NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/sci/physics/fusion/2103

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Newsgroups: sci.physics.fusion
Path: sparky!uunet!sun-barr!ames!pacbell.com!tandem!zorch!fusion
From: Dieter Britz <[e-mail]>
Subject: CNF bibliography update (total now 734 papers, 111 patents/appl.).
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail] (Scott Hazen Mueller)
Reply-To: Dieter Britz <[e-mail]>
Organization: Sci.physics.fusion/Mail Gateway
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 02:37:21 GMT
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Hello all,
here we go again, with quite a pile. I have caught up with some long-standing
problems, such as the Tamayo item. I won't waste my time and yours commenting
on all the theoretical papers, except to say that the Moizhes differs from the
usual argument about the d-d distance in his speculation that this might be
as little as 0.3 A, due to D2 formation and electron overlap; and to point out
that Rambaut solves a now nonexistent problem, that of cluster-impact fusion.
 The Jones paper is interesting, as it reads like a hard-line skeptic's view.
Everything except the very low and academic neutron fluxes of Jones et al, is
wrong. The usual (and no doubt correct) arguments against a nuclear
explanation of cold fusion are mounted. Jones continues to dissociate himself
from excess heat, tritium etc.
McKee et al take a look at the problem of how long the voltage across a crack
might last - i.e. long enough for fusion by acceleration, or not? It might be
on, IF there are local changes from metallic to insulator. As claimed by the
fracto-Russians, x-rays ought to be detected, and the group will look for
them.
I got the Ikegami after the exchange between Jed Rothwell and Jon Webb, about
two months ago, and since there was no English abstract, I had to lean on
Jon's abstract out of INSPEC. Thanks, Jon, and your name is perpetuated in the
bibliography. I must say you went over the top, Jon, in interpreting the
wording of the abstract: the words "unbelievable facts" do not, in my opinion,
show that Ikegami does not believe, but are likely to be an inept translation
of something like "incredible" - as also used by Ed Storms in his review
paper. I did glean a bit more out of that paper. I really should learn
Japanese, maybe.
Ono et al looked at the Pd surface and reckon they found something of interest
but are not sure. Shirai et al used a strange twist, i.e. a large current
flowing through the anode surrounding the Pd cathode, but not going through
the electrolyte - another way of providing "nonequilibrium", I suppose. They
didn't find much, though, except for an "extraordinary" (i.e. unexpectedly
high) gamma event, and temperature rise, both single events. If I look at my
long record of Gaussian random numbers, I can find quite a few multi-sigma
"events"...
Some of you might be interested by the IR spectroscopy of the Mexicans, Tamayo
et al. This showed that H2O impurities in D2O are present in the form of DHO,
something I had long supposed but couldn't (or was too lazy to) prove. Other
than that, they didn't find anything exciting.
Yet another experimental approach was tried by Tateno et al, who thought that
if something interesting happens as you warm up deuterised Ti (e.g. neutron
emission), this might also show up as a change in internal friction. It
didn't.
                                                                        Dieter
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                     COLD NUCLEAR FUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                           Additions 3-Sep-1992
                   Dieter Britz alias [e-mail]
                           Total in Section 2: 734

Published articles, Letters; archived files CNF-PAP1..5
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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Barts BI, Barts DB, Grinenko AA;             Sov. J. Nucl. Phys. 55 (1992) 45.
Originally in: Yad. Fiz. 55 (1992) 79.
"Theory of nuclear reactions with the participation of slow charged particles
in solids".
** Two aspects of the crystal environment of purported solid state cold fusion
are investigated. One is the screening of d-d pairs by valence electrons of
the crystal. It is shown that at low energies, this is very important and the
rate of fusion can be enhanced by many orders of magnitude. The other is the
possibility of two deuterons moving together into a region of minimum crystal
potential at the centre of a cell, where their wave functions might overlap
and the fusion rate can increase by one or two tens of orders of magnitude.
These effects are not enough, however, to explain experimental claims.
                                                                 Jul-91/Jan-92
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Chatterjee L, Chakraborty A, Das G;  Indian J. Pure Appl. Phys. 29 (1991) 781.
"Non-radiative exit channels in low energy d-d fusion".
** A theoretical look at collisional and muon-catalysed d-d fusion at low
energies (the two differ in important ways). Phase space effects might alter
the ratio of the two main exit branches t-p and (3)He-n. Indeed, calculations
support this, though deviations from unity are smallish except for muon
catalysed d-d fusion at high muon energies.                      Apr-91/Dec-91
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Fedorovich GV;                           Sov. Phys. Tech. Phys. 36 (1991) 847.
Originally in: Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 61 (1991) 1.
"Coulomb interaction in an E-cell".
** If the width of the tunnelling barrier were reduced, the fusion tunnelling
rate would increase. This takes place in an E-cell, a radiation defect created
by a thermal neutron in a crystal cell of hydrides of certain light elements
such as Li or B. So in, e.g., LiD, there might be appreciable d-d fusion, as
suggested by the Soviet fractofusion results.                    Feb-90/Aug-91
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Ikegami H;                             Oyo Buturi 60 (1991) 212 (in Japanese).
INSPEC abstract cited by Jon Webb on sci.physics.fusion (NEWS), 6-Jul-92.
"Present and future of cold fusion. Nuclear products from cold fusion".
** A review, in the context of fusion in general, of the cold fusion claims of
neutrons and tritium. The control, i.e. the reproducibility of experiments is
essential. The major results of the past few years are summarised, ranging
over about 14 orders of magnitude in intensity from the neutron emissions of
Menlove to excess heat of Pons and Fleischmann.                  Jan-91/Mar-91
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Jones SE;                               Surf. Coatings Technol. 51 (1992) 283.
"Current issues in cold fusion research: heat, helium, tritium, and energetic
particles".
** Four major issues current in cold fusion are explored in this paper.
Transfer, by some cooperative process, of released nuclear energy into the
metal hydride lattice a heat: the distances are too large, and the Moessbauer
effect is not relevant in this context. Thus, the (4)He branch, without the
accompanying commensurate radiation, is impossible. There is considerable
doubt about the China Lake results. At least two data points were thrown out,
both of some significance. The results are considered in error, the helium no
doubt coming in as contamination. The calorimetry at China Lake, too, was poor
and the excess heat well within the probable error. Thirdly, tritium
production without secondary neutrons is inconsistent. Lastly, large amounts
of heat without commensurate nuclear emissions are not possible, so excess
heat claims, too, are in error. This leaves the Jones et al findings of very
low level neutron emissions, possibly connected with geological tritium and
(3)He production; the phenomenon is of academic, rather than practical,
importance.
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McKee JSC, Smith GR, Durocher JJG, Johnston HL, Mathur MS, Mayer JK, Mirzai A,
Yeo YH, Hempel A, Hnatiuk H, King S;
Nucl. Instr. Methods Phys. Res. B67 (1992) 448.
"The role of fractofusion in the creation of anomalies in neutron production
from deuterium-implanted solids".
** Purely on the basis of d-d separation (389 pm in Pd, 404 pm in PdD, 74 pm
in D2 gas), cold fusion is unlikely. Here, the fracto-scenario is examined.
Can the material fracture, and might there be metal-dielectric transitions in
the deuteride? Cracks are well documented, and in an ionic crystal, the time
constant of potential decay of a 1 mu crack is long enough to support the
required acceleration. In a metallic conductor, however, the times are much
smaller, unless the region around a crack becomes a dielectric, and this is
thought to be possible. Fusion from acceleration should be accompanied by the
emission of x-rays, and work is in progress.
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Moizhes BYa;                             Sov. Tech. Phys. Lett. 17 (1991) 540.
Originally in: Pis'ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 17 (1991) 15.
"Formation of a compact D2 molecule in interstitial sites - a possible
explanation for cold nuclear fusion".
** Cold fusion has been observed, says Moizhes, and only remains to be
explained. One possibility is the statistical close approach of two deuterons
due to screening. The question is whether a stable D2 molecule can form in the
deuteride crystal, and what the d-d distance in it would be. Electron overlap
between the D2 and the Pd centres would compress the molecule to about 0.3 A
and the resulting energy makes it feasible that an electrolysis voltage of
10V or so could force two d nuclei into an interstitial site, enabling Jones
levels of fusion. More work is needed to confirm this.           Apr-91/Aug-91
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Ono H, Takahashi S, Morisaki H, Yazawa K;
Denki Tsushin Daigaku Kiyo 4 (1991) 235 (in Japanese, English abstract).
"Absorption and desorption of hydrogen and deuterium into palladium".
** SEM was used to look at the surface morphology of Pd upon electrolysis in
0.1M LiOH and LiOD in normal and heavy water, resp. In LiOD, crater-like
features appear on the Pd, but not in LiOH, after thousands of electrolysis
hours. A neutron detector was placed into a Wada-Nishizawa-type glass bulb
containing Pd and pressurised D2 gas, with an electric discharge passed
between the Pd rods. No neutrons were observed above background.      ?/Dec-91
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Rambaut M;                                       Phys. Lett. A 164 (1992) 155.
"Double screened Coulomb barrier accounts for neutrons productions in cluster
and other fusion experiments".
** A dense medium like Pd deuteride can be considered as a non-ideal plasma.
Assuming full ionisation, electron mobility and a Poisson ion spatial
distribution, the rate of d-d fusion is enhanced by both collisions between
d-d pairs and electron screening, and this might explain both cold fusion and
cluster impact fusion.                                           Sep-91/Apr-92
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Shirai O, Kihara S, Sohrin Y, Matsui M;
Bull. Inst. Chem. Res., Kyoto Univ. 69 (1991) 550.
"Some experimental results relating to cold nuclear fusison".
** A 5 or 10 mm diameter, 10-15 mm long Pd rod was the cathode and a
surrounding cylindrical Pt the anode in an electrolysis in 1M LiCl in D2O;
electrolysis currents of about 500 mA were used, and an extra current of 5A
passed through the Pt net. Gamma emission was monitored with a GM counter, and
electrolyte temperature with a thermocouple. Out of about 50 runs, one showed
a rapid temperature rise, and some extraordinary gamma emission was seen. The
d-p reaction is suggested as an explanation. Some further experiments showed
that deuterium is both adsorbed on and can permeate into Pd.          Nov-91/?
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Tamayo JMM, Rivas JM, Celis BZ, Garcia FPR, Penaloza ON;
Rev. Inst. Mex. Pet. 22 (1990) 42 (in Spanish).
"Experiments on cold fusion at IMP".
** A number of experiments on cold fusion were run at the Mexican Petroleum
Institute IMP, to prove or disprove the effect. IR spectra were measured for
both H2O and the D2O used; the latter showed no H2O peak, but some HDO
impurity. LiOD was prepared by electrolysis from LiCl in D2O. Gamma radiation
background was measured over 24 hours with NaI, and during electrolysis runs.
Tritium was also monitored. No significant radiation was detected, although
there was, upon magnification, a very small gamma peak at 2.224 MeV. No heat
was observed. Some tritium increases, roughly in line with electrolysis time,
was observed. No conclusions as to the reality of cnf are drawn.
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Tateno H, Iwashita Y;           Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Suppl. 30-1, 30 (1991) 41.
"An attempt to observe nuclear fusion in titanium by internal friction".
** The internal friction and resonant frequency of oscillation of Ti charged
with deuterium from the gas phase were measured, and compared with those using
hydrogen. The Ti was degassed at 600 C and loaded at liquid nitrogen
temperature. Upon warming up, there were changes in internal friction and
resonant frequency and some differences between deuterium and hydrogen;
however, nothing was observed at the temperature at which other workers
reported neutron emissions.                                           Jan-91/?
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Dieter Britz alias [e-mail]
Kemisk Institut, Aarhus Universitet, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
Telephone: [phone] (8:30-16:00 weekdays); fax: [phone]
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