Here is a bit more info for the hypothesis that the lack of consistency
in LENR experiments could possibly be related to the presence or absence
of "cosmic matter" in palladium (and other metals).
Especially palladium contaminated with the presence of undetectable
"mirror matter" in small amounts, and especially from minerals mined at
Sudbury, Ont. Canada -- or any mine which contains similar minerals from
a large asteroid impact, which happened after Earth solidified.
It is logical to suspect that if mirror matter is real, then asteroids
with an elongated orbit, and which may go out to the extreme limits of
the solar system, are more likely to contain more of it ... and then,
following impact, this material is more likely to have remained near the
surface, compared with primordial mirror matter, which may have been
sequestered in Earth's core early-on -- by its gravity (but lack of
other strong interactions with regular matter on a molten planet).
Believe it or not, this hypothesis now comes with an actual close-up
image of the process which could be involved !
Here is the BBC site and story with the image of Eros, which is a meteor
of larger size than the one containing all that nickel and precious
metal, which has been mined at Sudbury for over 100 years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2463143.stm
Dr Robert Foot states that close-up observations of Eros by the
Near-Shoemaker probe indicate it could have been splattered by mirror
matter. Since most of regular matter is hydrogen, we can assume that
mirror-hydrogen is the most likely contaminant for earthly minerals.
There are a few convincing arguments that the mirror neutron would be
unstable, even if bound in nuclei (Berezhiani, Dolgov et al
Phys. Lett. B 1996).. As a consequence, mirror hydrogen would then be
the only stable mirror element of interest. It is also possible that
palladium would capture this species in its matrix just as it does
regular hydorgen.
Mirror matter is not anti-matter, but is somehow a "reflection" of
normal matter, a sort of parallel series of particles required to
restore the right hand balance to what we see as a left-handed Universe.
Horace has more detail on his site, and might want to correct the
details of this post.
How mirror matter could catalyze LENR - if indeed (big 'if') it is
present in Pd is not clear. Even if there was some mirror palladium out
there, much more common would be mirror hydrogen. In that case it is
unclear if it would be a reactant or catalyst.
But since conservation of spin would be required for D+D fusion, the
modality which mirror matter might facilitate could involve
spin-alignment in the matrix, which otherwise might not happen with Pd
alone.
BTW - this (conservation of spin) is the rationale for some of the
advanced techniques of Dr. Dennis Cravens- and his use of an applied
magnetic field (Letts-Cravens effect).
Mirror matter interacts with our matter primarily via gravity, but if
some small amount of it is contaminating precious metals... which seem
pure, there is almost no way to tell that at the present time. It is
possible that in addition to gravity, there could be near-field effects
of mirror hydrogen. This would be the possible route for LENR.
Dr Foot believes that mirror matter would have been made in abundance in
the Big Bang, and that it is all around us as dark matter, even in the
Milky Way, but we can't see it. Some of it, especially mirror hydrogen,
may be closer than he thinks.
Jones
