I was considering the behavior of ultra low momentum neutrons within a metallic structure and a question arose. Why would the local temperature of the nickel atoms not completely dominate the activity of the low momentum neutrons?
As we all are aware, temperature of operation for LENR devices is typically around 1000 K or more which is far beyond that associated with the ULM neutrons of the W&L theory. This elevated temperature of the metal atoms reflects rapid movement of the nuclei as they bound back and forth within their electron cloud inside metal matrix. One would expect the relative motion of the two bodies (nucleus and neutron) involved in the reaction to be the key determining factor in the net interaction and not the motion of just one. For this reason, I find it perplexing to discuss just the neutron energy when we consider these interactions. The other possibility to consider is that higher energy neutrons might have an advantage in many situations as they pass through the metal volume. Each metal nuclei must undergo many accelerations as it trades momentum and energy with its brother atoms. This would appear as a continuous range of velocities with time. An elevated temperature for these atoms would suggest that they change direction more times per second as it rises. During the brief period of time that the neutrons are nearby, perhaps a match in velocity occurs which allows the neutron to be exposed to the large capture cross section associated with the near zero relative velocity. For a reaction such as that hypothesized above to be important the interaction time frame must be very short. The temperature caused movements are mechanical in nature and should be slow as compared to quantum mechanical reactions such as the absorption of a neutron by a nearby nucleus. Does information exist which can confirm that the quantum mechanical effects are of short duration in such a case? Also, how far can the quantum mechanical interaction reach away from the nucleus if the relative velocity of the pair is actually zero at a finite point in time? Dave
