Tritium and a deuteron fuse into 4He and a neutron. After the Big Bang it turned tritium into helium; on Earth it is the reaction planned for fusion power plants.
The tritium made by deuteron fusion after the Big Bang was mostly turned into 4He by this reaction. Its rate is so high that it does not limit the predicted abundances. Because the same reaction powers fusion experiments, its cross section is among the best studied in nuclear physics.
Facts
- How well known
- Measured precisely for fusion-energy applications; its uncertainty does not affect BBN predictions.
- Live evaluation
- No live evaluation yet · Evaluations
- Q-value · energy released
- 17.589 MeV
- Gamow window
- 110 ± 100 keVdeuterium bottleneck, 0.8 GK (Big Bang nucleosynthesis)
- 58 ± 45 keVend of BBN, 0.3 GK (Big Bang nucleosynthesis)
- Kind
- Fusion
How it was measured
Measurements (EXFOR)
Every dataset EXFOR holds for this reaction, drawn by the energies it covers, against the energies a star uses.
102 datasets in 43 EXFOR entries, 1950–2015 · 5 without an energy range, not drawn
- Lowest energy in EXFOR
- 6.12 keV
- Bonner, 1950; Conner et al., 1952 · σ · C2884.002
- Distance from the Gamow peak
- 0.52 Gamow widths below
- E₀ = 112 keV, window 10.5–213 keV
- Rate from energies not in EXFOR
- < 0.01%
- at T₉ = 0.8, smooth estimate
- Gamow window, hatched where no measurement reaches
- Outlined bars are shown but not counted (the rule is under “How these numbers are made”).
- A diamond is a dataset at a single energy. Bars running off the right edge continue to higher energies.
The datasets of the gap map, by quantity
| Quantity | Datasets | E_cm range (keV) |
|---|---|---|
| σcross section | 23 | 3 keV – 234 MeV |
| SS-factor | 1 | 47.9 keV – 69.5 keV |
| dσ/dΩangular distribution | 64 | 6 keV – 234 MeV |
| Aypolarization | 8 | 60 keV – 11.4 MeV |
| …other | 1 | 18.9 keV – 18.9 keV |
How these numbers are made
Lowest measured energy, everywhere in the data explorer: the lowest centre-of-mass energy at which a dataset in EXFOR measures the reaction itself (cross section, S-factor, angular distribution, yield or resonance strength), judged point by point. A point counts when it is a value, not an upper or lower limit, when it lies at least one standard deviation above zero, and when its energy is physical: at least 1 keV for charged particles, and not below the threshold of an endothermic reaction. Not counted: extrapolated, calculated, evaluated or derived values; superseded, deleted or preliminary data; ratios; a single S-factor value, which in EXFOR is a fit result; and indirect methods (Trojan horse, Coulomb dissociation, ANC, surrogate reactions), recognized from EXFOR's method and analysis codes, their text and the title. Frame and unit errors of EXFOR are corrected first, and values the literature shows to be upper limits are read as limits, from a list that gives the evidence for each. Datasets that reach the same energy within 0.5% are all credited, earliest first. Rate from energies not in EXFOR: the share of the rate integrand at that temperature outside the energy ranges the counted datasets cover (from their lowest measured point to their highest), with a constant S-factor (σ ∝ S(E₀)/E · e^−2πη, so the integrand is e^(−E/kT − 2πη)); for a neutron capture, σ ∝ 1/v. Resonances make the real integrand lumpy, so read it as a smooth baseline.
Details
The cross section is dominated by a broad 3/2+ resonance in 5He just above the d+t threshold, which makes it very large at BBN energies. Bosch and Hale (1992) gave parametrizations of the cross section and of the Maxwellian reactivity, based on R-matrix calculations, that are widely used in fusion research, together with those of 2H(d,n)3He, 2H(d,p)3H and 3He(d,p)4He.
Peak energy E0 ± half the 1/e width, centre of mass, from the AME2020 masses.
Evaluations
Compilations that combine the data into a recommended rate.
Related reactions
References
- 1.
H.-S. Bosch, G. M. Hale
Improved formulas for fusion cross-sections and thermal reactivities
Nucl. Fusion 32, 611 (1992); correction Nucl. Fusion 33, 1919 (1993)
- 2.
P. Descouvemont, A. Adahchour, C. Angulo, A. Coc, E. Vangioni-Flam
Compilation and R-matrix analysis of Big Bang nuclear reaction rates
At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 88, 203 (2004) · arXiv:astro-ph/0407101
How to cite this page
J. Skowronski, 3H(d,n)4He, in Reaction atlas, 2026-10-12, https://jskowron.eu/atlas/3H-dn-4He.
Cite the date you used; it is the last change to this page.
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