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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 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

The role of charm and unflavored mesons in prompt atmospheric lepton fluxes

The all-sky very-high-energy (10 4 − 10 6 GeV) atmospheric muon flux measured by IceCube shows a spectral hardening at the highest energies, indicating the presence of a prompt component. IceCube has also measured the atmospheric muon neutrino flux at high energy. However, since this flux is dominated by astrophysical neutrinos, only an upper bound can be placed on the prompt atmospheric ν μ + $\overline{ν}$ μ contribution. In this work, we provide a new evaluation of the prompt atmospheric muon flux including an intrinsic charm component in the cosmic ray-air interactions. The latter enhances the forward production of $\overline{D}$ 0 , D – and Λc, which subsequently decay into final states containing muons and muon neutrinos. We show how the increase in the prompt muon flux due to intrinsic charm is accompanied by a corresponding enhancement in the prompt muon neutrino flux. We implement different intrinsic charm production models in MCEq to calculate the resulting lepton fluxes. We discuss the challenges of achieving predictions that are simultaneously consistent with both IceCube’s high-energy atmospheric muon flux measurements and IceCube upper bounds on the prompt muon neutrino flux, and we quantify the resulting discrepancies. As possible solutions, we explore scaling of the unflavored meson contributions to the prompt atmospheric muon flux to assess how such adjustments can reconcile these differences. The tensions emphasized in our work call for a refinement of the hadronic interaction models, especially the production of unflavored mesons, and for new experimental data sensitive to unflavored meson and heavy flavor production with reliable estimates of the associated uncertainties. We suggest that the energy and zenith angle dependence of muon and neutrino flux ratios from future neutrino telescope measurements may help to disentangle different scenarios.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Simple holography in general spacetimes

The simple or “outermost” wedge in AdS is the portion of the entanglement wedge that can be reconstructed with sub-exponential effort from CFT data. Here we furnish a definition in arbitrary spacetimes: given an input wedge a analogous to a CFT boundary region, the simple wedge z(a) is the largest wedge accessible by a “zigzag,” a certain sequence of antinormal lightsheets. We show that z(a) is a throat, and that it is contained in every other throat. This implies that z(a) is unique; that it is contained in the generalized entanglement wedge; and that it reduces to the AdS prescription as a special case. The zigzag explicitly constructs a preferred Cauchy slice that renders the simple wedge accessible from a; thus it adds a novel structure even in AdS. So far, no spacelike construction is known to reproduce these results, even in time-symmetric settings. This may have implications for the modeling of holographic encoding by tensor networks.

AdS-CFT Correspondence↗
DOE OSTI2025

An apologia for islands

Entanglement islands have played a key role in the recent derivation of the Page curve and other progress on the black hole information problem. Arising from the inclusion of connected wormhole saddles in a gravitational replica trick, islands signal that degrees of freedom in the black hole interior are not microscopically independent of the exterior Hawking radiation. Islands were originally discovered in the context of AdS/CFT coupled to an external, nongravitating reservoir, where the coupling gives graviton excitations an anomalous boundary scaling dimension (or “mass”). It has been claimed in the literature that this mass is crucial for the existence of islands and even the Page curve itself. In this paper, however, we explain how entanglement islands can also appear in setups with massless gravitons and no external reservoir, giving a number of examples including the entanglement wedges of boundary CFT regions, of radiation at null infinity in asymptotically flat spacetimes, and of radiation inside a semiclassical but gravitating spacetime. In each case, the Page curve is physically observable and can be determined with sufficiently careful experiments on many copies of the black hole. We give general arguments for the existence of gauge-invariant operators in gravity which are compactly supported to all orders in perturbation theory (whenever no isometries of the background spacetime exist) and refine a recently-proposed explicit construction of such operators. When applied to islands, these results — together with entanglement wedge reconstruction — guarantee that semiclassical operators in the island can be approximated by nonperturbative operators on the Hawking radiation.

AdS-CFT Correspondence↗
DOE OSTI2025

Nonperturbative quantum gravity in a closed Lorentzian universe

We study how meaningful physical predictions can arise in nonperturbative quantum gravity in a closed Lorentzian universe. In such settings, recent developments suggest that the quantum gravitational Hilbert space is one-dimensional and real for each α-sector, as induced by spacetime wormholes. This appears to obstruct the conventional quantum-mechanical prescription of assigning probabilities via projection onto a basis of states. While previous approaches have introduced external observers or augmented the theory to resolve this issue, we argue that quantum gravity itself contains all the necessary ingredients to make physical predictions. We demonstrate that the emergence of classical observables and probabilistic outcomes can be understood as a consequence of partial observability: physical observers access only a subsystem of the universe. Tracing out the inaccessible degrees of freedom yields reduced density matrices that encode classical information, with uncertainties exponentially suppressed by the environment’s entropy. We develop this perspective using both the Lorentzian path integral and operator formalisms and support it with a simple microscopic model. Our results show that quantum gravity in a closed universe naturally gives rise to meaningful, robust predictions without recourse to external constructs.

AdS-CFT Correspondence↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reconstruction of boosted and resolved multi-Higgs-boson events with symmetry-preserving attention networks

The production of multiple Higgs bosons at the CERN LHC provides a direct way to measure the trilinear and quartic Higgs self-interaction strengths as well as potential access to beyond the standard model effects that can enhance production at large transverse momentum p T . The largest event fraction arises from the fully hadronic final state in which every Higgs boson decays to a bottom quark-antiquark pair ($b\bar{b}$). This introduces a combinatorial challenge known as the jet assignment problem: assigning jets to sets representing Higgs boson candidates. Symmetry-preserving attention networks (SPA-Nets) have been developed to address this challenge. However, the complexity of jet assignment increases when simultaneously considering both H → $b\bar{b}$ reconstruction possibilities, i.e., two “resolved” small-radius jets each containing a shower initiated by a b quark or one “boosted” large-radius jet containing a merged shower initiated by a $b\bar{b}$ pair. The latter improves the reconstruction efficiency at high p T . In this work, we introduce a generalization to the SPA-Net approach to simultaneously consider both boosted and resolved reconstruction possibilities and unambiguously interpret an event as “fully resolved”, “fully boosted”, or in between. We report the performance of baseline methods, the original SPA-Net approach, and our generalized version on nonresonant HH and HHH production at the LHC. Considering both boosted and resolved topologies, our SPA-Net approach increases the Higgs boson reconstruction purity by 56–80% and the efficiency by 37–38% compared to the baseline method depending on the final state.

Higgs Production↗
DOE OSTI2026

Atmospheric pion, kaon, and muon fluxes for sub-orbital experiments

Cosmic rays interacting with the Earth's atmosphere generate extensive air showers, which produce Cherenkov, fluorescence and radio emissions. These emissions are key signatures for detection by ground-based, sub-orbital, and satellite-based telescopes aiming to study high energy cosmic ray and neutrino events. However, detectors operating at ground and balloon altitudes are also exposed to a background of atmospheric charged particles, primarily pions, kaons, and muons, that can mimic or obscure the signals from astrophysical sources. In this work, we use coupled cascade equations to calculate the atmospheric pion, kaon and muon fluxes reaching detectors at various altitudes. Our analysis focuses on energies above 10 GeV, where the influence of the Earth's magnetic field on particle trajectories is minimal. We provide angular and energy-resolved flux estimates and discuss their relevance as background for extensive air shower detection. Furthermore, our results are potentially relevant for interpreting data from current and future balloon-borne experiments such as EUSO-SPB2 and for refining trigger and veto strategies in Cherenkov and fluorescence telescopes.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

The data acquisition system of the LZ dark matter detector: FADR

The Data Acquisition System (DAQ) for the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter detector is described. The signals from 745 PMTs, distributed across three subsystems, are sampled with 100-MHz 32-channel digitizers (DDC-32s). A basic waveform analysis is carried out on the on-board Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to extract information about the observed scintillation and electroluminescence signals. This information is used to determine if the digitized waveforms should be preserved for offline analysis. The system is designed around the Kintex-7 FPGA. In addition to digitizing the PMT signals and providing basic event selection in real time, the flexibility provided by the use of FPGAs allows us to monitor the performance of the detector and the DAQ in parallel to normal data acquisition. Furthermore, the hardware and software/firmware of this FPGA-based Architecture for Data acquisition and Realtime monitoring (FADR) are discussed and performance measurements are described.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Performance of neutron and proton irradiated AC-LGAD sensors

Characterization of strip and pixel AC-LGAD devices with both laser TCT and probe station (IV/CV) will be shown on AC-LGADs irradiated with 1 MeV reactor neutrons at JSI/Ljubljana and with 400 MeV protons at FNAL ITA to fluences from 1e13~$n_{eq}/cm^2$ to a few times 1e15~$n_{eq}/cm^2$. This study was conducted within the scope of the ePIC detector time of flight (TOF) layer R&D program at the EIC, which will feature AC-LGADs with strip and pixel geometry. Sensors in the TOF layer will receive up to 1e13 $n_{eq}/cm^2$ fluence over the lifetime of the experiment.

AC-LGAD strips↗
DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of substructure-dependent suppression of large-radius jets with charged particles in Pb+Pb collisions with ATLAS

Measurements of jet substructure in Pb+Pb collisions provide key insights into the mechanism of jet quenching in the hot and dense QCD medium created in these collisions. This Letter presents a measurement of the suppression of large-radius jets with a radius parameter of $R = 1.0$ and its dependence on the jet substructure. The measurement uses 1.72 nb$^{-1}$ of Pb+Pb data and 255 pb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ data, both at $\sqrt{s_{_\mathrm{NN}}} = 5.02$ TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Large-radius jets are reconstructed by reclustering $R = 0.2$ calorimetric jets and are measured for transverse momentum above $200$ GeV. Jet substructure is evaluated using charged-particle tracks, and the overall level of jet suppression is quantified using the jet nuclear modification factor ($R_\mathrm{AA}$). The jet $R_\mathrm{AA}$ is measured as a function of jet $p_{\mathrm{T}}$, the charged $k_t$ splitting scale ($\sqrt{d_{12}}$), and the angular separation ($dR_{12}$) of two leading sub-jets. The jet $R_\mathrm{AA}$ gradually decreases with increasing $\sqrt{d_{12}}$, implying significantly stronger suppression of large-radius jets with larger $k_t$ splitting scale. The jet $R_\mathrm{AA}$ gradually decreases for $dR_{12}$ in the range $0.01{-}0.2$ and then remains consistent with a constant for $ΔR_{12} \gtrsim 0.2$. The observed significant dependence of jet suppression on the jet substructure will provide new insights into its role in the quenching process.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Transforming jet flavour tagging at ATLAS

Jet flavour tagging enables the identification of jets originating from heavy-flavour quarks in proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, playing a critical role in its physics programmes. This paper presents GN2, a transformer-based flavour tagging algorithm deployed by the ATLAS Collaboration that represents a different methodology compared to previous approaches. Designed to classify jets based on the flavour of their constituent particles, GN2 processes low-level tracking information in an end-to-end architecture and incorporates physics-informed auxiliary training objectives to enhance both interpretability and performance. Its performance is validated in both simulation and collision data. The measured c-jet (light-jet) rejection in data is improved by a factor of 3.5 (1.8) for a 70% b-jet tagging efficiency, compared to the previous algorithm. GN2 provides substantial benefits for physics analyses involving heavy-flavour jets, such as measurements of Higgs boson pair production and the couplings of bottom and charm quarks to the Higgs boson, and demonstrates the impact of advanced machine learning methods in experimental particle physics.

Characterization and analytical techniques↗
DOE OSTI2026

Combination of searches for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in proton–proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

This paper presents a combination of searches for the nonresonant production of Higgs boson pairs (HH) in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The dataset was collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC from 2016 to 2018 and corresponds to a total integrated luminosity of 138 fb –1 . The observed (expected) upper limit on the inclusive HH production cross-section relative to the standard model (SM) prediction is found to be 3.5 (2.5). Assuming all other Higgs boson couplings are equal to their SM values, the Higgs boson trilinear self-coupling modifier κ λ = λ 3 /λ$^{SM}_{3}$ is constrained in the range –1.35 ≤ κ λ ≤ 6.37 at 95% confidence level (CL). Similarly, for the coupling modifier κ 2V , which governs the interactions between two vector bosons and two Higgs bosons, we have excluded κ 2V = 0 at more than five standard deviations for all values of κ λ . At 95% CL, assuming that the other couplings are equal to their SM values, κ 2V is constrained in the range 0.64 ≤ κ 2V ≤ 1.40. This work also investigates HH production in several new physics scenarios, using the Higgs effective field theory (HEFT) framework. The HEFT framework is further exploited to study various ultraviolet complete models with an extended Higgs sector and set constraints on specific parameters. An extrapolation of the results in the expected integrated luminosity following the high-luminosity upgrade of the LHC is also reported.

BSM↗
DOE OSTI2025

CMB-HD as a probe of dark matter on sub-galactic scales

We show for the first time that high-resolution CMB lensing observations can probe structure on sub-galactic scales. In particular, a CMB-HD experiment can probe out to k ∼ 55 h/Mpc, corresponding to halo masses of about 10 8 M ⊙ . Over the range 0.005 h/Mpc eff+ ∑ mν + m WDM + log 10 T AGN + A kSZ + n kSZ model; here T AGN characterizes the strength of the feedback, and A kSZ and n kSZ allow freedom in the amplitude and slope of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich power spectrum. This work provides an initial exploration of what can be achieved with reasonable assumptions about systematic effects. We make the CMB-HD Fisher code used here publicly available, and note that it can be modified to use any non-CDM model that changes the matter power spectrum.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Probing scalar non-standard interaction of supernova neutrinos in next-generation neutrino experiments

A new neutrino-matter interaction can potentially affect neutrino propagation through matter. In this work, we explore the impact of a flavor-conserving scalar-mediated non-standard neutrino interaction in the supernova neutrino flux. We observe that the presence of a scalar interaction involving muon and tau neutrinos (parameterized as η μμ and η ττ , respectively) can invert the neutrino mass eigenstate in which three neutrino flavor states are produced inside the supernova core, resulting in a significant modification of the electron neutrino flux from the supernova reaching the Earth. In the context of the DUNE experiment, we estimate the number of supernova neutrino events in the presence of scalar non-standard neutrino interaction η μμ or η ττ and contrast with the case without scalar-mediated non-standard interactions. Our results indicate that such scalar interactions introduce a new degeneracy in the measurement of neutrino mass ordering from supernova neutrinos. We show how the ν̅e event distribution in Hyper-Kamiokande experiment may help resolve the degeneracy between a model with new scalar interactions for normal ordered neutrino masses and the standard model with inverted mass ordering for a galactic supernova.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Characterizing novel Indium Phosphide pad detectors with focused X-ray beams and laboratory tests

Future tracking systems in High Energy Physics experiments will require large instrumented areas with low radiation length. Crystalline silicon sensors have been used in tracking systems for decades, but are difficult to manufacture and costly to produce for large areas. We are exploring alternative sensor materials that are amenable to fast fabrication techniques used for thin film devices. Indium Phosphide pad sensors were fabricated at Argonne National Lab using commercially available InP:Fe 2-inch mono-crystal substrates. Current-voltage and capacitance-voltage characterizations were performed to study the basic operating characteristics of a group of sensors. Micro-focused X-ray beams at Canadian Light Source and Diamond Light Source were used to study the response to ionizing radiation, and characterize the uniformity of the response for several devices. Electrical test results showed a high degree of performance uniformity between the 48 tested devices. X-ray test beam results showed good performance uniformity within tested devices after accounting for spatially-local defects and edge fields. As a result, this motivates further studies into thin film devices for future tracking detectors.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Silicon pinhole strip defects and their impact on ATLAS Inner Tracker HV current measurement

In preparation for the High-Luminsity LHC (HL-LHC) [1], the ATLAS detector will undergo major detector upgrades, including the replacement of the current Inner Detector with the new all-silicon Inner Tracker (ITk) [2]. The ITk consists of a pixel detector close to the beamline surrounded by a large-area strip detector. During detector production, the electrical properties of silicon sensors and readout electronics must be characterized through a series of quality control (QC) and quality assurance tests. These tests ensure any defect is captured at the earliest possible stage. One such defect, callled a pinhole, occurs when the strip implant and the metal readout electrode are shorted through the intermediary dielectric layer. Notably, the introduction of pinholes during module assembly and pinhole effects on completed modules, especially on leakage current measurement circuitry, have never been studied. In this paper, we investigate the effect of such connections on the sensor leakage current measurements of completed modules and introduce new ways to locate pinholed strips. Here, with minor modifications to testing procedures, such defects are shown not to impede module testing or performance.

FOS: Physical sciences↗
DOE OSTI2026

Studying AC-LGAD strip sensors from laser and testbeam measurements

Here, this paper presents the setup assembled to characterize and measure the spatial and timing resolutions of AC-coupled Low Gain Avalanche Diodes (AC-LGADs), using a 1060 nm laser source to deposit initial charges with a defined calibration methodology. The results were compared to those obtained with a 120 GeV proton beam. Despite the differences in the charge deposition mechanism between the laser and proton beam, the spatial and temporal resolutions were found to be compatible between the two sources after calibration. With 4D tracking detectors expected to play a vital role in upcoming collider experiments, we foresee this work as a way to evaluate the performance of semiconductor sensors that can augment testbeam measurements and accelerate R&D efforts. Additionally, simulation studies using Silvaco TCAD and Weightfield2 were carried out to understand the various contributing factors to the total time resolution in AC-LGAD sensors, measured using the laser source.

FOS: Physical sciences↗
DOE OSTI2021

GPU coprocessors as a service for deep learning inference in high energy physics

In the next decade, the demands for computing in large scientific experiments are expected to grow tremendously. During the same time period, CPU performance increases will be limited. At the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), these two issues will confront one another as the collider is upgraded for high luminosity running. Alternative processors such as graphics processing units (GPUs) can resolve this confrontation provided that algorithms can be sufficiently accelerated. In many cases, algorithmic speedups are found to be largest through the adoption of deep learning algorithms. We present a comprehensive exploration of the use of GPU-based hardware acceleration for deep learning inference within the data reconstruction workflow of high energy physics. We present several realistic examples and discuss a strategy for the seamless integration of coprocessors so that the LHC can maintain, if not exceed, its current performance throughout its running.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

First Results on the Search for Lepton Number Violating Neutrinoless Double-𝛽 Decay with the LEGEND-200 Experiment

The LEGEND Collaboration is searching for neutrinoless double-beta (0⁢𝜈⁢𝛽⁢𝛽) decay by operating high-purity germanium detectors enriched in 76 Ge in a low-background liquid argon environment. Building on key technological innovations from the GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment and the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiment, LEGEND-200 has performed a first 0⁢𝜈⁢𝛽⁢𝛽 decay search based on 61.0 kg yr of data. Over half of this exposure comes from our highest performing detectors, including newly developed inverted-coaxial detectors, and is characterized by an estimated background level of 0.5$^{+0.3}_{−0.2}$ ⁢cts/(keV ton yr) in the 0⁢𝜈⁢𝛽⁢𝛽 decay signal region. A combined analysis of data from GERDA, the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, and LEGEND-200, characterized by a 90% confidence level exclusion sensitivity of 2.8 ×10 26 yr on the half-life of 0⁢𝜈⁢𝛽⁢𝛽 decay, reveals no evidence for a signal and sets a new observed lower limit at 𝑇$^{⁢0𝜈}_{1/2}$ > 1.9 × 10 26 yr (90% confidence level). Assuming the decay is mediated by Majorana neutrinos, this corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range 𝑚 𝛽⁢𝛽 < 75–200 meV, depending on the adopted nuclear matrix element.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗