This paper presents the physical principles and methods for achieving self-sustaining, time-unlimited nuclear fusion during negative corona discharge in various two-electrode systems at low voltages of about 500 or 1000 V on the surface of conducting nanotubes in a deuterium or hydrogen environment.The nuclear reaction occurs either between these particles or with participation of nuclei from the nanotube structure.This is made possible through giant energy fluctuations ranging from 30 to 100 keV, generated by the automatic formation of coherent correlated states of these particles as they traverse the nanotube surface during the corona discharge. This form of nuclear fusion operates without the need for external control and can be sustained indefinitely within a cold deuterium (hydrogen) gas or low-temperature plasma.

The features and the method for solving of two fundamental problems of astrophysics are considered: the anomalously high temperature of the solar corona above the surface of the Sun, which is 200 times higher than the temperature of the surface itself, as well as the anomalously high concentration of the He-3 isotope (compared to He-4) in this region. It is shown that both of these effects are associated with the implementation of LENR in a low-temperature magnetized plasma in the solar atmosphere due to the self-similar formation of coherent correlated states and the generation of giant particle energy fluctuations in this region. (c) 2023 ICCF. All rights reserved. ISSN 2227-3123

The VIP Collaboration is performing high sensitivity tests of the Pauli exclusion principle for electrons in the extremely-low cosmic background environment of the Gran Sasso underground National Laboratory of INFN. In its open-systems configuration, the experiment checks the continuously renewed symmetry state of the conductive target, constantly supplied with electrons through a direct current. Consequently, VIP is operating the sole experiment challenging the spin-statistics connection in compliance with the Messiah-Greenberg superselection rule. The strongest bounds set by the VIP-2 experiment on the Pauli exclusion principle violation probability, by exploiting a copper target, will be reviewed. The future VIP-3 experiment will be presented, the aim of which is to map the Pauli exclusion principle violation probability as a function of the atomic number of the target under test.

The first experimental test of the Correlated-Coherent quantum States (CCS) model is described in this paper, showing its potentialities in the explanation of anomalous effects in nuclear physics and astrophysics. Some very interesting events, which cannot be ascribed to background, have been observed. The occurrence of nuclear reactions at very low energy is a clear indication of a strong enhancement of Coulomb barrier transmissivity. Some technical issues, which are related to this difficult experiment are discussed, and possible suggestions for the next activity on this topic are also presented. (c) 2022 ICCF. All rights reserved.

Quantum mechanics is a cornerstone of modern physics and at the very basis of the Standard Model. However, decades-old open questions at its foundations, such as the "measurement problem" and the wave function collapse are still with us. Moreover, theories beyond the Standard Model often include extra-dimensions and violation of the Lorentz/Poincaré symmetries which could entail a departure from the predictions of the standard quantum mechanics. At the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy, we search for small, beyond the quantum theory signals using radiation detectors. In particular, emission of spontaneous radiation is predicted by gravity- related and continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) collapse models. We have ruled out the natural parameter-free version of the Diósi-Penrose (DP) model, and put stringent limits on the CSL model. In addition, with the VIP-2 experiment we are searching for possible violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) in forbidden atomic transitions. The impact of this research on quantum gravity models, as well as its experimental upgrade VIP-3 is also discussed.

VIP-2 (VIolation of Pauli exclusion principle - 2) is an underground experiment sited in the underground “Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso.” It aims to investigate possible violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) and, in this context, Quantum Gravity models implying violations of PEP. While an upper limit of PEP violation probability is recently published, the data requires further developments of accurate analysis techniques and methods. In this contribution, we present an overview of the methodologies proposed for current and planned analysis.

This paper considers a mechanism for solving the "lithium problem" in cosmology: a very significant difference in the observed (measured) concentration of lithium isotopes in the Universe in comparison with the results of a detailed analysis of the process of primary nucleosynthesis in the Big Bang model. It is shown that such isotope anomalies (a great decrease of the Li-7 concentration and a 500-fold increase of the Li-6 concentration) can be associated with a very significant increase of the probability of Li-6 (d, He-4)He-4 and Li-7 (p, He-4)He-4 reactions involving protons and deuterium in the near-surface region of stars with temperature T <= 100 eV. The process of optimization of nuclear fusion reactions is associated with the formation of coherent correlated states of protons and deuterons, which leads to a short-term generation of very large fluctuations in the momentum and energy of these particles, and occurs under the action of shock waves and impulse changes of the magnetic field of the star. These effects are identical to the processes that correspond to the standard LENR concepts and proceed at even lower energy. (c) 2022 ICCF. All rights reserved.

Luca De Paolisa,∗, Fabrizio Napolitano, Kristian Piscicchia, Sergio Bartalucci, Sergio Bertolucci, Massimiliano Bazzi, Mario Bragadireanu , Michael Cargnelli, Alberto Clozza, Raffaele Del Grande f , Carlo Fiorini, Carlo Guaraldo, Mihai Iliescu, Matthias Laubenstein, Johann Marton, Marco Miliucci, Edoardo Milotti, Alessio Porcelli, Alessandro Scordo, Francesco Sgaramella, Hexi Shi, Diana Laura Sirghi , Florin Sirghi , Johann Zmeskal, Catalina Curceanu INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Via E. Fermi 54, I-00044 Frascati(RM), Italy; Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi—Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche “Enrico Fermi”, Via Panisperna 89A 00184, Rome, Italy; Stefan Meyer Institute for Subatomic Physics, Kegelgasse 27, 1030 Wien, Austria; Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Str. Atomistilor No. 407, P.O. Box MG-6 Buchares-Magurele, Romania; Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, University of Bologna and INFN—Sezione di Bologna, Via Irnerio 46, I-40126 Bologna, Italy; f Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universit ̈at M ̈unchen, Boltzmannstraße 2, 85748 Garching bei M ̈unchen, Germany; Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria and INFN Sezione di Milano, I-20133 Milano, Italy; INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Via G. Acitelli 22, I-67100 L’Aquila, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trieste and INFN—Sezione di Trieste, Via Valerio, 2, I-34127 Trieste, Italy;

Violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP), albeit small, could be motivated by physics beyond the Standard Model, ranging from violation of Lorentz invariance to extra space dimensions. This scenario can be experimentally constrained through dedicated, state-of-the-art X-ray spectroscopy, searching for a forbidden atomic transition from the L shell to the K shell already occupied by two electrons. The VIP-2 Experiment located at the underground Gran Sasso National Laboratories of INFN (Italy) tests PEP violations by introducing new electrons via a direct current in a copper conductor, measuring the X-ray energies through a silicon drift detector. Bayesian and frequentist analyses of approximately six months of data taken with the fully operational setup is presented, setting the strongest limit to date on the PEP violation shown by the VIP collaboration. The upper bound on PEP violation are placed at 90% CL β2/2≤6.8×10−42 with the Bayesian approach, and β2/2≤7.1×10−42 with the frequentist CLs technique.

The VIP-2 experiment performs a high sensitivity test of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons, and is operated in the ultra-low cosmic background environment of the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratories of INFN. The experimental technique consists in testing the symmetry state of an open, continuously supplied, system of fermions; thus representing the only spin-statistics test which strictly fulfills the Messiah-Greenberg superselection rule. In April 2019, VIP-2 started the ongoing data taking campaign in its final layout, with the goal to improve the previous VIP result of at least two orders of magnitude. Before April 2019, VIP-2 collected, in a partial configuration of the external shielding complex, two sets of data in 2018–2019 for a total duration of about 208 days. We present in this work the results of the analyses of the first two data sets collected by VIP-2, which already improve the VIP result by one order of magnitude. The results are also interpreted in the framework of a diffusion random walk model, which provides a significantly enhanced description of the electrons-atoms close encounters process, and hence a boost on the estimated limit on the Pauli Exclusion Principle violation probability.

K. Piscicchiaa,b, A. Pichlerc, A. Amirkhanid, S. Bartaluccib S. Bertoluccie, M. Bazzib, M. Bragadireanuf,b, M. Cargnellic A. Clozzab, C. Curceanub,a,f , R. Del Grandeb, L. De Paolisb J.P. Eggerg, C. Fiorinid, C. Guaraldob, M. Iliescub M. Laubensteinh, J. Martonc, M. Miliuccib, E. Milottii D. Pietreanuf,b, A. Scordob, H. Shic, D. Laura Sirghib,f F. Sirghib,f , L. Sperandiob, O. Vazquez Docej, J. Zmeskalc

The VIP-2 collaboration runs an apparatus in the Gran Sasso underground laboratories of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) designed to search for anomalous X-rays from electron-atom interactions due to violations of the fundamental antisymmetry of multi-electron wavefunctions. The experiment implements the scheme first proposed by Ramberg and Snow, where a current source injects electrons into a metal strip (the experiment’s target). In this paper we describe the structure of a Monte Carlo program to simulate a new upgrade of the experiment, where the anomalous X-ray emission is modulated by an arbitrary time-varying input current. A novel feature of the simulation algorithm is that the Monte Carlo program is based on a mixture of analytical and numerical methods. We report preliminary, exploratory results on the expected detection rate for different modulations of the injected current; these results are a starting point on the way to optimize the modulation scheme and indicate a large potential improvement of the detection sensitivity.

The VIP-2 (VIolation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle) experiment conducted at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) of INFN is searching for possible tiny violations of standard quantum mechanics in copper atoms with extremely high sensitivity. We investigate atomic transitions with precision X-ray spectroscopy in order to test the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) and therefore the spin-statistics theorem. We present the experimental method for the search for "anomalous" (i.e. Pauli-forbidden) X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by "new" electrons, which could have a tiny probability to undergo a Pauli-forbidden transition to the 1s ground state already occupied by two electrons. We describe the VIP-2 experimental setup and its recent optimisations. Presently VIP-2 is taking data at LNGS. The goal of VIP-2 is to test PEP for electrons with unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10−31 (and using a more elaborate analysis even 10−40). We present current experimental results.

In the VIP2 VIolation of the Pauli Exlusion Principle (PEP) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) we are searching for possible violations of standard quantum mechanics predictions. With high precision we investigate the Pauli Exclusion Principle and the collapse of the wave function (collapse models). We will present our experimental method of searching for possible small violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons, via the search for “anomalous” X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by “new” electrons (brought inside a copper bar by circulating current) which could have the probability to undergo Pauli-forbidden transition to the ground state (1 s level) already occupied by two electrons. We will describe the concept of the VIP2 experiment taking data at LNGS presently. The goal of VIP2 is to test the PEP for electrons with unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10 −31 . We will show preliminary experimental results obtained at LNGS and discuss implications of a possible violation.

The VIP Collaboration is performing high precision tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons in the extremely low cosmic background environment of the Underground Gran Sasso Laboratories of INFN (Italy). The experimental technique consists in introducing a DC current in a copper conductor, searching for K-alpha PEP-forbidden atomic transitions when the K shell is already occupied by two electrons. VIP set an upper limit on the PEP-violation probability 1/2 beta(2) <4.7 x 10(-29). The aim of the upgraded VIP-2 experiment is to improve this result at least by two orders of magnitude. The improved experimental setup and the results of a preliminary data analysis, corresponding to the the first run of the VIP-2 data taking (2016-2017), will be presented.

In this paper we report on the results of two analyses of the data taken with a dedicated VIP-Lead experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the INFN. We use measurements taken in an environment that is especially well screened from cosmic rays, with a metal target made of “Roman lead” which is characterised by a low level of intrinsic radioactivity. The analyses lead to an improvement, on the upper bounds of the Pauli Exclusion Principle violation for electrons, which is more than one (four) orders of magnitude, when the electron-atom interactions are described in terms of scatterings (or close encounters) respectively.

The Pauli Exclusion Principle is one of the most fundamental rules of nature and represents a pillar of modern physics. According to many observations the Pauli Exclusion Principle must be extremely well fulfilled. Nevertheless, numerous experimental investigations were performed to search for a small violation of this principle. The VIP experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory searched for Pauli-forbidden X-ray transitions in copper atoms using the Ramberg-Snow method and obtained the best limit so far. The follow-up experiment VIP2 is designed to reach even higher sensitivity. It aims to improve the limit by VIP by orders of magnitude. The experimental method, comparison of different PEP tests based on different assumptions and the developments for VIP2 are presented.

The VIP experiment performed an accurate investigation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons. The apparatus was installed in the Gran Sasso Laboratories of the National Institute of Nuclear Physic in Italy, an underground environment with an extremely low cosmic background. The aim of the experiment was to test the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons in a copper target circulated by a Direct Current (DC) current, searching for X-rays emission due to an atomic transition forbidden by Pauli exclusion principle, from the L shell to the K shell of copper when the K shell is already occupied by two electrons. VIP set an upper limit on the Pauli exclusion principle violation probability 1/2 beta(2) < 4.7 x 10(-29). The goal of the upgraded VIP-2 experiment, presently in data taking at Gran Sasso Laboratories, is to improve this limit by two orders of magnitude. The VIP-2 experimental apparatus, in which the Silicon Drift Detectors have the key role of X-ray detectors, and preliminary results are presented.

The standard scheme of several tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle in bulk matter - both in the experiment and in the subsequent data analysis - has long been based on the seminal paper by E. Ramberg, G.A. Snow [Phys. Lett. B 238, 438 (1990)]. The ideas exposed in that paper are so simple and immediate that they have long gone unchallenged. However, while some of the underlying approximations are still valid, other parts of the article must be reconsidered. Here, we discuss some new concepts that are related to the motion of the electrons in the test metal (the "target" of the experiment) and which have been recently studied in the framework of the VIP-2 Collaboration.

In this paper, the possibility and characteristics of effective nuclear fusion based on the interaction of low energy proton beams with the nuclei on a crystal surface or gas of free molecules are discussed. It is shown that this effect can be explained by the process of formation of coherent correlated states, which take place during the interaction of moving protons with lithium molecules. (C) 2019 ISCMNS. All rights reserved. ISSN 2227-3123