>From Peter Gluck's blog "Identifying the Problem is a crucial step"
There's been discussion about resonance, coherence and cavity oscillators in the context of the Hot-Cat. The related question is whether the ceramic tube is required for some unknown reason, and if so - can it can be optimized by geometry? Obviously, thermal stability is one benefit of ceramics. Since Rossi has used at least three different form factors with the Hot-Cat, and the claimed COP has gone down instead of up - according to his own statements - he may have downplayed the issue of resonance (due to cavity oscillation) as being harder to control at high temperature. But there could be a place for a resonant reactor design in a lower temperature regime. One detail worth noting, in the design of any hydrogen reactor when the goal is achieving resonance, is identifying the kind of resonance. It would be a mistake to assume that only EM resonance is the answer to the problem. Phonon resonance is arguably more important in LENR - the entire subfield of sonofusion is built on phonon resonance. Magnetic waves will be assumed to be a subset of phonon resonance. It would be ideal to match up the two- phonon (magnon) and photon wavelengths - and arrive at a resonant standing wave design which is mutually reinforcing. In fact, the general size of these reactors is one of the few possible ranges where EM waves and sound waves can reasonably share a common wavelength - and there is one candidate that stands out - 21 cm. Larger and smaller geometries are harder to match. One way to think about this is by example. Let's say we want to exploit a known resonance level for hydrogen. The ultimate goal doesn't need to be fusion, necessarily, and we should assume that protons in resonance can better achieve thermal gain in several different ways - such as through manipulation of electron angular momentum, or the zero point field, or sequential Lamb shift (QED), or QCD mass depletion of gluons, etc. (the usual suspects). The most notable resonant wavelength for hydrogen is 21 cm- the Universe is bathed in microwaves of this and similar frequencies - the CMB. With this glaring fact all around us, it could be no accident that the axial dimension of the E-Cats is in this range. Is that merely luck, or was it planned that way? In the case of the Lugano device, we should be more likely to achieve EM resonance for hydrogen if a larger diameter tube was to be implemented (say quarter wavelength, or 5.25 cm.) The "pre-Lugano" hot cat was indeed in this diameter range and also had a higher claimed COP. Why change? (possible answer: going smaller to avoid runaway) http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XuKgtxpqL9U/UYQSyPJP-OI/AAAAAAAAJYI/96mRUBJjs1w/s1 600/hot-cat.JPG This 21 cm wavelength corresponds to GHz photon radiation (1420 MHz) but apparently no one has seen this kind of radiation in the Lugano or other similar experiments. GHz radiation would promote the Lamb shift, which is one of several ways that thermal gain could enter the system. Any competent research team would have looked for GHz because of the negative health issues - and we can be fairly certain none was seen or used, since at any rate, alumina will not contain or reflect microwaves in this range. One of the most respected physicists to support cold fusion was Julian Schwinger, whose name is associated with the Lamb Shift and QED. Microwaves would be ideal to maximize a sequential Lamb shift spin-flip reaction, in a hydrogen reactor, but curiously - have not been considered relevant in the past, since the energy per "flip" is very low - and the reverse reaction may not be asymmetric in a closed loop system. Few theorists have reasoned that a "ringing-Lamb-shift" which would be happening at THz frequency and is asymmetric - powered by the zero point field - is feasible, since it is a different beast from fusion - the default assumption. However, the net energy derived spin-flipping could be substantial - even larger than "normal" nuclear energy since there is no dependence on the mass of reactants. Several prominent names turn up in LENR history for past advocacy of a Lamb shift modality, instead of fusion, but it is a definite minority view. In a future post, it will be shown that the same 21 cm wavelength for hydrogen photon emission due to spin flipping can be achieved at an ultrasonic frequency for phonons. This ultrasound would be in the 25kHz to 50 KHz range (predicated by the speed of sound in the media). In the simplest case, this frequency is available using SCRs. which can be seen in many Rossi photos. Coincidental? All of this leads in to the question of the day for revisionist LENR theory. If 21 cm radiation can be shown to stimulate an asymmetric Lamb shift, can phonon (magnon) waves of the same wavelength do the same stimulation with no photon component? Or alternatively, why not use a steel sleeve and heat the reactor internally with low power 1420 MHz radiation (tens of watts) looking for gain at a more modest temperature?
