Experimental study of the possible transformation of radioactive nuclei into stable ones by ultrasound and cavitation according to the Deformed Space-Time (DST) theory

The study carried on in this PhD thesis is devoted to two main targets: to study the new phenomenological theory known as Deformed Space-Time theory and to address the critical problem of what to do with the nuclear radioactive waste constantly produced by power plants. The DST theory is phenomenological and studies the four known fundamental interactions from a geometrical perspective by deforming the geometry described by the Minkowskian metric tensor which is so far the local space-time base of the four interactions. The Minkowskian metric tensor is deformed by replacing the 4 diagonal constants by parameters that depend on the energy of the phenomenon under investigation. This theory introduces two new concepts in the dynamical description of physical phenomena: the deformed space-time for every interaction and a maximal causal speed which is finite but not limited, which depends on the energy of the phenomenon under investigation and therefore is different for every interaction. By these new concepts the DST theory is able to explain known effects that lack physical explanation, especially those in which locality and causality are missing, and is also able to predict the existence of new phenomena which are completely outside the scope of the nowadays accepted theories and therefore considered impossible according to them. One of these new phenomena is related to the hadronic interaction for which the DST theory predicts the existence of new types of nuclear reactions. The microscopic hadronic space-time is deformed and by this deformation it takes part in the dynamics of the whole process allowing energy exchanges and processes that otherwise would be impossible. Specifically this theory predicts the existence of nuclear transmutations that increase or decrease the mass of the involved nuclei by mechanisms that have nothing to do with those known nowadays, like radioactivity, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. In particular, the hadronic space-time deformation, once created, activates a nuclear dynamics in which the Coulomb barrier from outside the nucleus and the attractive hadronic (strong) force from inside it do not play any role in the dynamics as long as the hadronic space-time deformation is active. This space-time deformation turns out to be generated by macroscopic mechanisms that are capable of concentrating into a small space and a very short time a quantity of energy higher than the value 367.5 GeV, that is predicted by the DST theory as the energy threshold above which the hadronic space-time becomes deformed. These macroscopic mechanisms can be produced by ultrasound and cavitation in liquids or by mechanical presses applied to solid samples in which cyclic stress is produced. This PhD work was dedicated to apply ultrasound and cavitation to water solutions containing the radioactive nuclei of 63Ni. The purpose of the experiments was to corroborate the predictions of the DST theory by treating the radioactive nuclei via the deformed hadronic space-time in order to transform them into stable ones and hence reduce the activity of the solutions more quickly and less dangerously than it would happen through the natural radioactive decay. The radioactive solutions were analysed before cavitation and after it by three techniques: Bremsstrahlung X-ray spectroscopy, liquid scintillation and mass spectroscopy. The results of these three techniques turned out to be compatible with each other and in favour of a consistent reduction of the activity only within 600 seconds of cavitation rather than several decades.