Elliptical Tracks: Evidence for Superluminal Electrons?

Abstract

In the literature of Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR), particle tracks in photographic emulsions (and other materials) associated with certain electrical discharges have been reported. Some Russian and French researchers have considered these particles to be magnetic monopoles. These tracks correspond directly to tracks created with a simple uniform exposure to photons without an electrical discharge source. This simpler method of producing tracks supports a comprehensive exploration of particle track properties. Out of 750 exposures with this method, elliptical particle tracks were detected, 22 of which were compared to Bohr-Sommerfeld electron orbits. Ellipses fitted to the tracks were found to have quantized semi-major axis sizes with ratios of ≈n2/α2 to corresponding Bohr-Sommerfeld hydrogen ellipses. This prompts inquiry relevant to magnetic monopoles due to the n2/α2 force difference between magnetic charge and electric charge using the Schwinger quantization condition. A model using analogy with the electron indicates that the elliptical tracks could be created by a bound magnetically charged particle with mass mm = 1.45 × 10-3 eV/c2, yet with superluminal velocities. Using a modified extended relativity model, mm becomes the relativistic mass of a superluminal electron, with m0 = 5.11 × 10-3 eV/c2, the fine structure constant becomes a mass ratio and charge quantization is the result of two states of the electron.