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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Isospin-violating contributions to ϵ'/ϵ

The known isospin-breaking contributions to the K → ππ amplitudes are reanalyzed, taking into account our current understanding of the quark masses and the relevant non-perturbative inputs. We present a complete numerical reappraisal of the direct CP-violating ratio ϵ'/ϵ, where these corrections play a quite significant role. We obtain the Standard Model prediction Re (ϵ'/ϵ) = (14 ± 5) · 10 -4 , which is in very good agreement with the measured ratio. The uncertainty, which has been estimated conservatively, is dominated by our current ignorance about 1/N C -suppressed contributions to some relevant chiral-perturbation-theory low-energy constants.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

The lessons learned from ephemeral nuclei

Recent experimental analyses of fleeting clusters of protons and neutrons put the very notion of the atomic nucleus in a new light.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Two bright, optically clear, intrinsic fast-neutron and charged-particle detector materials for neutron imaging and other applications

Two optically clear, bright, scintillating ZnS materials have been identified that, like previous opaque ZnS scintillators, are excellent charged particle detectors. We show that ZnS is a good fast-neutron-to charged-particle converter making optically clear ZnS an intrinsic fast-neutron detector that does not require layering or mixing of converter materials and scintillator materials, and removes the limitations imposed by opaque ZnS scintillator materials used for more than a century. Thermal neutron detection using optically clear 6 LiF or 10 BN and clear ZnS may benefit from improved spatial resolution and light transmission. Properties and tests of clear scintillating ZnS are described. Fast-neutron imaging applications benefit from increased efficiency of these scintillators, minimal scattering in the scintillator, and increased useful detector volume. Charged particle and fast-neutron detectors have numerous applications in nuclear non-proliferation and security, nuclear and particle physics, and non-destructive testing and environmental measurements.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Nuclear two point correlation functions on a quantum computer

The calculation of dynamic response functions is expected to be an early application benefiting from rapidly developing quantum hardware resources. The ability to calculate real-time quantities of strongly correlated quantum systems is one of the most exciting applications that can easily reach beyond the capabilities of traditional classical hardware. Response functions of fermionic systems at moderate momenta and energies corresponding roughly to the Fermi energy of the system are a potential early application because the relevant operators are nearly local, and the energies can be resolved in moderately short real time, reducing the spatial resolution and gate depth required. This is particularly the case in quasielastic electron and neutrino scattering from nuclei, a topic of great interest in the nuclear and particle physics communities and directly related to experiments designed to probe neutrino properties. In this paper we use current quantum hardware and error mitigation protocols to calculate response functions for a highly simplified nuclear model through calculations of a 2-point real time correlation function for a modified Fermi-Hubbard model in two dimensions with three distinguishable nucleons on four lattice sites.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Effect of an electric field on liquid helium scintillation produced by fast electrons

The dependence on applied electric field (0–40 kV/cm) of the scintillation light produced by fast electrons and α particles stopped in liquid helium in the temperature range of 0.44 K to 3.12 K is reported. For both types of particles, the reduction in the intensity of the scintillation signal due to the applied field exhibits an apparent temperature dependence. Using an approximate solution of the Debye-Smoluchowski equation, we show that the apparent temperature dependence for electrons can be explained by the time required for geminate pairs to recombine relative to the detector signal integration time. This finding indicates that the spatial distribution of secondary electrons with respect to their geminate partners possesses a heavy, non-Gaussian tail at larger separations and has a dependence on the energy of the primary ionization electron. Here, we discuss the potential application of this result to pulse shape analysis for particle detection and discrimination.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Energy calibration of germanium detectors for the Majorana Demonstrator

The Majorana Demonstrator was a search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) in the 76 Ge isotope. It was staged at the 4850-foot level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD. The experiment consisted of 58 germanium detectors housed in a low background shield and was calibrated once per week by deploying a 228 Th line source for 1 to 2 hours. The energy scale calibration determination for the detector array was automated using custom analysis tools. We describe the offline procedure for calibration of the Demonstrator germanium detectors, including the simultaneous fitting of multiple spectral peaks, estimation of energy scale uncertainties, and the automation of the calibration procedure.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Development of Energy-Recovery Linacs

Energy-recovery linacs (ERLs) have been emphasised by the recent (2020) update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics as one of the most promising technologies for the accelerator base of future high-energy physics. The current paper has been written as a base document to support and specify details of the recently published European roadmap for the development of energy-recovery linacs. The paper summarises the previous achievements on ERLs and the status of the field and its basic technology items. The main possible future contributions and applications of ERLs to particle and nuclear physics as well as industrial developments are presented. The paper includes a vision for the further future, beyond 2030, as well as a comparative data base for the main existing and forthcoming ERL facilities. A series of continuous innovations, such as on intense electron sources or high-quality superconducting cavity technology, will massively contribute to the development of accelerator physics at large. Industrial applications are potentially revolutionary and may carry the development of ERLs much further, establishing another shining example of the impact of particle physics on society and its technical foundation with a special view on sustaining nature.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Beam physics research with the IOTA electron lens

The electron lens in the Fermilab Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA) will enable new research in nonlinear integrable optics, space-charge compensation, electron cooling, and the stability of intense beams. This research addresses scientific questions on high-brightness beams and operational challenges of high-power accelerators for nuclear and particle physics. We review the roles that electron lenses play in this field and the physical principles behind their applications. The design criteria and specifications for the IOTA storage ring and electron lens are then discussed. We conclude with a description of the components of the apparatus.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Search for the rare decay $ B^0\to J/ \psi\phi$*

A search for the rare decay $ B^0\to J/ \psi\phi$ is performed using $ pp$ collision data collected with the LHCb dete-ctor at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb -1 . No significant signal of the decay is observed and an upper limit of $ 1.1 \times 10^{-7}$ at 90% confidence level is set on the branching fraction.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Measurement of Electron-Neutrino Charged-Current Cross Sections on 127 I with the COHERENT NaI$ν$E Detector

Using an 185-kg NaI[Tl] array, COHERENT has measured the inclusive electron-neutrino chargedcurrent cross section on 127 I with pion decay-at-rest neutrinos produced by the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Iodine is one the heaviest targets for which low-energy (≤ 50 MeV) inelastic neutrino-nucleus processes have been measured, and this is the first measurement of its inclusive cross section. After a five-year detector exposure, COHERENT reports a flux-averaged cross section for electron neutrinos of ${9.2}_{–1.8}^{+2.1}$ × 10 –40 cm 2 . This corresponds to a value that is ~41% lower than predicted using the MARLEY event generator with a measured Gamow-Teller strength distribution. In addition, the observed visible spectrum from charged-current scattering on 127 I has been measured between 10 and 55 MeV, and the exclusive zero-neutron and one-or-more-neutron emission cross sections are measured to be ${5.2}_{–3.1}^{+3.4}$ × 10 –40 and ${2.2}_{—2.2}^{+3.5}$ × 10 –40 cm 2 , respectively.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Next Breakthroughs in Neutrino Physics (LDRD Final Report)

The neutrino is an important fundamental particle, one of the building blocks of the universe. Abetter understanding of the neutrino will answer questions regarding the origin of mass, the matter and anti-matter asymmetry of the universe, and the nature of dark matter. The nation's research community has recognized that the answers to these and other questions are within reach and has assigned neutrino experiments the highest priority for both nuclear and particle physics programs. We are investigating three aspects of neutrino experimentation: detection techniques, target materials, and data analysis. Our efforts targeted multiple applications including experiments to measure neutrinoless double-beta-decay, neutrino-oscillation and neutrino mass. Our research objectives include (1) developing approaches that make detectors scalable to larger sizes and insensitive to background signals; (2) increasing the signal strength and reducing noise from targets; and (3) efficiently distinguishing background noise from signals during analysis. In this LDRD we have advanced all of these areas. We have demonstrated the scale up of a metal organic framework that can adsorb xenon directly from the air that will allow for large neutrino detectors made from xenon. We have studied the use of Cherenkov radiation to reduce the signal backgrounds. We demonstrated the cracking of hydrogen to make atomic tritium for neutrino mass measurements, and lastly we demonstrated the benefits of machine learning techniques to improve signal to noise during analysis

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

TPCpp-10M: Simulated proton-proton collisions in a time projection chamber for AI foundation models

Scientific foundation models hold great promise for advancing nuclear and particle physics by improving analysis precision and accelerating discovery. Yet, progress in this field is often limited by the lack of openly available large scale datasets, as well as standardized evaluation tasks and metrics. Furthermore, the specialized knowledge and software typically required to process particle physics data pose significant barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration with the broader machine learning community. This work introduces a large, openly accessible dataset of 10 million simulated proton-proton collisions, designed to support self-supervised training of foundation models. To facilitate ease of use, the dataset is provided in a common NumPy format. In addition, it includes 70,000 labeled examples spanning three well defined downstream tasks: track finding, particle identification, and noise tagging, to enable systematic evaluation of the foundation model's adaptability. The simulated data are generated using the Pythia Monte Carlo event generator at a center of mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV and processed with Geant4 to include realistic detector conditions and signal emulation in the sPHENIX Time Projection Chamber at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, located at Brookhaven National Laboratory. This dataset resource establishes a common ground for interdisciplinary research, enabling machine learning scientists and physicists alike to explore scaling behaviors, assess transferability, and accelerate progress toward foundation models in nuclear and high energy physics. The complete simulation and reconstruction chain is reproducible with the sPHENIX software stack. All data and code locations are provided under Data Accessibility.

Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability (physics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Search for a Non-Zero Value of the Electric Dipole Moment of the Neutron (Final Technical Report)

The research grant addressed in this final report began its most recent 3-year segment June 1, 2022 and terminated May 31, 2025. The work funded by the grant supported our group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in its collaboration on the nEDM@SNS (SNS refers to the Spallation Neutron Source) project at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). This project had as its goal the measurement of a non-zero value of the electric dipole moment of the neutron (nEDM). If indeed the neutron has a non-zero electric dipole moment, it will tell us very important information about the Standard Model of Nuclear and Particle Physics. The Standard Model is remarkably successful in describing much of the world we live in, but we know it is not complete. A non-zero nEDM would indicate the existence of strong CP violation, which would be a major addition to the Standard Model.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗