  Nuclear transmutations and fast neutrons have been observed to emerge from
large electrical current pulses passing through wire filaments which are
induced to explode. The nuclear reactions may be explained as inverse beta
transitions of energetic electrons absorbed either directly by single protons
in Hydrogen or by protons embedded in other more massive nuclei. The critical
energy transformations to the electrons from the electromagnetic field and from
the electrons to the nuclei are best understood in terms of coherent collective
motions of the many flowing electrons within a wire filament. Energy
transformation mechanisms have thus been found which settle a theoretical
paradox in low energy nuclear reactions which has remained unresolved for over
eight decades. It is presently clear that nuclear transmutations can occur
under a much wider range of physical conditions than was heretofore thought
possible.
