Study of fusion reactions of light nuclei at low energies using complex nucleon-nucleus potential function

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates low-energy fusion cross-sections and astrophysical S-factors for light nuclei reactions like D-D and p-$^{11}$B using a complex Gaussian potential, enhancing understanding of nucleosynthesis processes.

Contribution

It introduces a complex Gaussian nuclear potential model with adjustable parameters to analyze fusion reactions at astrophysical energies, providing new insights into reaction mechanisms.

Findings

Calculated fusion cross-sections and S-factors match experimental data.

Identified the role of potential parameters in reaction rates.

Enhanced understanding of low-energy nuclear fusion processes.

Abstract

Nuclear fusion reactions, at energies, far below the Coulomb barrier play a significant role in the synthesis of light elements in the primordial nucleosynthesis as well as in the interior of compact stellar objects. Many different kinds of nuclear reactions are occurring simultaneously inside the stellar core depending upon the density and temperature conditions of the nuclear plasma along with other relevant parameters of these stars. Nuclear fusion reactions in the energy range ($E\sim$ 1 eV to few keV) can be explained successfully by quantum mechanical tunneling through the mutual Coulomb barrier of interacting nuclei. The measurement of the cross-sections at extremely low energy is quite difficult because of the larger width of the Coulomb barrier, which results in a very small value of the reaction cross-section. Hence, any improvement in the data on astrophysical S-factors for the light nuclei fusion may give a better picture of the elemental abundance in nucleosynthesis. In this work, we have theoretically investigated the energy dependence of fusion cross-sections and astrophysical S-factors for fusion reaction of light nuclei like D-D and p-$^{11}$B using complex Gaussian nuclear potential with adjustable depth and range parameters plus the mutual Coulomb interaction of the interacting nuclei. Numerical computation of the observables is done in the framework of the selective resonant tunneling model approach. The results of our calculation are compared with those found in the literature.