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At least 235 records · Page 13

Quantifying Spin-Mixed States in Ferromagnets

We quantify the presence of spin-mixed states in ferromagnetic 3D transition metals by precise measurement of the orbital moment. While central to phenomena such as Elliot-Yafet scattering, quantification of the spin-mixing parameter has hitherto been confined to theoretical calculations. We demonstrate that this information is also available by experimental means. Comparison of ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy with x-ray magnetic circular dichroism results show that Kittel’s original derivation of the spectroscopic g factor requires modification, to include spin mixing of valence band states. Our results are supported by ab initio relativistic electronic structure theory.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Indoor air quality in California homes with code-required mechanical ventilation

Data were collected in 70 detached houses built in 2011-2017 in compliance with the mechanical ventilation requirements of California's building energy efficiency standards. Each home was monitored for a 1-week period with windows closed and the central mechanical ventilation system operating. Pollutant measurements included time-resolved fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) indoors and outdoors and formaldehyde and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) indoors. Time-integrated measurements were made for formaldehyde, NO 2 , and nitrogen oxides (NO X ) indoors and outdoors. Operation of the cooktop, range hood, and other exhaust fans was continuously recorded during the monitoring period. Onetime diagnostic measurements included mechanical airflows and envelope and duct system air leakage. All homes met or were very close to meeting the ventilation requirements. On average, the dwelling unit ventilation fan moved 50% more airflow than the minimum requirement. Pollutant concentrations were similar to or lower than those reported in a 2006-2007 study of California new homes built in 2002-2005. Mean and median indoor concentrations were lower by 44% and 38% for formaldehyde and 44% and 54% for PM 2.5 . Ventilation fans were operating in only 26% of homes when first visited, and the control switches in many homes did not have informative labels as required by building standards.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

pnnl/solubility-prediction-paper

We are using existing deep learning modeling architectures and data representation techniques, but we are consolidating the methods into a single set of training and evaluation scripts. Additionally, we test and evaluate the performance of the models on the largest set of solubility measurements available to date.

Central, PNNL Developer↗

Emergence of a nocturnal low-level jet from a broad baroclinic zone

An analytical model is presented for the generation of a Blackadar-like nocturnal low-level jet in a broad baroclinic zone. The flow is forced from below (flat ground) by a surface buoyancy gradient and from above (free atmosphere) by a constant pressure gradient force. Diurnally-varying mixing coefficients are specified to increase abruptly at sunrise and decrease abruptly at sunset. With attention restricted to a surface buoyancy that varies linearly with a horizontal coordinate, the Boussinesq-approximated equations of motion, thermal energy, and mass conservation reduce to a system of one-dimensional equations that can be solved analytically. Sensitivity tests with southerly jets suggest that (i) stronger jets are associated with larger decreases of the eddy viscosity at sunset (as in Blackadar theory), (ii) the nighttime surface buoyancy gradient has little impact on jet strength, and (iii) for pure baroclinic forcing (no free-atmosphere geostrophic wind), the nighttime eddy diffusivity has little impact on jet strength, but the daytime eddy diffusivity is very important and has a larger impact than the daytime eddy viscosity. The model was applied to a jet that developed in fair weather conditions over the Great Plains from southern Texas to northern South Dakota on 1 May 2020. The ECMWF Reanalysis v5 (ERA5) for the afternoon prior to jet formation showed that a broad north-south-oriented baroclinic zone covered much of the region. The peak model-predicted winds were in good agreement with ERA5 winds and lidar data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) central facility in north-central Oklahoma.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Few-femtosecond time resolution in optically pumped hard X-ray scattering at a free-electron laser

Capturing chemical dynamics in real time is a central goal of ultrafast science, necessitating measurements fast enough to track atomic motion on few-femtosecond timescales with high precision. We present time-resolved hard X-ray scattering that meets these criteria by combining 7 fs full-width at half maximum (FWHM) near-infrared laser pulses with sub10 fs FWHM hard X-ray pulses from a free-electron laser. Using heavy water’s electronic response to strong-field ionization as a benchmark, we achieve a sub-8 fs FWHM instrument response function. These optical pump X-ray probe measurements enable direct observation of chemical dynamics with angstrom spatial and few-fs temporal resolution.

Weckwerth, Eleanor [Stanford University, CA (Unite↗

Photosynthetic and stomatal response, and leaf traits, of two pine species, Talladega National Forest, Alabama, 2023

Photosynthetic response to irradiance (AQ), CO2 (ACi) and stomatal response to irradiance measurements on two pine species common to the southeast United States, long leaf pine, Pinus palustris Mill., and loblolly pine, Pinus taeda L.. Data were collected in June 2023 within the Oakmulgee District of the Talladega National Forest in west-central Alabama at the NEON site (TALL). Measurements were made with four LI-COR LI-6800 and one LI-COR LI-6400XT gas exchange systems. ACi and AQ curves enable the estimation of photosynthetic parameters (e.g., Vcmax, Jmax, Rd, aQY), while stomatal response curves enable the estimation of stomatal slope and intercept parameters. Foliar trait data (needle dimensions, leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen concentration) is provided for all gas exchange samples. The data package files include multiple raw and processed data files (csv), metadata files (csv), the complete instrument output for all measurements in .zip format, and a pdf describing the experimental protocol.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Stereo Cameras for Clouds (STEREOCAM) Instrument Handbook

The three pairs of stereo camera setups aim to provide synchronized and stereo calibrated time series of images that can be used for 3D cloud mask reconstruction. Each camera pair is positioned at approximately 120 degrees from the other pair, with a 17o-19o pitch angle from the ground, and at 5-6 km distance from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Central Facility at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility Southern Great Plains (SGP) observatory to cover the region from northeast, northwest, and southern views. Images from both cameras of the same stereo setup can be paired together to obtain 3D reconstruction by triangulation. 3D reconstructions from the ring of three stereo pairs can be combined together to generate a 3D mask from surrounding views. This handbook delivers all stereo reconstruction parameters of the cameras necessary to make 3D reconstructions from the stereo camera images.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Historical Data Analysis Supporting the Data Quality Objectives for the INL Site Environmental Soil Monitoring Program

This document represents the initial evaluation and soil monitoring proposed by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA) in 2015. The evaluation included analyses of historical soil monitoring data and soil inventories, current emission estimates, and modeled potential deposition/accumulation patterns. The initially proposed monitoring included a 5-year rotation of in-situ gamma measurements augmented by soil sampling with laboratory analyses near each major active and some inactive facilities. It also proposed rotational in-situ gamma measurements and soil sampling at two centrally located onsite air monitoring locations coinciding with sampling at the traditional offsite soil monitoring locations. The chosen alternative includes only physical soil sampling with laboratory analysis and only at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC), the two air monitors and the offsite locations as documented in Data Quality Objectives Supporting the Environmental Soil Monitoring Program for the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site, INL/EXT-15-34909, Revision 0, February 2016. The data and evaluations in this document are valid for comparisons with future soil data that may be collected in many INL site locations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Brine Availability Test in Salt (BATS) FY21 Update

This report summarizes the 2021 fiscal year (FY21) status of ongoing borehole heater tests in salt funded by the disposal research and development (R&D) program of the Office of Spent Fuel & Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy’s (DOE-NE) Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition (SFWD). This report satisfies SFWST milestone M2SF- 21SN010303052 by summarizing test activities and data collected during FY21. The Brine Availability Test in Salt (BATS) is fielded in a pair of similar arrays of horizontal boreholes in an experimental area at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). One array is heated, the other unheated. Each array consists of 14 boreholes, including a central borehole with gas circulation to measure water production, a cement seal exposure test, thermocouples to measure temperature, electrodes to infer resistivity, a packer-isolated borehole to add tracers, fiber optics to measure temperature and strain, and piezoelectric transducers to measure acoustic emissions. The key new data collected during FY21 include a series of gas tracer tests (BATS phase 1b), a pair of liquid tracer tests (BATS phase 1c), and data collected under ambient conditions (including a period with limited access due to the ongoing pandemic) since BATS phase 1a in 2020. A comparison of heated and unheated gas tracer test results clearly shows a decrease in permeability of the salt upon heating (i.e., thermal expansion closes fractures, which reduces permeability).

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Characterizing New Particle Formation and Growth (Field Campaign Report)

New particle formation (NPF) and subsequent growth to sizes at which the aerosol particles can act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) is critical for understanding and modeling aerosol-climate interactions (Gordon et al. 2017, Dunne et al. 2016). While sulfuric acid is generally understood to play a central role in NPF and growth, measured sulfuric acid concentrations are insufficient to explain measured formation and growth rates in many locations even when stabilization by ammonia is considered (Kulmala et al. 2014, Riipinen et al. 2012). Extensive laboratory investigations have revealed that amines (Almeida et al. 2013), other reduced nitrogen compounds (Glasoe et al. 2015), and/or oxidized organic compounds (Kirkby et al. 2016) can enhance new particle formation rates and thus may explain, at least in part, the gap between our understanding of new particle formation and the measurements. Our knowledge, however, of the relative importance of these various pathways remains incomplete due to the limited number of ambient measurements, particularly in diverse ecosystems. Agricultural land use areas are particularly understudied despite accounting for ~41% of global land cover (Ellis et al. 2010). Improving our understanding of NPF requires measurements of NPF and the precursors to NPF and growth in a variety of ecosystems and ideally across seasons.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Extending the Dynamic Range of Galaxy Outflow Scaling Relations: Massive Compact Galaxies with Extreme Outflows

We investigate galactic winds in the HizEA galaxies, a collection of 46 late-stage galaxy mergers at z = 0.4–0.8, with stellar masses of $\mathrm{log}({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot })=10.4\mbox{--}11.5$ , star formation rates (SFRs) of 20–500 M ⊙ yr -1 , and ultra-compact (a few 100 pc) central star-forming regions. We measure their gas kinematics using the Mg II λλ 2796,2803 absorption lines in optical spectra from MMT, Magellan, and Keck. We find evidence of outflows in 90% of targets, with maximum outflow velocities of 550–3200 km s -1 . We combine these data with ten samples from the literature to construct scaling relations for outflow velocity versus SFR, star formation surface density (Σ SFR ), M * , and SFR/M * . The HizEA galaxies extend the dynamic range of the scaling relations by a factor of ~2–4 in outflow velocity and an order of magnitude in SFR and Σ SFR . The ensemble scaling relations exhibit strong correlations between outflow velocity, SFR, SFR/R, and Σ SFR , and weaker correlations with M * and SFR/M * . The HizEA galaxies are mild outliers on the SFR and M* scaling relations, but they connect smoothly with more typical star-forming galaxies on plots of outflow velocity versus SFR/R and Σ SFR . These results provide further evidence that the HizEA galaxies' exceptional outflow velocities are a consequence of their extreme star formation conditions rather than hidden black hole activity, and they strengthen previous claims that Σ SFR is one of the most important properties governing the velocities of galactic winds.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Mass Dependence of Galaxy–Halo Alignment in LOWZ and CMASS

We measure the galaxy-ellipticity (GI) correlations for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 12 LOWZ and CMASS samples with the shape measurements from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. We model the GI correlations in an N-body simulation with our recent accurate stellar–halo mass relation from the Photometric object Around Cosmic webs (PAC) method. The large data set and our accurate modeling turns out an accurate measurement of the alignment angle between central galaxies and their host halos. We find that the alignment of central elliptical galaxies with their host halos increases monotonically with galaxy stellar mass or host halo mass, which can be well described by a power law for the massive galaxies. We also find that central elliptical galaxies are more aligned with their host halos in LOWZ than in CMASS, which might indicate an evolution of galaxy–halo alignment, though future studies are needed to verify this is not induced by the sample selections. In contrast, central disk galaxies are aligned with their host halos about 10 times more weakly in the GI correlation. These results have important implications for intrinsic alignment (IA) correction in weak lensing studies, IA cosmology, and theory of massive galaxy formation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Tropospheric and stratospheric wildfire smoke profiling with lidar: mass, surface area, CCN, and INP retrieval

We present retrievals of tropospheric and stratospheric height profiles of particle mass, volume, surface area, and number concentrations in the case of wildfire smoke layers as well as estimates of smoke-related cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentrations from backscatter lidar measurements on the ground and in space. Conversion factors used to convert the optical measurements into microphysical properties play a central role in the data analysis, in addition to estimates of the smoke extinction-to-backscatter ratios required to obtain smoke extinction coefficients. The set of needed conversion parameters for wildfire smoke is derived from AERONET observations of major smoke events, e.g., in western Canada in August 2017, California in September 2020, and southeastern Australia in January–February 2020 as well as from AERONET long-term observations of smoke in the Amazon region, southern Africa, and Southeast Asia. The new smoke analysis scheme is applied to CALIPSO observations of tropospheric smoke plumes over the United States in September 2020 and to ground-based lidar observation in Punta Arenas, in southern Chile, in aged Australian smoke layers in the stratosphere in January 2020. These case studies show the potential of spaceborne and ground-based lidars to document large-scale and long-lasting wildfire smoke events in detail and thus to provide valuable information for climate, cloud, and air chemistry modeling efforts performed to investigate the role of wildfire smoke in the atmospheric system.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Study of very forward energy and its correlation with particle production at midrapidity in pp and p-Pb collisions at the LHC

The energy deposited at very forward rapidities (very forward energy) is a powerful tool for characterising proton fragmentation in pp and p-Pb collisions. The correlation of very forward energy with particle production at midrapidity provides direct insights into the initial stages and the subsequent evolution of the collision. Furthermore, the correlation with the production of particles with large transverse momenta at midrapidity provides information complementary to the measurements of the underlying event, which are usually interpreted in the framework of models implementing centrality-dependent multiple parton interactions. Results about very forward energy, measured by the ALICE zero degree calorimeters (ZDCs), and its dependence on the activity measured at midrapidity in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV and in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s{NN}}$ = 8.16 TeV are discussed. The measurements performed in pp collisions are compared with the expectations of three hadronic interaction event generators: PYTHIA 6 (Perugia 2011 tune), PYTHIA 8 (Monash tune), and EPOS LHC. These results provide new constraints on the validity of models in describing the beam remnants at very forward rapidities, where perturbative QCD cannot be used.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Hadron blind Cherenkov counters

A Hadron Blind Detector, or HBD, is a novel form of Cherenkov counter that is designed to provide high efficiency for detecting highly relativistic electrons while being essentially blind to most hadrons. Herein, we present some of the most prominent realizations of the HBD concept in real experiments. We describe the first implementation of an HBD that was made in the CERES experiment at CERN using a spectrometer based on a doublet of hadron blind RICH detectors for the measurement of low-mass electron pairs in pA and AA collisions at the SPS. We next present a detailed account of a more extensive realization of the HBD that was made in the PHENIX experiment for the measurement of low-mass electron pairs in central heavy-ion collisions at RHIC, followed by a description of a very similar detector that is currently under construction at J-PARC for the measurement of vector mesons through their e + e – decay in pA collisions. We conclude with a brief discussion of possible evolutions of the HBD concept as well as possible developments and uses of HBDs in experiments at the future Electron Ion Collider.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Methods for Precision Studies of Neutrino Interactions

Accelerator neutrino oscillation experiments provide a sensitive way to investigatea number of major open questions in neutrino physics. To achieve precision neutrinooscillation measurements, we need a good understanding of key aspects of the experiments,such as the detection technologies used and neutrino interactions at few-GeV energies.The MicroBooNE experiment has advanced the development of technologies for LArTPCs.An ultra-violet laser system was introduced to MicroBooNE in order to measure theelectric field in situ, which plays a central role in the formation of charge and lightsignals in LArTPCs. This thesis describes the setup and operation of the laser system. Ideveloped a general methodology to measure the electric field and the consequent spatialdistortion in LArTPCs, which supports precision measurements in accelerator neutrinooscillation experiments. In MicroBooNE, the measured electric field distortions are upto 15 ± 3 % with respect to the nominal value, and the measured spatial distortions areup to 15 ± 3 cm. The result of the electric field measurement is applied to the detectorsimulation and the event reconstruction, which leads to a better detector characterizationfor neutrino analyses. A significant concern for measurements of neutrino interactions ismodel dependence, as the currently available models are not sufficient for describing thepicture of neutrino interacting at few-GeV energies. In this thesis, I developed a detailedstrategy for a model-independent cross-section measurement at low energy transfers,where the available model predictions do not agree with the inclusive measurementsfrom multiple experiments. A likelihood fit technique for cross-section extraction isrealized in an accelerator neutrino experiment using a LArTPC for the first time. Thetreatment of systematic uncertainties developed in this thesis is generally applicable foranalyses using similar fitting techniques. This neutrino interaction study at low energytransfers provides a probe to the poorly understood region of neutrino cross sections. Themeasurement scheme developed here aims to guide future model-independent cross-sectionmeasurements, particularly for neutrino experiments using LArTPCs.

Chen, Yifan↗

Measurement of the inclusive isolated-photon production cross section in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at $\mathbf {\sqrt{\textit{s}_{NN }} = 5.02}$ TeV

The ALICE Collaboration at the CERN LHC has measured the inclusive production cross section of isolated photons at midrapidity as a function of the photon transverse momentum (p$^{γ}_{T}$), in Pb–Pb collisions in different centrality intervals, and in pp collisions, at centre-of-momentum energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The photon transverse momentum range is between 10–14 and 40–140 GeV/c, depending on the collision system and on the Pb–Pb centrality class. The result extends to lower p$^{γ}_{T}$ than previously published results by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the same collision energy. The covered pseudorapidity range is |η γ | < 0.67. The isolation selection is based on a charged particle isolation momentum threshold p$^{iso, ch}_{T}$ GeV/c within a cone of radii R = 0.2 and 0.4. The nuclear modification factor is calculated and found to be consistent with unity in all centrality classes, and also consistent with the HG-PYTHIA model, which describes the event selection and geometry biases that affect the centrality determination in peripheral Pb–Pb collisions. The measurement is compared to next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and to the measurements of isolated photons and Z 0 bosons from the CMS experiment, which are all found to be in agreement.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Study of $\langle {p}_{\text{T}}\rangle$ and its higher moments, and extraction of the speed of sound in Pb-Pb collisions with ALICE

Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions produce a state of hot and dense strongly interacting QCD matter called quark-gluon plasma (QGP). On an event-by-event basis, the volume of the QGP in ultracentral collisions is mostly constant, while its total entropy can vary significantly due to quantum fluctuations, leading to variations in the temperature of the system. Exploiting this unique feature of ultracentral collisions allows for the interpretation of the correlation of the mean transverse momentum ($\langle$p T $\rangle$) of produced charged hadrons and the number of charged hadrons as a measure for the speed of sound, c s . This speed is related to the rate at which compression waves travel in the QGP and is determined by fitting the relative increase in $\langle$p T $\rangle$ with respect to the relative change in the average charged-particle density ($\langle$dN ch /dη$\rangle$) measured at mid-rapidity. This study reports the event-average $\langle$p T $\rangle$ of charged particles as well as the variance, skewness, and kurtosis of the event-by-event transverse momentum per charged particle ([p T ]) distribution in ultracentral Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair using the ALICE detector. Different centrality estimators based on charged-particle multiplicity or the transverse energy of the event are used to select ultracentral collisions. By ensuring a pseudorapidity gap between the region used to define the centrality and the region used to perform the measurement, the influence of biases and their potential effects on the rise of the mean transverse momentum is tested. The measured c$^{2}_{s}$ is found to strongly depend on the exploited centrality estimator and ranges between 0.1146±0.0028 (stat.)±0.0065 (syst.) and 0.4374±0.0006 (stat.)±0.0184 (syst.) in natural units. The self-normalized variance shows a steep decrease towards ultracentral collisions, while the self-normalized skewness variables show a maximum, followed by a fast decrease. These non-Gaussian features are understood in terms of the vanishing of the impact-parameter fluctuations contributing to the event-to-event [p T ] distribution.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗