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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

StarHorse results for spectroscopic surveys and Gaia DR3: Chrono-chemical populations in the solar vicinity, the genuine thick disk, and young alpha-rich stars

The Gaia mission has provided an invaluable wealth of astrometric data for more than a billion stars in our Galaxy. The synergy between Gaia astrometry, photometry, and spectroscopic surveys gives us comprehensive information about the Milky Way. Using the Bayesian isochrone-fitting code StarHorse, we derive distances and extinctions for more than 10 million unique stars listed in both Gaia Data Release 3 and public spectroscopic surveys: 557 559 in GALAH+ DR3, 4 531 028 in LAMOST DR7 LRS, 347 535 in LAMOST DR7 MRS, 562 424 in APOGEE DR17, 471 490 in RAVE DR6, 249 991 in SDSS DR12 (optical spectra from BOSS and SEGUE), 67 562 in the Gaia-ESO DR5 survey, and 4 211 087 in the Gaia RVS part of the Gaia DR3 release. StarHorse can increase the precision of distance and extinction measurements where Gaia parallaxes alone would be uncertain. We used StarHorse for the first time to derive stellar ages for main-sequence turnoff and subgiant branch stars, around 2.5 million stars, with age uncertainties typically around 30%; the uncertainties drop to 15% for subgiant-branch-only stars, depending on the resolution of the survey. With the derived ages in hand, we investigated the chemical-age relations. In particular, the α and neutron-capture element ratios versus age in the solar neighbourhood show trends similar to previous works, validating our ages. We used the chemical abundances from local subgiant samples of GALAH DR3, APOGEE DR17, and LAMOST MRS DR7 to map groups with similar chemical compositions and StarHorse ages, using the dimensionality reduction technique t-SNE and the clustering algorithm HDBSCAN. We identify three distinct groups in all three samples, confirmed by their kinematic properties: the genuine chemical thick disk, the thin disk, and a considerable number of young alpha-rich stars (427) that are also a part of the delivered catalogues. We confirm that the genuine thick disk’s kinematics and age properties are radically different from those of the thin disk and compatible with high-redshift (z ≈ 2) star-forming disks with high dispersion velocities. We also find a few extra chemical populations in GALAH DR3 thanks to the availability of neutron-capture element information.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2012

Changes in Extratropical Storm Track Cloudiness 1983-2008: Observational Support for a Poleward Shift

Climate model simulations suggest that the extratropical storm tracks will shift poleward as a consequence of global warming. In this study the northern and southern hemisphere storm tracks over the Pacific and Atlantic ocean basins are studied using observational data, primarily from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, ISCCP. Potential shifts in the storm tracks are examined using the observed cloud structures as proxies for cyclone activity. Different data analysis methods are employed, with the objective to address difficulties and uncertainties in using ISCCP data for regional trend analysis. In particular, three data filtering techniques are explored; excluding specific problematic regions from the analysis, regressing out a spurious viewing geometry effect, and excluding specific cloud types from the analysis. These adjustments all, to varying degree, moderate the cloud trends in the original data but leave the qualitative aspects of those trends largely unaffected. Therefore, our analysis suggests that ISCCP data can be used to interpret regional trends in cloudiness, provided that data and instrumental artefacts are recognized and accounted for. The variation in magnitude between trends emerging from application of different data correction methods, allows us to estimate possible ranges for the observational changes. It is found that the storm tracks, here represented by the extent of the midlatitude-centered band of maximum cloud cover over the studied ocean basins, experience a poleward shift as well as a narrowing over the 25 year period covered by ISCCP. The observed magnitudes of these effects are larger than in current generation climate models (CMIP3). The magnitude of the shift is particularly large in the northern hemisphere Atlantic. This is also the one of the four regions in which imperfect data primarily prevents us from drawing firm conclusions. The shifted path and reduced extent of the storm track cloudiness is accompanied by a regional reduction in total cloud cover. This decrease in cloudiness can primarily be ascribed to low level clouds, whereas the upper level cloud fraction actually increases, according to ISCCP. Independent satellite observations of radiative fluxes at the top of the atmosphere are consistent with the changes in total cloud cover. The shift in cloudiness is also supported by a shift in central position of the mid-troposphere meridional temperature gradient. We do not find support for aerosols playing a significant role in the satellite observed changes in cloudiness. The observed changes in storm track cloudiness can be related to local cloud-induced changes in radiative forcing, using ERBE and CERES radiative fluxes. The shortwave and the longwave components are found to act together, leading to a positive (warming) net radiative effect in response to the cloud changes in the storm track regions, indicative of positive cloud feedback. Among the CMIP3 models that simulate poleward shifts in all four storm track areas, all but one show decreasing cloud amount on a global mean scale in response to increased CO2 forcing, further consistent with positive cloud feedback. Models with low equilibrium climate sensitivity to a lesser extent than higher-sensitivity models simulate a poleward shift of the storm tracks.

Bender, Frida A-M.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Atomically Defined Edge-Doping of Graphene Nanoribbons for Mesoscale Electronics

The outstanding transformative potential of graphene, an infinite two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms tightly packed into a honeycomb lattice, has been recognized mostly due to its exceptionally high electric conductivity, thermal conductivity, and tensile strength. These undeniably very desirable properties, however, represent only a very small facet of the true potential of all-sp2 carbon materials and its promise to revolutionize the field of molecular electronics. Graphene's most unusual characteristics emerge when the infinite macroscopic sheet is scaled down to nanometer dimensions. The exploration, realization, and implementation of these truly exotic magnetic and electronic properties rely on the development of innovative synthetic strategies that provide atomically precise control over the self-assembly of mesoscale objects. While traditional device architectures based on inorganic semiconductors have been fabricated using a top-down approach, we pursued a diametrically opposite strategy. Our design of a new generation of high-performance electronic materials relies on a modular bottom-up strategy. This highly multidisciplinary research program has been rooted in the synthesis of functional organic materials with precisely defined properties, their controlled assembly into hierarchical structures, and the evaluation of their performance at the molecular and the macroscopic scale. A part of this research program we have developed the chemical tools required to synthesize and to fine-tune the physical properties of graphene nanoribbons (GNR) with atomic precision. We further demonstrated that the innovative techniques and the expanded knowledge can be used to rationally tailor desired physical properties and function into nanometer-scale carbon-based electronic devices; e.g. transistors as logic gates in computing, data storage media based on electrically gated spin valves, or molecular amplifiers, all functionally integrated in atomically defined GNRs. We demonstrated the design and experimental realization of a rationally engineered graphene nanoribbon superlattice that hosts a 1D array of symmetry-protected topological states. We developed a hierarchical bottom-up fabrication strategy for graphene nanoribbons that preferentially exhibit a single heterojunction interface rather than a random statistical sequence of junctions along the ribbon. We reported the bottom-up synthesis of a series of atomically precise graphene nanoribbons featuring trigonal planar heteroatom dopants (nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur) along the edges that induce a narrowing of the intrinsic band gap by ~0.2–0.3 eV per dopant atom. We reported the bottom-up synthesis of a graphene nanoribbon heterostructure featuring a highly tunable porphyrin quantum dot embedded at the center of a solution processable graphene nanoribbon. We reported a new technique for fabricating bottom-up graphene nanoribbon heterojunctions through a late-stage chemical transformation that results in atomically sharp heterojunction structures from a single precursor. We demonstrated the intrinsic performance enhancement of a composite material comprised of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) embedded in a bottom-up synthesized graphene nanoribbon matrix for the electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 . We developed a scalable, solution-based approach toward the synthesis of an exotic class of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that exhibit unusual electronic and magnetic properties in the ground state. We reported the bottom-up synthesis and characterization of atomically-defined graphene nanoribbons featuring a regioregular pattern of group III dopant atoms (boron) along the backbone of the ribbon.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2003

Multiplexing Technology for Acoustic Emission Monitoring of Aerospace Vehicles

The initiation and propagation of damage mechanisms such as cracks and delaminations generate acoustic waves, which propagate through a structure. These waves can be detected and analyzed to provide the location and severity of damage as part of a structural health monitoring (SHM) system. This methodology of damage detection is commonly known as acoustic emission (AE) monitoring, and is widely used on a variety of applications on civil structures. AE has been widely considered for SHM of aerospace vehicles. Numerous successful ground and flight test demonstrations have been performed, which show the viability of the technology for damage monitoring in aerospace structures. However, one significant current limitation for application of AE techniques on aerospace vehicles is the large size, mass, and power requirements for the necessary monitoring instrumentation. To address this issue, a prototype multiplexing approach has been developed and demonstrated in this study, which reduces the amount of AE monitoring instrumentation required. Typical time division multiplexing techniques that are commonly used to monitor strain, pressure and temperature sensors are not applicable to AE monitoring because of the asynchronous and widely varying rates of AE signal occurrence. Thus, an event based multiplexing technique was developed. In the initial prototype circuit, inputs from eight sensors in a linear array were multiplexed into two data acquisition channels. The multiplexer rapidly switches, in less than one microsecond, allowing the signals from two sensors to be acquired by a digitizer. The two acquired signals are from the sensors on either side of the trigger sensor. This enables the capture of the first arrival of the waves, which cannot be accomplished with the signal from the trigger sensor. The propagation delay to the slightly more distant neighboring sensors makes this possible. The arrival time from this first arrival provides a more accurate source location determination. The multiplexer also identifies which channels are acquired by encoding TTL logic pulses onto the latter portion of the signals. This prototype system was demonstrated using pencil lead break (Hsu-Neilsen) sources on an aluminum plate. It performed as designed providing rapid low noise trigger based switching with encoded channel identification. this multiplexing approach is not limited to linear arrays, but can be easily extended to monitor sensors in planar ot three dimensional arrays. A 32 channel multiplexing system is under development that will allow arbitrary sensor placement. Another benefit of this multiplexing system is the reduction in the expense of data acquisition hardware. In addition, the reduced weight and power requirements are of extreme importance for proposed AE systems on aerospace vehicles.

Prosser, William↗
NASA NTRS2013

Impedance Discontinuity Reduction Between High-Speed Differential Connectors and PCB Interfaces

High-speed serial communication (i.e., Gigabit Ethernet) requires differential transmission and controlled impedances. Impedance control is essential throughout cabling, connector, and circuit board construction. An impedance discontinuity arises at the interface of a high-speed quadrax and twinax connectors and the attached printed circuit board (PCB). This discontinuity usually is lower impedance since the relative dielectric constant of the board is higher (i.e., polyimide approx. = 4) than the connector (Teflon approx. = 2.25). The discontinuity can be observed in transmit or receive eye diagrams, and can reduce the effective link margin of serial data networks. High-speed serial data network transmission improvements can be made at the connector-to-board interfaces as well as improving differential via hole impedances. The impedance discontinuity was improved by 10 percent by drilling a 20-mil (approx. = 0.5-mm) hole in between the pin of a differential connector spaced 55 mils (approx. = 1.4 mm) apart as it is attached to the PCB. The effective dielectric constant of the board can be lowered by drilling holes into the board material between the differential lines in a quadrax or twinax connector attachment points. The differential impedance is inversely proportional to the square root of the relative dielectric constant. This increases the differential impedance and thus reduces the above described impedance discontinuity. The differential via hole impedance can also be increased in the same manner. This technique can be extended to multiple smaller drilled holes as well as tapered holes (i.e., big in the middle followed by smaller ones diagonally).

Navidi, Sal↗
NASA NTRS1998

Minimum Climb to Cruise Noise Trajectories Modeled for the High Speed Civil Transport

The proposed U.S. High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) will revolutionize commercial air travel by providing economical supersonic passenger service to destinations worldwide. Unlike the high-bypass turbofan engines that propel today's subsonic airliners, HSCT engines will have much higher jet exhaust speeds. Jet noise, caused by the turbulent mixing of high-speed exhaust with the surrounding air, poses a significant challenge for HSCT engine designers. To resolve this challenge, engineers have designed advanced mixer rejector nozzles that reduce HSCT jet noise to airport noise certification levels by entraining and mixing large quantities of ambient air with the engines' jet streams. Although this works well during the first several minutes of flight, far away from the airport, as the HSCT gains speed and climbs, poor ejector inlet recovery and ejector ram drag contribute to poor thrust, making it advantageous to turn off the ejector. Doing so prematurely, however, can cause unacceptable noise levels to propagate to the ground, even when the aircraft is many miles from the airport. This situation lends itself ideally to optimization, where the aircraft trajectory, throttle setting, and ejector setting can be varied (subject to practical aircraft constraints) to minimize the noise propagated to the ground. A method was developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center that employs a variation of the classic energy state approximation: a trajectory analysis technique historically used to minimize climb time or fuel burned in many aircraft problems. To minimize the noise on the ground at any given throttle setting, high aircraft altitudes are desirable; but the HSCT may either climb quickly to high altitudes using a high, noisy throttle setting or climb more slowly at a lower, quieter throttle setting. An optimizer has been programmed into NASA's existing aircraft and noise analysis codes to balance these options by dynamically choosing the best altitude-velocity path and throttle setting history. The noise level standard, or metric, used in the optimizer should be one that accurately reflects the subjective annoyance levels of ground-based observers under the flight path. A variety of noise metrics are available, many of which are practical for airport-vicinity noise certification. Unlike airport noise, however, the HSCT's climb noise will be characterized by relatively low noise levels, long durations, and low-frequency spectra. The noise metrics used in these calculations are based on the recommendations of researchers at the NASA Langley Research Center, who have correlated the flyover noise annoyance levels of actual laboratory subjects with a variety of measurements. Analysis of data from this optimizer has shown that significant reductions in noise may be obtained with trajectory optimization. And since throttling operations are performed in the subsonic portion of the climb path (where thrust is plentiful), only small penalties in HSCT range or fuel performance occur.

Berton, Jeffrey J.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

How the Open Data Policy of the Landsat Program Has Advanced Our Understanding of Environmental Change

A time series is a sequence of observations of a phenomenon taken sequentially in time. A crucial characteristic of a time series is the dependence among adjacent observations – techniques for analyzing this dependence are referred to as time series analysis. This analytical approach enables us to predict or forecast future values of a time series, study the impact of various inputs on the observed phenomenon, and examine interrelationships among related time series variables. Within the geographical sciences, time series analysis has historically been limited to coarse-resolution satellite data, as constructing time series of data suitable for studying land cover and land use dynamics, such as Landsat data, were prohibitively costly. A transformative shift occurred in 2008 when the U.S. Government decided to make free and open all past and future data collected by the Landsat satellite program. The decision brought about a paradigm shift away from analyzing individual images or observations to continuous monitoring in time. Of particular relevance to environmental remote sensing is the ability to forecast observations – if we can predict how future observations should behave, we can infer information about how the land surface is changing. In this presentation, we will examine literature examples that showcase scientific gains enabled by time series analysis of satellite data. We will delve into how the analysis of dense time series of satellite data revealed that overall rate of forest disturbance in the Amazon has increased despite a reduction in deforestation; how different types of forest degradation, previously unquantified, are now being accurately assessed in the Caucasus region; and how we now can study the highly dynamic and intricate patterns of shifting cultivation in Southeast Asia.

Pontus Olofsson↗
DOE OSTI2025

VAIM-CFF: a variational autoencoder inverse mapper solution to Compton form factor extraction from deeply virtual exclusive reactions

We develop a new methodology for extracting Compton form factors (CFFs) from deeply virtual exclusive reactions such as the unpolarized DVCS cross section using a specialized inverse problem solver, a variational autoencoder inverse mapper (VAIM). The VAIM-CFF framework not only allows us access to a fitted solution set possibly containing multiple solutions in the extraction of all 8 CFFs from a single cross section measurement, but also accesses the lost information contained in the forward mapping from CFFs to cross section. We investigate various assumptions and their effects on the predicted CFFs such as cross section organization, number of extracted CFFs, use of uncertainty quantification technique, and inclusion of prior physics information. We then use dimensionality reduction techniques such as principal component analysis to visualize the missing physics information tracked in the latent space of the VAIM framework. Through re-framing the extraction of CFFs as an inverse problem, we gain access to fundamental properties of the problem not comprehensible in standard fitting methodologies: exploring the limits of the information encoded in deeply virtual exclusive experiments.

Accelerator Physics↗
NASA NTRS2006

Mechanical Properties of T650-35/AFR-PE-4 at Elevated Temperatures for Lightweight Aeroshell Designs

Considerable efforts have been underway to develop multidisciplinary technologies for aeroshell structures that will significantly increase the allowable working temperature for the aeroshell components, and enable the system to operate at higher temperatures while sustaining performance and durability. As part of these efforts, high temperature polymer matrix composites and fabrication technologies are being developed for the primary load bearing structure (heat shield) of the spacecraft. New high-temperature resins and composite material manufacturing techniques are available that have the potential to significantly improve current aeroshell design. In order to qualify a polymer matrix composite (PMC) material as a candidate aeroshell structural material, its performance must be evaluated under realistic environments. Thus, verification testing of lightweight PMC's at aeroshell entry temperatures is needed to ensure that they will perform successfully in high-temperature environments. Towards this end, a test program was developed to characterize the mechanical properties of two candidate material systems, T650-35/AFR-PE-4 and T650-35/RP46. The two candidate high-temperature polyimide resins, AFR-PE-4 and RP46, were developed at the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA Langley Research Center, respectively. This paper presents experimental methods, strength, and stiffness data of the T650-35/AFR-PE-4 material as a function of elevated temperatures. The properties determined during the research test program herein, included tensile strength, tensile stiffness, Poisson s ratio, compressive strength, compressive stiffness, shear modulus, and shear strength. Unidirectional laminates, a cross-ply laminate and two eight-harness satin (8HS)-weave laminates (4-ply and 10-ply) were tested according to ASTM standard methods at room and elevated temperatures (23, 316, and 343 C). All of the relevant test methods and data reduction schemes are outlined along with mechanical data. These data contribute to a database of material properties for high-temperature polyimide composites that will be used to identify the material characteristics of potential candidate materials for aeroshell structure applications.

Whitley, Karen S.↗
NASA NTRS2016

A Quasi-Global Approach to Improve Day-Time Satellite Surface Soil Moisture Anomalies through the Land Surface Temperature Input

Passive microwave observations from various spaceborne sensors have been linked to the soil moisture of the Earth's surface layer. A new generation of passive microwave sensors are dedicated to retrieving this variable and make observations in the single theoretically optimal L-band frequency (1-2 GHz). Previous generations of passive microwave sensors made observations in a range of higher frequencies, allowing for simultaneous estimation of additional variables required for solving the radiative transfer equation. One of these additional variables is land surface temperature, which plays a unique role in the radiative transfer equation and has an influence on the final quality of retrieved soil moisture anomalies. This study presents an optimization procedure for soil moisture retrievals through a quasi-global precipitation-based verification technique, the so-called Rvalue metric. Various land surface temperature scenarios were evaluated in which biases were added to an existing linear regression, specifically focusing on improving the skills to capture the temporal variability of soil moisture. We focus on the relative quality of the day-time (01:30 pm) observations from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), as these are theoretically most challenging due to the thermal equilibrium theory, and existing studies indicate that larger improvements are possible for these observations compared to their night-time (01:30 am) equivalent. Soil moisture data used in this study were retrieved through the Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM), and in line with theory, both satellite paths show a unique and distinct degradation as a function of vegetation density. Both the ascending (01:30 pm) and descending (01:30 am) paths of the publicly available and widely used AMSR-E LPRM soil moisture products were used for benchmarking purposes. Several scenarios were employed in which the land surface temperature input for the radiative transfer was varied by imposing a bias on an existing regression. These scenarios were evaluated through the Rvalue technique, resulting in optimal bias values on top of this regression. In a next step, these optimal bias values were incorporated in order to re-calibrate the existing linear regression, resulting in a quasi-global uniform LST relation for day-time observations. In a final step, day-time soil moisture retrievals using the re-calibrated land surface temperature relation were again validated through the Rvalue technique. Results indicate an average increasing Rvalue of 16.5%, which indicates a better performance obtained through the re-calibration. This number was confirmed through an independent Triple Collocation verification over the same domain, demonstrating an average root mean square error reduction of 15.3%. Furthermore, a comparison against an extensive in situ database (679 stations) also indicates a generally higher quality for the re-calibrated dataset. Besides the improved day-time dataset, this study furthermore provides insights on the relative quality of soil moisture retrieved from AMSR-E's day- and night-time observations.

soil moisture↗
DOE OSTI2018

Pressure Dependence of Coherence-Incoherence Crossover Behavior in KFe 2 As 2 Observed by Resistivity and 75 As-NMR/NQR.

We present the results of 75 As nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR), and resistivity measurements in KFe 2 As 2 under pressure (p). The temperature dependence of the NMR shift, nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time (T1), and resistivity show a crossover between a high-temperature incoherent, local-moment behavior and a low-temperature coherent behavior at a crossover temperature (T *). T * is found to increase monotonically with pressure, consistent with increasing hybridization between localized 3d orbitalderived bands with the itinerant electron bands. No anomaly in T * is seen at the critical pressure pc = 1.8 GPa where a change of slope of the superconducting (SC) transition temperature Tc(p) has been observed. In contrast, Tc(p) seems to correlate with antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations in the normal state as measured by the NQR 1/T1 data, although such a correlation cannot be seen in the replacement effects of A in the KFe 2 As 2 (A = K, Rb, Cs) family. In the superconducting state, two T1 components are observed at low temperatures, suggesting the existence of two distinct local electronic environments. The temperature dependence of the short T1s indicates a nearly gapless state below Tc. On the other hand, the temperature dependence of the long component 1/T1L implies a large reduction in the density of states at the Fermi level due to the SC gap formation. These results suggest a real-space modulation of the local SC gap structure in KFe 2 As 2 under pressure.

Wiecki, P.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Recent Developments in Gun Operating Techniques at the NASA Ames Ballistic Ranges

This paper describes recent developments in gun operating techniques at the Ames ballistic range complex. This range complex has been in operation since the early 1960s. Behavior of sabots during separation and projectile-target impact phenomena have long been observed by means of short-duration flash X-rays: new versions allow operation in the lower-energy ("soft") X-ray range and have been found to be more effective than the earlier designs. The dynamics of sabot separation is investigated in some depth from X-ray photographs of sabots launched in the Ames 1.0 in and 1.5 in guns; the sabot separation dynamics appears to be in reasonably good agreement with standard aerodynamic theory. Certain sabot packages appear to suffer no erosion or plastic deformation on traversing the gun barrel, contrary to what would be expected. Gun erosion data from the Ames 0.5 in, 1.0 in, and 1.5 in guns is examined in detail and can be correlated with a particular non- dimensionalized powder mass parameter. The gun erosion increases very rapidly as this parameter is increased. Representative shapes of eroded gun barrels are given. Guided by a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, the operating conditions of the Ames 0.5 in and 1.5 in guns were modified. These changes involved: (1) reduction in the piston mass, powder mass and hydrogen fill pressure and (2) reduction in pump tube volume, while maintaining hydrogen mass. These changes resulted in muzzle velocity increases of 0.5-0.8 km/sec, achieved simultaneously with 30-50 percent reductions in gun erosion.

Bogdanoff, D. W.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Controlled neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) healing by fueling pellets and its impact on electron cyclotron current drive requirements for complete NTM stabilization

Controlled partial stabilization of core m/n – 2/1 Neoclassical Tearing Modes (NTMs) by fueling deuterium pellets is reported in DIII-D and KSTAR H-mode plasmas (m=n are the poloidal/toroidal mode numbers). Analyses of DIII-D data exploring possible physics origins show that an explanation is offered by NTM-turbulence multi-scale interaction, triggered by a sudden increase of local gradients near q–2 caused by the pellet. Pellet injection from the high-field side allows deep fueling which reaches the island region. In turn, low-k turbulent density fluctuations (ñ) increase by 30% in the island region. This ñ can drive transport across the island separatrices, reducing the pressure at spot at the O-point and diminishing the NTM drive. The Mirnov probe array detects the reduction of the 2/1 magnetic amplitude by up to 20%. Causality between elevated gradients outside of the island, turbulence spreading into the island and reduced NTM drive is qualitatively supported by non-linear gyrokinetic turbulence simulations. These demonstrate increased penetration of ion-scale ñ from the background plasma to the O-point region when the background gradient is increased. This interaction has potentially far reaching consequences as it can can lead to a reduction of the required electron cyclotron current density (j ECCD ) for NTM suppression by 70%, as predicted by the modified Rutherford equation. Furthermore, this beneicial effect of fueling pellets can be important as j ECCD is the anticipated active NTM control technique for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), but its efficiency will be lowered by third harmonic absorption in Pre-Fusion Power Operation-1 (PFPO-1) at half magnetic field.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

MO-A-BRD-02: Noise Suppression for Dual-Energy CT Through Entropy Minimization

Purpose: In dual energy CT (DECT), noise amplification during signal decomposition significantly limits the utility of basis material images. Since clinically relevant objects contain a limited number of materials, we propose to suppress noise in decomposed images through entropy minimization within a 2D transformation space. Distinct from other noise suppression techniques, the entropy minimization method does not estimate and suppress noise based on spatial variations of signals and thus maximally preserves image spatial resolution. Methods: From decomposed images, we first generate a 2D plot of scattered data points, using basis material densities as coordinates. Data points representing the same material generate a cluster with a highly asymmetric shape. We orient an axis by minimizing the entropy in a 1D histogram of these points projected onto the axis. To suppress noise, we replace the pixel values of decomposed images with center-of-mass values in the direction perpendicular to the optimized axis. The proposed method's performance is assessed using a Catphan 600 phantom and an anthropomorphic head phantom. Electron density calculations are used to quantify its accuracy. Our results are compared to those without noise suppression, with a filtering method, and with a recently developed iterative method. Results: On both phantoms, the proposed method reduces noise standard deviations of the decomposed images by at least on order of magnitude. In the Catphan study, this method retains the spatial resolution of the CT images and increases the accuracy of electron density calculations. In the head phantom study, the proposed method outperforms the others in retaining fine, intricate structures. Conclusion: This work shows that the proposed method of noise suppression through entropy minimization for DECT suppresses noise without loss of spatial resolution while increasing electron density calculation accuracy. Future investigations will analyze possible bias and incorporate spatial information into the technique for further noise reduction. The work is partially supported by the NIH under the grant number R21EB012700.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS2002

Data Analysis for the SOLIS Vector Spectromagnetograph

The National Solar Observatory's SOLIS Vector Spectromagnetograph (VSM), which will produce three or more full-disk maps of the Sun's photospheric vector magnetic field every day for at least one solar magnetic cycle, is in the final stages of assembly. Initial observations, including cross-calibration with the current NASA/NSO spectromagnetograph (SPM) will soon be carried out at a test site in Tucson. This paper discusses data analysis techniques for reducing the raw data, calculation of line-of-sight magnetograms and both quick-look and high-precision inference of vector fields from Stokes spectral profiles. Existing SPM algorithms, suitably modified to accomodate the cameras, scanning pattern, and polarization calibration optics for the VSM, will be used to "clean" the raw data and to process line-of-sight, magnetograms. A recent. version of the High Altitude Observatory Milne-Eddington (HAO-ME) inversion code (Skumanich and Lites; 1987, 11)J 322, p. 473) will he used for high-precision vector fields since the algorithm has been extensively tested, is well understood, and is fast enough to complete data analysis within 24 hours of data acquisition. The simplified inversion algorithm of Auer, Heasley. arid House (1977, Sol. Phys. 55, p. 47) forms the initial guess for this version of the HAO-ME code and will be used for quick-look vector analysis of VSM data since its performance on simulated Stokes profiles is better than other candidate methods. Improvements (e.g., principal components analysis or neural networks) are under consideration and will be straightforward to implement. However, current resources are sufficient to store the original Stokes profiles only long enough for high-precision analysis. Retrospective reduction of Stokes data with improved methods will not be possible, and modifications will only be introduced when the advantages of doing so are compelling enough to justify discontinuity in the long-term data stream.

Jones, Harrison P.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Simulation driven adaptive sampling for neutron-diffraction based strain mapping of additively manufactured parts

Neutron diffraction based strain mapping is a useful technique for measuring residual strains in additively manufactured (AM) metal parts. The measurement is traditionally done by scanning the sample in a point-wise raster pattern to extract the strain at each position. Since the overall scan can span several hours, adaptive sampling approaches using Bayesian optimization based on Gaussian process (BO-GP) regression have been introduced—demonstrating that even with a fraction of the typically made measurements the dominant strain patterns in the sample can be reconstructed. However, the parameters of the BO-GP algorithm have to be carefully chosen for best performance, and the movement time between arbitrary points can offset the time savings from a reduced number of measurement locations. In this paper, we propose algorithms to refine the BO-GP based methods by using simulations of strain patterns in AM parts based on the materials and the process used to print them. We demonstrate that the simulated strain patterns can be used to help choose better parameters for the BO-GP based framework—leading to low reconstruction error for the final strain pattern. Furthermore, we show that the strain mapping experiment can be initialized with a sampling pattern learnt from the simulation data and ordered to reduce movement time, dramatically enabling reduction in the overall time required to run the baseline BO-GP method.

Gaussian process regression↗
DOE OSTI2014

Prediction of solar activity from solar background magnetic field variations in cycles 21-23

A comprehensive spectral analysis of both the solar background magnetic field (SBMF) in cycles 21-23 and the sunspot magnetic field in cycle 23 reported in our recent paper showed the presence of two principal components (PCs) of SBMF having opposite polarity, e.g., originating in the northern and southern hemispheres, respectively. Over a duration of one solar cycle, both waves are found to travel with an increasing phase shift toward the northern hemisphere in odd cycles 21 and 23 and to the southern hemisphere in even cycle 22. These waves were linked to solar dynamo waves assumed to form in different layers of the solar interior. In this paper, for the first time, the PCs of SBMF in cycles 21-23 are analyzed with the symbolic regression technique using Hamiltonian principles, allowing us to uncover the underlying mathematical laws governing these complex waves in the SBMF presented by PCs and to extrapolate these PCs to cycles 24-26. The PCs predicted for cycle 24 very closely fit (with an accuracy better than 98%) the PCs derived from the SBMF observations in this cycle. This approach also predicts a strong reduction of the SBMF in cycles 25 and 26 and, thus, a reduction of the resulting solar activity. This decrease is accompanied by an increasing phase shift between the two predicted PCs (magnetic waves) in cycle 25 leading to their full separation into the opposite hemispheres in cycle 26. The variations of the modulus summary of the two PCs in SBMF reveals a remarkable resemblance to the average number of sunspots in cycles 21-24 and to predictions of reduced sunspot numbers compared to cycle 24: 80% in cycle 25 and 40% in cycle 26.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1994

An operations and command systems for the extreme ultraviolet explorer

About 40% of the budget of a scientific spacecraft mission is usually consumed by Mission Operations & Data Analysis (MO&DA) with MO driving these costs. In the current practice, MO is separated from spacecraft design and comes in focus relatively late in the mission life cycle. As a result, spacecraft may be designed that are very difficult to operate. NASA centers have extensive MO expertise but often lessons learned in one mission are not exploited for other parallel or future missions. A significant reduction of MO costs is essential to ensure a continuing and growing access to space for the scientific community. We are addressing some of these issues with a highly automated payload operations and command system for an existing mission, the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE). EUVE is currently operated jointly by the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), responsible for spacecraft operations, and the Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Astrophysics (CEA) of the University of California, Berkeley, which controls the telescopes and scientific instruments aboard the satellite. The new automated system is being developed by a team including personnel from the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Center for EUV Astrophysics (CEA). An important goal of the project is to provide AI-based technology that can be easily operated by nonspecialists in AI. Another important goal is the reusability of the techniques for other missions. Models of the EUVE spacecraft need to be built both for planning/scheduling and for monitoring. In both cases, our modeling tools allow the assembly of a spacecraft model from separate sub-models of the various spacecraft subsystems. These sub-models are reusable; therefore, building mission operations systems for another small satellite mission will require choosing pre-existing modules, reparametrizing them with respect to the actual satellite telemetry information, and reassembling them in a new model. We briefly describe the EUVE mission and indicate why it is particularly suitable for the task. Then we briefly outline our current work in mission planning/scheduling and spacecraft and instrument health monitoring.

Muscettola, Nicola↗

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