  This document presents a numerical study of the effects of high density
nuclear reactions, pycnonuclear reactions, on the evolution of white dwarfs
that accrete matter from a companion star. Primarily we seek observable
properties that might be different when we include these nuclear reactions with
varying microphysical assumptions. These different assumptions include
effective nucleon-nucleon interactions, lattice structures and crystal
polarization characteristics. Our results indicate that, although we find some
significant differences in pycnonuclear reaction rates, the differences do not
result in observable differences in the white dwarf evolution. Secondarily we
examine the differences in observable properties when pycnonuclear reactions
are assumed to happen and when they are assumed to not happen. In this case,
our calculations indicate there can be observable differences in the radius,
$R$, and the effective temperature, $T_{eff}$, at the stopping condition we use
for our simulations, $L_{nuc} > 10^{8}\thinspace \rm{L}_{\odot}$, that is the
total rate of energy released by nuclear fusion is greater than $10^{8}$ solar
luminosities. Thirdly we explore the often neglected effect of temperature
enhancement to pycnonuclear rates.
