Elsevier

Physics Letters B

Volume 695, Issues 1–4, 10 January 2011, Pages 324-328
Physics Letters B

The triple alpha reaction rate and the 2+ resonances in 12C

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2010.11.001Get rights and content
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Abstract

The triple alpha rate is obtained from the three-body bound and continuum states computed in a large box. The results from this genuine full three-body calculation are compared with standard reference rates obtained by two sequential two-body processes. The fairly good agreement relies on two different assumptions about the lowest 2+ resonance energy. With the same 2+ energy the rates from the full three-body calculation are smaller than those of the standard reference. We discuss the rate dependence on the experimentally unknown 2+ energy. Substantial deviations from previous results appear for temperatures above 3 GK.

Keywords

Triple alpha reaction
Three-body systems
Radiative capture

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