There was a major typos in this prior message- probably a result of 30 hours lost in cyberspace, which is corrected .. and a few additions. Please excuse the long posting.
"Topologically protected surface states" are a feature of bismuth telluride. In the presence of spillover hydrogen, this can point directly towards what we are trying to identify as the critical parameters (operative mechanism) of the Rossi E-Cat device. To help in understanding how "topologically protected surface states" might relate to a new kind of sequential nuclear reaction of tellurium, it can be helpful to start with the information on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topological_insulator A topological insulator is a material that behaves as an thermal insulator in its interior while permitting the movement of charges on its boundary. In fact bismuth-telluride conducts electricity like a metal but conducts heat poorly - like glass for instance. The internal stress resulting for this contradictory set of physical properties on bulk bismuth telluride must be severe. This will create nano-cracking and cavity formation. On the surface of a topological insulator are special states which fall within the bulk energy gap to allow good conduction. They also may allow spillover hydrogen to accumulate via mirror charges and then further densify in the nanocavities. Once densified, there are many possibilities for excess heat. Those who favor a nuclear-only pathway might look to the P-e-P reaction as the aftermath. However, this does not seem to fit the facts, as best we can tell. There are said to be no detectable neutrons over background in the E-Cat, and there should be in any kind of fusion. What is more likely, in my opinion is that the main initial source of heat is NON-NUCLEAR, but this creates a local state of energy depletion which secondarily results in accelerated decay of tellurium in such a way that that there is little remnant radioactivity. The most active isotope for this is probably Tellurium-125m, which should be responsive to this kind of "balancing the books" scenario. Another possibility, previously mentioned is 96Zr, however, in this post we are focusing on bismuth telluride. In either case, the "IT" kind of decays may predominate. There are few traces of it when it operates to balance the energy withdrawn from the ZPF. An "isomeric transition" is a radioactive decay process that involves emission of energy from a nucleus in a metastable state, referred to in its excited state, as a nuclear isomer. The isotope is usually designated with an "m". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isomeric_transition I am pretty sure that zirconia is active in Arata/Kitamura/Takahashi/etc experiments, yet that only used small quantities - but possibly Rossi has found a better "catalyst" (which is of course his inaccurate description) or else has found a critical mass level of another catalyst. In fact zirconia or bismuth telluride may both operate by similar mechanisms, and it will be impossible to tell which is better for this class of reaction without finding the 'critical mass' level for zirconia for comparison. Rossi's liter capacity reactor indicates that he could not be using much more than a kilogram material - and for present purposes, it is assumed to be bismuth telluride. To be a little more specific, then, in this hypothesis which I am calling ZPED (zero point enhance decay), the extra thermal energy can initiate from a known asymmetric sequential manipulation of hydrogen - specifically the Lamb shift. This energy is severely self-limiting at a low level unless there is provided an in situ way to replenish the zero point field, The replenishment can comes from tellurium (or other candidate nuclei like 96Zr) and this effectively replaces the energy deficit. Continuing operation "appears to be" nuclear, when in fact that is not accurate and the proximate cause in zero point. This particular mechanism is two steps beginning with an asymmetrical looping effect of QED - quantum electrodynamics, and can be interpreted as the influence of virtual photons from the ZPE which have been emitted and re-absorbed by the hydrogen atom. The value of the Lamb shift to this explanation is by way of a tiny mass-energy equivalent, which is about 4^-6 eV = 1 GHz = 4^-23 joules which is not much to get excited about unless you can recycle (pump) the change (asymmetry) rapidly. With your oscillator in the terahertz (slightly higher than ambient - i.e. the 'trigger') then the thermal gain can be made additive and sequential, so long as the zero point field is replenished locally. The bottom line of the ZPED hypothesis is that the initial (non-nuclear) gain is via ZPE (the Lamb shift) in conjunction with the rapid IR pumping mechanism at a thermal trigger temperature. This creates a local energy deficit - in which an unstable nucleus, like Te125, can effectively 'regauge' the depleted local field, while leaving little remnant radioactivity. Jones
