In the cutting-edge research field of theoretical physics, it is more common to throw a particle into a chaotic system that is difficult to predict.

The system is observed indirectly through the observation of this particle.

In fact, Lu Zhou's idea for this experiment stems largely from his earlier work experience at CERN.

If the whole system where the plasma is located is seen as a billiard table locked in a black box, and the plasma is used as a billiard ball on the table, then there is nothing more suitable for figuring out the situation on the table than "hitting a shot out" in a fixed direction.

As for this particle, which is used as a "white ball", there is no better fit than helium-3.

First of all, its atomic diameter is small enough, and it is composed of two protons and one neutron, which is close to the atomic mass of tritium, and the nuclear structure is more stable! Not only does it avoid indistinguishable polyatomic collisions as much as possible in a probabilistic sense, but it also makes it easier to pass through the plasma.

To achieve the temperature at which helium-3 and deuterium fuse, the existing temperature and electromagnetic field must be increased by at least a hundredfold, so even if it is finally used in a stellarator, the participation of helium-3 in the fusion reaction can basically be ignored.

Therefore, it is very appropriate to use helium-3 for this experiment!

Considering the number of particles in the entire plasma system, the perturbation of the whole system by one helium-3 atom is almost negligible. After all, the impact of throwing an atom into it has on the whole system is much smaller than inserting a probe into it!

The helium-3 atoms passing through the plasma collide with the particles in the system, and the electromagnetic waves generated during the collision are heard as "sounds" by the observation equipment attached to the outside of the device, and the macroscopic and microscopic parameters in the plasma can be analyzed based on these data.

After that, the helium-3 atoms passing through the plasma will collide with the target material, and the impact data will be fed back and detached from the entire system.

As long as the helium-3 atoms as "detectors" are continuously emitted to the plasma, and the electromagnetic wave data generated by the collision and the impact data collected on the target material are collected, Lu Zhou is confident that the disturbance of helium-3 in the plasma system can be indirectly analyzed through mathematical methods, so as to indirectly deduce the properties of the system itself.

If that's too abstract, let's make a simple analogy.

We measure the refractive index of water, and if we take water itself as the object of study, the whole experiment is undoubtedly complicated. But if you shoot a beam of light into the water and calculate the refractive index by observing the change in the angle between the light and the interface, the whole experiment becomes much easier.

And Lu Zhou's experimental idea is to use helium-3 particles as the light that is injected into the plasma!

“…… We only need to set up a palm-sized target material on the first wall of the stellarator to capture the helium-3 particles emitted from the atomic gun, and then we can indirectly analyze the data carried by the plasma at high temperature and pressure by recording the electromagnetic wave signal emitted by the collision between helium-3 and tritium atoms during the launch cycle, as well as the energy carried by helium-3 when it hits the target, the angular momentum of impact, etc.! ”

"I'm not going to say if this can be done for the time being," Professor Lazersson said earnestly, staring at Lu Zhou, "Are you sure you have this data and processed it?" If we emit N particles, the variables involved will exceed N to the Nth power more than that! It is also necessary to take into account that the plasma itself is disturbed by the magnetic field......"

When the variables of a physical model are large enough, it will be beyond the reach of a supercomputer.

However, Professor Lazersson's words did not intimidate Lu Zhou.

In an affirmative tone, Lu Zhou answered Professor Lazersson's question: "I'm not sure if others know it, but I'm more than ninety percent sure." ”

Building a mathematical model and solving a mathematical model are two different concepts, and although this variable may seem unusually large, it is actually something that requires supercomputing to be a headache.

If it is only a theoretical model, Lu Zhou is still quite confident in his own ability.

There was a hint of hesitation in his eyes, and Professor Lazersson still couldn't believe the decision.

Theoretically, this idea seems to work, but only if Lu Zhou can complete the theoretical model of the entire system based on the electromagnetic wave excitation data of those helium-3 atoms as promised to him.

If the data collected is not put to good use, even if they succeed in the end, it will be in vain.

Data that cannot be exploited is not much better than the "noise" of experiments.

“…… Give me a reason to believe you can do it. ”

"Is Goldbach guessing enough?"

Professor Lazersson said categorically: "Not enough! That only shows that you are an expert in the field of number theory, and it doesn't mean anything to me! ”

"What about the theoretical model of the electrochemical interface structure?" Seeing that Professor Lazersson subconsciously intended to refute, Lu Zhou immediately rushed ahead of him and said, "I know you want to say that this proves my strength in computational chemistry and theoretical chemistry at most, and it doesn't mean that it is also suitable for plasma research, right?" ”

Professor Lazersson didn't speak, but his eyes spoke for himself.

Lu Zhou was not discouraged and continued.

"But what I'm trying to tell you is that the things that I'm working on boil down to the processing of data, and the scale of the data that I've processed is not much smaller than the amount of data we're about to face!"

This time, instead of speaking, Professor Lazersson fell silent, as if thinking.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Lu Zhou continued beside him.

"Trust me, it sounds hard, but it's not so hard that it's unsolvable! All we did was insert a probe called helium-3 into the plasma. The only thing that sounds strange is that it's the size of an atom. ”

"If we succeed......"

After a pause, Lu Zhou stared into his eyes and said seriously, "This is undoubtedly a Nobel Prize-level invention." ”

The Nobel Prize is not only for great theoretical discoveries, but also for the great inventions that have changed human civilization.

For example, just this year, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was announced in October 17, and it was awarded to the three scholars who invented the cryo-electron microscope, because biologists relied on their inventions to really water a lot of papers.

Just as Mr. Qiu joked, if some kind of observation method can be established to directly observe the macroscopic and microscopic parameters of the plasma system under high temperature and pressure, it will play a huge role in promoting the entire plasma physics.

Moreover, there is no doubt that this technology will advance the entire controlled nuclear fusion project!

"That sounds ......"

Removing the glasses from the bridge of his nose, Professor Lazersson's fingers trembled as he took the cloth from his pocket, rubbing it against the lenses.

The brighter the lenses became, the more excited the pupils reflected in the lenses became.

It's just that he hasn't been able to make up his mind.

After waiting for nearly ten minutes, Lu Zhou glanced at his watch.

Just as Lu Zhou's shoulders loosened and he was about to give up persuasion and go to someone else to cooperate, Professor Lazersson suddenly put his glasses back on.

When he looked at Lu Zhou again, there was no contempt in his cloudy vision.

Instead......

Excited!

“…… That sounds like a lot of fun! ”

Hearing this, Lu Zhou finally breathed a sigh of relief, a smile appeared on his face, and he stretched out his right hand.

"It's nice to hear that."

In the end, the answer he got was not "it sounds unrealistic".

……

persuaded Professor Lazersson and saved Lu Zhou a lot of trouble.

Princeton's Plasma Physics Laboratory has world-class standards and has relevant research agreements with controlled nuclear fusion research units in many countries around the world, which has considerable advantages in terms of resources and talents.

And this is something that other research institutions do not have.

If Professor Lazersson was still unwilling, Lu Zhou would eventually have to send a letter to the Max Planck Institute and try to become a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics.

As for building a laboratory that is comparable to PPPL in terms of R&D capabilities......

Regardless of the scientific research resources that are difficult to buy with money, in short, a few hundred million dollars is certainly not enough.

After reaching a cooperative research agreement with Professor Lazersson, in order to facilitate discussion, Lu Zhou referred to the suggestions of other experts in the institute and named this infant technology "He3 atomic probe".

And the name of the project team is even more concise and clear, with only three characters -

“He-3”

Over the next few days, Lu Zhou spent most of the time going back and forth between the Institute for Advanced Study and the Plasma Physics Laboratory, either reading the literature on plasma research, or sitting in meetings with Professor Lazersson and plasma physics experts and engineers from the "He-3" project team to exchange views on specific experimental designs.

Obviously, the end of theoretical research did not make Lu Zhou much idle, and the new work that followed made him even busier.

While Lu Zhou was busy with the "He-3" project, he unknowingly came to publish the new edition of the Annals of Mathematics.

The paper he submitted to the Annals of Mathematics also formally met with his peers in the field of partial differential equations.

Regarding the publication of the results at this stage, Lu Zhou did not pay much attention to the reaction of the mathematical community.

At least in his opinion, this is not a particularly outstanding research achievement, at most it is just an addition to the research of predecessors.

Sometimes, however, fate is just that.

To Lu Zhou's surprise, things developed exactly the opposite of what he expected.

The stone that he threw into the lake did not sink, but floated on the calm surface of the lake......