The concept of a "degeneracy generator" has been bothering me ever since I watched Gunbuster a while ago. Essentially, a degeneracy generator is a device that allows the production of a large amount of energy, apparently without an external source (According to 1:30 in the video above, its power output is 1026 J/s or W). The OVA series does not attempt to explain the "scientific" principles behind such a device, other than the fact that it contains one or more black holes. Of course, I recognize the fact that anime physics is not "real" science and that there was probably no rigorous scientific principle behind this when the series was made, but after dwelling over it for a while, I came to the conclusion that it is in fact possible to create such a device with modern-day technology, with the exception of the method by which a black hole of sufficient size can be acquired.
Some brief points that allow for the capture of a micro black hole inside a confined space:
- Black holes can hold electrical charge.
- Charged objects can be held in place with a Penning Trap.
- Superconducting electromagnets allow for the creation of arbitrarily strong Penning Traps.
For the structual integrity of the containment apparatus to remain intact, the black hole must have a mass that is low enough to not exert significant strain on the surrounding equipment. A black hole which exerts a gravitational acceleration equivalent to Earth's 9.8 m/s2 at a distance of 1 millimeter would have a mass of 1.468 x 105 kilograms, which is about the mass of a Boeing 757. This black hole would have a schwarzchild radius of 0.218 zeptometers: less than the size of any known subatomic particle with nonzero volume. It represents a negligible risk if it were to escape from containment; the gravitational pull from the black hole would be nearly nonexistent at any macroscopic distance.
So a black hole is captured. Now what?
We know that black holes emit hawking radiation. Through the Stefan–Boltzmann-Schwarzschild-Hawking power law, we obtain a net energy outflow of ħc6/(15360πG2M2); under the condition that M = 1.468 x 105 kg, the net amount of power expelled by such a black hole is 1.652 x 1022 watts. This falls short of the power of the generator presented in the Gunbuster OVA; such a black hole would produce about 1/23,200 of the power output of our sun. (Keep in mind that this is still more than the equivalent of 2 trillion times the power output of the largest nuclear power plant in the world.)
It is trivial to supply more mass to the black hole to compensate for this energy loss; simply physically inject more mass by sending it towards the black hole in a manner that does not disrupt its angular momentum. By "feeding" mass to the black hole at a rate equivalent to the speed at which it is losing mass, any loss in mass experienced by the black hole is immediately compensated.
The input is mass; the output is thermal radiation, which incurs a loss in the black hole mass as a result. Due to conservation of energy, this effectively allows us a method to obtain a 100% efficient process of conversion from mass to energy as described E=mc2, by utilizing a micro-black hole as a conversion mechanism.
The generator can be "turned off" by reflecting the thermal radiation back to the black hole; most massive black holes actually gain mass since they absorb the cosmic background radiation and gain mass faster than they lose to hawking radiation, due to the fact that larger black holes emit less hawking radiation than smaller ones. ("The power in the Hawking radiation from a solar mass black hole turns out to be a minuscule 9 × 10−29 watts.", as explained in the Hawking Radiation article.) By redirecting the emitted radiation back into the micro black hole, its mass loss is negated and the black hole remains at equilibrium with zero useful power output. Reducing the quantity reflected back into the black hole allows for the extraction of useful work (which must in turn be compensated by a "mass feed" to keep the mass of the black hole constant.) This mechanism can therefore allow the generator to be "partially on", or produce smaller units of power than that actually released by the black hole. Such a mode makes this generator more practical to use; after all, a device that constantly generates a huge amount of power even when idle is not especially useful for real-world applications.
So as far as I am able to tell, a degeneracy generator is not only possible, it is also practical as it actually will generate a large amount of power (albeit of a different magnitude than that of the fictional device depicted in the anime), substantially greater than that of any other technology now available to humankind. Additionally, such a reactor does not require expensive or rare isotopes of elements to function; plutonium-cycle nuclear reactors require an expensive fuel source, thorium-cycle nuclear reactors are not economically viable, while nuclear fusion reactors not only require rare isotopes like Hydrogen-3 and Helium-3, but also do not yet generate a net power yield. Degeneracy reactors can use any mass as the reactant and convert it 100% effectively to energy. No more landfills; garbage can be fed to a black hole and be turned into clean, pure energy.
So to the SENers who understand enough Physics to see any problems with this theory: Is there anything wrong with this idea? Will such technology become available within the foreseeable future and permit mankind access to exotic things like interstellar spaceflight with this newfound energy source? Will our civilization eventually run on this type of energy source? If there is anything I'm missing, please point it out, or if you don't see any, please feel free to discuss the possible ramifications of developing such technology .
None.