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

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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Models of SIV rebound after treatment interruption that involve multiple reactivation events

In order to assess the efficacy of novel HIV-1 treatments leading to a functional cure, the time to viral rebound is frequently used as a surrogate endpoint. The longer the time to viral rebound, the more efficacious the therapy. In support of such an approach, mathematical models serve as a connection between the size of the latent reservoir and the time to HIV-1 rebound after treatment interruption. The simplest of such models assumes that a single successful latent cell reactivation event leads to observable viremia after a period of exponential viral growth. Here we consider a generalization developed by Pinkevych et al. and Hill et al. of this simple model in which multiple reactivation events can occur, each contributing to the exponential growth of the viral load. We formalize and improve the previous derivation of the dynamics predicted by this model, and use the model to estimate relevant biological parameters from SIV rebound data. We confirm a previously described effect of very early antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation on the rate of recrudescence and the viral load growth rate after treatment interruption. We find that every day ART initiation is delayed results in a 39% increase in the recrudescence rate (95% credible interval: [18%, 62%]), and a 11% decrease of the viral growth rate (95% credible interval: [4%, 20%]). We show that when viral rebound occurs early relative to the viral load doubling time, a model with multiple successful reactivation events fits the data better than a model with only a single successful reactivation event.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

A review of ptychographic techniques for ultrashort pulse measurement

The measurement of optical ultrafast laser pulses is done indirectly because the required bandwidth to measure these pulses exceeds the bandwidth of current electronics. As a result, this measurement problem is often posed as a 1-D phase retrieval problem, which is fraught with ambiguities. The phase retrieval method known as ptychography solves this problem by making it possible to measure ultrafast pulses in either the time domain or the frequency domain. One well known algorithm is the principal components generalized projections algorithm (PCGPA) for extracting pulses from Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating (FROG) measurements. In this work, we discuss the development of the PCPGA and introduce new developments including an operator formalism that allows for the convenient addition of external constraints and the development of more robust algorithms. A close cousin, the ptychographic iterative engine will also be covered and compared to the PCGPA. Additional developments using other algorithmic strategies will also be discussed along with new developments combining optics and high-speed electronics to achieve megahertz measurement rates.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

Many-body factorization and position–momentum equivalence of nuclear short-range correlations

While mean-field approximations, such as the nuclear shell model, provide a good description of many bulk nuclear properties, they fail to capture the important effects of nucleon–nucleon correlations such as the short-distance and high-momentum components of the nuclear many-body wave function1. Here, we study these components using the effective pair-based generalized contact formalism and ab initio quantum Monte Carlo calculations of nuclei from deuteron to 40 Ca. We observe a universal factorization of the many-body nuclear wave function at short distance into a strongly interacting pair and a weakly interacting residual system. The residual system distribution is consistent with that of an uncorrelated system, showing that short-distance correlation effects are predominantly embedded in two-body correlations. Spin- and isospin-dependent ‘nuclear contact terms’ are extracted in both coordinate and momentum space for different realistic nuclear potentials. The contact coefficient ratio between two different nuclei shows very little dependence on the nuclear interaction model. These findings thus allow extending the application of mean-field approximations to short-range correlated pair formation by showing that the relative abundance of short-range pairs in the nucleus is a long-range (that is, mean field) quantity that is insensitive to the short-distance nature of the nuclear force.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Few-Body Bound States and Resonances in Finite Volume

Since the pioneering work of Lüscher in the 1980s it is well known that considering quantum systems in finite volume, specifically, finite periodic boxes, can be used as a powerful computational tool to extract physical observables. While this formalism has been worked out in great detail in the two-body sector, much effort is currently being invested into deriving analogous relations for systems with more constituents. This work is relevant not only for nuclear physics, where lattice methods are now able to calculate few- and many-nucleon states, but also for other fields such as simulations of cold atoms. This article discusses recent progress regarding the extraction of few-body bound-state and resonance properties from finite-volume calculations of systems with an arbitrary number of constituents.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1996

The First Joint Report of the General Thomas P. Stafford Task Force and the Academician Vladimir F. Utkin Advisory Expert Council on the Shuttle-Mir Rendezvous and Docking Missions

In October 1992, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Space Agency (RSA) formally agreed to conduct a fundamentally new program of human cooperation in space. The 'Shuttle-Mir Program' encompassed combined astronaut-cosmonaut activities on the Shuttle, Soyuz Test Module(TM), and Mir station spacecraft. At that time, NASA and RSA limited the project to: the STS-60 mission carrying the first Russian cosmonaut to fly on the U.S. Space Shuttle; the launch of the first U.S. astronaut on the Soyuz vehicle for a multi-month mission as a member of a Mir crew; and the change-out of the U.S.-Russian Mir crews with a Russian crew during a Shuttle rendezvous and docking mission with the Mir Station. The objectives of the Phase 1 Program are to provide the basis for the resolution of engineering and technical problems related to the implementation of the ISS and future U.S.-Russian cooperation in space. This, combined with test data generated during the course of the Shuttle flights to the Mir station and extended joint activities between U.S. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts aboard Mir, is expected to reduce the technical risks associated with the construction and operation of the ISS. Phase 1 will further enhance the ISS by combining space operations and joint space technology demonstrations. Phase 1 also provides early opportunities for extended U.S. scientific and research activities, prior to utilization of the ISS.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2025

Nonperturbative quantum gravity in a closed Lorentzian universe

We study how meaningful physical predictions can arise in nonperturbative quantum gravity in a closed Lorentzian universe. In such settings, recent developments suggest that the quantum gravitational Hilbert space is one-dimensional and real for each α-sector, as induced by spacetime wormholes. This appears to obstruct the conventional quantum-mechanical prescription of assigning probabilities via projection onto a basis of states. While previous approaches have introduced external observers or augmented the theory to resolve this issue, we argue that quantum gravity itself contains all the necessary ingredients to make physical predictions. We demonstrate that the emergence of classical observables and probabilistic outcomes can be understood as a consequence of partial observability: physical observers access only a subsystem of the universe. Tracing out the inaccessible degrees of freedom yields reduced density matrices that encode classical information, with uncertainties exponentially suppressed by the environment’s entropy. We develop this perspective using both the Lorentzian path integral and operator formalisms and support it with a simple microscopic model. Our results show that quantum gravity in a closed universe naturally gives rise to meaningful, robust predictions without recourse to external constructs.

AdS-CFT Correspondence↗
NASA NTRS1999

Lesson Plan Prototype for International Space Station's Interactive Video Education Events

The outreach and education components of the International Space Station Program are creating a number of materials, programs, and activities that educate and inform various groups as to the implementation and purposes of the International Space Station. One of the strategies for disseminating this information to K-12 students involves an electronic class room using state of the art video conferencing technology. K-12 classrooms are able to visit the JSC, via an electronic field trip. Students interact with outreach personnel as they are taken on a tour of ISS mockups. Currently these events can be generally characterized as: Being limited to a one shot events, providing only one opportunity for students to view the ISS mockups; Using a "one to many" mode of communications; Using a transmissive, lecture based method of presenting information; Having student interactions limited to Q&A during the live event; Making limited use of media; and Lacking any formal, performance based, demonstration of learning on the part of students. My project involved developing interactive lessons for K-12 students (specifically 7th grade) that will reflect a 2nd generation design for electronic field trips. The goal of this design will be to create electronic field trips that will: Conform to national education standards; More fully utilize existing information resources; Integrate media into field trip presentations; Make support media accessible to both presenters and students; Challenge students to actively participate in field trip related activities; and Provide students with opportunities to demonstrate learning

Zigon, Thomas↗
NASA NTRS2011

Summary Report for National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) and Centro Para Prevencao da Poluicao (C3P) 2011 International Workshop on Environment and Alternative Energy

The C3P &. NASA International Workshop on Environment and Alternative Energy was held on November 15-18, 2011 at the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. The theme of the workshop was "Global Collaboration in Environmental and Alternative Energy Strategies". The workshop was held at ESTEC's conference center. More than 110 individuals from eleven countries attended the workshop. For the first time since the inception of NASA-C3P workshops, a full day was dedicated to a student session. Fifteen students from around the globe gave oral presentations along with poster displays relating to the latest technologies in environmental and alternative energy strategies. Judges from NASA, C3P and ESA awarded plaques to the top three students. In addition to the students, thirty eight U.S. and international subject matter experts presented on the following general environmental-related topics: (1) Hazardous materials management and substitution in support of space operations (2) Emerging renewable and alternative energy technologies (3) Sustainable development and redevelopment (4) Remediation technologies and strategies The workshop also included a panel discussion on the topic of the challenges of operating installations across borders. Throughout the workshop, attendees heard about the scope of environmental and energy challenges that industry and governments face. They heard about technologies for increasing energy efficiency and increasing use of renewable energy. They learned about ways companies and government agencies are using materials, processes, goods and services in a manner more respectful with the environment and in compliance with health and safety rules. The concept of partnerships and their inherent benefits was evidenced throughout the workshop. Partnering is a key aspect of sustainability because sustainable development is complicated. Through formal presentations and side discussions, attendees commented on the need for continued exploration of joint projects of mutual interest.

Greene, Brian↗
DOE OSTI2021

Constraints on a massive double-copy and applications to massive gravity

We propose and study a BCJ double-copy of massive particles, showing that it is equivalent to a KLT formula with a kernel given by the inverse of a matrix of massive bi-adjoint scalar amplitudes. For models with a uniform non-zero mass spectrum we demonstrate that the resulting double-copy factors on physical poles and that up to at least 5-particle scattering, color-kinematics duality satisfying numerators always exist. For the scattering of 5 or more particles, the procedure generically introduces spurious singularities that must be cancelled by imposing additional constraints. When massive particles are present, color-kinematics duality is not enough to guarantee a physical double-copy. As an example, we apply the formalism to massive Yang-Mills and show that up to 4-particle scattering the double-copy construction generates physical amplitudes of a model of dRGT massive gravity coupled to a dilaton and a two-form with dilaton parity violating couplings. We show that the spurious singularities in the 5-particle double-copy do not cancel in this example, and the construction fails to generate physically sensible amplitudes. We conjecture sufficient constraints on the mass spectrum, which in addition to massive BCJ relations, guarantee the absence of spurious singularities.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS2003

Computational Aeroelasticity: Success, Progress, Challenge

The formal term Computational Aeroelasticity (CAE) has only been recently adopted to describe aeroelastic analysis methods coupling high-level computational fluid dynamics codes with structural dynamics techniques. However, the general field of aeroelastic computations has enjoyed a rich history of development and application since the first hand-calculations performed in the mid 1930 s. This paper portrays a much broader definition of Computational Aeroelasticity; one that encompasses all levels of aeroelastic computation from the simplest linear aerodynamic modeling to the highest levels of viscous unsteady aerodynamics, from the most basic linear beam structural models to state-of-the-art Finite Element Model (FEM) structural analysis. This paper is not written as a comprehensive history of CAE, but rather serves to review the development and application of aeroelastic analysis methods. It describes techniques and example applications that are viewed as relatively mature and accepted, the "successes" of CAE. Cases where CAE has been successfully applied to unique or emerging problems, but the resulting techniques have proven to be one-of-a-kind analyses or areas where the techniques have yet to evolve into a routinely applied methodology are covered as "progress" in CAE. Finally the true value of this paper is rooted in the description of problems where CAE falls short in its ability to provide relevant tools for industry, the so-called "challenges" to CAE.

Schuster, David M.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Dark matter absorption via electronic excitations

We revisit the calculation of bosonic dark matter absorption via electronic excitations. Working in an effective field theory framework and consistently taking into account in-medium effects, we clarify the relation between dark matter and photon absorption. As is well-known, for vector (dark photon) and pseudoscalar (axion-like particle) dark matter, the absorption rates can be simply related to the target material’s optical properties. However, this is not the case for scalar dark matter, where the dominant contribution comes from a different operator than the one contributing to photon absorption, which is formally next-to-leading-order and does not suffer from in-medium screening. It is therefore imperative to have reliable first-principles numerical calculations and/or semi-analytic modeling in order to predict the detection rate. We present updated sensitivity projections for semiconductor crystal and superconductor targets for ongoing and proposed direct detection experiments.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS2001

Institution Morphisms

Institutions formalize the intuitive notion of logical system, including both syntax and semantics. A surprising number of different notions of morphisim have been suggested for forming categories with institutions as objects, and a surprising variety of names have been proposed for them. One goal of this paper is to suggest a terminology that is both uniform and informative to replace the current rather chaotic nomenclature. Another goal is to investigate the properties and interrelations of these notions. Following brief expositions of indexed categories, twisted relations, and Kan extensions, we demonstrate and then exploit the duality between institution morphisms in the original sense of Goguen and Burstall, and the 'plain maps' of Meseguer, obtaining simple uniform proofs of completeness and cocompleteness for both resulting categories; because of this duality, we prefer the name 'comorphism' over 'plain map.' We next consider 'theoroidal' morphisms and comorphisims, which generalize signatures to theories, finding that the 'maps' of Meseguer are theoroidal comorphisms, while theoroidal morphisms are a new concept. We then introduce 'forward' and 'semi-natural' morphisms, and appendices discuss institutions for hidden algebra, universal algebra, partial equational logic, and a variant of order sorted algebra supporting partiality.

Goguen, Joseph↗
DOE OSTI2025

Shining a Light on the Nucleus: Photonuclear Measurements from Correlations to Charmonium

The atomic nucleus is comprised of a collection of nucleons (protons and neutrons), which are bound together by the nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction that originates from Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). While most nucleons experience the force from the rest of the nu- cleus as a single net “mean-field” interaction that binds them relatively weakly, a small but impactful fraction are in configurations called “Short-Range Correlations” (SRCs), in which they pair with another nucleon at very short distance to experience strong interactions, sig- nificant binding, and high momentum. Hard, high-energy scattering reactions in which an SRC pair is broken apart, knocking both nucleons out of the nucleus, provide the ability to probe the details of these SRC configurations in the nucleus. Previous measurements have had limited statistics and kinematic reach, and the theoretical tools available were in- sufficient to draw quantitative conclusions regarding the ground-state properties of SRCs. The studies described in this thesis represent the first global analysis of SRC breakup mea- surements in order to present a unified picture of SRCs within light- to medium-size nuclei. This includes the use of a novel theoretical framework, the Generalized Contact Formalism, which connects scattering cross-section measurements and the ground-state properties of the SRC pair, to quantitatively interpret a variety of electron-scattering measurements. This is brought to culmination by a report on the first measurement of SRC pairs via the use of hard meson photoproduction reactions, which, despite differing significantly from the me- chanics of electron-scattering, is well-described under a common framework, pointing to a consistent and universal picture of SRCs across reaction channels. I also report on the first measurement of J/¿ photoproduction in the near- and below-threshold kinematic region, giving the first insights to the gluonic structure of bound nucleons in the large-x “valence” region and providing constraints on a gluonic “EMC effect”. In addition to these studies, I provide details on the search for Primakoff production of axion-like particles using the pho- toproduction data taken for this experiment, and I conclude by describing studies of nucleon spin structure measurements that will be performed at the forthcoming U.S. Electron-Ion Collider.

Pybus, Jackson↗
DOE OSTI2021

Long-Term Creep-Rupture Behavior of Alloy Inconel 740/740H

To explore potential application of Ni-based alloys for power generation at the higher temperatures and pressures needed to achieve high thermal to electrical-energy conversion efficiency, an extensive creep-rupture dataset covering up to 875 °C and almost 70,000 h for Inconel 740/740H was analyzed using Larson–Miller parameter and Wilshire approaches. The results were used to assess the relative effectiveness of the two analytical methods, both in describing the experimental data and, because of the breadth of the dataset, using analyses of its shorter-time data to make creep lifetime predictions for much more extended times, which were then directly compared to the measured rupture times. The respective methods were also used to predict creep-limited lifetimes relevant to power production (that is, 100,000 h or greater). Despite the complexity of the precipitation-strengthened Inconel 740/740H alloy and the generalized parametric approach of these methodologies, the predictions based on such were reasonably accurate when the entire dataset was analyzed. However, when the analysis was confined to only data for conditions yielding creep-rupture times < 5,000 h( about 65 % of the entire dataset), the Wilshire correlation yielded better prediction for longer time lifetimes due to the inherent instability of the specific Larson–Miller formalism used in this analysis when extrapolated significantly outside its analysis range.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Robotic Planning under Uncertainty in Spatiotemporal Environments in Expeditionary Science

In the expeditionary sciences, spatiotemporally varying environments -- hydrothermal plumes, algal blooms, lava flows, or animal migrations -- are ubiquitous. Mobile robots are uniquely well-suited to study these dynamic, mesoscale natural environments. We formalize expeditionary science as a sequential decision-making problem, modeled using the language of partially-observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs). Solving the expeditionary science POMDP under real-world constraints requires efficient probabilistic modeling and decision-making in problems with complex dynamics and observational models. Previous work in informative path planning, adaptive sampling, and experimental design have shown compelling results, largely in static environments, using data-driven models and information-based rewards. However, these methodologies do not trivially extend to expeditionary science in spatiotemporal environments: they generally do not make use of scientific knowledge such as equations of state dynamics, they focus on information gathering as opposed to scientific task execution, and they make use of decision-making approaches that scale poorly to large, continuous problems with long planning horizons and real-time operational constraints. In this work, we discuss these and other challenges related to probabilistic modeling and decision-making in expeditionary science, and present some of our preliminary work that addresses these gaps. We ground our results in a real expeditionary science deployment of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in the deep ocean for hydrothermal vent discovery and characterization. Our concluding thoughts highlight remaining work to be done, and the challenges that merit consideration by the reinforcement learning and decision-making community.

Preston, Victoria↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Generalized Augmented-State Covariance Analysis for Spaceflight

The use of linear covariance analysis techniques, also known as LinCov, has been used extensively for more than a half century for spaceflight applications. Originally, its primary purpose was to facilitate navigation analysis. For many past and current applications, the specific implementations only support navigation studies still. When the concept of an augmented-state linear covariance analysis approach was initially introduced that allowed for both navigation and trajectory dispersion analysis, the enhancement was motivated and primarily utilized to support navigation filter tuning and error budget analysis. Relatively few utilize this alternate augmented-state formulation of LinCov due to its additional complexity. The untapped potential of the augmented-state linear covariance analysis technique slowly unfolded in the past two-decades as its capability to rapidly and reliably capture the integrated closed-loop guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) system performance became more apparent. Even with this dual purpose of generating insights to both navigation errors along with trajectory and delta-v dispersions, the core theoretical development had a heavy emphasis on the impacts of the navigation system and largely neglected the details of the actual guidance, targeting, and control systems. This paper extends the navigation-centric theoretical development by formulating a generalized augmented-state covariance analysis (GAUSCOV) technique that allows for the intricacies of a variety of targeting and control strategies along with ground planning and mission operations to be more formally included in assessing the impacts to spaceflight GN&C system performance.

Linear Covariance Analysis↗
DOE OSTI2021

Dimensionality reduction of the many-body problem using coupled-cluster subsystem flow equations: classical and quantum computing perspective

We discuss reduced-scaling strategies employing recently introduced sub-system embedding sub-algebras coupled-cluster formalism (SES-CC) to describe many-body systems. These strategies utilize properties of the SES-CC formulations where the equations describing certain classes of sub- systems can be integrated into a computational flows composed coupled eigenvalue problems of reduced dimensionality. Additionally, these flows can be defined at the level of the CC Ansatz defined by selected classes of cluster amplitudes, which define the wave function ”memory” of possible partitionings of the many-body system into constituent sub-systems. One of the possible ways of solving these coupled problems is through implementing procedures, where the information is passed between the sub-systems in a self-consistent manner. As a special case, we consider local flow formulations where the so-called local character of correlation effects can be closely related to properties of sub-system embedding sub-algebras employing localized molecular basis. We also generalize flow equations to the time domain and to downfolding methods utilizing double exponential unitary CC Ansatz (DUCC), where reduced dimensionality of constituent sub-problems offer a possibility of efficient utilization of limited quantum resources in modeling realistic systems.

Electron correlation, quantum chemistry, quantum c↗
DOE OSTI2023

On the potentially transformative role of auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo in quantum chemistry: A highly accurate method for transition metals and beyond

Approximate solutions to the ab initio electronic structure problem have been a focus of theoretical and computational chemistry research for much of the past century, with the goal of predicting relevant energy differences to within “chemical accuracy” (1 kcal/mol). For small organic molecules, or in general, for weakly correlated main group chemistry, a hierarchy of single-reference wave function methods has been rigorously established, spanning perturbation theory and the coupled cluster (CC) formalism. For these systems, CC with singles, doubles, and perturbative triples is known to achieve chemical accuracy, albeit at O(N7) computational cost. In addition, a hierarchy of density functional approximations of increasing formal sophistication, known as Jacob’s ladder, has been shown to systematically reduce average errors over large datasets representing weakly correlated chemistry. However, the accuracy of such computational models is less clear in the increasingly important frontiers of chemical space including transition metals and f-block compounds, in which strong correlation can play an important role in reactivity. A stochastic method, phaseless auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (ph-AFQMC), has been shown to be capable of producing chemically accurate predictions even for challenging molecular systems beyond the main group, with relatively low O(N3 − N4) cost and near-perfect parallel efficiency. Herein, we present our perspectives on the past, present, and future of the ph-AFQMC method. We focus on its potential in transition metal quantum chemistry to be a highly accurate, systematically improvable method that can reliably probe strongly correlated systems in biology and chemical catalysis and provide reference thermochemical values (for future development of density functionals or interatomic potentials) when experiments are either noisy or absent. Finally, we discuss the present limitations of the method and where we expect near-term development to be most fruitful.

Chemistry↗