Speaking of muons, here is an off-the-wall observation about the
cross-connection of LENR with “ultra-dense hydrogen”… via an internally
borrowed lepton which happens to be of the correct mass-energy value. It avoids
most of the problems of finding a nuclear nexus for the energy gain in LENR,
but notably it is not Millsean, even though the gain comes from an electron
orbital - as opposed to coming directly from the nucleus.
Unlike the Mills version of step-wise Rydberg progression in ground state
redundancy, this reaction would happen in one jump from a bare proton to a
compact atom with a ground state which is near 200 × (−13.6 eV ) ≈ −2.72keV.
This is based on mass energy of the muon being a factor of 200x the Bohr
electron. Also, unlike Mills model, the energy gain happens NOT on the
formation of the dense species, but on its decay.
The leap-of-faith is that resonant k-shell electrons in metals like palladium
can become a muon-equivalent species which is captured by a bare deuteron. On
decay, it would be replaced in an Augur cascade, as in the Mossbauer effect.
The “signature” wavelength of a photon emitted in a transition between the
first excited state and the ground state would be ≈ 2.04 keV, the wavelength of
which is ≈ 0.6 nm. This value is the key to falsifiability. The Mossbauer
effect offers many similarities.
If a photon and Augur cascade originating at 2 keV can be documented in LENR --
then it is almost a slam dunk that this hypothesis is at least partly accurate.
Executive summary: UDH/UDD is identical to muonic hydrogen, but is a species
which is not generated from muons per se. Instead the dense atom results from a
proton or deuteron progressing into the electron shell of a host metal and
resonantly appropriating a k-shell electron from the metal in which the
hydrogen is dissolved (i.e palladium or nickel etc).
In short, the muon is literally a nearly relativistic electron (200 x heavier)
and if we take that description as being completely accurate as a plateau of
stability, and also consider that many heavy elements like palladium have
relativistic electrons near that value, and mash that up with the known
mass-increase of electrons nearing lightspeed and mash all of it up with the
known features of muonic-hydrogen, occurring naturally via muon capture, then
what comes out of the blender is indeed a new understanding of “ultra-dense
hydrogen” in which the relativistic electron from a heavy metal catalyst has
assumed muon identity (as a value of mass-energy) without ever actually
becoming a free muon.
This is not a trivial semantic issue. Has Holmlid or anyone in the past
proposed the exact and complete cross-identity of UDH with self-generated
muonic hydrogen? If so, my apology for missing it.