Poser: Is Arata/Zhang "Pycnodeuterium" (high density accumulations of deuterium) similar to what Hora and Miley describe as "Deutron Clusters" ?
My answer: yes Poser #2, Is the excursion of the deuteron electron to levels "below ground state" within a matrix a precondition for the formation of either "pycnodeuterium" or "deuteron clusters" My answer: yes Poser #3 Why has the "clustering phenomenon" drawn so little comment from the normally loquacious LENR crowd, and does it relate to some kind of misplaced fear that Randell Mills will end up walking away with too much of the credit for a cogent theory of LENR? My answer: dunno What I do suggest is that the Hora/Miley finding of the cross-connection (in "Radiochemical Observations for Comparison of Uranium Fission with Low Energy Nuclear Reactions LENR") is either a strange coincidence, or a severely underrated insight. However, they may have overlooked an important detail in the dynamics of the final cluster breakup reaction: as an implosion/bounce-back instead of a violent explosion (i.e. more of a "collapse and re-expand" reaction than an "explosion" of two reactants) Once again I am drawn to that amazing visual image of the "tornado pits" the famous SEM (scanning electron microscope) image on the cover of Rothwell's translation of Mizuno (or the other similar SEM images of the active zone in LENR, such as those of Ken Shoulders). http://www.lenr-canr.org/images/MizunoBook.jpg At one time, these images were seen by many to appear more like an implosion-rebound of many particles, or at least as being way too mild to be high energy fusion, and certainly not the violent explosion of two to four fused reaction products with MeV levels of mass-energy. This is due to the large mass of atoms which were affected mildly, instead of a smaller mass which would have been affected more violently in a few, narrower cones than what is seen. Shoulders attributed this to the bulk effect of EVOs, and that may not be ruled-out in the clustering dynamics. In the image, there are a significant number of what seem to be simultaneous conical vortices, horn-like cavities and tunnels characteristic of a large number of reactants; and in the aftermath there are obviously tens of thousands of atoms moderately displaced. In real D+D fusion, one would expect massive displacement of adjoining atoms in two opposite and much narrower vectors, like tracks in cloud chambers, as opposed to dozens of slow moving particles. For many who have studied cloud images of nuclear reaction, this Mizuno image does not appear as typical of fusion. Is this simply a matter of interpretation? The important point of all this is that now, there is apparently a third choice, and it relates to a bulk reaction of clusters of deuterons in the range of 100-200 particles. Can such a cluster collapse in on itself like an implosion but with secondary rebounds in many mild expansion channels, like the numerous tornado cones seen leading from a common focal point? Too early to say, but I would hate to be on the wrong side of Miley in any disagreement over the dynamics. Perhaps we will hear more from him on this. Jones
