Great Country Academician

Flipping through the documents in his hand, Xu Chuan's eyes fell on the technical reports and plans one by one.

The electromagnetic railgun is an advanced kinetic killing weapon made using electromagnetic launch technology.

I believe that friends who like to watch science fiction movies or science fiction novels are not unfamiliar with this concept.

Whether it is the Gauss rifle in "StarCraft" or the magnetic railgun that penetrated the Transformers with one shot in "Transformers", they are different types of electromagnetic railguns.

The former is a coil-type electromagnetic rifle, while the latter is a heavy electromagnetic railgun, which is the technology mentioned in this report.

Unlike traditional cannons that apply gunpowder gas pressure to projectiles, electromagnetic railguns use the force of the electromagnetic field in the electromagnetic system to increase the speed of the projectile.

To put it bluntly, it is actually a combination of electricity, magnetism, rails and guns.

Those who played with magnets when they were young know that magnets have north and south poles, and the same poles repel each other and different poles attract each other.

If you put a magnet on the table and you use another magnet of the same pole to approach it, the magnet on the table will be pushed forward by the magnetic field.

The principle of the electromagnetic railgun is similar.

It is just composed of two parallel rails (which can be regarded as magnets), and the object being driven is not the magnet group itself, but the projectile sandwiched between the two rails.

When the two rails are connected to the power supply, the current flows from one rail to the projectile and then to the other rail to generate a strong magnetic field. The magnetic field interacts with the current to generate a strong Ampere force to push the projectile to a very high speed.

The principle of the large particle collider in the physics world is similar to this. They all use magnet groups and superconducting materials to provide strong magnetic fields to increase the speed of particles.

Theoretically, the electric rail gun can increase the speed of the projectile to sub-light speed or even infinitely close to the speed of light.

However, according to Einstein's special theory of relativity, the higher the speed of an object with rest mass, the more energy it requires.

So it is currently impossible to reach infinitely close to the speed of light or sub-light speed.

But compared with traditional chemical fuel-propelled shells or missiles, the speed that the electromagnetic rail gun can increase is much higher.

Take hypersonic missiles for example. Missiles that can fly at speeds exceeding Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound, about 6125.4 kilometers per hour) are internationally recognized hypersonic missiles.

And there are only a handful of countries in the world that currently have hypersonic missiles.

However, for electromagnetic railguns, ordinary laboratory-level electromagnetic railguns are 6 meters long, which is enough to accelerate ammunition to 8,000 to 10,000 kilometers per hour.

This speed can easily exceed the hypersonic missiles that few countries have.

However, this is just a conventional version of the electromagnetic railgun. If the design is optimized, the speed of the electromagnetic railgun can be increased to a higher level, easily reaching more than 10,000 kilometers per hour.

This alone is enough to attract the attention of various countries.

The document "Feasibility Study of Ultra-High-Speed ​​Precision Strike Electromagnetic Railgun Technology" in Xu Chuan's hand is intended to develop an ultra-high-speed electromagnetic railgun with a speed of more than 10,000 kilometers per hour.

But this level of electromagnetic railgun has two biggest problems.

Guidance and orbital ablation.

The former is the core of precision strikes, and the latter is the key to continuous firing.

But both of them will have problems due to the strong electromagnetic field that the electromagnetic railgun itself has when it is running.

For example, guidance. The current missile guidance, whether satellite guidance or radar guidance, cannot be separated from the chips and electronic parts inside the missile to receive signals and adjust the trajectory.

However, because the electromagnetic railgun uses electromagnetic fields to accelerate the shells, the chips and electronic parts inside the shells are extremely easy to be damaged when facing super strong electromagnetic fields.

Therefore, most of the electromagnetic guns currently studied by various countries use solid bullets without a guidance system.

But correspondingly, their power will be greatly limited.

After all, a steel shell can only cause kinetic damage at most.

And a shell loaded with explosives can also cause explosive damage.

Therefore, how to solve the accuracy and guidance problems of the projectile is a key problem that all countries need to overcome.

As for orbital ablation, it means that during high-speed launch, strong friction and temperature rise will damage the orbit, greatly reducing the service life of the orbit and affecting shooting accuracy and reliability.

The United States once invested a lot of money in the development of electromagnetic railguns, but because of the problem of orbital ablation, it finally gave up in 2019.

So if you want to actually apply electromagnetic railguns on the battlefield, the two problems of precision guidance and orbital ablation must be solved.

And as Xu Chuan expected, in this report document "Feasibility Study of Ultra-High Speed ​​Precision Strike Electromagnetic Railgun Technology".

The most core problems are these two.

As for how to solve these two problems, experts in the domestic military industry and the Academy of Sciences proposed several feasibility studies in the report.

Among them, the most feasible way to solve the problem of electromagnetic rail ablation is to solve it through mathematical models + AI.

But it is unimaginably difficult to establish a mathematical model for the complex magnetic field conditions of electromagnetic railguns during operation.

Because it not only involves electromagnetic interference, scattered electric fields, electromagnetic diffusion and other problems, but also various difficult-to-solve complex conditions such as vortex magnetic flow and interference caused by high temperature after the shell is fired.

This level of difficulty cannot be solved by the team that designs and feasibility papers on the electromagnetic rail gun.

Even if they approached the mathematical academicians from the Academy of Sciences, all of them shook their heads and expressed that they were powerless.

In the end, I had no choice but to give it a try, so I approached Xu Chuan and wanted to ask him for help to see if there was a suitable research direction.

After reading the document in his hand, Xu Chuan put it on the coffee table and started thinking.

Opposite the sofa, Gao Hongming was worried and finally couldn't help asking: "Academician Xu, is there a solution to the electromagnetic rail gun problem?"

Xu Chuan shook his head and replied: "I don't know."

Gao Hongming: "?"

I do not know what that means?

After thinking for a while, Xu Chuan said: "The difficulty of this problem is not small. The targeted mathematical model involves a world-class mathematical conjecture, that is, the analysis and calculation problem of the three-dimensional elliptical electromagnetic field and high-dimensional large-scale backscattering problem. It requires It’s not that easy to solve.”

"World-class math problem?"

Hearing this answer, Gao Hongming was stunned for a moment, unable to react.

When he came, didn't the experts say that this was a magnetic field problem? Why does this involve a world-class mathematical conjecture again?

"Um."

Xu Chuan nodded and said with a smile: "In the electromagnetic field, the ill-posedness and the appearance of many local minimum points make it difficult to design a solution. Due to the existence of multiple local minimum points, the classic iterative optimization method cannot calculate Global minimum point..."

"Another difficulty is ill-posedness, which means that very small disturbances in measurements may lead to large errors in solution calculations."

"In addition, there are also problems related to large-scale forward and back scattering. A particularly important type of problem is the propagation of electromagnetic waves in complex media, which is also extremely difficult to solve and calculate."

Across the sofa, listening to Xu Chuan's explanation, Gao Hongming was already confused.

A lot of various academic terms knocked him unconscious and made him feel confused.

"Wait, wait." The dizzy Gao Hongming finally couldn't help but interrupted Xu Chuan's explanation, and couldn't help but say:

"Well, Academician Xu, I really don't understand anything you said. Can you just tell me if there is a solution?"

Xu Chuan sighed, shook his head at his impatience, and said, "I told you I don't know. How can a world's mathematical conjecture be so easy to solve?"

After a pause, he continued: "But I can give it a try, but I can't guarantee you whether I can solve this problem."

"Oh, that."

Gao Hongming, who was stunned by a lot of mathematical terms, replied smoothly before he could react. But he reacted immediately, with a surprised smile on his face, and spoke quickly.

"Enough, enough, this is enough."

He was surrounded by Xu Chuan.

Originally, the purpose of coming here this time was just to ask Xu Chuan for help to see if there was a solution, and to ask him to help point out the research direction.

After all, in terms of magnetic field research, this person's ability is unique in the country.

Maybe he can give some plans or directions from other perspectives?

Come here with the documents, that's the purpose.

As for asking Xu Chuan to help solve this problem, there is actually no such purpose for coming here this time.

After all, this person has many research projects and things in his hands, and it is very satisfying for them to be able to give some plans and directions.

Asking him to help solve this problem has never occurred to me.

Unexpectedly, Xu Chuan would offer to give them a try.

"Well, Academician Xu, this won't delay your own research, right?"

With a smile on his face, Gao Hongming thought for a while and then asked: "If you don't have time, it will affect your research. I will arrange for the corresponding researchers to come over. It's okay if you take the time to point them in the direction."

Although electromagnetic railgun technology is important, the research project in this man's hands is even more important.

The former can only be said to be the icing on the cake for them today.

After all, today's national defense forces will not have any impact without electromagnetic rail guns.

But the research in this man's hands is groundbreaking no matter what it is.

Without him, it is no exaggeration to say that there is a high probability that everything will stagnate.

To stop pioneering technologies in other cutting-edge fields for the sake of electromagnetic rail guns, the gains outweigh the losses.

Xu Chuan glanced at him and said, "If you can find a mathematician who can solve world-class conjectures, I have no problem with it."

Hearing this, Gao Hongming smiled and touched his nose in embarrassment.

Although he does not understand how big the mathematical conjecture problem Xu Chuan mentioned is, can it really be solved in China that can make this person find it difficult?

With a cheeky smile, Gao Hongming skipped the topic and asked: "That would be great if you are willing to help. Is there anything you need my help with?"

Xu Chuan thought for a moment and then said: "If there is an experiment on the electromagnetic rail gun project in China, just package the relevant experimental data and give it to me."

"Others are gone for the time being."

"Okay, that's no problem. I'll have someone prepare it immediately after I get back." Gao Hongming showed a smile on his face and said quickly: "If you have anything else, just tell me."

"Okay, leave this report with me for now. If you don't have anything else to do, you can go."

Hearing Xu Chuan drive people away, Gao Hongming didn't care. He laughed and said, "Then I won't bother you for now."

Looking at Gao Hongming's back as he left, Xu Chuan shook his head gently.

Just a few days after he had some free time, something happened again.

But he was still quite interested in this kind of problem.

It's not that he's interested in the electromagnetic railgun, but in solving the basic problems in the fields of mathematics, physics and electromagnetic fields in this technology.

Since the weak Riemann hypothesis was solved, he rarely delved into the difficult problems in the basic science fields of mathematics and physics.

It just so happens that he's idle anyway. Before officially charging towards the Riemann hypothesis, he might as well use this to get a feel for it.

To be honest, the experts in the military industry are really bold.

His eyes fell on the electromagnetic railgun file on the coffee table, and Xu Chuan's mind emerged with a scene that he had seen on TV a long time ago.

That was his childhood memory, a domestic special effects TV series called "Armor Hero"

He remembered that in this special TV series, the protagonist group had a space-based ERP satellite, through which the energy beam of "transformation" was transmitted to the protagonist on Earth.

He had a deep memory of this scene.

The reason for the deep memory was that the satellite was very handsome when it was transformed.

In this document "Feasibility Study of Ultra-High Speed ​​Precision Strike Electromagnetic Railgun Technology", experts from the military industry proposed a similar concept.

That is, to build an electromagnetic railgun satellite in the outer space orbit, which is somewhat similar to the "tungsten rod space-based satellite" proposed in the last century.

But unlike tungsten rods, which use gravity to accelerate and fall freely, electromagnetic railgun satellites can accelerate similar shells such as "tungsten rods" through narrow electromagnetic orbits.

The narrow orbit can increase it to a free fall speed far exceeding the "gravity tungsten rod" to carry out a devastating blow to the ground.

Theoretically, when this kind of "tungsten rod" falls from the sky with extremely high kinetic energy, a shell can destroy a country, a city, such as Edo Castle in Sakura Country, without any problem.

Because in essence, it is a meteorite that hits the earth at a very high speed.

It's just that the landing point of this "meteorite" is controllable, and the power is controllable and calculable.