HBF Scientific Lab

Method reference

Equations, data and model scope

Each laboratory solves a documented set of equations using published scientific data, within a stated range of validity. This page brings those models together in one place, so any result on screen can be traced back to the equation that produced it and the conditions under which it applies.

How a run works

Every laboratory follows the same cycle. Input panels open on entry with a complete, valid parameter set already loaded, so a first calculation is always available.

  1. Enter parameters. Controls are grouped by physical role and labelled with their units. Ranges are enforced at the input, and a value outside a model's fit domain is accepted but flagged on the result.
  2. Calculate. Enable live recalculation, or press Calculate after editing. Changing an input marks the previous result and its exports as stale rather than leaving an outdated file looking current.
  3. Inspect. Result panels, diagnostic tables, charts and the three-dimensional scene all describe the same run. Timeline playback animates the completed calculation.
  4. Export. Save the inputs as an experiment JSON to reload later, and export the results separately with their units, model version and source information attached.

In the reactor and Torus workspaces, the Inputs, Results, Particles and Energy shortcuts jump to a section; closing panels expands the scene, and All panels reopens them. Appearance controls, cameras and layer toggles change the display only.

01 · FusionSim — reactivity and zero-dimensional balance

Open FusionSim

Reaction-rate density follows from distinct species populations and a Maxwellian relative-energy distribution at the reduced-mass relative temperature.

Trel = μ(Tp/mp + TB/mB)  ·  R = np nB ⟨σv⟩

⟨σv⟩ = √[8/(πμ)] (kT)−3/2 ∫ σ(E) E exp[−E/(kT)] dE

The integral is evaluated over 41 published Sikora–Weller evaluation points with log–log interpolation and segment boundaries at every tabulated energy, giving a centre-of-mass domain of approximately 137.4–3480.9 keV after exact invariant-s transformation of the published laboratory axis. No additional endpoint extrapolation is applied.

Quantities calculated and the domain over which each is defined
QuantityImplementationValidity domain
Cross sectionσ = (4π/3) Σ A₀ over channelsPublished A₀ statistical errors; 3.4% correlated systematic
Fusion powerPf = R·Q, Q = 8.68193 MeV (AME2020 neutral-atom masses)Uniform volume density; no burn-up or distribution tail
Compositionne = np + 5nB; Zeff = (np + 25nB)/neFully ionised p/B mixture
BremsstrahlungRelativistic electron–ion and electron–electron fit1 ≤ Te ≤ 511 keV; free–free only
Transport lossPloss = U/τEJüttner electron and non-relativistic ion inventory; radiation added separately

A separate species-sum radiation comparison (Xie 2024, Eqs. 61–68) evaluates each actual ion charge and splits electron–ion from electron–electron emission over 1–511 keV. It is exported alongside the baseline rather than replacing it, so both figures stay identifiable in the record.

Scope — not included in this balance: synchrotron radiation, impurities, ash accumulation, alpha slowing-down, spatial and kinetic transport, MHD and kinetic stability, driver and magnet power, structures, fuel cycle and electricity conversion.

02 · Isotope Fusion Explorer — nuclear data and kinematics

Open Isotope Explorer

Atomic masses from the AME2020 slice determine reaction energetics; centre-of-mass energy, closed-channel thresholds and two-body partitions use relativistic invariant-s kinematics with bare-nucleus masses.

Q = (Σmreactants − Σmproducts)c²  ·  s = ma² + mb² + 2mb(ma + Tlab)

Reaction channels and their calculated role
ChannelCalculated role
p + ¹¹B → 3αQ ≈ 8.68193 MeV from AME2020 neutral-atom masses (bare nuclei: 8.68238 MeV, +447.567 eV from electron binding energies, as in the Isotope lab); sequential three-body source spectrum
²H + ³H → α + nQ value and two-body partition anchor
²H + ³He → α + pQ value and two-body partition
p + ¹¹B → n + ¹¹CEndothermic; laboratory threshold ≈ 3.02 MeV
p + ¹⁰B → α + ⁷BeImpurity-channel energetics

Sequential structural spectrum

The sampler models p+¹¹B→α+⁸Be* followed by ⁸Be*→2α. It draws a user-supplied ground-state fraction or a truncated broad level near 3.03 MeV, samples isotropic decay, performs exact sequential Lorentz boosts, and enforces ΣEα = Q + Ecm, Σp⃗α = 0 and the alpha mass shell on every event. Fixed seeds reproduce the same event set exactly.

Product transport is available in the reaction centre-of-mass frame or in a stationary-target laboratory frame, with uniform-field helical motion for charged products and straight-line flight for neutrals. The frame in use is named on every reported quantity.

03–04 · Virtual Reactor Lab and Torus Lab — magnetic configuration screens

Open Virtual Reactor Lab · Open Torus Lab

The Virtual Reactor Lab and Torus Lab both provide analytic configuration screens. The Torus Observatory also implements the field and equilibrium models listed below, each with a clearly defined scope.

Torus Observatory model inventory

Model IDImplemented capabilityScientific boundary
analytic-circular-v1Prescribed analytic circular fieldNo equilibrium or force-balance solution
pure-toroidal-v1Prescribed pure toroidal fieldNo poloidal confinement or equilibrium solution
filament-coils-v1Discrete prescribed vacuum coil fieldFinite straight-segment Biot–Savart approximation; conductor exclusion; no plasma response or coil optimisation
field-grid-import-v1Imported prescribed field gridInterpolation only within declared coverage; no inferred equilibrium
equilibrium-import-v1Imported axisymmetric flux reconstructionKnown COCOS 3/4/13/14 conversion only; no inferred solver convergence or experimental accuracy
gs-solver-v1Fixed rectangular boundary Grad–Shafranov kernelManufactured elliptic verification or polynomial-profile solve; no free-boundary coil coupling

Fixed-boundary results distinguish iterative residual, exact manufactured flux error when available, and boundary error. Imported reconstructions have no local residual history unless supplied by their source. Validation against experimental measurements is part of the planned partner programme.

Mirror field and single-particle invariants

B(z) = B₀[1 + (Rm − 1)(2z/L)²]  ·  θLC = asin(1/√Rm)  ·  ftrapped = √(1 − 1/Rm)

Magnetic-moment conservation determines trapping and turning point under a non-relativistic energy partition. Reported diagnostics include the relativistic alpha gyroradius and gyrofrequency, the non-relativistic turning point and harmonic bounce period, beta, an electron-only Debye length under an immobile-ion convention, the stored thermal inventory, and the maximum sampled ρ|∇B|/B over the accessible half-orbit as an adiabaticity proxy.

Toroidal geometry and diagnostic screens

Bφ(R) = B₀R₀/R  ·  Bθ(a) = μ₀Ip/(2πa)  ·  q(a) = aB₀/[R₀Bθ(a)]

Volume uses an elongated torus; pressure and electron density follow the p:B mixture you enter. The cylindrical edge safety factor, beta, a normalised-beta proxy, the Greenwald density comparison, the relativistic 90°-pitch maximum gyroradius and a banana-width proxy are reported as diagnostic screens. Safety-factor and orbit badges are suppressed outside a/R₀ ≤ 0.35, where the cylindrical approximation stops being informative.

Scope: the analytic configuration screens are reduced models and do not solve equilibrium; the Torus equilibrium solver uses a fixed rectangular boundary. Free-boundary reconstruction, coil optimisation, bootstrap current, MHD stability, collisional transport and energy confinement are outside the current models.

05 · AlphaTrack — image segmentation and morphometry

Open AlphaTrack

The pipeline converts the image to luminance, selects an Otsu or manual threshold, labels dark connected components under 4- or 8-connectivity, then computes area, centroid, bounding box, equivalent diameter and pixel-edge compactness for each object before applying morphology bounds and drawing the accepted set.

compactness = 4πA/P²  (four-edge raster perimeter)

Controls and how each is treated
Control or outputTreatment
Pixel scalePhysical density is reported only when a positive scale and a calibration-record identifier are both supplied
Blank countOptional same-area blank subtraction is a signed proxy; negative estimates are retained and flagged
Counting uncertaintyPoisson count interval: exact central Garwood for n < 100, identified Wilson–Hilferty approximation above
Border objectsA high accepted-object border fraction raises a sampling and segmentation warning
Synthetic truthMaximum-cardinality one-to-one centroid matching reports TP, FP, FN, precision, recall and F1 on generated circles
ExportsJSON preserves image metadata, parameters, calibration, QC, summaries and all detections; CSV repeats detection and provenance fields; PNG is the overlay

Raster sampling and orientation affect compactness, so a sampled disk does not generally score 1.

06 · DirectConvert — electrostatic recovery and the adiabatic limit

Open DirectConvert

Two independent models run side by side. The first is a discrete electrostatic stage ledger.

Erec = qΔφ → Erec(MeV) = 2Δφ(MV), credited only when 2Δφ(MV) < Eα(MeV)

Esource = Erecovered + Eresidual  ·  Ṅ = Pα/Ēα  ·  I = 2eṄ

Each simulated alpha selects the highest strictly admissible stage, and the energy sum is checked exactly. At the Q/3 mean, 1 MW of alpha power corresponds to approximately 0.691 A of charged-particle current.

First-order transport screens

JCL = (4/9) ε₀ √(2q/m) V3⁄2 / d²

Each planar Child–Langmuir row uses the stage-to-stage voltage increment and the current incident on that gap divided by beam area. Every ion enters the first gap, including ions reflected before their collector; later gaps see ions assigned to that or a higher potential in the ideal routing ledger.

Adiabatic large-device limit

C = εparticle,0B₀²/(mEfield²); solve exp(4x) − C sin²θ exp(x) − 2C cos²θ = 0, then η* = 1 − cos²θ exp(−2x) − sin²θ exp(−x)

The positive root is found by bisection and verified against the published equation and its θ = 0° and 90° analytic limits. This is a single-particle free-energy limit for optimally large geometry, reported for comparison against the stage ledger.

Plant balance

Pdirect = Pα·ηstage·ηtransport·ηconditioner

Pthermal,e = ηcaptureηthermalPcapturable heat  ·  Pnet = ηsite(Pdirect + Pthermal,e) − Paux

A thermal efficiency above the Carnot bound 1 − Tcold/Thot is rejected as a hard failure. The thermal path is an explicitly shared-reservoir sensitivity: unrecovered particles, conditioning loss and any user-supplied heat share one capture fraction, hot temperature and efficiency.

07 · Reactor 3D — composed system viewer

Open Reactor 3D

The composed viewer couples the existing reduced calculations and records each coupling explicitly rather than presenting a single opaque system model.

Layers and the calculation behind each
LayerCalculated basis
Uniform sourceMaxwellian p–¹¹B source and bremsstrahlung density × analytic mirror or torus volume
Alpha pathsRelativistic Boris rotation in a prescribed static analytic field at E = 0
Mirror fieldParabolic Bz with a first-order near-axis divergence-free radial completion
Torus fieldBφ = B₀R₀/R plus a divergence-free circular-flux Bθ proportional to rR₀/R
Source → collectorQ-defined fusion power × analytic volume × the power-allocation fraction you set; deposition + allocation ≤ 1 prevents double counting
Process stripA shared 0–1 display index highlighting the source, tracer, collector and grid ledgers

Numerical checks applied to every run

Advanced research models

These models run in dedicated research panels inside the laboratories. Each has a versioned identifier and has been checked against a separately written reference calculation.

Time-dependent burn and ash — hbf-pb11-burn-0d@1 (FusionSim)

dnp/dt = Sp − np/τp − R  ·  dnB/dt = SB − nB/τp − R  ·  dnα/dt = 3fdepR − nα/τα

dWi/dt = G fdepQR + Paux,i + Pei − Wi/τE − convective loss  ·  dWe/dt = (1−G) fdepQR + Paux,e − Pei − Pbrem − We/τE − convective loss

R = npnB⟨σv⟩(Ti) from the pinned table (cubic log–log cache, 1–2000 keV, never extrapolated); G is the Stix ion share with Ec = 14.7688 AαTe[Σ njZj²/(neAj)]2/3; Pei uses the NRL Plasma Formulary equilibration rate; electrons carry the Maxwell–Jüttner mean energy. Integration: Dormand–Prince 5(4) with an energy and particle ledger. A separately written SciPy Radau solution agrees to 1.24×10⁻⁹ over 20 s for the default case and to 3.03×10⁻⁹ over the two reference scenarios. Not included: transport profiles, synchrotron and line radiation, fast-alpha slowing-down dynamics.

Collector gap — hbf-collector-gap-1d@1 (DirectConvert)

JCL = (4ε₀/9)√(2q/m) (E/q)3/2/d²  ·  η = qVc/E  ·  Jcrit/JCL = (1 + √(1 − η))³

A planar electrostatic particle-in-cell model (cloud-in-cell weighting, direct Poisson solve, leapfrog push) follows a cold beam into a retarding gap, records which particles are collected or returned, detects a virtual anode and closes an energy ledger. The steady theory lists every non-reflecting state below Jcrit and the fully reflecting state for η > 1. A separately written shooting solver and a separate NumPy particle-in-cell code agree with it. Not included: collisions, secondary electrons, grids, magnetic fields and multi-dimensional geometry.

Exact coil fields (Virtual Reactor Lab, Reactor 3D)

Bz, Bρ of a circular loop from complete elliptic integrals K(m), E(m), m = 4aρ/[(a+ρ)² + (z−z₀)²]

K and E are computed by the arithmetic–geometric mean with a stable near-axis form; solenoids and thick coils are integrated with adaptive Gauss–Legendre quadrature. A matched two-loop coil set shares the mirror run's B₀, throat position and mirror ratio; for B₀ = 1.5 T, R = 4 and L = 2 m the analytic parabolic mirror differs from it by up to 26 %. A held-out comparison fits only a current scale (and optional offset) on training rows of a field map.

Measured nuclear data comparisons (FusionSim, Isotope Explorer)

χ² = rᵀV⁻¹r,  V = diag(u²point + u²baseline) + (n²set + 0.034²) s sᵀ

EXFOR sets are converted to centre-of-mass energy with the invariant-s relation used for the baseline and compared without changing it; a profiled normalisation factor separates scale from shape. Both correlated terms are built from the baseline values s, not from the measured values: using measured values there produces Peelle's pertinent puzzle, which biases the fit low (for Taskaev 2024 it moves χ² from 49.0 to 144.3). Sampler checks compare branch fractions and Legendre moments (2L+1)⟨PL(cos θ)⟩ with published coefficients at matching proton energies (tolerance max(1 keV, 0.5 %)).

Shared numerical foundations

Bundled data sources

Every dataset is bundled with the software and recorded with each run
DatasetSourceUsed by
p–¹¹B cross section, 41 pointsSikora & Weller (2016) evaluation, A₀ coefficientsFusionSim, Isotope Explorer
Atomic mass sliceAME2020, IAEA AMDCAll reaction energetics
Thermal reactivity coefficientsBosch & Hale (1992), Table VIIIsotope Explorer
Ground-state recordsIAEA LiveChart per-record queriesIsotope Explorer
Nuclide half-livesNUBASE2020 — carbon-11 at 20.3402 ± 0.0053 minIsotope Explorer
Isotopic abundance rangesCIAAW 2024 — lithium-7 terrestrial range 0.922–0.981Composition inputs
Radiation comparison reference valuesXie (2024), Eqs. 61–68FusionSim, Torus Lab
p–¹¹B measurements (11 EXFOR entries)EXFOR master files, IAEA-NDS/NRDC, CC BY 4.0FusionSim and Isotope Explorer comparison panels (never the baseline)
Transport boundary conventionWurzel & Hsu, Eq. 11Thermal transport time

Each dataset is used within the scope described by its publisher; citation does not imply endorsement by the issuing body.