Nuclear reaction rates in dense carbon-oxygen mixtures

Abstract

New, first principles calculations of nuclear reaction rates in dense carbon-oxygen mixtures appropriate to Type I supernova progenitors are presented for both fluid and bcc crystalline-solid phases, based on accurate Monte Carlo evaluations of the screening potentials and a correct treatment of the quantum-statistical effects. A blocking effect of oxygen is discovered in the pycnonuclear reaction of carbon. The results are compared with the existing theories in the limit of one-component plasma cases, both for the screening potentials and for the reaction rates. Examples of the carbon ignition curve are shown.