Gravitational intraction on quantum level and consequences thereof

The notion of gravitational emission as an emission of the same level with electromagnetic emission is based on the proven fact of existence of electrons stationary states in its own gravitational field, characterized by gravitational constantComment: 22 pages, 9 figure

Computational modeling of pulsed-power-driven magnetized target fusion experiments

Direct magnetic drive using electrical pulsed power has been considered impractically slow for traditional inertial confinement implosion of fusion targets. However, if the target contains a preheated, magnetized plasma, magnetothermal insulation may allow the near-adiabatic compression of such a target to fusion conditions on a much slower time scale. 100-MJ-class explosive flux compression generators with implosion kinetic energies far beyond those available with conventional fusion drivers, are an inexpensive means to investigate such magnetized target fusion (MTF) systems. One means of obtaining the preheated and magnetized plasma required for an MTF system is the recently reported {open_quotes}MAGO{close_quotes} concept. MAGO is a unique, explosive-pulsed-power driven discharge in two cylindrical chambers joined by an annular nozzle. Joint Russian-American MAGO experiments have reported D-T neutron yields in excess of 10{sup 13} from this plasma preparation stage alone, without going on to the proposed separately driven NM implosion of the main plasma chamber. Two-dimensional MED computational modeling of MAGO discharges shows good agreement to experiment. The calculations suggest that after the observed neutron pulse, a diffuse Z-pinch plasma with temperature in excess of 100 eV is created, which may be suitable for subsequent MTF implosion, in a heavy liner magnetically driven by explosive pulsed power. Other MTF concepts, such as fiber-initiated Z-pinch target plasmas, are also being computationally and theoretically evaluated. The status of our modeling efforts will be reported

The plasma formation stage in magnetic compression/magnetized target fusion (MAGO/MTF)

In early 1992, emerging governmental policy in the US and Russia began to encourage ``lab-to-lab`` interactions between the All- Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics (VNIIEF) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). As nuclear weapons stockpiles and design activities were being reduced, highly qualified scientists become for fundamental scientific research of interest to both nations. VNIIEF and LANL found a common interest in the technology and applications of magnetic flux compression, the technique for converting the chemical energy released by high-explosives into intense electrical pulses and intensely concentrated magnetic energy. Motivated originally to evaluate any possible defense applications of flux compression technology, the two teams worked independently for many years, essentially unaware of the others` accomplishments. But, an early US publication stimulated Soviet work, and the Soviets followed with a report of the achievement of 25 MG. During the cold war, a series of conferences on Megagauss Magnetic Field Generation and Related Topics became a forum for scientific exchange of ideas and accomplishments. Because of relationships established at the Megagauss conferences, VNIIEF and LANL were able to respond quickly to the initiatives of their respective governments. In late 1992, following the Megagauss VI conference, the two institutions agreed to combine resources to perform a series of experiments that essentially could not be performed by each institution independently. Beginning in September, 1993, the two institutions have performed eleven joint experimental campaigns, either at VNIIEF or at LANL. Megagauss- VII has become the first of the series to include papers with joint US and Russian authorship. In this paper, we review the joint LANL/VNIIEF experimental work that has relevance to a relatively unexplored approach to controlled thermonuclear fusion

Computational modeling of ``MAGO`` and other magnetized target fusion concepts

One possible way to obtain a preheated and magnetized plasma suitable for subsequent implosion is the ``MAGO`` concept. The unique MAGO discharge consists of a two chambers, with electrical current flowing in one chamber accelerating plasma flow into an implosion chamber. Up to 4 {times} 10{sup 13} D-T neutrons have been produced in the MAGO discharge. In this paper, we discuss our computational modeling of MAGO. Our objectives are to characterize the plasma, compare with the limited diagnostics available, and to understand the neutron production. We also discuss, briefly, some other possible means for creating a magnetized plasma

Atlas performance and imploding liner parameter space

Ultra-high magnetic fields have many applications in the confining and controlling plasmas and in exploring electron physics as manifested in the magnetic properties of materials. Another application of high fields is the acceleration of metal conductors to velocities higher than that achievable with conventional high explosive drive or gas guns. The Atlas pulse power system is the world's first pulse power system specifically designed to implode solid and near-solid density metal liners for use in pulse power hydrodynamic experiments. This paper describes the Atlas system during the first year of its operational life at Los Alamos, (comprising 10-15 implosion experiments); describes circuit models that adequately predicted the bulk kinematic behavior of liner implosions; and shows how those (now validated) models can be used to describe the range of parameters accessible through Atlas implosions

Adaptation of a transmitted/founder simian-human immunodeficiency virus for enhanced replication in rhesus macaques

Transmitted/founder (TF) simian-human immunodeficiency viruses (SHIVs) express HIV-1 envelopes modified at position 375 to efficiently infect rhesus macaques while preserving authentic HIV-1 Env biology. SHIV.C.CH505 is an extensively characterized virus encoding the TF HIV-1 Env CH505 mutated at position 375 shown to recapitulate key features of HIV-1 immunobiology, including CCR5-tropism, a tier 2 neutralization profile, reproducible early viral kinetics, and authentic immune responses. SHIV.C.CH505 is used frequently in nonhuman primate studies of HIV, but viral loads after months of infection are variable and typically lower than those in people living with HIV. We hypothesized that additional mutations besides Δ375 might further enhance virus fitness without compromising essential components of CH505 Env biology. From sequence analysis of SHIV.C.CH505-infected macaques across multiple experiments, we identified a signature of envelope mutations associated with higher viremia. We then used short-term in vivo mutational selection and competition to identify a minimally adapted SHIV.C.CH505 with just five amino acid changes that substantially improve virus replication fitness in macaques. Next, we validated the performance of the adapted SHIV in vitro and in vivo and identified the mechanistic contributions of selected mutations. In vitro, the adapted SHIV shows improved virus entry, enhanced replication on primary rhesus cells, and preserved neutralization profiles. In vivo, the minimally adapted virus rapidly outcompetes the parental SHIV with an estimated growth advantage of 0.14 days-1 and persists through suppressive antiretroviral therapy to rebound at treatment interruption. Here, we report the successful generation of a well-characterized, minimally adapted virus, termed SHIV.C.CH505.v2, with enhanced replication fitness and preserved native Env properties that can serve as a new reagent for NHP studies of HIV-1 transmission, pathogenesis, and cure

The VNIIEF/LANL collaboration : ten years of scientific benefit to the Russian Federation and the United States

Since 1992, the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics (VNIIEF) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the institutes that designed the first nuclear weapons of the Soviet Union and the United States, respectively, have been working together in fundamental research related to pulsed power technology and high energy density science. Experimental and theoretical work has been performed at Sarov and Los Alamos in areas as diverse as imploding liner physics and applications, fusion plasma formation, isentropic compression of noble gases, and explosively driven high current generation technology, all traditional areas of the Megagauss series of conferences. Recent joint work has focused on the Atlas capacitor bank (23 MJ, 30 MA, 6 ps) now operational at LANL. Even before Atlas became operational, VNIIEF's DEMG capability was used to provide the US with the first available data at ATLAS! upper performance limit (31 MA, 4 ps, 12 km/s velocity for 50 g liner mass). VNIIEF has recently designed and fielded imploding liner experiments on Atlas, with the goal of studying material strength properties by observing unstable perturbation growth. This paper traces the origins of this collaboration and reviews the scientific accomplishments

Computational and experimental investigation of magnetized target fusion

In Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF), a preheated and magnetized target plasma is hydrodynamically compressed to fusion conditions. Because the magnetic field suppresses losses by electron thermal conduction in the fuel during the target implosion heating process, the compression may be over a much longer time scale than in traditional inertial confinement fusion (ICF). Bigger targets and much lower initial target densities than in ICF can be used, reducing radiative energy losses. Therefore, ``liner-on-plasma`` compressions, driven by relatively inexpensive electrical pulsed power, may be practical. Potential MTF target plasmas must meet minimum temperature, density, and magnetic field starting conditions, and must remain relatively free of high-Z radiation-cooling-enhancing contaminants. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, computational and experimental research is being pursued into MTF target plasmas, such as deuterium-fiber-initiated Z-pinches, and the Russian-originated MAGO plasma. In addition, liner-on-plasma compressions of such target plasmas to fusion conditions are being computationally modeled, and experimental investigation of such heavy liner implosions has begun. The status of the research will be presented

The Branched GDGT Isomer Ratio Refines Lacustrine Paleotemperature Estimates

Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) are membrane-spanning lipids synthesized by bacteria in numerous substrates. The degree of methylation of the five methyl brGDGTs in both soils and lake sediments, described by the MBT′5Me index, is empirically related to surface atmospheric temperature. This relationship in lakes is generally assumed to reflect lake surface temperatures captured by brGDGT production in the water column and exported to lake sediments, and the MBT′5Me index has been applied to brGDGTs in lake sediment successions to reconstruct changes in temperature through time. We analyzed the relationship between MBT′5Me and the isomerization of brGDGTs (IR6Me) in globally distributed surficial lake sediments and demonstrated that the relationship, and calibrations, of MBT′5Me and temperature in middle and high latitude lakes are sensitive to incompletely understood factors related to IR6Me. IR6Me does not appear to track a non-thermal influence of brGDGT methylation in tropical lakes, but this could change as the data set is expanded. We address ongoing challenges in the application of the MBT′5Me paleothermometer in middle and high latitude lakes with new MBT′5Me-temperature calibrations based on grouping lakes by IR6Me. We demonstrate how IR6Me can distinguish samples with a significant non-thermal influence on MBT′5Me by targeting anomalously warm temperatures during the Last Glacial Maximum from newly analyzed piston and gravity core samples from Lake Baikal, Russia

Generation and compression of a target plasma for magnetized target fusion

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Magnetized target fusion (MTF) is intermediate between the two very different approaches to fusion: inertial and magnetic confinement fusion (ICF and MCF). Results from collaboration with a Russian MTF team on their MAGO experiments suggest they have a target plasma suitable for compression to provide an MTF proof of principle. This LDRD project had tow main objectives: first, to provide a computational basis for experimental investigation of an alternative MTF plasma, and second to explore the physics and computational needs for a continuing program. Secondary objectives included analytic and computational support for MTF experiments. The first objective was fulfilled. The second main objective has several facets to be described in the body of this report. Finally, the authors have developed tools for analyzing data collected on the MAGO a nd LDRD experiments, and have tested them on limited MAGO data