Comment on "Enhanced deuterium-tritium fusion cross sections in the presence of strong electromagnetic fields"

TL;DR

This paper critiques a previous study on deuterium-tritium fusion enhancement by XFELs, arguing that their approximation underestimates the potential for greater enhancement due to overlooked effects.

Contribution

The authors challenge the validity of the time-averaged potential approximation used in prior work, suggesting it underestimates the fusion enhancement potential under strong electromagnetic fields.

Findings

The approximation used in prior work is not justified in the studied regime.

Important effects are neglected, which could lead to higher enhancement.

The actual enhancement mechanism may be more effective than previously predicted.

Abstract

In their article [Phys.\ Rev.\ C {\bf 100}, 064610 (2019)], Lv, Duan, and Liu study the enhancement of deuterium-tritium fusion reactions by the electromagnetic field of an x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL). While we support the general idea (which was put forward earlier in our rapid communication [Phys.\ Rev.\ C {\bf 100}, 041601(R) (2019)]), we find that the time-averaged potential approximation used by Lv, Duan, and Liu is not justified in this regime and does not take into account important effects. Due to those effects, the enhancement mechanism may actually be more efficient than predicted by Lv, Duan, and Liu.