Jose Varela @escapist@unshaped.space
Computer nerd, metalhead, misfit...
Sysadmin at https://lppfusion.com
"Could the Green New Deal Work? The Necessity of Fusion" is available on YouTube. Thanks to David Szalyga for uploading the recording so quickly!
So a correct view of objects like M87 can lead to energy breakthroughs on earth.
In published papers (lppfusion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Magnetic-Self-Compression-No-1.pdf), Lerner showed that indeed a quantitative theory linking the two phenomena made predictions that were verified both in the lab and in astrophysical observations. That led to improvements in the theory of the plasma focus (http://lppfusion.com/images/stories/theory_and_experimental_program_for_focus_fusion__lpp_jan2011.pdf), patented inventions (http://lppfusion.com/images/stories/theory_and_experimental_program_for_focus_fusion__lpp_jan2011.pdf), and steps towards achieving useful fusion energy (https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.4989859).
Potentially, fusion can solve humanity’s energy problems. In the 1980’s Lerner, studying both quasars, the astrophysical phenomena produced by objects like M87, and a fusion device called the dense plasma focus, wondered if the device could be used as a model for quasars. The device produced plasmoids and concentrated beams with magnetic fields alone—no gravity needed.
What does it matter what #M87 really is? In part 5 of the “Is it Really a Black Hole Series”, LPPFusion Chief Scientist Eric J. Lerner points out that discoveries in astrophysics can have profound impacts here on earth. The process of nuclear fusion was discovered by studying the sun, whose energy source is fusion.
LPPFusion President and Chief Scientist Eric J. Lerner will present proposals for “A Faster Route to Fusion” at the Fusion Energy Symposium, a hearing sponsored by NJ State Senator Joe Pennachio (R-26), on Thursday, May 23 at the State House Annex in Trenton NJ. Take a look at the press release for full details.
For a fuller and more technical discussion, see p.15-17 of Alfven’s 1986 paper (http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2%3A514247/FULLTEXT01.pdf). MHD theory can’t explain the focused beams of energy that emerge from compact objects such as quasars and Herbig-Haro objects, which are ordinary stars in the early stages of formation. These beams are routinely observed produced by plasmoids in our laboratory experiments, explained by correct plasma theory.
When his warnings were not heeded, he repeated them strongly in his Nobel address (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1970/alfven/lecture/), (a clear, non-technical presentation), saying that many basic concepts used by astrophysicists “are not applicable to the conditions prevailing in the cosmos…it is only the plasma itself that does not ‘understand’ how beautiful the theories are and absolutely refuses to obey them.” (See p. 3-4 of PDF, with a simple table comparing wrong and right approaches.)
That approximation, called “magnetohydrodynamics” or MHD, was invented by plasma physics pioneer Hannes Alfven, who won the Physics Nobel Prize in 1970 for his work. Alfven repeatedly warned astrophysicists that the approximation was only valid in certain conditions, with dense plasma like those in the sun.
In part 4 of the “Is it Really a Black Hole Series”, LPPFusion Chief Scientist Eric J. Lerner explains that most astrophysicists don’t consider the possibility that condensed objects can be plasmoids, with magnetic fields comparable to our greater than their gravitational fields, because they are using a wrong approximation to calculate plasma behavior.
Ivy Karamitsos and Eric Lerner will be presenting at a Mensa event about why successful implementation of the green new deal requires fusion energy. Focus Fusion is LPPF’s approach to fusion power that uses a dense plasma focus device and hydrogen-boron as its fuel. In this free lecture open to all who are interested, come learn how the future of "Green Energy" will involve much more than just wind and solar.
Could an “almost black hole” (ABH) and a plasmoid co-exist in the same object? Perhaps—if the ABH was much smaller than the plasmoid. A large one would disrupt the flow of current through the center of the plasmoid. A plasmoid with about equally-powerful gravitational and magnetic fields, rotating at perhaps one third to two-thirds the speed of light is the most probable configuration, but more detailed calculations and observations are needed for certainty.
So, if, as everyone thinks, Sgr A* and M87 are similar objects, although at very different scales, the M87 image could be either an “almost black hole” or a plasmoid.
But a plasmoid seen from the side, 90 degrees from its axis, would look very different, like a crescent moon. The object at the center of our galaxy, called Sagittarius A* or Sgr A* is viewed from the side. So far, astronomers have observed no hint of the “black hole shadow”, the doughnut shape they expected to see. For example, the images on p.11 of this paper from November, 2018, https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.08394, show no shadow at all. (No crescent either.)
Here’s a good technical paper about solar plasmoids: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1704.04881.pdf and here is one about the role of plasmoids in the formation of stars like our sun: digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/25867/2/articulo17_2006_ingles.pdf
A plasmoid with matter moving close to the speed of light would look like the M87 image if its axis was pointed close to our line of sight. Observations indicate that M87’s axis is indeed pointed to within about 15 degrees of us. https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/395/1/301/1080009
In part 3 of the “Is it Really a Black Hole Series”, LPPFusion Chief Scientist Eric J. Lerner shows that the M87 image could have been created by a plasmoid, not an “almost black hole”. A plasmoid is a magnetically-confined plasma object, which has been widely studied in the laboratory, in the Sun’s atmosphere, in the solar system and elsewhere in space.
For a highly technical discussion of the role of magnetic fields in the formation of our own solar system, the same process at work in objects like M87, see this pioneering work for NASA by Hannes Alfven and Gustaf Arrhenius. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19770006016.pdf
The same forces that generate the currents slow the spin down, removing angular momentum and energy from the object, allowing it to contract. As the magnetic fields and the current start to align with each other, the force slowing down the object decrease, reaching a final point with gravitational, centrifugal and magnetic forces balanced.
In part 2 of the “Is it Really a Black Hole Series”, LPPFusion Chief Scientist Eric J. Lerner explains that any condensed object like the one at the center of M87 must have lost most of its angular momentum for it to collapse in radius. Only electromagnetic forces can remove this angular momentum. The object spinning in the magnetic field produced by its own currents, produced larger and large electrical fields, currents and magnetic fields.
In this video series, LPPFusion Chief Scientist Eric J. Lerner asks if the M87 image widely publicized in April, 2019 is really a black hole. In the first section, Lerner defines a black hole as a condensed object with an event horizon no light can escape form and a central infinite-density singularity. By this definition, no cosmologist really believes black holes actually exist, because they take an infinite time to make.