Controlled Fusion with Hot-ion Mode in a Degenerate Plasma
Authors: S. Son and N.J. Fisch
Date of PPPL Report: December 2005
Submitted to: Physics Letters A
In a Fermi-degenerate plasma, the rate of electron physical processes is much reduced from the classical prediction, possibly enabling new regimes for controlled nuclear fusion, including the hot-ion mode, a regime in which the ion temperature exceeds the electron temperature. Previous calculations of these processes in dense plasmas are now corrected for partial degeneracy and relativistic effects, leading to an expanded regime of self-sustained fusion.