366 The Precondition Is Not Satisfied (1/3)

Chapter 366 Preconditions Not Satisfied (13)

However, Lu Zhou found that he was simply thinking too much.

When he asked the system this question, the system didn't give him an answer, not even a little response. So much so that he couldn't help but wonder, is the "point function" of this broken system broken?

Constantly trying various ways of asking, on the tenth attempt, the system finally gave a reluctant answer.

Although, it is only a short line of words.

[The preconditions are not met. 】

Looking at the text that appeared in front of his eyes, Lu Zhou stopped questioning the system, but fell into deep thought.

"The prerequisites are not met... Does this refer to the level, or does the prerequisite technology required to unlock nuclear fusion not meet the requirements?"

For this further part of the question, the system refused to give any hints, completely ignoring him.

However, Lu Zhou didn't feel discouraged by the coldness of the system.

Because for him, the tips he got are enough...

After the experiment, in the rest area of ​​the Helix 7-X laboratory, Professor Kleiber invited two people to have a cup of coffee.

Sitting on the sofa in the rest area, a Nobel laureate, a quasi-Fields Medal scholar, and a senior engineer of controllable nuclear fusion engineering, the three of them were resting while chatting about the Helix 7-X stellarator Problems with the cooperation project with ITER.

The so-called ITER project is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Project, and it is also one of their main sources of funding.

However, when talking about his views on the ITER project, Professor Kleiber did not have the optimistic expression he had in the laboratory before, but instead showed deep worry.

"The prospect of the controllable nuclear fusion project is undoubtedly broad. No matter who asks me this question, I will answer him. But the ITER project is not optimistic so far, and the annual budget is exceeding the standard by 100 million units. However, The results are not satisfactory, and the governments of various countries, including the United States, have gradually lost patience. In order to free up funds for Helix 7-X, we have shut down the WEGA experimental group.”

Professor Klitzing drank his coffee with his head down, using his cup to cover the expression on his face.

Not crying, but laughing.

Although he knew that it was bad to gloat, but he still couldn't help feeling secretly happy when he saw that these "local tyrants" who were not short of money were finally short of money.

Sighing, Professor Kreber continued.

"Controllable nuclear fusion is a systematic project. Whether it is inertial confinement or magnetic confinement, or tokamak and stellarator, it is only after a series of questions are answered that it is possible to finally solve this difficult problem. But now, None of the problems we face have been fundamentally resolved.”

Lu Zhou: "What problems do you think need to be solved?"

Professor Kleiber thought for a while and said: "Only from an engineering point of view, we need a larger electromagnetic field to complete the magnetic confinement of the plasma. However, this is not easy to solve. A large magnetic field means a large current , and the current will release heat when it passes through the conductor. We must soak the wire with liquid helium, on the one hand to reach the superconducting temperature, and on the other hand to prevent the thermal effect of the current from causing the wire to heat up."

"Just having a magnetic field is not enough, we have to find a way to control the magnetic field... Of course, fortunately, the advantages of the design concept of the stellarator device make us not need to start it through an ohmic transformer like the tokamak device Plasma current does not need to consider problems such as twisted film, magnetic surface tearing, resistive wall film, etc., which is equivalent to transferring the technical difficulty to the engineering difficulty."

Having said that, Professor Kleber smiled helplessly, and said in a joking tone.

"Actually, after talking about so many engineering problems, in the final analysis, we still have to return to the material."

"If there is a material that can achieve superconductivity at room temperature, or at least under less extreme conditions, we can create a larger artificial electromagnetic field to confine the plasma, and many problems will become fundamental. not a problem."

Superconducting materials are required.

Lu Zhou roughly summed it up, and at the same time recorded this sentence in the notebook he carried with him.

"If you want to solve a difficult problem, you have to solve more difficult problems first, is that what you mean?" Professor Klitzing, who had been drinking coffee, interjected with a smile, "I think that if there is a room-temperature superconducting material , Let alone a controllable fusion project, even without controllable fusion, many energy problems can be easily solved.”

"So this is just a hypothesis," Professor Kleiber shrugged, and said helplessly, "If we can't solve it from the perspective of materials science, we have to improve the coil design and increase the strength of the artificial electromagnetic field from the perspective of engineering. In addition , in addition to the problems in application, we are basically helpless in the field of theory.”

Lu Zhou asked: "Does controllable nuclear fusion involve complicated theoretical issues?"

"There is a famous saying in physics, more is different (more-is-different)," Professor Klitzing smiled, and answered this question for his old friend Professor Kreber, "Although the motion of plasma is expressed by Maxwell's equations Groups can be generalized, even quantum mechanics is not used, but the number of particles in the whole system is an astronomical number. You should be able to understand the difficulty."

Lu Zhou nodded, expressing his understanding.

When he studied the theory of electrochemical interface structure, the variables involved were almost three times the number of particles in the system. Facing the theoretical model he designed, even Anton had to think for a while before he could give an answer.

However, the motion of ions in a stellarator is a more complex system than the electrochemical interface structure.

Just like fluid mechanics, although we know that the basic equation is the Navier-Stokes equation, the turbulent flow phenomenon it produces is a mountain that the physics community has been unable to conquer for two hundred years.

The phenomenon of turbulence is not a patent of general fluids, plasma can also produce turbulence. And because of the existence of an external magnetic field, the turbulent flow of plasma will be more complicated and unpredictable than the turbulent flow of ordinary fluids.

Since it cannot be explained theoretically, it is impossible to find a simple model to predict plasma behavior from "first principles".

Therefore, in many cases, when researchers "diagnose" plasma, they can only construct some phenomenological models to help research as they do when studying fluid turbulence.

Seeing that Lu Zhou was so interested, Professor Kleiber couldn't help sending out an invitation.

"If you're interested in the fusion project, why not join the ITER project? We would very much welcome a mathematician to join our cause."

Regarding the olive branch thrown by Professor Kleiber, Lu Zhou thought for a moment before giving a reply.

"It's a pity that I can't accept your invitation. I have to go back to Princeton after a while, and starting from next month, I have to prepare for next year's conference of mathematicians."

After closing the notebook in his hand, he smiled a little embarrassedly and continued.

"However, I will write down these problems and study them as a hobby. Although there is no guarantee that I will be able to study something, it may come in handy someday."

Although he was rejected, Professor Kleiber was not discouraged and just said with a smile.

"Really? Then I can only look forward to your new results."

Although when he said this, he didn't have an expectant expression on his face, and even just took Lu Zhou's words as a joke.

Because obviously, no matter which of the problems mentioned earlier, it is not possible to study any results as a hobby.

Having worked in this institute for so many years, no one understands how difficult it is better than Professor Kleiber...