Nuclear Fusion Enhancement by Heavy Nuclear Catalysts
Plasma Physics
2025-12-23 v1 Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Nuclear Theory
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 () 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 keV change in the internuclear potential near the nuclear surface, independent of the long-distance thermal Debye-H\"uckel screening. The dense polarization cloud of electrons around the gold catalyst leads to a enhancement of proton-boron (B) fusion above keV.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2502.07804,
title = {Nuclear Fusion Enhancement by Heavy Nuclear Catalysts},
author = {Christopher Grayson and Johann Rafelski},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.07804},
year = {2025}
}