The stopping of swift protons in matter and its implication for astrophysical fusion reactions

The velocity dependence of the stopping power of swift protons and deuterons in low energy collisions is investigated. At low projectile energies the stopping is mainly due to nuclear stopping and charge exchange of the electron. The second mechanism dominates after Ep >=200 eV. A dynamical treatment of the charge exchange mechanism based on two-center electronic wavefunctions yields very transparent results for the exchange probability. We predict that the stopping cross sections vary approximately as v to the 1.35 power for projectile protons on hydrogen targets in the 1 keV energy region.