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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 289 records · Page 16

Redshifting galaxies from DESI to JWST CEERS: Correction of biases and uncertainties in quantifying morphology

Observations of high-redshift galaxies with unprecedented detail have now been rendered possible with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). However, accurately quantifying their morphology remains uncertain due to potential biases and uncertainties. To address this issue, we used a sample of 1816 nearby DESI galaxies, with a stellar mass range of 10 9.75 - 11.25 M ⊙ , to compute artificial images of galaxies of the same mass located at 0.75 ≤ z ≤ 3 and observed at rest-frame optical wavelength in the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. We analyzed the effects of cosmological redshift on the measurements of Petrosian radius (R p ), half-light radius (R 50 ), asymmetry (A), concentration (C), axis ratio (q), and Sérsic index (n). Our results show that R p and R 50 , calculated using non-parametric methods, are slightly overestimated due to PSF smoothing, while R 50 , q, and n obtained through fitting a Sérsic model does not exhibit significant biases. By incorporating a more accurate noise effect removal procedure, we improve the computation of A over existing methods, which often overestimate, underestimate, or lead to significant scatter of noise contributions. Due to PSF asymmetry, there is a minor overestimation of A for intrinsically symmetric galaxies. However, for intrinsically asymmetric galaxies, PSF smoothing dominates and results in an underestimation of A, an effect that becomes more significant with higher intrinsic A or at lower resolutions. Moreover, PSF smoothing also leads to an underestimation of C, which is notably more pronounced in galaxies with higher intrinsic C or at lower resolutions. We developed functions based on resolution level, defined as R p /FWHM, for correcting these biases and the associated statistical uncertainties. Applying these corrections, we measured the bias-corrected morphology for the simulated CEERS images and we find that the derived quantities are in good agreement with their intrinsic values – except for A, which is robust only for angularly large galaxies where R p /FWHM ≥ 5. Our correction functions can be applied to other surveys, offering valuable tools for future studies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Latent Space Dynamics Identification

LaSDI is a data-driven physical simulation software that forms a latent space for a given high-fidelity model and discovers a set of ordinary differential equations for the latent space dynamics. It allows a fast and accurate solution process, which is useful for multi-query decision making applications, such as design optimization and uncertainty quantification. The performance of the LaSDI framework is demonstrated on four different problems, i.e., 1D and 2D Burgers equations, nonlinear heat conduction, and radial advection problems. Both linear and nonlinear compression techniques, such as neural network and proper orthogonal decomposition, are used to form a latent space. A concept of local dynamics identification procedure is introduced to enable a parametric model, which enhances the accuracy level over a given parameter space.

Fries, William↗

Data-driven recovery of hidden physics in reduced order modeling of fluid flows

In this article, we introduce a modular hybrid analysis and modeling (HAM) approach to account for hidden physics in reduced order modeling (ROM) of parameterized systems relevant to fluid dynamics. The hybrid ROM framework is based on using first principles to model the known physics in conjunction with utilizing the data-driven machine learning tools to model the remaining residual that is hidden in data. This framework employs proper orthogonal decomposition as a compression tool to construct orthonormal bases and Galerkin projection (GP) as a model to build the dynamical core of the system. Our proposed methodology hence compensates structural or epistemic uncertainties in models and utilizes the observed data snapshots to compute true modal coefficients spanned by these bases. The GP model is then corrected at every time step with a data-driven rectification using a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network architecture to incorporate hidden physics. A Grassmannian manifold approach is also adopted for interpolating basis functions to unseen parametric conditions. The control parameter governing the system's behavior is thus implicitly considered through true modal coefficients as input features to the LSTM network. The effectiveness of the HAM approach is then discussed through illustrative examples that are generated synthetically to take hidden physics into account. Furthermore, our approach thus provides insights addressing a fundamental limitation of the physics-based models when the governing equations are incomplete to represent underlying physical processes.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Light and Strange Vector Resonances from Lattice QCD at Physical Quark Masses

We present the first ab initio calculation at physical quark masses of scattering amplitudes describing the lightest pseudoscalar mesons interacting via the strong force in the vector channel. Using lattice quantum chromodynamics, we postdict the defining parameters for two short-lived resonances, the ρ(770) and K*(892) which manifest as complex energy poles in ππ and Kπ scattering amplitudes, respectively. The calculation proceeds by first computing the finite-volume energy spectrum of the two-hadron systems and then determining the amplitudes from the energies using the Lüscher formalism. The error budget includes a data-driven systematic error, obtained by scanning possible fit ranges and fit models to extract the spectrum from Euclidean correlators, as well as the scattering amplitudes from the latter. The final results, obtained by analytically continuing multiple parametrizations into the complex energy plane, are M ρ = 796(5)(50)MeV, Γ ρ = 192(10)(31) MeV, M K* = 893(2)(54) MeV, and Γ K = 51(2)(11) MeV, where the subscript indicates the resonance and M and Γ stand for the mass and width, respectively, and where the first bracket indicates the statistical and the second bracket the systematic uncertainty.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The Langmuir probe system in the Wendelstein 7-X test divertor

Here, the design and evaluation of the Langmuir probe system used in the first divertor operation phase of Wendelstein 7-X is described. The probes are integrated into the target plates and have individually facetted surfaces to keep the angle of incidence of the magnetic field within an appropriate range for different magnetic configurations. Multiple models for the derivation of plasma parameters from current–voltage characteristics are introduced. These are analyzed with regard to their assumptions and limitations, generalized, and adapted to our use case. A detailed comparison is made to determine the most suitable model. It is found that the choice of model has a large impact, for example, resulting in a change in the inferred temperatures of up to a factor two. This evaluation is implemented in a Bayesian modeling framework and automated to allow for joint analysis with other diagnostics and a replacement of ad hoc assumptions. We rigorously treat parameter uncertainties, revealing strong correlations between them. General and flexible model formulations permit an expansion to additional effects.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

OperonSEQer: A set of machine-learning algorithms with threshold voting for detection of operon pairs using short-read RNA-sequencing data

Operon prediction in prokaryotes is critical not only for understanding the regulation of endogenous gene expression, but also for exogenous targeting of genes using newly developed tools such as CRISPR-based gene modulation. A number of methods have used transcriptomics data to predict operons, based on the premise that contiguous genes in an operon will be expressed at similar levels. While promising results have been observed using these methods, most of them do not address uncertainty caused by technical variability between experiments, which is especially relevant when the amount of data available is small. In addition, many existing methods do not provide the flexibility to determine the stringency with which genes should be evaluated for being in an operon pair. We present OperonSEQer, a set of machine learning algorithms that uses the statistic and p-value from a non-parametric analysis of variance test (Kruskal-Wallis) to determine the likelihood that two adjacent genes are expressed from the same RNA molecule. We implement a voting system to allow users to choose the stringency of operon calls depending on whether your priority is high recall or high specificity. In addition, we provide the code so that users can retrain the algorithm and re-establish hyperparameters based on any data they choose, allowing for this method to be expanded as additional data is generated. We show that our approach detects operon pairs that are missed by current methods by comparing our predictions to publicly available long-read sequencing data. OperonSEQer therefore improves on existing methods in terms of accuracy, flexibility, and adaptability.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

A Threshold Helium Leakage Detection Switch with Ultra Low Power Operation

Detecting helium leakage is important in many applications, such as in dry cask nuclear waste storage systems. This work develops a helium detection system based on the relative permittivity (dielectric constant) difference between air and helium. This difference changes the status of an electrostatic microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switch. The switch is a capacitive-based device and requires a very negligible amount of power. Exciting the switch’s electrical resonance enhances the MEMS switch sensitivity to detect low helium concentration. This work simulates two different MEMS switch configurations: a cantilever-based MEMS modeled as a single-degree-freedom model and a clamped-clamped beam MEMS molded using the COMSOL Multiphysics finite-element software. While both configurations demonstrate the switch’s simple operation concept, the clamped-clamped beam was selected for detailed parametric characterization due to its comprehensive modeling approach. The beam detects at least 5% helium concentration levels when excited at 3.8 MHz, near electrical resonance. The switch performance decreases at lower excitation frequencies or increases the circuit resistance. The MEMS sensor detection level was relatively immune to beam thickness and parasitic capacitance changes. However, higher parasitic capacitance increases the switch’s susceptibility to errors, fluctuations, and uncertainties.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Linear two-pool models are insufficient to infer soil organic matter decomposition temperature sensitivity from incubations

Abstract Terrestrial carbon (C)-climate feedbacks depend strongly on how soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition responds to temperature. This dependency is often represented in land models by the parameter Q 10 , which quantifies the relative increase of microbial soil respiration per 10 °C temperature increase. Many studies have conducted paired laboratory soil incubations and inferred “active” and “slow” pool Q 10 values by fitting linear two-pool models to measured respiration time series. Using a recently published incubation study (Qin et al. in Sci Adv 5(7):eaau1218, 2019) as an example, here we first show that the very high parametric equifinality of the linear two-pool models may render such incubation-based Q 10 estimates unreliable. In particular, we show that, accompanied by the uncertain initial active pool size, the slow pool Q 10 can span a very wide range, including values as high as 100, although all parameter combinations are producing almost equally good model fit with respect to the observations. This result is robust whether or not interactions between the active and slow pools are considered (typically these interactions are not considered when interpreting incubation data, but are part of the predictive soil carbon models). This very large parametric equifinality in the context of interpreting incubation data is consistent with the poor temporal extrapolation capability of linear multi-pool models identified in recent studies. Next, using a microbe-explicit SOM model (RESOM), we show that the inferred two pools and their associated parameters (e.g., Q 10 ) could be artificial constructs and are therefore unreliable concepts for integration into predictive models. We finally discuss uncertainties in applying linear two-pool (or more generally multiple-pool) models to estimate SOM decomposition parameters such as temperature sensitivities from laboratory incubations. We also propose new observations and model structures that could enable better process understanding and more robust predictive capabilities of soil carbon dynamics.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Estimating Sediment Settling Velocities from a Theoretically Guided Data-Driven Approach

Sediment settling velocities are commonly estimated from analytical or process-based approaches. These approaches have theoretical constraints due to the incompletely resolved settling physics. A parametric data-driven approach was recently proposed without theoretical constraints, but it is limited by its mathematical assumptions. To overcome these limitations, here we apply a machine learning algorithm to an aggregated sediment settling experimental database and develops a nonparametric data-driven model to estimate the noncohesive sediment settling velocity in water. A cross-comparison against five process-based equations and a parametric data-driven equation demonstrates the higher accuracy and better consistency of the new model in estimating sediment settling velocities under various physical regimes. The new model also shows an easily implemented self-update capability by assimilating theoretical data derived from the process-based equations. The updated model, incorporating experimental and theoretical data of sediment settling processes, further improves the accuracy and reduces the uncertainty in estimating sediment settling velocities. This study demonstrates the capability of machine learning in sediment transport study and illustrates an alternative framework for other hydraulic engineering challenges.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Model-independent description of B → D π ℓ ν decays

We introduce a new parametrization of B → D π ℓ ν form factors using a partial-wave expansion and derive bounds on the series coefficients using analyticity and unitarity. This is the first generalization of the model-independent formalism developed by Boyd, Grinstein, and Lebed for B → D ℓ ν to semileptonic decays with multihadron final states, and enables data-driven form-factor determinations with robust, systematically improvable uncertainties. Using this formalism, we extract the form-factor parameters for B → D 2 * ( → D π ) ℓ ν decays in a model-independent way from fits of data from the Belle Experiment. We find that the semileptonic data are compatible with the presence of two poles in the D π S-wave channel, which is the scenario preferred by nonleptonic decays and unitarized chiral perturbation theory. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

PipeSight: A High-Performance Computing Platform for Pipeline Integrity Management

The Phase I feasibility study completed as part of this project has led to a number of innovative technologies being developed and has laid the foundation for a successful Phase II effort to commercialize a platform for managing the integrity of pipelines for the damage mechanisms of the new, hybrid-energy based economy. To ground the development efforts and direction of the project, an extensive market research and customer discovery effort was undertaken early in Phase I. Through this effort, a number of pipeline owners and operators were interviewed, and the following key findings were discovered about the pipeline industry: • Small pipeline operators do not have the central engineering groups necessary to perform their own independent analysis of inspection data, but instead rely on summarized tally sheets provided to them by inspection service providers. • The time it takes to go from an inspection to a completed engineering assessment, even for small segments of pipeline, can take anywhere from 30-120 days. During this delay, critical threats can (and have been known to) cause failures. • Uncertainty is often not accounted for in the assessment of pipeline integrity. The tally sheets provided by third-party service providers are almost always deterministic in nature, identifying threats that present a concern only to the current (not the future) integrity of the pipeline. • It is uncommon to apply the latest technologies to perform advanced assessments of damaged pipelines. There is a desire to use more advanced analysis capabilities to assess threats. Many pipeline operators indicated that they would often excavate a pipeline to perform an inspection and find that the damage was not as bad as they anticipated, thus using limited resources unnecessarily. Companies are not consistent in their use of inspection data to determine corrosion rates, and those that do only calculate deterministic corrosion rates. • The industry has prominently relied on time-based inspections but has recently started to transition to risk-based inspections. However, there appears to be no uniform guidance on how to do so while properly accounting for all sources of uncertainty. • Companies are not storing inspection data in a manner that allows for the ready determination of temporal trends. • Predictive maintenance principles and practices are beginning to be used by early adopters • Some pipelines are being re-purposed to transport different process fluids than they were designed for, e.g., H 2 and CO 2 rich process streams to serve the new hybrid-energy based economy, which are presenting new integrity concerns for the existing pipeline network that crisscrosses the United States. As a result of these discoveries, we were able to target the development efforts in Phase I to best serve the needs of the industry. In Phase I, we developed a way to correlate multiple large-scale scans of the pipeline to determine a probabilistic corrosion rate that accounts for all sources of error and uncertainty in the inspection process. This probabilistic corrosion rate can be used to predict the future thickness distribution of the pipe wall. We demonstrate how this analysis may be performed in an analytical fashion and has been implemented in such a manner that it can be readily distributed using GPU computing through integration of the Kokkos programming model. We also make a very novel extension of the analytical corrosion rate model to Bayesian Networks (an explainable AI technique) that can account for non-parametric distributions of corrosion rates. With the predictions made above for the probabilistic corrosion rate and corresponding future distribution of the pipe wall thickness, we can assess the integrity of the pipeline through the use of a probabilistic engineering assessment. We developed a novel screening data analysis approach that can rapidly identify ‘hotspots’ (local thin areas) where the integrity of the pipeline is a concern. Once more, we implemented this screening approach in C++ to leverage GPU computing via the Kokkos programming model. After the critical hotspots are identified, we developed a program that can automatically generate an advanced finite element model of the damaged regions. Since the number of damaged regions that require advanced analysis can number in the thousands, we integrated an open-source container-native workflow engine for orchestrating parallel jobs on the cloud. Initially, these advanced numerical models were only designed to account for loading due to internal pressure. However, in a slight pivot from the initial Phase I proposal, we developed a complete pipe stress analysis program (called Simflex) which can simulate the complete pipeline and its response to thermal expansion, pressure, thermal bowing, weight, wind, earthquake, support displacement, support friction and external forces. This pipe stress analysis program was written generically, to handle any piping system, but contains the features needed to model long pipelines (i.e., it incorporates a model for soil mechanics and can account for the nonlinear boundary conditions necessary to simulate long underground pipelines). This pipe stress analysis program can simulate any segment of the pipeline (simple or complex) under any set of conditions and loads, to determine the supplemental loads (axial forces and bending moments) at the location of damage. This enables the most accurate state of stress to be accounted for in the pipeline, which can prove critical when evaluating the integrity of a damaged region. In the process of developing the technologies to perform the integrity assessment of the pipeline, we also extended one of the industry standard approaches for performing the assessment of local thin areas that extend more in the circumferential direction than the longitudinal direction of the pipeline. This approach was presented to the API 579-1/AS ME FFS-1 steering committee in November 2021 for consideration in the next edition of the industry standard for Fitness-For-Service (expected to be released in 2023). To help pipeline operators make decisions with the results on any integrity assessment, we developed a new approach to the life-cycle management of pipelines which uses a Bayesian Decision Network. The network is designed to help pipeline operators plan and prioritize inspection activities and ultimately make smarter, more cost-effective decisions. The Bayesian approach accounts for all sources of uncertainty and carries them through to the final optimal decisions, providing a probabilistic framework for optimizing inspection intervals. The proof-of-concept networks developed in the feasibility study are complete, verified, and are focused on a subset of the pipeline. To expand this novel approach to the scale necessary for an entire network of pipelines in Phase II, we will leverage the DOE-funded Bengi solver for industrial-scale decision making with Bayesian Networks [22]. Once implemented, we will be able to provide the pipeline industry with a much-needed tool for optimal inspection planning using truly explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). To handle all of these advanced capabilities into a cloud-based platform, the architecture of the Equity Engineering Cloud (EEC) was extended to include Argo Workflows, a framework capable of distributing and managing a massive number of jobs that consume their own resources, such that thousands of serial finite element simulations can be run in parallel. As part of this substantial undertaking, we also integrated Argo Continuous Delivery (CD) into the EEC, to aid with the rapid prototyping and iterations that will be imperative to the success of the PipeSight platform’s Agile development process in Phase II. As part of the pipe stress analysis program, we also developed a custom visualizer that leverages the DOE-funded VTK visualization library. We added custom contouring capabilities and a means for interacting visually with both the inputs and outputs of the pipe stress analysis program. We also developed routines for automating the post-processing of the finite element simulations to determine if any failure criteria are met and to visualize the deformations, stresses and strains in ParaView using the exodus II file format (a subset of netCDF).

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Compound Continental Risk of Multiple Extreme Floods in the United States

Abstract Understanding spatially correlated floods and modeling joint hazard associated with threshold exceedances across multiple locations is crucial for accurate estimation of continental‐scale portfolio risk. This work uses a non‐parametric copula‐based spatial simulator to analyze peak floods across the United States to derive the first‐of‐its‐kind continental portfolio risk estimates at the 10‐ and 100‐year return levels. We find significant interdependence in floods across the nation, revealing the recurring pattern of extreme events affecting the Northeast, Central, West, and Northwest United States in the same year. The stochastic simulator effectively manages high‐dimensional data and offers reliable uncertainty estimates for both spatially dependent floods and the aggregated flood losses at the continental level. El Niño‐Southern Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation are identified as statistically significant tele‐connectors of aggregate loss. This research aims to advance the understanding of compound continental flood hazard and the potential large‐scale climate teleconnections that lead to such compound floods.

Geology↗

Multi-modelling predictions show high uncertainty of required carbon input changes to reach a 4‰ target

Soils store vast amounts of carbon (C) on land, and increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in already managed soils such as croplands may be one way to remove C from the atmosphere, thereby limiting subsequent warming. The main objective of this study was to estimate the amount of additional C input needed to annually increase SOC stocks by 4‰ at 16 long-term agricultural experiments in Europe, including exogenous organic matter (EOM) additions. We used an ensemble of six SOC models and ran them under two configurations: (1) with default parametrization and (2) with parameters calibrated site-by-site to fit the evolution of SOC stocks in the control treatments (without EOM). We compared model simulations and analysed the factors generating variability across models. The calibrated ensemble was able to reproduce the SOC stock evolution in the unfertilised control treatments. We found that, on average, the experimental sites needed an additional 1.5 ± 1.2 Mg C ha -1 year -1 to increase SOC stocks by 4‰ per year over 30 years, compared to the C input in the control treatments (multi-model median ± median standard deviation across sites). That is, a 119% increase compared to the control. While mean annual temperature, initial SOC stocks and initial C input had a significant effect on the variability of the predicted C input in the default configuration (i.e., the relative standard deviation of the predicted C input from the mean), only water-related variables (i.e., mean annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration) explained the divergence between models when calibrated. Here, our work highlights the challenge of increasing SOC stocks in agriculture and accentuates the need to increasingly lean on multi-model ensembles when predicting SOC stock trends and related processes. To increase the reliability of SOC models under future climate change, we suggest model developers to better constrain the effect of water-related variables on SOC decomposition.

4 per 1000 initiative↗

Bayesian Analysis of TRISO Fuel: Quantifying Model Inadequacy, Incorporating Lower-Length-Scale Effects, and Developing Parallel Active Learning Capabilities

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program aims to develop predictive capabilities by applying computational methods to the analysis and design of advanced reactor and fuel-cycle systems. This program has been providing engineering-scale support for the continued development of BISON, a high-fidelity, high-resolution fuel performance tool. Fuel behavior in nuclear reactors is governed by a complex network of mechanisms that interact with various other physics aspects in the reactor system. Any model developed to represent fuel behavior will likely be idealized, resulting in uncertainties when comparing their predictions against the observed data. In Fiscal Year (FY)-23, we initiated the Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) work by using Bayesian methods to establish a level of model trustworthiness and further improve it, with a particular emphasis on TRI-Structural isOtropic (TRISO) nuclear fuel. This year, we further expanded on that UQ work by investigating an approach to quantifying model inadequacy and accounting for lower-length scale (LLS) effects in TRISO silver (Ag) release modeling. Furthermore, we are implementing parallel active learning capabilities to reduce the computational cost (i.e., required computational resources and elapsed time) of performing UQ. Specifically, we utilized The Kennedy O’Hagan framework for Bayesian uncertainty quantification (KOH) to account for model inadequacy in TRISO Ag release predictions made by BISON. The KOH framework represents an improvement over the standard Bayesian framework used in FY-23. Explicitly accounting for model inadequacy in the Bayesian framework helps establish the level of experimental noise uncertainty in the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) data. We compared the inverse UQ results obtained from both the standard Bayesian and KOH frameworks in light of the AGR-2/3/4 data, and also compared the predictive UQ results obtained from these two frameworks in light of the AGR-1 data. Next, we investigated the impact of considering LLS effects in the Ag release simulations. We developed an expanded database of LLS simulated effective diffusivities for Ag, covering a wide range of microstructures and temperatures. Using this database, we developed a framework for incorporating LLS effects into the engineering-scale Ag release UQ. We developed both parametric and non-parametric approaches for bridging the length scales. We then investigated the inverse UQ results in light of the AGR-2/3/4 data and the predictive UQ results in light of the AGR-1 data, and compared the LLS-informed approach and the Arrhenius equation, which does not include microstructure information. Finally, we discussed implementing parallel active learning capabilities in the Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE)/BISON to reduce the computational cost (i.e., computational resources and elapsed time) of Bayesian UQ. For verification purposes, we first tested these new capabil ities on a species interaction problem. We then demonstrated them on the TRISO Ag release application, showing that parallel active learning capabilities can enhance the accuracy of UQ while also substantially reducing the computational cost in comparison to the reference methods developed in FY-23.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

A Data-Driven Nonparametric Approach for Probabilistic Load-Margin Assessment Considering Wind Power Penetration

A modern power system is characterized by an increasing penetration of wind power, which results in large uncertainties in its states. These uncertainties must be quantified properly; otherwise, the system security may be threatened. Facing this challenge, here we propose a cost-effective, data-driven approach to assessing a power system's load margin probabilistically. Using actual wind data, a kernel density estimator is applied to infer the nonparametric wind speed distributions, which are further merged into the framework of a vine copula. The latter enables us to simulate complex multivariate and highly dependent model inputs with a variety of bivariate copulae that precisely represent the tail dependence in the correlated samples. Furthermore, to reduce the prohibitive computational time of traditional Monte-Carlo simulations that process a large amount of samples, we propose to use a nonparametric, Gaussian-process-emulator-based reduced-order model to replace the original complicated continuation power-flow model through a Bayesian-learning framework. To accelerate the convergence rate of this Bayesian algorithm, a truncated polynomial chaos surrogate, which serves as a highly efficient, parametric Bayesian prior, is developed. This emulator allows us to execute the time-consuming continuation power-flow solver at the sampled values with a negligible computational cost. Results of simulations that are performed on several test systems reveal the impressive performance of the proposed method in the probabilistic load-margin assessment.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

The diphoton $$q_T$$ spectrum at N$$^3$$LL$$^\prime $$ + NNLO

Abstract We present a $$q_T$$ q T -resummed calculation of diphoton production at order N $$^3$$ 3 LL $$^\prime $$ ′ + NNLO. To reach the primed level of accuracy we have implemented the recently published three-loop $${\mathcal {O}}(\alpha _s^3)$$ O ( α s 3 ) virtual corrections in the $$q\bar{q}$$ q q ¯ channel and the three-loop transverse momentum dependent beam functions and combined them with the existing infrastructure of , a code performing resummation at order N $${}^3$$ 3 LL. While the primed predictions are parametrically not more accurate, one typically observes from lower orders and other processes that they are the dominant effect of the next order. We include in both the $$q\bar{q}$$ q q ¯ and loop-induced gg channel the hard contributions consistently together at order $$\alpha _s^3$$ α s 3 and find that the resummed $$q\bar{q}$$ q q ¯ channel without matching stabilizes indeed. Due to large matching corrections and large contributions and uncertainties from the gg channel, the overall improvements are small though. We furthermore study the effect of hybrid-cone photon isolation and hard-scale choice on our fully matched results to describe the ATLAS $$\text {8}$$ 8 TeV data and find that the hybrid-cone isolation worsens agreement at small $$q_T$$ q T compared to smooth-cone isolation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Semileptonic form factors for $$B\rightarrow D^*\ell \nu $$ at nonzero recoil from $$2+1$$-flavor lattice QCD: Fermilab Lattice and MILC Collaborations

Abstract We present the first unquenched lattice-QCD calculation of the form factors for the decay $$B\rightarrow D^*\ell \nu $$ B → D ∗ ℓ ν at nonzero recoil. Our analysis includes 15 MILC ensembles with $$N_f=2+1$$ N f = 2 + 1 flavors of asqtad sea quarks, with a strange quark mass close to its physical mass. The lattice spacings range from $$a\approx 0.15$$ a ≈ 0.15 fm down to 0.045 fm, while the ratio between the light- and the strange-quark masses ranges from 0.05 to 0.4. The valence b and c quarks are treated using the Wilson-clover action with the Fermilab interpretation, whereas the light sector employs asqtad staggered fermions. We extrapolate our results to the physical point in the continuum limit using rooted staggered heavy-light meson chiral perturbation theory. Then we apply a model-independent parametrization to extend the form factors to the full kinematic range. With this parametrization we perform a joint lattice-QCD/experiment fit using several experimental datasets to determine the CKM matrix element $$|V_{cb}|$$ | V cb | . We obtain $$\left| V_{cb}\right| = (38.40 \pm 0.68_{\text {th}} \pm 0.34_{\text {exp}} \pm 0.18_{\text {EM}})\times 10^{-3}$$ V cb = ( 38.40 ± 0 . 68 th ± 0 . 34 exp ± 0 . 18 EM ) × 10 - 3 . The first error is theoretical, the second comes from experiment and the last one includes electromagnetic and electroweak uncertainties, with an overall $$\chi ^2\text {/dof} = 126/84$$ χ 2 /dof = 126 / 84 , which illustrates the tensions between the experimental data sets, and between theory and experiment. This result is in agreement with previous exclusive determinations, but the tension with the inclusive determination remains. Finally, we integrate the differential decay rate obtained solely from lattice data to predict $$R(D^*) = 0.265 \pm 0.013$$ R ( D ∗ ) = 0.265 ± 0.013 , which confirms the current tension between theory and experiment.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Precision measurement of the electron energy-loss function in tritium and deuterium gas for the KATRIN experiment

Abstract The KATRIN experiment is designed for a direct and model-independent determination of the effective electron anti-neutrino mass via a high-precision measurement of the tritium $$\upbeta $$ β -decay endpoint region with a sensitivity on $$m_\nu $$ m ν of 0.2 $$\hbox {eV}/\hbox {c}^2$$ eV / c 2 (90% CL). For this purpose, the $$\upbeta $$ β -electrons from a high-luminosity windowless gaseous tritium source traversing an electrostatic retarding spectrometer are counted to obtain an integral spectrum around the endpoint energy of 18.6 keV. A dominant systematic effect of the response of the experimental setup is the energy loss of $$\upbeta $$ β -electrons from elastic and inelastic scattering off tritium molecules within the source. We determined the energy-loss function in-situ with a pulsed angular-selective and monoenergetic photoelectron source at various tritium-source densities. The data was recorded in integral and differential modes; the latter was achieved by using a novel time-of-flight technique. We developed a semi-empirical parametrization for the energy-loss function for the scattering of 18.6-keV electrons from hydrogen isotopologs. This model was fit to measurement data with a 95% $$\hbox {T}_2$$ T 2 gas mixture at 30 K, as used in the first KATRIN neutrino-mass analyses, as well as a $$\hbox {D}_2$$ D 2 gas mixture of 96% purity used in KATRIN commissioning runs. The achieved precision on the energy-loss function has abated the corresponding uncertainty of $$\sigma (m_\nu ^2)< {{10}^{-2}}{\hbox {eV}^{2}}$$ σ ( m ν 2 ) < 10 - 2 eV 2 [1] in the KATRIN neutrino-mass measurement to a subdominant level.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗