The fate of Be-7 in the sun

The electron- and proton-capture rates of Be-7 important to the solar neutrino 'problem' are reexamined. Although the assumptions implied by the traditional Debye approximation for plasma screening are not valid, a careful numerical study changes the electron capture rate by less than 2 percent. Experimental data on the proton capture reaction are extrapolated to astrophysically relevant energies, using an energy dependence that includes d-wave scattering and is shown to be relatively independent of the model space and interaction used. It is found that the solar proton capture rate is lowered by approximately 7 percent from the currently accepted value.