Search found 144 matches
- Fri Aug 01, 2008 6:57 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: Possible wiffle-ball analytical solution
- Replies: 88
- Views: 62934
Art: Just a thought, but I suspect that you can answer your question about electrons trapping on a flux tube analytically. Write the equation of motion of the electron in either LaGrangian or Hamiltonian form. If the vector potential of the magnetic field has any symmetry, then you should get a cons...
- Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:08 am
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: What does "beta" mean?
- Replies: 17
- Views: 14604
As Aero says, SBIRs are probably a good place to start. DOE has them as well as DOD and I expect that is true of most government agencies. Phase I SBIRS are typically $100,000 and run for 6-8 months. SBIRs are mandated by Congress and many government managers view them with disdain. They look at Pha...
- Sun Jul 27, 2008 4:43 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Any official news as of late July 2008?
- Replies: 154
- Views: 92731
We have to be very careful about dealing with Congress on this. Money that gets appropriated through Congressional pressure looks like an earmark and gets labeled as pork. That kind of money can go away in a big hurry. That wouldn't serve anyone very well. Consequently, we are going through the peer...
- Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:48 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: Where's the beef?
- Replies: 132
- Views: 71109
M Simon: The alphas leave the nucleous positively charged. When they exit the device, it will become more negatively charged. However, those electrons don't necessarily come from ionization. They can come from anywhere. Blaispascal: A lot of people think that, but that's wrong. If you do that you en...
- Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:24 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: Where's the beef?
- Replies: 132
- Views: 71109
- Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:19 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: The problem with ion convergence
- Replies: 126
- Views: 61274
Art: If electrons collide and lose all of their angular every time they cycle and all I am looking for is 10:1 convergence (at most, since we both agree that I don't need any convergence) then it seems to me that I have at most a 10% problem. If you want to claim that the collisionality is less, the...
- Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:55 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: The problem with ion convergence
- Replies: 126
- Views: 61274
to jmc: I'm sure at low densities this is the case, I find it hard to believe at, say, 10^20 particles per metre cubed collissions won't create local thermal equilibrium. Which brings me to the point that I have been asking for quite a while and digging up the literature but have found no answer to....
- Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:08 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: The problem with ion convergence
- Replies: 126
- Views: 61274
Art: Having those electrons reflect is exactly what you want them to do. During part of their orbit they exchange kinetic energy for potential energy, and during another part of their orbit they exchange potential energy for kinetic energy. To them the potential well (virtual cathode) looks like a p...
- Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:55 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: Of Line Cusps
- Replies: 39
- Views: 21116
- Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:05 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: The problem with ion convergence
- Replies: 126
- Views: 61274
Let me summarize my views on this thread. 1. Art’s objections are centered on the assumption that flux surfaces are equipotential surfaces. That’s where the defocusing aberrations come from. That’s a valid assumption for l.t.e. plasmas like Tokamaks, but not IECs. Electron inertia allows gradients a...
- Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:26 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: The problem with ion convergence
- Replies: 126
- Views: 61274
Jmc: To my knowledge, the Polywell is the only electrostatic machine that operates in the quasi-neutral limit. It’s possible that Lavrent’ev did some similar work to this, but I don’t know the Soviet literature very well. Consequently, I think that the polywell is the only system that has operated i...
- Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:18 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: The problem with ion convergence
- Replies: 126
- Views: 61274
- Wed Jul 16, 2008 5:24 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: The problem with ion convergence
- Replies: 126
- Views: 61274
[quote="Art Carlson"][quote="rnebel"]4. The idea behind inertial electrostatic confinement is that you inject electrons with directed (radial) energy into the system. These electrons then form a virtual cathode by giving up their kinectic energy to potential energy in the virtual cathode (hence the ...
- Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:26 pm
- Forum: Theory
- Topic: The problem with ion convergence
- Replies: 126
- Views: 61274
OK. I get the idea. I agree that you quickly reach the point where you really need to do kinetic calculations. I have an idea of how I can make an analytic estimate of the interaction of annealing with lumpy equipotentials, but maybe it is better to try to make a connection to the published calculat...