The role of correlation entropy in nuclear fusion in liquid lithium, indium and mercury

Abstract

Abstract. Nuclear fusion cross-sections considerably higher than corresponding theoretical predictions are observed in low-energy experiments with metal matrix targets and accelerated deuteron beams. The cross-section increment is significantly higher for liquid than for solid targets. We propose that the same two-body correlation entropy used in evaluating the metal melting entropy explains the large liquid-solid difference of the effective screening potential that parameterizes the cross-section increment. This approach is applied to the specific case of the 6 Li(d, α) 4 He reaction, whose measured screening potential liquid-solid difference is (235 ± 63) eV. Cross sections in the two metals with the highest two-body correlation entropy (In and Hg) has not been measured yet: increments of the cross sections in liquid relative to the ones in solid metals are estimated with the same procedure.

Negentropy in Many-Body Quantum Systems

“…We propose that negative entropy, in particular the negative contribution to entropy arising from two-and many-body correlations, has a great effect on the rates of nuclear fusions. The role of generalized statistics and energy-momentum quantum uncertainties was already explored elsewhere [8][9][10]; without the concept of negentropy, the role of correlations' negative entropy was described in our study on metal melting [11]. Other applications of negentropy are to be found in the study of black holes [12], in microbial life [13], in the field of the quantum mechanics information [14] and, finally, in the study of nanoparticles [15].…”

“…Such enhancements can be reproduced by models with a screening potential of 200-300 eV, which are however much higher than the few tenths of eV of the adiabatic limit [8].…”

Energy from Negentropy of Non-Cahotic Systems

“…For instance, in liquid metals with implanted deuterons, the fusion reaction rate with deuterons accelerated through the metal increases because the term increases the kinetic energy of the colliding nuclei [ 4 ]. This permits an easier passage through the Coulomb barrier by the tunnel effect.…”

“…In a non-ideal system, as for instance gas, plasma or liquid and solid metal, composed by interacting or correlated elements in a stationary non-equilibrium (long-life metastable) state, some energy can be transferred to other particles of a subsystem (as for instance deuterons or very light nuclei) implanted into its volume size. The relative energy of the reacting deuteron nuclei can be increased by negentropy of a given number of the system elements, allowing fusion reactions against Coulomb repulsion more easily [ 4 ].…”