Astrophysical applications of quantum corrections to the equation of state of a plasma
- 15 January 1994
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review D
- Vol. 49 (2) , 611-617
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.49.611
Abstract
The quantum electrodynamic correction to the equation of state of a plasma at finite temperature is applied to the areas of solar physics and cosmology. A previously neglected, purely quantum term in the correction is found to change the equation of state in the solar core by -0.37%, which is roughly estimated to decrease the calculated high energy neutrino flux by about 2.2%. We also show that a previous calculation of the effect of this correction on big bang nucleosynthesis is incomplete, and we estimate the correction to the primordial helium abundance to be . A physical explanation for the correction is found in terms of corrections to the dispersion relation of the electron, positron, and photon.
Keywords
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