The Solar Proton Burning Process Revisited in Chiral Perturbation Theory

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Abstract
The proton burning process p + p → d + e+ + νe, important for the stellar evolution of main-sequence stars of mass equal to or less than that of the Sun, is computed in effective field theory by means of chiral perturbation expansion to the next to next to leading chiral order. This represents a model-independent calculation consistent with low-energy effective theory of QCD comparable in accuracy to the radiative np capture at thermal energy previously calculated by first using very accurate two-nucleon wave functions backed up by an effective field theory technique with a finite cutoff. The result obtained thereby is found to support within theoretical uncertainties the previous calculation of the same process by Bahcall and his coworkers.