Chapter 16
Essays on Science and Cold Fusion Research by Scientists
16.1 Makoto Okamoto
On The Cold Fusion
Researches
Makoto Okamoto
This essay was written as the foreword to
the special issue "Cold Fusion" of International Journal of the
Society of Materials Engineering for Resources (Japan) 6-1 (1998).
Makoto Okamato (Tohoku University)
Energy is the most important source for
human life. Only the nuclear fission energy is non-fossil energy in our
long-long history. We know the second atomic energy can be obtained by Nuclear
Fusion reaction of the hydrogen isotopes. The study and technological
development of the nuclear fusion energy have been carried out from almost same
time as of the nuclear fission energy development. Unlike the nuclear fission
energy, the nuclear fusion energy has been used only as hydrogen bomb. The
nuclear fission energy can be liberated in the very simple system.
The core of the nuclear fission power plant
consists of solid uranium fuel and liquid moderator/coolant in the room
temperature. It can be easily realized by the special property of the neutron.
The nuclear fission energy should be recognized as [very lucky energy] because
every thing in the nuclear fission power plant can be performed in condensed
phases at the room temperature. We have to know that we had nuclear fission
reactors naturally occurred on the Earth. Unfortunately, the nuclear fusion
reactions can be taken place in the plasma phase of the hydrogen isotopes, as
in the Sun.
The [Test tube Nuclear Reaction] concept by
Fleischmann and Pons consisted of the materials in the condensed phases at the
room temperature. If d - d fusion reaction takes place in such a
system, we can have a possibility to realize a nuclear fusion reactor similar
to the lucky nuclear fission reactors. Their concept was completely
unacceptable so far to the today's physics. But we never forget a phrase [What we know is like a mole hill, but what
we do not know is like a mountain].
Many researchers have carried out many,
many replication trials and several approaches have been tried to find the
evidences of the d - d nuclear reactions in condensed
materials. Even their hands could not succeed the replication of the
Fleischmann/Pons phenomena. They have included Fleischmann/Pons reported
different results in every time. The possible reason why the replications were
unsuccessful may be that the conditions of the experimental could not be
reproduced completely, because we must obtain the same results, when we can
replicate the experimental conditions completely.
From the very poor reproducibility, the
cold fusion phenomena had to be recognized as tremendously complicated
phenomena overlapped strongly in chemistry, electrochemistry, nuclear
chemistry, nuclear physics, metallurgy, calorimetry, and so on. Not a few
researchers have found that reproducibility to catch the evidences of the
anomalous phenomena were so poor. In this stage, they should know that the
anomalous phenomena is governed by many complicated parameters, and should
check the reproducibility of their experimental conditions as severe as
possible. Unfortunately, most of the researchers did not care of the
reproducibility of their experimental conditions. They were longing to find
more intense evidences by modifications of the parameters with very poor
scientific bases.
If, like Fleischmann and Pons concept, the
anomalous phenomena are caused from the d
- d nuclear fusion reactions, the
distance between \dee and \dee atoms has to be tremendously shortened as
expected in muon-catalyzed fusion model. But, there have been no models to
accumulate deuterium with anomalously high density in Pd cathode to increase
the reaction probability of the \dee \haihun \dee nuclear fusion. The
anomalously high density of the deuterium is only the base to find a way to use
word of [fusion] in their discussions.
Moreover, there have been not a few reports
in which instead of deuterium, protons induced some anomalous phenomena, such
as very big excess heat generation, nuclear transmutations, etc. Even if the
results reported were true, we cannot find any bases by which the results could
be explained scientifically. In these cases, they have to obtain the same
results by replication of their experiments. With poor reproducibility, nobody
can approve the occurrence of the anomalous phenomena.
Experiment is only one method to find new
phenomena and to verify the new phenomena to be true. To verify, we should
obtain the same results with same conditions, and we should use the approved
techniques in every issue. In the basic research program of the New Hydrogen
Energy Research Project, there have been a series of experimental studies based
on the [classic approaches], and found very interesting facts. These studies
may be good examples to wipe out the dark cloud over the so-called cold fusion
researches. I still now have an activity to find a possibility to utilize the
nuclear fusion energy in some lucky concept like the nuclear fission energy
systems.
16.2 Akito Takahashi
Why I study CF
Akito Takahashi (Osaka University)
Some of retired professors in our Department have been suggesting me: "You should do such a hobby work after your retirement, and concentrate on your normal work." I have been replying: " I am doing normal work with all the staff and most of students in the laboratory for surviving every day, but I have a right to keep my rest ability for doing the hobby, i.e. CF research with some of students since I like the hobby." It has passed 9 years for doing so.
At the end of the Japan NHE project on CF in March 1998, people including me have thought that total number of CF researchers in Japan (also in the world) would rapidly decay to fade away. Now I find the number increasing instead. Why? I guess there are such people getting more curious to CF "phenomena" which are still being claimed with a variety of experimental results showing some "new class of nuclear reactions in solids." The curiosity is believed to be the starting point of scientific research, and people like to solve the problem or find the truth, as far as they are seeing experimental results looking to show evidences, even if these are irreproducible. Authorities of science-communities and press people cannot kill the curiosity by their critics, skeptics and prejudice, without doing practices of research on CF.
My students and I myself are now seeing new strong evidence of "coherent multi-body deuteron fusion in metal-deuterides" by stimulation experiments with accelerator beams. We are more and more curious and intrigued with the "CF phenomenon" which I understand a new "coherent fusion" taking place in transient dynamics of ordering of lattice. So we want to extend further more our experiments. Many newcomers in my laboratory from our Department and other Universities with to do CF research, surely due to their curiosity. It is becoming more and more difficult for me to stop doing the "hobby work", even if we have shortage of research fund. I hope our Ministry of Education, Science and Culture will get back to the origin of basic science work to remind the importance of curiosity and arrange some fund to CF research. (May 27, 1998)
Francesco Celani (INFN)*{} -Frascati, Italy)
*{Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare.}
I began experiment to check the Cold Fusion effect just 6 days after Fleischmann and Pons' announcement of March 23, 1989. The main reason was to disprove their discovery about neutron emission.
I considered myself a little bit expert about low level neutron emission because I was one of the people, together with my "neutron teacher" Professor Sandro Rindi, able to measure the ultra low and anomalous energy distribution emission of neutrons during the construction of Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory in Italy (the largest one in the world). We spent, from 1985, over two years to build the special low-noise Charge-Pre-Amplifier and select very high sensitivity ^{3}He neutron detector.
After some calibration tests at Frascati National Laboratory, we moved at the middle of April in 1989, with our simple Cold Fusion cell, again inside of the underground laboratory. In that place we have studied not only Pd-D system but also Ti-D one. Later we studied even "superconducting" state. Several interesting studies we made using a weak neutron source to check the possibility of enhanced fission rate in deuterated materials.
It is very surprised that, after 9 years of working about anomalous nuclear emission and excess heat measurement, we reconfirm what we observed at the beginning of this strange experimentation: the anomalous effects happen only during strong non-equilibrium conditions on over deuterated samples.
During this long and hard working, I can't forget the valuable help given me several Japanese Scientists that later became also my private friends: Makoto Okamoto, Akito Takahashi, Kazuaki Matsui, Naoto Asami, Hideo Ikegami, Tadahiko Mizuno, Jirota Kasagi, Hideo Kozima and least but not last, my pretty wife Missa Nakamura that I met at the first time during ICCF3 (Nagoya 1992).
Beniamin Filimonov (State University of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus)
I watched the report on Profs. Fleischmann and Pons news conference at the U of Utah of March 23, 1989, a day later, when it was shown by the Soviet TV. That was one of the most exciting and inspiring moments I ever experienced.
I had no doubt at that time either Cold Fusion is real or not, I knew IT IS. I also needed not any comment on the TV picture to realize and declare WHAT HAD THEY DONE: electrolysis of heavy water using palladium cathode. First proofs of the latter supposition appeared in Soviet mass media two weeks later when I was already preparing the CF experiment at the Institute for Nuclear Problems...
My belief on what CF is may be expressed by two words only: the Synergetic Activation (SA). I propose that self-organization processes caused by intense energy loading of solids force a non-equilibrium distribution of energy fluctuations in such a way that the probability P^{*} of gaining by atom the energy packet large enough for an initiation of some sort of nuclear reaction become significant. The analytical formula of the noted distribution is resulted from the fact that an excitation of atom from the initial E_{0} level up to the final E^{*} level in SA may implement by a multistage process instead of a single act, so the final probability is the product of noted stages probabilities, which is described by the power type expression having a negative power factor:
P^{*} = ({E^{*}／E_{0}})^｛γ｝,
where γ = 1 〜 3 and depends on the exited energy levels structure of the atom, instead of the exponential one for an equilibrium case. This type of distributions seems to be just common one for natural non-equilibrium systems far beyond the CF proper.
The SA needs a perfect crystalline structure of solid for providing a favorable dynamics of energy redistribution, and conservation of the same under action. This defines the necessary outer parameters (such as temperature, pressure, hydrogen isotope to host metal ratio, rate of hydrogen or deuterium loading, etc.) values to be satisfied, which are predictable from the SA model. This point seems to be a critical one for solving the irreproducibility problem of CF.
Our experiments using the heavy water electrolysis technique with niobium cathodes specially prepared in accordance with SA model requirements exhibited reliable and reproducible neutron emission and excess heat. The SA model does not deal with nuclear reactions proper but describes the preliminary stage of further CF reactions, if any, namely the energy redistribution. So, the model is consistent with any other CF theory either catalysis, or resonance, or tunneling one \haihun if the latter considers a necessity of the above \haihun thermal energy packet gaining by the atom for CF to proceed.
Peter Gluck (IIMT)*{}, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
*{Institute for Isotope and Molecular Technology}
Peter Brian Medawar, Novel Prize for medicine 1960, has defined an optimal zone in the coordinates degree of difficulty vs. profitability of a research theme. For too low a degree of difficulty, the solutions are almost trivial and it is not in accordance with a professional researcher's dignity to waste time with easy problems. On the opposite, right side of the Medawar zone the obstacles are too great, the risks are too high, and the associates are too few. And the hostility of the scientific community toward those daring too much, aiming too high, is overwhelming. At the right side of the Medawar Zone, it is a "Terra incognita" or a kind of Far West with other rules or without the usual scientific rules.
After many, over 30 years of diligent work in the Medawar Zone where I focused on technological development and where I gained the belief in the force of progress, in the October (or November?) month of my life I moved to the right side to the Medawar Zone and gave dedicated my residual intellectual energies to an extremely controversial subject: cold fusion.
Almost ten years have lapsed, and no final victory came, the problems are widely open, no final proof is here, no global theory of understanding of the field was elaborated. Strange facts have accumulated, many devices have been created and we are yet at the border of a new scientific field, a different, so diversified, so difficult! The successes are the continuous phase in a terrible dispersion with rock-like failures and the curse of bad reproducibility is a ubiquitous menace for the cold fusion experimenter.
I personally think that the root of troubles and the start point of the final solution for Cold Fusion is its inherent catalytic nature: all the unexpected and highly desirable phenomena take place in very limited active areas, and the research strategy is to breed and multiply and reinforce and enhance these active areas.
I see the solution coming from such systems as the Arata-Zhang composed cathode or from the cavitational devices where active and collapsing bubbles are working in the frame of a sub-generic technical 'renaissance'.
Painful disillusion and dramatic events made life interesting in this area, but one of the greatest rewards, most precious assets I got there is; friends. And Hideo Kozima, heroically fighting as his name predicts, is one of the best friends I ever had. We met at Minsk at a CF congress, he spoke about his fine-trapped neutron catalyzed model, which is related but in the same time not identical with my catalytic concept. But who cares, I discovered that Hideo is, besides being a great scientist, what we call a great guy, a human being of an immense richness of soul and culture and feelings, profoundly Japanese and perfectly universal, aiming to the highest cultural values.
We got friends and later he became the friend of my whole family. When he visited us, my daughter Antonia has subscribed to an introductory course of Japanese language and, that's great! Here she met her husband. Therefore, Hideo is their godfather. Hideo gave a lecture about cold fusion at our Institute and, even if he couldn't convince my skeptic colleagues about a new rich reality, his contribution was remarkable.
I hope Hideo and I will be present at the start of the new era of energetics, when cold fusion will be taught in the school and will move in the very middle of the Medawar Zone. However, a new generation of scientist will start a new intellectual adventure, far right of it.