Cold Fusion Phenomenon is Explained by TNCF Model

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Chapter 11 Cold Fusion Phenomenon is Explained by TNCF Model

In the preceding Chapters from 6 to 10, we have examined the experimental data sets in the cold fusion phenomenon obtained in this nine years spreading out into various events in solids not noticed until now. A. Einstein once compared a physicist with a detective in his famous book The Evolution of Physics written by him with L. Infeld. Knowing complicated facts in the cold fusion phenomenon introduced in these chapters, we are tempted to clarify necessary conditions of various events in them, to solve the many riddles contained in them, to determine sufficient conditions of the phenomenon and finally to built a new science of the solid state - nuclear physics. This is a challenging theme for genuine scientists who are always going to solve riddles of nature and society and to use the results to promote social welfare.

Why don't you start to a new spiritual adventure from now on as if you impersonate the talented detective Sherlock Holmes facing a new case.



11.1 The TNCF Model – Trapped Neutron Catalyzed Fusion Model

To interpret various experimental data sets with poor reproducibility (or irreproducibility) and their absence in low background neutron environment, the author had the first idea to construct a model, named later the TNCF model, in August, 1993.[205] The TNCF model has several premises based on the experimental data as explained in this section. These fundamental premises are symbolization of several necessary conditions\index{necessary condition} of the cold fusion phenomenon extracted from the pile of experimental data by the author's eyes. The necessary conditions clarified by now can be expressed as

1) existence of hydrogen isotopes (protium and/or deuterium) in appropriate solids (Pd, Ti, Ni, and so forth),

2) existence of the background thermal neutron,

3) existence of an appropriate alkali-metal layer (Li, K, Na and so forth) on the surface of the metal hydride (in the case of electrolytic system) and

4) inhomogeneous distribution of the hydrogen isotope in the solid. It should be emphasized that sufficient conditions of the cold fusion phenomenon are not determined yet although these necessary conditions have been recognized in the experimental data sets obtained hitherto.

The TNCF model has been applied to analyze more than fifty data sets until now obtained in various circumstances and materials and the results have been published one by one as cited in the third part of Chapter 18 (18.3). The results were published also in compiled forms recently.[255, 266, 270, 274]

The fundamental premises of the TNCF model, similar in its nature to 'the stationary electron orbits' in Bohr's model of hydrogen atom and 'the superfluid' in the two-fluid model (cf. Section 10.3), are the existence of quasi-stable trapped neutrons in cold fusion materials and their selective reaction with nuclei giving large perturbation on them.

In the model, there is one adjustable parameter nn, density of the trapped thermal neutron, which is used to analyze the cold fusion phenomenon containing several events specified by some physical quantities supposed to be results of various physical processes in the material. Some examples of these quantities are 1) gamma ray spectra, neutron energy spectra and distribution of transmuted nuclei in the material and 2) the excess heat, amounts of generated tritium and helium in a definite time, X ray and other charged particles if any. The quantities in group 1) are direct evidences of the cold fusion having direct information of the events and those in group 2) indirect evidences of the cold fusion showing accumulated results of the events.



The premises [241, 255, 270] in the TNCF model which connect nn and the observed quantities are explained in the next subsection. With these premises, more than fifty typical experimental data sets including those by Fleischmann et al.,[1] Morrey et al.,[1-4] Miles et al.,[18'] Storms et al.,[4] Gozzi et al.,[51'',51-3] Bush et al\citref [27''] and others were analyzed[229– 232, 249, 265] successfully with consistency in them. The results are summarized as follows:

In the pioneering work[1] where observed the excess heat, tritium and neutron in the electrolytic system with Pd cathode in D2O + LiOD electrolytic solution (Pd/D/Li system), the controversial relations between these quantities were interpreted by our model[249] consistently with values of nn = 107 - 109 cm-3 if we permit inconsistency in the experimental results which showed lack of expected simultaneity of events from the model.

The difficulty to explain production of 42He in the electrolytic system of Pd/ D/ Li[1-4,14'',18',43'] were resolved by the reaction (5.3) between the trapped neutron and 63Li occurring in the surface layer of Li metal (and/or PdLix alloy) on the cathode. The parameter nn was determined[265,266,296] from the data sets in these experiments as 108 – 1010 cm-3.

In the experiment[4] where observed the excess heat and tritium in Pd/D/Li system but without expected simultaneity, the parameter nn was determined[256] as 107 – 1011 cm-3 with the same reservation for the simultaneity of events. In the experiment[51''] where observed the excess heat, tritium and 4He in Pd/D/Li system, the data were interpreted[262] with nn = 1010 – 1011 cm-3 consistently altogether but again with the same reservation for the expected simultaneity of events.

In the experiment[27''] with Ni cathode and H2O + Rb2CO3 electrolytic solution, the excess heat and a nuclear transmutation (NT) from 8537Rb to 8638Sr were observed. The result was explained consistently by the TNCF model[218,260] with nn = 1.4×107 cm-3.

Thus, it is possible to interpret various, sometimes more than two events in the cold fusion phenomenon consistently assuming only one adjustable parameter nn with a reservation of inexplicable problem of poor reproducibility and lack of simultaneity of several events. To understand these unexplained points more clearly, it will be necessary to take details of the object materials into the analyses on the TNCF model.

In this section, we will explain fundamental concepts of the TNCF model and relevant reactions in detail and renumber reactions listed in Chapter 5 for the later use.



11.1a Premises of the TNCF Model}



The TNCF model is a phenomenological one and the basic premises (assumptions) extracted from experimental data sets are summarized as follows:[241,255,266,274]



Premise 1. We assume a priori existence of the quasi-stable trapped neutron with a density nn in pertinent solids, to which the neutron is supplied essentially from the ambient neutron at first and then by breeding processes (explained below) in the sample.

The density nn is an adjustable parameter in the TNCF model which will be determined by an experimental data set using the supplementary premises which will be explained below concerning reactions of the trapped neutron with other particles in the solids. The quasi-stability of the trapped neutron means that the neutron trapped in the crystal does not decay until a strong perturbation destroys the stability while a free neutron decays with a time constant of 887.4 ± 0.7 s.



Premise 2. The trapped neutron in a solid reacts with another nucleus in the surface layer\index{surface layer} of the solid, where it suffers a strong perturbation, as if they are in vacuum. We express this property by taking the parameter (the instability parameter) ξ, defined in the relation (11.1) written down below, as ξ = 1.



We have to mention here that the instability parameter ξ in the surface layer is not known at all and it can be, as noticed recently, more than one (1 <ξ) making the determined value of the parameter nn smaller. This ambiguity is suggested by various anomalous changes of decay character of radioactive isotopes and by unexpected fission products in the surface layer.



Premise 3. The trapped neutron reacts with another perturbing nucleus in volume by a reaction rate given in the relation (11.1) below with a value of the instability parameter\index{instability parameter}ξ< 0.01 due to its stability in the volume (except in special situations such as at very high temperature as 3000 K).



Following premises on the measured quantities of nuclear products and the excess heat are used to calculate reaction rates, for simplicity:



Premise 4. Product nuclei of a reaction lose all their kinetic energy in the sample except they go out without energy loss.



Premise 5. A nuclear product observed outside of the sample has the same energy as its initial (or original) one.



This means that if an energy spectrum of gamma-ray photon or neutron is observed outside, it reflects directly nuclear reactions in the solid sample. The same is for the distribution of the transmuted nucleus in the sample. Those spectra and the distributions of the transmuted nuclei are the direct information of the individual events of the nuclear reaction in the sample.



Premise 6. The amount of the excess heat\index{excess heat} is the total liberated energy in nuclear reactions dissipated in the sample except that brought out by nuclear products observed outside.



Premise 7. Tritium and helium measured in a system are accepted as all of them generated in the sample.



The amounts of the excess heat, tritium and helium are accumulated quantities reflecting nuclear reactions in the sample indirectly and are the indirect information of the individual events.



Premises about structure of the sample are expressed as follows:



Premise 8. In electrolytic experiments, the thickness l of the alkali metal layer on the cathode surface (surface layer)\index{surface layer} will be taken as l = 1 μm (though the experimental evidences show that it is 1 a – 10 μm).



Premise 9. The mean free path or path length lt of the triton with an energy 2.7 MeV generated by n + 6Li fusion reaction will be taken as lt = 1 μm irrespective of material of the solid. Collision and fusion cross sections of the triton with nuclei in the sample will be taken as the same as those in vacuum.



Premise 10. Efficiency of detectors will be assumed as 100% except otherwise described, i.e. the observed quantities are the same as those generated in the sample and to be observed by the detector in experiments if there are no description of its efficiency.



A premise will be made to calculate the number of events NQ producing the excess heat Q.



Premise 11. In the calculation of the number of an event (a nuclear reaction) NQ producing the excess heat Q, the average energy liberated in the reactions is assumed as 5 MeV unless the reaction is identified: NQ = Excess heat Q (MeV)/ 5 (MeV).



Following relation combines two energy units, the million-electron-volt (MeV) and the joule (J):\index{energy unit}

1 MeV = 1.6×10-13 J, 1 J = 6.25×1012 MeV.



The origin of the trapped neutron can be considered as 1) the ambient background neutrons, the existence of which have been recognized widely in public,[69] and 2) the neutrons breeded in the sample by chain nuclear reactions triggered by reactions of the trapped neutron with perturbing nuclei, proposed in the TNCF model.

We explain here the experimental bases of these premises briefly:



Premise 1. Possible existence of trapped neutron.

Cerofolini[39] and Lipson[15-3] observed temporal changes of neutron intensity irradiated to sample without change of total number (cf. Section 8.3).



Premises 2 and 3. Nuclear products induced by thermal neutrons.

Shani et al.[30], Yuhimchuk et al.[31], Celani et al.[32], Stella et al.[33] and Lipson et al.[15] had observed effects of natural or artificial thermal neutron on neutron emission in various materials (cf. Section 8.2).


Premises 2 and 8. Neutron reactions in the surface layer.

Morrey et al.,[1-4] Okamoto et al.,[12'',12-5] Mizuno et al.[26-3] and Qiao et al.[57'] showed helium production and nuclear transmutation in the surface layers of Pd cathodes (and wire) with a thickness of from 1 to 40 μm.



Premise 3. Low reactivity of volume nuclei.

In addition to the data noticed in the preceding paragraph, Notoya et al.[35-3] observed nuclear transmutation and positron annihilation gamma in porous Ni sample which showed low reactivity of nucleus in volume of the sample.

Exception of the reaction rate in volume was illustrated in an experiment of Mo cathode at 3000 K where observed high production rate of tritium.[44 ～ 44-4]



If the stability of the trapped neutron is lost by a large perturbation in the surface layer or in volume, the number of trigger reactions (per unit time) between trapped thermal neutrons and a nucleus AZM may be calculated by the same formula as the usual collision process in vacuum but an instability parameter ξ:

Pf =\ 0.35nnvnnMVσnMξ,

where 0.35nnvn is the flow density of the trapped thermal neutron per unit area and time, nM is the density of the nucleus, V is the volume where the reaction occurs, σnM is the cross section of the reaction. The instability parameter ξ as taken into the relation (11.1) expresses an order of the stability of the trapped neutron in the region as explained in premises 2 and 3, and also in the next paragraph.

In the electrolytic experiments, we have taken ξ = 1 in the surface layer and ξ = 0 in the volume except otherwise stated (Premises 2 and 3).

The values of ξ = 0.01 instead of ξ = 0 in the relation (11.1) will result in lower nn in the electrolytic data by a factor 2 than that determined with a value ξ = 0 as had been used in our former analyses. (In this Chapter, we will cite previous results with ξ = 0 as they were.)

In the case of a sample with a definite boundary layer surrounding a trapping region where is the thermal neutron, the volume V should be that of the boundary region where is the nucleus to react with the thermal neutron. On the other hand, in a sample without definite boundary layer but disordered array of minority species of lattice nuclei in the sample, the volume should be the whole volume of the sample.

If a fusion reaction occurs between a trapped thermal neutron and one of lattice nuclei AZM with a mass number A and an atomic number Z, there appears an excess energy Q and nuclear products as follows:

n +AZM = A+1-bZ-aM’ + baM’’ + Q,

where 00M = γ, １0M = n, 11M = p, 21M = d, 31M = t, 42M = 4He, etc.

The liberated energy Q may be measured as the excess heat by the attenuation of the nuclear products, γ and charged particles, as generated in the reaction (5.2). Otherwise, the nuclear products may be observed outside with an energy (we assume it as the original one, hereafter) or may induce succeeding nuclear reactions (breeding reactions) with one of other nuclei in the sample.



Summary of the Analyses of Experimental Data
The results of analyses of more than 50 experimental results on the events obtained in the various cold fusion systems given in this chapter are tabulated in the following two tables Table 11.4 (p. *) and Table 11.5 (p.* ), one for systems with Pd and another for systems with Ni and others.



On the 'Seasonal effect' of NT (Added in the Second Printing.)

In the Proc. of ICCF7, there is a unique report by R.A. Monti[72] on the Nuclear Transmutation.

In this paper, R.A. Monti presented only results of his investigation done from 1992 to 1998 showing nuclear transmutation of stable and also unstable isotopes by means of ordinary chemical reactions. He also told about a paper presented at ICCF5 in 1995 (but not printed) where he had given a result on variation of the half lives of radioactive elements in cold fusion experiments.

His experiments have shown clearly a decrease of Pb and an increase of Ag with a decrease of Th or U. The observed change of those elements depended on the time when the experiments were performed. Monti has given an interpretation of this time dependence as follows:

"The 'seasonal effect' which I had already previously observed showed itself again. Even if I know it I had never written about it before. It was already difficult for the scientific community to get acquainted with the idea of Low Energy Transmutations. Imagine how easily a 'seasonal effect' in nuclear reactions could be accepted."

His result on the variation of radioactivity was too early to be printed in Proceedings of ICCF5. And also, his reference to constellation in regards to the 'seasonal effect' seems too outrageous as a scientific logic. From our point of view, however, density of the background neutron can surely be dependent on season which influences the cold fusion phenomenon and therefore NT.



11.14 Remaining Questions not Explained by the TNCF Model

There remain many questions about the model even if it has given satisfactory explanation for many events in the cold fusion phenomenon.

Following is a list of these questions to be solved or explained in future.

1. Physical basis of the neutron trapping mechanism

2. Stabilization of the trapped neutrons against beta‑decay (Elongation of life time)

3. Quasi‑stabilization of the trapped neutron against reaction with lattice nuclei

4. Neutron‑lattice nuclei interaction in a boundary layer

5. De‑stabilization of lattice nuclei in a boundary layer

6. Mechanism to initiate a trigger reaction

7. Role of channeling in the breeding reactions

8. Lack of reproducibility, explanation by stochastic formation of conditions for trapping, triggering and breeding reactions

9. Possible trapped neutron‑lattice nucleus reaction without photon emission

10. Role of photo‑disintegration of deuteron and nuclei

11. Lack of expected simultaneity of some events in experiments

12. Optimum values of nn = 108 ~ 1013 cm–3.

13. Decay time shortening of nucleus in the surface layer

14. Induced nuclear fission of nucleus in the surface layer

Some of these problems will be investigated in Chapter 12.

[Hulud]

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[RandomGuy]

Some place it during the reign of Diocletian (284-305) due to the administrative reforms he introduced, dividing the empire into a pars Orientis and a pars Occidentis. Others place it during the reign of Theodosius I (379-395) and Christendom's victory over paganism, or, following his death in 395, with the division of the empire into Western and Eastern halves. Others place it yet further in 476, when the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus, was forced to abdicate, thus leaving to the emperor in the Greek East sole imperial authority. In any case, the changeover was gradual and by 330, when Constantine I inaugurated his new capital, the process of Hellenization and Christianization was well underway.

The term "Byzantine Empire"

The name Byzantine Empire is derived from the original Greek name for Constantinople; Byzantium. The name is a modern term and would have been alien to its contemporaries. The term Byzantine Empire was invented in 1557, about a century after the fall of Constantinople by German historian Hieronymus Wolf, who introduced a system of Byzantine historiography in his work Corpus Historiae Byzantinae in order to distinguish ancient Roman from medieval Greek history without drawing attention to their ancient predecessors.
Caracalla's decree in 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana, extended citizenship outside of Italy to all free adult males in the entire Roman Empire, effectively raising provincial populations to equal status with the city of Rome itself. The importance of this decree is historical rather than political. It set the basis for integration where the economic and judicial mechanisms of the state could be applied around the entire Mediterranean as was once done from Latium into all of Italy. Of course, integration did not take place uniformly. Societies already integrated with Rome such as Greece were favored by this decree, compared with those far away, too poor or just too alien such as Britain, Palestine or Egypt.

The division of the Empire began with the Tetrarchy (quadrumvirate) in the late 3rd century with Emperor Diocletian, as an institution intended to more efficiently control the vast Roman Empire. He split the Empire in half, with two emperors (Augusti) ruling from Italy and Greece, each having as co-emperor of younger colleague of their own (Caesares).

After Diocletian's voluntary abandon, the Tetrarchic system began soon to crumble: anyway, the division continued in some form into the 4th century, until 324 when Constantine the Great killed his last rival and became the sole Emperor of the Empire. Constantine decided to found a new capital for himself and chose Byzantium for that purpose.

The rebuilding process was completed in 330. Constantine renamed the city Nova Roma but in popular use it was called Constantinople (in Greek - Constantinopolis, meaning Constantine's City). This new capital became the centre of his administration. Constantine deprived the single preatorian prefect of his civil functions, introducing regional prefects with civil authority.

During 4th centuries four great "regional prefectures" were created also.





Constantine was also probably the first Christian emperor. The religion which had been persecuted under Diocletian became a "permitted religion", and steadily increased his power as years passed, apart from a short-lived return to Pagan predominance with emperor Julian.

Although the empire was not yet "Byzantine" under Constantine, Christianity would become one of the defining characteristics of the Byzantine Empire, as opposed to the pagan Roman Empire.

Constantine also introduced a new stable gold coin, the solidus, which was to become the standard coin for centuries, not only in Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine monetary history was probably the most important aspect of the success of the empire. Constantine the Great introduced several monetary reforms with one of them being the creation of the gold Solidus at 72 to the Roman pound.



This standard lasted throughout the history with only periodic debasement in economically stressed parts of the empire or during periods of extremely weak leadership. If anything can be learned from the Eastern Roman Empire is that monetary stability and strength lead to strength within a civilization.

Another defining moment in the history of the Roman/Byzantine Empire was the Battle of Adrianople in 378 in which the Emperor Valens himself was killed by the Visigoths, and the best of the remaining Roman legions were annihilated forever.

This defeat has been proposed by some authorities as one possible date for dividing the ancient and medieval worlds. The Roman empire was divided further by Valens' successor Theodosius I (also called "the great"), who had ruled both parts since 392: following the dynastic principle well established by Constantine, in 395 he gave the two halves to his two sons Arcadius and Honorius; Arcadius became ruler in the East, with his capital in Constantinople, and Honorius became ruler in the west, with his capital in Ravenna. Theodosius was the last Roman emperor whose authority covered the entire traditional extent of the Roman Empire. At this point it is common to refer to the empire as "Eastern Roman" rather than "Byzantine."

Early history

The Eastern Empire was largely spared the difficulties of the west in the 3rd and 4th centuries (see Crisis of the Third Century), in part because urban culture was better established there and the initial invasions were attracted to the wealth of Rome.

Throughout the 5th century various invasions conquered the western half of the empire, but at best could only demand tribute from the eastern half. Theodosius II enchanced the walls of Constantinople, leaving the city impenetrable to attacks: it was to be preserved from foreign conquest until 1204. To spare his part of Empire the invasion of the Huns of Attila, Theodosius gave them subsidies of gold: in this way he favoured those merchants living in Constantinople who traded with the barbarians. His successor Marcian refused to continue to pay the great sum, but Attila had already diverted his attention to the Western Empire and died in 453.

His Empire collapsed and Constantinople was free from his menace forever, starting a profitable relationship with the remaining Huns, who often fought as mercenaries in Byzantine armies of the following centuries.

In this age the true chief in Constantinople was the Alan general Aspar. Leo I managed to free himself from the influence of the barbarian chief favouring the rise of the Isauri, a crude semi-barbarian tribe living in Roman territory, in southern Anatolia.

Aspar and his son Ardabur were murdered in a riot in 471, and thenceforth Constantinople was to be free from foreign influence for centuries.

Leo was also the first emperor to receive the crown not from a general or an officer, as in the Roman tradition, but from the hands of the patriarch of Constantinople. This habit became mandatory as time passed, and in the Middle Ages the religious characteristic of the coronation had totally substituted the old form.



Zeno
First Isaurian emperor was Tarasicodissa, who was married by Leo to his daughter Ariadne (466) and ruled as Zeno I after the death of Leo I's son, Leo II (autumn of 474).

Zeno was the emperor when the empire in the west finally collapsed in 476, as the barbarian general Odoacer deposed emperor Romulus Augustus without replacing him with another puppet.

In 468 an attempt by Leo I to conquer again Africa from the Vandals had failed mercelessly, showing how feeble were the military capabilities of the Eastern Empire. At that time the Western Roman Empire was already restricted to the sole Italy: Britain had fallen to Angles and Saxons, Spain to Visigoths, Africa to Vandals and Gaul to Franks.

To recover Italy Zeno could only negotiate with the Ostrogoths of Theodoric, who had been settled in Moesia: he sent the barbarian king in Italy as magister militum per Italiam ("chief of staff for Italy").

Since the fall of Odoacer in 493 Theodoric, who had lived in Constantinople in his youth, ruled over Italy of his own, though saving a merely formal obedience to Zeno. He revealed himself as the most powerful Germanic king of that age, but his successors were greatly inferior to him and their kingdom of Italy started to decline in the 530s.

In 475 Zeno was deposed by a plot who elevated one Basiliscus (the general defeated in 468) to the throne, but twenty months after Zeno was again emperor. But he had to face the menace coming from his Isaurian former official Illo and the other Isaurian Leontius, who was also elected rival emperor. The Isaurian prominence ended when an aged civil officer of Roman origin, Anastasius I, became emperor in 491 and definitively defeated them in 498, after a long war.

Anastasius revealed himself to be an energic reformer and able administrator. He perfected Constantine I's coin system by definitively setting the weight of the copper follis, the coin used in most everyday transactions. He also reformed the taxation system: at his death the State Treasury contained the enormous sum of 320,000 pounds of gold.


The Age of Justinian I

The reign of Justinian I, which began in 527, saw a period of extensive Imperial conquests of former Roman territories (indicated in green on the map below). The 6th century also saw the beginning of a long series of conflicts with the Byzantine Empire's traditional early enemies, such as the Persians, Slavs and Bulgars.

Theological crises, such as the question of Monophysitism, also dominated the empire.Justinian I had already probably exerted effective control under the reign of his predecessor, Justin I (518-527).

This latter was a former officer in the Imperial Army who had been chief of the Guards to Anastasius I, and had been proclaimed emperor (when almost 70) after Anastasius's death. Justinian was the son of a peasant from Illyricum, but also a nephew of Justin's, and later made his adoptive son.

Justinian would become one of the most refined spirits of his century, inspired by the dream of the re-creation of Roman rule over all the Mediterranean world. He reformed the administration and the law, and, with the help of brilliant generals such as Belisarius and Narses, temporarily regained some of the lost Roman provinces in the west, conquering much of Italy, North Africa, and a small area in southern Spain.

In 532 Justinian secured for the Empire peace on the Eastern frontier by signing an "eternal peace" treaty with the Sassanid Persian king Khosrau I; however this required in exchange the payment of a huge annual tribute in gold.

Justinian's conquests in the West began in 533, when Belisarius was sent to reclaim the former province of Africa with a small army of some 18,000 men, mainly mercenaries. Whereas an earlier 468 expedition had been a dismaying failure, this new venture was to prove a success, the kingdom of the Vandals at Carthage lacking the strength of former times under King Gaiseric.

The Vandals surrendered after a couple of battles, and Belisarius returned to a Roman triumph in Constantinople with the last Vandal king, Gelimer, as his prisoner. However the reconquest of North Africa would take a few more years to stabilize and it was not until 548 that the main local independent tribes were subdued.

In 535 Justinian launched his most ambitious campaign, the reconquest of Italy, at that time still ruled by the Ostrogoths. He dispatched an army to march overland from Dalmatia while the main contingent, transported on ships and again under the command of Belisarius, disembarked in Sicily and conquered the island without much difficulty.

The marches on the Italian mainland were initially victorious and the major cities, including Naples, Rome and the capital Ravenna, fell one after the other.

The Goths seemingly defeated, Belisarius was recalled to Constantinople in 541 by Justinian, bringing with him the Ostrogoth king Witiges as a prisoner in chains.

However, the Ostrogoths and their supporters were soon reunited under the energic command of Totila.

The ensuing Gothic Wars were an exhausting series of sieges, battles and retreats which consumed almost all the Byzantine and Italian fiscal resources, impoverishing much of the countryside.

Belisarius was recalled by Justianian, who had lost trust in his preferred commander. At a certain point the Byzantines seemed on the verge of losing all the positions they had gained.

After having neglected to provide sufficient financial and logistical support to the desperate troops under Belisarius's former command, in the summer of 552 Justinian gathered a massive army of 35,000 men, mostly Asian and Germanic mercenaries, to be applied to the supreme effort.

The astute and diplomatic eunuch Narses was chosen for the command.

Totila was crushed and killed at Busta Gallorum; Totila's successor, Teias, was likewise defeated at the Battle of Mons Lactarius (central Italy, October 552).

Despite of continuing resistance from a few Goth garrisons, and two subsequent invasions by the Franks and Alamanni, the war for the reconquest of the Italian peninsula was at an end.Justinian's program of conquest was further extended in 554 when a Byzantine army managed to sieze a small part of Spain from the Visigoths. All the main Mediterranean islands were also now under the Byzantine control.

Aside from these conquests, Justinian updated the ancient Roman legal code in the new Corpus Juris Civilis (although it is notable that these laws were still written in Latin, a language which was becoming archaic and poorly understood even by those who wrote the new code).


Hagia Sophia

By far the most significant building of the Byzantine Empire is the great church of Hagia Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople (532-37), which retained a longitudinal axis but was dominated by its enormous central dome. Seventh-century Syriac texts suggest that this design was meant to show the church as an image of the world with the dome of heaven suspended above, from which the Holy Spirit descended during the liturgical ceremony.



The precise features of Hagia Sophia's complex design were not repeated in later buildings; from this time, however, most Byzantine churches were centrally planned structures organized around a large dome; they retained the cosmic symbolism and demonstrated with increasing clarity the close dependence of the design and decoration of the church on the liturgy performed in it.

Under Justinian's reign, the Church of Hagia Sofia ("Holy Wisdom") was constructed in the 530s. This church would become the centre of Byzantine religious life and the centre of the Eastern Orthodox form of Christianity. The sixth century was also a time of flourishing culture (although Justinian closed the university at Athens), producing the epic poet Nonnus, the lyric poet Paul the Silentiary, the historian Procopius and the natural philosopher John Philoponos, among other notable talents.

The conquests in West meant the other parts of the Empire were left almost unguarded, although Justinian was a great builder of fortifications throughout all his reign and the Byzantine territories. Khosrau I of Persia had as early as 540 broken the pact previously signed with Justinian, destroying Antiochia and Armenia: the only way the emperor could devise to forestall him was to increase the sum paid out every year.

The Balkans were subjected to repeated incursions, where Slavs had first crossed the imperial frontiers during the reign of Justin I, taking advantage of the sparsely-deployed Byzantine troops to press on as far as the Gulf of Corinth. The Kutrigur Bulgars had also attacked in 540.

The Slavs then invaded Thrace in 545 and in 548 assaulted Dyrrachium, an important port on the Adriatic Sea.

In 550 the Sclaveni pushed on as far to reach within 65 kilometers of Constantinople itself.

In 559 the Empire found itself unable to repel a great invasion of Kutrigurs and Sclaveni: divided in three columns, the invaders reached the Thermopylae, the Gallipoli Peninsula and the suburbs of Constantinople. The Slavs come back worried more by the intact power of the Danube Roman fleet and of the Utigurs, paid by the Romans themselves, than the resistance of an ill-prepared Imperial army.

This time the Empire was safe, but in the following years the Roman suzerainty in the Balkans was to be almost totally overwhelmed.Soon after the death of Justinian in 565, the Germanic Lombards, a former imperial foederati tribe, invaded and conquered much of Italy.

The Visigoths conquered Cordoba, the main Byzantine city in Spain, first in 572 and then definitively in 584: the last Byzantine strongholds in Spain were swept away twenty years later.

The Turks, one of the deadliest enemies of future Byzantium, had appeared in Crimea, and in 577 a horde of some 100,000 Slavs had invaded Thrace and Illyricum. Sirmium, the most important Roman city on the Danube, was lost in 582, but the Empire managed to mantain control of the river for several more years, though it increasingly lost control of the inner provinces.

Justinian's successor, Justin II, refused to pay the tribute to the Persians. This resulted in a long and harsh war which lasted until the reign of his successors Tiberius II and Maurice, and focused on the control over Armenia.

Fortunately for the Byzantines, a civil war broke out in the Persian Kingdom: Maurice was able take advantage of his friendship with the new king Khosrau II (whose disputed accession to the Persian throne had been assisted by Maurice) in order to sign a favourable peace treaty in 591, which gave the Empire control over much of Persian Armenia.

Maurice reorganized the remaining possessions in the West into two Exarchates, those of Ravenna and Carthage, attempting to increase their capability in self-defence and delegating them much of the civil authority.

The Avars and later the Bulgars overwhelmed much of the Balkans, and in the early 7th century the Persians invaded and conquered Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Armenia. The Persians were defeated and the territories were recovered by the emperor Heraclius in 627, but the unexpected appearance of the newly-converted and united Muslim Arabs took by surprise an empire exhausted by the titanic effort against Persia, and the southern provinces were all overrun.

[Bishop]

umm...cliff notes please?

[NzProjeKt]

quit spamming your faggot.

[JoeCoolinATL]

in theory cold fusion is a great idea
however with profits from oil you wont see too much research into it

[Calvin200sx]

Good posts RandomGuy!

[RandomGuy]

Good posts RandomGuy!
good to see at least someone appreciated my post. It took me forever to type it up for yall.

[v3rd1g0]

please tell me you didn't type that..... either really bored or very excited about cold fusion.... sadly i was bored and read through that.... my comment = no comment XD hehe

[Annihilation]

good point

[81911SC]

Chapter 11 Cold Fusion Phenomenon is Explained by TNCF Model

In the preceding Chapters from 6 to 10, we have examined the experimental data sets in the cold fusion phenomenon obtained in this nine years spreading out into various events in solids not noticed until now. A. Einstein once compared a physicist with a detective in his famous book The Evolution of Physics written by him with L. Infeld. Knowing complicated facts in the cold fusion phenomenon introduced in these chapters, we are tempted to clarify necessary conditions of various events in them, to solve the many riddles contained in them, to determine sufficient conditions of the phenomenon and finally to built a new science of the solid state - nuclear physics. This is a challenging theme for genuine scientists who are always going to solve riddles of nature and society and to use the results to promote social welfare.

Why don't you start to a new spiritual adventure from now on as if you impersonate the talented detective Sherlock Holmes facing a new case.



11.1 The TNCF Model – Trapped Neutron Catalyzed Fusion Model

To interpret various experimental data sets with poor reproducibility (or irreproducibility) and their absence in low background neutron environment, the author had the first idea to construct a model, named later the TNCF model, in August, 1993.[205] The TNCF model has several premises based on the experimental data as explained in this section. These fundamental premises are symbolization of several necessary conditions\index{necessary condition} of the cold fusion phenomenon extracted from the pile of experimental data by the author's eyes. The necessary conditions clarified by now can be expressed as

1) existence of hydrogen isotopes (protium and/or deuterium) in appropriate solids (Pd, Ti, Ni, and so forth),

2) existence of the background thermal neutron,

3) existence of an appropriate alkali-metal layer (Li, K, Na and so forth) on the surface of the metal hydride (in the case of electrolytic system) and

4) inhomogeneous distribution of the hydrogen isotope in the solid. It should be emphasized that sufficient conditions of the cold fusion phenomenon are not determined yet although these necessary conditions have been recognized in the experimental data sets obtained hitherto.

The TNCF model has been applied to analyze more than fifty data sets until now obtained in various circumstances and materials and the results have been published one by one as cited in the third part of Chapter 18 (18.3). The results were published also in compiled forms recently.[255, 266, 270, 274]

The fundamental premises of the TNCF model, similar in its nature to 'the stationary electron orbits' in Bohr's model of hydrogen atom and 'the superfluid' in the two-fluid model (cf. Section 10.3), are the existence of quasi-stable trapped neutrons in cold fusion materials and their selective reaction with nuclei giving large perturbation on them.

In the model, there is one adjustable parameter nn, density of the trapped thermal neutron, which is used to analyze the cold fusion phenomenon containing several events specified by some physical quantities supposed to be results of various physical processes in the material. Some examples of these quantities are 1) gamma ray spectra, neutron energy spectra and distribution of transmuted nuclei in the material and 2) the excess heat, amounts of generated tritium and helium in a definite time, X ray and other charged particles if any. The quantities in group 1) are direct evidences of the cold fusion having direct information of the events and those in group 2) indirect evidences of the cold fusion showing accumulated results of the events.



The premises [241, 255, 270] in the TNCF model which connect nn and the observed quantities are explained in the next subsection. With these premises, more than fifty typical experimental data sets including those by Fleischmann et al.,[1] Morrey et al.,[1-4] Miles et al.,[18'] Storms et al.,[4] Gozzi et al.,[51'',51-3] Bush et al\citref [27''] and others were analyzed[229– 232, 249, 265] successfully with consistency in them. The results are summarized as follows:

In the pioneering work[1] where observed the excess heat, tritium and neutron in the electrolytic system with Pd cathode in D2O + LiOD electrolytic solution (Pd/D/Li system), the controversial relations between these quantities were interpreted by our model[249] consistently with values of nn = 107 - 109 cm-3 if we permit inconsistency in the experimental results which showed lack of expected simultaneity of events from the model.

The difficulty to explain production of 42He in the electrolytic system of Pd/ D/ Li[1-4,14'',18',43'] were resolved by the reaction (5.3) between the trapped neutron and 63Li occurring in the surface layer of Li metal (and/or PdLix alloy) on the cathode. The parameter nn was determined[265,266,296] from the data sets in these experiments as 108 – 1010 cm-3.

In the experiment[4] where observed the excess heat and tritium in Pd/D/Li system but without expected simultaneity, the parameter nn was determined[256] as 107 – 1011 cm-3 with the same reservation for the simultaneity of events. In the experiment[51''] where observed the excess heat, tritium and 4He in Pd/D/Li system, the data were interpreted[262] with nn = 1010 – 1011 cm-3 consistently altogether but again with the same reservation for the expected simultaneity of events.

In the experiment[27''] with Ni cathode and H2O + Rb2CO3 electrolytic solution, the excess heat and a nuclear transmutation (NT) from 8537Rb to 8638Sr were observed. The result was explained consistently by the TNCF model[218,260] with nn = 1.4×107 cm-3.

Thus, it is possible to interpret various, sometimes more than two events in the cold fusion phenomenon consistently assuming only one adjustable parameter nn with a reservation of inexplicable problem of poor reproducibility and lack of simultaneity of several events. To understand these unexplained points more clearly, it will be necessary to take details of the object materials into the analyses on the TNCF model.

In this section, we will explain fundamental concepts of the TNCF model and relevant reactions in detail and renumber reactions listed in Chapter 5 for the later use.



11.1a Premises of the TNCF Model}



The TNCF model is a phenomenological one and the basic premises (assumptions) extracted from experimental data sets are summarized as follows:[241,255,266,274]



Premise 1. We assume a priori existence of the quasi-stable trapped neutron with a density nn in pertinent solids, to which the neutron is supplied essentially from the ambient neutron at first and then by breeding processes (explained below) in the sample.

The density nn is an adjustable parameter in the TNCF model which will be determined by an experimental data set using the supplementary premises which will be explained below concerning reactions of the trapped neutron with other particles in the solids. The quasi-stability of the trapped neutron means that the neutron trapped in the crystal does not decay until a strong perturbation destroys the stability while a free neutron decays with a time constant of 887.4 ± 0.7 s.



Premise 2. The trapped neutron in a solid reacts with another nucleus in the surface layer\index{surface layer} of the solid, where it suffers a strong perturbation, as if they are in vacuum. We express this property by taking the parameter (the instability parameter) ξ, defined in the relation (11.1) written down below, as ξ = 1.



We have to mention here that the instability parameter ξ in the surface layer is not known at all and it can be, as noticed recently, more than one (1 <ξ) making the determined value of the parameter nn smaller. This ambiguity is suggested by various anomalous changes of decay character of radioactive isotopes and by unexpected fission products in the surface layer.



Premise 3. The trapped neutron reacts with another perturbing nucleus in volume by a reaction rate given in the relation (11.1) below with a value of the instability parameter\index{instability parameter}ξ< 0.01 due to its stability in the volume (except in special situations such as at very high temperature as 3000 K).



Following premises on the measured quantities of nuclear products and the excess heat are used to calculate reaction rates, for simplicity:



Premise 4. Product nuclei of a reaction lose all their kinetic energy in the sample except they go out without energy loss.



Premise 5. A nuclear product observed outside of the sample has the same energy as its initial (or original) one.



This means that if an energy spectrum of gamma-ray photon or neutron is observed outside, it reflects directly nuclear reactions in the solid sample. The same is for the distribution of the transmuted nucleus in the sample. Those spectra and the distributions of the transmuted nuclei are the direct information of the individual events of the nuclear reaction in the sample.



Premise 6. The amount of the excess heat\index{excess heat} is the total liberated energy in nuclear reactions dissipated in the sample except that brought out by nuclear products observed outside.



Premise 7. Tritium and helium measured in a system are accepted as all of them generated in the sample.



The amounts of the excess heat, tritium and helium are accumulated quantities reflecting nuclear reactions in the sample indirectly and are the indirect information of the individual events.



Premises about structure of the sample are expressed as follows:



Premise 8. In electrolytic experiments, the thickness l of the alkali metal layer on the cathode surface (surface layer)\index{surface layer} will be taken as l = 1 μm (though the experimental evidences show that it is 1 a – 10 μm).



Premise 9. The mean free path or path length lt of the triton with an energy 2.7 MeV generated by n + 6Li fusion reaction will be taken as lt = 1 μm irrespective of material of the solid. Collision and fusion cross sections of the triton with nuclei in the sample will be taken as the same as those in vacuum.



Premise 10. Efficiency of detectors will be assumed as 100% except otherwise described, i.e. the observed quantities are the same as those generated in the sample and to be observed by the detector in experiments if there are no description of its efficiency.



A premise will be made to calculate the number of events NQ producing the excess heat Q.



Premise 11. In the calculation of the number of an event (a nuclear reaction) NQ producing the excess heat Q, the average energy liberated in the reactions is assumed as 5 MeV unless the reaction is identified: NQ = Excess heat Q (MeV)/ 5 (MeV).



Following relation combines two energy units, the million-electron-volt (MeV) and the joule (J):\index{energy unit}

1 MeV = 1.6×10-13 J, 1 J = 6.25×1012 MeV.



The origin of the trapped neutron can be considered as 1) the ambient background neutrons, the existence of which have been recognized widely in public,[69] and 2) the neutrons breeded in the sample by chain nuclear reactions triggered by reactions of the trapped neutron with perturbing nuclei, proposed in the TNCF model.

We explain here the experimental bases of these premises briefly:



Premise 1. Possible existence of trapped neutron.

Cerofolini[39] and Lipson[15-3] observed temporal changes of neutron intensity irradiated to sample without change of total number (cf. Section 8.3).



Premises 2 and 3. Nuclear products induced by thermal neutrons.

Shani et al.[30], Yuhimchuk et al.[31], Celani et al.[32], Stella et al.[33] and Lipson et al.[15] had observed effects of natural or artificial thermal neutron on neutron emission in various materials (cf. Section 8.2).


Premises 2 and 8. Neutron reactions in the surface layer.

Morrey et al.,[1-4] Okamoto et al.,[12'',12-5] Mizuno et al.[26-3] and Qiao et al.[57'] showed helium production and nuclear transmutation in the surface layers of Pd cathodes (and wire) with a thickness of from 1 to 40 μm.



Premise 3. Low reactivity of volume nuclei.

In addition to the data noticed in the preceding paragraph, Notoya et al.[35-3] observed nuclear transmutation and positron annihilation gamma in porous Ni sample which showed low reactivity of nucleus in volume of the sample.

Exception of the reaction rate in volume was illustrated in an experiment of Mo cathode at 3000 K where observed high production rate of tritium.[44 ～ 44-4]



If the stability of the trapped neutron is lost by a large perturbation in the surface layer or in volume, the number of trigger reactions (per unit time) between trapped thermal neutrons and a nucleus AZM may be calculated by the same formula as the usual collision process in vacuum but an instability parameter ξ:

Pf =\ 0.35nnvnnMVσnMξ,

where 0.35nnvn is the flow density of the trapped thermal neutron per unit area and time, nM is the density of the nucleus, V is the volume where the reaction occurs, σnM is the cross section of the reaction. The instability parameter ξ as taken into the relation (11.1) expresses an order of the stability of the trapped neutron in the region as explained in premises 2 and 3, and also in the next paragraph.

In the electrolytic experiments, we have taken ξ = 1 in the surface layer and ξ = 0 in the volume except otherwise stated (Premises 2 and 3).

The values of ξ = 0.01 instead of ξ = 0 in the relation (11.1) will result in lower nn in the electrolytic data by a factor 2 than that determined with a value ξ = 0 as had been used in our former analyses. (In this Chapter, we will cite previous results with ξ = 0 as they were.)

In the case of a sample with a definite boundary layer surrounding a trapping region where is the thermal neutron, the volume V should be that of the boundary region where is the nucleus to react with the thermal neutron. On the other hand, in a sample without definite boundary layer but disordered array of minority species of lattice nuclei in the sample, the volume should be the whole volume of the sample.

If a fusion reaction occurs between a trapped thermal neutron and one of lattice nuclei AZM with a mass number A and an atomic number Z, there appears an excess energy Q and nuclear products as follows:

n +AZM = A+1-bZ-aM’ + baM’’ + Q,

where 00M = γ, １0M = n, 11M = p, 21M = d, 31M = t, 42M = 4He, etc.

The liberated energy Q may be measured as the excess heat by the attenuation of the nuclear products, γ and charged particles, as generated in the reaction (5.2). Otherwise, the nuclear products may be observed outside with an energy (we assume it as the original one, hereafter) or may induce succeeding nuclear reactions (breeding reactions) with one of other nuclei in the sample.



Summary of the Analyses of Experimental Data
The results of analyses of more than 50 experimental results on the events obtained in the various cold fusion systems given in this chapter are tabulated in the following two tables Table 11.4 (p. *) and Table 11.5 (p.* ), one for systems with Pd and another for systems with Ni and others.



On the 'Seasonal effect' of NT (Added in the Second Printing.)

In the Proc. of ICCF7, there is a unique report by R.A. Monti[72] on the Nuclear Transmutation.

In this paper, R.A. Monti presented only results of his investigation done from 1992 to 1998 showing nuclear transmutation of stable and also unstable isotopes by means of ordinary chemical reactions. He also told about a paper presented at ICCF5 in 1995 (but not printed) where he had given a result on variation of the half lives of radioactive elements in cold fusion experiments.

His experiments have shown clearly a decrease of Pb and an increase of Ag with a decrease of Th or U. The observed change of those elements depended on the time when the experiments were performed. Monti has given an interpretation of this time dependence as follows:

"The 'seasonal effect' which I had already previously observed showed itself again. Even if I know it I had never written about it before. It was already difficult for the scientific community to get acquainted with the idea of Low Energy Transmutations. Imagine how easily a 'seasonal effect' in nuclear reactions could be accepted."

His result on the variation of radioactivity was too early to be printed in Proceedings of ICCF5. And also, his reference to constellation in regards to the 'seasonal effect' seems too outrageous as a scientific logic. From our point of view, however, density of the background neutron can surely be dependent on season which influences the cold fusion phenomenon and therefore NT.



11.14 Remaining Questions not Explained by the TNCF Model

There remain many questions about the model even if it has given satisfactory explanation for many events in the cold fusion phenomenon.

Following is a list of these questions to be solved or explained in future.

1. Physical basis of the neutron trapping mechanism

2. Stabilization of the trapped neutrons against beta‑decay (Elongation of life time)

3. Quasi‑stabilization of the trapped neutron against reaction with lattice nuclei

4. Neutron‑lattice nuclei interaction in a boundary layer

5. De‑stabilization of lattice nuclei in a boundary layer

6. Mechanism to initiate a trigger reaction

7. Role of channeling in the breeding reactions

8. Lack of reproducibility, explanation by stochastic formation of conditions for trapping, triggering and breeding reactions

9. Possible trapped neutron‑lattice nucleus reaction without photon emission

10. Role of photo‑disintegration of deuteron and nuclei

11. Lack of expected simultaneity of some events in experiments

12. Optimum values of nn = 108 ~ 1013 cm–3.

13. Decay time shortening of nucleus in the surface layer

14. Induced nuclear fission of nucleus in the surface layer

Some of these problems will be investigated in Chapter 12.

:rly:

[quickdodge®]

OLD THREAD!!!!!!

Later, QD.

[Extrememustang]

WHat does cold fusion have to do with the middle ages?

[imbosile]

Chapter 11 Cold Fusion Phenomenon is Explained by TNCF Model

In the preceding Chapters from 6 to 10, we have examined the experimental data sets in the cold fusion phenomenon obtained in this nine years spreading out into various events in solids not noticed until now. A. Einstein once compared a physicist with a detective in his famous book The Evolution of Physics written by him with L. Infeld. Knowing complicated facts in the cold fusion phenomenon introduced in these chapters, we are tempted to clarify necessary conditions of various events in them, to solve the many riddles contained in them, to determine sufficient conditions of the phenomenon and finally to built a new science of the solid state - nuclear physics. This is a challenging theme for genuine scientists who are always going to solve riddles of nature and society and to use the results to promote social welfare.

Why don't you start to a new spiritual adventure from now on as if you impersonate the talented detective Sherlock Holmes facing a new case.



11.1 The TNCF Model – Trapped Neutron Catalyzed Fusion Model

To interpret various experimental data sets with poor reproducibility (or irreproducibility) and their absence in low background neutron environment, the author had the first idea to construct a model, named later the TNCF model, in August, 1993.[205] The TNCF model has several premises based on the experimental data as explained in this section. These fundamental premises are symbolization of several necessary conditions\index{necessary condition} of the cold fusion phenomenon extracted from the pile of experimental data by the author's eyes. The necessary conditions clarified by now can be expressed as

1) existence of hydrogen isotopes (protium and/or deuterium) in appropriate solids (Pd, Ti, Ni, and so forth),

2) existence of the background thermal neutron,

3) existence of an appropriate alkali-metal layer (Li, K, Na and so forth) on the surface of the metal hydride (in the case of electrolytic system) and

4) inhomogeneous distribution of the hydrogen isotope in the solid. It should be emphasized that sufficient conditions of the cold fusion phenomenon are not determined yet although these necessary conditions have been recognized in the experimental data sets obtained hitherto.

The TNCF model has been applied to analyze more than fifty data sets until now obtained in various circumstances and materials and the results have been published one by one as cited in the third part of Chapter 18 (18.3). The results were published also in compiled forms recently.[255, 266, 270, 274]

The fundamental premises of the TNCF model, similar in its nature to 'the stationary electron orbits' in Bohr's model of hydrogen atom and 'the superfluid' in the two-fluid model (cf. Section 10.3), are the existence of quasi-stable trapped neutrons in cold fusion materials and their selective reaction with nuclei giving large perturbation on them.

In the model, there is one adjustable parameter nn, density of the trapped thermal neutron, which is used to analyze the cold fusion phenomenon containing several events specified by some physical quantities supposed to be results of various physical processes in the material. Some examples of these quantities are 1) gamma ray spectra, neutron energy spectra and distribution of transmuted nuclei in the material and 2) the excess heat, amounts of generated tritium and helium in a definite time, X ray and other charged particles if any. The quantities in group 1) are direct evidences of the cold fusion having direct information of the events and those in group 2) indirect evidences of the cold fusion showing accumulated results of the events.



The premises [241, 255, 270] in the TNCF model which connect nn and the observed quantities are explained in the next subsection. With these premises, more than fifty typical experimental data sets including those by Fleischmann et al.,[1] Morrey et al.,[1-4] Miles et al.,[18'] Storms et al.,[4] Gozzi et al.,[51'',51-3] Bush et al\citref [27''] and others were analyzed[229– 232, 249, 265] successfully with consistency in them. The results are summarized as follows:

In the pioneering work[1] where observed the excess heat, tritium and neutron in the electrolytic system with Pd cathode in D2O + LiOD electrolytic solution (Pd/D/Li system), the controversial relations between these quantities were interpreted by our model[249] consistently with values of nn = 107 - 109 cm-3 if we permit inconsistency in the experimental results which showed lack of expected simultaneity of events from the model.

The difficulty to explain production of 42He in the electrolytic system of Pd/ D/ Li[1-4,14'',18',43'] were resolved by the reaction (5.3) between the trapped neutron and 63Li occurring in the surface layer of Li metal (and/or PdLix alloy) on the cathode. The parameter nn was determined[265,266,296] from the data sets in these experiments as 108 – 1010 cm-3.

In the experiment[4] where observed the excess heat and tritium in Pd/D/Li system but without expected simultaneity, the parameter nn was determined[256] as 107 – 1011 cm-3 with the same reservation for the simultaneity of events. In the experiment[51''] where observed the excess heat, tritium and 4He in Pd/D/Li system, the data were interpreted[262] with nn = 1010 – 1011 cm-3 consistently altogether but again with the same reservation for the expected simultaneity of events.

In the experiment[27''] with Ni cathode and H2O + Rb2CO3 electrolytic solution, the excess heat and a nuclear transmutation (NT) from 8537Rb to 8638Sr were observed. The result was explained consistently by the TNCF model[218,260] with nn = 1.4×107 cm-3.

Thus, it is possible to interpret various, sometimes more than two events in the cold fusion phenomenon consistently assuming only one adjustable parameter nn with a reservation of inexplicable problem of poor reproducibility and lack of simultaneity of several events. To understand these unexplained points more clearly, it will be necessary to take details of the object materials into the analyses on the TNCF model.

In this section, we will explain fundamental concepts of the TNCF model and relevant reactions in detail and renumber reactions listed in Chapter 5 for the later use.



11.1a Premises of the TNCF Model}



The TNCF model is a phenomenological one and the basic premises (assumptions) extracted from experimental data sets are summarized as follows:[241,255,266,274]



Premise 1. We assume a priori existence of the quasi-stable trapped neutron with a density nn in pertinent solids, to which the neutron is supplied essentially from the ambient neutron at first and then by breeding processes (explained below) in the sample.

The density nn is an adjustable parameter in the TNCF model which will be determined by an experimental data set using the supplementary premises which will be explained below concerning reactions of the trapped neutron with other particles in the solids. The quasi-stability of the trapped neutron means that the neutron trapped in the crystal does not decay until a strong perturbation destroys the stability while a free neutron decays with a time constant of 887.4 ± 0.7 s.



Premise 2. The trapped neutron in a solid reacts with another nucleus in the surface layer\index{surface layer} of the solid, where it suffers a strong perturbation, as if they are in vacuum. We express this property by taking the parameter (the instability parameter) ξ, defined in the relation (11.1) written down below, as ξ = 1.



We have to mention here that the instability parameter ξ in the surface layer is not known at all and it can be, as noticed recently, more than one (1 <ξ) making the determined value of the parameter nn smaller. This ambiguity is suggested by various anomalous changes of decay character of radioactive isotopes and by unexpected fission products in the surface layer.



Premise 3. The trapped neutron reacts with another perturbing nucleus in volume by a reaction rate given in the relation (11.1) below with a value of the instability parameter\index{instability parameter}ξ< 0.01 due to its stability in the volume (except in special situations such as at very high temperature as 3000 K).



Following premises on the measured quantities of nuclear products and the excess heat are used to calculate reaction rates, for simplicity:



Premise 4. Product nuclei of a reaction lose all their kinetic energy in the sample except they go out without energy loss.



Premise 5. A nuclear product observed outside of the sample has the same energy as its initial (or original) one.



This means that if an energy spectrum of gamma-ray photon or neutron is observed outside, it reflects directly nuclear reactions in the solid sample. The same is for the distribution of the transmuted nucleus in the sample. Those spectra and the distributions of the transmuted nuclei are the direct information of the individual events of the nuclear reaction in the sample.



Premise 6. The amount of the excess heat\index{excess heat} is the total liberated energy in nuclear reactions dissipated in the sample except that brought out by nuclear products observed outside.



Premise 7. Tritium and helium measured in a system are accepted as all of them generated in the sample.



The amounts of the excess heat, tritium and helium are accumulated quantities reflecting nuclear reactions in the sample indirectly and are the indirect information of the individual events.



Premises about structure of the sample are expressed as follows:



Premise 8. In electrolytic experiments, the thickness l of the alkali metal layer on the cathode surface (surface layer)\index{surface layer} will be taken as l = 1 μm (though the experimental evidences show that it is 1 a – 10 μm).



Premise 9. The mean free path or path length lt of the triton with an energy 2.7 MeV generated by n + 6Li fusion reaction will be taken as lt = 1 μm irrespective of material of the solid. Collision and fusion cross sections of the triton with nuclei in the sample will be taken as the same as those in vacuum.



Premise 10. Efficiency of detectors will be assumed as 100% except otherwise described, i.e. the observed quantities are the same as those generated in the sample and to be observed by the detector in experiments if there are no description of its efficiency.



A premise will be made to calculate the number of events NQ producing the excess heat Q.



Premise 11. In the calculation of the number of an event (a nuclear reaction) NQ producing the excess heat Q, the average energy liberated in the reactions is assumed as 5 MeV unless the reaction is identified: NQ = Excess heat Q (MeV)/ 5 (MeV).



Following relation combines two energy units, the million-electron-volt (MeV) and the joule (J):\index{energy unit}

1 MeV = 1.6×10-13 J, 1 J = 6.25×1012 MeV.



The origin of the trapped neutron can be considered as 1) the ambient background neutrons, the existence of which have been recognized widely in public,[69] and 2) the neutrons breeded in the sample by chain nuclear reactions triggered by reactions of the trapped neutron with perturbing nuclei, proposed in the TNCF model.

We explain here the experimental bases of these premises briefly:



Premise 1. Possible existence of trapped neutron.

Cerofolini[39] and Lipson[15-3] observed temporal changes of neutron intensity irradiated to sample without change of total number (cf. Section 8.3).



Premises 2 and 3. Nuclear products induced by thermal neutrons.

Shani et al.[30], Yuhimchuk et al.[31], Celani et al.[32], Stella et al.[33] and Lipson et al.[15] had observed effects of natural or artificial thermal neutron on neutron emission in various materials (cf. Section 8.2).


Premises 2 and 8. Neutron reactions in the surface layer.

Morrey et al.,[1-4] Okamoto et al.,[12'',12-5] Mizuno et al.[26-3] and Qiao et al.[57'] showed helium production and nuclear transmutation in the surface layers of Pd cathodes (and wire) with a thickness of from 1 to 40 μm.



Premise 3. Low reactivity of volume nuclei.

In addition to the data noticed in the preceding paragraph, Notoya et al.[35-3] observed nuclear transmutation and positron annihilation gamma in porous Ni sample which showed low reactivity of nucleus in volume of the sample.

Exception of the reaction rate in volume was illustrated in an experiment of Mo cathode at 3000 K where observed high production rate of tritium.[44 ～ 44-4]



If the stability of the trapped neutron is lost by a large perturbation in the surface layer or in volume, the number of trigger reactions (per unit time) between trapped thermal neutrons and a nucleus AZM may be calculated by the same formula as the usual collision process in vacuum but an instability parameter ξ:

Pf =\ 0.35nnvnnMVσnMξ,

where 0.35nnvn is the flow density of the trapped thermal neutron per unit area and time, nM is the density of the nucleus, V is the volume where the reaction occurs, σnM is the cross section of the reaction. The instability parameter ξ as taken into the relation (11.1) expresses an order of the stability of the trapped neutron in the region as explained in premises 2 and 3, and also in the next paragraph.

In the electrolytic experiments, we have taken ξ = 1 in the surface layer and ξ = 0 in the volume except otherwise stated (Premises 2 and 3).

The values of ξ = 0.01 instead of ξ = 0 in the relation (11.1) will result in lower nn in the electrolytic data by a factor 2 than that determined with a value ξ = 0 as had been used in our former analyses. (In this Chapter, we will cite previous results with ξ = 0 as they were.)

In the case of a sample with a definite boundary layer surrounding a trapping region where is the thermal neutron, the volume V should be that of the boundary region where is the nucleus to react with the thermal neutron. On the other hand, in a sample without definite boundary layer but disordered array of minority species of lattice nuclei in the sample, the volume should be the whole volume of the sample.

If a fusion reaction occurs between a trapped thermal neutron and one of lattice nuclei AZM with a mass number A and an atomic number Z, there appears an excess energy Q and nuclear products as follows:

n +AZM = A+1-bZ-aM’ + baM’’ + Q,

where 00M = γ, １0M = n, 11M = p, 21M = d, 31M = t, 42M = 4He, etc.

The liberated energy Q may be measured as the excess heat by the attenuation of the nuclear products, γ and charged particles, as generated in the reaction (5.2). Otherwise, the nuclear products may be observed outside with an energy (we assume it as the original one, hereafter) or may induce succeeding nuclear reactions (breeding reactions) with one of other nuclei in the sample.



Summary of the Analyses of Experimental Data
The results of analyses of more than 50 experimental results on the events obtained in the various cold fusion systems given in this chapter are tabulated in the following two tables Table 11.4 (p. *) and Table 11.5 (p.* ), one for systems with Pd and another for systems with Ni and others.



On the 'Seasonal effect' of NT (Added in the Second Printing.)

In the Proc. of ICCF7, there is a unique report by R.A. Monti[72] on the Nuclear Transmutation.

In this paper, R.A. Monti presented only results of his investigation done from 1992 to 1998 showing nuclear transmutation of stable and also unstable isotopes by means of ordinary chemical reactions. He also told about a paper presented at ICCF5 in 1995 (but not printed) where he had given a result on variation of the half lives of radioactive elements in cold fusion experiments.

His experiments have shown clearly a decrease of Pb and an increase of Ag with a decrease of Th or U. The observed change of those elements depended on the time when the experiments were performed. Monti has given an interpretation of this time dependence as follows:

"The 'seasonal effect' which I had already previously observed showed itself again. Even if I know it I had never written about it before. It was already difficult for the scientific community to get acquainted with the idea of Low Energy Transmutations. Imagine how easily a 'seasonal effect' in nuclear reactions could be accepted."

His result on the variation of radioactivity was too early to be printed in Proceedings of ICCF5. And also, his reference to constellation in regards to the 'seasonal effect' seems too outrageous as a scientific logic. From our point of view, however, density of the background neutron can surely be dependent on season which influences the cold fusion phenomenon and therefore NT.



11.14 Remaining Questions not Explained by the TNCF Model

There remain many questions about the model even if it has given satisfactory explanation for many events in the cold fusion phenomenon.

Following is a list of these questions to be solved or explained in future.

1. Physical basis of the neutron trapping mechanism

2. Stabilization of the trapped neutrons against beta‑decay (Elongation of life time)

3. Quasi‑stabilization of the trapped neutron against reaction with lattice nuclei

4. Neutron‑lattice nuclei interaction in a boundary layer

5. De‑stabilization of lattice nuclei in a boundary layer

6. Mechanism to initiate a trigger reaction

7. Role of channeling in the breeding reactions

8. Lack of reproducibility, explanation by stochastic formation of conditions for trapping, triggering and breeding reactions

9. Possible trapped neutron‑lattice nucleus reaction without photon emission

10. Role of photo‑disintegration of deuteron and nuclei

11. Lack of expected simultaneity of some events in experiments

12. Optimum values of nn = 108 ~ 1013 cm–3.

13. Decay time shortening of nucleus in the surface layer

14. Induced nuclear fission of nucleus in the surface layer

Some of these problems will be investigated in Chapter 12.



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Some place it during the reign of Diocletian (284-305) due to the administrative reforms he introduced, dividing the empire into a pars Orientis and a pars Occidentis. Others place it during the reign of Theodosius I (379-395) and Christendom's victory over paganism, or, following his death in 395, with the division of the empire into Western and Eastern halves. Others place it yet further in 476, when the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus, was forced to abdicate, thus leaving to the emperor in the Greek East sole imperial authority. In any case, the changeover was gradual and by 330, when Constantine I inaugurated his new capital, the process of Hellenization and Christianization was well underway.

The term "Byzantine Empire"

The name Byzantine Empire is derived from the original Greek name for Constantinople; Byzantium. The name is a modern term and would have been alien to its contemporaries. The term Byzantine Empire was invented in 1557, about a century after the fall of Constantinople by German historian Hieronymus Wolf, who introduced a system of Byzantine historiography in his work Corpus Historiae Byzantinae in order to distinguish ancient Roman from medieval Greek history without drawing attention to their ancient predecessors.
Caracalla's decree in 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana, extended citizenship outside of Italy to all free adult males in the entire Roman Empire, effectively raising provincial populations to equal status with the city of Rome itself. The importance of this decree is historical rather than political. It set the basis for integration where the economic and judicial mechanisms of the state could be applied around the entire Mediterranean as was once done from Latium into all of Italy. Of course, integration did not take place uniformly. Societies already integrated with Rome such as Greece were favored by this decree, compared with those far away, too poor or just too alien such as Britain, Palestine or Egypt.

The division of the Empire began with the Tetrarchy (quadrumvirate) in the late 3rd century with Emperor Diocletian, as an institution intended to more efficiently control the vast Roman Empire. He split the Empire in half, with two emperors (Augusti) ruling from Italy and Greece, each having as co-emperor of younger colleague of their own (Caesares).

After Diocletian's voluntary abandon, the Tetrarchic system began soon to crumble: anyway, the division continued in some form into the 4th century, until 324 when Constantine the Great killed his last rival and became the sole Emperor of the Empire. Constantine decided to found a new capital for himself and chose Byzantium for that purpose.

The rebuilding process was completed in 330. Constantine renamed the city Nova Roma but in popular use it was called Constantinople (in Greek - Constantinopolis, meaning Constantine's City). This new capital became the centre of his administration. Constantine deprived the single preatorian prefect of his civil functions, introducing regional prefects with civil authority.

During 4th centuries four great "regional prefectures" were created also.





Constantine was also probably the first Christian emperor. The religion which had been persecuted under Diocletian became a "permitted religion", and steadily increased his power as years passed, apart from a short-lived return to Pagan predominance with emperor Julian.

Although the empire was not yet "Byzantine" under Constantine, Christianity would become one of the defining characteristics of the Byzantine Empire, as opposed to the pagan Roman Empire.

Constantine also introduced a new stable gold coin, the solidus, which was to become the standard coin for centuries, not only in Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine monetary history was probably the most important aspect of the success of the empire. Constantine the Great introduced several monetary reforms with one of them being the creation of the gold Solidus at 72 to the Roman pound.



This standard lasted throughout the history with only periodic debasement in economically stressed parts of the empire or during periods of extremely weak leadership. If anything can be learned from the Eastern Roman Empire is that monetary stability and strength lead to strength within a civilization.

Another defining moment in the history of the Roman/Byzantine Empire was the Battle of Adrianople in 378 in which the Emperor Valens himself was killed by the Visigoths, and the best of the remaining Roman legions were annihilated forever.

This defeat has been proposed by some authorities as one possible date for dividing the ancient and medieval worlds. The Roman empire was divided further by Valens' successor Theodosius I (also called "the great"), who had ruled both parts since 392: following the dynastic principle well established by Constantine, in 395 he gave the two halves to his two sons Arcadius and Honorius; Arcadius became ruler in the East, with his capital in Constantinople, and Honorius became ruler in the west, with his capital in Ravenna. Theodosius was the last Roman emperor whose authority covered the entire traditional extent of the Roman Empire. At this point it is common to refer to the empire as "Eastern Roman" rather than "Byzantine."

Early history

The Eastern Empire was largely spared the difficulties of the west in the 3rd and 4th centuries (see Crisis of the Third Century), in part because urban culture was better established there and the initial invasions were attracted to the wealth of Rome.

Throughout the 5th century various invasions conquered the western half of the empire, but at best could only demand tribute from the eastern half. Theodosius II enchanced the walls of Constantinople, leaving the city impenetrable to attacks: it was to be preserved from foreign conquest until 1204. To spare his part of Empire the invasion of the Huns of Attila, Theodosius gave them subsidies of gold: in this way he favoured those merchants living in Constantinople who traded with the barbarians. His successor Marcian refused to continue to pay the great sum, but Attila had already diverted his attention to the Western Empire and died in 453.

His Empire collapsed and Constantinople was free from his menace forever, starting a profitable relationship with the remaining Huns, who often fought as mercenaries in Byzantine armies of the following centuries.

In this age the true chief in Constantinople was the Alan general Aspar. Leo I managed to free himself from the influence of the barbarian chief favouring the rise of the Isauri, a crude semi-barbarian tribe living in Roman territory, in southern Anatolia.

Aspar and his son Ardabur were murdered in a riot in 471, and thenceforth Constantinople was to be free from foreign influence for centuries.

Leo was also the first emperor to receive the crown not from a general or an officer, as in the Roman tradition, but from the hands of the patriarch of Constantinople. This habit became mandatory as time passed, and in the Middle Ages the religious characteristic of the coronation had totally substituted the old form.



Zeno
First Isaurian emperor was Tarasicodissa, who was married by Leo to his daughter Ariadne (466) and ruled as Zeno I after the death of Leo I's son, Leo II (autumn of 474).

Zeno was the emperor when the empire in the west finally collapsed in 476, as the barbarian general Odoacer deposed emperor Romulus Augustus without replacing him with another puppet.

In 468 an attempt by Leo I to conquer again Africa from the Vandals had failed mercelessly, showing how feeble were the military capabilities of the Eastern Empire. At that time the Western Roman Empire was already restricted to the sole Italy: Britain had fallen to Angles and Saxons, Spain to Visigoths, Africa to Vandals and Gaul to Franks.

To recover Italy Zeno could only negotiate with the Ostrogoths of Theodoric, who had been settled in Moesia: he sent the barbarian king in Italy as magister militum per Italiam ("chief of staff for Italy").

Since the fall of Odoacer in 493 Theodoric, who had lived in Constantinople in his youth, ruled over Italy of his own, though saving a merely formal obedience to Zeno. He revealed himself as the most powerful Germanic king of that age, but his successors were greatly inferior to him and their kingdom of Italy started to decline in the 530s.

In 475 Zeno was deposed by a plot who elevated one Basiliscus (the general defeated in 468) to the throne, but twenty months after Zeno was again emperor. But he had to face the menace coming from his Isaurian former official Illo and the other Isaurian Leontius, who was also elected rival emperor. The Isaurian prominence ended when an aged civil officer of Roman origin, Anastasius I, became emperor in 491 and definitively defeated them in 498, after a long war.

Anastasius revealed himself to be an energic reformer and able administrator. He perfected Constantine I's coin system by definitively setting the weight of the copper follis, the coin used in most everyday transactions. He also reformed the taxation system: at his death the State Treasury contained the enormous sum of 320,000 pounds of gold.


The Age of Justinian I

The reign of Justinian I, which began in 527, saw a period of extensive Imperial conquests of former Roman territories (indicated in green on the map below). The 6th century also saw the beginning of a long series of conflicts with the Byzantine Empire's traditional early enemies, such as the Persians, Slavs and Bulgars.

Theological crises, such as the question of Monophysitism, also dominated the empire.Justinian I had already probably exerted effective control under the reign of his predecessor, Justin I (518-527).

This latter was a former officer in the Imperial Army who had been chief of the Guards to Anastasius I, and had been proclaimed emperor (when almost 70) after Anastasius's death. Justinian was the son of a peasant from Illyricum, but also a nephew of Justin's, and later made his adoptive son.

Justinian would become one of the most refined spirits of his century, inspired by the dream of the re-creation of Roman rule over all the Mediterranean world. He reformed the administration and the law, and, with the help of brilliant generals such as Belisarius and Narses, temporarily regained some of the lost Roman provinces in the west, conquering much of Italy, North Africa, and a small area in southern Spain.

In 532 Justinian secured for the Empire peace on the Eastern frontier by signing an "eternal peace" treaty with the Sassanid Persian king Khosrau I; however this required in exchange the payment of a huge annual tribute in gold.

Justinian's conquests in the West began in 533, when Belisarius was sent to reclaim the former province of Africa with a small army of some 18,000 men, mainly mercenaries. Whereas an earlier 468 expedition had been a dismaying failure, this new venture was to prove a success, the kingdom of the Vandals at Carthage lacking the strength of former times under King Gaiseric.

The Vandals surrendered after a couple of battles, and Belisarius returned to a Roman triumph in Constantinople with the last Vandal king, Gelimer, as his prisoner. However the reconquest of North Africa would take a few more years to stabilize and it was not until 548 that the main local independent tribes were subdued.

In 535 Justinian launched his most ambitious campaign, the reconquest of Italy, at that time still ruled by the Ostrogoths. He dispatched an army to march overland from Dalmatia while the main contingent, transported on ships and again under the command of Belisarius, disembarked in Sicily and conquered the island without much difficulty.

The marches on the Italian mainland were initially victorious and the major cities, including Naples, Rome and the capital Ravenna, fell one after the other.

The Goths seemingly defeated, Belisarius was recalled to Constantinople in 541 by Justinian, bringing with him the Ostrogoth king Witiges as a prisoner in chains.

However, the Ostrogoths and their supporters were soon reunited under the energic command of Totila.

The ensuing Gothic Wars were an exhausting series of sieges, battles and retreats which consumed almost all the Byzantine and Italian fiscal resources, impoverishing much of the countryside.

Belisarius was recalled by Justianian, who had lost trust in his preferred commander. At a certain point the Byzantines seemed on the verge of losing all the positions they had gained.

After having neglected to provide sufficient financial and logistical support to the desperate troops under Belisarius's former command, in the summer of 552 Justinian gathered a massive army of 35,000 men, mostly Asian and Germanic mercenaries, to be applied to the supreme effort.

The astute and diplomatic eunuch Narses was chosen for the command.

Totila was crushed and killed at Busta Gallorum; Totila's successor, Teias, was likewise defeated at the Battle of Mons Lactarius (central Italy, October 552).

Despite of continuing resistance from a few Goth garrisons, and two subsequent invasions by the Franks and Alamanni, the war for the reconquest of the Italian peninsula was at an end.Justinian's program of conquest was further extended in 554 when a Byzantine army managed to sieze a small part of Spain from the Visigoths. All the main Mediterranean islands were also now under the Byzantine control.

Aside from these conquests, Justinian updated the ancient Roman legal code in the new Corpus Juris Civilis (although it is notable that these laws were still written in Latin, a language which was becoming archaic and poorly understood even by those who wrote the new code).


Hagia Sophia

By far the most significant building of the Byzantine Empire is the great church of Hagia Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople (532-37), which retained a longitudinal axis but was dominated by its enormous central dome. Seventh-century Syriac texts suggest that this design was meant to show the church as an image of the world with the dome of heaven suspended above, from which the Holy Spirit descended during the liturgical ceremony.



The precise features of Hagia Sophia's complex design were not repeated in later buildings; from this time, however, most Byzantine churches were centrally planned structures organized around a large dome; they retained the cosmic symbolism and demonstrated with increasing clarity the close dependence of the design and decoration of the church on the liturgy performed in it.

Under Justinian's reign, the Church of Hagia Sofia ("Holy Wisdom") was constructed in the 530s. This church would become the centre of Byzantine religious life and the centre of the Eastern Orthodox form of Christianity. The sixth century was also a time of flourishing culture (although Justinian closed the university at Athens), producing the epic poet Nonnus, the lyric poet Paul the Silentiary, the historian Procopius and the natural philosopher John Philoponos, among other notable talents.

The conquests in West meant the other parts of the Empire were left almost unguarded, although Justinian was a great builder of fortifications throughout all his reign and the Byzantine territories. Khosrau I of Persia had as early as 540 broken the pact previously signed with Justinian, destroying Antiochia and Armenia: the only way the emperor could devise to forestall him was to increase the sum paid out every year.

The Balkans were subjected to repeated incursions, where Slavs had first crossed the imperial frontiers during the reign of Justin I, taking advantage of the sparsely-deployed Byzantine troops to press on as far as the Gulf of Corinth. The Kutrigur Bulgars had also attacked in 540.

The Slavs then invaded Thrace in 545 and in 548 assaulted Dyrrachium, an important port on the Adriatic Sea.

In 550 the Sclaveni pushed on as far to reach within 65 kilometers of Constantinople itself.

In 559 the Empire found itself unable to repel a great invasion of Kutrigurs and Sclaveni: divided in three columns, the invaders reached the Thermopylae, the Gallipoli Peninsula and the suburbs of Constantinople. The Slavs come back worried more by the intact power of the Danube Roman fleet and of the Utigurs, paid by the Romans themselves, than the resistance of an ill-prepared Imperial army.

This time the Empire was safe, but in the following years the Roman suzerainty in the Balkans was to be almost totally overwhelmed.Soon after the death of Justinian in 565, the Germanic Lombards, a former imperial foederati tribe, invaded and conquered much of Italy.

The Visigoths conquered Cordoba, the main Byzantine city in Spain, first in 572 and then definitively in 584: the last Byzantine strongholds in Spain were swept away twenty years later.

The Turks, one of the deadliest enemies of future Byzantium, had appeared in Crimea, and in 577 a horde of some 100,000 Slavs had invaded Thrace and Illyricum. Sirmium, the most important Roman city on the Danube, was lost in 582, but the Empire managed to mantain control of the river for several more years, though it increasingly lost control of the inner provinces.

Justinian's successor, Justin II, refused to pay the tribute to the Persians. This resulted in a long and harsh war which lasted until the reign of his successors Tiberius II and Maurice, and focused on the control over Armenia.

Fortunately for the Byzantines, a civil war broke out in the Persian Kingdom: Maurice was able take advantage of his friendship with the new king Khosrau II (whose disputed accession to the Persian throne had been assisted by Maurice) in order to sign a favourable peace treaty in 591, which gave the Empire control over much of Persian Armenia.

Maurice reorganized the remaining possessions in the West into two Exarchates, those of Ravenna and Carthage, attempting to increase their capability in self-defence and delegating them much of the civil authority.

The Avars and later the Bulgars overwhelmed much of the Balkans, and in the early 7th century the Persians invaded and conquered Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Armenia. The Persians were defeated and the territories were recovered by the emperor Heraclius in 627, but the unexpected appearance of the newly-converted and united Muslim Arabs took by surprise an empire exhausted by the titanic effort against Persia, and the southern provinces were all overrun.


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