Muon-Catalyzed Fusion

Muon-catalyzed fusion, abbreviated muCF or MCF, is a process that allows nuclear fusion to occur at temperatures far lower than those needed for ordinary thermonuclear fusion, potentially even at room temperature or below. Muons are subatomic particles roughly 207 times heavier than electrons, and when one replaces an electron in a hydrogen molecule it draws the two hydrogen nuclei far closer together than an electron ever could, greatly increasing the probability that the nuclei will fuse. Because a single muon can catalyze many fusion events in succession before it decays or becomes trapped, the approach does not rely on heating a bulk plasma to fusion conditions the way magnetic or inertial confinement fusion does, though the short muon lifetime and the energy cost of producing muons in the first place remain the central obstacles to using the process as a practical power source.