https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2014-14153-3
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
Influence of electronic environment on nuclear reaction rates
Jozef Stefan Institute, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
* e-mail: jelena.vesic@ijs.si
Received:
2
June
2014
Revised:
21
August
2014
Accepted:
12
September
2014
Published online:
22
October
2014
Electron screening has been studied in the 1H(7Li,)4He fusion reaction at lithium beam energies from 0.34 to 2.07 MeV for hydrogen-implanted Pd, Pt, Zn and Ni targets. A large electron screening has been observed in all the targets. However, no large electron screening has been observed in the following proton-induced reactions: 55Mn(p,
)56Fe, 55Mn(p, n)55Fe, 113Cd(p, n)113In, 115In(p, n)115Sn, 50V(p, n)50Cr and 51V(p,
)52Cr. Moreover, no shift in the resonance energy for the metallic compared to the insulator environment has been observed within our uncertainties for the studied (p,n) and (p,
) reactions. These results raise the question about the validity of the measurements that showed large electron screening potentials in nuclear reactions involving high-Z targets, and point to a dependence of the electron screening potential on the position of the target nuclei in the metallic lattice.
© SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2014