Eric--
Why focus on the Coulomb field? Focus on the intense magnetic fields that can polarize nuclei parallel and antiparallel and cause them to spin in harmony. Transfer of mass via spin energy is possible, although it is not common in a plasma or free particle system most are familiar with. Solid state lattices allow more options for interactions including spin coupling. Gammas are not necessary for mass conversion to thermal kinetic energy. Bob Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2014 9:00 PM To: [email protected] On Thu, Jul 24, 2014 at 12:11 PM, Foks0904 . <[email protected]> wrote: What parameter is limiting the downshift exactly? Ahern has speculated that ferromagnetic collective modes, first explored by Ulam, are at play in LENR. These systems tend to amplify the vibratory modes of a system and then tend to localize energy in a coherent fashion -- seemingly in violation of the second law (i.e. an open system phenomenon). This seems compatible with Hagelstein. If this sort of self-organizing collective mode is at play in LENR, what's to limit the downshifting/sharing effect across the system? I think we're thinking of something vaguely similar, and the terminology is starting to become ambiguous. When I think of a hot metal, I think of a lot of motion of the metal lattice atoms and, overall, a chaotic environment. The higher the temperature, the more chaotic the movement of the lattice sites. It is hard to imagine some kind of coherent motion of the heavy lattice sites spontaneously forming in such a context; in this regard, I am in agreement with Ed Storms. One might speculate that Hagelstein is attracted to the general approach of working out a harmonic oscillator simply because the math is familiar and leaves open the possibility of fractionating a large quantum of energy (perhaps we could call it the 24 MeV PdD quantum). What I'm thinking of is related to what one might think of as "downconversion," but different. When there is a fusion underway, it proceeds in stages. First the parent nuclei come together, and if they are close enough to tunnel, you get a compound nucleus. In the case of dd fusion, the [dd]* compound nucleus is highly unstable and will quickly decay to a more stable configuration. In plasma fusion research, this particular compound nucleus is known to transition from the excited state via three channels—d(d,n)3He, d(d,p)t, and d(d,ɣ)4He. These are the channels we're aware of for this particular reaction, which we've become acquainted with in the context of plasmas. When I think of "downconversion," I think of a d(d,ɣ)4He fusion happening and a gamma forming, and then you take care of the gamma by stepping it down through some kind of nuclear-level transformer. Once we've gotten this far, my intuition tells me that we're too late, and you're going to get the problem that Bob and Jones mention, where a significant portion of the gammas are going to leak and kill the graduate student. I don't think Hagelstein is talking about this. He's talking about something that preempts the gamma altogether by splitting the energy of the decay of the compound nucleus across a large number of phonon modes (and also more recently "nuclear degrees of freedom"). My difficulty with Hagelstein's approach is not how he tries to avoid the gamma by transmitting smaller packets of energy off to a large number of sinks; it's in his focus on harmonic oscillation. To my mind, the evidence best fits a story in which there is fusion of many different kinds occurring, and what is needed to bring it about without high energy gammas is a strong Coulomb field. Somehow the Coulomb field switches on a latent fusion branch that is not possible in diffuse plasmas. The Coulomb field provides a kind of path to ground not unlike the ground found in electronics. The presence of the field unlocks a way for an unstable compound nucleus to transfer the energy it must shed to sources of charge in immediate area. In this regard it is reminiscent of a lightning rod. Or like a capacitor with a short circuit to ground, the compound nucleus does not undergo any of the usual three decay modes and instead quickly imparts its energy via Coulomb coupling. Both electrons and ion cores receive an impulse. In a momentary flash, the ion cores, which are very heavy in relation to the compound nucleus, barely budge, and the electrons are accelerated enough to give off soft x-rays. Even a 24 MeV charge is thereby harmlessly diffused across a large number of sinks of differing masses. A candidate in my mind for such a Coulomb field is the narrow confines of the z-pinch of current in which a beam of protons or deuterons is accelerated under astronomical force into the side of a metal grain, in the context of the arcing of an electric arc. My assumption is that this Coulomb field is significantly stronger than in a diffuse plasma. The branches mentioned above were for PdD. In the case of NiH, I assume there is a combination of nickel proton capture and 3He generation (via pd reactions), as well as lots of other reactions, depending upon the impurities. Eric
