The URCA process in convective cores

A Monte Carlo simulation has been carried out for URCA processes in a degenerate convective stellar core, such as would be obtained following degenerate carbon ignition. We find energy loss rates substantially less than obtained by Paczynski in his vibrational approximation for this process. We conclude that the loss rates should be computed by direct integration over the convective core assuming a uniform ratio of the abundances of the URCA pair.