载氢金属中质子的相干振荡
Coherent Oscillations of Protons in Hydrogen-loaded Metals
AI总结：
本文通过计算与模拟，提出载氢金属中质子可形成相干振荡态，该态能生成慢中子，其机制是Widom-Larsen假说的替代解释，更接近主流物理模型。
AI中文摘要：
我们综述了近期的计算与数值模拟结果，这些结果显示在具有立方晶格的载氢金属中会形成质子的相干态。在这些态中，质子以约10^13赫兹的频率相干振荡，且与束缚在材料中的强高频电场保持固定相位关系，当材料为微粉时这种效应尤为显著。相干基态的能隙经估算远高于热能量，约为每个粒子几分之一电子伏特，足以使该态抵御热涨落。解析计算针对大量质子的实际情况，采用旋波近似；目前的数值计算虽仅针对少量质子，但超出了旋波近似的范畴，可计入与强振荡电场相关的耗散项。该理论模型的下一步任务是计算相干系统的激发态，有充分迹象表明，在这些态中，质子可被外部泵浦激发至远高于凝聚态中单个非相干质子所能达到的能量，此能量足以引发电子俘获过程并生成慢中子。该动力学机制为Widom-Larsen的“重电子”假说提供了另一种解释，且更接近主流物理的现有模型；通过电子俘获生成中子引发的核嬗变后果，将与Widom和Larsen预测的结果类似，还会伴随Metzler等人近期重新研究的其他若干过程。
英文摘要：
We review recent calculations and numerical simulations showing the formation of coherent states of protons in hydrogen-loaded metals with a cubic crystal lattice. In these states protons oscillate coherently at frequencies of the order of $10^{13}\,\mathrm{Hz}$ and in a fixed phase relation with a strong high-frequency electric field which is trapped in the material, especially if the material is made of micro-powders. The energy gap of the coherent ground state is estimated to be well above thermal energies, of the order of a fraction of an eV per particle, and therefore large enough to make the state robust against thermal fluctuations. The analytical calculations address the realistic case of a large number of protons, in the rotating-wave approximation. The numerical calculations are presently limited to a small number of protons but go beyond the rotating-wave approximation and allow one to take into account a dissipation term associated with the strong oscillating electric field. The next task of this theoretical model is to compute the excited states of the coherent system. There are strong indications that in those states protons can be excited by an external pump to energies much larger than those achievable by single incoherent protons in condensed matter. Such energies are large enough to make possible some electron-capture processes, with generation of slow neutrons. This dynamical mechanism offers an alternative to the Widom--Larsen hypothesis of ``heavy electrons'', and is closer to current models in mainstream physics. The consequences, in terms of nuclear transmutations, of neutron generation via electron capture would be similar to those predicted by Widom and Larsen, plus several other processes like those recently re-examined by Metzler et al.
