Modulous writes:
I'm more inclined to think something previously unknown is going on...
I think so, too, and it seems consistent with the excerpt you posted from
Z machine exceeds two billion degrees Kelvin: hotter than the interiors of stars:
Haines theorized that the rapid conversion of magnetic energy to a very high ion plasma temperature was achieved by unexpected instabilities at the point of ordinary stagnation: that is, the point at which ions and electrons should have been unable to travel further. The plasma should have collapsed, its internal energy radiated away. But for approximately 10 nanoseconds, some unknown energy was still pushing back against the magnetic field.
So at least part of the way they calculate temperature is based on how fast the plasma collapses. I don't even know how to think about the microturbulent magnetic fields mentioned in the article, but particles influenced by magnetic fields move in predictable ways, so they should be able to test whether that's the case.
The article makes it sound like the mystery of where the additional energy came from is the item of most significance, but we can probably safely assume that the "no free lunch" laws of thermodynamics still hold, and if we assume there's no new physics (I mean fundamental physics, not "Gee, we had no idea particles in microturbulent magnetic fields at high temperatures would behave this way") then the most interesting result is the ability to achieve temperatures of billions of degrees, because it's the inability to continuously maintain very high temperatures that has kept fusion from becoming a commercial possibility for power generation.
--Percy