The Salpeter plasma correction for solar fusion reactions

Abstract

We describe five different ways of obtaining the Salpeter formula for the plasma corrections to fusion rates; this formula is valid at the center of the sun with insignificant errors (∼percent). Several recent papers have obtained a variety of answers in conflict with this result. We analyse the arguments of these papers, identifying sources of the discrepancies in some cases, and pointing out internal inconsistencies in the arguments given in other cases.