Lepton-Catalyzed Nuclear Fusion: Casimir Cavity Modulated Nuclear Fusion Trent Angell APS 4CS Abstract (In-person, oral presentation preferred)

Nuclear Astrohysicists have observed the fusion rates in metals loaded with deuterium are higher than electron screening can predict. Our experiments suggest the Quantum Vacuum Field (QVF) may play a role in this enhancement. Atomic stability has been attributed to interactions with the QVF, since accelerating electrons would otherwise be expected to radiate energy and spiral into the nucleus. When parallel conducting plates are spaced closer than a micron, there's a QVF energy density reduction between the plates compared to the space outside. By decreasing the QVF energy the electron orbitals may reduce and thereby lower the coulombic barrier to fusion, much like the principle of Muon Catalyzed Fusion. To test this, an aluminum pattern is deposited onto silicon wafers to form parallel spacing and form a cavity. Deuterium deposited on the insides of the wafers have the ability to saturate the dangling bonds of the silicon surface. Making one of the surfaces a silicon-surface-barrier charged particle detector (SBD), we can track the rate of deuterium-deuterium fusion compared to cavity spacing. Doing so may explain the underestimation of tunneling rates by electron screening in metal hydrides.