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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

KCG Baseline Air Pollution Station LIFSO2 v1 Data from December 2024 to March 2025

Sulfur Dioxide is a key precursor to the formation of new particles within the marine environment, yet commercial instrumentation lack sufficient precision or sensitivity to resolve the levels present in these environments. As such, the LIFSO2, a custom built fibre laser from the University of York, UK, was developed (based on the one developed by Rollins et al 2016). We are able to resolve down to the ppt level with this instrument. We present version 1 (v1) data for Dec 2024 to Mar 2025 for SO2 (1min time average) from the Cape-k precursors field campaign.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) mixing ratio↗
DOE OSTI2023

Dissecting the structural heterogeneity of proteins by native mass spectrometry

Abstract A single gene yields many forms of proteins via combinations of posttranscriptional/posttranslational modifications. Proteins also fold into higher‐order structures and interact with other molecules. The combined molecular diversity leads to the heterogeneity of proteins that manifests as distinct phenotypes. Structural biology has generated vast amounts of data, effectively enabling accurate structural prediction by computational methods. However, structures are often obtained heterologously under homogeneous states in vitro. The lack of native heterogeneity under cellular context creates challenges in precisely connecting the structural data to phenotypes. Mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomics methods can profile proteome composition of complex biological samples. Most MS methods follow the “bottom‐up” approach, which denatures and digests proteins into short peptide fragments for ease of detection. Coupled with chemical biology approaches, higher‐order structures can be probed via incorporation of covalent labels on native proteins that are maintained at the peptide level. Alternatively, native MS follows the “top‐down” approach and directly analyzes intact proteins under nondenaturing conditions. Various tandem MS activation methods can dissect the intact proteins for in‐depth structural elucidation. Herein, we review recent native MS applications for characterizing heterogeneous samples, including proteins binding to mixtures of ligands, homo/hetero‐complexes with varying stoichiometry, intrinsically disordered proteins with dynamic conformations, glycoprotein complexes with mixed modification states, and active membrane protein complexes in near‐native membrane environments. We summarize the benefits, challenges, and ongoing developments in native MS, with the hope to demonstrate an emerging technology that complements other tools by filling the knowledge gaps in understanding the molecular heterogeneity of proteins.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Combined Experimental/Numerical Study of the Soot Formation Process in a Gasoline Direct-Injection Spray in the Presence of Laser-Induced Plasma Ignition

Here, combustion issued from an eight-hole, direct-injection spray was experimentally studied in a constant-volume pre-burn combustion vessel using simultaneous high-speed diffused back-illumination extinction imaging (DBIEI) and OH* chemiluminescence. DBIEI has been employed to observe the liquid-phase of the spray and to quantitatively investigate the soot formation and oxidation taking place during combustion. The fuel-air mixture was ignited with a plasma induced by a single-shot Nd:YAG laser, permitting precise control of the ignition location in space and time. OH* chemiluminescence was used to track the high-temperature ignition and flame. The study showed that increasing the delay between the end of injection and ignition drastically reduces soot formation without necessarily compromising combustion efficiency. For long delays between the end of injection and ignition (1.9 ms) soot formation was eliminated in the main downstream charge of the fuel spray. However, poorly atomized and large droplets formed at the end of injection (dribble) eventually do form soot near the injector even when none is formed in the main charge. The quantitative soot measurements for these spray and ignition scenarios, resolved in time and space, represents a significant new achievement. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations were performed to assess spray mixing and combustion. An analysis of the predicted fuel-air mixture in key regions, defined based upon experimental observations, was used to explain different flame propagation speeds and soot production tendencies when varying ignition timing. The mixture analysis indicates that soot production can be avoided if the flame propagates into regions where the equivalence ratio (Φ) is already below 2. Reactive RANS simulations have also been performed, but with a poor match against the experiment, as the flame speed and heat-release rate are largely over estimated. This modeling weakness appears related to a very high level of turbulent viscosity predicted for the high-momentum spray in the RANS simulations, which is an important consideration for modeling ignition and flame propagation in mixtures immediately created by the spray.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

A common isotopic reservoir for amoeboid olivine aggregates (AOAs) and calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) revealed by Ti and Cr isotopic compositions

Amoeboid olivine aggregates (AOAs) are the most abundant type of refractory inclusions found in most carbonaceous chondrite groups. AOAs are thought to be genetically related to calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) and potential chondrule precursor components, although the precise physical and temporal details of AOA formation and their relationship to other chondritic components remain unclear. In this study, we measured the chromium and titanium isotopic compositions of eight AOAs from four different CV chondrites with the goal of evaluating potential genetic links between AOAs, CAIs, and chondrules. These are the first Cr and Ti isotopic data reported beyond a single AOA previously measured for Cr and a different single AOA previously measured for Ti. The results presented here show that the ε 54 Cr and ε 50 Ti isotopic compositions of AOAs are indistinguishable from those of CAIs, suggesting that AOAs and CAIs formed from a common region of the disk. Here, we also demonstrate, based on the comparison of the Cr and Ti isotopic composition of AOAs to previously measured chondrules, that mixing between AOAs and an NC compositional endmember alone cannot fully explain the range of measured chondrule compositions. Although AOAs may have been important chondrule precursor components along with AOA olivine, CAIs, fragments of earlier generation chondrules, and fine-grained matrix material, this observation requires another currently unknown component to be involved in chondrule formation.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Analysis of persistent contaminants and personal care products by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction using hydrophobic magnetic deep eutectic solvents

Here, in this work, hydrophobic magnetic deep eutectic solvents (HMDESs) were used in the development of a simple and rapid dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) approach coupled to high performance liquid chromatography with UV detection (HPLC-UV) for the determination of ten organic contaminants including five polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, four UV filters, and a pesticide from water at trace levels. The HMDESs were prepared by mixing a hydrogen bond acceptor, metal halide salt, and hydrogen bond donor in suitable molar ratios. Two HMDESs, 2 tetraoctylammonium bromide ([N 8888 + ][Br - ]): cobalt chloride (CoCl 2 ): 4 octanoic acid (OA) and 3 trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO): neodymium chloride (NdCl 3 ): 3 OA, offered the highest analyte extraction efficiency overall and were chosen as suitable solvents for validation of the microextraction method. Under optimized extraction conditions, the method required 30 µL of HMDES as extraction solvent, acetone (87.5 µL) as disperser solvent, a NaCl concentration of 30% (w/v), and an extraction time of 120 s at 20°C. Enrichment factors of the analytes ranged from 44.6 for 3-(4-methylbenzylindene) camphor to 66.0 for 2-ethylhexyl-4-(dimethyl)aminobenzoate. The method provided low limits of detection (LODs) ranging from 0.5 to 4.5 µg L -1 , and acceptable precision, with RSD values lower than 9.6%. Furthermore, the validated method was successfully applied for tap and lake water analysis, resulting in relative recoveries of spiked samples ranging between 94.7 and 119.2%.

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

Sr(Ag 1− x Li x ) 2 Se 2 and [Sr 3 Se 2 ][(Ag 1− x Li x ) 2 Se 2 ] Tunable Direct Band Gap Semiconductors

Abstract Synthesizing solids in molten fluxes enables the rapid diffusion of soluble species at temperatures lower than in solid‐state reactions, leading to crystal formation of kinetically stable compounds. In this study, we demonstrate the effectiveness of mixed hydroxide and halide fluxes in synthesizing complex Sr/Ag/Se in mixed LiOH/LiCl. We have accessed a series of two‐dimensional Sr(Ag 1− x Li x ) 2 Se 2 layered phases. With increased LiOH/LiCl ratio or reaction temperature, Li partially substituted Ag to form solid solutions of Sr(Ag 1− x Li x ) 2 Se 2 with x up to 0.45. In addition, a new type of intergrowth compound [Sr 3 Se 2 ][(Ag 1− x Li x ) 2 Se 2 ] was synthesized upon further reaction of Sr(Ag 1− x Li x ) 2 Se 2 with SrSe. Both Sr(Ag 1− x Li x ) 2 Se 2 and [Sr 3 Se 2 ][(Ag 1− x Li x ) 2 Se 2 ] exhibit a direct band gap, which increases with increasing Li substitution ( x ). Therefore, the band gap of Sr(Ag 1− x Li x ) 2 Se 2 can be precisely tuned via fine‐tuning x that is controlled by only the flux ratio and temperature.

Zhou, Xiuquan↗
DOE OSTI2023

Sr(Ag 1-x Li x ) 2 Se 2 and [Sr 3 Se 2 ][(Ag 1-x Li x ) 2 Se 2 ] Tunable Direct Band Gap Semiconductors

Synthesizing solids in molten fluxes enables the rapid diffusion of soluble species at temperatures lower than in solid-state reactions, leading to crystal formation of kinetically stable compounds. Here, in this study, we demonstrate the effectiveness of mixed hydroxide and halide fluxes in synthesizing complex Sr/Ag/Se in mixed LiOH/LiCl. We have accessed a series of two-dimensional Sr(Ag 1-x Li x ) 2 Se 2 layered phases. With increased LiOH/LiCl ratio or reaction temperature, Li partially substituted Ag to form solid solutions of Sr(Ag 1-x Li x ) 2 Se 2 with x up to 0.45. In addition, a new type of intergrowth compound [Sr 3 Se 2 ][(Ag 1-x Li x ) 2 Se 2 ] was synthesized upon further reaction of Sr(Ag 1-x Li x ) 2 Se 2 with SrSe. Both Sr(Ag 1-x Li x ) 2 Se 2 and [Sr 3 Se 2 ][(Ag 1-x Li x ) 2 Se 2 ] exhibit a direct band gap, which increases with increasing Li substitution (x). Therefore, the band gap of Sr(Ag 1-x Li x ) 2 Se 2 can be precisely tuned via fine-tuning x that is controlled by only the flux ratio and temperature.

2D materials↗
DOE OSTI2025

Measuring quantum discord at the LHC

There has been an increasing interest in exploring quantities associated with quantum information at colliders. We perform a detailed analysis describing how to measure the quantum discord in the top anti-top quantum state at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). While for pure states, quantum discord, entanglement, and Bell nonlocality all probe the same correlations, for mixed states they probe different aspects of quantum correlations. The quantum discord, in particular, is interesting because it aims to encapsulate all correlations between systems that cannot have a classical origin. We employ two complementary approaches for the study of the top anti-top system, namely the decay method and the kinematic method. We highlight subtleties associated with measuring discord for reconstructed quantum states at colliders. Usually quantum discord is difficult to compute due to an extremization that must be performed. We show, however, that for the $t\bar{t}$ system this extremization can be performed analytically and we provide closed-form formulas for the quantum discord. We demonstrate that with current LHC datasets, quantum discord can be observed at 3.6 – 5.7σ, depending on the signal region, with the decay method and can be measured at a precision of 0.1 – 0.2% with the kinematic method. At the high luminosity LHC, the observation of quantum discord is expected to be > 5σ using both the decay and kinematic methods and can be measured with a precision of 5% with the decay method and 0.05% with the kinematic method. Additionally, we identify the kinematic cuts at the LHC to isolate the $t\bar{t}$ state that is separable but has non-zero discord. By systematically investigating quantum discord for the first time through a detailed collider analysis, this work expands the toolkit for quantum information studies in particle physics and lays the groundwork for deeper insights into the quantum properties in high-energy collisions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

High-resolution rovibrational spectroscopy of trans -formic acid in the v 1 OH stretching fundamental: Dark state coupling and evidence for charge delocalization dynamics

High-resolution infrared (IR) reduced-Doppler absorption spectra of jet-cooled gas phase trans-formic acid in the v 1 OH stretching fundamental region are reported for the first time, obtained by supersonically expanding trans- formic acid/Ar mixtures through a slit jet nozzle source and rotationally cooling to T rot ≈ 10.9(5) K, with ab- sorption signals recorded by high-resolution difference-frequency IR absorption spectroscopy. Two a/b-type rovibrational bands of comparable intensity, one ~10-fold weaker b-type band, and one ~6-fold weaker a-type band are observed, with vibrational band origins at 3570.493(5), 3566.793(5), 3560.032(9), and 3534.6869(2) cm –1 , respectively. Based on previous Raman jet spectroscopic work by Nejad and Sibert [A. Nejad, E.L. Sibert III, The Raman jet spectrum of trans-formic acid and its deuterated isotopologs: Combining theory and experi- ment to extend the vibrational database, J. Chem. Phys. 154(6) (2021) 064301.], these four rovibrational bands have been assigned to v 1 , (v 2 + v 7 ), (v 6 + 2v 7 + 2v 9 ), and 2v 3 , respectively. Specifically, two of the three upper dark states (2 1 7 1 (a') and 6 1 7 2 9 2 (a')) are close enough to the “bright” 1 1 (a') state to facilitate strong anharmonic resonance interactions, which results in intensity mixing into the two zero-order bands that would otherwise be “dark”. Furthermore, our high-resolution spectral analysis reveals that there are local rotational crossings be- tween these zero-order 1 1 and 2 1 7 1 states resulting in extra lines (i.e., some upper levels in the nominally v 1 band have majority zero-order 2 1 7 1 state character). This motivates development of a 3 coupled state (1 1 , 2 1 7 1 , and 6 1 7 2 9 2 ) picture to aid in the spectral analysis, which is able to match all 3 observed band origins and relative band intensities, as well as indicate the necessity of multistate (> 2) coupling. Though limited by range of J and Ka levels (J’ ≤ 9 and K a ’ ≤ 3) populated at supersonic jet temperatures, this work offers first precision spec- troscopic analysis of trans-formic acid in the v 1 OH stretch region, which should aid in assignment of the more complete yet highly congested room temperature FTIR spectra. Lastly, and in sharp contrast to the spectral complexity in the three predominantly b-type bands, the lone a-type 2v 3 rovibrational band at 3534.6869(2) cm –1 is well described by a simple, rigid asymmetric top Hamiltonian.

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

Verification Testing of OLI Systems Mixed Solvent Electrolyte Model for the Na-K-Mg-Ca-H-Cl-SO 4 -OH-HCO 3 -CO 3 -CO 2 -H 2 ) System to High Ionic Strength at 25°C

This technical report summarizes model verification results and summary statistics for 41 evaporite mineral solubility cases evaluated by Savannah River National Laboratory using OLI Systems’ aqueous electrolyte thermodynamic modeling software. The 41 verification cases containing a total of 60 solubility curves comprise mineral solubility data from low to high ionic strength at 25°C for the eight-component system Na-K-Mg-Ca-H-Cl-SO 4 -OH-HCO 3 -CO 3 -CO 2 -H 2 O as reported by Harvie et al. (1984). Thermodynamic calculations were executed using OLI Systems’ Stream Analyzer computation module within the OLI Studio software platform (Ver. 11.0, Rev. 11.0.1.9). The Mixed Solvent Electrolyte (MSE) thermodynamic framework was chosen for this investigation because of its superiority in modeling high ionic-strength inorganic salt solutions and actinide redox chemistry and solubility, both of which are relevant to the geological repository conditions at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Mineral solubility data in various inorganic salt solutions were digitized and extracted from figures generated by Harvie et al. (1984). For each of the 60 solubility curves, a case-specific chemistry model and input file were generated in OLI Studio using OLI Stream Analyzer and the MSE (H 3 O + ion) public databank provided by OLI Systems. Model simulation results were exported to Microsoft Excel to calculate summary statistics and to generate graphs comparing the OLI model predictions to the solubility data. Summary statistics include residuals (model – data) and concordance (accuracy × precision, where precision is indicated by the Pearson correlation coefficient and accuracy accounts for bias and scale differential). Private databanks were not developed, and activity coefficient model regressions were not performed to improve OLI model fits to the data. Of the 41 model verification plots, 83% have a mean of the percent residuals less than or equal to 25%. Similarly, 75% display a concordance greater than or equal to 0.75. Only seven of the 41 verification plots fail to show good agreement between the model and data. Of these seven, three are relevant to the WIPP repository because they involve the Mg-OH-Cl-SO 4 -CO 3 aqueous system. The remaining four address salt solubilities at the pH extremes (strong acid and strong base). It should be noted that in two of the three Mg-OH-Cl-SO 4 -CO 3 system cases, the regressed Harvie et al. (1984) solubility curve also deviated from the data. Lack of agreement between the OLI model-predicted solubility curves and the data is attributable to one or more of the following: specific solid species are not included in the OLI MSE databank; there is significant variation among the different solubility datasets chosen by Harvie et al. (1984); the OLI MSE model’s thermodynamic parameters were determined using different solubility datasets; and the activity coefficient parameters for certain relevant ion-ion and ion-molecule pairs have not been optimized via data regression. Two recommendations for future work are to (1) evaluate solubility data for the Mg-OH-Cl-SO 4 -CO 3 system at high ionic strength and, if necessary, develop a private OLI MSE database that includes missing species and, where necessary, regressed standard state properties and interaction parameters; (2) perform similar verification testing of the OLI model for actinide solubility data.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2021

Efficient Automated Driving Strategies Leveraging Anticipation and Optimal Control

Automated vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems bring computation, sensing, and communication technologies that exceed human abilities in some ways. For example, automated vehicles may sense a panorama all at once, do not suffer from human impairments and distractions, and could wirelessly communicate precise data with neighboring vehicles. Prototype and commercial deployments have demonstrated the capability to relieve human operators of some driving tasks up to and including fully autonomous taxi rides in some areas. The ultimate impact of this technology’s large-scale market penetration on energy efficiency remains unclear, with potential negative factors like road use by empty vehicles competing with positive ones like automatic eco-driving. Fundamentally enabled by historic and look-ahead data, this dissertation addresses the use of automated driving and driver assistance to optimize vehicle motion for energy efficiency. Facets of this problem include car following, co-optimized acceleration and lane change planning, and collaborative multi-agent guidance. Optimal control, especially model predictive control, is used extensively to improve energy efficiency while maintaining safe and timely driving via constraints. Techniques including chance constraints and mixed integer programming help overcome uncertainty and non-convexity challenges. Extensions of these techniques to tractor trailers on sloping roads are provided by making use of linear parameter-varying models. To approach the wheel-input energy eco-driving problem over generally shaped sloping roads with the computational potential for closed-loop implementation, a linear programming formulation is constructed. Distributed and collaborative techniques that enable connected and automated vehicles to accommodate their neighbors in traffic are also explored and compared to centralized control. Using simulations and vehicle-in-the-loop car following experiments, the proposed algorithms are benchmarked against others that do not make use of look-ahead information.

Dollar, Robert Austin↗
DOE OSTI2021

Leptonic anomalous magnetic moments in ν SMEFT

We investigate contributions to the anomalous magnetic moments of charged leptons in the neutrino-extended Standard Model Effective Field Theory (νSMEFT). We discuss how νSMEFT operators can contribute to a lepton’s magnetic moment at one- and two-loop order. We show that only one operator can account for existing electronic and muonic discrepancies, assuming new physics appears above 1 TeV. In particular, we find that a right-handed charged current in combination with minimal sterile-active mixing can explain the discrepancy for sterile neutrino masses of $\mathcal{O}$(100) GeV while avoiding direct and indirect constraints. We discuss how searches for sterile neutrino production at the (HL-)LHC, measurements of h → μ + μ - and searches for h → e + e - , neutrinoless double beta decay experiments, and improved unitarity tests of the CKM matrix can further probe the relevant parameter space.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

𝐵⁡(𝐸⁢2) measurements in the yrast band of 28 Mg: Implications for the 𝑁 = 20 island of inversion

High-precision lifetime measurements in 28 Mg were performed to study neutron shell evolution in Mg isotopes and the onset of the N = 20 island of inversion. Here, using both the recoil distance and Doppler shift attenuation methods, five lifetimes were measured in addition to six upper limits. The observation of two long-lived, negative-parity states demonstrate the importance of studying Mg isotopes for the contribution of intruder configurations to sd-shell nuclei. Lifetimes of the $2^+_1$ and $4^+_1$ states of 1.81(5) ps and 172⁢($^{+11}_{–10}$) stat.⁢ (4) stop. ⁢(8) feed.⁢ (4) targ. fs, respectively, demonstrate a loss of collectivity with increasing spin in the yrast band, permitting for distinguishing between current theoretical models. These measurements also highlight the progression of yrast structure across the Mg isotopic chain from rotational at N = 12 to large shape mixing at N = 16 and back to collective behavior at N = 20 but with dominating intruder configurations.

20 ≤ A ≤ 38↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cooling outweighs warming across phenological transitions in the Northern Hemisphere

Vegetation phenology, i.e., seasonal biological events such as leaf-out and leaf-fall, regulates local climate through biophysical processes like evapotranspiration (ET) and albedo. However, the net surface temperature impact of these processes—whether ET cooling or albedo-induced warming predominates—and how the dominance changes across phenological transitions and regions remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of vegetation foliage on daytime land surface temperature (LST) following six phenological transitions, spanning from the start of season to end of season, in deciduous and mixed forests across the mid- to high-latitude Northern Hemisphere during 2013–2021 using multiple satellite products and ground observations. We quantified vegetation effect as the difference between observed LST and LST estimates from the Annual Temperature Cycle (ATC) model, representing a no-foliage scenario. We found that vegetation-induced cooling consistently outweighs warming following all phenological transitions except for the end of the season. Cooling intensity increased with vegetation greenness, ranging from 1.0 ± 0.5 °C (mean ± 0.15 SD) in 59% of forests after the start of the season (SOS) to 6.1 ± 0.8 °C in 89% of forests following the onset of maturity, before declining toward the end of the season. Over half of the regions experiencing cooling showed intensification of surface cooling with climate warming, suggesting an amplified vegetation-mediated cooling under future climate change. The findings provide a more precise understanding of the role of vegetation in modulating climate at the intraseasonal scale, highlighting the importance of integrating phenological impacts into climate adaptation strategies and Earth system modeling.

albedo↗
DOE OSTI2021

Probing large-scale UV background inhomogeneity associated with quasars using metal absorption

ABSTRACT We study large-scale UV background inhomogeneity in three-dimensions associated with the observed quasar populations at high redshift. We do this by measuring metal absorption through quasar absorption spectrum stacking as a function distance to closest quasar in SDSS-IV/eBOSS on 10 s of comoving megaparsec scales. We study both intergalactic medium absorbers and mixed circumgalactic medium absorbers and probe absorption in O vi, C iv, and Si iv, and Si iii. Overall, stronger high ionization species absorption is seen closer to quasars at 2.4 < z < 3.1. O vi absorption shows a particularly strong change, with effects in C iv evident in some cases, and more marginal effects in Si iii and Si iv. We further study 2.05 < z < 2.4 (with weak signs of increasing homogeneity with time) and explore the study of metal absorption as a function of integrated SDSS-r band flux quasar flux (yielding consistent but less significant results). While the metal absorption does show sensitivity to large-scale 3D quasar proximity, the current incomplete quasar samples limit detailed interpretation. This work does, however, demonstrate that UV background inhomogeneities exist on scales of several 10 s of comoving megaparsecs associated with quasars and that they can be measured with precision by examining metal absorption in the intergalactic medium.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Development of FD-SOI cryogenic amplifier for application to STJ readout in COBAND project

The COBAND is a project of an experimental search for the cosmic background neutrino decay [1] – [9] . The existence of the cosmic background neutrino is predicted as a relic of the big bang in the theoretical cosmology. Since the neutrino is found to have mass generations and mixing between them, a heavier neutrino is possible to decay to a lighter neutrino with a far-infrared photon, even though its lifetime is expected to be much longer than the age of the universe [10] . However, neither the cosmic background neutrino nor the neutrino decay is yet established experimentally. Only a lower limit in the order of 10 12 years is given on the heaviest neutrino lifetime. We, thus, search for photons which come from the cosmic background neutrino decays. The photons from the cosmic background neutrino decays are expected to shape a spectrum of a unique signature with a sharp edge at a wavelength of around 50μm depending on the heaviest neutrino mass. To identify the signature against the overwhelming zodiacal emission foreground as well as the cosmic infrared background, the photodetectors are required to have an ability to measure the FIR spectrum around 50pm with sufficient precision. Thus, we aim at developing a photodetector with capability of FIR photon-by-photon spectrometry. We employ superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) sensors in combination with cryogenic amplifiers for signal readout to maximize the potential of STJ.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Architecture-Dependent Thin Film Self-Assembly of Star Polystyrene-poly(2-vinylpyridine) Block Copolymers

Controlling the orientation of nanostructured block copolymer (BCP) thin films is essential for their use in templating, transport, and pattern transfer. Conventional efforts mainly focus on adjusting enthalpic interactions between the blocks and interfaces, while entropic contributions are often overlooked. Here, we show that the morphology of BCP thin films can be precisely tuned by the architectural design of star BCPs. Specifically, we synthesized multiarm star BCPs with a polystyrene (PS) core and poly(2-vinylpyridine) (P2VP) corona, which exhibits a lamellar microdomain morphology. The entropic penalty associated with a parallel orientation of the microdomains to the substrate is controlled by varying the number of arms comprising the star BCPs, from 2-arms (triblock) to 3-arms and 4-arms. We systematically investigated the thin film morphology at different depths using grazing incidence small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (GISAXS and GISANS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), water contact angle (WCA), and interference microscopy. The results show that 2-arm star BCPs show a parallel orientation, the 3-arm star BCPs form a uniform PS film at the air surface with a vertical orientation of the microdomains underneath, and the 4-arm star BCPs exhibit a parallel microdomain orientation at the air surface with mixed parallel and perpendicular microdomain orientation in the bulk. Additionally, we found that the inclination angle of microdomains at the edges of islands and holes, resulting from the incommensurability between film thickness and the characteristic period of the microdomain morphology, increases with a higher number of arms. This suggests a greater grain boundary tilt angle in the microdomains of star-shaped block copolymers (BCPs). When silicon substrates were modified with PS homopolymer, the selective interaction between substrate and core blocks promotes a parallel orientation for the 4-arm star BCPs. In conclusion, this work shows that control of arm number in star BCPs affords diverse BCP thin film morphologies, offering insights into the star BCP conformations in thin films across different depths.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Impact of Resolution on Double-detonation Models for Type Ia Supernovae

Abstract Thermonuclear supernovae are the result of the violent unbinding of a white dwarf (WD), but the precise nature of the explosion mechanism(s) is a matter of active debate. To this end, several specific scenarios have been proposed to explain the observable traits of Type Ia supernovae. A promising pathway is the double-detonation scenario, where a WD accretes a shell of helium-rich material from a companion and a detonation in the resulting helium shell is the primary cause of the explosion. Through a set of two-dimensional grid-based simulations of this scenario we clearly distinguish three phases of evolution: external helium-rich detonation, core compressive heating, and a final core carbon burn. Though final disruption of the whole system is achieved at all resolutions, only models with minimum resolutions of 4 km and better exhibit all three phases. Particularly, core compression detonation is only observed for higher resolutions, producing qualitatively different nucleosynthetic outcomes. We identify the effect of finer spatial resolution on the mixing of hot silicon at the interface between the detonating helium layer and the underlying C/O WD as a primary driver of these dynamic differences.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗