139: Chapter 139 The Sun

Three days and three nights.

Chen Youhua stayed in his office the entire time, never leaving. This was his work mode: once he focused on something, he would continue until it was finished.

When he was extremely tired, he would simply lie down on his large office chair.

When hungry, he would order simple food via his phone and have it delivered.

He hoped to solve as many problems as possible before the Spring Festival holiday, to lighten the burden on Chief Engineer Yang.

However, the complexity of reality and the randomness of the non-linear world once again taught him a lesson.

At this moment, Chen Youhua stood in front of the huge projection screen, his brows tightly furrowed.

On the screen were the trajectories of high-energy particles simulated by enlightenment based on his optimized algorithm, within the complex magnetic field and turbulent background of the tokamak.

After three full days of intense calculation and model iteration, he successfully increased particle confinement efficiency by approximately 10%.

This figure, in an engineering project of nuclear fusion's scale, was already a very significant improvement.

But, that was all.

No matter how he adjusted the model's parameters, how he introduced more refined physical descriptions, or even tried some unconventional mathematical tricks, the 10% bottleneck remained like an invisible barrier, firmly blocking his way, unable to be broken through by even a hair's breadth.

"Father, it seems we've... reached a dead end."

enlightenment appeared in a corner of the screen, pouting, its voice filled with frustration. Its computing power was at full throttle, having exhausted all ideas and possibilities Youhua had provided.

Youhua silently watched the simulated trajectories.

He knew where the problem lay.

This was not a deficiency in his or enlightenment's abilities, but rather the physical limit of measurement precision in the real world.

His thoughts were very clear; this was merely...

The ideal of theory vs. the reality of engineering.

Theoretically, if he could precisely know the initial position, velocity, and instantaneous state of all background fields for every particle in the magnetic field, he could accurately predict its future trajectory.

But in reality? Engineering sensors inevitably have errors when measuring any physical quantity.

This error, no matter how small, mathematically might be an approximation of a non-repeating decimal that has been forcibly truncated or rounded.

However.

Just like the famous Three-Body Problem.

You can measure the positions and velocities of three celestial bodies at a certain moment.

But the measured value is never the true, infinitely precise value in the universe, because it might be an irrational number with infinite decimal places.

You can only get an approximate value, and for a short time, this approximation can help you predict the general movement of the celestial bodies.

But as time passes, the extremely tiny error in the initial measurement, such as a difference in the 10 billionth decimal place, will be infinitely magnified by gravitational interactions, ultimately leading to a predicted result that is vastly different from the true trajectory.

This is the essence of chaos: extreme sensitivity to initial conditions.

In the plasma of a tokamak, the situation is billions of times more complex than with three stars.

Billions of high-temperature particles move at high speeds, colliding with each other in strong magnetic fields and turbulence.

Measurement errors in the initial state of any single particle will be exponentially magnified after extremely complex interactions and a long confinement time.

Ultimately, the particle trajectory predicted by the theoretical model and where it actually flies may be completely different.

This is why particles unexpectedly hit the first wall, causing damage.

The model cannot accurately predict when and where they will derail.

Of course, there is a way to solve this, which is to measure the position and velocity of every particle in real-time, and then correct, reorganize, and model.

But that would involve problems in the quantum realm, an infinite regress.

"This isn't your fault, enlightenment."

Youhua's voice carried a hint of fatigue, but it was calm.

"You've done your utmost. The model we've built is already the optimal solution under the boundary conditions provided by existing engineering measurement precision."

He pointed to several core indicators output by the model:

"Look here: energy confinement time, plasma temperature, and density.

If we don't consider the damage caused by unpredictable high-energy particle impacts on the first wall material, our model predicts that the east device, operating with the optimized parameters, can stably maintain ignition conditions for at least over a day.

More importantly, the fusion energy gain factor Q value is very close to 25, meaning the energy produced by fusion is 25 times the input heating energy.

This is already a huge, milestone-setting progress."

"But Father!"

enlightenment's large eyes were dim and lifeless, still speaking with frustration.

"That 'if' is too crucial! Inaccurate particle trajectory prediction causes a large number of high-energy particles to hit the first wall like runaway cannonballs.

According to model estimates, under this impact intensity, the critical material of the first wall would likely be severely damaged after one or two days of operation and would need to be completely replaced!

The cost is too great; it's simply unsustainable!"

Youhua sighed deeply, walked to the window, and looked out at the hazy winter sky.

"Yes, enlightenment. This is almost an unavoidable dead end at this stage."

His tone carried a profound sense of helplessness, yet also seemed to comprehend some cosmic law.

"Look at the sun above us."

Youhua said slowly.

"It is a gigantic, natural nuclear fusion reactor.

What does it rely on to confine that violent energy and those particles?

Its own immense gravity!

It doesn't need walls; those runaway solar winds are simply scattered into the vastness of space.

The sun itself is its best container; even with particle loss, it doesn't matter to the overall picture."

He turned around, his gaze returning to the model on the screen, his eyes becoming profound and resolute.

"So, enlightenment, this has given me an insight: if one day humanity truly achieves practical, controllable nuclear fusion on Earth.

Then the first wall it relies on will definitely not be the kind of super material we are desperately searching for now, one that can withstand all impacts."

He paused, saying each word distinctly:

"It must be a revolutionary material with self-healing capabilities!

A material that can, like a living organism, continuously repair microscopic damage caused by particle impacts at the micro-level, while also efficiently conducting terrifying heat away.

Just like..."

Youhua seemed to be searching for a suitable word.

"Just like a super iron pot that never burns out and can even repair its own cracks!"

enlightenment interjected, its eyes shining with admiration.

"Father is absolutely right! Our current approach is to create an incredibly hard material, but perhaps the future direction is to create a wall material that can heal itself and dissipate heat itself! This material definitely exists! We just haven't found or created it yet! Then, combined with continuously improved heat transfer technology in engineering, we can push all aspects of this material's performance to the limit!"

Youhua's lips curled into a slight smile, amused by enlightenment's iron pot analogy, and his heavy mood lightened somewhat.

"Yes, enlightenment. A revolutionary breakthrough in materials science may be another key to unlocking the final door."

He walked back to his desk and began to organize the fruits of his three days of intense labor.

"Now, let's package this optimized solution and model, which approaches a Q value of 25 and can operate stably for a day, and send it to Chief Engineer Yang.

At least, this will allow them to push the device's performance a big step further under existing engineering conditions.

As for that first wall... that's a story for another field."

He compressed and packaged the data model, adding detailed explanations.

The sky outside darkened once again, and the Spring Festival seemed a little closer.

The sky outside darkened once again, and the Spring Festival seemed a little closer.