NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/sci/space/19063

Text File | 1993-01-09 | 2.7 KB | 55 lines

Newsgroups: sci.space
Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!torn!utzoo!henry
From: [e-mail] (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: *** BUSSARD RAMSCOOP ***
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 06:57:15 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 44

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dave Michelson) writes:
>Several postings ago, I mentioned the possibility of quark-catalyzed fusion.
>As promised (and requested) here are some additional details...

Quark-catalyzed fusion is for wimps. :-)

The modern quantum version of a magnetic monopole is much more interesting
in this regard than loose quarks.  It's a very strange particle, immensely
massive by particle-physics standards, and tucked away in its center is a
small region of space with exceedingly peculiar properties.  Two small
problems exist:  we've never seen one, and the effective cross-section of
that central region is very uncertain (and there is some reason to think
it's pretty small).  But if they exist, or can be made, and if that
cross-section is substantial...

A wandering magnetic monopole brushes past a proton.  Actually, more or
less through it -- the monopole is many orders of magnitude more massive
(I said it was heavy!) and protons aren't solid.  As the monopole goes
through, one of the quarks in the proton wanders into that funny region
of space... and comes out as an antiquark.

An instant later, it meets one of the other quarks in the proton, and
the proton explodes.

When the dust has cleared, all that remains is a positron, some gamma
rays, and maybe a neutrino or two.  The monopole is unaffected, so
heavy that even its trajectory is barely altered by the fireworks.
You read it right:  the monopole catalyzes proton decay, essentially
doing matter->energy conversion without that annoying requirement for
an antiproton supply.

The problem with all this is that there is moderately convincing evidence
that either monopoles are pretty rare in nature, or that cross-section is
very small.  For one thing, if a monopole with the properties we want
passed through something like the Kamiokande neutrino/proton-decay
experiment -- the kilometer or two of rock over top wouldn't even slow
it down -- the event would be seared permanently into the memories of
the detectors.  That hasn't happened.  Other lines of evidence concur.
And all of this, of course, assumes that the theorists haven't goofed.

Still... THAT's a Bussard ramjet powerplant for you!
--
"God willing... we shall return."       | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
       -Gene Cernan, the Moon, Dec 1972 |  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry