However, Lu Zhou realized that he was overthinking things.
When he asked the system this question, the system didn't give him an answer; it didn't even respond. Lu Zhou couldn't help but wonder if the system's "general point function" was broken.
Lu Zhou tried all kinds of questions, and on the tenth try, the system finally gave him an answer.
However, it only had one short line of words.
[Prerequisites not met.]
Lu Zhou looked at the words that appeared in front of him and stopped asking the system. Instead, he went into deep thought.
"Prerequisites not met … Does this refer to the level, or does it refer to the prerequisites for nuclear fusion not meeting the requirements?"
As for this more advanced part of the problem, the System refused to give any hints and completely ignored him.
However, Lu Zhou wasn't discouraged by the system's indifference.
Because for him, he had already received enough hints …
After the experiment was over, Professor Keriber bought Lu Zhou and Lu Zhou a cup of coffee in the lounge area of the Wendelstein 7-X laboratory.
A Nobel Prize winner, a Quasi Fields Prize scholar, and a senior controllable nuclear fusion engineer were sitting on the sofa in the lounge area. The three of them were resting while chatting about the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator and the ITER project.
The ITER project was the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project, which was one of their main sources of funding.
However, when Professor Keriber was talking about the ITER project, he didn't look as optimistic as he did in the laboratory. Instead, he looked deeply worried.
"The prospects of the controllable nuclear fusion project are undoubtedly bright. I would answer anyone who asks me this question. However, the ITER project isn't doing very well. The budget is in the hundreds of millions every year, but the results aren't satisfactory. Governments around the world, including the United States, have gradually lost their patience. In order to make room for the Wendelstein 7-X project, we have already shut down the WEGA experimental team. "
Professor Klitzing lowered his head and drank his coffee. He used the cup to hide his expression.
He wasn't crying, he was laughing.
Even though he knew it wasn't good to gloat, he couldn't help but feel good when he saw these "rich people" finally lack money.
Professor Keriber sighed and spoke.
"Controllable nuclear fusion is a systematic project. Whether it's inertial confinement, magnetic confinement, tokamak, or stellarator, this problem can only be solved after a series of questions are answered. But now, none of the problems we are facing have been solved. "
Lu Zhou: "What problems do you think we need to solve?"
Professor Keriber thought for a bit and said, "From an engineering perspective, we need a larger electromagnetic field to achieve magnetic confinement of the plasma. However, this problem was not easy to solve. A large magnetic field meant a large current, and the current would release heat when it passed through a conductor. We have to soak the wires in liquid helium. On the one hand, we can reach a superconducting temperature. On the other hand, we can prevent the electric current from heating up the wires. "
"Just having a magnetic field isn't enough; we have to find a way to control the magnetic field … Of course, the good thing is that the stellarator has an advantage in terms of design concept. We don't need to use an ohmic transformer to start the plasma current like the tokamak device, nor do we need to consider problems such as twisting membrane, magnetic surface tearing, and resistance membrane. This is equivalent to transferring the technical difficulty to the engineering difficulty."
Professor Keriber smiled helplessly and spoke in a joking tone.
"Actually, after talking about all of the engineering problems, it all boils down to the material.
"If there is a material that can achieve superconductivity at room temperature, or at least under less extreme conditions, we will be able to create a larger artificial electromagnetic field to constrain the plasma. A lot of problems will not be a problem at all."
Superconducting materials were a must.
Lu Zhou made a general conclusion and wrote this sentence in his notebook.
"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, smiled and said, "I think if there really is a room temperature superconducting material, forget about controllable nuclear fusion, even without controllable nuclear fusion, a lot of energy problems can be easily solved."
"That's why this is just a hypothesis." Professor Keriber shrugged and said, "If we can't solve it from a materials science perspective, then we have to improve the coil design and increase the strength of the artificial electromagnetic field from an engineering perspective. Also, in addition to the application problems, we are basically at our wits' end in the theoretical field. "
Lu Zhou asked, "Does controllable nuclear fusion need to involve complex theoretical problems?"
"There is a famous saying in physics, more is different." Professor Klitzing smiled and answered the question for his old friend, Professor Keriber. He said, "Although the motion of plasma can be summarized by Maxwell's equations, and quantum mechanics doesn't even need to be used, the number of particles in the entire system is astronomical. I'm sure you know how difficult this is. "
Lu Zhou nodded and expressed that he understood.
When he was researching the theory of electrochemical interface structure, the number of variables involved was almost three times the number of particles in the system. Even Anton had to think for a long time before he could come up with an answer for the theoretical model he designed.
However, the plasma motion in the stellarator was a more complicated system than the electrochemical interface structure.
Just like fluid mechanics, even though the basic equation was the Navier-Stokes equation, the turbulence phenomenon was a mountain that the physics community couldn't solve for two hundred years.
The turbulence phenomenon wasn't limited to normal fluids; plasma could also produce turbulence phenomenon. Also, because of the existence of an external magnetic field, the turbulence phenomenon of plasma was more complicated and unpredictable than normal fluid turbulence phenomenon.
Because it couldn't be explained theoretically, there was no way to find a simple model to predict plasma behavior based on "first principles".
Therefore, when researchers "diagnosed" plasma, they could only build phenomenological models to help with research, just like how they did with fluid turbulence.
Seeing how interested Lu Zhou was, Professor Keriber couldn't help but invite him.
"If you are interested in the nuclear fusion project, why don't you join the ITER project? We are more than happy to have a mathematician participate in our project. "
Lu Zhou thought for a bit about Professor Keriber's olive branch before he gave a reply.
"Unfortunately, I can't accept your invitation. I have to go back to Princeton, and starting next month, I have to prepare for next year's mathematician conference."
Closing the notebook in his hand, he smiled embarrassedly and continued.
"However, I will write down these problems and research them as a hobby. Even though I can't guarantee that I will be able to come up with something, maybe it will come in handy one day. "
Even though Professor Keriber was rejected, he wasn't discouraged. He smiled and spoke.
"Really? Then I can only look forward to your new results. "
However, when he said this, he didn't have an expectant expression on his face. He even took Lu Zhou's words as a joke.
Because it was obvious that no matter which problem was mentioned, it wasn't something that could be solved as a hobby.
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