Bayesian Estimation of Thermonuclear Reaction Rates for Deuterium+Deuterium Reactions
Abstract
The study of d+d reactions is of major interest since their reaction rates affect the predicted abundances of D, 3He, and 7Li. In particular, recent measurements of primordial D/H ratios call for reduced uncertainties in the theoretical abundances predicted by Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). Different authors have studied reactions involved in BBN by incorporating new experimental data and a careful treatment of systematic and probabilistic uncertainties. To analyze the experimental data, Coc et al. used results of ab initio models for the theoretical calculation of the energy dependence of S-factors in conjunction with traditional statistical methods based on χ 2 minimization. Bayesian methods have now spread to many scientific fields and provide numerous advantages in data analysis. Astrophysical S-factors and reaction rates using Bayesian statistics were calculated by Iliadis et al. Here we present a similar analysis for two d+d reactions, d(d, n)3He and d(d, p)3H, that has been translated into a total decrease of the predicted D/H value by 0.16%.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- November 2017
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-4357/aa9025
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1710.01647
- Bibcode:
- 2017ApJ...849..134G
- Keywords:
-
- methods: numerical;
- nuclear reactions;
- nucleosynthesis;
- abundances;
- primordial nucleosynthesis;
- Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics;
- Nuclear Theory
- E-Print:
- To appear in the Astrophysical Journal