QUANTUM-MECHANICAL CALCULATION OF THE ELECTRON SCREENING IN D-D FUSION

We present the first quantum mechanical calculation of the electron screening effect for collisions between deuterons (d) and deuterium atoms (D) at finite collision velocity. The calculation has been performed within the framework of the adiabatic representation of the three-body problem. The results are in good agreement with the previous semi-classical calculations based on the classical trajectory Monte Carlo method. Our results allow one to extract from laboratory experiments the fusion cross sections for bare nuclei, which are of interest for the study of stellar interiors and of fusion machines.