On Feb 18, 2010, at 11:13 AM, Jed Rothwell wrote:
See:
Chen, M., et al., Measurements of neutron emission induced by muons
stopped in metal deuteride targets. J. Fusion Energy, 1990. 9(2):
p. 155.
Nothing found.
Abstract here:
http://www.osti.gov/bridge/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=5394182
- Jed
I don't know why anyone would expect a high fusion rate from muons
bombarding PdD_0.7. Muon fusion works by muon orbital action with a
*pair* of deuterons. The muons have to be slowed to velocities
corresponding to nearly chemical energies before they can take on
hydrogen orbitals. This is not likely to happen, because high energy
muons are more likely to penetrate the outer electron shells of the
Pd and displace an inner shell electron before achieving an energy
level useful for D-D fusion. Even so, deuterons in PD_0.7 are
located at lattice site potential wells, i.e. at most one D per
site, with each approximately in the center of the site. There is no
second D to be involved in the reaction. The exception to this might
be Pd which has inclusions with large dense clusters of D, much more
dense than cryogenic solid metallic hydrogen. In that case a muon
could have a better ratio than the 30 fusions per muon observed in
liquid deuterium, depending on the cluster size.
My theory:
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/CFnuclearReactions.pdf
notes the possibility of the creation of strange matter, namely
lambdas and K0 particles, which are known to be able to lightly bond
to nuclei, especially helium nuclei. Low energy (on the order of 2
keV) perturbing of these can result in disintegration and the
creation of muons within the lattice, which eventually decay into
positrons and electrons, and thus gammas and electrons. Muons can
also create x-rays when they replace high energy orbital electrons in
the heavy lattice atoms. From a single strange particle
disintegration, bremsstrahlung, x-rays, high energy muons, electrons
and positrons, and positron annihilation radiation can occur. This
provides more than 4 chain reaction sustaining entities per
disintegration, because the high energy particles can each perturb
much more than a single nucleus into a strange matter
disintegration. It is only necessary for the strange matter nuclei
density to be above a threshold to create an explosion, or for the
strange nuclei density to be just right and their replenishment rate
just right to sustain a chain reaction, which would be a very rare
event, and, unlike observed CF, it would probably generate a large
quantity of high energy signatures. Strange matter nuclei
accumulation and chain reaction does not by itself provide an
explanation for the heat producing CF reactions that have been
observed. However, cosmic rays, muons, and strange matter
accumulation, while not the primary explanation for LENR, may play a
role in triggering and sustaining fusion and thus heat production
over the typical intervals observed, i.e. minutes up to a few hours
or so, and in small isolated volumes, until the accumulated strange
matter is used up and needs replenishing.
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
