New Energy Times - Hagelstein Theory Portal

Summary of Theory
(Note: Hagelstein has no "theory." Instead, he has an assortment of models that attempt to describe various aspects of the LENR phenomena.)

In a paper Peter Hagelstein wrote, he said that his model is based on "excitation transfer in which global energy is conserved but local energy conservation is violated." In the model, he said, "Two deuterons interact to make 4He, exchanging one or more phonons in the process, with the reaction energy transferred elsewhere. The coupling in this case is weak since the transition is hindered by the presence of a Gamow factor due to coupling through the Coulomb barrier."

Highlights of Claims

(Courtesy Tom Dolan)

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

Huizenga's three miracles were:

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

Resolution to Miracle #1: none

Resolution to Miracle #2: none

Resolution to Miracle #3: none

Simple Explanation of Mechanics of Theory

Informal Articles by Theorist

ICCF-10 Proceedings Foreword and Summary (2003)

"A Plethora of 'Miracles'," Cold Fusion magazine, July/Aug. 1994, V1, N3

Letter to Bockris, Dec. 15, 1993
There are numerous anomalies that have been reportedly observed in this field that many refer to as "cold fusion." As you are aware, I do not believe that fusion (especially d+d fusion) can occur in electrochemical cells. The idea that a lattice could somehow squeeze deuterons together sufficiently hard to get them to fuse seemed to me to be absurd when I first heard about it ... It is immediately clear that fusion is not the source of the anomalies.

ICCF-3 Trip Report (LENR theory review begins page 25) (1992)
The experimentalists have grown used to the idea that deuterium gives anomalies and hydrogen does not; the theorists who believe in fusion mechanisms are comfortable with positive effects in deuterium and negative effects in hydrogen. A light water heat effect causes consternation in both camps; it would be exceedingly difficult to reconcile with a fusion mechanism.

The neutron transfer model which I have been looking at (described briefly below) needs a neutron donor (usually deuterium) and an acceptor nucleus, and therefore has somewhat fewer constraints; nevertheless, I do not relish the prospect of attempting to explain an apparently general light water heat effect where the nuclei present are widely different from one cell to another. An experimental determination (and confirmation) of the ashes.

***
It has been suggested that the 4He branch of the dd-fusion reaction is somehow favored, and several searches for 4He have been made. The conventional 4He branch yields a 24 MeV gamma, which is not observed when heat is produced. The reaction energy would have to go elsewhere to be qualitatively consistent, and many [people] in the field believe that energy transfer to the lattice occurs. Many measurements have been performed seeking 4He in the cathode after the experiment; my impression is that it is simply not there quantitatively by many orders of magnitude.I would think that by next year's conference, that there will be a consensus by many groups established on whether substantial helium is produced or not.

***
A weakness of the limiting argument as stated by Morrison is the presupposition that conventional dd-fusion is the operative reaction mechanism; it has long been recognized by many (but not all) in the field that the excess heat production can not be due to conventional dd-fusion.

***
The theories may initially be divided up into two general categories; those involving (modified) fusion mechanisms, and those not involving fusion mechanisms. Papers considering fusion mechanisms face the two basic problems of (1) arranging to get nuclei close enough together to fuse, and (2) possibly modifying the fusion reaction profiles. We first consider papers describing theories based on fusion mechanisms.

***
A number of theorists, including myself, have gone away from fusion reaction mechanisms. The motivation for this is to avoid the coulomb barrier (if possible) and to find reactions with signatures that hopefully more closely match the experimental observations. Each new non-fusion approach carries with it specific problems and issues that are associated with the specific reaction mechanism. Aside from this, any new approach must also arrange itself to be consistent with physical law, observations in this and other fields, and must presumably be functioning in a manner not previously expected (lest it would have been found earlier). We describe such contributions below.

1. Electron capture on a deuteron would lead to two virtual neutrons; if it could be arranged for the virtual neutrons to be in proximity with neighboring nuclei, then further reactions could occur. This approach was described in two abstracts by J. Yang of the Dept. of Physics, Hunan Normal University of China.84,85 Yang proposes that the two neutrons form a stable dineutron that reacts with deuterium to make tritium and a free neutron, and with 105Pd to make 106Pd and a free neutron.

I consider this general approach to be one of the basic non-fusion approaches that actually begins to try to address the coulomb barrier problem. Once the electron capture occurs, the coulomb barrier is gone, potentially leading to the possibility of something happening near room temperature. One difficulty involved in this approach are that the electron capture is mediated by the weak interaction, which really is very weak, making it hard to obtain significant reaction rates. A second difficulty is that virtual neutrons do not generally wander more than fermis away from their point of origin, making it difficult for a virtual neutron to reach another nucleus to interact.

***

The name “cold fusion” has been adopted by the field to some degree by default. This name implies a generic physical reaction mechanism (fusion), and because the experiments involve deuterium, the name further presupposes specific reactions (dd-fusion reactions). But dd-fusion is expected to produce neutrons and tritons, neither of which are quantitatively present with the excess heat. Scientists who are not in the field are discouraged because the expected fusion products are not present in quantities commensurate with the observed energy production, and scientists working in the field have not come up with an explanation in three and a half years as to why deuterons should fuse that is acceptable to the scientific community.

There have been proposals to change the name of the field: “solid state nuclear physics” has been suggested; “nuclear effects in metals” has also been put forth. I would strongly endorse a name change.

A reviewer of this manuscript has pointed out that even these names presuppose a nuclear component to the effect, which in the reviewer's eyes remains to be demonstrated, and has recommended “hydrogen energy” or “hydrogen in metals”, with the understanding that “hydrogen” is to include the isotopes.

"Status Report on Coherent Fusion Theory," Proceedings of The First Annual Conference on Cold Fusion, March 28-31, 1990, University of Utah Research Park, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Abstract: "We are investigating two-step coherent reactions which begin through weak interaction mediated electron capture, which in hydrogen isotopes, would produce off shell (virtual) neutrons. No coulomb repulsion occurs for virtual neutrons. Virtual neutron capture by deuterons would yield tritium, and virtual neutron capture by protons by a factor of 5000 on a per nucleon basis, and corresponds to a heat-producing reaction."

Slides Presentations by Theorist

Scientific Papers

Hagelstein, P.L., A Simple Model for Coherent D-D Fusion in the Presence of a Lattice. (No publication data known) (1989)

(Abstract) Hagelstein, P.L. Coherent Fusion Theory. in Winter Annual Meeting of Am. Soc. Mechan. Eng. San Francisco, CA,(1989)

Hagelstein, P.L., Phonon Interactions in Coherent Fusion, (No publication data known) (1989)

Hagelstein, P.L., Rates for Neutron and Tritium Production in Coherent D-D Fusion. (1989)

Hagelstein, P.L. Coherent Fusion Mechanisms. in Anomalous Nuclear Effects in Deuterium/Solid Systems, "AIP Conference Proceedings 228". Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT: American Institute of Physics, New York. (1990)

Hagelstein, P.L., Coherent fusion theory. J. Fusion Energy, 9: p. 451,(1990)

Hagelstein, P.L., "Status of Coherent Fusion Theory," Proceedings of the First Annual Conference on Cold Fusion. University of Utah Research Park, Salt Lake City, Utah: National Cold Fusion Institute, (1990)

Hagelstein, P.L. "Coherent and Semi-coherent Neutron Transfer Reactions," in Second Annual Conference on Cold Fusion, The Science of Cold Fusion, Como, Italy: Societa Italiana di Fisica, Bologna, Italy (1991)

Hagelstein, P.L., Coherent and semicoherent neutron transfer reactions I: The interaction Hamiltonian. Fusion Technol.,22: p. 172. (1992)

Hagelstein, P.L.,"Coherent and Semi-Coherent Neutron Transfer Reactions," in Third International Conference on Cold Fusion, "Frontiers of Cold Fusion". Nagoya Japan: Universal Academy Press, Inc., Tokyo, Japan. (1992)

Hagelstein, P.L., Coherent and semicoherent neutron transfer reactions III: Phonon frequency shifts. Fusion Technol., 23: p. 353. (1993)

Hagelstein, P.L.,"Lattice-Induced Atomic and Nuclear Reactions," in Fourth International Conference on Cold Fusion. Lahaina, Maui: Electric Power Research Institute 3412 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304, (1993)

Hagelstein, P.L. and S. Kaushik, "Neutron Transfer Reactions," in Fourth International Conference on Cold Fusion. Lahaina, Ma: Electric Power Research Institute 3412 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304, (1993)

Hagelstein, P.L., "Update on Neutron Transfer Reactions," in 5th International Conference on Cold Fusion. Monte-Carlo, Monaco: IMRA Europe, Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France. (1995)

Hagelstein, P.L., "Anomalous Energy Transfer between Nuclei and the Lattice," in Sixth International Conference on Cold Fusion, Progress in New Hydrogen Energy. Lake Toya, Hokkaido, Japan: New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. (1996)

Hagelstein, P.L.,"Anomalous Energy Transfer," in The Seventh International Conference on Cold Fusion. Vancouver, Canada: ENECO, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT. (1998)

Hagelstein, P., "Electron screening in palladium deuteride," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 6 (1999)

Hagelstein, P., "A model for coupled nuclear-phonon interactions," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 9 (1999)

Hagelstein, P.L., "A Unified Model for Anomalies in Metal Deuterides," in 8th International Conference on Cold Fusion. Lerici (La Spezia), Italy: Italian Physical Society, Bologna, Italy. (2000)

Hagelstein, P., "Second-Order Quantum Coupling Effects and Energy-related Problems," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 29-1 (2001)

Hagelstein, P.L., "A unified model for anomalies in metal deuterides," in The 9th International Conference on Cold Fusion, Condensed Matter Nuclear Science. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing, China: Tsinghua Univ. Press. (2002)

Hagelstein, P., "Energy-Related Problems," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 29-1 (2002)

Hagelstein, P., "Anomalies in Metal Deuterides," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 29-9 (2002)

Hagelstein, P., "Nearly-isentropic Energy Conversion with Quantum Excitation Transfer," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 29-38 (2002)

Hagelstein, P.L., "Resonant Tunneling and Resonant Excitation Transfer," in Tenth International Conference on Cold Fusion. Cambridge, MA(2003)

Hagelstein, P.L., "Thermal to Electric Energy Conversion," in Tenth International Conference on Cold Fusion. Cambridge, MA, (2003)

Hagelstein, P.L., "Unified Phonon-Coupled SU(N) Models For Anomalies In Metal Deuterides," in Tenth International Conference on Cold Fusion. Cambridge, MA,(2003)

P. Hagelstein, M. McKubre, D. Nagel, T. Chubb, R. Hekman, "New Physical Effects In Metal Deuterides," 2004 U.S. Department of Energy LENR Review, (2004)

Hagelstein, P.L., et al., "New Physical Effects in Metal Deuterides," in Eleventh International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science. Marseille, France. (2004)

Hagelstein, P., "Nearly-isentropic Energy Conversion with Quantum Excitation Transfer," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 30-1 (2004)

Hagelstein, P., "Few-Body Nuclear Wavefunctions," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 30-6 (2004)

Hagelstein, P.L., "Models for Anomalies in Condensed Matter Deuterides," in The 12th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Yokohama, Japan, (2005)

P. L. Hagelstein and Dennis Wu, "Thermal to Electric Conversion with a Novel Quantum-Coupled Converter," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 34-1 (2006)

P. L. Hagelstein and Irfan Chaudhary, "Nuclear reaction matrix elements including phonon coupling," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 34-7 (2006)

P. L. Hagelstein, "Simple model for excess heat in metal deuterides," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 34-12 (2006)

P. L. Hagelstein, "Modeling of the Yang-Koldomasov experiment," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 34-17 (2006)

Hagelstein, P., "Modeling Excess Heat in the Fleischmann-Pons Experiment," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 36-1 (2007)

Hagelstein, P.L. and I. Chaudhary, "Progress on Phonon Exchange Models for Excess Heat in Metal Deuterides," Proceedings of in ICCF-13 International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Sochi, Russia (2007)

Hagelstein, P.L. and I. Chaudhary, "Electron mass shift in nonthermal systems," Journal Of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular And Optical Physics, 41, 125001 (9pp) (2008)

Letts, D. and Hagelstein, P.L., "Stimulation of Optical Phonons in Deuterated Palladium," in ICCF-14 International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Washington, DC. (2008)

Hagelstein, P.L., et al., "A Theoretical Formulation for Problems in Condensed Matter Nuclear Science," in ICCF-14 International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Washington, DC. (2008)

Hagelstein, P.L. and I. Chaudhary, "Excitation transfer and energy exchange processes for modeling the Fleischmann-Pons excess heat effect," in ICCF-14 International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Washington, DC. (2008)

Hagelstein, P.L., M.E. Melich, and R. Johnson, "Input To Theory From Experiment In The Fleischmann-Pons Effect." in ICCF-14 International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Washington, DC. (2008)

Hagelstein, P.L. and I. Chaudhary, "Models Relevant to Excess Heat Production in Fleischmann-Pons Experiments," in Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions Sourcebook, American Chemical Society: Washington, DC. p. 249-267, (2008)

Hagelstein, P.L. and I. Chaudhary, "Arguments for dideuterium near monovacancies in PdD," in 15th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Rome, Italy: ENEA, (2009)

Hagelstein, P.L., McKubre, M.C.H., and Tanzella, F.L., "Electrochemical models for the Fleischmann-Pons experiment," in 15th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Rome, Italy: ENEA, (2009)

(Slides) Hagelstein, P.L. and I. Chaudhary, "Modeling excess heat in the Fleischmann-Pons experiment," in 15th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Rome, Italy: ENEA, (2009)

(Paper) Hagelstein, P.L. and I. Chaudhary, "Modeling excess heat in the Fleischmann-Pons experiment," in 15th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Rome, Italy: ENEA, (2009)

(Slides) Hagelstein, P.L. and I. Chaudhary, "Modeling excess heat in the Fleischmann-Pons experiment", University of Missouri colloquium

(Video) Hagelstein, P.L. and I. Chaudhary, "Modeling excess heat in the Fleischmann-Pons experiment", University of Missouri colloquium

(Slides) Hagelstein, P.L., D. Letts, and D. Cravens, "Progress on two-laser experiments." in 15th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Rome, Italy: ENEA, (2009) (No corresponding paper in proceedings)

Peter L. Hagelstein and Irfan U. Chaudhary,"Arguments for dideuterium near monovacancies in PdD," in 15th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, Rome, Italy: ENEA, (2009)

Hagelstein, P., "Fleischmann-Pons Effect Studies," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 34-1, (2009)

Hagelstein, Peter L., "Constraints on energetic particles in the Fleischmann–
Pons experiment," Naturwissenschaften, DOI 10.1007/s00114-009-0644-4, Feb. 9, 2010

Hagelstein, Peter L., "Modeling excess heat in the Fleischmann-Pons experiment," presented at the American Chemical Society, San Francisco, CA (2010)

(Slides) Hagelstein, Peter L., "Modeling excess heat in the Fleischmann-Pons experiment," Army Research Labs LENR Workshop (2010)

Peter L Hagelstein and Irfan U Chaudhary, "Progress in modeling excess heat in the Fleischmann-Pons experiment," presented at the American Chemical Society, Anaheim, CA (2011)

Hagelstein, P., "Fleischmann-Pons Effect Studies," MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics Progress Report, pg 48-1 (2010)

P.L. Hagelstein, I.U. Chaudhary, "Including nuclear degrees of freedom in a lattice Hamiltonian," http://arxiv.org/pdf/1201.4377.pdf (Jan. 20, 2012)

Issued Patents

Visual Examples of Data Correspondance

Third-Party References

Michael McKubre- 2011 "The best theory that I'm aware of is my friend Peter Hagelstein's at MIT."

Citations in Other Published Papers or Books

In the News Media

Cold Fusion: A Heated History, By Bruce Gellerman Living on Earth broadcast on National Public Radio, Friday, 30 Sep., 2005

"Over the years, Associate Hagelstein has come up with 150 versions of a theory trying to explain how cold fusion could create a nuclear reaction at room temperature without high levels of fusion byproducts."

Non-Reviewed Peer Responses