Weak Interaction Neutron Production Rates in Fully Ionized Plasmas

TL;DR

This paper calculates neutron production rates via weak interactions in fully ionized plasmas and neutral gases, finding significant enhancement in ionized conditions, which could impact neutron generation estimates in plasma-related applications.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of neutron production rates in neutral and fully ionized plasmas using Coulomb wave functions, highlighting the enhanced rate in ionized plasmas.

Findings

Neutron production rate in neutral hydrogen agrees with previous estimates.

Fully ionized plasmas show a substantially increased neutron production rate.

Implication for neutron generation in water plasma drenched cathodes.

Abstract

Employing the weak interaction reaction wherein a heavy electron is captured by a proton to produce a neutron and a neutrino, the neutron production rate for neutral hydrogen gases and for fully ionized plasmas is computed. Using the Coulomb atomic bound state wave functions of a neutral hydrogen gas, our production rate results are in agreement with recent estimates by Maiani {\it et al}. Using Coulomb scattering state wave functions for the fully ionized plasma, we find a substantially enhanced neutron production rate. The scattering wave function should replace the bound state wave function for estimates of the enhanced neutron production rate on water plasma drenched cathodes of chemical cells.