cold fusion

cold fusion (uncountable)

1. Nuclear fusion at or near room temperature.
   1. A hypothetical and now discredited form of nuclear fusion involving electrolysis of heavy water.
   2. (dated) Muon-catalyzed fusion
2. A method of synthesizing superheavy elements, where the product nucleus has a relatively low excitation energy of ~10 to 20 MeV.

Muon-catalyzed fusion, which can produce limited fusion reactions at room temperature, was once generally known as cold fusion. Following the Fleischmann-Pons cold fusion experiment (apparently not the same type of fusion), this name has fallen out of use.

Many authors of books about cold fusion (that is, nuclear fusion at or near room temperature) prefer to use the term "LENR" (low-energy nuclear reactions) rather than "cold fusion".

• (fusion near room temperature): LENR

• hot fusion