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At least 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Genomic and morphological characterization of Knufia obscura isolated from the Mars 2020 spacecraft assembly facility

Members of the family Trichomeriaceae, belonging to the Chaetothyriales order and the Ascomycota phylum, are known for their capability to inhabit hostile environments characterized by extreme temperatures, oligotrophic conditions, drought, or presence of toxic compounds. The genus Knufia encompasses many polyextremophilic species. In this report, the genomic and morphological features of the strain FJI-L2-BK-P2 presented, which was isolated from the Mars 2020 mission spacecraft assembly facility located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The identification is based on sequence alignment for marker genes, multi-locus sequence analysis, and whole genome sequence phylogeny. The morphological features were studied using a diverse range of microscopic techniques (bright field, phase contrast, differential interference contrast and scanning electron microscopy). The phylogenetic marker genes of the strain FJI-L2-BK-P2 exhibited highest similarities with type strain of Knufia obscura (CBS 148926 T ) that was isolated from the gas tank of a car in Italy. To validate the species identity, whole genomes of both strains (FJI-L2-BK-P2 and CBS 148926 T ) were sequenced, annotated, and strain FJI-L2-BK-P2 was confirmed as K. obscura. The morphological analysis and description of the genomic characteristics of K. obscura FJI-L2-BK-P2 may contribute to refining the taxonomy of Knufia species. Key morphological features are reported in this K. obscura strain, resembling microsclerotia and chlamydospore-like propagules. These features known to be characteristic features in black fungi which could potentially facilitate their adaptation to harsh environments.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Identifiability and predictability of integer- and fractional-order epidemiological models using physics-informed neural networks

Here we analyze a plurality of epidemiological models through the lens of physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) that enable us to identify time-dependent parameters and data-driven fractional differential operators. In particular, we consider several variations of the classical susceptible-infectious-removed (SIR) model by introducing more compartments and fractional-order and time-delay models. We report the results for the spread of COVID-19 in New York City, Rhode Island and Michigan states and Italy, by simultaneously inferring the unknown parameters and the unobserved dynamics. For integer-order and time-delay models, we fit the available data by identifying time-dependent parameters, which are represented by neural networks. In contrast, for fractional differential models, we fit the data by determining different time-dependent derivative orders for each compartment, which we represent by neural networks. We investigate the structural and practical identifiability of these unknown functions for different datasets, and quantify the uncertainty associated with neural networks and with control measures in forecasting the pandemic.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Extreme ultraviolet resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) at a seeded free-electron laser

In the past few years, we have been witnessing an increased interest for studying materials properties under non-equilibrium conditions. Several well established spectroscopies for experiments in the energy domain have been successfully adapted to the time domain with sub-picosecond time resolution. Here we show the realization of high resolution resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) with a stable ultrashort X-ray source such as an externally seeded free electron laser (FEL). We have designed and constructed a RIXS experimental endstation that allowed us to successfully measure the d-d excitations in KCoF 3 single crystals at the cobalt M 2,3-edge at FERMI FEL (Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Italy). The FEL-RIXS spectra show an excellent agreement with the ones obtained from the same samples at the MERIXS endstation of the MERLIN beamline at the Advanced Light Source storage ring (Berkeley, USA). We established experimental protocols for performing time resolved RIXS experiments at a FEL source to avoid X ray-induced sample damage, while retaining comparable acquisition time to the synchrotron based measurements. Finally, we measured and modelled the influence of the FEL mixed electromagnetic modes, also present in externally seeded FELs, and the beam transport with ~120 meV experimental resolution achieved in the presented RIXS setup.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

The CUORE and CUORE-0 experiments at Gran Sasso

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is an experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) in $^{130}$Te and other rare processes. CUORE is a cryogenic detector composed of 988 TeO$_2$ bolometers for a total mass of about 741 kg. The detector is being constructed at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy, where it will start taking data in 2015. If the target background of 0.01 counts/(keV$\cdot$kg$\cdot$y) will be reached, in five years of data taking CUORE will have an half life sensitivity around $1\times 10^{26}$ y at 90\% C.L. As a first step towards CUORE a smaller experiment CUORE-0, constructed to test and demonstrate the performances expected for CUORE, has been assembled and is running. The detector is a single tower of 52 CUORE-like bolometers that started taking data in spring 2013. The status and perspectives of CUORE will be discussed, and the first CUORE-0 data will be presented.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

The CUORE and CUORE-0 experiments at Gran Sasso

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is an experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) in 130 Te and other rare processes. CUORE is a cryogenic detector composed of 988 TeO 2 bolometers for a total mass of about 741 kg. The detector is being constructed at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy, where it will start taking data in 2015. If the target background of 0.01 counts/(keV·kg·y) will be reached, in five years of data taking CUORE will have an half life sensitivity around 1 × 10 26 y at 90% C.L. As a first step towards CUORE a smaller experiment CUORE-0, constructed to test and demonstrate the performances expected for CUORE, has been assembled and is running. The detector is a single tower of 52 CUORE-like bolometers that started taking data in spring 2013. The status and perspectives of CUORE will be discussed, and the first CUORE-0 data will be presented.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

The CUORE and CUORE-0 experiments at LNGS

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is a 1-ton scale bolometric experiment devoted to the search of the neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) in 130Te. The CUORE detector consists of an array of 988 TeO2 crystals operated at 10 mK. CUORE-0 is the CUORE demonstrator: it has been built to test the performance of the upcoming CUORE experiment and represents the largest 130Te bolometric setup ever operated. CUORE-0 has been running at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (Italy) from 2013 to 2015. The final CUORE-0 analysis on 0νββ and the corresponding detector performance are presented. The present status of the CUORE experiment, now in its final construction and commissioning phase, are discussed. The results from assembly of the detector and the commissioning of the cryostat are reported.

D'Addabbo, A↗
DOE OSTI2024

Involving the new generations in Fermilab endeavors

Since 1984 the Italian groups of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and Italian Universities, collaborating with the DOE laboratory of Fermilab (US) have been running a two-month summer training program for Italian university students. While in the first year the program involved only four physics students of the University of Pisa, in the following years it was extended to engineering students. This extension was very successful and the engineering students have been since then extremely well accepted by the Fermilab Technical, Accelerator, and Scientific Computing Division groups. Over the many years of its existence, this program has proven to be the most effective way to engage new students in Fermilab endeavors. Many students have extended their collaboration with Fermilab with their Master’s Thesis and PhD. Since 2004 the program has been supported in part by DOE in the frame of an exchange agreement with INFN. Over its almost 40 years of history, the program has grown in scope and size and has involved more than 550 Italian students from more than 20 Italian Universities, Several Institutes of Research, including ASI and INAF in Italy, and the ISSNAF Foundation in the US, have provided additional financial support. Since the program does not exclude appropriately selected non-Italian students, a handful of students from European and non-European Universities were also accepted over the years. Each intern is supervised by a Fermilab Mentor responsible for performing the training program. Training programs spanned from Tevatron, CMS, Muon (g-2), Mu2e, and Short Baseline Neutrino Experiments and DUNE design and experimental data analysis, development of particle detectors (silicon trackers, calorimeters, drift chambers, neutrino and dark matter detectors), design of electronic and accelerator components, development of infrastructures and software for exascale data handling, research on superconductive elements and on accelerating cavities, and theory of particle accelerators. Since 2010, within an extended program supported by the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, a total of 30 students in physics, astrophysics, and engineering have been hosted for two months in the summer at US space science Research Institutes and laboratories. In 2015 the University of Pisa included these programs within its educational programs. Accordingly, Summer School students are enrolled at the University of Pisa for the duration of the internship and are identified and ensured as such. At the end of the internship, the students are required to write summary reports on their achievements. After positive evaluation by a University Examining Board, interns are acknowledged credits for their Diploma Supplement. The program was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic but restarted successfully in 2022. We believe this program can be taken as a model and easily adopted by interested institutions.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Results of the LEGEND-200 experiment in the search for $0νββ$ decay

The LEGEND experiment is looking for the extremely rare neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay of 76 Ge using isotopically-enriched high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors. The detection of this process would imply that the neutrino is a Majorana particle and the total lepton number would not be conserved, which could be related to the cosmological asymmetry between matter and antimatter through leptogenesis. The long-term goal of the collaboration is LEGEND-1000: a 1-ton detector array planned to run for 10 years, with a projected half-life sensitivity exceeding 10 28 years, fully covering the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. A first search for the 0νββ decay has been carried out by LEGEND-200 building on the experience gained from GERDA and the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR. The experiment has been collecting physics data for a year at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy with 140 kg of HPGe detectors. With a total exposure of 61 kg yr, LEGEND-200 has achieved a background index of $5_{−2}^{+3}$ × 10 −4 counts/(keV kg yr) in the 0νββ decay signal region from the highest performing detectors. After combining the results from GERDA, the MAJORANA Demonstrator and LEGEND-200, an exclusion sensitivity > 2.8 × 10 26 yr has been obtained at 90% confidence level for the 0νββ decay half-life, with no evidence for a signal. A new observed lower limit of $T_{1/2}^{0v} >$ 1.9 × 10 26 yr at 90% confidence level has been established.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2010

The SYRMEP Beamline of Elettra: Clinical Mammography and Bio-medical Applications

At the SYnchrotron Radiation for MEdical Physics (SYRMEP) beamline of Elettra Synchrotron Light Laboratory in Trieste (Italy), an extensive research program in bio-medical imaging has been developed since 1997. The core program carried out by the SYRMEP collaboration concerns the use of Synchrotron Radiation (SR) for clinical mammography with the aim of improving the diagnostic performance of the conventional technique. The first protocol with patients, started in 2006 has been completed at the end of 2009 and the data analysis is now in progress.Regarding applications different from clinical imaging, synchrotron X-ray computed microtomography (micro-CT) is the most used technique, both in absorption and phase contrast. A new software tool, Pore3D, has been developed to perform a quantitative morphological analysis on the reconstructed slices and to access textural information of the sample under study.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Nuclear Physics Underground

Precisely known nuclear cross sections are an essential ingredient for the modeling of nuclear processes in our Sun, in stars, and in the Big Bang. Uncertainties due to theoretical extrapolations can be avoided if experimental data are available directly at astrophysically relevant energies. Since such energies are typically far below the Coulomb barrier, this entails cross section measurements in the picobarn range.The Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics (LUNA) inside the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy takes up this challenge by combining accelerator-based experiments with low-background measurement techniques. Using this approach, in recent years several reactions relevant to hydrogen burning have been studied, e.g. {sup 3}He({alpha},{gamma}){sup 7}Be and {sup 14}N(p,{gamma}){sup 15}O. The implications of the data range from an independent lower limit on the age of the universe to a precise solar thermometer.Based on this progress, currently there are efforts in several countries to construct new underground accelerators. The exciting science that can be probed with these new facilities will be highlighted.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Status of the Super B Factory Projects

Two proposals have been presented for the construction of super high luminosity B factories, the SuperB in Italy and SuperKEKB in Japan. We review the physics case for the construction of such facilities in the LHC era and highlight several topics of hadronic physics that can benefit from the high luminosity they will integrate. The present status of the accelerator and detector work toward the Technical Design Reports is also presented.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Study of the hadronic interactions of kaons in light nuclei at DA{Phi}ne

The AMADEUS experiment at the Da{Phi}ne accelerator of the Frascati National Laboratories (Italy) of INFN, will perform, for the first time, full-acceptance studies of antikaon interaction in light nuclei, with a complete experimental program for the case of the kaonic clusters. Studying the absorption of antikaon by the nucleus will provide information concerning the K-barN interaction and the modification of the kaon mass in the nuclear medium.A preliminar study of these kind of hadronic interactions is being done by the AMADEUS collaboration by analyzing the existent KLOE data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Change of Paradigm for the Reversed Field Pinch

The reversed field pinch (RFP) is a magnetic configuration germane to the tokamak, but it produces most of its magnetic field by the currents flowing inside the plasma; external coils provide only a small edge toroidal field whose sign is reversed with respect to the central one, whence the name of the configuration. Because of the presence of magnetic turbulence and chaos, the RFP had been considered for a long period as a terrible confinement configuration. However, recently a change of paradigm occurred for this device. Indeed, when the toroidal current is increased in the RFX-mod RFP in Padua (Italy), a self-organized helical state with an internal transport barrier (ITB) develops, and a broad zone of the plasma becomes hot (above 1 keV for a magnetic field above 0.8 T). The present theoretical picture of the RFP mainly comes from three-dimensional nonlinear visco-resistive MHD simulations whose dynamics has strong similarities with the experimental one, and triggered the experimental search for RFP states with improved confinement. The RFP ohmic state involves a helical electrostatic potential generating, as an electric drift, the so-called dynamo velocity field. The magnetic topology can bifurcate from a magnetic island to kink-like magnetic surfaces with higher resilience to magnetic chaos. This theoretical scenario was found to be relevant when ITB's enclosing a broad hot domain were discovered. The ITBs occur in the vicinity of the maximum of the safety factor. The new paradigm for the RFP supports its reappraisal as a low-external field, non-disruptive, ohmically heated approach to magnetic fusion, exploiting both self-organization and technological simplicity. Furthermore the RFP has the same Greenwald density limit as the tokamak, and it is an excellent test bed for the efficient control of multiple resistive wall modes. Its helical magnetic structure makes it germane to the stellarator too. As a result the RFP is also useful to bring support to the present two main lines of magnetic confinement.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2010

First Results of the Experiment to Search for 2{beta} Decay of {sup 106}Cd with the Help of {sup 106}CdWO{sub 4} Crystal Scintillators

An experiment to search for 2b processes in {sup 106}Cd with the help of {sup 106}CdWO{sub 4} crystal scintillator (mass of 215 g), enriched in {sup 106}Cd up to 66%, is in progress at the Gran Sasso National Laboratories of the INFN (Italy). After 1320 h of data taking, limits on double beta processes in {sup 106}Cd have been established on the level of 10{sup 19}-10{sup 20} yr, in particular (all the results at 90% C.L.): T{sub 1/2}(0{nu}2{epsilon})>3.6x10{sup 20} yr, T{sub 1/2}(2{nu}{epsilon}{beta}{sup +})>7.2x10{sup 19} yr, and T{sub 1/2}(2{nu}2{beta}{sup +})>2.5x10{sup 20} yr. Resonant 0{nu}2{epsilon} processes have been restricted as T{sub 1/2}(0{nu}2K)>1.4x10{sup 20} yr and T{sub 1/2}(0{nu}LK)>3.2x10{sup 20} yr. A possible resonant enhancement of the 0{nu}2{epsilon} processes is estimated in the framework of the QRPA approach.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2011

The Dynamical Nonlocality of Neutral Kaons and the Kaonic Quantum Eraser

Testing quantum foundations for systems in high energy physics gets currently more and more attention e.g. witnessed for entangled neutral K-mesons by the approved programme of the KLOE collaboration at the accelerator facility DAPHNE (Frascati, Italy). We focus on this quantum system in high energy physics and discuss two topics, Bell inequalities and the kaonic quantum eraser, and show how the neutral kaon system differs from systems of ordinary matter and light. In detail, we show a relation of the imbalance of matter and antimatter to the violation of a Bell inequality and discuss another Bell inequality which is maximally violated for a non-maximally entangled state though neutral kaons can be considered as two state systems. We compare in general this system in high energy physics with bipartite qudits. Last but not least we review the quantum marking and eraser procedure and explain why neutral kaons offer more eraser possibilities than usual quantum systems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Preliminary Study of Two-Neutron States via the ({sup 18}O,{sup 16}O) Reaction at 84 MeV

A study of light neutron-rich nuclei has been performed at the INFN-LNS laboratory in Catania (Italy) by the ({sup 18}O, {sup 16}O) reaction at 84 MeV incident energy on {sup 9}Be, {sup 11}B and {sup 13}C targets. The {sup 16}O ejectiles have been momentum analyzed and detected at forward angles by the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer. The energy spectra of {sup 15}C show several known low lying states up to about 7 MeV excitation energy and unknown resonant structures at higher excitation energy. The strong excitation of these latter together with the measured width of about 2 MeV FWHM could indicate the presence of collective modes of excitation connected to the transfer of a correlated neutron pair. Also considerations regarding the reaction mechanism and the nuclei involved in the transfer seem to confirm such a conclusion. Similar features characterize the energy spectra of the {sup 11}Be and {sup 13}B nuclei. The achieved mass resolution (about 1/160) guarantying the identification of the reaction products corresponding to different reaction channels has allowed to study the relative yields for the different reaction channels. The measured yields show an enhancement of the two-neutron transfer channel compared to the one-neutron transfer. This result seems to indicate that the ({sup 18}O, {sup 16}O) reaction proceeds mainly by the direct transfer of the neutron pair and that the second order processes are negligible.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

{sup 17}F breakup reactions: a touchstone for indirect measurements

An exclusive study of {sup 17}F breakup reactions has been performed at the FRIBs facility of the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud in Catania (Italy). The experiment has been performed with the aim of testing the accuracy of the Coulomb-breakup indirect technique used to infer radiative-capture cross sections at low energies. This technique has been used in the {sup 7}Be(p,{gamma}){sup 8}B case, but has never been tested. By measuring the breakup of {sup 17}F into {sup 16}O+p, and comparing the inferred cross section for {sup 16}O(p,{gamma}){sup 17}F to direct precise measurements, the influence of E2 transitions and higher-order effects, that are predicted to be significant in Coulomb-breakup reactions, can be evaluated. The first results and preliminary model comparison are reported.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: recent developments at INRIM

This paper's purpose is to show some experiments performed in the 'Carlo Novero' labs of the Optics Division of the National Institute of Metrological Research (INRIM, Torino, Italy) in the last years, aiming to discriminate between Standard Quantum Mechanics and some specific, restricted class of Hidden Variable Theories (HVTs).The first experiment, realized in two different configurations, will perform the Alicki - Van Ryn non-classicality test on single particles, in our specific case heralded single photons. The second experiment instead will be on the testing of two restricted Local Realistic Theories (LRTs), properly built to describe polarization entangled photons experiments, whose inequalities are not affected by the detection loophole.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗