Proton-Proton Fusion in Leading Order of Effective Field Theory

Abstract

Using a recently developed effective field theory for the interactions of nucleons at non-relativistic energies, we calculate the rate for the fusion process $p+p\text{ra}d+e^{+}+{\nu }_e$ to leading order in the momentum expansion. Coulomb effects are included non-perturbatively in a systematic way. The resulting rate is independent of specific models for the strong interactions at short distances and is in agreement with the standard result in the zero-range approximation.

Comments: 7 pages, Latex. Corrected typos