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At least 181 records · Page 10

Angular correlations in pA collisions from CGC: multiplicity and mean transverse momentum dependence of $$v_2$$

Abstract Within the dense-dilute Color Glass Condensate approach, and using the Golec–Biernat–Wuesthoff model for the dipole scattering amplitude, we calculate $$v_2^2$$ v 2 2 as well as the correlations between $$v_2^2$$ v 2 2 and both the total multiplicity and the mean transverse momentum of produced particles. We find that the correlations are generally very small consistent with the observations. We note an interesting sharp change in the value of $$v^2_2$$ v 2 2 as well as of its correlations as a function of the width of the transverse momentum bin. This crossover is associated with the change from Bose enhancement dominance of the correlation for narrow bin to HBT dominated correlations for larger bin width.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Measurement of the energy asymmetry in $t\bar{t} j$ production at 13 TeV with the ATLAS experiment and interpretation in the SMEFT framework

A measurement of the energy asymmetry in jet-associated top-quark pair production is presented using 139fb -1 of data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ =13TeV. The observable measures the different probability of top and antitop quarks to have the higher energy as a function of the jet scattering angle with respect to the beam axis. The energy asymmetry is measured in the semileptonic $t\bar{t}$ decay channel, and the hadronically decaying top quark must have transverse momentum above 350GeV. The results are corrected for detector effects to particle level in three bins of the scattering angle of the associated jet. The measurement agrees with the SM prediction at next-to-leading-order accuracy in quantum chromodynamics in all three bins. In the bin with the largest expected asymmetry, where the jet is emitted perpendicular to the beam, the energy asymmetry is measured to be -0.043 ± 0.020, in agreement with the SM prediction of -0.037 ± 0.003. Interpreting this result in the framework of the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT), it is shown that the energy asymmetry is sensitive to the top-quark chirality in four-quark operators and is therefore a valuable new observable in global SMEFT fits.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

PRISMA: PARALLEL REFINEMENT AND INTEGRATION SYSTEM FOR MULTI-AZIMUTHAL ANALYSIS

The Parallel Refinement and Integration System for Multi-azimuthal Analysis (PRISMA, version 1.1.0) is a Python application for processing X-ray diffraction (XRD) image data. PRISMA wraps GSAS-II to perform azimuthally-binned peak refinement, computes per-frame strain and d-spacing from those fits, and provides three PyQt5 graphical interfaces: (1) a Recipe Builder for selecting GSAS-II control (.imctrl) files, optional mask (.immask) files or threshold-ased masking, reference and experiment image sets, peaks, zimuthal range and bin size, and an optional ceria-based auto-calibration; (2) a Batch Processor that uses Dask on local workstations and pure MPI (mpi4py.futures.MPICommExecutor) on HPC to distribute GSAS-II refinement across cores or compute nodes and write results to a 4-dimensional (peaks x frames x azimuths x measurements) Zarr dataset; and (3) a Data Analyzer that renders heatmaps of fit parameters, strain, frame-to-frame deltas, and percent-change-vs-reference, and exports user-defined subsections to CSV or Excel. The peak-refinement algorithm is deterministic. Benchmark on ALCF Crux: a 20,000-image set, single-peak fit in frame mode with 44 azimuthal bins on 128 nodes x 128 workers, 48 seconds total wall time.

Lorenzo Martin, Maria De La Cinta [Argonne Nationa↗

PAVplotR

PAVplotR is an R package that accepts as input a haploid VCF and, for a user-specified bin size, calculates proportional presence-absence variation (PAV). First, all variants in the file are considered to calculate an expanded coordinate system that accounts for insertions relative to the reference sequence. Next, for each sample in the VCF, proportional PAV is summarized per bin in the expanded coordinate system and finally, PAV is plotted such that rows are samples and columns are bins with the x-axis (chromosome position) labeled according to the reference haplotype's original coordinate system.

Harder, Avril↗

Simulating metagenomic stable isotope probing datasets with MetaSIPSim

DNA-stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP) links microorganisms to their in-situ function in diverse environmental samples. Combining DNA-SIP and metagenomics (metagenomic-SIP) allows us to link genomes from complex communities to their specific functions and improves the assembly and binning of these targeted genomes. However, empirical development of metagenomic-SIP methods is hindered by the complexity and cost of these studies. We developed a toolkit, ‘MetaSIPSim,’ to simulate sequencing read libraries for metagenomic-SIP experiments. MetaSIPSim is intended to generate datasets for method development and testing. To this end, we used MetaSIPSim generated data to demonstrate the advantages of metagenomic-SIP over a conventional shotgun metagenomic sequencing experiment. Through simulation we show that metagenomic-SIP improves the assembly and binning of isotopically labeled genomes relative to a conventional metagenomic approach. Improvements were dependent on experimental parameters and on sequencing depth. Community level G + C content impacted the assembly of labeled genomes and subsequent binning, where high community G + C generally reduced the benefits of metagenomic-SIP. Furthermore, when a high proportion of the community is isotopically labeled, the benefits of metagenomic-SIP decline. Finally, the choice of gradient fractions to sequence greatly influences method performance. Metagenomic-SIP is a valuable method for recovering isotopically labeled genomes from complex communities. We show that metagenomic-SIP performance depends on optimization of experimental parameters. MetaSIPSim allows for simulation of metagenomic-SIP datasets which facilitates the optimization and development of metagenomic-SIP experiments and analytical approaches for dealing with these data.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Rossi-alpha Uncertainty Quantification by Analytic, Bootstrap, and Sample Methods to Inform Fitting Best Practices

The prompt neutron period (the negative reciprocal of the prompt neutron decay constant) can be estimated using the Rossi-alpha technique that is predicated on fitting Rossi alpha histograms and of interest in nuclear criticality safety and nonproliferation. The histograms are traditionally fit with a one-exponential model; however, recent work has proposed a two-exponential model to account for reflector induced phenomenon. Until recently, the uncertainty quantification for either model was inadequate (inaccurate and demanded large measurement times). Measurement uncertainty quantification by sample and analytic methods was developed and validated in Ref. The purpose of this transaction is to (i) validate a new bootstrap method by comparing bin-by-bin error bar estimates and (ii) demonstrate how to choose bin widths and reset times to optimize precision and accuracy.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Introducing a New Spitzer Master BLISS Map to Remove the Instrument Systematic Phase-curve-parameter Degeneracy, as Demonstrated by a Reanalysis of the 4.5 μm WASP-43b Phase Curve

While Spitzer Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) systematics are generally well understood, each data set can provide its own challenges that continue to teach us about the underlying functional form of these systematics. Multiple groups have analyzed the phase curves of WASP-43b with varying detrending techniques, each obtaining different results. In this work, we take another look at WASP-43b while exploring the degenerate relation between Bilinearly Interpolated Subpixel Sensitivity (BLISS) mapping, point response function (PRF)–FWHM detrending, and phase curve parameters. We find that there is a strong correlation between the detrending parameters in the two models, and best-fit phase curve amplitudes vary strongly when the data are temporally binned. To remove this degeneracy, we present a new Gaussian centroided intrapixel sensitivity map (hereafter fixed sensitivity map), generated using 3,712,830 exposures spanning 5 yr, for a variety of aperture sizes at 4.5 μm. We find evidence for time variability in the sensitivity at 3.6 μm and do not generate a visit-independent map for this channel. With the fixed 4.5 μm intrapixel sensitivity map, the best fits for WASP-43b no longer vary strongly with bin size and PRF–FWHM detrending is no longer required to remove correlated noise. For data sets that do not fall completely within the sweet spot, temporal binning should not be used in the analysis of Spitzer phase curves. We confirm nightside emission for WASP-43b with a disk-integrated nightside temperature of 806 ± 48 K at 4.5 μm. The 4.5 μm maps are available at github.com/kevin218/POET.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Transverse Vector Decomposition Method for Analytical Inversion of Exoplanet Transit Spectra

Abstract We develop a new method for analytical inversion of binned exoplanet transit spectra and for retrieval of planet parameters. The method has a geometrical interpretation and treats each observed spectrum as a single vector r → in the multidimensional spectral space of observed bin values. We decompose the observed r → into two orthogonal components: a wavelength-independent component r → ∥ corresponding to the spectral mean across all observed bins, and a transverse component r → ⊥ that is wavelength dependent and contains the relevant information about the atmospheric chemistry. The method allows us to extract, without any prior assumptions or additional information, the relative mass (or volume) mixing ratios of the absorbers in the atmosphere, the scale height to stellar radius ratio, H / R S , and the atmospheric temperature. The method is illustrated and validated with several examples of increasing complexity.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Close Major-merger Pairs at z = 0: Bulge-to-total Ratio and Star Formation Enhancement

We present a study of the bulge-to-total ratio (B/T) of a Ks-band-selected sample of 88 close major-merger pairs of galaxies (H-KPAIR), based on two-dimensional decompositions of SDSS r-band images with galfit. We investigate the dependence of the interaction-induced specific star formation rate enhancement (sSFR enh ) on the B/T ratio, and the effects of this dependence on the differences between star-forming galaxies (SFGs) in spiral+spiral (S+S) and spiral+elliptical (S+E) pairs. Of all the 132 spiral galaxies in H-KPAIR, the 44 in S+E pairs show higher B/T than those in the 44 S+S pairs, with means of B/T = 0.35 ± 0.05 and B/T = 0.26 ± 0.03, respectively. Furthermore, there is a strong negative dependence of sSFR enh on the B/T ratio, and only paired SFGs with B/T < 0.3 show significant (>5σ) enhancement. Paired SFGs in S+S pairs show a similar trend, and many disky SFGs (B/T < 0.1) in S+S pairs have strong sSFR enhancements (sSFR enh > 0.7 dex). For SFGs in S+E pairs, the sSFR has no clear B/T dependence, nor any significant enhancement in any B/T bin. Disky SFGs in S+S pairs show significant (>4σ) enhancement in molecular gas content (${M}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}/{M}_{\mathrm{star}}$), while SFGs in S+E pairs have no such enhancement in any B/T bin. No significant enhancement of the total gas content (Mgas/Mstar) is found in any B/T bin for paired galaxies. The star formation efficiency of either the total gas (SFE gas = SFR/M gas ) or molecular gas (${\mathrm{SFE}}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}=\mathrm{SFR}/{M}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}$) does not depend on the B/T ratio. The only significant (> 4σ) SFE enhancement found for paired SFGs is the SFE gas for disky SFGs in S+S pairs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Warm-phase microphysical evolution in large-eddy simulations of tropical cumulus congestus: evaluating drop size distribution evolution using polarimetry retrievals, in situ measurements, and a thermal-based framework

Owing to uncertainties in convective microphysics processes, improving parameterizations in Earth system models (ESMs) can benefit from observationally constrained cases suitable for scaling between cloud-resolving models and ESMs. We propose a benchmark large-eddy simulation (LES) cumulus congestus case study from the NASA Cloud, Aerosol, and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP 2 Ex) for evaluating and improving ESMs in single-column model (SCM) mode. We seek observational constraints using novel polarimetric retrievals and in situ cloud microphysics measurements. Simulations using bulk and bin microphysics initialized with observed aerosol profiles are compared to cloud-top retrievals of cloud droplet effective radius (R eff ), effective variance (ν eff ), and number concentration (N d ) from the airborne Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP). Both schemes reproduce characteristics of cloud-top N d and R eff that increase and decrease with altitude, respectively. Cloud-top N d is low-biased relative to RSP retrievals in both schemes, potentially due to limitations in both simulations and retrieval assumptions. Cloud-top R eff is low-biased in the bulk scheme but reasonably reproduced by the bin scheme. Profiles of N d and R eff are sensitive to the collision–coalescence process and the vertical variation in aerosol size distribution. Comparison of simulated and in situ droplet size distributions (DSDs) shows that, to first order, integrated moments are always sensitive to sizes < ~ 30 µm and can also be sensitive to larger sizes if the DSDs are sufficiently broad, with implications for the assumed maximum observed size retrieved by the RSP. The bin scheme captures the observed extended tail of the DSD, while the bulk scheme is unable to due to parametric constraints. Differences in expected relationships between in situ measurements of cloud cores and cloud-top retrievals by RSP demonstrate difficulty in constraining well the case presented herein. Finally, a thermal-tracking framework demonstrates that the dilution of N d throughout a thermal's lifetime is heavily determined by collision–coalescence and the height-varying aerosol distribution and that, in the absence of these, the impact of entrainment on diluting N d is largely offset by secondary activation. Implications for evaluating warm-phase convective microphysics schemes in ESMs and translating results for use on global, space-based polarimetry platforms are discussed.

Stanford, McKenna Wallace [Columbia Univ., New Yor↗

NGEE Arctic CO2, CH4 and Energy Eddy-Covariance (EC) Flux Tower Auxiliary Measurements, Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska, 2012 - 2019

Measurements began in September 2012 and are generally made throughout the snow-free growing season starting from April (pre-thawing) until November (freeze-up) when the instrumentation is taken down for maintenance and instrument calibration. CO2, CH4 and energy fluxes using the Eddy Covariance (EC) technique (Baldocchi 2003) and meteorological measurements are reported as 30-minute averages. The tower site is registered with AmeriFlux as US-NGB. See http://ameriflux.lbl.gov/sites/siteinfo/US-NGB for more information. Reported data include: (1) additional/extra meteorological and eddy covariance CO2, CH4 and energy flux data, (2) binned spectra for the three wind components, the sonic temperature and gas densities together with the binned cospectra for covariances of w (vertical wind component) and gas densities, (3) binned ogives (cumulative (co)spectra) for the three wind components, the sonic temperature and gas densities, and (4) tower site footprint matrices. Meteorological and eddy covariance CO2, CH4 and energy flux data (AmeriFlux BASE data product) are available from AmeriFlux https://doi.org/10.17190/AMF/1436326. The tower site is adjacent to the NGEE Arctic Tram system with several complementary time-series measurements https://doi.org/10.5440/1558782.This dataset supersedes the previously released dataset "Eddy-Covariance and auxiliary measurements, NGEE-Barrow, 2012-2013" DOI:10.5440/1124200 as this new product includes data for the longer time period processed using consistent methods for the entire record. The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a research effort to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas in the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska. Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NGEE Arctic CO2, CH4 and Energy Eddy-Covariance (EC) Flux Tower Auxiliary Measurements, Council Road Mile Marker 71, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 2017 - 2019

Measurements began in July 2017 and are made year-round (2017 seasonal only) on the tussock tundra with discontinuous permafrost at the Council Road Site on the Seward Peninsula. CO2, CH4 and energy fluxes using the Eddy Covariance (EC) technique (Baldocchi 2003) and meteorological measurements are reported as 30-minute averages. The tower site is registered with AmeriFlux as US-NGC. See http://ameriflux.lbl.gov/sites/siteinfo/US-NGC for more information. Reported data include: (1) additional/extra meteorological and eddy covariance CO2, CH4 and energy flux data, (2) binned spectra for the three wind components, the sonic temperature and gas densities together with the binned cospectra for covariances of w (vertical wind component) and gas densities, (3) binned ogives (cumulative (co)spectra) for the three wind components, the sonic temperature and gas densities, and (4) tower site footprint matrices. The majority of the files are *.csv with paired visualization footprint files as *.jpg. Meteorological and eddy covariance CO2, CH4 and energy flux data (AmeriFlux BASE data product) are available from AmeriFlux BASE US-NGC NGEE Arctic Council (Torn, 2020) https://doi.org/10.17190/AMF/1634883. The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a research effort to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas in the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska. Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Measurement of 3-Flavour Neutrino Oscillation Parameters in the NOvA Experiment

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment consisting of two functionally identical tracking calorimeters, a Near and Far Detector, that measure neutrino interactions induced by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s NuMI beam at baselines of 1 km and 810 km, respectively. The NuMI beam can be configured to produce either a primary ν µ neutrino or $\bar{ν}$ µ anti-neutrino beam. Neutrino oscillations are observed and measured by the analysis of ν µ + $\bar{ν}$ µ disappearance and νe + $\bar{ν}$ e appearance in the beam, comparing the neutrino energy spectra in the Near and Far detectors means that neutrino oscillation parameters sin 2 θ 23 , |Δ$m^2_{32}$|, and δ CP can be constrained. This thesis presents the 2018 NOvA ν µ +$\bar{ν}$ µ disappearance, ν e +$\bar{ν}$ e appearance, and combined analyses using both neutrino and anti-neutrino data, where oscillation fits have been performed, where possible, on an event-by-event basis rather than on a bin-by-bin basis as has conventionally been used in NOvA oscillation analyses. This allows for better precision in applying both neutrino oscillation probabilities and systematic uncertainties. Furthermore, oscillation analyses for the disappearance, appearance, and combined channels are presented using an unbinned likelihood fit and compared with the equivalent binned χ 2 likelihood fit used in the standard analysis. The 14 ktonne detector equivalent beam exposures used for this thesis are 8.85 × 10 20 and 6.91 × 10 20 protons on target for neutrino and antineutrino data respectively, corresponding to 5 years of NOvA data taking. A combined ν µ + $\bar{ν}$ µ disappearance and ν e + $\bar{ν}$ e appearance fit to the Far Detector data, assuming normal mass ordering and using the event-by-event oscillation and unbinned fitting methodologies, produces oscillation parameter constraints of Δ$m^2_{32}$ = (2.50$^{+0.08}_{-0.06}$) × 10 -3 eV 2 , sin 2 θ 23 = 0.59$^{+0.02}_{-0.04}$, and δ CP = 0.72$^{+0.5}_{-0.9}$π.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Examination of Digital-Delay Rossi-$\alpha$ for 252 Cf-Driven Highly Enriched Uranium Using Organic Scintillators

Neutron noise techniques constitute several analysis methods applicable to non-destructive assay. One technique is the Rossi-α method to calculate the prompt neutron decay constant (α) or its inverse, the prompt neutron period (1/α), for assemblies of fissionable material. This work evaluates a high-data-throughput measurement at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC) with organic scintillators measuring a subcritical assembly of highly enriched uranium (HEU) metal (93% 235 U). The assembly comprises hemi shells stacked together to form fully closed shells and is driven by a Cf source at the center. The assembly is a total of 59.85 kg HEU and a k eff of 0.99, according to MCNP6.2 KCODE simulations. Measurements were acquired with a three-by-four array of 5.08-cm-diameter by 5.08-cm-length trans-stilbene crystals 166 cm from the assembly center. Two types of coincident binning methods are used to build the Rossi-α distribution of coincident neutron detections: A) type 1 binning, also known as any-and-all forward time differences, and B) type 1 binning with a digital-delay technique that is analogous to Orndoff’s use of delay cabling in early Rossi-alpha measurements. Method B) disregards same-detector coincidences and once all nearest time coincidences are collected between all detectors after a trigger, a time delay of 0.75 µs is implemented. The measured prompt neutron decay constants for both techniques are calculated from single exponential fits and the two methods are compared. Method A) shows an apparent timing discontinuity near 500 ns time differences. This timing discontinuity interferes with the fitting method used to calculate the prompt neutron decay constant. Method B) mitigates the artificial timing discontinuity and removes the disagreement of the fit. Future work will model the time-dependent detector response to discern why this timing discontinuity occurs, discern how Method B) reduces the amplitude of this timing discontinuity, and apply this method to critical assembly measurements to ultimately confirm the recommendation to use Method B) for high-data-throughput measurements.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

A Custom Machine to Convey Radiologically Impacted Cohesive Soils to the Orion ScanSortSM System - 20382

An established method to reduce the volume of material required to be disposed of as radioactive waste is conveyor-based sorting of potentially radiologically impacted soils. With the Orion ScanSortSM system, potentially impacted soils are conveyed beneath radiation detectors and sorted into above and below criteria bins based on the detectors' response. Confident measurements can only be efficiently achieved when the soil column being conveyed has a reasonably consistent geometry. Highly cohesive soils present a very significant challenge as they tend to clump and adhere to the conveyor hopper, strike-off bar, and belt skirting. This causes voids and valleys in the soil column that affect the measurement geometry and reduce the confidence in the measurement. The reduction in confidence necessitates a longer residence time (i.e. reduction in conveyor belt speed and processing rates) or that the soils in highly unfavorable geometries be dispositioned as impacted or segregated for resurvey (should site logistics support that option). These outcomes may increase the volume of material required to be dispositioned as radiological waste and have a negative impact on project cost and schedule. To minimize impact to sorting operations, Wood designed and built a customized Extruder, to optimize the soil column prior to assay. The design was developed and refined to minimize the volume of highly cohesive soils presented in highly unfavorable geometries in the soil column in order to confidently assess and disposition such soils in a high-production environment. The Extruder is a customized 90 cm wide flat conveyor that has an oversized hopper with a pair of motor-driven rollers that force the soils in the hopper through an opening of adjustable height. The soils are extruded through the opening to produce a soil column that is ∼75 cm wide and ∼8-18 cm deep with a design rate of 225 metric tons/hr. The Extruder was recently deployed with the Orion ScanSort{sup SM} System to a site in northeast Ohio. The site has highly cohesive soils that result from the weathering of glacial sediments and consist of clay and clay loam, resulting in poor drainage and high moisture content. The project infrastructure only supported two bins of material (above and below criteria), which necessitated that soils with unfavorable geometries be discharged into the above criteria bin, along with material determined to have been contaminated. The Extruder was extremely successful in producing a stable soil column with favorable geometries for radiological assay. During production, less than 0.5% (by mass) of the soils processed were presented in unsatisfactory geometries requiring disposition as radioactive waste. The Extruder did not get clogged due to the cohesive soils (as is typical with conventional conveyors) and required very little maintenance, again minimizing impacts to sorting operations. The conveyor belt speed was operated at 14 cm/s with a typical belt loading of ∼109 kg/m resulting in a mean process rate of ∼49 metric tons/hr. The process rate was constrained by other project logistics, rather than by the capabilities of the Extruder, which was operated at less than 20% of the maximum design speed (75 cm/s). It is concluded that the Extruder is highly likely to produce a stable highly cohesive soil column suitable for efficient and confident radiological assay in production environments of 250 short tons/hr or more. The Extruder has the capability to drastically reduce the duration and costs of projects with radiologically impacted highly cohesive soils. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Timelike Compton Scattering from a longitudinally polarised target with CLAS12 at Jefferson Lab

Explorations into the internal dynamics of hadrons are constantly evolving, and the requirement for experimental results to verify theoretical models of hadron structure is paramount. A key area in this field is the study of Generalised Parton Distributions (GPDs), which are functions used to model the momenta of quarks and gluons within hadrons, and the methods to access GPDs experimentally. One such scattering process that allows access to these is Timelike Compton Scattering. TCS complements existing Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering experiments and allows investigation into the universality of GPDs through access to the real and imaginary parts of the parton helicity independent GPD Hq via beam spin asymmetries (BSA), and it provides novel access to the real and imaginary parts of the parton helicity dependent GPD ˜Hq through target polarisation asymmetries (TSA). This thesis work presents a comparative study with the first published BSA for TCS at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab), alongside a first time extraction of a Target Spin Asymmetry with the Summer 2022 data taking run. JLab hosts the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) which provides a 12 GeV electron beam to four experimental halls. Hall-B contains the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer, which took data across three run periods on a longitudinally polarised NH3 and ND3 fixed target from 2022-2023, to extract measurements of electron-proton scattering, from which a TCS signal could be extracted. The thesis discusses work done to understand and eliminate contributions from the non-/low-polarised nuclear background, testing pre-established cuts to eliminate pion background from a dilepton (e+e-) final state and modifying them as needed for the new experimental run, and attempts to hone in on a clean TCS signal from which to extract the two asymmetry observables. A comparison with existing BSA results was performed; however, the statistical errors are too large to draw a significant conclusion as to whether there is agreement across each bin. More data is needed for a multidimensionally binned extraction. A proof of principle was achieved in the TSA measurements, with two out of four kinematic bins showing preliminary agreement in shape with theoretical values. Again, the errors are significant due to the contributions from the nuclear background. To support these conclusions, a further study was done, which takes into account an estimate of the asymmetries with the full available dataset (this thesis is based only on data taken in the summer set; at the time of writing processing was still being conducted for the final two datasets), as well as an estimate including additional future experiment days that were awarded in July 2024. Additional work was done on a secondary project exploring the feasibility of measuring TCS at the upcoming Electron Ion Collider, supporting the design proposal for the detector for the first interaction region and giving a positive outlook for the future of these types of measurements beyond JLab.

Gates, Kayleigh [Univ. of Glasgow, Scotland (Unite↗

Clustering of high-redshift quasars with DESI DR2

We present clustering measurements for high-redshift quasars using data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Data Release 2. Our sample consists of quasars with $2.0 < z < 3.5$ in the luminosity range $M_{1450} \leq -19.94$ mag. We measure the mean quasar bias $b_Q(\bar{z} = 2.48) = 3.61 \pm 0.01$ for the full sample of $\sim 715,000$ quasars and quantify the redshift evolution of quasar bias by dividing the sample into four equal redshift bins. There is strong evolution of the quasar bias with redshift that is well fit by the function $b_Q(z) = a [(1 + z)^2 - 6.565] + b$ with $a=0.230 \pm 0.007$ and $b=2.394 \pm 0.035$, and this fit is also a good match to lower redshift measurements in the literature. This bias evolution is consistent with a characteristic halo mass of $\bar{M}_{\mathrm{h}} \sim 10^{12}\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$ that does not vary significantly with redshift. The inferred duty cycles for quasars in our sample are $f_{\mathrm{duty}} \sim 10^{-2}$, staying mostly constant over redshifts. We investigate the luminosity dependence of quasar clustering by dividing each of our four redshift bins into three luminosity bins. The size of our quasar sample permits the first statistically significant measurement of the luminosity dependence of quasar bias at these redshifts. We measure weak dependence of quasar bias on luminosity at fixed redshift, inconsistent with no dependence, but weaker than predicted by a model in which quasar luminosity is tightly correlated with halo mass. These clustering measurements provide a stringent test for models of active black hole light curves and the black hole-halo connection at high redshift.

Charles, M. [Ohio State U.; Chicago U., KICP] (ORC↗

Integration of high-density genetic mapping with transcriptome analysis uncovers numerous agronomic QTL and reveals candidate genes for the control of tillering in sorghum

Phenotypes such as branching, photoperiod sensitivity, and height were modified during plant domestication and crop improvement. Here, we perform quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of these and other agronomic traits in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from an interspecific cross between Sorghum propinquum and Sorghum bicolor inbred Tx7000. Using low-coverage Illumina sequencing and a bin-mapping approach, we generated ~1920 bin markers spanning ~875 cM. Phenotyping data were collected and analyzed from two field locations and one greenhouse experiment for six agronomic traits, thereby identifying a total of 30 QTL. Many of these QTL were penetrant across environments and co-mapped with major QTL identified in other studies. Other QTL uncovered new genomic regions associated with these traits, and some of these were environment-specific in their action. To further dissect the genetic underpinnings of tillering, we complemented QTL analysis with transcriptomics, identifying 6189 genes that were differentially expressed during tiller bud elongation. We identified genes such as Dormancy Associated Protein 1 (DRM1) in addition to various transcription factors that are differentially expressed in comparisons of dormant to elongating tiller buds and lie within tillering QTL, suggesting that these genes are key regulators of tiller elongation in sorghum. Our study demonstrates the usefulness of this RIL population in detecting domestication and improvement-associated genes in sorghum, thus providing a valuable resource for genetic investigation and improvement to the sorghum community.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗