Publications by authors named "M E Mlodik"

The proton-boron-11 (p-B11) fusion reaction is much harder to harness for commercial power than the easiest fusion reaction, namely, the deuterium and tritium (DT) reaction. The p-B11 reaction requires much higher temperatures, and, even at those higher temperatures, the cross section is much smaller. However, as opposed to tritium, the reactants are both abundant and nonradioactive.

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The Fermi acceleration model describes how cosmic ray particles accelerate to great speeds by interacting with moving magnetic fields. We identify a variation of the model where light ions interact with a moving wall while undergoing pitch angle scattering through Coulomb collisions due to the presence of a heavier ionic species. The collisions introduce a stochastic component which adds complexity to the particle acceleration profile and sets it apart from collisionless Fermi acceleration models.

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In steady state, the fuel cycle of a fusion plasma requires inward particle fluxes of fuel ions. These particle flows are also accompanied by heating. In the case of classical transport in a rotating cylindrical plasma, this heating can proceed through several distinct channels depending on the physical mechanisms involved.

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Stratification due to ion-ion friction in a magnetized multiple-ion species plasma is shown to be accompanied by a heat pump effect, transferring heat from one ion species to another as well as from one region of space to another. The heat pump is produced via identified heating mechanisms associated with charge incompressibility and the Ettingshausen effect. Besides their academic interest, these effects may have useful applications to plasma technologies that involve rotation or compression.

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