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At least 181 records · Page 10

Response of Graphite to Dynamic Loading and Hypervelocity Jet Impacts

The compressive strengths of three varieties of high purity graphite, PCEA, NBG-18, and NBG-25, as well as the depth of penetration of small-scale charges into these materials was experimentally determined. These grades are similar in density, ranging from 1.80 – 1.85 g/cc, and nominal apparent porosity, ranging from 18% to 20%, but provide a wide range in maximum grain or particle size from 10s to 1000s of µm. Two very different manufacturing methods are also represented; PCEA is extruded while NBG-18 and NBG-25 are iso-molded. The quasistatic and dynamic strengths of each grade were determined on a load frame and split-Hopkinson pressure bar, respectively. The depth of penetration (DOP) of two small-scale shaped charges, the Teledyne RP-1 and RP-4, was determined against graphite. The global response of the RP-4 impacts was markedly different as the PCEA samples remained intact while all the NBG-25 samples split into 2 or 3 pieces after the jet penetration had completed. However, for all tests, the trusted DOPs fell within 2 cm. Preliminary hydrocode modeling of the penetration events used existing models that were not designed for graphite. The results can be tuned to reasonably reproduce the DOP, but the wound channel geometry is not reproduced well. A model designed for graphite would need to represent graphite’s non-linear and energy dissipation characteristics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Spectral distortion anisotropy from inflation for primordial black holes

Single-field inflationary models that seek to greatly enhance small-scale power in order to form primordial black holes predict both a squeezed bispectrum that is enhanced by this small-scale power and a potentially detectable enhancement of cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectral distortions. Despite this combination, spectral distortion anisotropy on CMB scales remains small since the squeezed bispectrum represents an unobservable modulation of the scale rather than local amplitude for the short-wavelength acoustic power that dissipates and forms the μ spectral distortion. Furthermore, the leading-order amplitude effect comes from the local modulation of acoustic dissipation at the beginning of the μ epoch at the end of thermalization by a long-wavelength mode that is correlated with CMB anisotropy itself. Compensating factors from the suppression by the square of the ratio the comoving horizon at thermalization to the smallest detectable primary CMB scales (~0.0005) and maximal allowed enhancement of μ (~5000) leaves a signal in the μT cross spectrum that is still well beyond the capabilities of PIXIE or LiteBIRD space missions due to sensitivity and resolution while remaining much larger than in single-field slow-roll inflation and potentially observable.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Three-dimensional shear-flow instability saturation via stable modes

Turbulence in three dimensions (3D) supports vortex stretching that has long been known to accomplish energy transfer to small scales. Moreover, net energy transfer from large-scale, forced, unstable flow-gradients to smaller scales is achieved by gradient-flattening instability. Despite such enforcement of energy transfer to small scales, it is shown here that the shear-flow-instability-supplied 3D-fluctuation energy is largely inverse-transferred from the fluctuation to the mean-flow gradient, and such inverse transfer is more efficient for turbulent fluctuations in 3D than in two dimensions (2D). The transfer is due to linearly stable eigenmodes that are excited nonlinearly. The stable modes, thus, reduce both the nonlinear energy cascade to small scales and the viscous dissipation rate. The vortex-tube stretching is also suppressed. Up-gradient momentum transport by the stable modes counters the instability-driven down-gradient transport, which also is more effective in 3D than in 2D (≈70% vs ≈50%). From unstable modes, these stable modes nonlinearly receive energy via zero-frequency fluctuations that vary only in the direction orthogonal to the plane of 2D shear flow. The more widely occurring 3D turbulence is thus inherently different from the commonly studied 2D turbulence, despite both saturating via stable modes.

Mechanics↗

ForestFlow: predicting the Lyman-α forest clustering from linear to nonlinear scales

On large scales, the Lyman-α forest provides insights into the expansion history of the Universe, while on small scales, it imposes strict constraints on the growth history, the nature of dark matter, and the sum of neutrino masses. This work introduces ForestFlow, a novel framework that bridges the gap between large- and small-scale analyses, which have traditionally relied on distinct modeling approaches. Using conditional normalizing flows, ForestFlow predicts the two Lyman-α linear biases (b δ and b η ) and six parameters describing small-scale deviations of the three-dimensional flux power spectrum (P 3D ) from linear theory as a function of cosmology and intergalactic medium physics. These are then combined with a Boltzmann solver to make consistent predictions, from arbitrarily large scales down to the nonlinear regime, for P 3D and any other statistics derived from it. Trained on a suite of 30 fixed-and-paired cosmological hydrodynamical simulations spanning redshifts from z = 2 to 4.5, ForestFlow achieves 3 and 1.5% precision in describing P 3D and the one-dimensional flux power spectrum (P 1D ) from linear scales to k = 5 Mpc −1 and k ∥ = 4 Mpc −1 , respectively. Thanks to its conditional parameterization, ForestFlow shows similar performance for ionization histories and two ΛCDM model extensions – massive neutrinos and curvature – even though none of these are included in the training set. This framework will enable full-scale cosmological analyses of Lyman-α forest measurements from the DESI survey.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Compositional Variation Tests on DuraMelter 100 with LAW Sub-Envelope C1 Feed (LAWC22) Glass in Support of the LAW Pilot Melter (Final Report)

The Vitreous State Laboratory at The Catholic University of America (VSL) is developing and testing glass formulations for RPP-WTP waste envelopes to provide data to meet the RPP-WTP contract requirements and to support system design activities. That work is based upon small-scale batch melts (“crucible melts”) using waste envelope simulants. Selected formulations have also been tested in small-scale continuously-fed joule-heated melters (DM10 and DM100 systems) and, ultimately, in the LAW Pilot Melter. Such melter tests provide information on key process factors such as feed processing behavior, dynamic effects during processing, sulfate incorporation, processing rates, off-gas amounts and compositions, foaming control, etc., that cannot be reliably obtained from crucible melts. This sequential scale-up approach in the vitrification testing program ensures that maximum benefit is obtained from the more costly pilot-scale tests and that the most effective use is made of that resource. The principal objective of the work described in this report was to collect the necessary small-scale melter test data with a LAW Sub-Envelope C1 waste simulant in order to support the next series of tests with the same melter feed on the LAW Pilot Melter. This work was conducted under a corresponding Test Specification and Test Plan.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Reviving sub-keV warm dark matter: a UVLF-based analysis

Thermal warm dark matter (WDM) particles with m WDM ≤ 1 keV are ruled out at more than 4σ by multiple observational probes, owing to the strong suppression of small-scale structure induced by early-time free-streaming. Recently, it was highlighted that a small admixture of ∼ 1% (f CDM ∼ 0.01) cold dark matter (CDM) endowed with a blue-tilted isocurvature spectrum could offset the WDM-induced suppression and relax the WDM mass bound by a factor of 𝒪(10). If viable, this “warm + cold-isocurvature” scenario would allow sub-keV WDM particles to constitute nearly the full dark matter abundance while potentially alleviating some small-scale tensions. In this work, we test this mechanism by constraining the WDM mass mWDM while marginalizing over CDM isocurvature parameters. We combine ultraviolet luminosity function measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope over redshift 4 ≤ z ≤ 11 with CMB, BAO, and SNe data. For a pure WDM model, our joint analysis yields a lower bound m WDM > 1.8 keV (95% credible intervals). When CDM isocurvature is introduced at f CDM = 0.01, the limit relaxes to m WDM > 0.27 keV (95% credible intervals), reflecting a shallow degeneracy in which blue-tilted isocurvature fluctuations partially compensate for WDM suppression. These results provide new constraints on thermal WDM in the presence of CDM isocurvature fluctuations and quantify the extent to which such fluctuations can mask the small-scale signatures of light relics.

cosmological parameters from CMBR↗

Patterns of indoor radon concentrations, radon-hazard potential, and radon testing on a small geographic scale in Utah

Currently, there are no publicly-available estimates of indoor radon concentration at scales smaller than the county. Radon-hazard potential soil maps that reflect underlying geologic factors can be created at small geographic scale and linked to residential and census data. We determined the association between residential radon tests and high radon-hazard potential soil at the residential and block group levels using a large Utah-based dataset. We also identified characteristics of block groups with limited tests in the dataset.

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗

Dynamic Shaping of Grid Response of Multi-Machine Multi-Inverter Systems Through Grid-Forming IBRs: Preprint

We consider the problem of controlling the frequency response of weakly-coupled multi-machine multi-inverter low-inertia power systems via grid-forming inverter-based resources (IBRs). In contrast to existing methods, our approach relies on dividing the larger system into multiple strongly-coupled subsystems, without ignoring either the underlying network or approximating the subsystem response as an aggregate harmonic mean model. Rather, through a structured clustering and recursive dynamic shaping approach, the frequency response of the overall system to load perturbations is shaped appropriately. We demonstrate the proposed approach for a three-node triangular configuration and a small-scale radial network. Furthermore, for small-scale radial microgrids, we demonstrate the ability of IBRs to tune the effective transfer functions of synchronous machines. This enables us to relax the uniform turbine time-constant assumptions and widen the scope of existing synchronization results for proportionally heterogeneous machines.

frequency-shaping control↗

Nonlinear mode coupling and energetics of driven magnetized shear-flow turbulence

To comprehensively understand the saturation of two-dimensional (2D) magnetized Kelvin–Helmholtz-instability-driven turbulence, energy transfer analysis is extended from the traditional interaction between scales to include eigenmode interactions, by using the nonlinear couplings of linear eigenmodes of the ideal instability. While both kinetic and magnetic energies cascade to small scales, a significant fraction of turbulent energy deposited by unstable modes in the fluctuation spectrum is shown to be re-routed to the conjugate-stable modes at the instability scale. They remove energy from the forward cascade at its inception. The remaining cascading energy flux is shown to attenuate exponentially at a small scale, dictated by the large-scale stable modes. Guided by a widely used instability-saturation assumption, a general quasi-linear model of instability is tested by retaining all nonlinear interactions except those that couple to the large-scale stable modes. These complex interactions are analytically removed from the magnetohydrodynamic equations using a novel technique. Observations are an explosive large-scale vortex separation instead of the well-known merger of 2D, a dramatic enhancement in turbulence level and spectral energy fluxes, and a reduced small-scale dissipation length scale. These show the critical role of the stable modes in instability saturation. Possible reduced-order turbulence models are proposed for fusion and astrophysical plasmas, based on eigenmode-expanded energy transfer analyses.

Physics↗

The impact of capillary heterogeneity on CO 2 flow and trapping across scales

Capillary heterogeneity has been identified over the last decade as a key control on subsurface CO 2 flow behavior during geological CO 2 sequestration. These heterogeneities can be formed in all sedimentary rocks, ranging from slight variations in the sand grain sizes to extensive sequences of interbedded sands, shales, and limestones. Capillary heterogeneity has been largely, although not entirely, overlooked in subsurface flow modeling because it is assumed to only directly influence fluid redistribution over scales of centimeters to meters. However, even small-scale fluid movements can result in dramatic impacts on the mobility and trapping of the CO 2 over kilometers. Therefore, neglecting capillary heterogeneity at multiple scales could potentially lead to errors in modeling and predicting field-scale plume migration. In this review paper, we aim to provide a consistent overview to (1) establish that capillary heterogeneity can have a major impact on CO 2 plume migration, (2) establish the respective length scales at which capillary heterogeneity matters, and (3) provide guidance for numerical modeling. This review covers pertinent literature and extracts key observations from the core to the field scales. Experimental studies have shown that millimeter-decimeter scale capillary heterogeneity can cause the so-called capillary heterogeneity trapping in addition to pore-scale residual trapping. Even at such a small scale, capillary heterogeneity can already lead to complex upscaled constitutive relationships, such as flow-rate dependent and anisotropic relative permeability, which affects field-scale CO 2 migration even when field-scale heterogeneities are present. Under gravity-dominated flow regimes, centimeter-meter scale capillary heterogeneity can entrap a significant amount of CO 2 at field scale, not just after imbibition but also during drainage. In certain cases, the presence of capillary heterogeneity can even completely stop the vertical movement of the CO 2 plume, hence greatly reducing leakage risks. At meter-kilometer scale, the influence of capillary heterogeneity is more pronounced and can hinder or redirect CO 2 migration in both lateral and vertical directions. The impact of capillary heterogeneity across multiple spatial scales poses a great challenge in modeling CO 2 migration at field scale, because it is practically impossible to build a field-scale earth model with grid blocks at millimeter scale. We recommend a hierarchical modeling approach to address this challenge. At field scale, earth models are built to capture geological features and heterogeneities in high but still practical grid resolutions. For each facies or rock type of the field-scale model, high- resolution meter-scale “conceptual” models are built with millimeter-scale grid blocks to capture representative fine-scale bedding geometries and heterogeneities in various environments of deposition, bridging the gap from subcore scale to the size of a field-scale simulation grid block. Upscaling is then used to preserve the smaller-scale flow dynamics of various rock types in field-scale simulations. Here, future work is needed to (1) refine, improve, and validate the hierarchical modeling approach; (2) build libraries of fine-scale bedding models for facies in various environments of deposition; (3) quantify multiscale capillary heterogeneity effects under subsurface uncertainties; (4) gain learning from different storage formations; and (5) establish best practices that balance accuracy and computational speed.

Capillary heterogeneity↗

Large scale structure reconstruction with short-wavelength modes

Large scale density modes are difficult to measure because they are sensitive to systematic observational errors in galaxy surveys, but we can study them indirectly by observing their impact on small scale perturbations. Cosmological perturbation theory predicts that second-order density inhomogeneities are a convolution of a short- and a long-wavelength mode. This arises physically because small scale structures grow at different rates depending on the large scale environment in which they reside. This induces an off-diagonal term in the two-point statistics in Fourier space that we use as the basis for a quadratic estimator for the large scale field. Here, we demonstrate that this quadratic estimator works well on an N-body simulation of size (2.5 h -1 Gpc) 3 . In particular, the quadratic estimator successfully reconstructs the long-wavelength modes using only small-scale information. This opens up novel opportunities to study structure on the largest observable scales.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The Aemulus Project. VI. Emulation of Beyond-standard Galaxy Clustering Statistics to Improve Cosmological Constraints

Abstract There is untapped cosmological information in galaxy redshift surveys in the nonlinear regime. In this work, we use the Aemulus suite of cosmological N -body simulations to construct Gaussian process emulators of galaxy clustering statistics at small scales (0.1–50 h −1 Mpc) in order to constrain cosmological and galaxy bias parameters. In addition to standard statistics—the projected correlation function w p ( r p ), the redshift-space monopole of the correlation function ξ 0 ( s ), and the quadrupole ξ 2 ( s )—we emulate statistics that include information about the local environment, namely the underdensity probability function P U ( s ) and the density-marked correlation function M ( s ). This extends the model of Aemulus III for redshift-space distortions by including new statistics sensitive to galaxy assembly bias. In recovery tests, we find that the beyond-standard statistics significantly increase the constraining power on cosmological parameters of interest: including P U ( s ) and M ( s ) improves the precision of our constraints on Ω m by 27%, σ 8 by 19%, and the growth of structure parameter, f σ 8 , by 12% compared to standard statistics. We additionally find that scales below ∼6 h −1 Mpc contain as much information as larger scales. The density-sensitive statistics also contribute to constraining halo occupation distribution parameters and a flexible environment-dependent assembly bias model, which is important for extracting the small-scale cosmological information as well as understanding the galaxy–halo connection. This analysis demonstrates the potential of emulating beyond-standard clustering statistics at small scales to constrain the growth of structure as a test of cosmic acceleration.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Gas-Liquid Flow Modeling for Renewable Fuels Production

Aerobic/anaerobic and gas fermentation pathways have emerged as promising new technologies for the generation of renewable fuels/chemicals from biomass derived sugars, and mixtures of greenhouse/energy rich gas streams (CO2/CH4/H2/CO) via microbial action. Example pathways include sugars-to-ethanol conversion, biomethanation (CO2/H2 to CH4), biogas upgrading, CO fermentation and wet-waste conversion. Gas and liquid phase transport, mass-transfer, and mixing physics at large length scales can significantly affect microbial conversion rates, particularly when the microbial reaction requires a narrow set of conditions. These phenomena are difficult to study in small-scale bench-top reactors that are typically well-mixed. Predictive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based simulations can therefore aid in the scale-up, design and optimization of these reactors. This work presents multiphase Euler-Euler CFD simulations of at-scale (~500 m3) bioreactors. Our mathematical model treats the gas and liquid as interpenetrating phases. This approach reduces the computational complexity of tracking individual gas bubbles that are several orders of magnitude smaller than reactor dimensions. We solve the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) multiphase equations that account for phase and chemical species transport, interphase mass and momentum transfer and uses a phenomenological model for gas uptake by microbes. We use a customized solver derived from open-source CFD toolbox, OpenFOAM [1], to perform these simulations, which has been validated against small-scale reactors in our previous work [2]. There is currently a knowledge-gap regarding bubble-size distributions when using gas mixtures with vastly different properties, which can have a significant impact overall mass-transfer. For example, hydrogen bubbles are more buoyant compared to other relatively heavier gases (CO2/CH4/CO), resulting in a large distribution of residence times and bubble sizes. This work therefore develops a deeper understanding of bubble dynamics and interphase mass transfer in such heterogenous gas mixtures through well-resolved computational models. We use a population balance model (PBM) for bubble-size-distribution modeling that is validated against small-scale experiments in our solver with an uncertainty quantification study for bubble coalescence and break-up model parameters. Results pertaining to multiple simulations of gas-fermentation reactors are presented where gas mixtures with varying compositions of CO2/CH4/CO/H2 are imposed at the sparger boundaries. The spatio-temporal variations in bubble-size distribution and mass transfer coefficient are analyzed for varying superficial velocities and gas-compositions for varying sizes of bubble-column and airlift reactors. This work will also examine the performance of different reactor designs, viz. bubble column reactor, airlift reactor with an internal draft tube, and a stirred-tank reactor with Rushton impellers. Reactor mass-transfer coefficient, gas hold-up, and dissolved gas distribution are critically analyzed among reactors, and sensitivity studies pertaining to gas flow rates and reactor geometry will be presented. [1] Weller, H., Tabor, G., Jasak, H. and Fureby, C., A tensorial approach to computational continuum mechanics using object-oriented techniques, Computers in physics, 12, 6, 620--631, 1998. [2] Rahimi, M., Sitaraman, H., Humbird, D. and Stickel, J., Computational fluid dynamics study of full-scale aerobic bioreactors: Evaluation of gas-liquid mass transfer, oxygen uptake, and dynamic oxygen distribution, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 139: 283-295.

BIOMASS FUELS↗

Nonlinear bubble competition of the multimode ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability and applications to inertial confinement fusion

The self-similar nonlinear evolution of the multimode ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) and the ablation-generated vorticity effect are studied for a range of initial conditions. We show that, unlike classical RTI, the nonlinear multimode bubble-front evolution remains in the bubble competition regime due to ablation-generated vorticity, which accelerates the bubbles, thereby preventing a transition into the bubble-merger regime. We develop an analytical bubble competition model to describe the linear and nonlinear stages of ablative RTI. Here, we show that vorticity inside the multimode bubbles is most significant at small scales with large initial perturbation. Since these small scales persist in the bubble competition regime, the self-similar growth coefficient ab can be enhanced by up to 30% relative to ablative bubble competition without vorticity effects. We use the ablative bubble competition model to explain the hydrodynamic stability boundary observed in OMEGA low-adiabat implosion experiments.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Fracture Strength Determination Methods for Ceramic Materials Applied to Uranium Dioxide

The Advanced Fuels Campaign is currently focusing on development of accident-tolerant fuels that possess a range of property modifications intended to improve fuel performance during accident and transient conditions as well as extend license limits to burnups beyond 62 MWd/kgU. Both of these drivers have identified understanding and mitigating fuel cracking as a key performance criterion. Small-scale cantilever beam testing has been identified as a plausible method by which to collect fracture data for UO 2 as a function of chemical and structural evolutions introduced either during fabrication or irradiation. While this method has been found to be capable of providing data that are in reasonable agreement with literature for unirradiated UO 2 , the inherently small sample volumes that can be sampled limit its ability to capture the statistical nature of mechanisms that govern the fracture of brittle ceramics. A biaxial flexure strength test was developed to be used for unirradiated UO 2 . This method is standard in the community, but no systems presently in use at national laboratories, universities, or private companies are available to be used for nuclear fuel materials. This report describes the operation and benchmarking of this system, which has been validated for a number of common oxides. Future work will extend this system to characterization of both doped UO 2 and other relevant microstructural modifications that can also be measured using small-scale cantilever beam testing. Comparison of datasets collected using both methods will allow the overall applicability of small-scale techniques to be assessed and provide confidence or bounds on their use for irradiated fuels.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Fuel Injection Dynamics and Composition Effects on RDE Performance

Rotating detonation engines (RDEs) provide a promising route to substantially increasing cycle efficiency in stationary gas turbines. Much of this increase relies on the ability to achieve consistent pressure gain within the combustor. In particular, the design of injectors that feed fuel and air into the detonation channel plays a crucial role. Such injectors have to ensure proper mixing of fuel and oxidizer, while minimizing backflow of detonation products into the feed plenums, and reduce susceptibility to the complex wave structures that exist within the combustor. From a practical perspective, such RDEs also need to operate with variable fuel composition. When fuel mixtures with components that possess vastly different oxidation pathways and time-scales are used, there could be additional losses through deflagrative burning instead of detonation-driven heat release. Such sensitivity to the complete flow path is akin to the physics of thermoacoustic instabilities in conventional gas turbines. In this sense, RDEs pose a unique research challenge: the performance of the device relies on the small-scale heat release process, which is highly dependent on the flow interactions within the full-scale system. As a result, canonical flow configurations, instrumented with detailed diagnostics or modeled using high-fidelity tools, but only focus on the small-scale processes will not contain the key system-level interactions. At the same time, macroscopic measurements and models that only capture system-level performance will not provide insight into the key sources of pressure losses. These couplings and sensitivities provide a formidable challenge to both experimental and simulation studies of the effects Thus, a joint experimental/computational program designed specifically to address these challenges was undertaken in this program. The focus of this program was on two key topics: a) the interaction between injector flow and the overall wave dynamics within the combustor, and b) the deflagration/detonation structure in multi-component fuels that are of practical interest. Both topics involve interaction of small-scale heat release processes with the geometry-dependent wave structure. Studies focused on the study of full-scale RDE systems, based on a 6-inch conventional annular geometry. Experimentally RDEs were studied using a combination of diagnostics. A combination of optical diagnostics and aero-thermo-acoustic analysis based on a combination of spectral and mode decomposition analysis was used to identify the dynamics of the detonation wave and other secondary waves that exist in the system. These studies have helped the identification and investigation of injector and detonation dynamics arising from coupling, and how they affect RDE mixing, detonation structure, operability and performance. Performance of RDEs was investigated through thrust stand measurements, which was used to evaluate the effective pressure gain generated by the system through the concept of equivalent available pressure. Optical diagnostics were developed and implemented to investigate the distribution of heat release, across the detonation wave. Novel optical diagnostics of NIR imaging was also developed and applied to investigate the high temperature / high pressure distribution across the detonation wave. In order to complement the experiments, the computational tools were geared to simulate the full experimental setup. GPU-based acceleration of the models and computations were developed to enable rapid simulation of the full system. In addition, the use of adaptive mesh refinement, and unstructured grid formulation, enabled the investigation of realistic geometries studied in the laboratory. The simulations produced a wealth of detail on the structure of the detonation wave under different operating conditions. Emphasis was placed on quantifying mixture pre-burning and the impact on wave propagation and structure.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Constraining $\mathcal{f(R)}$ gravity with a $\mathcal{k}$-cut cosmic shear analysis of the Hyper Suprime-Cam first-year data

Here, using Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) year 1 data, we perform the first k-cut cosmic shear analysis constraining both Λ CDM and f(R) Hu-Sawicki modified gravity. To generate the f(R) cosmic shear theory vector, we use the matter power spectrum emulator trained on COLA (COmoving Lagrangian Acceleration) simulations [Phys. Rev. D 103, 123525 (2021)]. The k-cut method is used to significantly down-weight sensitivity to small scale (k > 1h Mpc -1 ) modes in the matter power spectrum where the emulator is less accurate, while simultaneously ensuring our results are robust to baryonic feedback model uncertainty. We have also developed a test to ensure that the effects of poorly modeled small scales are nulled as intended. For Λ CDM we find S 8 =σ 8 (Ω m /0.3) 0.5 =0.789$^{+0.039}_{-0.022}$, while the constraints on the f(R) modified gravity parameters are prior dominated. In the future, the k-cut method could be used to constrain a large number of theories of gravity where computational limitations make it infeasible to model the matter power spectrum down to extremely small scales.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The Pantheon+ Analysis: Evaluating Peculiar Velocity Corrections in Cosmological Analyses with Nearby Type Ia Supernovae

Separating the components of redshift due to expansion and peculiar motion in the nearby universe (z < 0.1) is critical for using Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) to measure the Hubble constant (H 0 ) and the equation-of-state parameter of dark energy (w). Here, we study the two dominant "motions" contributing to nearby peculiar velocities: large-scale, coherent-flow (CF) motions and small-scale motions due to gravitationally associated galaxies deemed to be in a galaxy group. We use a set of 584 low-z SNe from the Pantheon+ sample, and evaluate the efficacy of corrections to these motions by measuring the improvement of SN distance residuals. We study multiple methods for modeling the large and small-scale motions and show that, while group assignments and CF corrections individually contribute to small improvements in Hubble residual scatter, the greatest improvement comes from the combination of the two (relative standard deviation of the Hubble residuals, Rel. SD, improves from 0.167 to 0.157 mag). We find the optimal flow corrections derived from various local density maps significantly reduce Hubble residuals while raising H 0 by ~0.4 km s -1 Mpc -1 as compared to using CMB redshifts, disfavoring the hypothesis that unrecognized local structure could resolve the Hubble tension. We estimate that the systematic uncertainties in cosmological parameters after optimally correcting redshifts are 0.06–0.11 km s -1 Mpc -1 in H 0 and 0.02–0.03 in w which are smaller than the statistical uncertainties for these measurements: 1.5 km s -1 Mpc -1 for H 0 and 0.04 for w.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗