The nuclear fusion reaction rate based on relativistic equilibrium velocity distribution

Abstract

The Coulomb barrier is in general much higher than thermal energy. Nuclear fusion reactions occur only among few protons and nuclei with higher relative energies than Coulomb barrier. It is the equilibrium velocity distribution of these high-energy protons and nuclei that participates in determining the rate of nuclear fusion reactions. In the circumstance it is inappropriate to use the Maxwellian velocity distribution for calculating the nuclear fusion reaction rate. We use the relativistic equilibrium velocity distribution for this purpose. The rate based on the relativistic equilibrium velocity distribution has a reduction factor with respect to that based on the Maxwellian distribution, which factor depends on the temperature, reduced mass and atomic numbers of the studied nuclear fusion reactions. This signifies much to the solar neutrino problem.