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At least 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Ants disperse seeds farther in habitat patches with corridors

Habitat fragmentation impacts ecosystems worldwide through habitat loss, reduced connectivity, and edge effects. Yet, these landscape factors are often confounded, leaving much to be investigated about their relative effects, especially on species interactions. In a landscape experiment, we investigated the consequences of connectivity and edge effects for seed dispersal by ants. We found that ants dispersed seeds farther in habitat patches connected by corridors, but only in patch centers. We did not see an effect on the total number of seeds moved or the rate ants detected seeds. Furthermore, we did not see any differences in ant community composition across patch types, suggesting that shifts in ant behavior or other factors increased ant seed dispersal in patches connected by corridors. Long-distance seed dispersal by ants that requires an accumulation of short-distance dispersal events over generations may be an underappreciated mechanism through which corridors increase plant diversity.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Examination of climatological wind patterns and simulated pollen dispersion in a complex island environment

Complex terrain creates small-scale circulations which affect pollen dispersion but may be missed by meteorological observing networks and coarse-grid meteorological models. On volcanic islands, these circulations result from differing rates of surface heating between land and sea as well as rugged terrain. We simulated the transport of bentgrass, ryegrass, and maize pollen from 30 sources within the agricultural regions of the Hawaiian island Kaua’i during climatological conditions spanning season conditions and the La Niña, El Niño, and neutral phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Both pollen size and source location had major effects on predicted dispersion over and near the island. Three patterns of pollen dispersion were identified in response to prevailing wind conditions: southwest winds transported pollen inland, funneling pollen grains through valleys; east winds transported pollen over the ocean, with dispersive tails for the smallest pollen grains following the mean wind and extending as far as the island of Ni’ihau 35 km away; and northeast winds moved pollen inland counter to the prevailing flow due to a sea breeze circulation that formed over the source region. These results are the first to predict the interactions between complex island terrain and local climatology on grass pollen dispersion. As a result, they demonstrate how numerical modeling can provide guidance for field trials by illustrating the common flow regimes present in complex terrain, allowing field trials to focus on areas where successful sampling is more likely to occur.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Explicit dispersion relations for warm fluid waves in a uniform plasma (invited)

Classical dispersion relations for waves in a fluid plasma are expressed as implicit functions of wave frequency and wave- number. The implicit dispersion relation must in general be solved numerically. This work introduces an astute method for obtaining an explicit dispersion relation for waves in a fluid plasma. The explicit expression has an advantage of providing eigenmodes without numerical computations and giving a dispersion relation more detailed than the implicit expression. As in the case of cold waves, the wavenumber for an arbitrary frequency can be directly obtained from the explicit formula. The explicit formula also enables an accurate evaluation of finite-temperature effects on a dispersion relation even near the cyclotron resonance, where a numerical analysis of the implicit relation is impractical. As a result, the analytic formula can be used to investigate temperature effects on electromagnetic waves.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Evaluation of stochastic particle dispersion modeling in turbulent round jets

ODT (one-dimensional turbulence) simulations of particle-carrier gas interactions are performed in the jet flow configuration. Particles with different diameters are injected onto the centerline of a turbulent air jet. The particles are passive and do not impact the fluid phase. Their radial dispersion and axial velocities are obtained as functions of axial position. The time and length scales of the jet are varied through control of the jet exit velocity and nozzle diameter. Dispersion data at long times of flight for the nozzle diameter (7 mm), particle diameters (60 and 90 µm), and Reynolds numbers (10, 000–30, 000) are analyzed to obtain the Lagrangian particle dispersivity. Flow statistics of the ODT particle model are compared to experimental measurements. It is shown that the particle tracking method is capable of yielding Lagrangian prediction of the dispersive transport of particles in a round jet. In this study, three particle-eddy interaction models (Type-I, -C, and -IC) are presented to examine the details of particle dispersion and particle-eddy interaction in jet flow.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Role of silicon-graphite homogeneity as promoted by low molecular weight dispersants

This study explores low molecular weight polymers with the same chemical repeat structure as high molecular weight poly acrylic acid (PAA) and lithium poly acrylic acid (LiPAA) binders which act as a dispersant to improve the silicon-graphite electrode performance. The electrodes which utilize LiPAA as a dispersant perform, on average, the best with respect to the maximum capacity (compared to theoretical), rate performance, and capacity retention with time. These electrodes also have the poorest dispersion of binder, indicating that the poor binder dispersion is essential to electrode performance. In contrast, this study shows that electrodes formulated using PAA had good dispersion and performs the worst in cycling. Finally, this work demonstrates that the binder is not uniformly distributed in the electrode, but rather resides in local regions. Overall, the results indicate these regions accommodate volume expansion during cycling.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Boosting the activity of non-platinum group metal electrocatalyst for the reduction of oxygen via dual-ligated atomically dispersed precursors immobilized on carbon supports

This paper describes the use of both atomically dispersed precursors (ADPs) and conductive carbon dispersion towards the synthesis of iron-based single atom electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). For non-platinum group metal (non-PGM) catalysts, single iron, cobalt or manganese atoms coordinated with nitrogen are the most active structures towards the ORR. Achieving a high density of active sites made of single atoms is still challenging, requiring careful controls of pyrolysis to reduce the sintering of metal active sites. Herewith, we present a new strategy to synthesize iron-based single atom ORR electrocatalysts using a two pronged approach. We first designed a dual-ligated metal organic framework (MOF) precursor. This MOF was then immobilized onto Ketjen black carbon that serves as a conductive dispersion medium for creating the highly dispersed single atom sites. In this work, we demonstrate a near complete dispersion of the iron sites without obvious formation of nanoparticles. The activity of the resulting electrocatalyst exhibited an onset potential of 0.96 V and a half-wave potential of 0.84 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE).

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Impact of melt viscosity on filler dispersion in elastomeric nanocomposites

Compounding of commercial nanocomposites usually involves the addition of viscosity enhancers such as binder resins in ink jet inks, and paints. Contrary to this, plasticizers such as process oils are added to reduce the melt viscosity and ease processability of reinforced elastomers. Nanofillers such as silica and carbon black are typically added to reinforce rubber and enhance performance of automotive tire treads. Filler dispersion has traditionally been qualitatively (indirectly) assessed by measuring the properties of reinforced elastomers. While dispersion can be quantified by examining filler agglomeration through surface roughness measurements and microscopy, the size-scale dependence for these hierarchical fillers has usually been ignored. Here, we have recently devised a method to quantify nano-scale dispersion of fillers using Ultra small-angle X-ray scattering (USAXS) techniques. This method is advantageous since it directly links the controllable processing/compounding parameters such as the mixing speed, mixer geometry, residence time (or mixing duration), melt density, flow gap distance, and melt viscosity to nano-scale dispersion. While our previous studies have explored the impact of different processing parameters, this study specifically investigates the impact of melt viscosity on nano-scale filler dispersion in elastomer compounds. Commercially available polybutadienes with different Mooney viscosities were used in conjunction with different grades and amounts of process oils to modify the melt viscosity.

Carbon black↗
DOE OSTI2019

Understanding the Static Interfacial Polymer Layer by Exploring the Dispersion States of Nanocomposites

The dynamic and static properties of the interfacial region between polymer and nanoparticles have wide-ranging consequences on performances of nanomaterials. The thickness and density of the static layer are particularly difficult to assess experimentally due to superimposing nanoparticle interactions. Here, we tune the dispersion of silica nanoparticles in nanocomposites by preadsorption of polymer layers in the precursor solutions, and by varying the molecular weight of the matrix chains. Nanocomposite structures ranging from ideal dispersion to repulsive order or various degrees of aggregation are generated and observed by small-angle scattering. Preadsorbed chains are found to promote ideal dispersion, before desorption in the late stages of nanocomposite formation. The microstructure of the interfacial polymer layer is characterized by detailed modeling of X-ray and neutron scattering. Only in ideally well-dispersed systems a static interfacial layer of reduced polymer density over a thickness of ca. 2 nm is evidenced based on the analysis with a form-free density profile optimized using numerical simulations. This interfacial gradient layer is found to be independent of the thickness of the initially adsorbed polymer, but appears to be generated by out-of-equilibrium packing and folding of the preadsorbed layer. The impact of annealing is investigated to study the approach of equilibrium, showing that initially ideally well-dispersed systems adopt a repulsive hard-sphere structure, while the static interfacial layer disappears. Furthermore, this study thus promotes the fundamental understanding of the interplay between effects which are decisive for macroscopic material properties: polymer-mediated interparticle interactions, and particle interfacial effects on the surrounding polymer.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Cellulose Nanocrystals’ Role in Critical Mineral Beneficiation: Dual Aggregate-Dispersant Behavior Supports Environmentally Benign Nickel Processing

Environmentally unsustainable and toxic chemical flocculants and dispersants from nickel (Ni) processing contribute to industrial effluents that greatly impact biodiversity and aquatic life. Despite the industry’s efforts to reduce its ecological footprint—primarily due to the lack of commercially available biodegradable, environmentally benign, and non-toxic reagents—these reagents continue to harm natural ecosystems. Chemicals used during the processing operations often target a specific unit operation that negatively affects downstream operations. In this study, we discover the concentration-dependent behavior of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as a dispersant and flocculant, avoiding the use of various harmful chemicals in the nickel processing stages. Electrophoretic, optical brightfield microscopy, and quartz crystal microbalance-dissipation studies detected charge neutralization behavior by renewable and biodegradable CNCs, which can greatly benefit Ni processing operations. Microflotation experiments demonstrated that CNCs enhanced Ni recovery from 62 to 77 wt.% and concentrate grade from 15 to 20 wt.%. Settling and turbidity studies demonstrated the dual flocculant-dispersant behavior of CNCs resulting from the alignment of CNC fibers along the octahedral brucite basal and amphoteric edge plane of serpentine. CNCs can be used as dispersants during froth flotation to improve Ni beneficiation and as post-processing flocculants for tailings management and dewatering, which is one of the major environmental and social concerns facing the mining and mineral processing industry. This study paves the way for CNCs to be used as flocculants and dispersants in a range of industries from healthcare to pharmaceuticals to semiconductor devices.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Propagation and dispersion of whistler waves generated by fast reconnection onset

The role of whistler mode during the onset of magnetic reconnection (MR) has been widely suggested, but the manifestations of its highly dispersive and anisotropic propagation properties in reconnection events remain largely unclear. Comparing results from a recently developed theoretical model for reconnection in terms of whistler's dispersive behavior with those reported from laboratory experiments on fast spontaneous magnetic reconnection, we demonstrate that the onset of fast reconnection in electron current layers (ECLs) emits whistler wave packets. The time scale of the explosively fast reconnection events are inversely related to the whistler mode frequencies at the lower end of the whistler frequency band. The wave packets in this frequency band have a characteristic angular dispersion, which marks the initial opening of the reconnection exhaust angle. The multidimensional propagation of the whistler for the reconnection with a strong guide magnetic field is investigated, showing that the measured propagation velocities of the reconnection electric field along the guide field in the Versatile Toroidal Facility at MIT quantitatively compare with the group velocities of the whistler wave packets. The whistler mode dispersive properties measured in laboratory experiments without a guide magnetic field in the magnetic reconnection experiments at Princeton also compare well with the theoretically predicted dispersion of the wave packets depending on the ECL width. Fast normalized reconnection rates extending to {approx}0.35 at the MR onset in thin ECLs imply whistler wave propagation away from the onset location. We also present evidences for the whistler wave packets being emitted from reconnection diffusion region as seen in simulations and satellite observations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Study on longitudinal dispersion relation in one-dimensional relativistic plasma: Linear theory and Vlasov simulation

The dispersion relation of one-dimensional longitudinal plasma waves in relativistic homogeneous plasmas is investigated with both linear theory and Vlasov simulation in this paper. From the Vlasov-Poisson equations, the linear dispersion relation is derived for the proper one-dimensional Jüttner distribution. Numerically obtained linear dispersion relation as well as an approximate formula for plasma wave frequency in the long wavelength limit is given. The dispersion of longitudinal wave is also simulated with a relativistic Vlasov code. The real and imaginary parts of dispersion relation are well studied by varying wave number and plasma temperature. Simulation results are in agreement with established linear theory.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

Linear-scaling symmetry-adapted perturbation theory with scaled dispersion

We present a linear-scaling symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) method that is based on an atomic orbital (AO) formulation of zeroth-order SAPT (SAPT0). The non-dispersive terms are realized with linear-scaling cost using both the continuous fast multipole method (CFMM) and the linear exchange (LinK) approach for integral contractions as well as our efficient Laplace-based coupled-perturbed self-consistent field method (DL-CPSCF) for evaluating response densities. The reformulation of the dispersion term is based on our linear-scaling AO Møller-Plesset second-order perturbation theory (AO-MP2) method, that uses our recently introduced QQR-type screening [S. A. Maurer, D. S. Lambrecht, J. Kussmann, and C. Ochsenfeld, J. Chem. Phys. 138, 014101 (2013)] for preselecting numerically significant energy contributions. Similar to scaled opposite-spin MP2, we neglect the exchange-dispersion term in SAPT and introduce a scaling factor for the dispersion term, which compensates for the error and at the same time accounts for basis set incompleteness effects and intramonomer correlation. We show in extensive benchmark calculations that the new scaled-dispersion (sd-)SAPT0 approach provides reliable results for small and large interacting systems where the results with a small 6-31G** basis are roughly comparable to supermolecular MP2 calculations in a triple-zeta basis. The performance of our method is demonstrated with timings on cellulose fragments, DNA systems, and cutouts of a protein-ligand complex with up to 1100 atoms on a single computer core.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Dispersion characteristics of planar grating with arbitrary grooves for terahertz Smith-Purcell radiation

In this paper, a novel method of getting the dispersion relations in planar grating with arbitrary grooves for terahertz Smith-Purcell radiation is investigated analytically. The continuous profile of the groove is approximately replaced by a series of rectangular steps. By making use of field matches method and the continuity of transverse admittance, the universal dispersion equation for grating with arbitrarily shaped grooves is derived. By solving the dispersion equation in presence of electron beam, the growth rate is obtained directly and the dependence on beam parameters is analyzed. Comparisons of the dispersion characteristics among some special groove shapes have been made by numerical calculation. The results show that the rectangular-step approximation method provides a novel approach to obtain the universal dispersion relation for grating with arbitrary grooves for Smith-Purcell radiation.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

CALIBRATING STELLAR VELOCITY DISPERSIONS BASED ON SPATIALLY RESOLVED H-BAND SPECTRA FOR IMPROVING THE M{sub BH}-{sigma}{sub *} RELATION

To calibrate stellar velocity dispersion measurements from optical and near-IR stellar lines, and to improve the black hole mass (M{sub BH})-stellar velocity dispersion ({sigma}{sub *}) relation, we measure {sigma}{sub *} based on high-quality H-band spectra for a sample of 31 nearby galaxies, for which dynamical M{sub BH} is available in the literature. By comparing velocity dispersions measured from stellar lines in the H-band with those measured from optical stellar lines, we find no significant difference, suggesting that optical and near-IR stellar lines represent the same kinematics and that dust effect is negligible for early-type galaxies. Based on the spatially resolved rotation and velocity dispersion measurements along the major axis of each galaxy, we find that a rotating stellar disk is present for 80% of galaxies in the sample. For galaxies with a rotation component, {sigma}{sub *} measured from a single aperture spectrum can vary by up to {approx}20%, depending on the size of the adopted extraction aperture. To correct for the rotational broadening, we derive luminosity-weighted {sigma}{sub *} within the effective radius of each galaxy, providing uniformly measured velocity dispersions to improve the M{sub BH}-{sigma}{sub *} relation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

THE SINS/zC-SINF SURVEY OF z {approx} 2GALAXY KINEMATICS: THE NATURE OF DISPERSION-DOMINATED GALAXIES

We analyze the spectra, spatial distributions, and kinematics of H{alpha}, [N II], and [S II] emission in a sample of 38, z {approx} 2.2 UV/optically selected star-forming galaxies (SFGs) from the SINS and zC-SINF surveys, 34 of which were observed in the adaptive optics mode of SINFONI and 30 of those contain data presented for the first time here. This is supplemented by kinematic data from 43 z {approx} 1-2.5 galaxies from the literature. None of these 81 galaxies is an obvious major merger. We find that the kinematic classification of high-z SFGs as ''dispersion dominated'' or ''rotation dominated'' correlates most strongly with their intrinsic sizes. Smaller galaxies are more likely ''dispersion-dominated'' for two main reasons: (1) the rotation velocity scales linearly with galaxy size but intrinsic velocity dispersion does not depend on size or may even increase in smaller galaxies, and as such, their ratio is systematically lower for smaller galaxies, and (2) beam smearing strongly decreases large-scale velocity gradients and increases observed dispersion much more for galaxies with sizes at or below the resolution. Dispersion-dominated SFGs may thus have intrinsic properties similar to ''rotation-dominated'' SFGs, but are primarily more compact, lower mass, less metal enriched, and may have higher gas fractions, plausibly because they represent an earlier evolutionary state.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Spin-phonon dispersion in magnetic materials

Microscopic coupling between the electron spin and the lattice vibration is responsible for an array of exotic properties from morphic effects in simple non magnets to magnetodielectric coupling in multiferroic spinels and hematites. Traditionally, a single spin–phonon coupling constant is used to characterize how effectively the lattice can affect the spin, but it is hardly enough to capture novel electromagnetic behaviors to the full extent. Here, we introduce a concept of spin–phonon dispersion to project the spin moment change along the phonon crystal momentum direction, so the entire spin change can be mapped out. Different from the phonon dispersion, the spin–phonon dispersion has both positive and negative frequency branches even in the equilibrium ground state, which correspond to the spin enhancement and spin reduction, respectively. Our study of bcc Fe and hcp Co reveals that the spin force matrix, that is, the second-order spatial derivative of spin moment, is similar to the vibrational force matrix, but its diagonal elements are smaller than the off-diagonal ones. This leads to the distinctive spin–phonon dispersion. Furthermore, the concept of spin–phonon dispersion expands the traditional Elliott-Yafet theory in nonmagnetic materials to the entire Brillouin zone in magnetic materials, thus opening the door to excited states in systems such as CoF 2 and NiO, where a strong spin-lattice coupling is detected in the THz regime.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Polariton-Type Dispersion Laws for Three-Level Atoms Interacting with Two Laser Radiation Pulses

Behavioral features of polariton dispersion laws are studied for three-level atoms interacting with two coherent laser radiation pulses with frequencies ω{sub 1} and ω{sub 2} that are in resonance with optically resolved one-photon transitions between levels 1⇆2 and 2⇆3, respectively, and with regard to the direct two-photon transition between levels 1 and 3. The approximation of given photon densities of both pulses compared with the densities of atoms is used. It is shown that the dispersion law consists of three branches whose position and shape are determined by the Rabi frequencies of the above three optical transitions and the photon densities in both pulses. The direct consideration of all three optical transitions leads to the dependence of the dispersion law of atomic polaritons on a new quantum parameter—the phase difference between the three Rabi frequencies. The values of the system parameters are found for which the branches of the dispersion law may intersect. The concept of the surface of the dispersion law is introduced in the dependence of the eigenfrequencies of atomic polaritons on the photon wave vectors in both pulses.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Anomalous Dispersion in Reflection and Emission of Dye Molecules Strongly Coupled to Surface Plasmon Polaritons

We have studied dispersion of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in the Kretschmann geometry (prism/Ag/dye-doped polymer) in weak, intermediate, and ultra-strong exciton–plasmon coupling regimes. The dispersion curves obtained in the reflection experiment were in good agreement with the simple model predictions at small concentrations of dye (Rhodamine 590, Rh590) in the polymer (Poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA). At the same time, highly unusual multi-segment “staircase-like” dispersion curves were observed at extra-large dye concentrations, also in agreement with the simple theoretical model predicting large, small, and negative group velocities featured by different polariton branches. In a separate experiment, we measured angular dependent emission of Rh590 dye and obtained the dispersion curves consisting of two branches, one nearly resembling the SPP dispersion found in reflection and the second one almost horizontal. The results of our study pave the road to unparalleled fundamental science and future applications of weak and strong light—matter interactions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗