New preprint on photo-induced nuclear effects

Quote from Lou Pagnucco

Not truly LENR, but perhaps of interest ---

Experimental Observations of Nuclear Activity in Deuterated Materials Subjected to a Low-Energy Photon Beam

ABSTRACT: Exposure of highly deuterated materials to a low-energy (nom. 2 MeV) photon beam resulted in nuclear activity of both the parent metals of hafnium and erbium and a witness material (molybdenum) mixed with the reactants. Gamma spectral analysis of all deuterated materials, ErD2.8-C36D74-Mo and HfD2-C36D74-Mo, showed that nuclear processes had occurred as shown by unique gamma signatures. For the deuterated erbium specimens, posttest gamma spectra showed evidence of radioisotopes of erbium (163Er and 171Er) and of molybdenum (99Mo and 101Mo) and by beta decay, technetium (99mTc and 101Tc). For the deuterated hafnium specimens, posttest gamma spectra showed evidence of radioisotopes of hafnium (180mHf and 181Hf) and molybdenum (99Mo and 101Mo), and by beta decay, technetium (99mTc and 101Tc). In contrast, when either the hydrogenated or non-gas-loaded erbium or hafnium materials were exposed to the gamma flux, the gamma spectra revealed no new isotopes. Neutron activation materials showed evidence of thermal and epithermal neutrons. CR-39 solid-state nuclear track detectors showed evidence of fast neutrons with energies between 1.4 and 2.5 MeV and several instances of triple tracks, indicating greater than 10 MeV neutrons. Further study is required to determine the mechanism causing the nuclear activity

https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.00694

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Such processes appear to occur in the earth's crust and are associated with LENR

Dear colleagues,

would like to invite you to participate in the section related issues (LENR), under the leadership of Prof. Klimov Ai. International Conference on Plasma Aerodynamics undertaken in April 7, 2017 AIHT RAS with 14 to 6:00 pm. After the end of the visit to the laboratory section of the heterogeneous chemical processes and continued the discussion on Physics LENR.

Chairman A. Klimov And Section.

Address: Izhorskaja Street 13 pages.

2 directions: m «Rechnoy Vokzal» minibus 200 (until the end)

phone 8 916 323 3650

Here's the web site for the April 7 conference, which takes place in Moscow:

http://www.mhd-ec.ru/en/

Lawrence Forsley, a co-author of the second Arxiv paper, which made use of x-rays, is a longtime collaborator with Pam Mosier-Boss and Stan Szpak (assuming he's the same Lawrence Forsley).

The second paper, by Benyo et al., touches on the apparent inducement of radioactivity in deuterated materials. The paper is an April 2017 report with a lot of researchers directly or indirectly associated with NASA Glenn Research Center that reports preliminary findings. The authors observed beta activity arising both in deuterated polyethylene (PDE) targets and in targets that combine DPE with titanium deuteride, as well as alpha activity in combined samples only (I think). There were several kinds of controls, and the controls showed no activity above the minimum detectable amount (MDA), in contrast to the samples that showed activity, which was in some cases well above the minimum detectable amount. The alpha activity died down quickly, and the beta activity in several samples persisted over a 12 month period.

The authors conclude:

Quote

Fourteen tests out of 19 total runs in this test sequence with either DPE or DPE with TiD2 were beta activated. Some samples exhibited alphas, which decayed below MDA in approximately an hour following x-ray exposure. Several of the samples with DPE and TiD2 showed persistent beta activity. Several of the samples (SL10A, SL16, and SL17A) showed beta activity above background with a greater than 4σ confidence level for months after exposure. Portions of SL10A, SL16, and SL17A were scanned using a beta scintillator and found to have beta counts in the tritium energy band, continuing without noticeable decay for over 12 months. Beta scintillation investigation of as-received materials (before xray exposure) showed no beta counts in the tritium energy band, indicating the beta emitters were not in the starting materials.

By "tritium energy band," they're referring to a very general categorization of beta energy levels performed by one of their scintillator detectors into three energy bands, one for tritium, one for carbon-14 and one for phosphorus-32. So the beta emitter might or might not be tritium proper.

The method used in this paper is notably different from that of the first paper, in that x-rays in the range 65 – 280 keV were used, in contrast to the ~ 2 MeV photons that were used in the first paper. The energy of a tritium decay is ~ 19 keV, so the relative energy of these photons is significant. However, there is no way that I know of recognized by physics to induce long-lived beta or alpha activity using x-ray photons. The findings of this paper seem to be important if confirmed.