Catalysis of Transmutations by Heavy Electron Quasiparticles in Crystallites

TL;DR

This paper hypothesizes that heavy electron quasiparticles in crystalline solids can catalyze nuclear transmutations, providing a theoretical framework to estimate reaction conditions, compare predictions with experiments, and assess associated hazards.

Contribution

It introduces a novel tri-body model of heavy electron quasiparticles catalyzing nuclear transmutations in solids, extending chemical reaction concepts to nuclear processes.

Findings

Estimated electron mass thresholds for reactions

Predicted reaction products and energies

Comparison of model predictions with experimental data

Abstract

This article describes our hypothesis on how transmutations may be induced by solid state effects in a crystalline lattice. We discuss the chemical reaction case, our extension to the nuclear binding case, and a tri-body model of a heavy electron quasiparticle catalyzing the binding of two nearby ions. For a given primary reaction we can estimate the required electron mass threshold m*, identify possible reaction products, estimate tunneling probabilities, and calculate energies available for each path. We compare model predictions with experimental data of transmutations, and consider hazards associated with experiments.