# Could atmospheric muons be used to catalyze nuclear fusion?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muon-catalyzed_fusion

I read above that some work as been done investigating whether muons could be used to catalyze fusion of deuterium and tritium. Apparently they can draw the particles closer together so that the electric repulsive force between the nuclei can be overcome at much lower temperatures than required for thermonuclear fusion. One of the issues faced with actually producing net positive energy from the reaction seems to be coming up with an efficient muon source.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/muonatm.html

According to the above link, muons arrive "at sea level, with a flux of about 1 muon per square centimeter per minute."

Could these atmospheric muons be used as a catalyst source? With only one per minute, you wouldn't get a whole lot. But could you get at least get some usable electricity out of the setup?

• Run some numbers. Assume you had a setup where every single muon actually catalyzed a D-T fusion event (note - that won't happen by a large factor). The energy released in D-T fusion is about 18MeV, of 2.88fJ (yes, femtoJoules). Across a 1km by 1km array, that would yield 28.8 mJ per minute, or 0.5 mW of power. In to a one square kilometer array. And that assumes that the cross section is essentially infinite (every muon catalyzes a reaction). Compare with a 1km$^{2}$ solar array averaging 100W/m$^{2}$ = 100MW. Which would you invest in? – Jon Custer Dec 8 '15 at 17:28
• @JonCuster That's what I thought. You can just make your comment an answer and I'll accept it. I wasn't saying I thought it should work, I was asking if it could. It's OK if the answer is "No" lol – John Dec 8 '15 at 17:47