1. Introduction: The Primordial Flame The universe, in its most fundamental energetic sense, is a fusion engine. From the blinding incandescence of the Sun to the glittering expanse of the Milky Way, the cosmos is illuminated by the violent, beautiful marriage of atomic nuclei. For nearly a century, humanity has looked upon this celestial alchemy with a mixture of awe and envy, recognizing that the power to fuse atoms—to "bottle a star"—holds the promise of an energy source s

Introduction: The Fluidity of Space In the classical view of the universe, space is a passive stage upon which the drama of matter and energy unfolds. However, Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, formulated over a century ago, revolutionized this perspective, describing gravity not as a force, but as the curvature of spacetime itself. Among the most exotic predictions of this theory is the concept of "frame-dragging," or the Lense-Thirring effect. First calculated

Introduction For over seven decades, physicists have chased the dream of nuclear fusion—the same process that powers the sun—to provide humanity with a nearly limitless, clean energy source. The challenge has always been one of containment: how to hold a superheated gas of hydrogen isotopes (plasma) at temperatures exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius long enough for the nuclei to fuse and release energy. The leading device for this task is the tokamak, a donut-shaped magnet