New terms in MHD equations and their implications for the inertial confinement fusion concept

Abstract

The MHD equations are rederived without neglecting the electron inertia and new terms are obtained. The revised equations predict that strong magnetic fields are spontaneously generated even in an ideally symmetric ICF implosion in contrast to the conventional theory where an ideal ICF implosion is considered to be free of magnetic fields. The dynamics of the implosion is found to be governed by the space-time structure of the magnetic field. Departures from neutrality are taken into account and an explicit equation is obtained for the evolution of the charge density. The complexity of the implosion problem is illustrated with reference to cylindrical and spherical geometries. The existence of this effect has been verified in the case of a Z-pinch. Experiments can be devised to detect it in existing ICF installations. It is suggested that scientific breakeven may be achieved using existing installations if the targets are optimized in accordance with the present theory.