We connect the observed under-abundances of Li and Be in dwarfs, with recent results on nuclear cross sections at low energies: for collisions of protons with atomic or molecular targets, the measured cross sections seem too high with respect to extrapolations for bare nuclei. Phenomenologically, these anomalous nuclear interactions can be described in terms of an effective screening potential U-lab in the range of few hundred eV: in the presence of the electron cloud, nuclei become more transparent to each other as if the effective collision energy is aumented by U-lab. This implies that fusion cross sections are enlarged and at the same time elastic cross sections are lowered. If something similar occurs in stellar plasma, the nuclear burning temperatures are lowered, whereas diffusion processes are enhanced. We find that the observed Li and Be abundances in the Hyades and in the Sun can be reproduced for effective screening potentials of the plasma in the range of 600-700 eV, close to that found by experiments in the laboratory.

The fate of Li and Be in stars and in the laboratory

FIORENTINI, Giovanni;RICCI, Barbara
1996

Abstract

We connect the observed under-abundances of Li and Be in dwarfs, with recent results on nuclear cross sections at low energies: for collisions of protons with atomic or molecular targets, the measured cross sections seem too high with respect to extrapolations for bare nuclei. Phenomenologically, these anomalous nuclear interactions can be described in terms of an effective screening potential U-lab in the range of few hundred eV: in the presence of the electron cloud, nuclei become more transparent to each other as if the effective collision energy is aumented by U-lab. This implies that fusion cross sections are enlarged and at the same time elastic cross sections are lowered. If something similar occurs in stellar plasma, the nuclear burning temperatures are lowered, whereas diffusion processes are enhanced. We find that the observed Li and Be abundances in the Hyades and in the Sun can be reproduced for effective screening potentials of the plasma in the range of 600-700 eV, close to that found by experiments in the laboratory.
1996
V., Castellani; Fiorentini, Giovanni; O., Straniero; Ricci, Barbara
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11392/462905
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 3
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 3
social impact