Transmutation of Elements in Low-energy Glow Discharge and the Associated Processes

The review of the main transmutation results in palladium and tungsten after the exposure to deuterium Glow Discharge (GD) measured by different Mass Spectrometry (MS) and Gamma-Spectrometry (GS) methods is given. The registered structure and isotopic ratio change alongside with formation of additional elements were accompanied by gamma and X-ray emission. The registered isotopic ratio change ranged within 2-1000 times, the quantity of additional elements undetected before varying within one tenth to dozens percents in Pd and Pd alloys. The isotopes with masses less than and exceeding those of the cathode material were measured in most of the experiments. The MS revealed that the tungsten isotopes transmutated into elements lighter than tungsten, higher post-experimental intensity of mass numbers 169, 170, 171, 178 and 180 being observed. The mass spectra peaks magnituded for isotopes lighter than W isotopes increased by factors ranging from 5 to 400. The registered increase varied from 5-50 cps in the original foils to 100-20 000 cps after the exposure to deuterium GD. Lighter isotopes in tungsten and tantalum foils placed on the GD cathode after deuterium GD exposure were identified using high resolution gamma/X-ray spectrometry. The comparison of thermal ionization mass- spectrometry (TIMS) data and data of gamma-spectra energy peaks allowed to assume that the peaks series observed in gamma spectra belong to the following isotopes: Yb-169(70), Hf-170(72), Yb-171m(70), Hf-172(72) and Yb-178(70). Correlation of TIMS and Gamma spectrometry data leads to the assumption that the appearance of light isotopes in tungsten resulted from the low-energy decay process initiation caused by deuterium GD. (C) 2012 ISCMNS. All rights reserved.