3 ms·
Is the strange geometry just one possible arrangement (current best optimisation) or is there something more specific about it? To an outside observer the appar
by mkj 10y ago
Is the strange geometry just one possible arrangement (current best optimisation) or is there something more specific about it? To an outside observer the apparent lack of symmetry etc is surprising.
- chillydawg 10y agoIt has 5 fold symmetry. It's broadly a pentagonal shape (viewed from above) made up of the same piece repeated five times. It's actually rather simple and beautiful (to my eyes). I'd not have been surprised if the model they ran spat out some ridiculous random-looking shape that happens to fit some local minima. As it is, it's a fairly reasonable-looking twisted ribbon like shape.
- drjesusphd 10y agoThe shape has been optimized by simulation. A twisted magnetic field is needed to keep particle orbits confined. Tokamaks generate this twist with a current around a symmetric torus, stellerators do so by relaxing the symmetry.