VACUUM-POLARIZATION CORRECTIONS TO SOLAR-FUSION RATES

The vacuum-polarization (VP) corrections to rates for nuclear-fusion r eactions in the pp chain and in the CNO cycle are calculated, For the reactions of particular importance to the solar-neutrino problem, the He-3(He-3,2p)He-4, He-3(alpha,gamma)Be-7, Be-7(p,gamma)B-8, and N-14(P ,gamma)O-15 reactions, we find the magnitude of the effect to be less than 2%. The effect of VP on all the other reaction rates is expected to be of a similar order of magnitude, We discuss how these results af fect the predicted fluxes of solar neutrinos.