Re-evaluation of the sequential 3α reaction in stellar conditions

¹ Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77840, USA
² School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
³ Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, INFN, Catania 95123, Italy

^* e-mail: tdepastas@tamu.edu

Published online: 8 October 2024

Abstract

The formation of carbon via the triple alpha process is a key step in stellar production reactions of light ions and heavily impacts the life-cycle of red giant stars. Here, we propose a novel theoretical approach for sequential mechanism of the helium burning process, based on the Imaginary Time Method (ITM) and semiclassical models. We compare our results to those of the NACRE collaboration, which has set the standard for the past decades. Our calculations differ by several orders of magnitude in the low temperature region, which may seriously affect the early evolution of helium burning stars.