments need to include an effective "screening" potential to explain the enhancement of the cross sections at the lowest measurable energies. Despite various theoretical studies conducted over the past 20 years and numerous experimental measurements, a theory has not yet been found that can explain the cause of the exceedingly high values of the screening potential needed to explain the data. Furthermore, in this letter we show that instead of an atomic physics solution of the "electron screening puzzle", the reason for the large screening potential values is in fact due to clusterization effects in nuclear reactions, in particular for reaction involving light nuclei.

Authors:
ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF); Italian Ministry of University MIUR
OSTI Identifier:
1476950
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1262219
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-08ER41533
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Published Article
Journal Name:
Physics Letters B
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Physics Letters B Journal Volume: 755 Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0370-2693
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
Netherlands
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; fusion reactions; dependence

Citation Formats

Spitaleri, C., Bertulani, C. A., Fortunato, L., and Vitturi, A. The electron screening puzzle and nuclear clustering. Netherlands: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2016.02.019.
Spitaleri, C., Bertulani, C. A., Fortunato, L., & Vitturi, A. The electron screening puzzle and nuclear clustering. Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2016.02.019
Spitaleri, C., Bertulani, C. A., Fortunato, L., and Vitturi, A. 2016. "The electron screening puzzle and nuclear clustering". Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2016.02.019.
@article{osti_1476950,
title = {The electron screening puzzle and nuclear clustering},
author = {Spitaleri, C. and Bertulani, C. A. and Fortunato, L. and Vitturi, A.},
abstractNote = {Accurate measurements of nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest within, or close to, the Gamow peak show evidence of an unexpected effect attributed to the presence of atomic electrons in the target. The experiments need to include an effective "screening" potential to explain the enhancement of the cross sections at the lowest measurable energies. Despite various theoretical studies conducted over the past 20 years and numerous experimental measurements, a theory has not yet been found that can explain the cause of the exceedingly high values of the screening potential needed to explain the data. Furthermore, in this letter we show that instead of an atomic physics solution of the "electron screening puzzle", the reason for the large screening potential values is in fact due to clusterization effects in nuclear reactions, in particular for reaction involving light nuclei.},
doi = {10.1016/j.physletb.2016.02.019},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1476950}, journal = {Physics Letters B},
issn = {0370-2693},
number = C,
volume = 755,
place = {Netherlands},
year = {Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2016.02.019

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 23 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

Revisiting the cold case of cold fusion
journal, May 2019