The physics of antimatter induced fusion and thermonuclear explosions
The possibility of using antihydrogen for igniting inertia l confinement fusion pellets or triggering large-scale thermonuclear ex plosions is investigated. The number of antiproton annihilations required to start a thermonuclear burn wave in either DT or Li2DT is found to be about 10 21 /� 2 , where � is the compression factor of the fuel to be ignited. We conclude that the financial and energy investments needed to produce such amou nts of antiprotons would confine applications of antimatter trigger ed thermonuclear devices to the military domain.
Fourth Generation Nuclear Weapons: Military effectiveness and collateral effects
The paper begins with a general introduction and update to Fourth Generation Nuclear Weapons (FGNW), and then addresses some particularly important military aspects on which there has been only limited public discussion so far. These aspects concern the unique military characteristics of FGNWs which make them radically different from both nuclear weapons based on previous-generation nuclear-explosives and from conventional weapons based on chemical-explosives: yields in the 1 to 100 tons range, greatly enhanced coupling to targets, possibility t o drive powerful shaped-charge jets and forged fragments, enhanced prompt radiation effects, reduced collateral damage and residual radioactivity, etc .
Can Centauros or Chirons BE the First Observations of Evaporating Mini Black Holes
We argue that the signals expected from the evaporation of mini black holes — predicted in TeV-gravity models with large extra dimensions, and possibly produced in ultrahigh energy collisions in the atmosphere — are quite similar to the characteristics of the Centauro events, an old mystery of cosmic-ray physics.