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.
Physics with low temperature antiprotons
The advent of the new beam cooling techniques and their application to antiproton production has already made possible major advances in high energy physics. These same techniques offer uniquely exciting possibilities for ultralow energy physics. Through a combination of deceleration stages, antiprotons produced at several GeV (where the production cross section is at a maximum) can be made available for experiments at thermal velocities. High precision measurements of the antiproton mass and magnetic moment can be performed. Comparison of these measurements with those for the proton will test the CPT invariance of internal baryon dynamics at an unprecedented level. In addition the gravitational constant for antimatter can be measured for the first time, and to high accuracy. Each of these measurements will provide very important information on the dynamical symmetry between matter and antimatter in our universe. Antiprotons at thermal velocities will also make these fundamental particles available for experiments in condensed matter and atomic physics. The recent speculation that antiprotons may form metastable states in some forms of normal matter could open many new avenues of basic and applied research.
Inertial confinement fusion driven by intense ion beams
All the basic and physical aspects of ion-driven confinement fusion are timely reviewed. Both light- and heavy-ion beams are stressed out. The fundamental components : accelerating structure, beam, target and reactor vessel are thoroughly presented. A particular emphasis is given to the three crucial interfaces : beam-reactor, beam-target and target-reactor. Ion-plasma experiments of closely related concern are also investigated at length.