Coulomb barrier

The Coulomb barrier, named after Coulomb's law, which is in turn named after physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, is the energy barrier due to electrostatic interaction that two Atomic nucleus need to overcome so they can get close enough to undergo a nuclear reaction.

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Potential energy barrier This energy barrier is given by the electric potential energy:

$U\_\backslash text\{coulomb\}\; =\; \{1\backslash over\; 4\backslash pi\backslash varepsilon\_0\}\; \{q\_1\; q\_2\backslash over\; r\}$

where

ε₀ is the permittivity of free space;

q₁, q₂ are the charges of the interacting particles;

r is the interaction radius.

A positive value of U is due to a repulsive force, so interacting particles are at higher energy levels as they get closer. A negative potential energy indicates a bound state (due to an attractive force).

The Coulomb barrier increases with the (i.e. the number of protons) of the colliding nuclei:

$U\_\backslash text\{coulomb\}\; =$

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