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Before you read this is a theory from a Gundam 00 Forumer on another forum. This is in no way my theory and do not claim to it being so.
Basically GN Drives are Solar Reactors built onto Units in Gundam 00 which power them, this mostly states how this could actually be made and how it could be a option for Alternate Energy.
Please post your thoughts on this, I was really immersed when I first read this.
The original post can be found here, if it gets updated I'll do the same here http://z11.invisionfree.com/gundam00/index.php?showtopic=699&st=0
Here is a smorgasbord of stuff that I've been thinking about regarding everything GN-related. The following is a set of ideas derived from high energy particle physics, and later on, quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. Would love to show the equations for any of this, but hell, even the professional theoretical physicists aren't sure they have their math right. Anyway, this will be a thread about my musings, derived from my time as a physics minor in undergrad. The mishmash of theoretical physics have a mathematical precedence, but I won't bore you with the math. It's messy.
And to begin this big long schpiel, we'll have to start with the heart of the matter - wtf is a GN drive?
GN Drive Mechanics
Reaction Mechanism
The true GN drives run off of "non-evaporative decay of baryonic matter," which in layman's terms means that CB has harnessed a much more exotic means of power generation than we can imagine. Baryons (such as nucleons like protons and neutrons) are particles or a conglomeration of particles that have 3 quarks (although pentaquarks theoretically exist), and the symmetry-breaking between matter and anti-matter is what allows for the existence of our universe today.
Proton decay's been estimated to have a half-life of 10^36 or so years (read Four Ages of the Universe, it's a great book). The decay of a proton results in a positron and a neutral pion (a subatomic particle related to the strong nuclear force), which in turn further decays into two gamma photons. Unlike nuclear fusion, which requires tremendous heat and pressure, the reaction here does not waste heat.
But a half-life of nearly forever! How are we gonna realistically harness energy from proton decay? I mean, by the time we wait that long, our Sun's already gone kaboom! Obviously a catalyst is required to speed up the process.
During the high-energy, early universe, the fundamental forces were in fact unified. It was after the cooling and expansion of the universe that resulted in the separation of the unified force into the five known today. In the high energy environment of this time, symmetry existed (I won't get too much into this because it's a tangent). The breaking of symmetry as the universe broke off into multiple entities and regions lead to the status of the universe today. Topological defects (TD) are essentially a stable condition of matter formed at cosmological phase transitions during the high-energy conditions of the early universe (here phase transition doesn't mean like solid-liquid-gas but rather unification of the fundamental forces). They are artifacts of a higher energy universe that continue to stably exist in an unsymmetrical universe.
One of the most basic TD that grand unified theories (GUT) in physics state should exist is the topological defect known as the magnetic monopole. I won't get too much into the nature of magnetic monopoles, but they are basically what they sound like - a particle with only one associated pole. These are massive particles that current particle detectors cannot identify due to its rarity and near-impossible to create with today's particle accelerators. So, we're gonna have to find some!
Magnetic monopoles, along with superconducting cosmic strings, have been theoretically demonstrated to catalyze proton decay (Brandenberger and Perivolaropoulos, 1988), and monopoles have been said to be one of the likeliest GUT entities to be discovered - people are pretty sure they exist. However, magnetic monopoles are rare in this universe due to inflation. There are researchers that are attempting to create them, but this is a very energy-intensive process - and energy means $$$. It's much easier to just find them. Once you find one, you can generate more using a strong enough EM field; they can also theoretically be bound together with a monopole of opposing poles to be neutralized. But where, oh where to find one?
GUT models have determined that magnetic monopoles also interact on a quantum gravitational level. These gravitating monopoles undergo radial excitation and develop a gravitational instability for a large enough gravitational self-force, essentially trapping itself. This would require being in vicinity of a body massive enough to produce a strong gravitational field. Hmm...what's the closest celestial body with a massive gravitational/magnetic field?
Well, the Sun is out. No way anyone can get close enough to it to find darn near anything. The next closest would be....a-ha! Jupiter!
Interesting tidbit about Jupiter: Jupiter's composed of 90% hydrogen, and above the core of the planet is a vast sea of liquid metallic hydrogen, a unique form of hydrogen that only forms at pressures exceeding 4 million bars. The sea itself is pretty much a soup of ionized protons and electrons, which is responsible for Jupiter's extremely powerful magnetic field. The strong magnetic field also traps high energetic particles, similar to Earth's Van Allen belt - a danger for would-be Jovian tourists.
Hmmmmm....Sounds like a great playground to find magnetic monopoles and the rare spontaneously decaying proton, doesn't it? It's probably also how Professor Eifmann could deduce that true GN drives could only be built at Jupiter.
Hydrogen is basically a proton with an orbiting electron, and it's pretty much everywhere. Molecular hydrogen is believed to be very pervasive in space, and hydrogen also exists on Earth. Of course, today's hydrogen capture technology isn't all that good, but after hundreds of years of research it may end up being very efficient.
The longevity of the GN drive would come from the fact that there are so many baryons (like hydrogen) floating around in our universe that the GN drive would have a ridiculously long operation time because it essentially has near-infinite fuel.
So now we know it's possible to catalyze a proton decay and extract some useful energy out of it:
Normally,
1. proton --decay--> pion(0) + positron(+)
2. pion(0) --decay--> 2 photons (gamma)
Decay half-life: 10^36 years = you're gonna wait a looooong time before you can see any useful energy out of a single proton!
In the GN drive:
Condition: EM field; magnetic monopole catalyst maintained by magnetic field
1. proton (+) --decay w/ magnetic monopole coupling--> pion(0) + positron(+) + GN particle(s)
2. pion(0) --decay--> 2 photons (gamma)
3. positron(+) + electron/proton (hydrogen) --> proton (+) + 2 photons (gamma)
and then the reaction happens again with the new proton. In a vacuum, this reaction is heatless.
Decay half-life: Seconds? Minutes? Nobody in the real world knows. But in the show, it seems pretty fast. Such is the way of catalyzed reactions.
GN Drive Power Generation
Well, now we have another problem. Sure, we see GN particle production, but how do we use the reaction we just created in a meaningful manner?
In 2090 Aeolia Schenberg wrote a dissertation outlining a solution to the global fuel crisis by employing a photovoltaic energy system, in conjunction with orbital elevators. That would mean that he was very well versed in photovoltaics, which is the main concept behind harnessing solar radiation for power generation. Well, one of the eventual products of proton decay is gamma photons. Perhaps in the GN drive, advanced photovoltaic cells serve as the energy converter. These photovoltaic cells react specifically and efficiently to high energy/frequency photons in the gamma frequency spectrum (above 10^19 Hz, 100 keV) converting the energy released from proton decay into usable electrical energy. So basically, the GN drive harnesses high energy light and converts it into electricity similar to your run of the mill solar panel - voila, solar reactor (Taiyou-Ro). In fact, researchers are already investigating the utility of gamma ray photovoltaic cells (Liakos, 2008).
TD Blanket
The only things we know about the TD blanket is that it's what makes a GN drive sustainable, plus it somehow "purifies" GN particles . In addition, lifting the particle production limits of the TD blanket yields the Trans-Am effect, which has a limit because the GN particle production rate far outstrips availability of hydrogen via hydrogen capture.
The function, or at least a function, of the TD blanket is the regulation of the entire process so that decay/GN particle production rate does not exceed the rate of fuel capture. The best way to do that is by regulating the availability of the catalyst for the proton decay. A lot of catalyst = a lot of baryonic decay = crapload of GN particles. The reason why the TD blankets had to be constructed at Jupiter is because, as mentioned before, it's easier to find monopoles and make more of them. During Trans-Am, by some kind of machine-producible field manipulation (cough cough, EM field), more monopoles are generated than normal, leading to a sharp increase in particle production. In fact, that's what Anew says during the initial TDS Trans-Am test - "TD production rate is increasing." Of course, this takes electricity. Probably lots of it. More on Trans-Am and the "filtering" aspect of the TD blanket later. But for now, I'll just say that a second array (or blanket) of high energy photovoltaic cells may come in handy within the TD blanket.
The Twin Drive System works, then, because it's possible to achieve resonance that vastly increases the amplitude of said-machine-producible field, allowing for more successful creation of catalysts. I haven't worked out the math, but by wave superposition of the fields (some kind of pulsing/fluctuation algorithm) for two TD blankets by themselves, and then resonating them with each other, it's possible to achieve near-squared particle production, depending on synchronization of the drives. At maximum synchronization of resonance, catalyst production (read: TD production) is squared, which then leads to a squared TD and GN particle production rate. Now that brings about the question of the fuel capture rate - maybe the enhanced power production allows for a higher capture rate that you wouldn't necessarily see in a single-drive system (SDS) Trans-Am? This may certainly be possible when you have more electricity available for use for TDS, but not SDS.
The GN[T] drive doesn't have the benefit of an elegant means of catalysis of baryonic decay because of the lack of a magnetic monopole, so instead it has to brute-force this by using electricity to spur on proton decay in some way. The individual energy of the product particles will not be of the same quality as that from true GN drives because of the inefficiency of the brute force method, which could explain the red (lower frequency) GN particles versus the green/blue-green (higher frequency) of GN particles from true GN SDS/TDS. More on the GN[T] in a bit.
Now, after flushing out some of the potential basic workings of the drive, we'll tackle some of the consequences of drive system. And speaking of flush........
Trans-Am Mechanics updated 1/24/09
Two things about Trans-Am that are stated (at least on Gundamwiki, not always a reliable source, so corrections appreciated), and two observations:
1. Trans-Am is enabled when the TD Blanket's limitation on particle production is lifted. This results in highly condensed particles that saturate the mobile suit frame. Weapons, thrust, maybe even armor (the Trilobyte vs Seravee example comes to mind) are improved. Support for the GN Drive's participation in Trans-Am is notable increased activity of the GN Drive during Exia's first Trans-Am.
2. Trans-Am rapidly uses up previously stored particles. That means that the GN condensers get sucked pretty dry.
3. During the initiation of Trans-Am, you can see little bright lines permeating throughout the the armor of the MS. In the old Gen 3 Gundams, these conduit lines are not so numerous and are fairly thick. In the new Gen 3 and Gen 4 Gundams, the conduit lines are much smaller but more numerous.
4. Trans-Am is black box tech and programming. That means that the Gundams are probably built without components specific for Trans-Am. It's all regulated by software interfacing with hardware.
Earlier I sort of posited how Trans Am might work, with respect to the GN Drive and TD blanket . It's not exactly the Word of Sunrise/Bandai™ but I'll use this as part of the foundation.
I'm going to use an analogy, and then get into the nitty gritty afterwards. The analogy isn't exactly airtight, but please bear with me.
Gas pump - reservoir analogy
Imagine a system with a pump, a hose, a reservoir with an exit valve and a regulated leak valve, and a one-way valve for the hose, preventing things from backflowing into the pump. We're going to pump gas into this reservoir at a slow, leisurely rate. At some point, the gas will fill the reservoir and maintain a certain pressure. The pump is still chugging away, and to continue isobaric conditions (same pressure), the leak valve is used to pump the excess out. When the gas needs to be transferred to a separate location, the exit valve opens up to release some of the gas in a discrete manner. Assuming that the reservoir is significantly greater than the gas lost from the exit valve each time, there won't be a problem returning to homeostasis.
Now suppose that the container that the pump is pumping from has a finite quantity of gas, and the pump starts pumping at three times the flow rate all of a sudden. With the exit valve closed and the leak valve being regulated, the sudden influx of new gas particles into the reservoir greatly increases the internal reservoir pressure within a time window. The highly pressurized gas can then be released via the exit valve in a quick, pressurized flush.
Trans-Am: the GN drive, GN conduits, and the GN condensers
In the preceding analogy, the GN drive is the pump. I had suggested that there's normally a balance between hydrogen capture and GN particle production based on the quantity of active catalyst (magnetic monopoles) for accelerating proton decay. The production of catalyst is regulated through the TD blanket, and when Trans-Am occurs, the GN drive can kick into overdrive because the normally regulated number of catalysts is increased (based on what's official info, tripled). Correspondingly, the production rate of particles is tripled. However, this does not affect hydrogen capture rate, as that's going to be more or less constant. It can certainly increase somewhat, but this has to be balanced out with the electricity usage of other systems. Regardless, there will come a time when kicking into overdrive cannot last. Thus there is a time limit before the production rate cannot be sustained as a result of the rate-limiting hydrogen capture. Note also that simultaneous to this there will also be a larger production of electricity - which will aid in powering servos and other systems beyond their design spec. So that's what's going on within the GN drive itself.
The other half of the story is the GN particle conduits and the GN condensers. These would be the analogous hose and reservoir. We know that GN particles can be condensed and accelerated for beam weaponry and propulsion - when compressed, true GN particles turn from a soft green to salmon pink (Char! 3 times as fast, 3 times more potent!). Now normally the GN condensers should be pretty much filled to full capacity, and likely a concentration of the particles are backed up into the GN particle conduits that connect the GN drive to the condensers. When the GN drive production rate suddenly skyrockets (let's assume nearly instantaneous though it's not), the concentration of the GN particles becomes considerably higher throughout the entire system. Now if GN particles were akin to fluid, the particles would just gush out from the exhaust; however, based on the observation that GN particles can be condensed into higher energy state equivalents for beam weaponry, the sudden increase in concentration causes the existent stored GN particles to compress into higher quantum energy states, and stay that way. Certainly, like in the case of Setsuna's Moralia fight with Ali, where he pushes the pedal to the medal and causes the chest GN condenser to light up, all an increase in GN drive activity does is to make the condenser look, well, brighter green. This will be explained later regarding particle compression. Suffice to say, Trans-Am is more extreme.
Because the GN condenser is only designed to handle a certain maximum quantity of particles, the excess "spills out" from both the condensers and the conduits, since it seems GN particles might be able to bypass dense matter if they're not moving super fast (ep 14, when 00 Raiser Trans Ams, you can see particles in Ali's cockpit). However, maybe due to some interesting property of the carbon allotrope E-Carbon (carbon sheets can be conductive, so this may also tie in with GN particle properties), or some inherent property of GN particles interacting with normal matter, the condensed particles spread throughout the armor, making them a glowing salmon pink (more on this later). And remember that leak valve that's used to maintain "pressure?" Well, that spills out the excess uncompressed GN particles since they aren't as "useful."
Trans-Am persists for 3 minutes or less. By the end of the 3 minutes, the GN condensers have pretty much released all of its compressed high energy GN particles; software kicks in and forces the TD blanket to operate at a leisurely rate again. TD production rate goes back to a lower state, and slowly the regular energy level GN particles flow through the system and fill up the condensers.
Graphs depicting my ideas on particle streaming and particle energy state during Trans-Am
Detaching GN condenser-equipped weapons after Trans-Am
Once GN particles are compressed into a high energy state, they stay compressed (otherwise we would observe dispersed GN beams decaying back into the lower state green particles again). After Trans-Am results in condenser and also armor saturation with the high energy particles, remote weapons can be detached, and the condensers with the high energy state GN particles can be drained for vector thrusts and beam weaponry. However, towards the end of Trans-Am, these remote weapons need to return to the main body with the GN drive. Software command at the end of Trans-Am orders a flush of the compressed GN particles so that new lower state particles can fill the condensers, or alternatively, the compressed GN particles are just allowed to decay away - remember that these particles appear to have a short half-life, decaying and releasing photons with energy in the visible spectrum. Everything goes back to normal color, and the Gundam is left vulnerable after a short high performance period.
Trans-Am for GN[T] suits
So what does this all mean for GN[T] equipped machines? Well, they theoretically have the parts to go Trans-Am. A GN[T] suit will need to be able to shunt a large amount of electricity to suddenly generate a sufficient quantity of GN particles to greatly compress the GN particles in its condensers. It will also need a good number of high capacity condensers for the GN[T] to last.
The problem here is that after Trans-Am, a GN[T] suit will fall like a brick because it's expended all its propellant - the GN particles. All it'll be good for is being an oversized paperweight, even if it has a little bit of electricity left afterwards. Thus, the present generation of Federation/A-Laws mobile suits cannot handle Trans-Am. The situation may be different for the Masurao, though - we'll see in Season 2 Ep 16. This section will likely be revised at that time.
GN Particle Physics
So far, the following observations pertain to GN particles:
1. It's a byproduct of the GN drive, but not used for power generation
2. It glows, but then likely disappears after a while.
3. It can be manipulated using some kind of field (electromagnetic?)
4. It's capable of being condensed, channeled, and focused for a) multidirectional thrust (note the lack of verniers on GN drive-equipped MS),
beam weaponry, c) shielding (indicating its ability to form lattices), and d) preserving and enhancing sharp blades
4. It has high specific heat, allowing a ship with crap for aerodynamics safe atmospheric entry at high speed
5. At low velocities it can penetrate through solid walls (GN particle swirls during 00 Raiser Trans-Am startup, Ali's cockpit in ep 14) but it's also capable of developing high kinetic energy and transferring that energy on impact (beam weapons, GN blades)
6. It reduces the weight of objects in the immediate environment
7. It disrupts radio and radar, does not produce heat emissions due to the GN drive's invisibility to IR search-and-track
8. It facilitates rapid communication via quantum brainwaves (does it have to be brainwaves?)
9. At high enough density it allows objects to undergo quantization and teleportation (??)
10. At high particle density it can repel kinetic, heat, and beam attacks
This is going to take a while to unravel, so this section will be continually modified. But first of al...
What is a GN particle?
I think we might be dealing with particles that are supposed to be X and Y bosons, with interesting twists. There's no evidence yet for these particles, but they're supposed to be very massive (that means they are very good at attracting Higgs bosons in the Little Higgs theory). X/Y bosons are supposed to be gauge bosons (primary force carriers of fundamental forces) in many grand unified theories that unite the electromagnetic force with the nuclear forces (strong and weak). It should be noted that the photon is a gauge boson (primary force carrier) for the electromagnetic force, so in a way, X/Y bosons are like photons. The X/Y bosons are also linked to baryogenesis, since they bind leptons with quarks, and as a reverse result, a potential product of proton decay. Also, like the photon, X/Y bosons have a spin of 1. However, unlike the photon, X/Y bosons have electric charge (4/3e for X, 1/3e for Y), which means they are susceptible to EM field manipulation. In addition, they have a relationship with the Higgs field (whose principle particle is the Higgs boson), which is a field that imparts mass onto elementary particles. Some particles are more apt at attracting Higgs bosons (like quarks that make up protons and neutrons), while others are not as likely (leptons i.e. electrons), or not at all (like photons). In fact, when you accelerate particles, the particles seem to gain mass (this is known from special relativity) basically because of a translational momentum-Higgs field interaction.
A good number of these properties seem similar to some of the things we know about the GN particle. In addition, one more: the GN particle, due to its natural ability to attract Higgs bosons, can sufficiently disrupt the local Higgs field, conferring a decreased inertial mass for local objects.
This section is incomplete, but it will expand on some possible quantum mechanics/quantum field behaviors of the GN particle that tie back into our observation of GN particle phenomena
GN Particle Compression and Its Utility
This section will be expanded on, pertaining to weapons, thrust, and GN fields.
A Matter of Colors
One of the seeming paradoxes of the show is the matter of the particle colors. Green/blue is considered a higher frequency, and thus energy, photon than orange/red. This may clue us in to inefficiencies in the GN[T] making process. However, condensation of the green/blue particles results in a higher quantum state whose decay mode releases "pink" photons. Hmm. Conventionally we think, "pink is close to red, shouldn't that mean lower energy/" In reality, that's not true.
Now in optics and art classes we know that pink (aka magenta) does not exist in the electromagnetic spectrum. The plethora of colors that we see is a processing of a bunch of different energy photons through our retina's cone cells, which in turn produce electrical signals to be processed in the brain. So in reality, "pink" is a combined input of photons whose colors are in the red part of the spectrum as well as the violet (combination of high and low energy). This points to the possibility that highly compressed GN particles release a wide spectrum of energies as they decay - evidence indicating multiple steps of decay as opposed to the regular green/blue GN particles.
As for why concentrated red GN particles, which seem to have less energy than green ones, can damage stem cells, but the higher energy green/magenta ones might not when you're close to a beam shot....
Filtering and Radiation (Edited 1-20-09)
Well, high frequency ionizing radiation tends to be bad (unless used surgically) - they damage DNA and cause cancer. But orange/red = lower frequency than green. Thinking about quantum states and GN particle compression, there may be a solution to this conundrum.
In a true GN drive with TD blanket:
Proton decay produces gamma photons (very high energy radiation, harmful to people); if a high efficiency gamma ray photovoltaic cell can be used to convert that radiation into electricity, then it's possible that TD blankets also consist of an additional barrier of gamma ray/UV photovoltaic cells to suck up the harmful radiation, expelling GN particles with "clean" radiation consisting of certain bands of the visible spectrum, as well as a band in the infrared region. Thus a true GN drive's compressed particle beam will spew out a magenta-colored beam with high momentum and can also radiate heat. However, if you're near it, you won't be doused with intense harmful radiation. If you're caught in an explosion with a dense saturation of green GN particles, though, there's a possibility your stem cells will be damaged because of the density of radiation emanating, regardless of how harmless they may seem in lesser quantities.
In a GN[T] drive:
GN[T] pumps electricity to make GN particles; it also uses that same electric source to power its systems, so it has no use for a photovoltaic cell that guzzles high frequency radiation. As a result, GN[T] drives pump out GN particles that decay and release a wide spectrum of radiation due to a lack of a filter for high energy radiation, but one particular band is in the visible orange/red region, orange for the more "refined" GN[T] drives. Another consequence of this is that, assuming the GN[T] suit does not radiate considerable heat from its electronics (a possibility for 24th century electronics), then the GN[T] suit will show up like a bright spot on a thermographic scan. In fact, that's how Setsuna first identifies Ali while cruising over what's left of the Suiru capital in season 2 episode 14.
Considering that any space-bound machine needs to be shielded from cosmic radiation, pilots won't have to worry about GN particle radiation poisoning in their cockpits unless the cockpit has been damaged. Likewise, the dispersal of uncompressed red GN particles doesn't really do anything, either, because the high energy radiation is so diffuse (think of it like going out into the sun for a tan). However, because there was no filter for the high energy radiation, when the particles become highly compressed in a beam weapon's focusing field into a high energy quantum state, the particles will release tremendous high frequency ionization energy, "dirtying" the beam. It's like focusing solar radiation into a slightly diffuse laser; if you get too close to it you'll get doused with a lot of DNA-damaging radiation. Not like Hiroshima/Nagasaki-level, but enough to locally screw with your stem cells in specific parts of the body (I say this because obviously Louise can grow back her hair, and her skin isn't all mottled).
More later.
History:
1/24/09 - Updated Trans-Am section with graphs.
Basically GN Drives are Solar Reactors built onto Units in Gundam 00 which power them, this mostly states how this could actually be made and how it could be a option for Alternate Energy.
Please post your thoughts on this, I was really immersed when I first read this.
The original post can be found here, if it gets updated I'll do the same here http://z11.invisionfree.com/gundam00/index.php?showtopic=699&st=0
Here is a smorgasbord of stuff that I've been thinking about regarding everything GN-related. The following is a set of ideas derived from high energy particle physics, and later on, quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. Would love to show the equations for any of this, but hell, even the professional theoretical physicists aren't sure they have their math right. Anyway, this will be a thread about my musings, derived from my time as a physics minor in undergrad. The mishmash of theoretical physics have a mathematical precedence, but I won't bore you with the math. It's messy.
And to begin this big long schpiel, we'll have to start with the heart of the matter - wtf is a GN drive?
GN Drive Mechanics
Reaction Mechanism
The true GN drives run off of "non-evaporative decay of baryonic matter," which in layman's terms means that CB has harnessed a much more exotic means of power generation than we can imagine. Baryons (such as nucleons like protons and neutrons) are particles or a conglomeration of particles that have 3 quarks (although pentaquarks theoretically exist), and the symmetry-breaking between matter and anti-matter is what allows for the existence of our universe today.
Proton decay's been estimated to have a half-life of 10^36 or so years (read Four Ages of the Universe, it's a great book). The decay of a proton results in a positron and a neutral pion (a subatomic particle related to the strong nuclear force), which in turn further decays into two gamma photons. Unlike nuclear fusion, which requires tremendous heat and pressure, the reaction here does not waste heat.
But a half-life of nearly forever! How are we gonna realistically harness energy from proton decay? I mean, by the time we wait that long, our Sun's already gone kaboom! Obviously a catalyst is required to speed up the process.
During the high-energy, early universe, the fundamental forces were in fact unified. It was after the cooling and expansion of the universe that resulted in the separation of the unified force into the five known today. In the high energy environment of this time, symmetry existed (I won't get too much into this because it's a tangent). The breaking of symmetry as the universe broke off into multiple entities and regions lead to the status of the universe today. Topological defects (TD) are essentially a stable condition of matter formed at cosmological phase transitions during the high-energy conditions of the early universe (here phase transition doesn't mean like solid-liquid-gas but rather unification of the fundamental forces). They are artifacts of a higher energy universe that continue to stably exist in an unsymmetrical universe.
One of the most basic TD that grand unified theories (GUT) in physics state should exist is the topological defect known as the magnetic monopole. I won't get too much into the nature of magnetic monopoles, but they are basically what they sound like - a particle with only one associated pole. These are massive particles that current particle detectors cannot identify due to its rarity and near-impossible to create with today's particle accelerators. So, we're gonna have to find some!
Magnetic monopoles, along with superconducting cosmic strings, have been theoretically demonstrated to catalyze proton decay (Brandenberger and Perivolaropoulos, 1988), and monopoles have been said to be one of the likeliest GUT entities to be discovered - people are pretty sure they exist. However, magnetic monopoles are rare in this universe due to inflation. There are researchers that are attempting to create them, but this is a very energy-intensive process - and energy means $$$. It's much easier to just find them. Once you find one, you can generate more using a strong enough EM field; they can also theoretically be bound together with a monopole of opposing poles to be neutralized. But where, oh where to find one?
GUT models have determined that magnetic monopoles also interact on a quantum gravitational level. These gravitating monopoles undergo radial excitation and develop a gravitational instability for a large enough gravitational self-force, essentially trapping itself. This would require being in vicinity of a body massive enough to produce a strong gravitational field. Hmm...what's the closest celestial body with a massive gravitational/magnetic field?
Well, the Sun is out. No way anyone can get close enough to it to find darn near anything. The next closest would be....a-ha! Jupiter!
Interesting tidbit about Jupiter: Jupiter's composed of 90% hydrogen, and above the core of the planet is a vast sea of liquid metallic hydrogen, a unique form of hydrogen that only forms at pressures exceeding 4 million bars. The sea itself is pretty much a soup of ionized protons and electrons, which is responsible for Jupiter's extremely powerful magnetic field. The strong magnetic field also traps high energetic particles, similar to Earth's Van Allen belt - a danger for would-be Jovian tourists.
Hmmmmm....Sounds like a great playground to find magnetic monopoles and the rare spontaneously decaying proton, doesn't it? It's probably also how Professor Eifmann could deduce that true GN drives could only be built at Jupiter.
Hydrogen is basically a proton with an orbiting electron, and it's pretty much everywhere. Molecular hydrogen is believed to be very pervasive in space, and hydrogen also exists on Earth. Of course, today's hydrogen capture technology isn't all that good, but after hundreds of years of research it may end up being very efficient.
The longevity of the GN drive would come from the fact that there are so many baryons (like hydrogen) floating around in our universe that the GN drive would have a ridiculously long operation time because it essentially has near-infinite fuel.
So now we know it's possible to catalyze a proton decay and extract some useful energy out of it:
Normally,
1. proton --decay--> pion(0) + positron(+)
2. pion(0) --decay--> 2 photons (gamma)
Decay half-life: 10^36 years = you're gonna wait a looooong time before you can see any useful energy out of a single proton!
In the GN drive:
Condition: EM field; magnetic monopole catalyst maintained by magnetic field
1. proton (+) --decay w/ magnetic monopole coupling--> pion(0) + positron(+) + GN particle(s)
2. pion(0) --decay--> 2 photons (gamma)
3. positron(+) + electron/proton (hydrogen) --> proton (+) + 2 photons (gamma)
and then the reaction happens again with the new proton. In a vacuum, this reaction is heatless.
Decay half-life: Seconds? Minutes? Nobody in the real world knows. But in the show, it seems pretty fast. Such is the way of catalyzed reactions.
GN Drive Power Generation
Well, now we have another problem. Sure, we see GN particle production, but how do we use the reaction we just created in a meaningful manner?
In 2090 Aeolia Schenberg wrote a dissertation outlining a solution to the global fuel crisis by employing a photovoltaic energy system, in conjunction with orbital elevators. That would mean that he was very well versed in photovoltaics, which is the main concept behind harnessing solar radiation for power generation. Well, one of the eventual products of proton decay is gamma photons. Perhaps in the GN drive, advanced photovoltaic cells serve as the energy converter. These photovoltaic cells react specifically and efficiently to high energy/frequency photons in the gamma frequency spectrum (above 10^19 Hz, 100 keV) converting the energy released from proton decay into usable electrical energy. So basically, the GN drive harnesses high energy light and converts it into electricity similar to your run of the mill solar panel - voila, solar reactor (Taiyou-Ro). In fact, researchers are already investigating the utility of gamma ray photovoltaic cells (Liakos, 2008).
TD Blanket
The only things we know about the TD blanket is that it's what makes a GN drive sustainable, plus it somehow "purifies" GN particles . In addition, lifting the particle production limits of the TD blanket yields the Trans-Am effect, which has a limit because the GN particle production rate far outstrips availability of hydrogen via hydrogen capture.
The function, or at least a function, of the TD blanket is the regulation of the entire process so that decay/GN particle production rate does not exceed the rate of fuel capture. The best way to do that is by regulating the availability of the catalyst for the proton decay. A lot of catalyst = a lot of baryonic decay = crapload of GN particles. The reason why the TD blankets had to be constructed at Jupiter is because, as mentioned before, it's easier to find monopoles and make more of them. During Trans-Am, by some kind of machine-producible field manipulation (cough cough, EM field), more monopoles are generated than normal, leading to a sharp increase in particle production. In fact, that's what Anew says during the initial TDS Trans-Am test - "TD production rate is increasing." Of course, this takes electricity. Probably lots of it. More on Trans-Am and the "filtering" aspect of the TD blanket later. But for now, I'll just say that a second array (or blanket) of high energy photovoltaic cells may come in handy within the TD blanket.
The Twin Drive System works, then, because it's possible to achieve resonance that vastly increases the amplitude of said-machine-producible field, allowing for more successful creation of catalysts. I haven't worked out the math, but by wave superposition of the fields (some kind of pulsing/fluctuation algorithm) for two TD blankets by themselves, and then resonating them with each other, it's possible to achieve near-squared particle production, depending on synchronization of the drives. At maximum synchronization of resonance, catalyst production (read: TD production) is squared, which then leads to a squared TD and GN particle production rate. Now that brings about the question of the fuel capture rate - maybe the enhanced power production allows for a higher capture rate that you wouldn't necessarily see in a single-drive system (SDS) Trans-Am? This may certainly be possible when you have more electricity available for use for TDS, but not SDS.
The GN[T] drive doesn't have the benefit of an elegant means of catalysis of baryonic decay because of the lack of a magnetic monopole, so instead it has to brute-force this by using electricity to spur on proton decay in some way. The individual energy of the product particles will not be of the same quality as that from true GN drives because of the inefficiency of the brute force method, which could explain the red (lower frequency) GN particles versus the green/blue-green (higher frequency) of GN particles from true GN SDS/TDS. More on the GN[T] in a bit.
Now, after flushing out some of the potential basic workings of the drive, we'll tackle some of the consequences of drive system. And speaking of flush........
Trans-Am Mechanics updated 1/24/09
Two things about Trans-Am that are stated (at least on Gundamwiki, not always a reliable source, so corrections appreciated), and two observations:
1. Trans-Am is enabled when the TD Blanket's limitation on particle production is lifted. This results in highly condensed particles that saturate the mobile suit frame. Weapons, thrust, maybe even armor (the Trilobyte vs Seravee example comes to mind) are improved. Support for the GN Drive's participation in Trans-Am is notable increased activity of the GN Drive during Exia's first Trans-Am.
2. Trans-Am rapidly uses up previously stored particles. That means that the GN condensers get sucked pretty dry.
3. During the initiation of Trans-Am, you can see little bright lines permeating throughout the the armor of the MS. In the old Gen 3 Gundams, these conduit lines are not so numerous and are fairly thick. In the new Gen 3 and Gen 4 Gundams, the conduit lines are much smaller but more numerous.
4. Trans-Am is black box tech and programming. That means that the Gundams are probably built without components specific for Trans-Am. It's all regulated by software interfacing with hardware.
Earlier I sort of posited how Trans Am might work, with respect to the GN Drive and TD blanket . It's not exactly the Word of Sunrise/Bandai™ but I'll use this as part of the foundation.
I'm going to use an analogy, and then get into the nitty gritty afterwards. The analogy isn't exactly airtight, but please bear with me.
Gas pump - reservoir analogy
Imagine a system with a pump, a hose, a reservoir with an exit valve and a regulated leak valve, and a one-way valve for the hose, preventing things from backflowing into the pump. We're going to pump gas into this reservoir at a slow, leisurely rate. At some point, the gas will fill the reservoir and maintain a certain pressure. The pump is still chugging away, and to continue isobaric conditions (same pressure), the leak valve is used to pump the excess out. When the gas needs to be transferred to a separate location, the exit valve opens up to release some of the gas in a discrete manner. Assuming that the reservoir is significantly greater than the gas lost from the exit valve each time, there won't be a problem returning to homeostasis.
Now suppose that the container that the pump is pumping from has a finite quantity of gas, and the pump starts pumping at three times the flow rate all of a sudden. With the exit valve closed and the leak valve being regulated, the sudden influx of new gas particles into the reservoir greatly increases the internal reservoir pressure within a time window. The highly pressurized gas can then be released via the exit valve in a quick, pressurized flush.
Trans-Am: the GN drive, GN conduits, and the GN condensers
In the preceding analogy, the GN drive is the pump. I had suggested that there's normally a balance between hydrogen capture and GN particle production based on the quantity of active catalyst (magnetic monopoles) for accelerating proton decay. The production of catalyst is regulated through the TD blanket, and when Trans-Am occurs, the GN drive can kick into overdrive because the normally regulated number of catalysts is increased (based on what's official info, tripled). Correspondingly, the production rate of particles is tripled. However, this does not affect hydrogen capture rate, as that's going to be more or less constant. It can certainly increase somewhat, but this has to be balanced out with the electricity usage of other systems. Regardless, there will come a time when kicking into overdrive cannot last. Thus there is a time limit before the production rate cannot be sustained as a result of the rate-limiting hydrogen capture. Note also that simultaneous to this there will also be a larger production of electricity - which will aid in powering servos and other systems beyond their design spec. So that's what's going on within the GN drive itself.
The other half of the story is the GN particle conduits and the GN condensers. These would be the analogous hose and reservoir. We know that GN particles can be condensed and accelerated for beam weaponry and propulsion - when compressed, true GN particles turn from a soft green to salmon pink (Char! 3 times as fast, 3 times more potent!). Now normally the GN condensers should be pretty much filled to full capacity, and likely a concentration of the particles are backed up into the GN particle conduits that connect the GN drive to the condensers. When the GN drive production rate suddenly skyrockets (let's assume nearly instantaneous though it's not), the concentration of the GN particles becomes considerably higher throughout the entire system. Now if GN particles were akin to fluid, the particles would just gush out from the exhaust; however, based on the observation that GN particles can be condensed into higher energy state equivalents for beam weaponry, the sudden increase in concentration causes the existent stored GN particles to compress into higher quantum energy states, and stay that way. Certainly, like in the case of Setsuna's Moralia fight with Ali, where he pushes the pedal to the medal and causes the chest GN condenser to light up, all an increase in GN drive activity does is to make the condenser look, well, brighter green. This will be explained later regarding particle compression. Suffice to say, Trans-Am is more extreme.
Because the GN condenser is only designed to handle a certain maximum quantity of particles, the excess "spills out" from both the condensers and the conduits, since it seems GN particles might be able to bypass dense matter if they're not moving super fast (ep 14, when 00 Raiser Trans Ams, you can see particles in Ali's cockpit). However, maybe due to some interesting property of the carbon allotrope E-Carbon (carbon sheets can be conductive, so this may also tie in with GN particle properties), or some inherent property of GN particles interacting with normal matter, the condensed particles spread throughout the armor, making them a glowing salmon pink (more on this later). And remember that leak valve that's used to maintain "pressure?" Well, that spills out the excess uncompressed GN particles since they aren't as "useful."
Trans-Am persists for 3 minutes or less. By the end of the 3 minutes, the GN condensers have pretty much released all of its compressed high energy GN particles; software kicks in and forces the TD blanket to operate at a leisurely rate again. TD production rate goes back to a lower state, and slowly the regular energy level GN particles flow through the system and fill up the condensers.
Graphs depicting my ideas on particle streaming and particle energy state during Trans-Am
Detaching GN condenser-equipped weapons after Trans-Am
Once GN particles are compressed into a high energy state, they stay compressed (otherwise we would observe dispersed GN beams decaying back into the lower state green particles again). After Trans-Am results in condenser and also armor saturation with the high energy particles, remote weapons can be detached, and the condensers with the high energy state GN particles can be drained for vector thrusts and beam weaponry. However, towards the end of Trans-Am, these remote weapons need to return to the main body with the GN drive. Software command at the end of Trans-Am orders a flush of the compressed GN particles so that new lower state particles can fill the condensers, or alternatively, the compressed GN particles are just allowed to decay away - remember that these particles appear to have a short half-life, decaying and releasing photons with energy in the visible spectrum. Everything goes back to normal color, and the Gundam is left vulnerable after a short high performance period.
Trans-Am for GN[T] suits
So what does this all mean for GN[T] equipped machines? Well, they theoretically have the parts to go Trans-Am. A GN[T] suit will need to be able to shunt a large amount of electricity to suddenly generate a sufficient quantity of GN particles to greatly compress the GN particles in its condensers. It will also need a good number of high capacity condensers for the GN[T] to last.
The problem here is that after Trans-Am, a GN[T] suit will fall like a brick because it's expended all its propellant - the GN particles. All it'll be good for is being an oversized paperweight, even if it has a little bit of electricity left afterwards. Thus, the present generation of Federation/A-Laws mobile suits cannot handle Trans-Am. The situation may be different for the Masurao, though - we'll see in Season 2 Ep 16. This section will likely be revised at that time.
GN Particle Physics
So far, the following observations pertain to GN particles:
1. It's a byproduct of the GN drive, but not used for power generation
2. It glows, but then likely disappears after a while.
3. It can be manipulated using some kind of field (electromagnetic?)
4. It's capable of being condensed, channeled, and focused for a) multidirectional thrust (note the lack of verniers on GN drive-equipped MS),
4. It has high specific heat, allowing a ship with crap for aerodynamics safe atmospheric entry at high speed
5. At low velocities it can penetrate through solid walls (GN particle swirls during 00 Raiser Trans-Am startup, Ali's cockpit in ep 14) but it's also capable of developing high kinetic energy and transferring that energy on impact (beam weapons, GN blades)
6. It reduces the weight of objects in the immediate environment
7. It disrupts radio and radar, does not produce heat emissions due to the GN drive's invisibility to IR search-and-track
8. It facilitates rapid communication via quantum brainwaves (does it have to be brainwaves?)
9. At high enough density it allows objects to undergo quantization and teleportation (??)
10. At high particle density it can repel kinetic, heat, and beam attacks
This is going to take a while to unravel, so this section will be continually modified. But first of al...
What is a GN particle?
I think we might be dealing with particles that are supposed to be X and Y bosons, with interesting twists. There's no evidence yet for these particles, but they're supposed to be very massive (that means they are very good at attracting Higgs bosons in the Little Higgs theory). X/Y bosons are supposed to be gauge bosons (primary force carriers of fundamental forces) in many grand unified theories that unite the electromagnetic force with the nuclear forces (strong and weak). It should be noted that the photon is a gauge boson (primary force carrier) for the electromagnetic force, so in a way, X/Y bosons are like photons. The X/Y bosons are also linked to baryogenesis, since they bind leptons with quarks, and as a reverse result, a potential product of proton decay. Also, like the photon, X/Y bosons have a spin of 1. However, unlike the photon, X/Y bosons have electric charge (4/3e for X, 1/3e for Y), which means they are susceptible to EM field manipulation. In addition, they have a relationship with the Higgs field (whose principle particle is the Higgs boson), which is a field that imparts mass onto elementary particles. Some particles are more apt at attracting Higgs bosons (like quarks that make up protons and neutrons), while others are not as likely (leptons i.e. electrons), or not at all (like photons). In fact, when you accelerate particles, the particles seem to gain mass (this is known from special relativity) basically because of a translational momentum-Higgs field interaction.
A good number of these properties seem similar to some of the things we know about the GN particle. In addition, one more: the GN particle, due to its natural ability to attract Higgs bosons, can sufficiently disrupt the local Higgs field, conferring a decreased inertial mass for local objects.
This section is incomplete, but it will expand on some possible quantum mechanics/quantum field behaviors of the GN particle that tie back into our observation of GN particle phenomena
GN Particle Compression and Its Utility
This section will be expanded on, pertaining to weapons, thrust, and GN fields.
A Matter of Colors
One of the seeming paradoxes of the show is the matter of the particle colors. Green/blue is considered a higher frequency, and thus energy, photon than orange/red. This may clue us in to inefficiencies in the GN[T] making process. However, condensation of the green/blue particles results in a higher quantum state whose decay mode releases "pink" photons. Hmm. Conventionally we think, "pink is close to red, shouldn't that mean lower energy/" In reality, that's not true.
Now in optics and art classes we know that pink (aka magenta) does not exist in the electromagnetic spectrum. The plethora of colors that we see is a processing of a bunch of different energy photons through our retina's cone cells, which in turn produce electrical signals to be processed in the brain. So in reality, "pink" is a combined input of photons whose colors are in the red part of the spectrum as well as the violet (combination of high and low energy). This points to the possibility that highly compressed GN particles release a wide spectrum of energies as they decay - evidence indicating multiple steps of decay as opposed to the regular green/blue GN particles.
As for why concentrated red GN particles, which seem to have less energy than green ones, can damage stem cells, but the higher energy green/magenta ones might not when you're close to a beam shot....
Filtering and Radiation (Edited 1-20-09)
Well, high frequency ionizing radiation tends to be bad (unless used surgically) - they damage DNA and cause cancer. But orange/red = lower frequency than green. Thinking about quantum states and GN particle compression, there may be a solution to this conundrum.
In a true GN drive with TD blanket:
Proton decay produces gamma photons (very high energy radiation, harmful to people); if a high efficiency gamma ray photovoltaic cell can be used to convert that radiation into electricity, then it's possible that TD blankets also consist of an additional barrier of gamma ray/UV photovoltaic cells to suck up the harmful radiation, expelling GN particles with "clean" radiation consisting of certain bands of the visible spectrum, as well as a band in the infrared region. Thus a true GN drive's compressed particle beam will spew out a magenta-colored beam with high momentum and can also radiate heat. However, if you're near it, you won't be doused with intense harmful radiation. If you're caught in an explosion with a dense saturation of green GN particles, though, there's a possibility your stem cells will be damaged because of the density of radiation emanating, regardless of how harmless they may seem in lesser quantities.
In a GN[T] drive:
GN[T] pumps electricity to make GN particles; it also uses that same electric source to power its systems, so it has no use for a photovoltaic cell that guzzles high frequency radiation. As a result, GN[T] drives pump out GN particles that decay and release a wide spectrum of radiation due to a lack of a filter for high energy radiation, but one particular band is in the visible orange/red region, orange for the more "refined" GN[T] drives. Another consequence of this is that, assuming the GN[T] suit does not radiate considerable heat from its electronics (a possibility for 24th century electronics), then the GN[T] suit will show up like a bright spot on a thermographic scan. In fact, that's how Setsuna first identifies Ali while cruising over what's left of the Suiru capital in season 2 episode 14.
Considering that any space-bound machine needs to be shielded from cosmic radiation, pilots won't have to worry about GN particle radiation poisoning in their cockpits unless the cockpit has been damaged. Likewise, the dispersal of uncompressed red GN particles doesn't really do anything, either, because the high energy radiation is so diffuse (think of it like going out into the sun for a tan). However, because there was no filter for the high energy radiation, when the particles become highly compressed in a beam weapon's focusing field into a high energy quantum state, the particles will release tremendous high frequency ionization energy, "dirtying" the beam. It's like focusing solar radiation into a slightly diffuse laser; if you get too close to it you'll get doused with a lot of DNA-damaging radiation. Not like Hiroshima/Nagasaki-level, but enough to locally screw with your stem cells in specific parts of the body (I say this because obviously Louise can grow back her hair, and her skin isn't all mottled).
More later.
History:
1/24/09 - Updated Trans-Am section with graphs.