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The 2005 MIT Cold
Fusion Colloquium, Honoring Eugene Mallove
Scott
Chubb
Dr. Mitchell Swartz (MIT '70, '84) is
to be commended for arranging another scientific meeting at MIT for cold fusion
scientists, other scientists and engineers, potential investors, and patent lawyers
who have monitored the field, as well as individuals who are beginning to be aware
of the field. Though he has organized conferences since 1991, this one had two
purposes: 1) To commemorate and honor the memory of former cold fusion scientist
and engineer, and editor and founder of Infinite Energy, Dr. Eugene Mallove
(MIT '69); and 2) To help to advance communication about cold fusion. Dr. Swartz
also is to be commended for organizing a gathering where related issues of a controversial
nature, about cold fusion, could be discussed. These included an open-ended discourse
about a new theory involving a potential form of coherent nuclear reaction, additional
discourse about issues related to patents, the breakdown of the patent process
in areas related to cold fusion, and the lack of scientific dialogue about the
field that resulted from particular events associated with the early, inappropriate,
and inaccurate assessments by mainstream scientists (including prominent individuals
at MIT) about particular experiments. A number of individuals who either are employed
by MIT or actively interact with individuals who work there should also be commended
for trying to alter the existing dynamic. These include Dr. Mitchell Swartz and
Profs. Peter Hagelstein and Keith Johnson, who have been directly involved not
only with MIT scientists but with members of the cold fusion community.
Dr.
Swartz is also to be commended for organizing and publicizing this event, with
modest support and in a short period of time. Swartz's former colleague, Richard
Shyduroff, was helpful in arranging the particular location (the Physics Department
at MIT) for the event. In particular, Shyduroff, who was a co-founder of MIT's
E-Club (entrepreneurial club), agreed that in exchange for giving a lecture on
cold fusion to the MIT's E-Club's Transportation Forum, the E-Club agreed to work
with JET Thermal Products and Cold Fusion Times to get a room at MIT. This
was hoped to be in the same physics room (the Kodak Room, a.k.a. "6-120")
where Mitchell, Gene Mallove, and Richard had cold fusion meetings twice in the
early 1990s. MIT's E-Club alumni helpers included Kurt Kevelle (MIT '90), Dave
Sirkin ('92), Nancy Gardner ('81) and Geoff Day, Nick Haschka, John Hawksley,
Robert Tompkins, and Corey Fucetola. Gayle Verner from JET Thermal Products was
a major help throughout. The zest soon led to securing not only the Kodak Room,
but also the nearby Killian Room, where the tribute to Gene Mallove was held. The
event, held on May 21, 2005, and the location were especially appropriate. The
event was timely because although Eugene Mallove was tragically murdered slightly
more than a year ago, many people who have been involved with cold fusion research
have not had the opportunity to publicly acknowledge and mourn their deeply-felt
sense of loss. The timing of the event, which was slightly more than a year after
Eugene's death, and its location, reflect well not only on Mitchell but on Eugene.
In the truest sense, it goes without saying that the sincerity by these people
conveyed the essence of the most important attributes of Eugene's character and
life, and his involvement with science: To speak up robustly and truthfully, with
a sense of awe and fascination about issues that count in life and in science. Scientific
talks related to cold fusion, the associated controversy, and related science
were scheduled in the Physics Department, Room 6-120, at MIT, between 8:30 a.m.
and 6:30 p.m. Following the scientific talks, additional informal discussions
and presentations took place, including a screening of a movie about cold fusion,
"Breaking Symmetry," produced and written by former MIT professor, Dr.
Keith Johnson, which evolved as a direct consequence of a misrepresentation of
the relevant science, including a fraudulent negative excess heat measurement,
that took place at the MIT Plasma Fusion Center, immediately after the initial
cold fusion announcements in 1989. This movie has not been widely distributed,
but is available from Infinite Energy and on Amazon.com. It reportedly
has inspired a collaborative effort between the well-known Boston PBS television
station WGBH and Disney (through ABC television) to develop a television series,
titled "The Institute," that will document failures by MIT administrators
to deal with fraudulent claims of "negative" cold fusion results. Approximately
90 to 150 people were in attendance throughout the program, at any one time. The
audience included mainstream scientists associated with the field, scientists
from the academic and private sectors, potential investors, and students. The
day was kicked off with an array of morning refreshments and then a brief introduction
by Dr. Mitchell Swartz, Science Coordinator of the Event, and President of JET
Thermal Products, Inc. Dr. Mitchell Swartz began the colloquium
pointing out that cold fusion can decrease our reliance on foreign energy sources
and make the Kyoto Protocol moot. The amount of heavy water contained in one cubic
mile of ocean contains— if tapped through cold fusion— the energy equivalent
of known oil reserves on Earth. If cold fusion were to substitute for current
energy production systems, then pollution and harmful "greenhouse" gases
would disappear as present pollution (30,000 tons carbon dioxide, 600 tons sulfur
dioxide, and 80 tons nitrogen oxide from 9,000 tons of coal per gigawatt-day)
would be replaced by only four pounds of safe inert helium. Professor
David J. Nagel, from George Washington University, presented the first scientific
talk, which was an overview of many of the effects that have been observed in
experiments related to cold fusion (and low-energy nuclear reactions—LENR).
Professor Nagel became involved with cold fusion, almost from the outset, while
he was working as superintendent of the Condensed Matter and Radiation Science
Division at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). In this capacity, he initially
observed events in the field and, subsequently (to a limited extent) sponsored
research related to cold fusion and in related areas at NRL; he also wrote important
review papers about the field. In 2004, he, Peter Hagelstein, Mike McKubre, Randall
Hekmann, and Talbot Chubb prepared a detailed white paper, in which key effects
from cold fusion experiments were summarized for the DOE review panel that re-assessed
research in this area. In his talk, Nagel summarized some of the more important
effects that (my paraphrase of his words) "are so convincing that they simply
will not go away." In particular, Nagel provided a detailed
summary of evidence that "cold fusion" involves nuclear reactions. He
began by citing the types of nuclear evidence, including: 1) Evidence that the
amounts of excess heat are so large that it would violate the laws of physics
and chemistry to explain them as being anything but the result of nuclear reactions;
2) Evidence that additional amounts of the usual, garden variety of helium (heavy
helium) that is most abundant in nature appears after the excess heat is produced
at the levels that would be expected, based on the assumption that virtually all
of the mass that is lost (through a deuteron (d) + d 
helium-4 nucleus, nuclear reaction) is being converted into heat, in a manner
that is consistent with the E=mc2 relationship, identified by Einstein;
3) Evidence that radioactive tritium (the unstable isotope, hydrogen-3) has been
observed at levels well beyond background only when deuterium is used; 4) Evidence
that in a number of experiments, significant amounts of neutrons, X-rays, and
gamma-rays have been observed in these kinds of experiments; 5) Evidence that
large, localized forms of energy release are taking place, as manifested by unusual
deformations ("craters") at the surfaces of electrodes that (as emphasized,
subsequently, by Russ George) are difficult to account for by normal physics and
chemistry, and 6) Evidence that hot spots involving significant, local heating
is taking place at the surfaces of cathodes. In addition, Professor Nagel pointed
out that a body of evidence is accumulating that indicates that new elements are
being created in cold fusion reactions. To support the idea
that forms of transmutations might be taking place, Nagel cited a non-random pattern
in the isotopes that has been observed independently in the work by Mizuno and
Miley, in this context. He also emphasized the remarkable findings by Kevin Wolf,
in which characteristic gamma ray signatures throughout the spectrum of elements
were observed, suggesting that many different kinds of nuclear decays and reactions
appear to be possible, as a consequence of LENR. Professor Nagel also provided
a hand-out that summarized a new, novel theory by Widom and Larsen, involving
a speculation that weak interactions might play an important role in a number
of effects. Professor Yeong Kim mentioned that he had thought of a similar idea
in the past, but had concluded that the effect probably would not account for
most of the phenomena. In fact, Widom and Larsen appear to
have made use of ideas that were also suggested by former University of Tennessee
Professor Lali Chatterjee (now, primary U.S. Editor for the Institute of Physics
Publishing), during a symposium held June 7-11, 1998, in Nashville, Tennessee,
by the American Nuclear Society, that was organized by Professor George Miley.
As opposed to these earlier formulations, Widom and Larsen have developed a more
refined model that potentially has a useful triggering mechanism for initiating
the process. On the other hand, as I pointed out, their theory
is incomplete, in the sense that although it does suggest a possible, cooperative
effect (based on potentially large changes in electromagnetic field that could
be induced through surface plasmons, in the neighborhood of palladium-deuteride,
or a deuterium rich nickel surface), the theory does not explain how the resulting
reaction (which involves the formation of neutrons, from proton-electron capture)
would lead to observed by-products, at rates commensurate with experiments. An
interesting point, in this context, is that magnetic effects, potentially, could
trap the neutrons (which are dispersed over many unit cells) in surfaces of nickel
(where magnetism is present) in a way that could explain why nickel (Ni) might
favor excess heat reactions, involving a "normal" or "light"
hydrogen nucleus (consisting of protons), as opposed to a heavy hydrogen nucleus
(consisting of a proton-neutron pair). I also suggested, in
this context, that the situation involving heavy deuterium in palladium, as opposed
to the apparent situation involving "normal" (or "light")
water in situations involving nickel, could be very different and that their theory,
potentially, could apply in the nickel situation (where it has been difficult
to understand how a reaction could occur involving protons, exclusively), but
not in the palladium-deuteride situation (where ordinary deuteron (d) + d
helium-4 appears to be the more logical reaction). Professor Nagel suggested that
although he was not capable of responding to the points that Professor Kim and
I had made, the fact that we had raised these points appeared to imply that the
theory suggested by Widom and Larsen might have important consequences for guiding
future experiments. An interesting point, in this context, involves a potentially
testable hypothesis: That electric fields that are as much as 100-1,000 times
greater than those present in near-equilibrium situations in conventional palladium-deuteride
surfaces would be involved in the potential triggering mechanism. Russ
George spoke next and provided a summary of work in cold fusion. But as opposed
to providing a more general overview of the many different effects that have been
observed, he focused on particular experiments that are related to the most promising
effects. In particular, George provided an excellent summary, similar to the one
he presented at the APS meeting that took place on March 24, which is discussed
in a separate article in this issue (see p. 42). In particular, he discussed some
of his work in sonofusion, electrolysis, and helium measurements. He also provided
background about a number of key effects associated with the field, and identified
a new approach (which he referred to as a form of argument, which I would paraphrase
as "forensic evidence of nuclear reactions") for justifying the idea
that nuclear reactions are taking place, based on a comparison of scanning electron
microscope (SEM) images of changes in surface morphology in the electrodes used
in his work on sonofusion, and the work by Pamela Mosier-Boss. George
further suggested that this kind of analysis applies to known features associated
with collisions of alpha (and other) particles at the surfaces of metals in fission
reactions. In particular, even crude estimates of the local energy densities that
are required to create the kinds of crater-like structures that he and Pamela
Mosier-Boss observed, that also appear to be present in these alpha particle emissions
(from fission reactions), are so large that it would be difficult to account for
their appearance, based on the normal situation in metals. Similar structures
were also observed by Vittorio Violante (and co-workers) in experiments carried
out at the ENEA, Frascati Cold Fusion facility, in Italy. He also suggested, based
on work that he did with Arata in Japan, and with gas-loading experiment procedures
developed by Les Case (which George performed at SRI), that the key to reproducible
excess heat may involve the use of nano-scale size Pd crystals. In
keeping with the philosophy of emphasizing important, common trends associated
with most cold fusion experiments, Russ George did not emphasize a number of nuclear
effects that have been difficult to reproduce (such as the production of neutrons,
high energy particles, and tritium), which Professor Nagel mentioned in his talk.
An important point, in this context, is associated with perspective and emphasis.
Nagel made these comments in order to emphasize the breadth and depth of the unknown
effects, while George emphasized effects and trends which are reasonably well-accepted,
within the community, and which may have practical utility. Emeritus
Professor John Dash, from Portland State University, presented a talk, titled,
"Characterization of Titanium Cathodes After Electrolysis in Heavy Water."
Dash presented preliminary results involving high resolution transmission electron
microscopy of a thin titanium cathode after electrolysis in heavy water. The technique
provides a new method for resolving lattice related effects (through fringe patterns)
at spacing less than 1-10 millionth of an inch (1 billionth of a meter). These
patterns allow him and his co-workers to isolate and identify individual crystals
and the arrangement of crystals in a larger matrix. At these scales, collections
of particles in square cross section-like patterns were observed, indicating particular
structures (similar in length scale to the kinds of structures that George suggested
might be important). These square structures contained Ti, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pt
atoms, some of which could be the result of nuclear transmutations. The Pt probably
originated from the Pt anode that was used in the electrolysis, but the origin
of the other elements is not known. Further studies are necessary and are being
undertaken. Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) was used to analyze the masses
of the unusual elements that were found. MIT Electrical Engineering
Professor Peter Hagelstein summarized some of the more important developments
in his theory (involving a 16 year effort) to understand anomalies in metal-D
systems. His newer, more important results are based on new ideas involving potential
forms of nuclear coordinate coupling to coordinates associated with lattice vibrations
(phonons) and electrons, which have coordinates that change considerably more
slowly and over longer distances. To make this coupling occur, he suggests that
coherent phonons (similar to coherent photons, in lasers) can cause phonon-nuclear
coupling that can result in nuclear reactions. I summarized some of this material
in my article on the APS session (see p. 43). (Also, during the APS session, I
presented some of the material that he presented at MIT. An audio recording of
this is available through www.newenergytimes.com.)
Important points are: 1) That including lattice effects (through phonons) involving
changes in nuclear coordinates have been ignored in the past; 2) Changes in these
coordinates can lead to coherent forms of coupling between the lattice and nuclear
positions that do not occur in free space; and 3) That these forms of coupling
can lead to the formation of new and novel forms of compact deuteron-deuteron
pairs that potentially can be capable of interacting with Pd nuclei and isotopes
of Pd. Hagelstein further speculates that these forms of coupling
can cause neutrons to be released, with intermediate forms of momentum (i.e.,
between extremely low momentum, associated with conventional interactions with
a lattice, and higher momentum where this cannot take place) through a distribution
that can be capable of coupling neutrons and/or charged particles in new and novel
ways. The theory can potentially explain a number of "fast alpha reactions"
(i.e., reactions that involve energetic helium-4 nuclei) and multi-deuteron
reactions (i.e., reactions involving many proton-neutron pairs), associated
with potential multi-deuteron effects observed by Kasagi and with alpha emissions,
observed by Lipson. Hagelstein also suggested that neutrons, released through
coupling involving compact deuteron pairs with Pd nuclei, might provide a mechanism
for creating neutron clusters. These clusters, in turn, based on ideas that John
Fisher suggested at ICCF10 and ICCF11, could lead to the formation of charged
particle clusters that could explain anomalous alpha particle tracks that Oriani
has observed in CR-39 films, located outside cold fusion cells. At
the conclusion of his talk, Hagelstein was asked a question that has been at the
forefront of cold fusion research since it began: What possible impact could cold
fusion science have on society? In response to this question, optimistically Professor
Hagelstein suggested that recently he became aware of something very novel and
new: The possibility that a commercial cold fusion device would be marketed soon,
by a group working with an individual from South Korea who had received a patent
for a cold fusion-related technology. After Professor Hagelstein's
talk, at about 11:30 a.m., attendees made their way to the Killian Room for a
memorial service for Gene Mallove. Individuals involved with cold fusion, as well
as other individuals who knew and admired Gene, expressed their deeply-felt sorrow
about his tragic murder. His widow, Joanne, and their son, Ethan, expressed their
gratitude for honoring Gene and remembering him with this conference. Then friends
and colleagues came to the microphone to share very poignant memories of their
friendship and interactions with this cold fusion advocate and scientist whose
life was so brutally cut short on May 14, 2004. Mitchell Bogart recited kiddush,
the Jewish prayer for those who have passed on. The admiration,
sincerity, and heartfelt remarks at this event were truly moving and inspiring.
As I arrived home after the conference, in thinking about all of the fascinating
things I had heard throughout the day, this event stood out because it really
reminded me about what counts: Truly sincere, idealistic people like Gene bring
out the best in all of us. The events at the MIT colloquium mirrored this. Gene
brought us there, if not in the flesh, in the spirit of the people, what they
said, and with the intensity of their words. After the memorial
service, an informal luncheon took place. This was the first opportunity for attendees
of the colloquium to talk to each other informally as they enjoyed a fabulous
array of Vietnamese and Thai foods. It was at this point that
I began to appreciate both the depth (in a number of cases) and the breadth of
the interest of individuals who attended the conference. After the luncheon, a
new session took place that focused primarily on theoretical talks. The
first talk was presented by Professor Yeong Kim, from Purdue University. Professor
Kim presented a talk, titled, "Theory of Boson Ground-State Fusion Mechanism
for Cold Fusion and Acoustic-Induced Cold Fusion with Micro/Nano-Scale High-Density
Plasmas in Deuterated Metals/Liquids." By way of introduction, Professor
Kim began by emphasizing that there have been many reports of experimental evidences
for LENR processes in condensed matter as documented in a recent DOE review (discussed
in IE #58 and #61; also see www.sc.doe.gov) and through the various ICCF
Proceedings. However, he also emphasized that most experimental results cannot
be reproduced on demand. This situation has prevented us from the development
of a coherent theoretical understanding or working theoretical model of the phenomenon,
which can be used to guide us in designing and carrying out new experimental tests
to sort out essential parameters and controls, needed to achieve reproducibility
on demand (ROD). In the talk, Kim outlined a procedure for doing this, through
a theoretical model that he has developed that is based on a Bose-Einstein (BE)
fusion mechanism that is applicable to the results of many different types of
LENR and transmutation experiments. Kim pointed out that there
have been a number of recent experimental results that indicate that LENR processes
in condensed matter are surface phenomena (SP) that occur in micro- and nano-scale
active (hot) spots in the surface regions rather, than bulk phenomenon (BP) in
the bulk of the deuterated metals. He and his colleague Z.L. Zubarev have carried
out a number of theoretical studies, involving the proposed BE fusion mechanism,
using an approximate solution to the many-body Schrödinger equation for a
system of N identical charged, integer-spin nuclei ("Bose" nuclei) confined
in micro- and nano-scale cavities (Y.E. Kim and A.L. Zubarev, Fusion Tech.,
37, 151, 2000; Y.E. Kim and A.L. Zubarev, Italian Physical Society Proceedings,
70, 37, 2000; Y.E. Kim and A.L. Zubarev, Physical Review A, 64, 013603,
2001; Y.E. Kim, Progress of Theoretical Physics Supplement, 154, 379, 2004;
Y.E. Kim and A.L. Zubarev, "Mixtures of Charged Bosons Confined in Harmonic
Traps and Bose-Einstein Condensation Mechanism for Low Energy Nuclear Reactions
and Transmutation Processes in Condensed Matters," Proceedings of ICCF11,
Marseille, France, 2004). To apply their BE fusion mechanism,
the ground-state solution is used to obtain theoretical estimates of the probabilities
and rates of nuclear fusion for N identical Bose nuclei confined in an ion trap
or an atomic cluster. One of the main predictions is that (due to the many-body
nature of the problem) the Coulomb interaction between two charged bosons may
be suppressed when a sufficiently large number N of Bose nuclei are included and
that, as a consequence, the conventional Gamow factor (associated deuteron-deuteron
fusion) may be absent. Recently, he and A.L. Zubarev have generalized the one-species
LENR theory of the BE fusion mechanism that they have used for reactions such
as (D+D) to the two-species case and applied it to (D+Li) reactions (Y.E. KIM
and A.L. Zubarev, Proceedings of ICCF11, Marseille, France, 2004). The
only unknown parameter of the theory is the probability of the BE ground-state
occupation W. Since W is expected to increase as the effective temperature of
the BE ground-state decreases, the nuclear reaction rates for the BE fusion mechanism
are expected to increase at lower temperatures. Kim suggested
that a number of effects could be explained through the BE fusion principle (and
its extension to the two-species case). The effects include the following: 1)
deuteron beam experiments (Kasagi et al., Rolf et al., and others),
in which anomalously large cross-sections for high energy particle emission are
observed when low energy deuterons strike a Ti (or other metal) target that has
been loaded with deuterium; 2) electrolysis experiments (for example, along the
lines of the work by Fleischmann and Pons); 3) gas experiments (Arata and Zhang,
Case, and others); 4) nuclear emissions (Jones et al., ICCF10, and others);
5) transient acoustic cavitation experiments (Stringham et al. and others);
6) neutron-induced acoustic cavitation experiments; 7) bubble fusion results (by
Taleyarkhan et al., Science, 295, 1868, 2002), involving cavitating
bubbles imploding upon themselves, at nucleation centers. The
basis of the principle that Kim suggested could account for all of these effects
involves two steps: 1) The formation of a high density plasma (D+'s,
e-'s, etc.) trapped in a micro/nano-scale cavity in a metal surface
region; and 2) Trapped within the cavity, the plasma's kinetic energy becomes
stifled, and the individual D+'s are forced into a common (lowest energy)
bosonic, many-body state. (This kind of state, effectively, can mimic a Bose Einstein
Condensate so that momentum can be transferred to many entities in the state,
instantaneously.) As opposed to the situation involving other Bose Condensates,
in the many-body state suggested by Professor Kim in order for nuclear reactions
to take place, the Coulomb repulsion between each D+ with the remaining
D+'s is included explicitly. The associated barrier is overcome through
an energy minimization procedure that includes a competition between attractive
forces provided by a harmonic trapping potential (similar to potentials provided
by magneto-optical traps, that are used to trap alkali atoms in atomic Bose Einstein
Condensates) and Coulomb repulsion. The predictions of the BE fusion mechanism
can be tested in well-designed experiments in order to find out whether the BE
fusion mechanism is a correct unifying theory for the LENR and transmutation processes
in condensed matter. An interesting feature of the BE mechanism is that it predicts
that with decreasing temperature, reaction rate can actually go up (which is consistent
with a similar prediction that Talbot Chubb and I have made). Dr.
Mitchell Swartz gave the next talk entitled, "Possible Parameter to Describe
Optimal Operating Point." In it, he emphasized a number of important, but
somewhat subtle points, about hydrogen absorption, loading, flux, and the ratio
of energies controlling loading (organizing energy from the applied electric field
intensity to the random disorder of thermal energy) and how to obtain the excess
heat effect that are not widely appreciated. He then developed a parameter which
he named in honor of Eugene Mallove. Swartz began with equations
showing that the loading of hydrogen into a metal lattice is very much a non-equilibrium
process because the mass transfer leading to metal loading (or worse, by Swartz's
continuum calculations, gas evolution) takes place in the changes evoked by the
applied electric field to the surface and bulk electrons and deuterons. These
changes occur inside, outside, and at the surface of the metal. The non-equilibrium
mass transfer process, driven by the applied electric field, plays a key role
in the generation of excess heat. Dr. Swartz's continuum loading flux equations
include diffusion down concentration gradients and electrophoretic drift from
an applied electric field. Rather than fitting curves, Dr. Swartz uses deuteron
diffusivity and electrophoretic mobility, to understand—and control—these
systems. He converts these parameters with the Einstein relation to illustrate
that the loading rate and ultimate deuteron availability (secondary to the applied
electric field) to the palladium lattice is basically at odds with gas evolution
at the cathode. Simply put, not all of the deuterons enter, and load, the metal. This
is important because Swartz's continuum deuteron flux equations predict that the
loading of hydrogen isotopes into the metal is controlled by the ratio of the
applied electric field energy to thermal energy kBT (kB=Boltzmann
constant, T=temperature) and is opposed by competitive gas evolving reactions
at the metal electrode surface. Swartz said in the equations that describe flux,
rate of flux, and related quantities, during the loading process, effectively,
electrolytically-induced effects, that have been widely viewed as being necessary
for initiating cold fusion (for example, bubble formation) at high-loading, generally
oppose the desired cold fusion reactions, which possibly suggests that fluctuations
that are induced by these effects (as opposed to the effects themselves) probably
are important. In particular, in one particular equation, from a paper he wrote
in 1992 (Swartz. M., Fusion Technology, 22, 296-300, 1992), the desired
contributions to the loading process are shown to have kinetics that are not proportional
to "electrolysis related terms," but (in appropriate units) to "1—the
associated electrolysis related terms." Swartz emphasized
that the flow equations are especially important because they predict the optimal
operating point (OOP) that is implicit in the behavior of cold fusion palladium-heavy
water systems and nickel-light water systems that produce excess heat. The OOPs
(or OOPs manifolds) can be found by plotting excess power (in the case of OOPs
manifolds, excess heat or helium, or other excess product) as a function of input
electrical power. The OOP is the relatively narrow peak (maximum) of the biphasic
production rate curve for the products obtained by the desired reactions (heat,
helium-4) as a function of input electrical power. At the center of the OOP, the
peak power ratio and system output are at a relative maximum, and so the peak
is where each system should be (optimally) operated. Driving with electrical input
power beyond this operating point yields a typical fall-off of the observed power
ratio for increasing input power or current levels, towards a power gain ratio
of 1 and then less. In particular, Swartz's plots of product
and heat output vs. input electrical power in a number of experiments (his, Arata/Zhang,
Miles, and others) all show this distinctive pattern, in which output power can
rise and decline suddenly, as the input power varies only by a relatively small
amount. He refers to the locations of these sharp variations in output as OOPS
manifold, with the peak referred to as the OOP. At the MIT
meeting, Swartz showed new graphs with information on how the OOP manifold, with
the OOP at the top of the manifold "tent," is dynamic and grows with
loading and electrode maturation (which takes weeks). Swartz also revealed a new
parameter which describes the shape of OOP manifold, and might herald significant
differences between different types of OOP manifolds. This parameter may enable
further understanding of how to control these devices and systems, and may predict
which can be engineered for precise control by servo- and other systems. Swartz
named that parameter to honor his friend and colleague, Dr. Eugene Mallove. Those
OOP manifolds that are very tall and thin ["high Malloves"] have the
highest likelihood of such servo-control, such as Dr. Bass suggested. For example,
the Arata data, described by Russ George, and is characterized by Swartz as "19
Mallove" OOP, indicating a very high, very narrow peak. The
heat and helium-4 production data of Pd/D2O of Dr. Swartz and Dr. Miles
have "4 Mallove" and "5 Mallove" OOP manifolds, which are
also robust, though less narrow, peaks of important cold fusion systems. Swartz
also presented new data obtained from his dual-ohmic control calorimeters, which
measure not only calibrated excess heat but also elucidate the boil-off effect
(first observed by Pons and Fleischmann, and subsequently by several other groups),
in which excess heat continues during electrolysis experiments, after all of the
electrolyte has boiled away. In particular, Swartz has shown that measurement
requires examining not just the integral of the released energy (the "heat
after death"), but also the kinetics of how it is produced, in the absence
of input power. In that sense, he feels it is more appropriate to view the effect
as being triggered by a form of delay in excess power production (possibly caused
by a redistribution of material). Within this context, he suggested that a more
appropriate term for "heat after death" might be "tardive thermal
power," which in a figurative sense, Dr. Swartz referred to as "the
first time-derivative of 'heat after death.'" Dr. Talbot
Chubb gave a talk titled, "How Physics Supports Cold Fusion." He suggested
that Fleischmann-Pons (F-P) cold fusion does not require new physics. Instead
it requires that the right physics be used to model the right problem. Normal
nuclear physics uses quantum mechanical scattering theory to model nuclear changes
that occur when high energy charged particles like protons and deuterons impact
nuclei. To understand cold fusion, he said it is necessary to model the right
problem using the right rules of the game. In a lattice, a good starting point
involves recognizing the difference between free space and a lattice. In free
space, deuterons are free to scatter and are not constrained in their motion by
other charged particles. In a lattice, deuterons are not free to scatter but are
constrained to move in particular ways by the particles in the lattice. For this
reason, the scattering rules that apply in free space fusion are not the appropriate
rules for describing fusion and other forms of LENR in solids. In
solids, the appropriate rules involve an energy minimization procedure that includes
all of the charged particles in the lattice. This, in turn, can lead to counter-intuitive
results, in which appreciable overlap between charged particles can take place.
In particular, he cited a well-known example of how harged particles (two electrons)
can have appreciable overlap in an environment (a neutral helium atom) where the
particles are constrained (through energy minimization) to "move" in
a particular way as a result of interacting with additional charged particles
(the two protons in the helium nucleus). Chubb said that, as opposed to some form
of scattering or collision (which would require high energy particles to be released)
in a lattice, the "trick" that can make cold fusion possible is the
discovery of how, as a result of the deuterons being in a metal lattice, it can
become possible to greatly reduce the potential energy and the associated proton-proton
and deuteron-deuteron repulsion, without requiring that the deuterons acquire
a high velocity. He said a "trick" is required because the kinetic energy
doesn't normally dominate the repulsion in a lattice (or elsewhere), especially
when the deuterons have low velocity. Chubb thinks the trick is what he calls
"coherent partitioning." He said that the idea of "coherent partitioning"
goes back to the 1920s, when Felix Bloch showed that valence electrons assume
a wave-like form when they exist in a metal. Their wave functions have the array
symmetry of their hosting metal crystal. This geometry has come to be called Bloch-function
symmetry. He said the valence electrons are "coherently partitioned,"
so that a part of each Bloch electron occurs in each unit cell in its metal crystal
host. The trick is to get some of the resident deuterons to assume the Bloch form. Dr.
Chubb emphasized that most of the rules that he believes are needed to understand
Pons and Fleischmann cold fusion are spelled out in standard textbooks (F. Seitz,
The Modern Theory of Solids, McGraw Hill, New York, 1940, pp. 195-234.;
E. Merzbacher, Quantum Mechanics, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1961,
pp. 64-75, 466-471) and are based on well-known ideas about quantum mechanics
that have been known since the time he learned the subject in the 1940s. The other
rules, he said, come from ideas and experimental results that have been published
in cold fusion literature and from known effects associated with the resonance
structure of alpha-alpha collisions and of 8Be that are explained in
a standard nuclear physics textbook (K. Heyde, Basic Ideasand Concepts in Nuclear
Physics , Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol, 1994, pp. 54, 299-323).
Chubb likes to think of cold fusion and related LENR as a
mystery story. Recently, he has come to believe that a key set of clues were provided
not only in the initial work of Fleischmann and Pons (M. Fleischmann and S. Pons,
J. Electroanal. Chem., 261, 301, 1989), but in the much more recent work
involving transmutations by Iwamura et al. (Y. Iwamura, M. Sakano, and T. Itoh,
"Elemental Analysis of Pd Complexes: Effects of D2 Gas Permeation,"
Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 41, 4642, 2002) and in the observations by Oriani
and Fisher (R.A. Oriani and J.C. Fisher, "Energetic Charged Particles Produced
in the Gas Phase by Electrolysis," Proc. ICCF10, World Scientific,
2005, in press) of alpha particle showers, outside electrolytic cells. [Editors
Note: We are publishing an article by Dr. Chubb, summarizing these and related
ideas, in the current issue of Infinite Energy—see p. 19.] After
Talbot Chubb spoke, I gave a talk, titled, "Understanding LENR Processes
and Cold Fusion, Using Conventional Condensed Matter Physics." I summarized
the relationship of the ion band state theory (that has formed the basis of Talbot
Chubb's and my theories about LENR) to the more general theoretical framework
(based on generalized multiple scattering theory) that can be used to understand
the relationship between a number of theories (our earlier theory, my more recent
improvements of this theory, associated with broken gauge symmetry, Peter Hagelstein's
theory, Yeong Kim's theory, Julian Schwinger's theory) that include mathematical
expressions that relate nuclear reaction rate to the underlying many-body physics. I
also presented a time-line that shows the history of our theory and its relationship
to experiments. In particular, in this context, I pointed out that as a result
of the agreement between four ion band state theory predictions and later experimental
observations, the credibility of the theory helped to inspire a ten-year, collaborative
effort (involving the Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, the Naval Space
Warfare Systems Center, and the Naval Research Laboratory) that focused on understanding
heat and anomalous nuclear effects in palladium-deuterium systems. The four predictions
(which were subsequently confirmed by experimental observations) were that in
the Pons and Fleischmann excess heat experiments: 1) The primary products should
be heat and helium-4; 2) The heat should be produced without high energy products
and should be at levels commensurate with the energy that results when helium-4
is produced from deuteron+deuteron fusion; 3) The helium-4 should be found primarily
outside and near the surfaces of PdD electrodes; and 4) High-loading would be
required to initiate the excess heat effect in PdD. Subsequently,
in the time-line that documented the relationship of our theoretical predictions
to experimental observations, I also pointed out an additional success: That based
on our suggestion that by embedding a number of micro-scale (and smaller) PdD
crystals into a porous medium, Dr. Bahkta Rath of the Naval Research Laboratory
(NRL) suggested to Dr. Ashraf Imam (also from NRL) that it might be useful for
him to prepare Pd-B alloys, with a Pd concentration that is sufficiently small
that the two metals would effectively remain segregated (i.e., they would
form an immiscible alloy). Subsequently, Dr. Imam made various immiscible Pd-B
alloys that Melvin Miles used as electrodes in excess heat experiments. Seven
out of eight of these alloys produced excess heat. In the one instance that the
alloy failed to produce excess heat, it was possible to identify a reason for
the failure: The alloy developed a significant fracture that made it impossible
to load it with deuterium at the levels that are required for producing excess
heat. I concluded my talk by discussing a very new result that
I had reported at the APS meeting: It is possible to identify a potential triggering
mechanism that not only is consistent with the underlying electronic structure
and behavior of fully-loaded PdD but can provide an explanation of the long incubation
times (which range between seconds or minutes and days, and even weeks) that are
required to initiate excess heat, after full-loading has been achieved. A novel,
and potentially key, aspect of this mechanism is that it suggests that the triggering
effect is related to crystal size: A critical range of sizes (involving characteristic
dimensions ranging between ~6 and 60 nano-meters) should be optimal for triggering
the effect; while at sizes larger than this, triggering times rapidly increase
to the point that the reaction will never take place. I have included additional
information about this aspect of my talk in the article about the APS meeting
that is also included in this issue [p. 40]. Dr. Robert Bass,
a senior engineer at Innoventech Inc., presented the final talk that was explicitly
related to cold fusion. Over the years, Dr. Bass, using concepts that have evolved
from efforts involving a number of well-known physicists, has developed an interesting,
semi-classical model that suggests LENR effects can be triggered by resonant phenomena,
defined by situations in which odd or even multiples of a deBroglie wavelength
of potentially interacting particles approximately equals the separation between
neighboring unit cells, in a one-dimensional lattice. According to this theory,
resonant fusion phenomena can be triggered through effects associated with the
behavior of a particular quantity (that he refers to as the Schwinger Ratio).
Because this quantity is proportional to the square root of the mass of the potentially
interacting particles, multiplied by the lattice spacing, its behavior is material
and mass dependent. Based on criteria associated with an observation that he has
made concerning potential tunneling, he has concluded that whether or not tunneling
can take place can be inferred from the requirement that the Schwinger Ratio be
either odd or even. From these criteria, Bass suggests it is possible to predict
that excess heat will be produced with both heavy water and "light"
water in Ni, but with heavy water only and not "light" water in Pd.
Bass mentioned that this particular prediction, to his knowledge, is counter-intuitive
to one which Rabinowitz (in Int. J. Theor. Phys.), after reviewing 371
cold fusion-theory papers, had argued that "no" known or foreseeable
cold fusion theory could ever possibly pass. Following Dr.
Bass, Emeritus MIT Professor Keith H. Johnson presented an interesting talk concerning
an idea that he and D.P. Clougherty published in July 1989 (in Modern Physics
Letters B, 3, 10, 795-803), concerning an hypothesis that some form of d-d
fusion reaction might be possible, as a result of a structural phase transition
that they predicted would occur (based on ab initio quantum chemistry calculations)
involving nano-crystalline forms of Pd. In particular, through this mechanism
(which could induce a strong, anharmonic distortion of the lattice), he said they
were able to find fusion rates that were comparable to those observed by Jones
et al. (based on their neutron measurements) but that they could not account for
the heat results (based on standard fusion models) observed by Pons and Fleischmann. During
his talk, Professor Johnson also provided some background about the screenplay
that he wrote for the movie, "Breaking Symmetry," which deals with a
fictitious story about cold fusion (that is based, in a peripheral way, on the
events that took place at MIT in 1989). He showed a number of film clips from
the movie. One particular scene was especially memorable because, indirectly,
one of the characters immortalized Eugene Mallove's book, Fire from Ice: Searching
for the Truth Behind the Cold Fusion Furor, by referring to the book as being
the authoritative source of correct information about cold fusion. It was especially
fitting that Professor Johnson showed this clip at a colloquium that was dedicated
to the memory of Gene.
There were also additional talks that
were not directly related to the science of cold fusion. These included a talk
by Professor Robert Rines, former head of MIT's patent office department and dean
and founder of the Franklin Pierce Law School, for Intellectual Property, about
the deliberate decision by the Patent and Trademark Office to block cold fusion.
There were also talks about non-cold fusion alternative clean energy systems.
These included talks by: Ken Shoulders, Peter Graneau, and Brian Ahern. Additional information
about work that Ken and his son Steve have done on charge clusters and related
effects can be found in Infinite Energy
#61. Peter Graneau's talk dealt with the idea of developing an alternative
energy storage process by partially extracting some of the latent heat energy
that is present at all air-water interfaces. Brian Ahern spoke about a new, clean
diesel technology. Acknowledgements
I would
like to thank Dr. Mitchell Swartz and Gayle Verner for helping me organize and
prepare this article and for providing material about their work. I would also
like to thank Talbot Chubb, John Dash, Yeong Kim, David Nagel, and Ken Shoulders
for providing additional material. Thanks also go to Steven Krivit and John Coviello
for providing a pre-publication version of an article that John prepared about
the MIT Colloquium, which will appear in the July edition of New Energy Times,
at www.newenergytimes.com. Mitchell
Swartz adds: "We are all grateful to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
for hosting the meeting and encouraging the scientific arts thereby. Every one
of the lecturers went out of their way to educate about cold fusion and alternative
energy technologies, and we thank them for their time. Outside support for the
2005 MIT Cold Fusion Colloquium was provided by JET Thermal Products, the New
Energy Foundation, Cold Fusion Times, the MIT E-Club, ZeroPoint, and GCR
Consulting LLC. As a result of their generosity, the event was a major contribution
to further advancing the dialogue and research on cold fusion and alternative
energy. Gene would have been very proud."
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