Virtual Positron Experiment

The objective of this proposal is to establish the feasibility of a virtual-positron experiment by demonstrating the viability of large-scale, three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation to understand antimatter confinement experiments. The virtualpositron experiment is a numerical approximation of an antimatter experiment, including the experimental diagnostics. The success of such a systematic computational approach towards understanding experiments has been previously demonstrated.Three-dimensional thermal plasma simulation is extremely computer intensive, but feasible with parallel computation. Fortunately, extraordinary improvements in microprocessors, memory, buses, networks, and software now make it possible to groupinexpensive personal computers together to form a distributed parallel cluster. To date, three-dimensional PIC simulation running on a Linux cluster has not been applied to the antimatter confinement problem. The opportunity to incorporate suchlarge-scale simulation technology into the antimatter confinement program will increase the ability to understand the physics of first-generation high-energy-density experiments, which will ultimately lead to successful design of more complex experiments.More importantly, such simulation technology could lead the way to potential breakthroughs in antimatter confinement. The deliverable will be a final report that includes a description of the cluster design, the PIC model, and the verfication simulationresults. A low mass system containing hundred's of MJ's of energy for long periods of time has many potential commercial applications. Advanced computational technology combined with distributed parallel clusters will provide the basic design capabilityfor such commercial applications. For example, a Positron Energy Conversion (PEC) ramjet or turbojet, with up to a 30 day flight time, would impact weather surveys, population, fire, agriculture and pollution studies, as well as land and marine assays.