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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 OSTI2023

An Assessment of Nuclear Fuel Options for Microreactors

A design options trade-off study was conducted for various nuclear fuel system options. This study developed requirements for ideal fuel system characteristics and weighted ranking criteria specifically for microreactor designs. A semiquantitative method of consensus ranking on a numeric scale was used with input from several nuclear fuel experts. The purpose of this study was to assess options and provide recommendations for further nuclear fuel technology development to better support small reactor cores. Modern microreactor designs have only recently begun emerging and have little in common except their diminutive size. The purpose of this study was not to determine which reactor type is best (e.g., coolant type and/or neutron energy spectrum), but rather to assess fuel system options within five broad categories of reactor types inspired by: 1) Very High Temperature Reactors (VHTR), 2) Sodium Fast Reactors (SFR), 3) System for Nuclear Auxiliary Power (SNAP) reactors, 4) Gas Fast Reactor (GFR), and 5) Molten Salt Reactors (MSR). The order in which these reactor types were listed generally represents the amount of current interest and technological maturity in the microreactor development community (in descending order). As such, the conclusions drawn for each reactor type category have varying levels of certainty, but there is confidence in the general conclusion that known fuel technologies can support small reactors, but that microreactors will be able to maximize their performance potential if these fuel systems were further optimized. These optimization opportunities were found to revolve around increasing uranium loading and improving behaviors/understanding for long time-at-temperature conditions. Further details about these recommendations can be found in the concluding section of this report.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS2017

Structure in the 3D Galaxy Distribution. III. Fourier Transforming the Universe: Phase and Power Spectra

We demonstrate the effectiveness of a relatively straightforward analysis of the complex 3D Fourier transform of galaxy coordinates derived from redshift surveys. Numerical demonstrations of this approach are carried out on a volume-limited sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey redshift survey. The direct unbinned transform yields a complex 3D data cube quite similar to that from the Fast Fourier Transform of finely binned galaxy positions. In both cases, deconvolution of the sampling window function yields estimates of the true transform. Simple power spectrum estimates from these transforms are roughly consistent with those using more elaborate methods. The complex Fourier transform characterizes spatial distributional properties beyond the power spectrum in a manner different from (and we argue is more easily interpreted than) the conventional multipoint hierarchy. We identify some threads of modern large-scale inference methodology that will presumably yield detections in new wider and deeper surveys.

Galaxies↗
DOE OSTI2022

Stabilizing and Improving Qubit Coherence by Engineering the Noise Spectrum of Two-Level Systems

Superconducting circuits are a leading platform for quantum computing. However, their coherence times are still limited and exhibit temporal fluctuations. Those phenomena are often attributed to the coupling between qubits and material defects that can be well described as an ensemble of two-level systems (TLSs). Among them, charge fluctuators inside amorphous oxide layers contribute to both low-frequency 1 / f charge noise and high-frequency dielectric loss, causing fast qubit dephasing and relaxation. Moreover, spectral diffusion from mutual TLS interactions varies the noise amplitude over time, fluctuating the qubit lifetime. Here, we propose to mitigate those harmful effects by engineering the relevant TLS noise spectral densities. Specifically, our protocols smooth the high-frequency noise spectrum and suppress the low-frequency noise amplitude via depolarizing and dephasing the TLSs, respectively. As a result, we predict a drastic stabilization in qubit lifetime and an increase in qubit pure dephasing time. Our detailed analysis of feasible experimental implementations shows that the improvement is not compromised by spurious coupling from the applied noise to the qubit.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
NASA NTRS1966

Densitometer system for liquid hydrogen has high accuracy, fast response

Developmental densitometer system for cryogenic liquids uses two balanced ionization chambers containing xenon gas, with X rays as the radiation source. The X rays are heavily filtered with a lead shield to make the energy spectrum much less dependent on the voltage applied to the X ray tube.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2023

Topology induced crossover between Langevin, subdiffusion, and Brownian diffusion regimes in supercooled water

Despite extensive studies of supercooled water, it remains challenging to understand its peculiar dynamic anomalous properties. In this work, we integrated full atomistic simulations of supercooled water over the temperature range of room temperature to 200 K using a quantum-mechanics-based polarizable force field with the dressed dynamics method that couples fast collision events and slow reorganization dynamics of hydrogen-bond networks. Our analysis unveils the salient multiscale features in the transient relaxation dynamics of supercooled water. A classical Langevin behavior dominates at fast timescales, while long-time relaxations unveil two different activation barriers in two temperature regions: below and above 230 K. The modulation of the entropy spectrum by temperature is elucidated in terms of a three-state model underlined by the complexity of the water dynamics associated with a topological transition of a strong hydrogen-bond network. This state-dependent network topology is quantitatively characterized by power-law exponents of inverse network connectivity from 200 to 298 K. Finally, this work provides valuable guidance for further studies on the transient relaxation dynamics of supercooled water.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dynamics of the collapse of a ferromagnetic skyrmion in a centrosymmetric lattice

We report time dependence of the size and chirality of a ferromagnetic skyrmion in a Heisenberg model with the magnetic field on a square lattice has been studied analytically and numerically. The lattice and the magnetic field generate strong time dependence of the skyrmion chirality. Due to nonlinearity, the lattice alone also generates strong intrinsic damping that leads to the skyrmion collapse via the emission of spin waves. In the absence of the magnetic field, the collapse is slow for a large skyrmion, but it becomes exponentially fast in the presence of the Landau-Lifshitz damping when the field is turned on. Magnons emitted by a collapsing skyrmion must have a discrete spectrum due to the quantization of the skyrmion magnetic moment.

2-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reviewing Incident Neutron Energy assignments in 238 U(n,f) Fission Yield Data

Fission yield evaluations rely not only on precise measurements, but also on clear documentation of experimental conditions especially the energy of incident neutrons inducing fission. In the EXFOR database, following the convention adopted in past evaluations, the incident neutron energy has traditionally been divided in only three energy groups: thermal, fast and 14 MeV. The information is stored in the EN-DUMMY field, which often serves as a placeholder in the presence of broad-spectrum or reactor-based sources. This work reviews 238 U(n,f) entries in EXFOR that use EN-DUMMY, identifying cases where better energy estimates can be made based on the original publications, facility characteristics, or reconstructed neutron spectra. We assign new cross-section-weighted average energies where possible. The revised independent and cumulative fission yield data are compiled for future use in model development and evaluation efforts.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1985

Ram vehicle glow spectrum - Implication of NO2 recombination continuum

An experiment was operated on several Space Shuttle missions to provide spatial and spectral distributions of a ram glow associated with the Orbiter. The most recent data featured resolved spectrum and imagery of the glow with spectroscopic resolution of 34 A FWHM between 4000 and 8000 A. The spectrum of the glow on the Shuttle tail pod could be clearly separated from spectrum of the reflected light from the Orbiter. Analysis and comparison have been performed which strongly suggest the emission originates from recombination continuum of NO2. Both fast recombination (high temperature) and the spectral dependence in lifetime can describe the spectral difference. If the recombined NO2 retains 25 percent of the kinetic energy of the ram OI, the thickness of the glow layer can be explained by the lifetime of NO2 (2B1) recombination emission.

Swenson, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Real-time processing of radar return on a parallel computer

NASA is working with the FAA to demonstrate the feasibility of pulse Doppler radar as a candidate airborne sensor to detect low altitude windshears. The need to provide the pilot with timely information about possible hazards has motivated a demand for real-time processing of a radar return. Investigated here is parallel processing as a means of accommodating the high data rates required. A PC based parallel computer, called the transputer, is used to investigate issues in real time concurrent processing of radar signals. A transputer network is made up of an array of single instruction stream processors that can be networked in a variety of ways. They are easily reconfigured and software development is largely independent of the particular network topology. The performance of the transputer is evaluated in light of the computational requirements. A number of algorithms have been implemented on the transputers in OCCAM, a language specially designed for parallel processing. These include signal processing algorithms such as the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), pulse-pair, and autoregressive modelling, as well as routing software to support concurrency. The most computationally intensive task is estimating the spectrum. Two approaches have been taken on this problem, the first and most conventional of which is to use the FFT. By using table look-ups for the basis function and other optimizing techniques, an algorithm has been developed that is sufficient for real time. The other approach is to model the signal as an autoregressive process and estimate the spectrum based on the model coefficients. This technique is attractive because it does not suffer from the spectral leakage problem inherent in the FFT. Benchmark tests indicate that autoregressive modeling is feasible in real time.

Aalfs, David D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The masses of V838 Herculis (Nova Herculis 1991) and OZ Aurigae

We have determined H alpha radial velocity solutions for the two eclipsing novae V838 Her (Nova Her 1991) and QZ Aur, which yields mass estimates for the stellar components. The results indicate both objects have relatively massive white dwarfs greater than 0.62 solar mass for V838 Her and greater than 0.65 solar mass for QZ Aur), although these limits allow lower masses than theoretical models for fast novae predict. Even though both novae have long periods (7.14 hr and 8.58 hr), there is no visible evidence of the secondary star in the spectrum. The large extent and brightness of the accretion disk, as deduced from the light curves, make the disk the dominant source of light.

Szkody, Paula↗
NASA NTRS2003

Time-Resolved UV Spectra of Pulsars with HST/STIS

We have used HST/STIS to observe the young Crab pulsar and the middle-aged PSR B0656+14. The Crab pulsar was observed in both the near- and far-UV, and together with ground-based data we establish a spectrum that covers 1140-9250 A. A flat spectrum with a power-law index of 0.11 +/- 0.04 fits the entire spectral region. With the time-tag mode of the spectrograph we obtain the pulse profile, and show that the near- and far-UV profiles are similar, although the primary peak is marginally narrower. In the far-UV spectrum we also see evidence of blueshifted absorption in C IV 1550 A out to 2500km/s, which could be a sign of the long-debated fast shell around the pulsar. PSR B0656+14 was observed using the prism mode of STIS/MAMA in the near-UV, and with this observation we have made it the first middle-aged for which a UV pulse profile has been established. Preliminary analysis shows two distinct pulses per the pulsar period in near-UV, which is in contrast to a single pulse detected in radio and soft X-ray ranges.

Gull, Theodore R.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Predictions of Supersonic Jet Mixing and Shock-Associated Noise Compared With Measured Far-Field Data

Codes for predicting supersonic jet mixing and broadband shock-associated noise were assessed using a database containing noise measurements of a jet issuing from a convergent nozzle. Two types of codes were used to make predictions. Fast running codes containing empirical models were used to compute both the mixing noise component and the shock-associated noise component of the jet noise spectrum. One Reynolds-averaged, Navier-Stokes-based code was used to compute only the shock-associated noise. To enable the comparisons of the predicted component spectra with data, the measured total jet noise spectra were separated into mixing noise and shock-associated noise components. Comparisons were made for 1/3-octave spectra and some power spectral densities using data from jets operating at 24 conditions covering essentially 6 fully expanded Mach numbers with 4 total temperature ratios.

Dahl, Milo D.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Multi-Wavelength Implications of the Companion Star in eta Carinae

Eta-Carinae is considered to be a massive colliding wind binary system with a highly eccentric (e approximately 0.9), 5.54-yr orbit. However, the companion star continues to evade direct detection as the primary dwarfs its emission at most wavelengths. Using three-dimensional (3-D) SPH simulations of eta-Car's colliding winds and radiative transfer codes, we are able to compute synthetic observables across multiple wavebands for comparison to the observations. The models show that the presence of a companion star has a profound influence on the observed HST/STIS UV spectrum and H-alpha line profiles, as well as the ground-based photometric monitoring. Here, we focus on the Bore Hole effect, wherein the fast wind from the hot secondary star carves a cavity in the dense primary wind, allowing increased escape of radiation from the hotter/deeper layers of the primary's extended wind photosphere. The results have important implications for interpretations of eta-Car's observables at multiple wavelengths.

Madura, Thomas I.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Structure in the 3D Galaxy Distribution: III. Fourier Transforming the Universe: Phase and Power Spectra

We demonstrate the effectiveness of a relatively straightforward analysis of the complex 3D Fourier transform of galaxy coordinates derived from redshift surveys. Numerical demonstrations of this approach are carried out on a volume-limited sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey redshift survey. The direct unbinned transform yields a complex 3D data cube quite similar to that from the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of finely binned galaxy positions. In both cases deconvolution of the sampling window function yields estimates of the true transform. Simple power spectrum estimates from these transforms are roughly consistent with those using more elaborate methods. The complex Fourier transform characterizes spatial distributional properties beyond the power spectrum in a manner different from (and we argue is more easily interpreted than) the conventional multi-point hierarchy. We identify some threads of modern large scale inference methodology that will presumably yield detections in new wider and deeper surveys.

Galactic clusters↗
DOE OSTI2021

Cosmic shear power spectra in practice

Cosmic shear is one of the most powerful probes of Dark Energy, targeted by several current and future galaxy surveys. Lensing shear, however, is only sampled at the positions of galaxies with measured shapes in the catalog, making its associated sky window function one of the most complicated amongst all projected cosmological probes of inhomogeneities, as well as giving rise to inhomogeneous noise. Partly for this reason, cosmic shear analyses have been mostly carried out in real-space, making use of correlation functions, as opposed to Fourier-space power spectra. Since the use of power spectra can yield complementary information and has numerical advantages over real-space pipelines, it is important to develop a complete formalism describing the standard unbiased power spectrum estimators as well as their associated uncertainties. Building on previous work, this paper contains a study of the main complications associated with estimating and interpreting shear power spectra, and presents fast and accurate methods to estimate two key quantities needed for their practical usage: the noise bias and the Gaussian covariance matrix, fully accounting for survey geometry, with some of these results also applicable to other cosmological probes. Here, we demonstrate the performance of these methods by applying them to the latest public data releases of the Hyper Suprime-Cam and the Dark Energy Survey collaborations, quantifying the presence of systematics in our measurements and the validity of the covariance matrix estimate. We make the resulting power spectra, covariance matrices, null tests and all associated data necessary for a full cosmological analysis publicly available.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ion Acceleration and the Development of a Power-law Energy Spectrum in Magnetic Reconnection

How charged particles are accelerated efficiently and form a power-law energy spectrum in magnetic reconnection is a problem that is not well understood. In a previous paper, it was shown that the electron Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (EKHI) in force-free magnetic reconnection generates fast-expanding vortices that can accelerate electrons in a few tens of ion gyroperiods (less than 1 ms in the solar corona) to form a power-law energy distribution. In this paper, we present a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation study of ion acceleration in force-free magnetic reconnection in the presence of the EKHI-induced turbulence. We find that ions are not significantly accelerated by the EKHI-induced stochastic electric field until the magnetic vortices expand to sizes comparable to the ion gyroradius. The Alfvén waves generated by the EKHI couple with the magnetic vortices, leading to resonance between the ions inside the magnetic vortices and Alfvén waves and enhanced ion heating. The induced Alfvén wave resonance results in a broken power-law energy spectrum with a breakpoint at $\sim {m}_{i}{v}_{A}^{2}$, where v A is the Alfvén velocity. Here, we show that the process that forms the nonthermal tail is a second-order Fermi mechanism and the mean spectral index is α = (1 + 4 a 2 D/R) /2, where D is the spatial scale of the inductive electric field, R is that of vortices, and a = B g /B 0 , with ratio of guide field B g and asymptotic B 0 .

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Universality of the Microcanonical Entropy at Large Spin

We consider rigorous consequences of modular invariance for two-dimensional unitary non-rational CFTs with c > 1. Simple estimates for the torus partition function can lead to remarkably strong results. We show in particular that the spectral density of spin-J operators must grow like exp (π√$\frac{2}{3}$$(c - 1)$J})/√2J in any twist interval at or above (c - 1)/12, with a known twist-dependent prefactor. This proves that the large J spectrum becomes dense even without averaging over spins. For twists below (c - 1)/12 we establish that the growth must be strictly slower. Finally, we estimate how fast the maximal gap between two spin-J operators must go to zero as J becomes large.

Pal, Sridip [California Institute of Technology (C↗
DOE OSTI2021

Improving Signal to Noise Ratios in Ion Mobility Spectrometry and Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations (SLIM) using a High Dynamic Range Analog-to-Digital Converter

Signal digitization is a commonly overlooked part of ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) workflows, yet it is a significant contributor for determining signal-to-noise ratios and MS resolution. Here we report on the integration of a 2 GS/s, 14-bit ADC with a structures for lossless ion manipulations (SLIM)-IMS-MS and compare the performance to a commonly used 8-bit ADC. The 14-bit ADC provided an effective reduction in digitized noise by factor of ~6, owing largely to the use of smaller bit sizes. The low baseline allowed the threshold voltage levels to be set very close to the MCP baseline voltage, allowing for as much signal to be acquired as possible without causing overloading or excessive digitization of MCP baseline noise. Analyses of Agilent tuning mixture ions and a complex mixture of heavy labeled phosphopeptides showed that the 14-bit ADC (compared to the 8-bit ADC) provided a modest signal-to-noise increase (~1.5 to 2-fold) for high intensity ions, such as the Agilent tuning mixture ions and the 2+ and 3+ charge states of many phosphopeptide constituents. However, signal enhancements were as much as 10-fold for low intensity ions, and the 14-bit ADC enabled discernable signal intensities otherwise lost using an 8-bit digitizer. Additionally, the 14-bit ADC required ~14-fold fewer mass spectra to be averaged to produce a mass spectrum with similar S/N as the 8-bit ADC under identical conditions, potentially providing an order of magnitude higher measurement throughput. The high resolution, low baseline, and fast speed of the new 14-bit ADC enables high performance digitization of MS, IMS-MS, and SLIM-IMS-MS spectra, and allows a much fuller picture of analyte profiles in complex mixtures to be acquired.

data acquisition, digitization, ion mobility spect↗