Nuclear Fusion Enhancement by Heavy Nuclear Catalysts

2025/02/05 by Grayson, Christopher, Rafelski, Johann
#FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th) #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2502.07804

Abstract

We seek to understand the effect of high electron density in the proximity of a heavy nucleus on the fusion reaction rates in a hot plasma phase. We investigate quantitatively the catalytic effect of gold (Z=79) ions embedded in an electron plasma created due to plasmonic focusing of high-intensity short laser pulses. Using self-consistent strong plasma screening, we find highly significant changes in the internuclear potential of light elements present nearby. For gold, we see a 14 keV change in the internuclear potential near the nuclear surface, independent of the long-distance thermal Debye-Hückel screening. The dense polarization cloud of electrons around the gold catalyst leads to a ∼ 1.5 enhancement of proton-boron (¹¹B) fusion above T=100 keV.

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