CFRL News 3 (1999.8.10)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　常温核融合研究所　　　　　　小島英夫

CFRL News (Cold Fusion Research Laboratory News) No.3をお届けします。

第3号には、

１）Fusion　Technol.に投稿した最新論文Neutron　Drop;　Condensation　of Neutrons in Metal Hydrides and Deuteridesの概要、　

2) Bockrisが拙著の第2版に寄稿してくれたエッセイの前半を収録しました。（省略した後半は、科学行政についての意見です。）

3) ロシアのTsvetkovが特許を認められたと報告してきました（1999.7.17）。日本でも出願したいと言ってきたのですが、1989年のJAERIのNull resultsに囚われている日本の特許庁では、認められる可能性が低いでしょう。社会の活力がどのように生まれるかの一つの指標のように思えます。

4)　International Journal of Hydrogen Energyに投稿した論文が受理されました。

5）RCCFNT5での発表論文の共著者への連絡。

1) TNCFモデルがCFP（Cold Fusion Phenomenon）の説明に成功していることは、このNewsの読者には自明のことですが、現象論として幾つかの不満があることは事実です。その最たるものが、CFPはなぜ水素化および重水素化金属で起こるのかの説明です。この点のこれまでの説明は、中性子捕獲条件がそれら金属で満たされる、と仮定していました。

　　FisherがPolyneutronとExotic nucleiを使って、Miley達のNT_Fの実験データの質量スペクトルを定性的に説明したのが1998年でした（Fusion Technol. 34, 66, 1998）。我々の論文で明らかにした表面層での中性子波のlocal coherenceの存在は、そこで母体元素のExtremely neutron-rich isotopesとn_A-Zp_Zという中性子の多い結合体Neutron dropができる可能性を示すと考えられます。中性子の凝縮と蒸発の準平衡状態を考え、Neutron dropの可能性を考察しました。これでTNCFモデルの基礎付けの見取り図がほぼ完成したと言えるでしょう。

2）“Cold Fusion 1999” by John O’M. Bockris

(An Essay by J.O’M. Bockris written for the 2^nd Edition of “Discovery”)

Cold fusion should, of course, be named low temperature nuclear reactions as only few of the reactions examined involve fusion.

The major difficulty of the field at present is that the results are irreproducible, even though one carries out procedures that seem to be the same every time. Whether one sees nuclear phenomena or not is unrelated to the variables examined.

In the experience of the author, a result of one experiment in five is the downside of this phenomenon and the result of two experiments out of three is the upside. However, there is a variable, as with so many other points in cold fusion, - which has not yet been investigated, - and that is the question of time. Thus, in using a wire of about 1 mm in diameter in experiments with LiOD in D_{2}O, the times necessary for electrolysis before the phenomena switches on are between 100 and 500 hours! This, of course, is very much more than the time it takes for the deuterium to diffuse throughout the wire and the reason for this discrepancy is not yet established although it has been suggested that it may be due to creation of "just sufficient" damage inside the material.

Thus, when one wishes to declare a null result (no nuclear phenomena) it is vital to state the time at which one stopped the experiment. It may well be that experiments which are stopped at 500 hrs would indeed show nuclear phenomena were they continued to higher times. Thus, there is no doubt about the irreproducibility of the time at which the phenomena switched on, but it is not yet clearly established that there are placed where no nuclear phenomena occurs. One of the most interesting features is the mechanism of the extremely long switch-on times.

These matters of irreproducibility are not met by any existing theory of nuclear phenomena in palladium. Any such theory must meet not only the well -attested phenomenon but also the many other phenomena (particularly in biological systems) in which there is evidence for nuclear reactions in the cold. Investigation of the time dependency of reproducibility is vital, not only for practical reasons, that one cannot guarantee to make a demonstration, but particularly because the investigation of this curious phenomenon of irreproducibility of switch on time may well be a very important clue to the mechanism by which the nuclear reactions occur\footnote{A much more far out idea is that the phenomena are affected by a consciousness of the experimenter. This kind of thinking was introduced into quantum mechanics by Wigner who suggested that the choice of a single wave function from among the many which are used to express the behavior of a particle before measurement is made, are affected by the observer, i.e., the result is, in a sense, created by the observer. However, these concepts are probably restricted only to the quantum realm. Could they be applied to happenings between deuterons in Pd?}.

Nuclear reactions in the cold seem to occur in many situations, not only that of metals which contain high concentrations of hydrogen. For example, it has been well known for at least a century that the calcium available to chickens depends on the potassium they eat, i.e., the reaction K → Ca is accomplished in the chicken. Complete removal of the potassium from the chicken results in very poor and thin eggs due to lack of calcium. This startling result reflects many others and the most recent (and perhaps most astounding) is the report that carbonaceous rubbish, when confined in the absence of oxygen in a pressure vessel, and heated, produce nuclear products, radioactivity, and excess heat.

3）A News from Russia about CF patent by Sergey Tsvetkov.

“Dear Prof. H. Kozima!

I have received the positive decision on distribution to me of the patent

of Russian Federation: a Method of nuclear fusion and device of its realization. A priority from 10.12.97.

Sergey.”

　　なお、9月26日からソチで開かれる予定のRCCNT７（Russian　Conference　on Cold Nuclear Transmutation）に参加する予定で、会費を払い込み、VISAをとるための書類を待っているのですが、一向に音沙汰なしです。ロシア流なのでしょうか。Sergeyはつまらないから行かないと言っていますが、CFRLとしては少しでも刺激を受ける機会を逃したくないので、参加してTNCFモデルの最新の成果を発表して来ようと思っています。

4) International Journal of Hydrogen Energyに投稿した二つの論文

H. Kozima, K. Yoshimoto and K. Arai, "First Reliable Tritium Data by Packham et al. analyzed by TNCF Model", Intern. J. Hydrogen Energy (submitted).

H. Kozima, K. Arai and K. Yoshimoto, "Tritium and ⁴He Data by Chien et al. confirmed the Cold Fusion Phenomenon" Intern. J. Hydrogen Energy (submitted).

が、レフェリーの審査を通って受理されました。

第一の論文は、このNewsのNo.2で触れたPackhamらの論文を解析したものです。このPackhamのデータは、あのスキャンダラスなトーブスの本「常温核融合スキャンダル」で捏造だと決め付けられているものです（同書381頁以下）。

この本を読むと、Bockris始めTexas A&M Universityの研究者がd + d 反応に囚われていた様子が痛いほど良く分かります。それはFleischmann自身がICCF7で発表した回想”Cold Fusion: Past, Present and Future” (拙著”Discovery” p.320にAbstractを採録)で、未だにd + d 反応に囚われていることを白状していますから、非常に根が深いものです。

５）RCCFNT5の発表論文

　拙著の英語版の出版と退職間際の多忙に紛れて、次の論文のコピーを共著者の皆さんに渡してなかったと思います。必要な方は嘉規さんに頼んでコピーを貰ってください。（e-mail address: spkkaki@ipc.shizuoka.ac.jp）

H. Kozima, M. Ohta, K. Yoshimoto, K. Arai, M. Fujii, H. Kudoh and K. Kaki, "The Physical Processes in the Cold Fusion Phenomenon" Proc. 5th Russian Conf. on Cold Fusion and Nuclear Transmutation (Proc. RCCFNT5)(Sept. 29 - Oct. 3, 1997, Sochi, Russia), 188 (1998).　　　（以上）