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Muon-catalyzed fusion is a process allowing nuclear fusion to take place at room temperature. Although it can be produced reliably with the right equipment and has been much studied, it is believed that the poor energy balance will prevent it from ever becoming a practical power source. It used to be known as cold fusion; however, this term is now avoided as it can create confusion with other suggested forms of room-temperature fusion that are rejected by mainstream science.

Deuterium-Tritium (d-t or dt) Muon-Catalyzed Fusion (μCF)

In the muon-catalyzed fusion of most interest, a positively charged deuteron, a positively charged triton, and a negatively charged muon (μ) essentially form a positively charged muonic molecular "heavy" Hydrogen ion ((d-μ-t)). A deuteron is a positively charged deuterium (D, also known as "heavy Hydrogen (H)") nucleus (d or, more commonly, d), a single positively charged proton p, or just p, strongly bound by the strong nuclear force to a single electrically neutral neutron n, or simply n. Similarly, a triton is a positively charged tritium (T, which should be known as "heavier Hydrogen (H)") nucleus (t or, traditionally, t) a single proton p also strongly bound by the strong nuclear force to two neutrons n. The negatively charged muon (μ) is basically a "heavy" electron and, like an electron (e), is also a fundmental, point-like particle (as far as present day experimental measurments can tell) that is also a fermion, having an intrinsic spin angular momentum equal in magnitude to one-half of Planck's constant, h, divided by 2π (where h divided by 2π is called "h-bar" and is usually written with a little slash through the upper portion of the "h"), also identical to the spin of an electron (e), and with an electric charge identical to that of an electron (e), about -1.6x10 Coulombs.

The negative muon (μ), with a rest mass about 207 times greater than the rest mass of an electron (e), is able to drag the more massive triton (t) and deuteron (d) about 207 times closer together to each other than can an electron (e)in the corresponding positively charged electronic molecular "heavy" Hydrogen ion ((d-e-t)). The average separation between the triton (t) and the deuteron (d) in the electronic molecular heavy Hydrogen ion ((d-e-t)) is about one Angstrom (a tenth of a nanometer or one ten-billionth of a meter, 10 m), so the average separation between the triton (t) and the deuteron (d) in the muonic molecular heavy Hydrogen ion ((d-μ-t)) is about 200 times smaller than that, or about 500 Fermis (femtometers or million-billionths of a meter, 10 m), which is about 354 times the Compton wavelength of a pion (h/(2π(m_πc))), where c is the speed of light in a vacuum, which is defined to be 299.792458 million meter per second, 2.99792458x10 m/s, and m_πc is the rest mass energy of a pion, which is about 140 MeV). The pion's Compton wavelength is characteristic of the range of the strong nuclear force between nucleons (such as protons and neutrons) in atomic nuclei, at least the ones that are more complicated than a single proton, the nucleus of Protium, otherwise known as Hydrogen, and corresponds (roughly) to the effective "radius" of a typical atomic nucleus, when multiplied by the cube root of the atomic weight, A.

Consequently, whenever the triton (t) and the deuteron (d) in the muonic molecular heavy Hydrogen ion ((d-μ-t)) happen to get even closer to each other during their periodic vibrational motions, the probability is very greatly increased that the positively charged triton (t) and the positively charged deuteron (d) would undergo quantum tunnelling through the repulsive Coulomb barrier that acts to keep them apart. Indeed, the quantum mechanical tunnelling probability depends roughly exponentially on the average separation between the triton (t) and the deuteron (d), allowing a single muon (μ) to catalyze the d-t nuclear fusion in less than about half a picosecond (a trillionth of a second, 10 s), once the muonic molecular heavy Hydrogen ion ((d-μ-t)) is formed. The muonic molecular heavy Hydrogen ion ((d-μ-t)) formation time is one of the rate-limiting steps in muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF) that can easily take up to ten thousand or more picoseconds in a liquid molecular D₂ (d-d), DT (d-t), T₂ (t-t) mixture, for example. Each catalyzing muon (μ) thus spends most of its ephemeral existence of about 2.2 microseconds (millionths of a second, 10 s or one microsecond, μs, as measured in its rest frame) wandering around looking for suitable deuterons (d) and tritons (t) with which to bind.

Another way of looking at muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF) is to try to visualize the ground state orbit of a negative muon (μ) around either a deuteron (d) or a triton (t). The negative muon (μ), if given a choice, would actually prefer to orbit a triton (t) rather than a deuteron (d), since the triton (t) is about half again as massive as the deuteron (d). Suppose the negative muon (μ) happens to have fallen into an orbit around a deuteron (d) initially, which it has about a 50% chance of doing if there are approximately equal numbers of deuterons (d) and tritons (t) present, forming an electrically neutral muonic Deuterium atom (d-μ) that acts somewhat like a "fat, heavy neutron" due both to its relatively small size (again, about 207 times smaller than an electrically neutral electronic Deuterium atom (d-e)) and to the very effective shielding by the negative muon (μ) of the positive charge of the deuteron's (d's) proton (p). Even so, the negative muon (μ) still has a much greater chance of being transferred to any triton (t) that comes near enough to the muonic Deuterium (d-μ) than it does of forming a muonic molecular heavy Hydrogen ion ((d-μ-t)). The electically neutral muonic Tritium atom (t-μ) thus formed will act somewhat like an even "fatter, heavier neutron," but it will most likely hang on to its negative muon (μ), eventually forming a muonic molecular heavy Hydrogen ion ((d-μ-t)), most likely due to the resonant formation of a hyperfine molecular state within an entire Deuterium molecule D₂ (d-d), with the muonic molecular heavy Hydrogen molecular ion ((d-μ-t)) acting as a "fatter, heavier nucleus" of the "fatter, heavier Deuterium molecule (-d), as predicted by Vesman, an Estonian graduate student, in 1967.

As described above, once the (d-μ-t) state is formed, the shielding by the negative muon (μ) of the positive charges of the protons (p's) of the triton (t) and the deuteron (d) from each other allows the triton (t) and the deuteron (d) to move close enough together to fuse with alacrity. The negative muon (μ) survives the d-t muon-catalzed nuclear fusion (μCF) reaction and remains available (usually) to catalyze further d-t nuclear fusions. Each exothermic d-t nuclear fusion releases about 17.6 MeV of energy in the form of a "very fast" neutron having a kinetic energy of about 14.1 MeV and an alpha particle α (a Helium-4 nucleus) with a kinetic energy of about 3.5 MeV, an MeV being a million electron volts (eVs) or about 1.6 millionths of an erg, 1.6x10 erg. An additional 4.8 MeV can be gleaned by having the neutrons moderated in a suitable "blanket" surrounding the reaction chamber, with the blanket containing Lithium-6, which readily and exothermically absorbs thermal neutrons, the Lithium-6 being transmuted thereby into an alpha particle (α) and a triton (t). Thermal neutrons are neutrons that have been moderated by giving up most of their kinetic energy in collisions with the nuclei of the moderating materials, cooling down to "room temperature" and having a thermalized kinetic energy of about 0.025 eV, corresponding to an average "temperature" of about 300 Kelvin or so.

An All-too-Brief History of Muon-Catalyzed Fusion (μCF)

Andrei Sakharov and F.C. Frank (see reference below) predicted the phenomenon of muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF) on theoretical grounds before 1950. Ya.B. Zel'dovitch (see reference below) also wrote about the phenomenon of muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF) in 1954. L.W. Alvarez et al. (see reference below), when analyzing the outcome of some experiments with negative muons (μ's) incident on a Hydrogen bubble chamber at Berkeley in 1956, observed muon-catalysis of exothermic p-d, proton (p) and deuteron (d), nuclear fusion, which results in a helion (a Helium-3 nucleus) and a release of 5.5 MeV of energy.

Some Problems Facing Practical Exploitation of Muon-Catalzyed Fusion (μCF)

One practical problem with the muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF) process is that muons (μ's) are unstable, decaying in about 2.2 microseconds, 2.2 μs (in their rest frame). Hence, there needs to be some cheap means of producing muons (μ's), and the muons (μ's) must be arranged to catalyze as many nuclear fusion reactions as possible before decaying.

Another, and in many ways more serious, problem is the "alpha-sticking" (α-sticking) problem, which was recognized by J.D. Jackson in his seminal 1957 paper (referenced below), where he gives due credit to E.P. Wigner for pointing the α-sticking problem out to him. The α-sticking problem is the approximately 1% probability of the negative muon (μ) "sticking" to the doubly positively charged alpha particle (α) that results from the deuteron-triton (d-t) nuclear fusion, thereby effectively removing the negative muon (μ) from the muon-catalysis process altogether. Even if muons (μ's) were absolutely stable, each negative muon (μ) could catalyze, on average, only about 100 d-t muon-catalyzed nuclear fusions (μCF's) before sticking to an alpha particle (α), which is only about one-fifth the number of d-t fusions needed to produce "break-even," where more thermal energy is generated than the electrical energy that is consumed to produce the negative muons (μ's) in the first place, according to Jackson's rough 1957 "guesstimate."

More recent measurements seem to point to more encouraging values for the α-sticking probability, finding the α-sticking probability to be about 0.5% (or perhaps even about 0.4% or 0.3%), which could mean as many as about 200 (or perhaps even about 250 or about 333) muon-catalyzed d-t fusions (μCF's) per muon (μ). Interestingly, very detailed and involved theoretical calculations of the α-sticking probability in muon-catalyzed d-t fusion (μCF's) appear to yield a higher value of about 0.69%, which is different enough from the experimental measurements that give 0.5% (or 0.4% or 0.3%) to be somewhat mysterious. Unfortunately, even 200 (or 250 or even 333) muon-catalyzed d-t fusions (μCF's) per negative muon (μ) are still not quite enough even to reach "break-even," where as much thermal energy is generated (or output) as the electrical energy that was put used up (or input) to make the negative muon (μ) in the first place. This means, of course, that not nearly enough thermal energy is generated thereby to be able to convert the thermal energy released into more useful electrical energy to have any electrical energy left over to sell to the commercial electrical power "grid." The conversion efficiency from thermal energy to electrical energy is only about 40% or so. Remember also that some of that electrical energy (hopefully not all of it) will have to be "recycled" (used up in the deuteron particle accelerators, for example) to make more negative muons (μ's) to keep the muon-catalyzed d-t nuclear fusion (μCF) fires burning night and day.

One of the favorite and apparently preferred ways to make negative muons (μ's) is to accelerate deuterons (d's) to have kinetic energies of about 800 MeV (in the Lab frame, where the suitable target particles are essentially at rest) using one or more particle accelerators, popularly (although incorrectly) referred to as "atom-smashers" (really, they are more like "nuclei-smashers"), to smash the accelerated deuterons (d's) into an appropriate target, such as a gas of molecular Deuterium (d-d) and molecular Tritium (t-t), for example. Useful particle accelerators could be linear accelerators (LINACs) or cyclotrons (with either superconducting or non-superconducting magnets). Smashing the deuterons (d's) having a kinetic energy of about 800 MeV into other neutron-containing nuclei creates a fair number of negative pions (π's), among other things. As long as these negative pions (π's) are kept away from nuclei that would strongly absorb the strongly-interacting negative pions (π's), each negative pion (π) will generally decay after about 26 nanoseconds (in its rest frame) into a negative muon (μ) and a muon antineutrino (ν_μ-bar). The best recent "guesstimate" of the electrical "energy cost" per negative muon (μ) is about 6 GeV (billion electron Volts), using these deuterons (d's) that are accelerated to have kinetic energies of about 800 MeV, with accelerators that are (coincidentally) about 40% efficient at taking electrial energy from the Alternating Current (AC) mains (the plugs on the wall) and accelerating the deuterons (d's) using this electrical energy.

Potential Benefits from Practical Muon-Catalyzed Fusion (μCF)

Of course, if muon-catalyzed d-t nuclear fusion (μCF) were able to be realized practically, it would be a much "greener" way of generating power than conventional nuclear fission reactors because muon-catalyzed d-t nuclear fusion (μCF), like other types of nuclear fusion generally, produce far less harmful (and far less long-lived) radioactive wastes, and hardly any greenhouse gases. Indeed, practical and economically sensible muon-catalyzed d-t nuclear fusion (μCF) would go a long way toward saving our one and (so far) only home, the beautiful (mostly) blue planet Earth, from the further over-production of harmful greenhouse gases, which primarily come from the wholesale destructive burning of irreplaceable fossil fuels to generate the ever-increasing energy and power needs of humankind. Greenhouse gases tragically contribute to global warming, which is really global heating, and, if not stopped and reversed, will have truly catastrophic consequences for all Earth-bound life.

Some very clever people have proposed extremely innovative "hybrid" fusion/fission schemes to use the copious neutrons produced in muon-catalyzed d-t nuclear fusions (μCF's) to "breed" fissile (fissionable) fuels, such as Uranium-233 (₉₂U), from in "fertile" materials, such as Thorium-232 (₉₀Th), for example. The fissile fuels that have been bred can then be "burned," either in a convential supercritical nuclear fission reactor or, better yet, in an unconventional subcritical fission "pile", not unlike the accelerator-driven systems (ADS) that have been proposed for, and in some places are currently being developed for, the accelerator transmutation of waste (ATW), for example, using neutrons to transmute large quantities of highly radioactive and extremely long-lived nuclear wastes, such as those produced (mainly) by conventional nuclear fission reactors, into less harmful, less radioactive, less toxic, and much less long-lived transmuted elements, as well as for the Energy amplifier devised by Physics Nobel Laureate Carlo Rubbia, among others. The "breeding" takes place due to certain neutron-capture nuclear reactions, followed by beta-decays (β-decays), the ejection of electrons and neutrinos from nuclei as neutrons within the nuclei decay into protons as a result of weak nuclear forces. Technically, looking at beta-decay (β-decay) from the more fundamental quark perspective, a down quark, having one-third (1/3) of the negative electric charge of an electron, present in a neutron, decays into an up quark, having two-thirds (2/3) of the positive electric charge of a positron, the antimatter counterpart of an electron, thereby changing the neutron, made up of two "valence" down quarks and one "valence" up quark, into a proton, made up of two "valence" up quarks and one "valence" down quark), due to "electo-weak" interactions.

Some Conclusions

Except for refinements such as these, not all that much has changed in nearly half a century since Jackson's assessment of the feasibility of muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF), other than Vesman's prediction of the hyperfine resonant formation of the muonic heavy Hydrogen molecular ion ((d-μ-t)), which was subsequently experimentally observed. This helped spark renewed interest in the whole field of muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF), which remains an active area of research worldwide among those who continue to be fascinated and intrigued (and frustrated) by this tantalizing approach to controllable nuclear fusion that almost works. Clearly, as Jackson observed in his 1957 paper, muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF) is "unlikely" to provide "useful power production," "unless an energetically cheaper way of producing μ-mesons can be found."

References

• F.C. Frank, Nature 160, 525 (1947).
• Ya.B. Zel'dovitch, Doklady Akad. Nauk U.S.S.R. 95, 493 (1954).
• L.W. Alvarez et al., Phys. Rev. 105, 1127 (1957).
• J.D. Jackson, "Catalysis of Nuclear Reactions between Hydrogen Isotopes by μ-Mesons," Phys. Rev., 106, 330, April 15, 1957.
• Rafelski, Johann and Steven E. Jones (1987). "Cold Nuclear Fusion". Scientific American, v. 257 #1, pp. 84–89.

External Link

• Articles and presentation on this topic

See also

• Antimatter catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion
• Nuclear fusion
• Steven E. Jones (coined the term 'cold fusion')

• Nuclear fusion