Chapter 365: Preconditions Are Not Met

Lu Zhou found out that he was overthinking.

When he asked the system about this problem, not only did the system not give him an answer, but the system didn’t even respond. He couldn’t help but wonder if the system was broken…

On the tenth attempt of asking, the system finally gave him an answer.

It was only one line of words.

[Preconditions are not met.]

Lu Zhou looked at the message in front of him and started to think.

“Preconditions are not met… Does this mean the subject level or that nuclear fusion technology isn’t possible yet?”

The system didn’t answer his second question; it completely ignored him.

However, Lu Zhou wasn’t mad at the system.

Because for him, one answer was enough…

After the experiment ended, Professor Keriber invited the two people to coffee at the Wendelstein 7-X resting lounge.

A Nobel Prize winner, a soon-to-be Fields Medal winner, and a senior nuclear fusion engineer sat on the sofa in the lounge. They drank coffee while talking about the Wendelstein 7-X cooperation problems with ITER.

ITER was the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project; their main source of funding.

However, Professor Keriber wasn’t optimistic toward ITER. He felt deeply concerned about the topic.

“The potential of a controlled nuclear fusion project is huge. But the ITER project hasn’t been doing well. It is losing hundreds of millions every year, and the results are not gratifying. Even the US government has lost its patience. In order to fund the Wendelstein 7-X, I even shut down the WEGA experiment group.”

Professor Klitzing was sipping on his coffee, and he used the coffee mug to hide his face.

He was laughing.

Although he knew that he shouldn’t gloat, but he couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of these “spoiled” researchers running out of money.

Professor Keriber sighed.

“Controlled nuclear fusion is a systematic project, whether it’s the inertial or magnetic constraints. Whether it’s the tokamak or the stellarator, it is only when a series of problems are solved, will there be results. Right now, we haven’t solved a single fundamental problem.”

Lu Zhou asked, “What problems do you think need to be solved?”

Professor Keriber said, “In terms of engineering, we need a larger electromagnetic field to complete the magnetic confinement of the plasma. However, this is not a good solution. A larger magnetic field means a large current. The current will release heat when it passes through the conductor. We will have to soak the wire with liquid helium to reach the superconducting temperature and to prevent the current from heating up the wire.

“The magnetic field isn’t enough. We have to find a way to control the magnetic field… Of course, fortunately, the advantage of the stellarator design is that we don’t have to use an ohmic transformer. Unlike the tokamak device, we don’t have to think about factors like the distortion film, the magnetic surface tear, the resistance wall film, etc.”

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Professor Keriber smiled and spoke in a joking tone.

“All of these engineering problems still come down to the material.

“If there is a material that can achieve superconductivity at room temperature or at least under less extreme conditions, we would be able to create a larger artificial magnetic field to constrain the plasma. Many problems would disappear.”

Superconductivity is a must.

Lu Zhou wrote this down on the notebook he carried with him.

“If you want to solve a difficult problem, you have to solve many difficult problems first, is that what you mean?” Professor Klitzing said, “I think if there is a superconducting material at room temperature, not only will nuclear fusion be solved, many energy problems will also be solved.”

“That’s why I’m only speaking hypothetically.” Keriber shrugged and said, “If we can’t improve the material, we have to improve the coil design and increase the strength of the magnetic field from another perspective. Also, things are not looking good in the theoretical department either.”

Lu Zhou asked, “Is there complex theoretical problems regarding the controlled nuclear fusion?”

Professor Klitzing smiled and helped Keriber to answer the question. He said, “There’s a saying in physics—’more is different’. Although the plasma uses Maxwell’s equations, it cannot be generalized. The more particles there are, the more different the system gets. Even quantum mechanics wouldn’t be applicable. You should know this.”

Lu Zhou nodded.

While he was researching the Theoretical Model of Electrochemical Interface Structure, the variables in his equations were almost three times the number of particles in the system. Even Anton had to work for a while to calculate the answer.

On the other hand, the plasma in the Stellarator was a more complex chemistry problem.

It was like fluid mechanics. Although everyone knows the basic Navier–Stokes equations, it wasn’t applicable to the turbulence phenomenon which had troubled the physicists for more than 200 years.

The turbulence phenomenon was also seen in plasma. Due to the external magnetic field, the turbulent flow of the plasma was even more complicated and even more difficult to predict than general fluids.

Since it was impossible to explain theoretically, it would be impossible to build a model to explain the plasma behavior.

Therefore, when researchers do plasma experiments, they were hoping to construct a model that could explain the behavior of plasma.

Professor Keriber saw that Lu Zhou was interested and couldn’t help but send out an invitation.

“If you’re so interested in nuclear fusion, why don’t you join the ITER project? We’re always looking for talented mathematicians.”

Lu Zhou thought for a moment before he replied, “Unfortunately, I can’t accept your invitation. I have to go back to Princeton soon, and I also have to prepare for next year’s mathematics conference.”

Lu Zhou smiled as he continued, “However, I will write down these problems and study them as a hobby. I can’t guarantee any results, but it might be useful one day.”

Professor Keriber wasn’t affected by the rejection. Instead, he smiled and said, “Really? Then I’ll have to wait for your results.”

However, when Keriber said this, he didn’t look interested. He thought Lu Zhou was joking.

Obviously, any of these problems couldn’t be solved by research hobbyists…

Professor Keriber had worked at this research institute for many years, so he was well aware of how difficult the problems were…