Abstract
An experimental program is described in this paper, aiming at detecting the formation of correlated coherent states (CCSs) in thin surface layers of crystals when bombarded by a very low energy proton or deuteron beam. CCSs are a generalization of ``nonclassical'' states of light, such as coherent and squeezed states, whose existence has been demonstrated long ago, giving rise to the remarkable development of quantum optics. In other fields, ranging from condensed matter physics to cosmology, such states have been intensively studied, but a clear signature of their existence is still lacking. This may be a clue to several unexplained phenomena, including the strong enhancement of nuclear fusion reaction rates in some crystal lattices, which have been reported on by several experiments and cannot be accounted for by electron screening only. Such an investigation is extremely relevant to nuclear astrophysics studies, few-body nucleon systems, and nucleon nucleon-interaction problems and, in particular, to energy-related nuclear fusion studies.
Highlights
In other fields, ranging from condensed matter physics to cosmology, such states have been intensively studied, but a clear signature of their existence is still lacking. This may be a clue to several unexplained phenomena, including the strong enhancement of nuclear fusion reaction rates in some crystal lattices, which have been reported on by several experiments and cannot be accounted for by electron screening only
A strong enhancement of the sub-barrier nuclear fusion cross section has been reported in the recent past by several experiments [1], which cannot be accounted for by the usual electron screening effect
The reaction rate will depend on the correlation factor r, which cannot be predicted at this level, because no previous measurement was ever done at such low energies (≤1 keV)
Summary
A strong enhancement of the sub-barrier nuclear fusion cross section has been reported in the recent past by several experiments [1], which cannot be accounted for by the usual electron screening effect. A very intriguing effect has been recently observed by an independent group [4], which used a low energy proton beam and a thin crystalline lithium target (foil) or nanocrystalline ðLiÞN fragments formed by the evaporation of lithium. In these experiments, a big bump in the counting rate of produced fast alpha particles was found at an energy of about 8.6 MeV, thereby providing evidence of the occurring reaction 7Liðp; αÞ4He (Q 1⁄4 17.35 MeV). The importance of such an investigation is to be found in a plethora of nuclear, astrophysical, and cosmological studies, and in the development of new energy-producing systems, including low-energy nuclear reactions
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