Lesson 02 · Concept vocabulary
A configuration is a way of arranging fields, fuel, drivers, targets, structures, and observation windows. It is not evidence of feasibility, performance, or readiness.
Conceptual comparison only. The cards below do not rank devices, predict gain, represent a full reactor, or endorse a confinement approach.
A stronger magnetic field near each end reflects some charged particles back toward a central region. Reduced models must report loss-cone assumptions, end loss, collisions, finite observation windows, and right-censored particles.
HBF connection: the Mirror Reactor module is only a synthetic particle-and-energy demonstration; it is not an equilibrium or reactor design.
A toroidal magnetic configuration combines toroidal and poloidal fields. A complete analysis can require equilibrium, stability, current-drive, transport, heating, materials, and control models that are absent from a simple orbit viewer.
HBF connection: Torus Orbit uses a declared analytic field and does not solve Grad–Shafranov equilibrium or MHD stability.
Drivers compress or heat a small target over a short interval while inertia delays disassembly. Target physics, symmetry, driver coupling, repetition, chamber clearing, materials, and energy recovery are separate evidence problems.
HBF connection: no HBF module is an inertial-fusion target or chamber model.
A large axial current creates an azimuthal magnetic field that pinches plasma inward. Instability, electrode or transmission-line physics, current delivery, radiation, repetition, and diagnostic interpretation must be treated explicitly.
HBF connection: no HBF module solves a Z-pinch discharge or validates its performance.
| Question | Why it matters | What a reduced visualization cannot establish |
|---|---|---|
| What equations are solved? | Orbit, equilibrium, stability, transport, kinetics, radiation, and engineering models answer different questions. | A plausible animation does not prove the missing equations. |
| What is the intended use? | Validation evidence is meaningful only for a specified decision and domain. | Agreement in one fixture cannot justify unbounded prediction. |
| What exits the observation window? | Escaped, lost, absorbed, and right-censored particles are not interchangeable. | A finite animation cannot imply confinement indefinitely. |
| Which inputs are measured? | Synthetic, public experimental, evaluated, and partner-controlled data have different pedigree. | Assumed geometry or losses are not measurements. |