Physics
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011jphg...38a5201v&link_type=abstract
Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, Volume 38, Issue 1, pp. 015201 (2011).
Physics
2
Scientific paper
In the standard relation between forward and reverse nuclear reactions in plasmas, the reverse reaction rate parameter langσvrang obeys the law of temperature-dependent suppression by a factor of exp (- Q/T). This exponential law, originally obtained for thermal processes, has widely been used in studies of reaction kinetics in an ionized matter. In high-temperature plasmas, however, both thermal and suprathermal nuclear reactions can simultaneously occur. Astrophysical multicomponent plasma systems, in which catalytic processes generating fast particles can effectively proceed, provide favorable conditions for the suprathermal reactions to appear. On the example of one of such systems—the early universe plasma—we demonstrate that the relation between forward and reverse reactions may cease to follow the exponential law. This occurs when the plasma cools down and the suppression factor exp (- Q/T) essentially decreases thermal langσvrang for reverse reactions. These reverse processes, however, can still be maintained by suprathermal particles—products of exoergic reactions in the plasma. Such competing nonthermal mechanism changes the conventional behavior of reverse processes so that the forward-reverse reaction relation departs from the standard formula. This phenomenon is obtained at some critical temperature Tcr for all reactions examined in the work: d(d, n)3He, d(d, p)t (for which Tcr ~= 90-100 keV) and 3He(n, p)t, 7Be(n, p)7Li (for which Tcr ~= 20 keV). The most significant effect is marked for the reverse n + 3He → d + d reaction. It is shown that at moderate temperatures of several keV to tens keV, fast neutrons can provide the rate of this reaction at an appreciable level typical of the thermal process at plasma temperatures as high as a few hundreds keV. The obtained phenomenon has universal nature and can manifest in other astrophysical plasma objects.
Nakamura Makoto
Nakao Yasuyuki
Voronchev Victor T.
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