Copasetic Flow

Quantum mechanics makes some rather astonishing predictions about how particles behave.  One of the most astonishing to me is that an electron's wave function can interact with a periodic potential, (say from the lattice sites of a crystal), and an applied force,(from a constant electric field for example), to make it behave as though its mass is vastly different, (sometimes even negative), compared to its rest mass in free space.  Semiconductor physicists make use of this property all the time.  It is also this property that Widom and Larsen[ 3 ] utilize in their theory of LENR paper.  The energy of an electron within a crystal depends on its quasi-momentum as shown in picture 1.  The quasi-momentum multiplied by the distance between crystal lattice sites is shown on the x axis and the electron's energy is shown on the y axis.  Notice that the graph includes regions of energy called gaps that the electron does not occupy.  The resgions of energy tha...

Reading about low energy nuclear reactions, (LENR), I came across several theoretical references to protons capturing heavy electrons and then participating in nuclear reactions as a result.  The heavy electron, because it sits in a much tighter orbit around a proton, serves to shield the proton's positive charge from other unsuspecting nuclei until the proton has crept in close enough to fuse with them via the strong force. In modern day LENR parlance, it is speculated that these sufficiently heavy electrons exist in materials, (condensed matter), as a result of the periodic potential due to crystal lattice sites, and the wave nature of the electron, (more on this later), leading to a higher effective electron mass. While the previous paragraph describes theories of how LENR might occur in present day experiments, it's based on a set of actual observations made in the 1940s and 50s, (picture 1)[ 6 ]. In 1958, Luis Alvarez in a report to the Unitied Nations [8 open access...

Yesterday's Physics Central Physics Buzz Blog [9] post about NASA and LENR, (low energy nuclear reactions), raised a lot of questions for me.  I haven't answered them all yet, so I don't have anything specific to offer, but I thought I'd pass along the following reference list of journal articles, interviews, and videos related to the post in case you wanted to learn more about the physics yourself and form your own thoughts on the matter.  If nothing else, there's a lot of interesting physics at play here including matter waves, Bloch oscillations, and beta decay.  At a minimum, I'll be covering the science behind the controversy soon. References: 1.  NASA video with Joseph Zawodny http://futureinnovation.larc.nasa.gov/view/articles/what/cif-safari.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=42hrCRx1JJY 2.  Forbes article on NASA LENR http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2013/03/14/tiny-nuclear-reactions-inside-compact-fluores...