Breakdown of the Plane-Wave Trojan Horse Analysis of the 12 C+ 12 C Fusion Reaction: Critical Role of Coulomb Distortions

Recently, a new Trojan Horse Method (THM) measurement of carbon-carbon fusion was reported by Li et al. [Phys. Lett. B (2026) 140675]. The purpose of the present work is to demonstrate the breakdown of the plane-wave approximation used in the analysis of these data and the critical role of Coulomb distortions in the initial and final states. The reaction mechanism underlying the THM analysis of the 12 C+ 12 C fusion reaction using the 16 O+ 12 C to α s+α+ 20 Ne reaction is investigated. Particular attention is paid to the spectator momentum distribution and to the dependence of the THM reaction amplitude on the relative carbon-carbon energy E. It is demonstrated that agreement with the measured spectator momentum distribution does not by itself validate the plane-wave approximation. Although the experimental momentum distribution can be reproduced, inclusion of Coulomb distortions in both the initial and final channels leads to an energy dependence of the THM amplitude that is completely different from the plane-wave result. Consequently, the energy dependence of the 12 C+ 12 C fusion cross section extracted from the THM data can be strongly distorted by the plane-wave treatment. It is concluded that the astrophysical factor extracted in the plane-wave analysis cannot be regarded as reliable and may lead to misleading conclusions concerning the low-energy 12 C+ 12 C fusion reaction.