Systematic quantum effects on screening of fusion rates in white dwarfs

Electron degeneracy effects are dominant in ultra-dense plasmas (UDP), such as those found in white dwarfs. These effects can be treated systematically by obtaining an expansion of the screening length in inverse powers of ~. The theory exhibits Thomas-Fermi-like screening in an appropriate regime. In general, our theory leads to an O(1) effect on the enhancement of fusion rates in white dwarfs. Further, it is shown analytically for these stellar conditions that Bose statistics of nuclei have a negligible effect on the screening length, in consonance with Monte Carlo simulations found in literature. Subject headings: screening, fusion, plasma, quantum corrections