On Complex Nuclei Energetics in LENR

Swimming Electron Layer (SEL) theory plus fission of ``complex nuclei'' were proposed earlier to explain reaction products observed in electrolysis with multi-layer thin-film metallic electrodes\footnote{1. G.H. Miley, and J.A. Patterson, J. New Energy, Vol. 1, pp.11-15, (1996).}. SEL was then extended to treat gas-diffusion driven transmutation experiments\footnote{G. H. Miley and H. Hora, ``Nuclear Reactions in Solids,'' APS DNP Mtg., East Lansing, MI, Oct (2002).}. It is also consistent with measured charged-particle emission during thin-film electrolysis and x-ray emission during plasma bombardment experiments\footnote{A. Karabut, ``X-ray emission in high-current glow discharge,'' Proc., ICCF-9, Beijing China, May (2002).}. The binding energy per complex nucleon can be estimated by an energy balance combined with identification of products for each complex – e.g. complexes of A~39 have $\sim$ 0.05 MeV/Nucleon, etc, in thin film electrolysis. Energies in gas diffusion experiments are lower due to the reduced trap site potential at the multi-atom surface. In the case of x-ray emission, complexes involve subsurface defect center traps, giving only a few keV/Nucleon, consistent with experiments$^3$.