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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 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Internal Structure of Charged Particles in a GRT Gravitational Model

With the help of an exact solution of the Einstein and Maxwell equations, the internal structure of a multiply connected space of wormhole type with two unclosed static throats leading out of it into two parallel vacuum spaces or into one space is investigated in GRT for a free electric field and dust-like matter. The given geometry is considered as a particle–antiparticle pair with fundamental constants arising in the form of first integrals in the solution of the Cauchy problem – electric charges ±e of opposite sign in the throats and rest mass m{sub 0} – the total gravitational mass of the inner world of the particle in the throat. With the help of the energy conservation law, the unremovable rotation of the internal structure is included and the projection of the angular momentum of which onto the rotation axis is identified with the z-projection of the spin of the charged particle. The radius of 2-Gaussian curvature of the throat R* is identified with the charge radius of the particle, and the z-projection of the magnetic moment and the g-factor are found. The feasibility of the given gravitational model is confirmed by the found condition of independence of the spin quantum number of the electron and the proton s = 1/2 of the charge radius R* and the relativistic rest mass m* of the rotating throat, which is reliably confirmed experimentally, and also by the coincidence with high accuracy of the proton radius calculated in the model R{sub *p} = 0.8412·10{sup –13} cm with the value of the proton charge radius obtained experimentally by measuring the Lamb shift on muonic hydrogen. The electron in the given model also turns out to be a structured particle with radius R{sub *e} = 3.8617·10{sup –11} cm.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

On the statistical theory of self-gravitating collisionless dark matter flow: Scale and redshift variation of velocity and density distributions

The statistics of velocity and density fields are crucial for cosmic structure formation and evolution. Here, this paper extends our previous work on the two-point second-order statistics for the velocity field [Phys. Fluids 35, 077105 (2023)] to one-point probability distributions for both density and velocity fields. The scale and redshift variation of density and velocity distributions are studied by a halo-based non-projection approach. First, all particles are divided into halo and out-of-halo particles so that the redshift variation can be studied via generalized kurtosis of distributions for halo and out-of-halo particles, respectively. Second, without projecting particle fields onto a structured grid, the scale variation is analyzed by identifying all particle pairs on different scales $r$. We demonstrate that: (i) Delaunay tessellation can be used to reconstruct the density field. The density correlation, spectrum, and dispersion functions were obtained, modeled, and compared with the N-body simulation; (ii) the velocity distributions are symmetric on both small and large scales and are non-symmetric with a negative skewness on intermediate scales due to the inverse energy cascade on small scales with a constant rate $\varepsilon_u$; (iii) On small scales, the even order moments of pairwise velocity $\Delta u_L$ follow a two-thirds law $\propto{(-\varepsilon_ur)}^{2/3}$, while the odd order moments follow a linear scaling $\langle(\Delta u_L)^{2n+1}\rangle=(2n+1)\langle(\Delta u_L)^{2n}\rangle\langle\Delta u_L\rangle\propto{r}$; (iv) The scale variation of the velocity distributions was studied for longitudinal velocities $u_L$ or $u_L^{'}$, pairwise velocity (velocity difference) $\Delta u_L$=$u_L^{'}$-$u_L$ and velocity sum $\Sigma u_L$=$u^{'}_L$+$u_L$. Fully developed velocity fields are never Gaussian on any scale, despite that they can initially be Gaussian; (v) On small scales, $u_L$ and $\Sigma u_L$ can be modeled by a $X$ distribution to maximize the entropy of the system. The distribution of $\Delta u_L$ can be different; (vi) On large scales, $\Delta u_L$ and $\Sigma u_L$ can be modeled by a logistic or a $X$ distribution, while $u_L$ has a different distribution; (vii) the redshift variation of the velocity distributions follows the evolution of the $X$ distribution involving a shape parameter $\alpha(z)$ decreasing with time.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Warm dust around cool stars: field M dwarfs with Wise 12 or 22 μm excess emission

Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7) spectroscopic catalog, we searched the WISE AllWISE catalog to investigate the occurrence of warm dust, as inferred from IR excesses, around field M dwarfs (dMs). We developed SDSS/WISE color selection criteria to identify 175 dMs (from 70,841) that show IR flux greater than the typical dM photosphere levels at 12 and/or 22 μm, including seven new stars within the Orion OB1 footprint. We characterize the dust populations inferred from each IR excess and investigate the possibility that these excesses could arise from ultracool binary companions by modeling combined spectral energy distributions. Our observed IR fluxes are greater than levels expected from ultracool companions (>3σ). We also estimate that the probability the observed IR excesses are due to chance alignments with extragalactic sources is <0.1%. Using SDSS spectra we measure surface gravity-dependent features (K, Na, and CaH 3) and find <15% of our sample indicates low surface gravities. Examining tracers of youth (Hα, UV fluxes, and Li absorption), we find <3% of our sample appear young, indicating we are observing a population of field stars ≳1 Gyr, likely harboring circumstellar material. We investigate age-dependent properties probed by this sample, studying the disk fraction as a function of Galactic height. The fraction remains small and constant to |Z| ∼ 700 pc and then drops, indicating little to no trend with age. Possible explanations for disks around field dMs include (1) collisions of planetary bodies, (2) tidal disruption of planetary bodies, or (3) failed planet formation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

THE LOCAL GROUP IN THE COSMIC WEB

We explore the characteristics of the cosmic web around Local-Group (LG)-like pairs using a cosmological simulation in the ΛCDM cosmology. We use the Hessian of the gravitational potential to classify regions on scales of ∼2 Mpc as a peak, sheet, filament, or void. The sample of LG counterparts is represented by two samples of halo pairs. The first is a general sample composed of pairs with similar masses and isolation criteria as observed for the LG. The second is a subset with additional observed kinematic constraints such as relative pair velocity and separation. We find that the pairs in the LG sample with all constraints are: (1) preferentially located in filaments and sheets, (2) located in a narrow range of local overdensity 0 < δ < 2, web ellipticity 0.1 < e < 1.0, and prolateness –0.4 < p < 0.4, (3) strongly aligned with the cosmic web. The alignments are such that the pair orbital angular momentum tends to be perpendicular to the smallest tidal eigenvector, e-hat {sub 3}, which lies along the filament direction or the sheet plane. A stronger alignment is present for the vector linking the two halos with the vector e-hat {sub 3}. Additionally, we fail to find a strong correlation between the spin of each halo in the pair with the cosmic web. All of these trends are expected to a great extent from the selection of LG total mass in the general sample. Applied to the observed LG, there is a potential conflict between the alignments of the different satellite planes and the numerical evidence for satellite accretion along filaments; the direction defined by e-hat {sub 3}. This highlights the relevance of achieving a precise characterization for the location of the LG in the cosmic web in the cosmological context provided by ΛCDM.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

RADIAL FLOW PATTERN OF A SLOW CORONAL MASS EJECTION

Height–time plots of the leading edge of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have often been used to study CME kinematics. We propose a new method to analyze the CME kinematics in more detail by determining the radial mass transport process throughout the entire CME. Thus, our method is able to estimate not only the speed of the CME front but also the radial flow speed inside the CME. We have applied this method to a slow CME with an average leading edge speed of about 480 km s{sup −1}. In the Lagrangian frame, the speeds of the individual CME mass elements stay almost constant within 2 and 15 R{sub S}, the range over which we analyzed the CME. Hence, we have no evidence of net radial forces acting on parts of the CME in this range or of a pile up of mass ahead of the CME. We find evidence that the leading edge trajectory obtained by tie-pointing may gradually lag behind the Lagrangian front-side trajectories derived from our analysis. Our results also allow a much more precise estimate of the CME energy. Compared with conventional estimates using the CME total mass and leading edge motion, we find that the latter may overestimate the kinetic energy and the gravitational potential energy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

PRESSURE SHIFT AND GRAVITATIONAL REDSHIFT OF BALMER LINES IN WHITE DWARFS: REDISCUSSION

The Stark-induced shift and asymmetry, the so-called pressure shift (PS) of H{sub α} and H{sub β} Balmer lines in spectra of DA white dwarfs (WDs), have been examined in detail as masking effects in measurements of the gravitational redshift in WDs. The results are compared with our earlier ones from a quarter of a century ago. In these earlier papers, the standard, symmetrical Stark line profiles, as a dominant constituent of the Balmer line profiles but shifted as a whole by the PS effect, were applied to all spectrally active layers of the WD atmosphere. At present, in each of the WD layers, the Stark line profiles (especially of H{sub β}) are inherently asymmetrical and shifted due to the effects of strong inhomogeneity of the perturbing fields in plasma. To calculate the Stark line profiles in successive layers of the WD atmosphere we used the modified Full Computer Simulation Method, able to take adequately into account the complexity of local elementary quantum processes in plasma. In the case of the H{sub α} line, the present value of Stark-induced shift of the synthetic H{sub α} line profile is about half the previous one and it is negligible in comparison with the gravitational redshift. In the case of the H{sub β} line, the present value of Stark-induced shift of the synthetic H{sub β} line profile is about twice the previous one. The source of this extra shift is the asymmetry of H{sub β} peaks.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

SELF-GRAVITATIONAL FORCE CALCULATION OF SECOND-ORDER ACCURACY FOR INFINITESIMALLY THIN GASEOUS DISKS IN POLAR COORDINATES

Investigating the evolution of disk galaxies and the dynamics of proto-stellar disks can involve the use of both a hydrodynamical and a Poisson solver. These systems are usually approximated as infinitesimally thin disks using two-dimensional Cartesian or polar coordinates. In Cartesian coordinates, the calculations of the hydrodynamics and self-gravitational forces are relatively straightforward for attaining second-order accuracy. However, in polar coordinates, a second-order calculation of self-gravitational forces is required for matching the second-order accuracy of hydrodynamical schemes. We present a direct algorithm for calculating self-gravitational forces with second-order accuracy without artificial boundary conditions. The Poisson integral in polar coordinates is expressed in a convolution form and the corresponding numerical complexity is nearly linear using a fast Fourier transform. Examples with analytic solutions are used to verify that the truncated error of this algorithm is of second order. The kernel integral around the singularity is applied to modify the particle method. The use of a softening length is avoided and the accuracy of the particle method is significantly improved.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

CMB probes on the correlated axion isocurvature perturbation

We explore the possible cosmological consequence of the gravitational coupling between the inflaton and axion-like fields. In view of the forthcoming cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization and lensing data, we study the sensitivity of the CMB data on the cross-correlation between the curvature and axion isocurvature perturbations. Through a concrete example, we illustrate the explicit dependence of the scale dependent cross-correlation power spectrum on the axion parameters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Revisiting slow-roll inflation in nonminimal derivative coupling with potentials

We investigate the slow-roll inflation in the nonminimal derivative coupling (NDC) model with exponential, quadric, and quartic potentials. It was known that this model provides an enhanced slow-roll inflation induced by gravitationally enhanced friction even for a steep exponential potential. In the phase portrait, the inflationary attractor is described by the slow-roll equation. Introducing the autonomous form, the inflation is regarded as an emergence from the saddle point and it leaves this fixed point along the slow-roll equation. We show explicitly that if one uses the NDC with potentials, the slow-roll inflation is easier to be implemented than the canonical coupling with the same potentials.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Gravitational particle production in bouncing cosmologies

It is argued that the Universe reheating in bouncing cosmologies could be explained via gravitational particle production, as due to a sudden phase transition in the contracting regime. To this end, it is shown that, in the context of Loop Quantum Cosmology, gravitational production of massive particles conformally coupled with gravity in a matter-ekpyrotic bouncing Universe, where the sudden phase transition occurs in the contracting regime, yields a reheating temperature which is in good agreement with cosmological observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Exploring dark forces with multimessenger studies of extreme mass ratio inspirals

Abstract The exploration of dark sector interactions via gravitational waves (GWs) from binary inspirals has been a subject of recent interest. We study dark forces using extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs), pointing out two issues of interest. Firstly, the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) of the EMRI, which sets the characteristic length scale of the system and hence the dark force range to which it exhibits enhanced sensitivity, probes force mediator masses that complement those studied with supermassive black hole (SMBH) or neutron star binaries. The LISA mission (the proposedμAres detector) will probe mediators with massesm V ∼ 10 -16 eV (m V ∼ 10 -18 eV), corresponding to ISCOs of 10 6 M ⊙ (10 8 M ⊙ ) central SMBHs. Secondly, while the sensitivity to dark couplings is typically limited by the uncertainty in the binary component masses, independent mass measurements of the central SMBH through reverberation mapping campaigns or the motion of dynamical tracers enable one to break this degeneracy. Our results therefore highlight the necessity for coordinated studies, loosely referred to as “multimessenger”, between futureμHz- mHz GW observatories and ongoing and forthcoming SMBH mass measurement campaigns, including OzDES-RM, SDSS-RM, and SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2014

CONNECTING STAR FORMATION QUENCHING WITH GALAXY STRUCTURE AND SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES THROUGH GRAVITATIONAL HEATING OF COOLING FLOWS

Recent observations suggested that star formation quenching in galaxies is related to galaxy structure. Here we propose a new mechanism to explain the physical origin of this correlation. We assume that while quenching is maintained in quiescent galaxies by a feedback mechanism, cooling flows in the hot halo gas can still develop intermittently. We study cooling flows in a large suite of around 90 hydrodynamic simulations of an isolated galaxy group, and find that the flow development depends significantly on the gravitational potential well in the central galaxy. If the galaxy's gravity is not strong enough, cooling flows result in a central cooling catastrophe, supplying cold gas and feeding star formation to galactic bulges. When the bulge grows prominent enough, compressional heating starts to offset radiative cooling and maintains cooling flows in a long-term hot mode without producing a cooling catastrophe. Our model thus describes a self-limited growth channel for galaxy bulges and naturally explains the connection between quenching and bulge prominence. In particular, we explicitly demonstrate that M{sub ∗}/R{sub eff}{sup 1.5} is a good structural predictor of quenching. We further find that the gravity from the central supermassive black hole also affects the bimodal fate of cooling flows, and we predict a more general quenching predictor to be M{sub bh}{sup 1.6}M{sub ∗}/R{sub eff}{sup 1.5}, which may be tested in future observational studies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Extracting dark-matter velocities from halo masses: A reconstruction conjecture

Increasing attention has recently focused on nontraditional dark-matter production mechanisms which result in primordial dark-matter velocity distributions with highly nonthermal shapes. Here, in this paper, we undertake an assessment of how the detailed shape of a general dark-matter velocity distribution impacts structure formation in the nonlinear regime. In particular, we investigate the impact on the halo-mass and subhalo-mass functions, as well as on astrophysical observables such as satellite and cluster-number counts. We find that many of the standard expectations no longer hold in situations in which this velocity distribution takes a highly nontrivial, even multimodal shape. For example, we find that the nominal free-streaming scale alone becomes insufficient to characterize the effect of free-streaming on structure formation. In addition, we propose a simple one-line conjecture which can be used to “reconstruct” the primordial dark-matter velocity distribution directly from the shape of the halo-mass function. Although our conjecture is completely heuristic, we show that it successfully reproduces the salient features of the underlying dark-matter velocity distribution even for nontrivial distributions which are highly nonthermal and/or multimodal, such as might occur for nonminimal dark sectors. Moreover, since our approach relies only on the halo-mass function, our conjecture provides a method of probing dark-matter properties even for scenarios in which the dark and visible sectors interact only gravitationally.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Tetrads in Solids: from Elasticity Theory to Topological Quantum Hall Systems and Weyl Fermions

Theory of elasticity in topological insulators has many common features with relativistic quantum fields interacting with gravitational fields in the tetrad form. Here we discuss several issues in the effective topological (pseudo)electromagnetic response in three-dimensional weak crystalline topological insulators with no time-reversal symmetry that feature elasticity tetrads, including a mixed “axial-gravitational” anomaly. This response has some resemblance to “quasitopological” terms proposed for massless Weyl quasiparticles with separate, emergent fermion tetrads. As an example, we discuss the chiral/axial anomaly in superfluid {sup 3}He-A. We demonstrate the principal difference between the elasticity tetrads and the Weyl fermion tetrads in the construction of the topological terms in the action. In particular, the topological action expressed in terms of the elasticity tetrads cannot be expressed in terms of the Weyl fermion tetrads since in this case the gauge invariance is lost.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Advanced Concepts for Ultrahigh Brightness and Low Temperature Beams. Final Report

This grant supported research on techniques to manipulate and combine positrons and antiprotons to synthesize, and to probe, antihydrogen. The majority of the research was conducted as part of the ALPHA Collaboration at CERN. Using ideas and techniques from accelerator physics, we proposed a new method for measuring the the gravitational attraction of antihydrogen to the Earth's field. ALPHA reported the first precision charge measurement on antihydrogen and a crude bound on its gravitational dynamics in the Earth's field. We proposed using a stochastic acceleration method to measure any putative charge of antihydrogen and built numerical models of the mixing of antiprotons and positrons. Further research included proposing the radiator-first concept for operating an X-ray free electron laser driven by a high repetition rate bunch source and studying scattering in passive foil-based ion focusing systems.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Type I Shell Galaxies as a Test of Gravity Models

Shell galaxies are understood to form through the collision of a dwarf galaxy with an elliptical galaxy. Shell structures and kinematics have been noted to be independent tools to measure the gravitational potential of the shell galaxies. We compare theoretically the formation of shells in Type I shell galaxies in different gravity theories in this work because this is so far missing in the literature. We include Newtonian plus dark halo gravity, and two non-Newtonian gravity models, MOG and MOND, in identical initial systems. We investigate the effect of dynamical friction, which by slowing down the dwarf galaxy in the dark halo models limits the range of shell radii to low values. Under the same initial conditions, shells appear on a shorter timescale and over a smaller range of distances in the presence of dark matter than in the corresponding non-Newtonian gravity models. If galaxies are embedded in a dark matter halo, then the merging time may be too rapid to allow multi-generation shell formation as required by observed systems because of the large dynamical friction effect. Starting from the same initial state, the observation of small bright shells in the dark halo model should be accompanied by large faint ones, while for the case of MOG, the next shell generation patterns iterate with a specific time delay. The first shell generation pattern shows a degeneracy with the age of the shells and in different theories, but the relative distance of the shells and the shell expansion velocity can break this degeneracy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1990

Multi-waveband observations of colliding galaxies

Colliding galaxies represent a major challenge to both theorists and observers because of the large variety of phenomena which are expected to come into play during the interaction. Strong gravitational fluctuations may drive non-linear waves and instabilities throughout the stars and gas leading to enhanced star formation, nuclear activity and ultimately a mixing of the morphological components of the original galaxies. One relatively uncomplicated class of colliding galaxy where stellar waves play an important role in star formation are ring galaxies. Ring galaxies are probably formed when a companion galaxy passes through the center of a disk system driving circular waves through the disk (Lynds and Toomre 1976, Toomre 1978, Struck-Marcell 1990). Off-center collisions can generate non-circular waves and can be loosely described as banana-shaped although they may exhibit more complex forms as the waves expand into the disk. The propagation of such stellar and gaseous waves through the disk leads to enhanced star formation (e.g., Appleton and Struck-Marcell 1987a; Jeske 1986) and provides a unique probe of the response of the interstellar medium (ISM) to a propagating wave (see Appleton and Struck-Marcell 1987b). Here, the authors report results for 3 systems; the irregular ring Arp 143 (=VV 117); Wakamatsu's Seyfert ring (A0959-755; see Wakamatsu and Nishida 1987) and the brighter member of the pair of ring galaxies comprising of AM 1358-221. The most complete multi-wavelength data is for Arp 143. Optical charge coupled device (CCD) observations made with the 60 inch Palomar telescope at BV and r band, near-IR images at J (1.25 microns), H (1.65 microns) and k (2.2 microns) bands from the infrared camera (IRCAM) InSb array camera on the 3.8m United Kingdon Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) telescope and very large array (VLA) observations at 20cm in both the neutral hydrogen line and radio continuum are described. The observations of Wakamatsu's ring and AM 1358 were made only in the near-IR, and a comparison is made with available optical plate material.

Appleton, P. N.↗
NASA NTRS1996

WINDII atmospheric wave airglow imaging

Preliminary WINDII nighttime airglow wave-imaging data in the UARS rolldown attitude has been analyzed with the goal to survey gravity waves near the upper boundary of the middle atmosphere. Wave analysis is performed on O[sub 2](0,0) emissions from a selected 1[sup 0] x 1[sup 0] oblique view of the airglow layer at approximately 95 km altitude, which has no direct earth background and only an atmospheric background which is optically thick for the 0[sub 2](0,0) emission. From a small data set, orbital imaging of atmospheric wave structures is demonstrated, with indication of large variations in wave activity across land and sea. Comparison ground-based imagery is discussed with respect to similarity of wave variations across land/sea boundaries and future orbital mosaic image construction.

Troposphere↗