A Decades-Old Nuclear Fusion Mystery

Nuclear astrophysicists Rolfs, Raiola, Greife, Hoke, and others have studied the electron screening in metal accelerator targets, the "plasma for a poor man." The reduction in coulomb barrier and thereby increases in fusion rates are greater than what electron screening theory can predict, by as much as a factor of two (Cruz 2012). Lepton catalyzation may be a contributor, as experience with muon catalyzed fusion would suggest (Jones 1986). Can electrons also catalyze hydrogen fusion? We are pursuing this question by developing a target system with various detectors. In particular, the construction and testing of a silicon gated high-energy electron spectrometer will be discussed.