| Abstract: | Conventional condensed matter physics provides a unifying framework for understanding low-energy nuclear reactions (LENRs) in solids. In the paper, standard many-body physics techniques are used to illustrate this fact. Specifically, the paper shows that formally the theories by Schwinger, Hagelstein, and Chubb and Chubb (C&C), all can be related to a common set of equations, associated with reaction rate and energy transfer, through a standard many-body physics procedure (R-matrix theory). In each case, particular forms of coherence are used that implicitly provide a mechanism for understanding how LENRs can proceed without the emission of high-energy particles. In addition, additional ideas, associated with Conventional Condensed Matter physics, are used to extend the earlier ion band state (IBS) model by C&C. The general model clarifies the origin of coherent processes that initiate LENRs, through the onset of ion conduction that can occur through ionic fluctuations in nanoscale crystals. In the case of PdDx, these fluctuations begin to occur as x → 1 in sub-lattice structures with characteristic dimensions of 60 nm. The resulting LENRs are triggered by the polarization between injected d’s and electrons (immediately above the Fermi energy) that takes place in finite-size PdD crystals. During the prolonged charging of PdDx, the applied, external electric field induces these fluctuations through a form of Zener tunneling that mimics the kind of tunneling, predicted by Zener, that is responsible for possible conduction (referred to as Zener-electric breakdown) in insulators. But because the fluctuations are ionic, and they occur in PdD, nano-scale structures, a more appropriate characterization is Zener-ionic breakdown in nano-crystalline PdD. Using the underlying dynamics, it is possible to relate triggering times that are required for the initiation of the effect, to crystal size and externally applied fields. |
