There is a growing consensus among theoreticians that LENR begins with a
change in the electron orbital of hydrogen atoms, resulting in temporary
or semi-permanent "densification." Following this step, other phenomena
including nuclear reactions may poised to happen. IOW - densification is
a necessary first stage - which is catalytic but probably energy-neutral
and can be short-lived.
Randell Mills has championed a method of densification which involves
Rydberg resonance for thermal gain resulting in a permanent hydrino
state, but notably Mills has never produced physical evidence to
convince other scientists of this - and that is probably because he is
fundamentally wrong. Even if he is seeing thermal gain with the SunCell,
he could be wrong on the theory and no doubt will see nuclear reactions
... which he cannot explain away. Expect further delays until he
realizes this.
One of the other unproved densification concepts involves fractional
charge. That is the subject of this speculation. It could be
coincidental, but the Hall effect could be responsible.
A proton with two fractional electrons in tight orbitals could still act
like a neutron even if not completely neutral and in fact, the remnant
of a slight charge of either polarity could have advantages. One type of
dense hydrogen isomer has been labeled a "quasi-neutron". In some ways
this concept fits experimental findings better than anything else - and
a short lived QM particle could be the true identify of what Widom and
Larsen have labeled an "ultra-low momentum neutron". Its low momentum
could be a function of residual positive charge ... since when trapped
in the negative cloud (near-field effect of a host matrix) it
essentially "freezes" where it forms.
In ferromagnetic materials like nickel, the Hall effect can include an
additional contribution, known as the anomalous Hall effect (or the
extraordinary Hall effect), which is particularly large in nickel near
the Curie temperature and involves spin and magnetic oscillation. The
Curie temperature of nickel is around 350C and has been associated with
triggering anomalous LENR heating in the past. With nickel, the
anomalous Hall coefficient is about 100 times larger than the ordinary
Hall coefficient.
When combined with the implications of the fractional quantum Hall
effect or FQHE, we may be looking at a new mechanism for hydrogen
densification involving both the anomalous Hall effect AHE combined with
FQHE in a single step, resulting in a quasi-neutron which has slight
charge.
The FQHE is a physical phenomenon in which the Hall conductance of
electrons shows precisely quantized plateaus at fractional charge
values, such as -1/3 or -2/3. A quasi-neutron composed of same would
have two fractional electron values added and which when combined in
pairs, permit slight residual charge such +1/3 or -1/3.
In the case of nitinol alloys the Curie point can be near room
temperature. A lower value almost certainly happens with other alloys of
nickel as well. Nitinol would therefore be a candidate for demonstrating
a Hall mechanism. In fact, nitinol came up for other reasons as a LENR
matrix, but the experiments apparently went nowhere. Jack Cole was not
successful with an attempt. Here is a reference to another of several
proposals. The problem with them is that a magnetic field - a fairly
weak magnetic field, must be in place for the above mechanism to work.
http://www.quantumheat.org/index.php/en/forum/welcome-mat/24-nitinol-the-possible-optimum-lenr-fuel
IMHO, even if the Ni-Ti alloy has not shown decent results, it could be
made to work in LENR eventually ... but probably a better use of
resources is to find an alloy of nickel which has both the low Curie
point and additionally is more reactive with quasi-neutrons. Based on
normal neutrons, the cross section for nickel and titanium could be too
low to see thermal gain even if quasi-neutrons do form.
This mechanism would open up another possibility for a nickel silver
alloy, which is why it came up. Even if not a true alloy, a nano-mixture
of Ni and Ag could shine, so to speak. That would assume the Curie point
drops sufficiently. Another possibility is an alloy of nitinol and silver.
