https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-025-01623-x
Regular Article
Nuclear fusion enhancement by heavy nuclear catalysts
1
NAPLIFE Project, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, 1121, Budapest, Hungary
2
Department of Physics, The University of Arizona, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA
a
christopher.grayson@wigner.hu
Received:
5
February
2025
Accepted:
4
April
2025
Published online:
30
April
2025
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 inter-nuclear potential of light elements present nearby. For gold, we see a 
keV change in the inter-nuclear potential near the nuclear surface, independent of the long-distance thermal Debye–Hückel screening. The dense polarization cloud of electrons around the gold catalyst leads to a 
enhancement of proton–boron (
B) fusion near 
keV.
© The Author(s) 2025
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