Fusion Science and Technology

ISSN: 1536-1055 (Print) 1943-7641 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ufst20

General Relativistic Modification of the Lockheed

Compact Fusion Reactor Concept

F. Winterberg

To cite this article: F. Winterberg (2020) General Relativistic Modification of the Lockheed
Compact Fusion Reactor Concept, Fusion Science and Technology, 76:2, 141-144, DOI:
10.1080/15361055.2019.1704573

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1704573

Published online: 19 Feb 2020.

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FUSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY · VOLUME 76 · 141–144 · FEBRUARY 2020
© 2020 American Nuclear Society
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1704573

General Relativistic Modification of the Lockheed Compact

Fusion Reactor Concept
F. Winterberg *
Carl Friedrich Gauss Academy of Science, P.O. Box 18265, Reno, Nevada 89511

Received September 13, 2018

Accepted for Publication December 10, 2019

Abstract — Taking into account Einstein’s general theory of relativity, a modification of Lockheed’s
compact fusion reactor concept is proposed by replacing the two superconducting tori with rapidly rotating
tori rotating in opposite directions. According to the general theory of relativity, two Coriolis force fields in
opposite directions are set up, both of them having a negative mass density in their corotating reference
systems, with a vanishing negative mass density in the center in between the rotating tori, where the hot
fusion plasma is centered. Because of the Nernst effect going in the opposite direction, large toroidal
currents are set up, repelling the hot plasma from the much cooler tori. This results in closed magnetic field
lines for stable plasma confinement. The remaining problem, the removal of the heat released by neutron
absorption in the metallic tori, can be resolved by a pulsed operation, axially injecting cool deuterium-
tritium gas, from which the heat is externally removed by a radiator.

Keywords — Lockheed compact fusion reactor, Einstein’s general theory of relativity, Nernst effect,
nuclear fusion, plasma confinement.

Note — Some figures may be in color only in the electronic version.

ð
I. INTRODUCTION
δ ds ¼ 0; ds2 ¼ gik dxi dxk ð2aÞ
As important as magnetic forces generated by cur-
rents of electric charges are for the confinement of fusion whereby one obtains the equation of motion:
plasmas, the inertial forces generated by mass currents
can be important as well. They are a consequence of d 2 xi k
i dx dx
l
þ Γkl ¼0 : ð2bÞ
Mach’s principle and in agreement with the general the- ds2 ds ds
ory of relativity.
The general theory of relativity relies on two very The motion of a particle in a gravitational field is
different postulates. The first postulate is Einstein’s grav- defined by the Christoffel symbols Γikl : The derivative
itational field equation1: d 2 xi
ds2
is the four-acceleration of the particle. Therefore,
1 8πG we call the quantity
mΓikl uk ul the “four-force,” acting
Rik
gik R ¼ 4 Tik : ð1Þ on the particle in the gravitational field. Here, the
2 c
tensor gik plays the role of the “potential” of the grav-
The second postulate is that by the principle of equiva- itational field—its derivatives determine the field
lence, a test particle, or a point mass, must move on “intensity” of Γikl :
a geodesic expressed by Eq. (2a): This approach ignores that the gravitational field,
like the electric field, should have an energy and by
*E-mail: fwinterbe@gmail.com E ¼ mc2 should have a mass. It was believed, even by

141
142 WINTERBERG · GENERAL RELATIVISTIC MODIFICATION OF THE LOCKHEED FUSION REACTOR
Einstein, that for this reason if gravitational waves
exist, they should have a mass. The resolution of this
controversy came with the experimental observation of
gravitational waves. Prior to his experimental verifica-
tion, Hund made a convincing argument2 that in
a noninertial reference system and by Mach’s principle,
the inertial forces in accelerated reference systems
must have sources different from the sources in
Newton’s law of gravity and can be negative, as in
a static gravitational field, or positive, as the mass of
a gravitational wave. For this reason, the author pro-
posed the vacuum of space is a kind of plasma made
up from positive and negative Planck masses,3 which
may be called a Planck mass plasma, very much like
a solid is made up of positive and negative electrical
charges. Even though Einstein’s gravitational field
equation is unaffected by this Planck mass plasma
conjecture, it obtains a deeper meaning as a non-
Abelian gauge theory, as proposed by Dehnen and
Ghaboussi.4
In Einstein’s theory all positive and negative masses
are contained in Einstein’s energy-momentum pseudoten-
sor, and his theory does not need the second postulate (2).
However, it has to be amended by the positive and
negative masses of Planck mass plasma, that is, by all
the energy to be included in the right side of Eq. (1).
In the general theory of relativity,1 the gravitational
energy cannot be localized but is described by Einstein’s
pseudotensor tik, where the energy and momentum are
expressed by a sum of products of Christoffel symbols
Γikl, which are the forces. In a noninertial reference
frame, these forces are generally different from zero
even in the absence of gravity-producing masses.
In a uniformly rotating reference system, the
Christoffel symbols are obtained from the line element
 
ds2 ¼ c2
ω2 r2 dt2
2ωr2 dϕdt
dz2

r2 dϕ2
dr2 ; ð2cÞ
where ω is the velocity of rotation.
It was shown by Hund2 that for nonrelativistic velo-
cities—and hence Christoffel symbols—these forces can
be obtained by Mach’s principle and Newtonian
mechanics, whereby the equation of motion for a test
particle of mass m in a rotating reference is given by
dv v using r ¼ 0 as the center of rotation, one obtains from
m ¼ mF þ m  C ; ð3Þ
dt c Eq. (8) the occurrence of negative masses in both tori.
where
F ¼ ω2 r ð4Þ
is the centrifugal force and
C ¼
2cω ð5Þ
is the Coriolis force.
If F is a gravitational acceleration produced by the
mass distribution of density ρ as the source of Newton’s
law of gravity, one has
divF ¼
4πGρ ; ð6Þ
where G is Newton’s constant. A centrifugal acceleration
is also not free of sources; because of Eq. (4), one has
divF ¼ 2ω2 ð7Þ
and hence the negative mass density
ω2
ρ¼
: ð8Þ
2πG
This negative mass is not fictitious and can be felt as the
repulsive force in a merry-go-round. For ω ¼ 0:6 s
1 (an
example given by Hund), one hasρ ¼
106 g=cm3 , com-
parable to the positive mass density of a white dwarf star.
The mass density of the Coriolis field, Eq. (5), is
C2 ω2
ρ¼
¼
ð9Þ
8πGc2 2πG
equal to the mass density given by Eq. (8). The centrifu-
gal force is thus caused by the gravitationally repulsive
negative mass of the Coriolis force field. By comparison,
the negative mass density –F2 =8πGc2 of the centrifugal
force field, Eq. (4), is smaller by the order v2 =c2.
II. PROPOSED MODIFICATION OF THE LOCKHEED FUSION
REACTOR
The proposed modification of the Lockheed fusion
reactor by McGuire5 involves replacing the internal
superconducting magnetic field tori with two metallic
tori rapidly rotating in opposite directions. In
a corotating cylindrical reference system with the tori,
Because they are rotating in opposite directions, the
Coriolis force and the negative mass will vanish at
FUSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY · VOLUME 76 · FEBRUARY 2020
 GENERAL RELATIVISTIC MODIFICATION OF THE LOCKHEED FUSION REACTOR · WINTERBERG 143

r ¼ 0, in between the rotating tori. It is around this 3knc dT

jy ¼
: ð16Þ
region that the plasma is axially confined by the 2B dz
gravitational repulsion of the two negative mass
regions. Still, the hot fusion plasma must be prevented From Maxwell’s equations 4πj=c ¼ curl B; one has
from getting in contact with the cold rapidly counter-
rotating metallic tori. This is accomplished by the c dB
jy ¼ : ð17Þ
thermomagnetic Nernst effect.6 4π dz

Eliminating jy from Eqs. (16) and (17), one obtains

III. NERNST EFFECT dB dT

2B ¼
12πkn : ð18Þ
dz dz
In the proposed concept the plasma in between the
rapidly rotating tori is confined by the outwardly directed If in the plasma far away from the wall, n = n0, T = T0,
gravitational force of the negative mass of the Coriolis one has from Eq. (15)
field—and because of the large radial temperature gradi-
ent of the inwardly directed magnetic force from the wall 1=4
n0 T0
of the reactor, by the Nernst effect. n¼ : ð19Þ
T 1=4
With the temperature gradient ÑT from the cold
rotating metallic tori into the hot plasma and B the mag- Inserting this into Eq. (18), one finds
netic field, the thermomagnetic current by the Nernst
effect is for a hydrogen plasma given by7 12πkn0 T0
1=4
dB2 ¼
dT : ð20Þ
T 1=4
3knc
jN ¼ B  ÑT ð10Þ
2B2 With the boundary condition B = B0 at z = 0 and T = T0
at z = 1, integration of Eq. (20) yields
with the magnetic force density of the plasma
B20
1 3nk ¼ 2n0 kT0 : ð21Þ
f ¼ jN  B ¼ 2 ðB  ÑT Þ  B ð11Þ 8π
c 2B
The meaning of Eq. (21) is that the magnetic pressure
or with ÑT perpendicular and B parallel to the wall
B20 =8π exerted on the plasma from the wall surface at
z = 0 balances the plasma pressure 2n0 kT0 at z = 1.
3
f ¼ nkÑT : ð12Þ With n0 ¼ 1018 cm−3 and T ’ 108 K, one finds that
2
B0 ’ 107 G.
With the magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium condition With the Nernst effect, where according to Eq. (15)
Tn4 = constant, the bremsstrahlung losses going in pro-
pffiffiffiffi
Ñp ¼ f ; ð13Þ portion to n2 T (Ref. 7) are constant across the entire
plasma, which for nT = constant would rise in propor-
where p ¼ 2nkT; Ñp ¼ 2nkÑT þ 2kTÑn; one has tion to T −3/2. The reason is the large thermomagnetic
currents set up in between the hot plasma and the cold
3 wall of the centrifuge, leading to a large magnetic force
2nkÑT þ 2kTÑn ¼ nkÑT ; ð14Þ repelling the hot plasma from the wall.
2
For the Nernst effect to work, one must have
which upon integration yields
ωτ  1 ; ð22Þ
Tn ¼ const :
4
ð15Þ
where ω is the electron cyclotron frequency and τ is
In a Cartesian x-, y-, z-coordinate system with the cold the electron-ion collision time. At high magnetic
wall at z = 0 and the magnetic field B in the x-direction, fields of the order B ’ 107 G and temperatures of
the Nernst current density j is in the y-direction and is the order 108 K, with a particle number density n ’

FUSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY · VOLUME 76 · FEBRUARY 2020

144 WINTERBERG · GENERAL RELATIVISTIC MODIFICATION OF THE LOCKHEED FUSION REACTOR
1018 cm−3, one has ω ’ 1014 s−1, τ ’ 10
4 s (Ref. 7),
and hence ωτ ’ 1010  1.
IV. CONCLUSION
The proposed modification of McGuire’s novel
magnetic fusion reactor promises a large beta value,
which for Eq. (21) can be close to 1, implying much
higher plasma densities, on the order of n , 1018
cm−3, with a confining magnetic field as high as
10 MG and at a plasma temperature of 108 K.
Considering this, it has the potential to be more com-
pact than the fusion reactor concept originally con-
ceived by McGuire.
ORCID
F. Winterberg http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7627-1577
References
1. L. D. LANDAU and E. M. LIFSHITZ, The Classical
Theory of Fields, p. 306, Pergamon Press, New York (1970).
2. F. HUND, “Zugänge zum Verständnis der allgemeinen
Relativitätstheorie,” Z. Phys., 124, 742 (1948); https://doi.
org/10.1007/BF01668907.
3. F. WINTERBERG, “Planck Mass Plasma Vacuum
Conjecture,” Z. Naturforsch., 58a, 231 (2003).
4. H. DEHNEN and F. GHABOUSSI, “Gravity as Yang-Mills
Gauge Theory,” Nucl. Phys, 262, 144 (1985); https://doi.org/
10.1016/0550-3213(85)90069-0.
5. T. J. McGUIRE, U.S. Patent 2018004746 (2018).
6. F. WINTERBERG, The Release of Thermonuclear Energy
by Inertial Confinement: Ways Towards Ignition, p. 83,
World Scientific.
7. L. SPITZER, Physics of Fully Ionized Gases, p. 149,
Interscience Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, Princeton, New
Jersey.
FUSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY · VOLUME 76 · FEBRUARY 2020