Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Freezing”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Generation of Isocurvature from Curvature Inhomogeneities on Super-Horizon Scales

Here it is shown 1) how isocurvature inhomogeneities correlated on causally disconnected (super-horizon) scales are generated from curvature inhomogeneities which are known to be correlated on these scales 2) that super-horizon isocurvature generation is nearly inevitable for non-equilibrium chemical processes 3) that the amplitude of the compositional isocurvature correlations a) can be large for production of rare objects, b) falls off rapidly with separation c) falls off at scales below the horizon when these modes are generated. These two fall-offs results in an "isocurvature bump" in the power spectrum. Isocurvature generation is illustrated by the process of dark matter freeze-in, computed here with both separate universe modelling and linear perturbation theory. For freeze-in the most prominent isocurvature modes are inhomogeneities in the ratio of dark matter to standard model matter. Much smaller inhomogeneities in the ratio of baryons to standard model entropy are also produced. Previous constraints on freeze-in from Ly-$\alpha$ clouds limit the bump enhancement to $\lesssim10\%$ on comoving scales $\lesssim1\,$Mpc. Current observations are not sensitive to the isocurvature modes generated in viable freeze-in models. Results are obtained using a somewhat novel framework to describe cosmological inhomogeneities.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Novel structured Sm 0.5 Sr 0.5 CoO 3-δ cathode for intermediate and low temperature solid oxide fuel cells

The performance of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) can be significantly enhanced using nanostructured cathode obtained by infiltration/impregnation method. However, this method has been limited due to multi-step preparation process and instability of the obtained nanoscale catalyst under long-term operation. We report here a simple, cost-effective and reproducible approach to fabricate nanostructured Sm 0.5 Sr 0.5 CoO 3-δ (SSC) cathode with enhanced performance and stability. The SSC powders were prepared by a freeze-drying method through a combustion route using Pluronic F-127 as the template. The SSC freeze-drying powders have unique morphology and a significant phase change at 750 °C. The oxygen non-stoichiometry (δ) of the SSC powders is 0.18 at room temperature, while the δ values are 0.66, 0.75 and 0.90 at 600 °C, 700 °C and 800 °C, respectively. The novel structured SSC cathode was prepared by screen-printing and one-step sintering process using the freeze-drying SSC powders. Maximum cell power densities of 0.83 and 1.13 W cm -2 are achieved at 550 °C and 600 °C, respectively for single cells with the novel structured SSC cathode. Moreover, single cells show excellent stability at 600 °C under a current density of 600 mA cm -2 over 250 h. This work expands opportunities to exploit nanotechnology in a wide range of intermediate and low temperature energy conversion devices.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Evaluation of methods and improvement of predictions for specification properties of petroleum-based and alternative aviation fuels

To support our research and process modeling for liquid fuels, including blends, from petroleum and synthetic sources such as from biomass intermediates, we evaluated composition-based prediction methods and improved predictions for five key specification properties of petroleum-based and alternative aviation fuels, namely distillation temperatures (10 % distilled, t 10 , and final boiling point, t FBP ), density, flash point, net heat of combustion, and freezing point. The types of fuels included were petroleum-based jet fuels, jet-fuel surrogate mixtures, synthetic blending components obtained from different sources, and blends of Jet A with many synthetic blending components. Expanded datasets to update associated parameters allowed significant improvements for one of the prediction methods used in earlier work, namely the Modified Weighted Average method published initially by Shi et al. By considering the importance of lighter compounds for flash points and heavier compounds for freezing points, the revised Modified Weighted Average method was further improved. For liquid density, the revised Modified Weighted Average method gave the best overall results. The revised Modified Weighted Average method, the American Society for Testing and Materials D7215 method, and the D7215 method modified by another group gave comparable results for flash point, while the revised Modified Weighted Average and D3338 methods gave the best results for net heat of combustion. Freezing point was well predicted using the revised Modified Weighted Average method and showed the most significant improvements over current predictions. Distillation temperature t 10 was not well predicted, while t FBP was predicted with a mean absolute error comparable to experimental reproducibility.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Characterization and application of a high-resolution microfluidic device in atmospheric ice nucleation research and integrated science teaching

Ambient ice-nucleating particles (INPs) represent an important subset of aerosol particles that facilitate heterogeneous formation of ice crystals in the atmosphere, which can impact Earth system and energy. In this work, we developed an affordable high-resolution platform to replicate atmospheric immersion freezing through the unique capabilities of microfluidics to measure INP concentration of known ice nucleation active materials, as well as high-latitude soil samples. The new instrument produced comparable and extended freezing efficiency data for a multitude of samples over the temperature range of -5 to -35 °C as compared to an existing freezing assay within known uncertainties. Moreover, the new assay was integrated into science teaching at a primarily undergraduate and Hispanic-serving institute, contributing to fostering a deeper understanding of ice nucleation processes among college students, instilling their enthusiasm for science, and addressing the critical need for a well-informed citizenry. Student research assistants were involved in both research and pedagogical development processes. Three students from our team visited the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to help characterize physicochemical properties of our test samples and to test modeling of atmospheric ice nucleation using a box model as well as a global climate model (E3SM) for the regional-scale conditions over the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) and Southern Great Plains (SGP). We also assessed student learning experience via hands-on training, research processes, and development of educational materials. On pre- and post-participation surveys and in exit interviews, students reported personal growth as advancements in breadth of experience, research-related skill sets, and regarding their educational and career goals. They also affirmed that the methods enacted incorporated the NASA Minority University Research and Education Program (MUREP) STEM Engagement Best Practices.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Analysis of Frost Prevention for Heat Recovery Ventilation in an Arctic Facility

Sub-Arctic environments present a unique challenge for the continuous operation of mechanical ventilation systems in occupied buildings where cold temperatures create complications for maintaining adequate air quality, efficiency, and system operability. Heat recovery ventilation is most difficult at the coldest temperatures, when there is the greatest availability to transfer heat between airstreams, due to the potential for frost accumulation in the exhaust airstream. Frost limits heat transfer and creates the potential for subsequent blockage of airflow. A successful frost prevention strategy is necessary to ensure that recovery ventilation systems function in locations with a large amount of annual heating degree days. Commonly, this is achieved by preheating outdoor air above freezing temperatures via airflow through a glycol-water mix hydronic coil before heat exchange occurs. Preheating the outdoor air proactively inhibits frost formation but is associated with a penalty to recovery efficiency. A commercial-scale heat recovery ventilator in a facility in Fairbanks, Alaska was analyzed for sensible recovery effectiveness and exhaust temperature at different winter conditions. The system utilized the common defrost strategy of preheating the air above-freezing with a static temperature control scheme. The heat transfer efficiency of the recovery ventilator was observed to be poor at various winter conditions with elevated exhaust temperatures indicating lost heat recovery effectiveness. Using prior findings on strategies for sub-freezing temperatures along with observed field conditions it was determined that a dynamic relationship between the coil and the exterior conditions would reduce the energy required to preheat the air and allow the heat exchanger to maximize effectiveness due to temperate difference. This reduction in preheated temperature of the air is achieved by modulating the temperature of the coil to keep the discharge air stream above a certain dewpoint temperature threshold, likely leading to energy savings for other sub-Arctic facilities using this frost control strategy.

ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Supercooling of Alaskan Beetle Larvae as a Winter Survival Strategy

Insects are able to survive subfreezing temperatures by either limiting ice crystal formation in their bodies or through freeze avoidance. Beetle larvae are able to avoid freezing in winter by dehydrating in the fall months and replacing their body water content with high concentrations of glycerol. This enables the body fluid of the insect to supercool, and even vitrify, recovering unharmed when the temperature warms in the spring. Using nondestructive, high‐energy X‐ray synchrotron diffraction experiments, direct insight into how cryopreservation occurs at the atomic level within the beetle larvae has been obtained. The results shed light on the molecular‐level interactions associated with the mechanism responsible for surviving freezing temperatures. The molecular models of severely dehydrated Alaskan beetle larvae, based on glycerol‐water mixtures, yield a total of 4.2 ± 1.2 intermolecular hydrogen bonds per glycerol molecule at 275 K, in good agreement with existing molecular dynamics simulations. Most importantly, they show that if just over half the body fluid content is water, the water clusters are too small to form ice crystals that cause cellular damage.

Benmore, Chris J. [X‐Ray Science Division Advanced↗
DOE OSTI2024

Low-cost fin-tube heat exchanger design for building thermal energy storage using phase change material

Heat transfer in phase change materials (PCMs) is complex because the melting and freezing fronts change as functions of stored or released heat. In prior attempts to optimize heat exchangers (HXs) in one or two dimensions, complex geometry has often been used to maximize the melt and freeze front area. This complex geometry is difficult and hence expensive to construct. This paper proposes a multiple-scale 3D finite element modeling approach to design fin-tube HXs for low-cost latent thermal energy storage applications. Further, the optimal fin and tube designs were determined at three scales (unit-scale, medium-scale, and large-scale) by modeling the melt and freeze front in three dimensions and using measured bulk thermal properties. The finite element model was validated by comparing it with the experimental data for a referenced design of a similar type. The results indicate that commercially available organic PCMs with low conductivity (<0.3 W/m·K) can have charge and discharge times appropriate for building thermal energy storage (i.e., 4–5 h) with fin-tube HX designs at costs <$26/kWh, even when the temperature difference (5.56°C) between the heat transfer fluid and the PCM phase change temperature is small. However, as the HX increases in length, the temperature reduction along the tube limits some larger-scale designs.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fast resonance decays in nuclear collisions

Here, we present a new method to calculate the final decay spectrum of direct resonance decays directly from hydrodynamic fields on a freeze-out surface. The method is based on identifying components of the final particle spectrum that transform in an irreducible way under rotations in the fluid-restframe. Corresponding distribution functions can be pre-computed including all resonance decays. Just a few of easily tabulated scalar functions then determine the Lorentz invariant decay spectrum from each space-time point, and simple integrals of these scalar functions over the freeze-out surface determine the final decay products. This by-passes numerically costly event-by-event calculations of the intermediate resonances. The method is of considerable practical use for making realistic data to model comparisons of the identified particle yields and flow harmonics, and for studying the viscous corrections to the freeze-out distribution function.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Thermodynamic and Kinetic Transitions of Liquids in Nanoconfinement

Core principles of chemistry are ubiquitously invoked to shed light on the nature of molecular level interactions in nanoconfined fluids, which play a pivotal role in a wide range of processes in geochemistry, biology, and engineering. A detailed understanding of the physicochemical processes involved in the flow, structural transitions, and freezing or melting behavior of fluids confined within nanometer-sized pores of solid materials is thus of enormous importance for both basic research and technological applications. This Account provides a perspective on new insights into the thermodynamic and kinetic transitions of nanoconfined fluids in their stable and metastable forms. After briefly introducing the unique properties of mesoporous silicas from the SBA, MCM, and FDU families that serve as the confinement matrices, combining highly ordered single and bimodal mesopore architectures with tunable pore sizes in the ~2-15 nm range and narrow size distributions, recent studies on melting/freezing behavior of water confined in these host matrices are reviewed. While differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) reveals a linear relationship between melting point depression and pore size (independent of the pore shape), as predicted by the Gibbs-Thomson relation, variable temperature 2 H wide-line nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy studies confirm the core-shell model of water and give evidence for a layer-by-layer freezing mechanism, which gives rise to an apparent fragile-to-strong transition in the solidification dynamics. In contrast to the freezing/melting behavior of water, the effect of nanoconfinement on the glass transition of supercooled liquids is nonuniversal and the glass transition temperature T g can either increase or decrease with the dimensionality and extent of confinement. This nonuniversal behavior is exemplified by the two glass-forming molecular liquids, glycerol and ortho-terphenyl (OTP). While glycerol shows an increase in T g and a pronounced slowdown of the rotational dynamics of the constituent molecules due to a change in the molecular packing between the bulk and the confined liquid, OTP displays a linear and confining-media-dependent depression of T g with increased confinement that is strongly influenced by the pore-liquid interface characteristics. This Account concludes with a focus on recent experimental evidence of extreme spatial and dynamical heterogeneity in both freezing and glass transition processes. This discovery was enabled by the unique mesoporous structures of SBA-16 and FDU-5, possessing bimodal architectures with two interconnected pore types of different size and shape (spherical and cylindrical). For the very first time, two melting points for water and two glass transitions for supercooled OTP, corresponding to a specific pore type, were observed. Collectively, these observations strongly suggest a close mechanistic connection between the local fluctuations in the structure and dynamics of nanoconfined liquids. Finally, while the findings reviewed in this Account provide new insights into thermodynamic and kinetic transitions of fluids, there remain many unanswered questions regarding the effects of nanoconfinement on the fundamental properties of fluids, which offer exciting future opportunities in chemical research.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Photoinduced Dynamics with Constrained Vibrational Motion: FrozeNM Algorithm

Ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulation, analyzed in terms of vibrational normal modes, is a widely used technique that facilitates understanding of complex structural motions and coupling between electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom. Usually, only a subset of vibrations is directly involved in the process of interest. The impact of these vibrations can be evaluated by performing AIMD simulations by selectively freezing certain motions. In this paper, we present frozen normal mode (FrozeNM), a new algorithm to apply normal-mode constraints in AIMD simulations, as implemented in the nonadiabatic excited state molecular dynamics code. We further illustrate its capacity by analyzing the impact of normal-mode constraints on the photoinduced energy transfer between polyphenylene ethynylene dendrimer building blocks. Our results show that the electronic relaxation can be significantly slowed down by freezing a well-selected small subset of active normal modes characterized by their contributions in the direction of energy transfer. The application of these constraints reduces the nonadiabatic coupling between electronic excited states during the entire dynamical simulations. Furthermore, we validate reduced dimensionality models by freezing all the vibrations, except a few active modes. Altogether, we consider FrozeNM as a useful tool that can be broadly used to underpin the role of vibrational motion in a studied process and to formulate reduced models that describe essential physical phenomena.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Integration of a Frost Mortality Scheme Into the Demographic Vegetation Model FATES

Frost is damaging to plants when air temperature drops below their tolerance threshold. The set of mechanisms used by cold-tolerant plants to withstand freezing is called “hardening” and typically take place in autumn to protect against winter damage. The recent incorporation of a hardening scheme in the demographic vegetation model FATES opens up the possibility to investigate frost mortality to vegetation. Previously, the hardening scheme was used to improve hydraulic processes in cold-tolerant plants. In this study, we expand upon the existing hardening scheme by implementing hardiness-dependent frost mortality into CLM5.0-FATES to study the impacts of frost on vegetation in temperate and boreal sites from 1950 to 2015. Our results show that the original freezing mortality approach of FATES, where each plant type had a fixed freezing tolerance threshold—an approach common to many other dynamic vegetation models, was restricted to predicting plant type distribution. The main results emerging from the new scheme are a high autumn and spring frost mortality, especially at colder sites, and increasing mid-winter frost mortality due to global warming, especially at warmer sites. We demonstrate that the new frost scheme is a major step forward in dynamically representing vegetation in ESMs by for the first time including a level of frost tolerance that is responding to the environment and includes some level of cost (implicitly) and benefit. By linking hardening and frost mortality in a land surface model, we open new ways to explore the impact of frost events in the context of global warming.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Adhesion of impure ice on surfaces

The undesirable buildup of ice can compromise the operational safety of ships in the Arctic to high-flying airplanes, thereby having a detrimental impact on modern life in cold climates. The obstinately strong adhesion between ice and most functional surfaces makes ice removal an energetically expensive and dangerous affair. Hence, over the past few decades, substantial efforts have been directed toward the development of passive ice-shedding surfaces. Conventionally, such research on ice adhesion has almost always been based on ice solidified from pure water. However, in all practical situations, freezing water has dissolved contaminants; ice adhesion studies of which have remained elusive thus far. Here, in this work, we cast light on the fundamental role played by various impurities (salt, surfactant, and solvent) commonly found in natural water bodies on the adhesion of ice on common structural materials. We elucidate how varying freezing temperature & contaminant concentration can significantly alter the resultant ice adhesion strength making it either super-slippery or fiercely adherent. The entrapment of impurities in ice changes with the rate of freezing and ensuing adhesion strength increases as the cooling temperature decreases. We discuss the possible role played by the in situ generated solute enriched liquid layer and the nanometric water-like disordered ice layer sandwiched between ice and the substrate behind these observations. Our work provides useful insights into the elementary nature of impure water-to-ice transformation and contributes to the knowledge base of various natural phenomena and rational design of a broad spectrum of anti-icing technologies for transportation, infrastructure, and energy systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Net-proton number fluctuations in the presence of the QCD critical point

Event-by-event fluctuations of the net-proton number studied in heavy-ion collisions provide an important means in the search for the conjectured critical end point (CP) in the QCD phase diagram. We propose a phenomenological model in which the fluctuations of the chiral critical mode couple to protons and anti-protons. This allows us to study the behavior of the net-proton number fluctuations in the presence of the CP. Calculating the net-proton number cumulants, Cn with n=1,2,3,4, along the phenomenological freeze-out line we show that the ratio of variance and mean C2/C1, as well as kurtosis C4/C2 resemble qualitative properties observed in data in heavy-ion collisions as a function of beam energy obtained by the STAR Collaboration at RHIC. In particular, the non-monotonic structure of the kurtosis and smooth change of the C2/C1 ratio with beam energy could be due to the CP located near the freeze-out line. The skewness, however, exhibits properties that are in contrast to the criticality expected due to the CP. The dependence of our results on the model parameters and the proximity of the chemical freeze-out to the critical point are also discussed.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Hydrodynamic description of D meson production in high-energy heavy-ion collisions *

The large values and constituent-quark-number scaling of the elliptic flow of low-p T D mesons imply that charm quarks, initially produced through hard processes, might be partially thermalized through strong interactions with quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. To quantify the degree of thermalization of low-p T charm quarks, we compare the D 0 meson spectra and elliptic flow from a hydrodynamic model to experimental data as well as transport model simulations. We use an effective charm chemical potential at the freeze-out temperature to account for the initial charm quark production from hard processes and assume that they are thermalized in the local comoving frame of the medium before freeze-out. D 0 mesons are sampled statistically from the freeze-out hyper-surface of the expanding QGP as described by the event-by-event (3+1)D viscous hydrodynamic model CLVisc. Both the hydrodynamic and transport models can describe the elliptic flow of D 0 mesons at P T < 3 GeV/c as measured in Au+Au collisions at $sqrts_{NN} = 200$ GeV. Though the experimental data on spectra are consistent with the hydrodynamic result at small p T ~ 1 GeV/c, they deviate from the hydrodynamic model at high transverse momentum, GeV/c. The diffusion and parton energy loss mechanisms in the transport model can describe the measured spectra reasonably well within the theoretical uncertainty. Finally, our comparative study indicates that charm quarks only approach local thermal equilibrium at small p T , even though they acquire sizable elliptic flow comparable to light-quark hadrons at both small and intermediate p T .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Softening of breathing elastic mode and trigonal elastic mode in the disordered pyrochlore magnet NaCaCo 2 F 7

Cobalt pyrochlore fluoride NaCaCo 2 F 7 is a disordered frustrated magnet that is composed of Co 2+ ions with an effective spin-12 magnetic moment and that exhibits spin freezing below $T_f ~$ 2.4 K. Here, we perform ultrasound velocity measurements on a single crystal of the cubic NaCaCo 2 F 7 . The temperature dependence of the bulk modulus (the breathing elastic mode) exhibits Curie-type softening upon cooling below ~20 K down to $T_f$, which is suppressed by the magnetic field. This Curie-type softening should be a precursor to the enhancement of the strength of exchange disorder via the spin-lattice coupling, which causes the spin freezing. In contrast to the magnetic-field-suppressed Curie-type softening in the bulk modulus, the trigonal shear modulus exhibits softening with a characteristic minimum upon cooling, which is enhanced by the magnetic field at temperatures below ~20 K. This magnetic-field-enhanced elastic anomaly in the trigonal shear modulus suggests a coupling of the lattice to the dynamical spin-cluster state. For NaCaCo 2 F 7 , the observed elastic anomalies reveal an occurrence of magnetic-field-induced crossover from an isostructural lattice instability toward the spin freezing to a trigonal lattice instability arising from the emergent dynamical spin-cluster state.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Neutron scattering study of fluctuating and static spin correlations in the anisotropic spin glass Fe 2 Ti O 5

The anisotropic spin-glass transition, in which spin freezing is observed only along the c axis in pseudobrookite Fe 2 TiO 5 , has long been perplexing because the Fe 3+ moments (d 5 ) are expected to be isotropic. Recently, neutron diffraction demonstrated that surfboard-shaped antiferromagnetic nanoregions coalesce above the glass transition temperature T g ≈55K, and a model was proposed in which the freezing of the surfboard magnetization fluctuations leads to the anisotropic spin-glass state. Given this model, we have carried out high-resolution inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the spin-spin correlations to understand the temperature dependence of the intrasurfboard spin dynamics on neutron (picosecond) timescales. Here, in this paper, we report on the temperature-dependence of the spin fluctuations measured from single-crystal Fe 2 TiO 5 . Strong quasi-elastic magnetic scattering, arising from intrasurfboard correlations, is observed well above T g . The spin fluctuations possess a steep energy–wave vector relation and are indicative of strong exchange interactions, consistent with the large Curie-Weiss temperature. As the temperature approaches T g from above, a shift in spectral weight from inelastic to elastic scattering is observed. At various temperatures between 4 and 300 K, a characteristic relaxation rate of the fluctuations is determined. Despite the freezing of most of the spin correlations, an inelastic contribution remains even at base temperature, signifying the presence of fluctuating intrasurfboard spin correlations to at least T/T g ≈0.1 , consistent with an energy landscape that is a hybrid between conventional and geometrically frustrated spin glasses.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

Beam energy dependence of net- Λ fluctuations measured by the STAR experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

The measurements of particle multiplicity distributions have generated considerable interest in understanding the fluctuations of conserved quantum numbers in the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) hadronization regime, in particular near a possible critical point and near the chemical freeze-out. Net-protons and net-kaons have been used as proxies for the net-baryon number and net-strangeness, respectively. We report the measurement of efficiency- and centrality-bin width-corrected cumulant ratios (C 2 /C 1 , C 3 /C 2 ) of net- Λ distributions, in the context of both strangeness and baryon number conservation, as a function of collision energy, centrality, and rapidity. The results are for Au + Au collisions at five beam energies ( √s NN = 19.6 , 27, 39, 62.4, and 200 GeV) recorded with the Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR). We compare our results to the Poisson and negative binomial (NBD) expectations, as well as to ultrarelativistic quantum molecular dynamics (UrQMD) and hadron resonance gas (HRG) model predictions. Both NBD and Poisson baselines agree with data within the statistical and systematic uncertainties. UrQMD describes the measured net- Λ C 1 and C 3 at 200 GeV reasonably well but deviates from C 2 , and the deviation increases as a function of collision energy. The ratios of the measured cumulants show no features of critical fluctuations. The chemical freeze-out temperatures extracted from a recent HRG calculation, which was successfully used to describe the net-proton, net-kaon, and net-charge data, indicate Λ freeze-out conditions similar to those of kaons. However, large deviations are found when comparing with temperatures obtained from net-proton fluctuations. The net- Λ cumulants show a weak but finite dependence on the rapidity coverage in the acceptance of the detector, which can be attributed to quantum number conservation.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evolution of Λ polarization in the hadronic phase of heavy-ion collisions

Using the AMPT+MUSIC+URQMD hybrid model, we study the global and local spin polarizations of Λ hyperons as functions of the freeze-out temperature of the spin degree of freedom in the hadronic phase of Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 19.6 GeV. Including contributions from both the thermal vorticity and thermal shear of the hadronic matter, we find that with the spin freeze-out temperature dropping from the hadronization temperature of 160 MeV to 110 MeV at the kinetic freeze-out, both the global and local spin polarizations of Λ hyperons due to the thermal vorticity decrease by a factor of 2, while those due to the thermal shear decrease quickly and become negligibly small at 140 MeV. Here our results thus suggest that it is important to take into account the evolution of the spin degree of freedom in the hadronic stage of relativistic heavy-ion collisions when theoretically predicted global and local Λ spin polarizations are compared with the experimental measurements.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗