Pathway parameter and thermonuclear functions

A.M. Mathai and H.J. Haubold

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2008, vol. 387, issue 11, 2462-2470

Abstract: In the theory of thermonuclear reaction rates, analytical evaluation of thermonuclear functions for non-resonant reactions, including cases with cut-off and depletion of the tail of the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution function were considered in a series of papers by Mathai and Haubold [A.M. Mathai, H.J. Haubold, Modern Problems in Nuclear and Neutrino Astrophysics, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, 1988]. In the present paper we study more general classes of thermonuclear functions by introducing a pathway parameter α, so that when α→1 the thermonuclear functions in the Maxwell–Boltzmannian case are recovered. We will also give interpretations for the pathway parameter α in the case of cut-off and in terms of moments. Non-extensive statistical mechanics, as developed by Tsallis [C. Tsallis, What should a statistical mechanics satisfy to reflect nature? Physica D 193 (2004) 3–34], provides the physical basis for the generalized thermonuclear functions considered in this paper.

Keywords: Thermonuclear functions; Pathway model; H-function; Boltzmann–Gibbs statistics; Tsallis statistics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:387:y:2008:i:11:p:2462-2470

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2008.01.031

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