Quantum three-body calculation of nonresonant triple-alpha reaction rate at low temperatures
- Department of Physics, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581 (Japan)
Triple-alpha reaction rate is re-evaluated by directly solving the three-body Schroedinger equation. The resonant and nonresonant processes are treated on the same footing using the continuum-discretized coupled-channels method for three-body scattering. An accurate description of the alpha-alpha nonresonant states significantly quenches the Coulomb barrier between the first two alpha-particles and the third alpha-particle. Consequently, the alpha-alpha nonresonant continuum states give a markedly larger contribution at low temperatures than that reported in previous studies. We show that Nomoto's method for three-body nonresonant capture processes, which is adopted in the NACRE compilation and many other studies, is a crude approximation of the accurate quantum three-body model calculation. We find an increase in triple-alpha reaction rate by 26 orders of magnitude around 10{sup 7} K compared with the rate of NACRE.
- OSTI ID:
- 21362096
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1238, Issue 1; Conference: 7. Tours symposium on nuclear physics and astrophysics, Kobe (Japan), 16-20 Nov 2009; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3455923; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ALPHA PARTICLES
APPROXIMATIONS
COULOMB FIELD
COUPLED CHANNEL THEORY
POTENTIAL ENERGY
QUADRUPOLE MOMENTS
REACTION KINETICS
SCATTERING
SCHROEDINGER EQUATION
THREE-BODY PROBLEM
CALCULATION METHODS
CHARGED PARTICLES
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ENERGY
EQUATIONS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
KINETICS
MANY-BODY PROBLEM
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
RADIATIONS
WAVE EQUATIONS