Effects of electron screening on low-energy fusion cross sections

The effects of electron screening on the low-energy cross sections of nuclear fusion reactions of astrophysical interest have been studied within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation using a simplified model. These studies indicate that a significant enhancement of the cross sections can occur already at beam energies, which are about a factor 100 higher than the electron binding energies. Cross sections near such energies can now be measured, in some cases, and several examples are discussed. For an understanding of the low-energy data as well as for a reliable extrapolation of the cross sections (for bare nuclei) to lower energies, the effects of electron screening must be well understood.