拝啓、今年はいつまでも寒い日が続きましたが、一雨ごとに初夏のきざしが感じられるようになりました。

CFRL News No. 21 (2001. 2. 10)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　常温核融合研究所　　　　　　小島英夫

CFRL News (Cold Fusion Research Laboratory News) No. 21をお届けします。

第21 号では、掲載可となった二つの論文

1) Possible Explanation of ^{4}He Production in Pd/D_{2} System by TNCF Model (Fusion Technol. July, 2001) ,

2) Analysis of Zn and Excess Heat Generation in Pd/H_{2} (D_{2}) System by TNCF ModelのAbstracts, および

3) “Discovery of the Cold Fusion Phenomenon” についてのG. Malloveの書評について､

4) Quantum Mechanics and the Medawar Zone,

5) Book Review on the “Discovery”

を掲載しました。

1) H. Kozima, M. Ohta, M. Fujii, K. Arai and H. Kudoh, “Possible Explanation of ^{4}He Production in Pd/D_{2} System by TNCF Model” Fusion Technol. Vol. 40 (July, 2001) (to be published),

Abstract

Experimental data showing generation of ^{4}He from Pd sheet-D_{2} gas system observed by E. Botta et al. are analyzed by the TNCF model. The proposed mechanism of ^{4}He generation is not the direct d-d reaction but the reactions between the trapped neutron and a Pd isotope, n-^{A}_{46}Pd reactions, with a supplemental assumption, decrease of threshold energies for (n, alpha) reactions of ^{A}_{46}Pd in solids. The arbitrary parameter n_{n}, the density of the trapped neutron, of the model is determined to be ~ 10^{12} cm^{-3} consistent with values determined in analyses of data in various events in the cold fusion phenomenon.

2) H. Kozima, K. Yoshimoto, H. Kudoh, M. Fujii and M. Ohta, “Analysis of Zn and Excess Heat Generation in Pd/H_{2} (D_{2}) System by TNCF Model” J. New Energy Vol.5, No.3 (to be published)

Abstract

Experimental data sets by X.Z. Li et al. showing generation of the excess heat and nuclear transmutation of Pd into Zn in Pd-D_{2} gas and Pd-H_{2} gas system are analyzed by the TNCF model. The mechanism generating Zn and the excess heat is assumed to be the n-^{A}_{46}Pd reaction followed by fission of thus formed compound nucleus ^{A+1}_{46}Pd^{*} into Zn and S and the arbitrary parameter n_{n} of the model is determined by the value of the excess heat in the Pd-D_{2} gas system to be ~ 10^{10} cm^{-3} consistently with values determined by the amount of Zn observed in the system, while the excess heat was not observed in Pd-H_{2} gas system. Possible cause of this discrepancy is discussed.

3) Book Review on the “Discovery of the Cold Fusion Phenomenon” by H. Kozima, Infinite Energy No. 35, p.43 (2001)

　この本についての書評を､この雑誌の編集者のEugene Malloveが宣伝文を兼ねて､最近号に書いています｡全文はこのNewsの5)に転載しましたので､ここでは二､三のコメントをしておきます｡

　最初のパラグラフは､全体像を提示していて､これまでに書かれた書評の中では､最も正確な評価でしょう｡

“Professor of Physics Hideo Kozima of Shizuoka University in Japan can rightfully lay claim to having written the first “textbook” on cold fusion, so comprehensive is its content. Written in English, this is evidently a labor of love by one who is both a thoughtful observer of the history of science and a physicist who has developed his own theoretical understanding of diverse cold fusion phenomena. He calls this the “Trapped Neutron Catalyzed Fusion” (TNCF) model, for which he has exhibited considerable passion at international cold fusion conferences and in numerous technical publications.”

　原文では､TNCFがTCNFになっており､モデルの物理的内容にまでは評者の理解が達していないことを伺わせます｡しかし、多くの研究者がモデルの本質を理解してくれていないことを考えると､雑誌編集者によるこの評価は､十分満足できるものと言えるでしょう｡

　次の文章は､著者としては面映い感じがしないでもないものですが､悪い気はしません｡

“Kozima’s book is a mixture of highly technical content with very accessible historical and philosophical discussions that illuminate the process of science in the cold fusion controversy”

“It is a first work by a pioneer in what are certain to be many more such texts. We understand that other cold fusion scientists may be contemplating or preparing such books.”

書評の最後の部分は､物理の本質的なことではありませんが､本作りについての努力と随想を寄稿してくれた研究仲間の友情を認めてもらえたことで､評者の一見識と思います｡

“Some of the extras offered by Prof. Kozima’s work are independent name and subject indices, thirty-seven pages of cited references, generous presentation of pertinent graphical data, and scientist contributed essays by Makoto Okamoto, Akito Takahashi, Francesco Celani, Benjamin Filimonov, and Peter Glueck. All in all, an impressive book that deserves to be read widely.”

4) Quantum Mechanics and the Medawar Zone (H. Kozima)

ルーマニアのPeter Gluckが寄稿してくれた随想”A Message from the Right Side of the Medawar Zone” (“Discovery” p. 308) にあるように､研究の最前線では､科学になった領域とならない領域の境界が､有限の幅のあいまい地帯(Medawar zone)になっており､その地帯のどこで研究テーマを見つけるかが､研究者の生きがいと評価を決める訳です｡

Cold Fusion Phenomenon (CFP)が科学になるのかならないのか､については､未だに議論が続いています｡CFPの科学的研究が遅れている結果ではありますが、1989年当時と比べて､議論はもう少し実質的になってきても良さそうなのに､それが必ずしもそうでないのです｡

アメリカ物理学会(APS)の広報担当委員とでも言うべき役割をしているらしい､Bob Parkが、APSのホームページ(www.aps.org)に書いている週刊のニュースレター”WHAT’S NEW”(WN)の1999.5.5日号の4番目の記事には、その典型があります｡(下線は引用者)

“4. FREE ENERGY: STATE DEPARTMENT OPENS ITS DOORS TO NEW AGERS.

Something called the Integrity Research Institute [IRI] has announced the First International Conference on Free Energy (CoFE), April 29-30. IRI markets books and videos with such titles as The Race to Zero Point Energy, Anti-Gravity: The Dream Made Reality, and Holistic Physics and Consciousness. --- The speakers list for CoFE is certainly open minded; topics include: assisted nuclear reactions (a.k.a. cold fusion), sonoluminescence (a.k.a. cold fusion), hydrogen technologies (a.k.a. cold fusion), tabletop nuclear transformations (a.k.a. cold fusion), as well as zero point energy generation, negative resistance and...well, you get the idea. Where would you hold such a uh, um open-minded conference? --- . [a.k.a. = so-called]

(Note: Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.)” ([ ]’s are inserted at citation.)

原子・分子と原子核の領域では量子力学が基本原理を与えることは、原子科学者の常識でしょう。CFPの研究に際して安易に量子力学の諸原理を破棄する傾向が一方にあり、また量子力学の諸原理の安直な適用でCFPの実験データを否定する傾向が他方にあります｡どちらも非科学的です。商業主義に災いされた研究や､権威主義に毒された学者仲間によく見られる傾向で､CFPの研究に際しては､それらを避ける意識的な努力が必要です｡

5) Book Review on the

H. Kozima, “Discovery of the Cold Fusion Phenomenon --- Development of Solid State-Nuclear Physics and the Energy Crisis in the 21^st Century” (Ohtake Shuppan)

by Eugene Mallove, Infinite Energy 35, p.43 (2001).

The book blends some of the history of the cold fusion controversy with extensive coverage of the experimental evidence for cold fusion phenomena (including effects in ordinary hydrogen systems), how the author’s TNCF model can explain these, and a perceptive review of many other episodes in the history of physics that seem to have relevance to cold fusion. He posits the existence of catalytic thermal energy neutrons, for which he says: ”If we assume an existence of thermal neutrons in a material, almost all the riddles of the cold fusion phenomenon disappear.”

Kozima’s book is a mixture of highly technical content with very accessible historical and philosophical discussions that illuminate the process of science in the cold fusion controversy. Kozima’s work is not a thorough history of various phases of the cold fusion saga, as are the positive cold fusion books, my own Fire from Ice (1991) and Beaudette’s Excess Heat (2000), which were clearly aimed at more general audiences, though this book too in large measure is certainly accessible to a wide audience. As mentioned, this is more like a textbook of the subject, which offers a potpourri of diverse and expanding areas, such as heavy element transmutation. It is a first work by a pioneer in what are certain to be many more such texts. We understand that other cold fusion scientists may be contemplating or preparing such books. There is a great need for such works to cover the topics of cold fusion calorimetry, nuclear instrumentation, material science, and theory.

It is noteworthy that Kozima’s book is the second excellent cold fusion book from Japan (in English by Japanese cold fusion scientists), the other being Nuclear Transmutation; The Reality of Cold Fusion, by Dr. Tadahiko Mizuno (Infinite Energy Press, 1999). While the latter was expertly translated by Jed Rothwell from its original Japanese, the slight difficulty with the Kozima’s book is its “Japanese English” unevenness, which was not particularly bothersome to this reviewer, and occasionally enjoyable. One very charming example (p. 296): “This Huizenga’s conclusion is one deduced by a poor brain only working on an extension line from muon catalyzed nuclear fusion where occurs surely d-d direct fusion reaction.” It should be noted that Kozima’s book first appeared in hardcover edition in Japanese in March 1997.

Some of the extras offered by Prof. Kozima’s work are independent name and subject indices, thirty-seven pages of cited references, generous presentation of pertinent graphical data, and scientist contributed essays by Makoto Okamoto, Akito Takahashi, Francesco Celani, Benjamin Filimonov, and Peter Glueck. All in all, an impressive book that deserves to be read widely.”