We discuss the most effective energy range for charged-particle-induced reactions in a plasma environment at a given plasma temperature. The correspondence between the plasma temperature and the most effective energy should be modified from the one given by the Gamow peak energy, in the presence of a significant incident-energy dependence in the astrophysical $S$ factor as in the case of resonant reactions. The suggested modification of the effective energy range is important not only in thermonuclear reactions at high temperature in the stellar environment, e.g., in advanced burning stages of massive stars and in explosive stellar environments, as has been already claimed, but also in the application of nuclear reactions driven by ultra-intense laser-pulse irradiation.

• Received 29 November 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.87.058801