Fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of a deuterium gas puff z pinch

We present the first fully kinetic, collisional, and electromagnetic simulations of the complete time evolution of a deuterium gas puff z pinch. Recent experiments with 15-MA current pinches have suggested that the dominant neutron-production mechanism is thermonuclear. We observe distinct differenc...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Physical review letters Vol. 103; no. 25; p. 255002
Main Authors:	Welch, D R, Rose, D V, Clark, R E, Mostrom, C B, Stygar, W A, Leeper, R J
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States 18-12-2009
Subjects:	70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY BARYONS CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS DEUTERIUM ELEMENTARY PARTICLES EVOLUTION FERMIONS HADRONS HYDROGEN ISOTOPES ISOTOPES LIGHT NUCLEI NEUTRONS NUCLEI NUCLEONS ODD-ODD NUCLEI PLASMA SIMULATION STABLE ISOTOPES
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	We present the first fully kinetic, collisional, and electromagnetic simulations of the complete time evolution of a deuterium gas puff z pinch. Recent experiments with 15-MA current pinches have suggested that the dominant neutron-production mechanism is thermonuclear. We observe distinct differences between the kinetic and magnetohydrodynamic simulations in the pinch evolution with the kinetic simulations producing both thermonuclear and beam-target neutrons. The kinetic approach demonstrated in this Letter represents a viable alternative for performing future plasma physics calculations.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0031-9007 1079-7114
DOI:	10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.255002