Triple-alpha reaction rate studied with the Faddeev three-body formalism

The triple-alpha (3α) reaction, 4He+4He+4He→12C+γ, which plays a significant role in the stellar evolution scenarios, is studied in terms of a three-alpha (3-α) model. The reaction rate of the process is calculated via an inverse process, 3-α photodisintegration of a 12C nucleus. Both of 3-α bound and-continuum states are calculated by a Faddeev method with accommodating the long range Coulomb interaction. With being adjusted to the empirical E2-strength for 12C(02+)→12C(21+) transition, results of the 3α reaction rate <ααα> at higher temperature (T > 108 K), where the reaction proceeds mainly through the 8Be and 12C(02+) resonant states, almost agree with those of the Nuclear Astrophysics Compilation of Reaction Rates (NACRE). On the other hand, calculated values of <ααα> are about 103 times larger than the NACRE rate at a low temperature (T= 107 K), which means our results are remarkably smaller than recent CDCC results.