While Connie was on his way with the cooperative research and development agreement, Professor Pablo Herrero also sent a PhD student to Lu Zhou.
However, he wasn't going to Princeton.
Instead, he was going to the Sarrot Research Institute in California.
After the cooperative research and development agreement was signed, the research on superconducting materials had begun. With the two research teams working together, it was like the research project had grown wings.
However, even though the situation was great, Lu Zhou didn't expect to see results immediately.
The essence of science was trial and error, and there were many "mistakes" that they had to try.
Superconducting materials were only one part of the nuclear fusion project; it wasn't the whole thing.
After the superconducting carbon nanomaterials project began, Lu Zhou also began his theoretical research on plasma.
Whether it was the tokamak or the stellarator, they both faced the same problem with magnetic confinement controllable nuclear fusion. The three most important factors were high temperature, high density, and long-term confinement!
There were many solutions for the former. The more common ones included laser ignition, heating the plasma itself with electricity, and compression of the plasma to release heat … Of course, there were also many solutions that could be used together.
However, the real difficulty was the latter two — high density and long-term confinement.
Plasma wasn't a peaceful thing. According to the Reynolds number formula, Re = ρ vd/μ, high-density plasma bound by an electromagnetic field had a large Reynolds number. Any small disturbances would cause the entire plasma system to produce chaotic and irregular turbulence.
Relatively speaking, the stellarator had a certain advantage in confining plasma. Compared to the tokamak, there were fewer disturbances.
However, even though there were fewer disturbances, it was still not easy to confine the restless plasma in a small space.
This was the power of theory.
If there was a reliable and concise theoretical model, even if it was just a convenient phenomenological model, it could have extraordinary significance for the entire nuclear fusion project.
One could say that one of the bottlenecks in the field of controllable nuclear fusion technology was that it was difficult to establish a reliable theoretical model for the plasma in a specific fusion device.
This was also what troubled Lu Zhou.
Whether it was the Euler-Lagrange equation or the Navier – Stokes equation, these seemingly simple theories, when used to solve specific problems, the difficulty would increase exponentially.
If the existence and smoothness of the Navier – Stokes equation was the mathematics problem of the century, then the turbulence phenomenon of viscous fluids that satisfied the Navier – Stokes equation was the physics problem of the century.
The plasma turbulence phenomenon that he was researching was one of the problems of the century.
In his office at the Institute for Advanced Study, Lu Zhou was sitting at his desk. He stared at the fiberglass cup on the table as if he was in a daze.
The cup was not big, about the same size as the lid of a thermos bottle. The liquid inside was boiling like boiling water, and white smoke was constantly coming out of the edge of the cup.
Vera walked over with a lesson plan in her hand. She was about to report on the last number theory class when she looked at Lu Zhou curiously.
In her impression, Lu Zhou rarely spent his time in a daze.
"Professor, what are you doing?"
"Looking for inspiration."
Obviously, Lu Zhou wasn't in a daze, it was just that his train of thought was stuck.
He stared at the boiling liquid in the cup and began to gently tap the pen in his hand on his notebook.
However, there was only a short line of equations on his notebook.
The equation itself was not difficult. The left side was the momentum change rate of the fluid unit, and the right side was the various forces acting on the fluid unit.
However, the only thing that was not difficult was the equation itself …
Vera didn't disturb Lu Zhou's search for inspiration. Instead, she curiously stared at the cup on the table.
Gradually, the white smoke coming out of the cup became weaker and weaker, and the liquid in the cup became smaller and smaller.
After a while, the liquid in the cup completely disappeared. Vera blinked and looked closer.
"It's gone."
"Yeah."
Lu Zhou didn't explain anything. He signaled Vera to take a few steps back.
Then, he put on the thermal gloves that he threw on the corner of the table. He picked up a small liquid helium bottle from under the table and poured it into the fiberglass cup.
The fiberglass cup was filled with the transparent liquid again. The liquid began to boil again, and it began to emit white smoke.
After Lu Zhou put down the liquid helium bottle, he maintained a safe distance and continued to quietly look at the boiling liquid helium in the cup.
Liquid helium at ultra-low temperatures showed a superfluid phenomenon. Its viscosity coefficient was close to 0, and its Reynolds number was close to infinity. It was considered an ideal liquid.
Even though it looked more restless than a "stationary" liquid, from a mathematical point of view, the amount of calculations involved was much smaller.
In a sense, the plasma in the magnetic confinement vacuum chamber was also an existence with a large Reynolds number. It had a high density ρ and a large diameter d. However, because of the viscosity coefficient, it wasn't as exaggerated as liquid helium.
This also meant that its mathematical form was far more complex than the superfluid liquid helium …
"Professor, why do I feel so cold in the office?"
Hadi, who was sitting on the other side of the desk, shivered and looked at Lu Zhou.
"Because I poured some liquid helium." Lu Zhou suddenly thought of something. He looked at Qin Yue, who was sitting by the window, and said, "Qin Yue, open the window for me."
"Okay, professor." Qin Yue put down the pen in his hand and went to open the window.
After the window was opened, the office gradually became a lot warmer.
Hadi suddenly realized something, and he began to quietly pack up the things on the table. He was ready to leave.
Lu Zhou noticed his movements and asked, "Where are you going?"
Hadi's hand paused, and he smiled awkwardly. "I … suddenly remembered that I still have a few theses to read. I have to go to the library."
"Helium isn't poisonous, don't be so nervous." Lu Zhou sighed. He used his gloved hand to take the glass to the window and let it bask in the sun.
In comparison, this thing was more dangerous.
If one accidentally touched it, a layer of skin would be frozen off.
Lu Zhou returned to his desk and suddenly thought of something. He looked at Vera and spoke.
"Have you studied partial differential equations before?"
Vera thought for a second and nodded. She then shook her head and said, "I have … But not much. Do you need my help?"
Lu Zhou thought for a bit and shook his head. He then said, "No, it's fine. Continue with the Hail conjecture."
There were only three people in the Hail conjecture research group. If Lu Zhou removed Vera from the research group and only relied on Qin Yue and Hadi, he would never be able to complete the research project.
The little girl looked a little disappointed.
Even though she really wanted to help the professor …
But as expected, his ability was still not enough …
Suddenly remembering that there was another person in his office, Lu Zhou looked at Wei Wen, who was sitting in the corner of the office and glancing at him from time to time.
"Wei Wen, have you studied partial differential equations?"
Wei Wen finally saw the professor. He pushed up his glasses with a blank expression, but he had a smile on his face.
"Yes, why?"
Other than functional analysis, partial differential equations were one of his best fields.
When he was an undergraduate, he had participated in similar research with a professor at Yan University.
He had been in Princeton for a long time, and now, he finally had a chance to show off his skills.
He had been preparing for this day for too long.
He would use his own strength to prove that he was the second strongest existence in this office!
Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "I'm going to start another research project on the Navier – Stokes equation."
The smile on Wei Wen's face gradually froze. Especially after hearing the name Navier – Stokes equation, the smile on Wei Wen's face didn't look as confident anymore.
However, Lu Zhou didn't notice Lu Zhou's expression.
What Lu Zhou needed the most right now was manpower. Even if it was just a little bit of help, it would be good.
Of course, Wei Wen alone wasn't enough. Even though Wei Wen was outstanding, it was only relative to other graduate students.
Lu Zhou tapped his finger on the table. He was thinking about who else could help when his eyes suddenly lit up and he sat up from his office chair.
"Oh yeah, how could I forget about that person …"
Lu Zhou muttered to himself with excitement in his voice.
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