Summaries of Theory

By Krivit:
In 2005, Dr. Allan Widom, a condensed matter physicist with Northeastern. University, and Lewis Larsen, president and CEO of Lattice Energy LLC, began publishing papers that presented a new theory to explain the experimental anomalies observed in LENR experiments. Their theory claims these anomalies are due not to a fusion reaction, which would involve the strong force, but to other low energy nuclear reactions that involve weak interactions, namely neutron formation from electrons and protons/deuterons, followed by local neutron absorption and subsequent beta-decay processes. The following published papers and news items provide more details on the Widom-Larsen Ultra-Low-Momentum Neutron Catalyzed Theory of LENRs.

(1986 Reference on Surface Plasmons)

By Widom and Larsen:
Allan Widom and Lewis Larsen propose that, in condensed matter, local breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation occurs in homogeneous, many-body, collectively oscillating patches of protons, deuterons, or tritons found on surfaces of fully loaded metallic hydrides; Born-Oppenheimer breakdown enables a degree of electromagnetic coupling of surface proton/deuteron/triton oscillations with those of nearby surface plasmon polariton (SPP) electrons. Such coupling between collective oscillations creates local nuclear-strength electric fields in the vicinity of the patches.

SPP electrons bathed in such high fields increase their effective mass, thus becoming heavy electrons. Widom and Larsen propose that heavy SPP electrons can react directly with protons, deuterons, or tritons located in surface patches through an inverse beta decay process that results in simultaneous collective production of one, two, or three neutrons, respectively, and a neutrino.
Collectively produced neutrons are created ultra-cold; that is, they have ultra-low momentum and extremely large quantum mechanical wavelengths and absorption cross-sections compared to “typical” neutrons at thermal energies.

Finally, Widom and Larsen propose that heavy SPP patch electrons are uniquely able to immediately convert almost any locally produced or incident gamma radiation directly into infrared heat energy, thus providing a form of built-in gamma shielding for LENR nuclear reactions.

By Anonymous Poster on Digg (link dead) (Feb. 1, 2010)
It is looking more and more that "cold fusion" isn't fusion at all. The best theory out there that doesn't invoke any new physics is the Widom-Larsen theory (which has been published in a reputable peer reviewed journal). In a nutshell, it states what is going on is a multistep process. The plasmon modes in hydrated metals (think of them as surface electrons that all act together) get energized (many ways to do this) and get absorbed by protons. This produces a very low energy neutron (reverse neutron decay due to the weak nuclear force). Low-energy neutrons get absorbed quite easily by anything. This starts a cascade of creating unstable isotopes which beta decay. During the beta decay, gamma ray photons are released, but when they hit that metal plasmon they get shifted into mostly IR (heat) with a soft X-ray tail.

The challenge is that this phenomena requires very high energy densities (order of 10^11 V/m). So it more often will happen in small nano-crevices in materials.

Highlights of Claims

Resolution to Huizenga's "Three Miracles of Cold Fusion"

• Miracle #1: the mystery of how the Coulomb barrier is penetrated
• Miracle #2: the lack of strong neutron emissions
• Miracle #3: the lack of strong emission of gamma or x-rays

Simple Explanation of Mechanics of Theory

Energy Release - Many Possible Low-Energy Nuclear Reaction Networks

Informal Articles by Theorist

Slides Presentations and Documents by Theorist (Larsen)

Slides Presentations by Theorist (Widom)

Scientific Papers

#2— Widom, Allan, Larsen, Lewis, "Absorption of Nuclear Gamma Radiation by Heavy Electrons on Metallic Hydride Surfaces"
Synopsis
Preprint (pdf) September 10, 2005

#3—Widom, Allan, Larsen, Lewis, "Nuclear Abundances in Metallic Hydride Electrodes of Electrolytic Chemical Cells," http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0602472, February 20, 2006
Preprint (pdf) February 20, 2006
Synopsis (2012)
Summary (2006)
David Nagel's Summary of First Three Widom-Larsen Papers (2006)

#4— Widom, Allan and Larsen, Lewis, "Theoretical Standard Model Rates of Proton to Neutron Conversions Near Metallic Hydride Surfaces," http://arxiv.org/abs/nucl-th/0608059v2 (September 25, 2007)
Synopsis
Version 4.1 Preprint August 25, 2006
Version 4.2 Preprint September 25, 2007
Summary (2007)

#5—"Energetic Electrons and Nuclear Transmutations in Exploding Wires," Widom, Allan, Larsen, Lewis, and Srivastava, Yogendra. N.
Synopsis
Preprint (pdf) September 8, 2007
Related Wendt-Irion Papers (1922)
Summary (2007)

"Electron Mass Shift in Nonthermal Systems," Hagelstein, Peter, and Chaudhary, Irfan,
Preprint (pdf) January 24, 2008
Published Paper - June 6, 2008

"Errors in the Quantum Electrodynamic Mass Analysis of Hagelstein and Chaudhary"
Preprint February 5, 2008
Synopsis of Widom-Larsen Theory Paper #5b

#6— "High Energy Particles in the Solar Corona," Widom, Allan, Larsen, Lewis, and Srivastava, Yogendra. N.
Synopsis
Preprint (pdf) April 16, 2008
Related Cowley Paper (2004)
Related Fowler Paper (1965)
Related Goriely Paper (2007)

Ciuchi, S., Maiani, L., Polosa, AD, Riquer,V., Ruocco, G., Vignati, M., "Low Energy Neutron Production by Inverse  beta decay in Metallic Hydride Surfaces,"
Preprint, Sept. 28, 2012
EPJC Publication, Oct. 26, 2012

Widom, Allan, Srivastava, Yogendra. N., and Larsen, Lewis, "Erroneous Wave Functions of Ciuchi et al. for Collective Modes in Neutron Production on Metallic Hydride Cathodes," Preprint, Oct. 17, 2012
Slide Presentation, Oct. 30, 2012

Einar Tennfors, "On the Idea of low-energy nuclear reactions in metallic lattices by producing neutrons from protons capturing 'heavy' electrons," European Physical Journal Plus, Feb. 15, 2013

Issued Patents

US 7,893,414 - Feb. 22, 2011
Synopsis
“Apparatus and Method for Absorption of Incident Gamma Radiation and its Conversion to Outgoing Radiation at Less Penetrating, Lower Energies and Frequencies”
(Inventors: Lewis Larsen and Allan Widom)

This is a unique patent in that there is no prior art that is directly related. Only one prior patent is referenced, U.S. 5,887,042: "A cask for a radioactive material has a single gamma ray and neutron shielding layer disposed on the outside of a vessel body, and the shielding layer is formed of the compact of a mixture of lead and a metal hydride dispersed therein. This cask can exhibit an excellent shielding effect according to the balance of radiation source intensity between gamma rays and neutrons, and can be made more compact."

Visual Examples of Data Correspondance

Widom-Larsen Optical Model

The Widom-Larsen optical model, depicted by the curve below, predicts a unique spectrum of elemental abundances as a function of the creation and capture of ultra-low-momentum neutrons. The dots represent transmutation product abundances from experimental work performed by George Miley from multiple experiments in the mid-1990s.

Qualitative predictions of the Widom-Larsen optical model:

Quantitative characteristics of the predicted product-mass spectrum compared with different data sets may vary based on differences in experimental configuration, deuterium versus normal hydrogen, (all things being equal, deuterium produces higher neutron fluxes), duration of experiment, and starting materials.

Widom and Larsen do not claim that the optical model would neccesarily have a quantitative high r*square coefficient of correlation between model output and any arbitrary collection of experimental data points. This is because significant amounts of statistical noise are randomly introduced in such limited amounts of data from complex LENR nucleosynthetic network processes operating in significantly different types experiments that are run over variable lengths of time.

Miley Spectrum of Elemental Abundances from LENR Transmutations
Four Peaks Visible (Z)

Graph, data and curve by Miley in 1996 from "Quantitative Observation of Transmutation Products Occurring in Thin-Film Coated Microspheres During Electrolysis," ICCF-6. Six runs are shown in this graph; all producing similar curves.

Miley Spectrum of Elemental Abundances from LENR Transmutations
Five Peaks Visible (A)

Lines drawn by George Miley in 1996. Source: "On the Reaction Product and Heat Correlation for LENRs. in 8th International Conference on Cold Fusion," which comes from G. H. Miley, “Possible Evidence of Anomalous Energy Effects in H/D-Loaded Solids—Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENRs),” Journal of New Energy, 2, No. 3-4, pp.6-13, (1997).

See related paper: Edward Anders and Nkolas Grevesse, "Abundances of the Elements: Meteoritic and Solar," Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (ISSN 0016-7037), vol. 53, p. 197-214, Jan. 1989

Mizuno Spectrum of Elemental Abundances from LENR Transmutations

Mizuno's data show a similar, but not identical multipeak pattern of atomic abundances. Miley's peak curve is based on data from multiple runs; Mizuno's data in this graph is based on the analysis of one run. The groupings are slightly different between Miley and Mizuno and this reflects the difference in starting seed-materials and neutron production.

Mizuno: "Count rates for Pd electrode electrolyzed in heavy water solution observed by SIMS measurement. Elements are mostly grouped in four ranges of mass number: lightest elements under mass 50, light elements from 50-80; middle elements from 100-140; and heavy elements from 180-208." Source: "Isotopic Distribution for the Elements Evolved in Palladium Cathode After Electrolysis in D2O Solution"

Mizuno: "EDX Spectra from the Pd rod before and after the electrolysis: 1.0 Mol LiOH-D2O, 378K, 0.2 A/cm^2 for 2.76x10^6s.
Source: "Isotopic Distribution for the Elements Evolved in Palladium Cathode After Electrolysis in D2O Solution"

Mizuno-Miley-Widom/Larsen Correspondance
Data points (in blue and red): Plotted by Mizuno
Miley data curve (in green): Drawn by Miley
Widom-Larsen theory curve (in purple): Drawn by Larsen

Where Mizuno identified a range for the peaks he observed[1], they equate to mass numbers 65, 120 194. Where Miley identified a range for the peaks he observed[2], they equate to mass numbers 25, 65, 120 and 200. Widom and Larsen calculated the transmutation peaks[3], based on their theoretical model, to occur around mass numbers 12, 31, 62, 117 and 206.

1. Mizuno, Tadahiko, Ohmori, Tadayoshi, Akimoto, Tadashi, Kurokawa, Kazuya, Kitaichi, Masatoshi, Inoda, Koichi , Azumi, Kazuhisa, Simokawa, Shigezo, and Enyo, Michio, "Isotopic Distribution for the Elements Evolved in Palladium Cathode After Electrolysis in D2O Solution," Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Cold Fusion: Progress in New Hydrogen Energy, Hokkaido, Japan, Oct. 13-18, 1996; Okamoto, M., Ed.; New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization: Tokyo, (1996). Also published in Denki Kagaku (Japanese Journal of Electro-Chemistry,) 64 (11), p. 1160-1165, (1996)
2. Miley, George H., "On the Reaction Product and Heat Correlation for LENRs," Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Cold Fusion, Lerici (La Spezia), Italy, Italian Physical Society, Bologna, Italy (2000)
3. Widom, Allan and Larsen, Lewis, "Nuclear Abundances in Metallic Hydride Electrodes of Electrolytic Chemical Cells," Preprint, February 20, 2006

Third-Party References

Citations in Other Published Papers or Books

In the News Media

Non-Reviewed Peer Responses