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At least 235 records · Page 13

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NASA NTRS2015

Search for Sugars and Related Compounds in Residues Produced from the UV Irradiation of Astrophysical Ice Analogs

A large variety and number of organic compounds of prebiotic interest have been detected in meteorites. Among them, one sugar (dihydroxyacetone) as well as several sugar acids and sugar alcohols have been detected in Murchison and Murray [1]. Their presence in meteorites, along with amino acids, amphiphiles, and nucleobases [2-6], strongly suggests that molecules essential to life can form abiotically under astrophysical conditions. This hypothesis is supported by laboratory studies on the formation of complex organic molecules from the ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of astrophysical ice analogs (H2O, CO, CO2, CH3OH, CH4, NH3, etc.). These studies show that the organic residues recovered at room temperature after the UV irradiation of such ice mixtures contain amino acids [7-9], amphiphiles [4], nucleobases [10-13], and other organic complex organic compounds [14-16]. However, no systematic search for the presence of sugars, sugar acids, and sugar alcohols in laboratory residues have been reported to date, despite the fact that those compounds are involved in a large number of biological processes. Only a limited number of small (less than or equal to 3 carbon atoms) sugar derivatives such as glycerol and glyceric acid have been detected in residues [14-16]. In this work, we show results obtained from the systematic search for sugars and sugar-related compounds in organic residues produced from the UV irradiation of simple CH3OH and H2O+CH3OH ices, and more astrophysically relevant ice mixtures containing H2O, CH3OH, CO, and NH3. The results are compared with measurements of sugars and related compounds in primitive meteorites.

Murchison and Murray↗

NASA NTRS2019

Laboratory Astrophysics Studies of the Evolution of Organic Matter with the COSmIC Facility.

Understanding the origin of organic matter in astrophysical environments ranging from circumstellar (CS) outflows to diffuse and dense interstellar (IS) clouds to protoplanetary disks and planetary bodies has become a central objective in astrophysics. Experimental facilities dedicated to the formation and characterization of laboratory analogs generated under conditions relevant to the targeted environments have been developed in the past recent years. Recent advances achieved in laboratory astrophysics using COSmIC’s laboratory data in synergy with observational data will be presented. These results include the use of laboratory spectra to search for IS organic molecules and ions in astronomical spectra, the formation of laboratory analogs of CS and IS dust grains and planetary atmospheres aerosols from molecular precursors.

Salama, Farid↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Role of NASA Engineering & Safety Center (NESC) in Advancing NASA’s Astrophysics Missions (Past, Present, and Future)

The NASA Engineering & Safety Center (NESC) was established in 2003 (after the Columbia accident) to provide an independent technical resource for the resolution of challenging technical problems (through the use of studies, analysis, tests, etc.) for NASA programs and projects. Since its inception, NESC has completed nearly 1000 technical assessments for NASA’s Human Exploration and Operation Mission Directorate (HEOMD), Science Mission Directorate (SMD), Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), and Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). Of the SMD related assessments, several were for the resolution of technical problems, analysis, or studies related to NASA’s astrophysics missions in various phases of the project from design to operation. Some of the recent examples of NESC technical support for NASA astrophysics missions have been for: Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Kepler Space Telescope, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). In this paper, we outline some of the technical challenges faced by these astrophysics missions and describe how NESC contributed to their resolution. The case studies cover a wide range of disciplines involving space telescopes, detectors, lasers, and attitude control systems. These efforts include innovative solutions for extending the life of the missions, technical resolution of challenging problems, strategies for risk mitigation, and failure investigations combined with lessons learned reports to advance discipline knowledge, enhance NASA capabilities, and avoid future problems.

NASA↗

NASA NTRS2021

The POEMMA (Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics) Observatory

The Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA) is designed to accurately observe ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and cosmic neutrinos from space with sensitivity over the full celestial sky. POEMMA will observe the air fluorescence produced by extensive air showers (EASs) from UHECRs and potentially UHE neutrinos above 20 EeV. Additionally, POEMMA has the ability to observe the Cherenkov signal from upward-moving EASs induced by Earth-interacting tau neutrinos above 20 PeV. The POEMMA spacecraft are designed to quickly re-orientate to follow up transient neutrino sources and obtain currently unparalleled neutrino flux sensitivity. Developed as a NASA Astrophysics Probe-class mission, POEMMA consists of two identical satellites flying in loose formation in 525 km altitude orbits. Each POEMMA instrument incorporates a wide field-of-view (45°) Schmidt telescope with an optical collecting area of over 6 sq. m. The hybrid focal surface of each telescope includes a fast (1 μs) near-ultraviolet camera for EAS fluorescence observations and an ultrafast (10 ns) optical camera for Cherenkov EAS observations. In a 5-year mission, POEMMA will provide measurements that open new multi-messenger windows onto the most energetic events in the universe, enabling the study of new astrophysics and particle physics at these extreme energies.

A. V. Olinto↗

NASA NTRS2021

The POEMMA (Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics)Observatory

The Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA) is designed to accurately observe ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and cosmic neutrinos from space with sensitivity over the full celestial sky. POEMMA will observe the air fluorescence produced by extensive air showers (EASs) from UHECRs and potentially UHE neutrinos above 20 EeV. Additionally, POEMMA has the ability to observe the Cherenkov signal from upward-moving EASs induced by Earth-interacting tau neutrinos above 20 PeV. The POEMMA spacecraft are designed to quickly re-orientate to follow up transient neutrino sources and obtain currently unparalleled neutrino flux sensitivity. Developed as a NASA Astrophysics Probe-class mission, POEMMA consists of two identical satellites flying in loose formation in 525 km altitude orbits. Each POEMMA instrument incorporates a wide field-of-view (45°) Schmidt telescope with an optical collecting area of over 6 m2. The hybrid focal surface of each telescope includes a fast (1 μs) near-ultraviolet camera for EAS fluorescence observations and an ultrafast (10 ns) optical camera for Cherenkov EAS observations. In a 5-year mission, POEMMA will provide measurements that open new multi-messenger windows onto the most energetic events in the universe, enabling the study of new astrophysics and particle physics at these extreme energies.

A. V. Olinto↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

AstroDOME: Standardized, Mass-Produceable, Small NASA Astrophysics Observatories for Big Missions

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is investigating the use of small, commercial off the shelf (COTS) spacecraft to enable breakthrough astrophysics research at radically reduced cost over previous generations of missions. This paper will focus on the Mission Systems perspective of this investigation. It will cover the spacecraft to instrument interface, and lessons learned in early concept payload development. Low-cost COTS spacecraft have proliferated in the last ~5 years. They represent an order of magnitude reduction in the cost of spacecraft bus development and acquisition. They are enabled by the advent of low-cost smallsat launch options in the immediately preceding years, and are seeded by recent distributed and disaggregated missions in other sectors such as telecommunications megaconstellations (e.g. Starlink, OneWeb, Project Kuiper) and ongoing Space Development Agency (SDA) developments. Our study was tasked with developing a standardized, mass-produceable, astrophysics payload which is reconfigurable to different wavelength bands while maintaining a single optics bench design, and a standardized mechanical, electrical, data, and thermal interface to the spacecraft bus, and which may be reconfigured to multiple COTS spacecraft offerings. In this paper we will discuss lessons learned from our case study. We will also present identified keys to mission success for performing cutting edge astrophysics observations while taking advantage of economies of scale with a disaggregated, standardized architecture.

Matthew Marcus↗

DOE OSTI2018

Astrophysical neutrinos and cosmic rays observed by IceCube

The core mission of the IceCube neutrino observatory is to study the origin and propagation of cosmic rays. IceCube, with its surface component IceTop, observes multiple signatures to accomplish this mission. Most important are the astrophysical neutrinos that are produced in interactions of cosmic rays, close to their sources and in interstellar space. IceCube is the first instrument that measures the properties of this astrophysical neutrino flux and constrains its origin. In addition, the spectrum, composition, and anisotropy of the local cosmic-ray flux are obtained from measurements of atmospheric muons and showers. Here we provide an overview of recent findings from the analysis of IceCube data, and their implications to our understanding of cosmic rays.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

KamLAND’s search for correlated low-energy electron antineutrinos with astrophysical neutrinos from IceCube

In this work, we report the results of a search for MeV-scale astrophysical neutrinos in KamLAND presented as an excess in the number of coincident neutrino interactions associated with the publicly available high-energy neutrino datasets from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. We find no statistically significant excess in the number of observed low-energy electron antineutrinos in KamLAND, given a coincidence time window of ±500 s, ±1,000 s, ±3,600 s, and ±10,000 s around each of the IceCube neutrinos. We use this observation to present limits from 1.8 MeV to 100 MeV on the electron antineutrino fluence, assuming a mono-energetic flux. We then compare the results to several astrophysical measurements performed by IceCube and place a limit at the 90% confidence level on the electron antineutrino isotropic thermal luminosity from the TXS 0506+056 blazar.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Laboratory disruption of scaled astrophysical outflows by a misaligned magnetic field

The shaping of astrophysical outflows into bright, dense, and collimated jets due to magnetic pressure is here investigated using laboratory experiments. Here we look at the impact on jet collimation of a misalignment between the outflow, as it stems from the source, and the magnetic field. For small misalignments, a magnetic nozzle forms and redirects the outflow in a collimated jet. For growing misalignments, this nozzle becomes increasingly asymmetric, disrupting jet formation. Our results thus suggest outflow/magnetic field misalignment to be a plausible key process regulating jet collimation in a variety of objects from our Sun’s outflows to extragalatic jets. Furthermore, they provide a possible interpretation for the observed structuring of astrophysical jets. Jet modulation could be interpreted as the signature of changes over time in the outflow/ambient field angle, and the change in the direction of the jet could be the signature of changes in the direction of the ambient field.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2013

DIANA - A deep underground accelerator for nuclear astrophysics experiments

DIANA (Dakota Ion Accelerator for Nuclear Astrophysics) is a proposed facility designed to be operated deep underground. The DIANA collaboration includes nuclear astrophysics groups from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Michigan State University, Western Michigan University, Colorado School of Mines, and the University of North Carolina, and is led by the University of Notre Dame. The scientific goals of the facility are measurements of low energy nuclear cross-sections associated with sun and pre-supernova stars in a laboratory setup at energies that are close to those in stars. Because of the low stellar temperatures associated with these environments, and the high Coulomb barrier, the reaction cross-sections are extremely low. Therefore these measurements are hampered by small signal to background ratios. By going underground the background due to cosmic rays can be reduced by several orders of magnitude. We report on the design status of the DIANA facility with focus on the 3 MV electrostatic accelerator.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2013

Light element opacities of astrophysical interest from ATOMIC

We present new calculations of local-thermodynamic-equilibrium (LTE) light element opacities from the Los Alamos ATOMIC code for systems of astrophysical interest. ATOMIC is a multi-purpose code that can generate LTE or non-LTE quantities of interest at various levels of approximation. Our calculations, which include fine-structure detail, represent a systematic improvement over previous Los Alamos opacity calculations using the LEDCOP legacy code. The ATOMIC code uses ab-initio atomic structure data computed from the CATS code, which is based on Cowan's atomic structure codes, and photoionization cross section data computed from the Los Alamos ionization code GIPPER. ATOMIC also incorporates a new equation-of-state (EOS) model based on the chemical picture. ATOMIC incorporates some physics packages from LEDCOP and also includes additional physical processes, such as improved free-free cross sections and additional scattering mechanisms. Our new calculations are made for elements of astrophysical interest and for a wide range of temperatures and densities.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2013

Nuclear astrophysics and electron beams

Electron beams provide important probes and constraints for nuclear astrophysics. This is especially exciting at energies within the regime of chiral effective field theory (EFT), which provides a systematic expansion for nuclear forces and electroweak operators based on quantum chromodynamics. This talk discusses some recent highlights and future directions based on chiral EFT, including nuclear structure and reactions for astrophysics, the neutron skin and constraints for the properties of neutron-rich matter in neutron stars and core-collapse supernovae, and the dark matter response of nuclei.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

Astrophysics experiments with radioactive beams at ATLAS

Reactions involving short-lived nuclei play an important role in nuclear astrophysics, especially in explosive scenarios which occur in novae, supernovae or X-ray bursts. This article describes the nuclear astrophysics program with radioactive ion beams at the ATLAS accelerator at Argonne National Laboratory. The CARIBU facility as well as recent improvements for the in-flight technique are discussed. New detectors which are important for studies of the rapid proton or the rapid neutron-capture processes are described. At the end we briefly mention plans for future upgrades to enhance the intensity, purity and the range of in-flight and CARIBU beams.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

Indirect methods of determination of the asymptotic normalization coefficients and their application for nuclear astrophysics

The basic methods of the determination of asymptotic normalization coefficient for A+a→B of astrophysical interest are briefly presented. The results of the application of the specific asymptotic normalization coefficients derived within these methods for the extrapolation of the astrophysical S factors to experimentally inaccessible energy regions (E ≤ 25 keV) for the some specific radiative capture A(a,γ)B reactions of the pp-chain and the CNO cycle are presented.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Investigating resonances above and below the threshold in nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest and beyond

Resonances in nuclear cross sections dramatically change their trends. Therefore, the presence of unexpected resonances might lead to unpredicted consequences on astrophysics and nuclear physics. In nuclear physics, resonances allow one to study states in the intermediate compound systems, to evaluate their cluster structure, for instance, especially in the energy regions approaching particle decay thresholds. In astrophysics, resonances might lead to changes in the nucleosynthesis flow, determining different isotopic compositions of the nuclear burning ashes. For these reasons, the Trojan Horse method has been modified to investigate resonant reactions. Thanks to this novel approach, for the first time normalization to direct data might be avoided. Moreover, in the case of sub threshold resonances, the Trojan Horse method modified to investigate resonances allows one to deduce the asymptotic normalization coefficient, showing the close connection between the two indirect approaches.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2016

Neutrinos in astrophysics and cosmology

Neutrinos play a crucial role in many aspects of astrophysics and cosmology. Since they control the electron fraction, or equivalently neutron-to-proton ratio, neutrino properties impact yields of r-process nucleosynthesis. Similarly the weak decoupling temperature in the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis epoch is exponentially dependent on the neutron-to-proton ratio. In these conference proceedings, I briefly summarize some of the recent work exploring the role of neutrinos in astrophysics and cosmology.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2013

CHARGING OF AGGREGATE GRAINS IN ASTROPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS

The charging of dust grains in astrophysical environments has been investigated with the assumption that these grains are homogeneous spheres. However, there is evidence which suggests that many grains in astrophysical environments are irregularly shaped aggregates. Recent studies have shown that aggregates acquire higher charge-to-mass ratios due to their complex structures, which in turn may alter their subsequent dynamics and evolution. In this paper, the charging of aggregates is examined including secondary electron emission and photoemission in addition to primary plasma currents. The results show that the equilibrium charge on aggregates can differ markedly from spherical grains with the same mass, but that the charge can be estimated for a given environment based on structural characteristics of the grain. The 'small particle effect' due to secondary electron emission is also important for de terming the charge of micron-sized aggregates consisting of nano-sized particles.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2013

AN UPDATED {sup 6}Li(p, {alpha}){sup 3}He REACTION RATE AT ASTROPHYSICAL ENERGIES WITH THE TROJAN HORSE METHOD

The lithium problem influencing primordial and stellar nucleosynthesis is one of the most interesting unsolved issues in astrophysics. {sup 6}Li is the most fragile of lithium's stable isotopes and is largely destroyed in most stars during the pre-main-sequence (PMS) phase. For these stars, the convective envelope easily reaches, at least at its bottom, the relatively low {sup 6}Li ignition temperature. Thus, gaining an understanding of {sup 6}Li depletion also gives hints about the extent of convective regions. For this reason, charged-particle-induced reactions in lithium have been the subject of several studies. Low-energy extrapolations of these studies provide information about both the zero-energy astrophysical S(E) factor and the electron screening potential, U{sub e} . Thanks to recent direct measurements, new estimates of the {sup 6}Li(p, {alpha}){sup 3}He bare-nucleus S(E) factor and the corresponding U{sub e} value have been obtained by applying the Trojan Horse method to the {sup 2}H({sup 6}Li, {alpha} {sup 3}He)n reaction in quasi-free kinematics. The calculated reaction rate covers the temperature window 0.01 to 2T{sub 9} and its impact on the surface lithium depletion in PMS models with different masses and metallicities has been evaluated in detail by adopting an updated version of the FRANEC evolutionary code.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗