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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 505 records · Page 28

Net lithium deposition and dominant self-sputtering in lithium tokamak experiment-β with a liquid lithium wall

We observed enhanced net lithium deposition and lithium erosion, possibly dominated by physical sputtering of lithium by lithium-ion bombardment, on the outer plasma-facing surface in the Lithium Tokamak eXperiment-β (LTX-β) during liquid lithium wall operations. Silicon crystal samples with micro-trenches (30 μm × 30 μm × 2–7 μm deep) were exposed to hydrogen plasmas in LTX-β for solid and liquid lithium wall operations. Post-mortem analysis using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy combined with argon ion sputtering measured net lithium deposition of 8.2 or 21 nm on the silicon crystal surface exposed for ~ 50 repeated shots of ~ 50-ms hydrogen plasma discharges during the liquid lithium wall operations at a vessel temperature of 475 K. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy measured oxygen concentration patterns on the micro-trench floors, which were due to oxidized lithium deposition. Using the inhomogeneous oxygen concentration pattern caused by an ion-shadowing effect associated with the micro-trench’s geometric structure, we determined a polar incident ion direction of 68.4 ± 1.6° referenced to the surface normal direction. This observation was well-explained by the hypothesis that self-sputtering of Li was a dominant lithium erosion source in addition to lithium sputtering by hydrogen bombardment.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

One hundred years into the study of ecotypes, new advances are being made through large-scale field experiments in perennial plant systems

A hundred years after Turesson first clearly described how locally adaptive variation is distributed within species, plant biologists are making major breakthroughs in our understanding of mechanisms underlying adaptation from local populations to the scale of continents. Although the genetics of local adaptation has typically been studied in smaller reciprocal transplant experiments, here it is being evaluated with whole genomes in large-scale networks of common garden experiments with perennial switchgrass and poplar trees. These studies support the hypothesis that a complex combination of loci, both with and without adaptive trade-offs, underlies local adaptation and that hybridization and adaptive introgression play a key role in the evolution of these species. Future studies incorporating high-throughput phenotyping, gene expression, and modeling will be used to predict responses of these species to climate change.

Trade-off↗

Time-series learning of latent-space dynamics for reduced-order model closure

In this work, we study the performance of long short-term memory networks (LSTMs) and neural ordinary differential equations (NODEs) in learning latent-space representations of dynamical equations for an advection-dominated problem given by the viscous Burgers equation. Our formulation is devised in a nonintrusive manner with an equation-free evolution of dynamics in a reduced space with the latter being obtained through a proper orthogonal decomposition. In addition, we leverage the sequential nature of learning for both LSTMs and NODEs to demonstrate their capability for closure in systems that are not completely resolved in the reduced space. We assess our hypothesis for two advection-dominated problems given by the viscous Burgers equation. We observe that both LSTMs and NODEs are able to reproduce the effects of the absent scales for our test cases more effectively than does intrusive dynamics evolution through a Galerkin projection. This result empirically suggests that time-series learning techniques implicitly leverage a memory kernel for coarse-grained system closure as is suggested through the Mori–Zwanzig formalism.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Observation of photon-induced W+W- production in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

This letter reports the observation of photon-induced production of W -boson pairs, γγ → W W . The analysis uses 139 fb -1 of LHC proton–proton collision data taken at s = 13 TeV TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment during the years 2015–2018. The measurement is performed selecting one electron and one muon, corresponding to the decay of the diboson system as W W → e ± νμ ∓ ν final state. The background-only hypothesis is rejected with a significance of well above 5 standard deviations consistent with the expectation from Monte Carlo simulation. A cross section for the γγ → W W process of 3.13 ± 0.31(stat.)±0.28(syst.) fb is measured in a fiducial volume close to the acceptance of the detector, by requiring an electron and a muon of opposite signs with large dilepton transverse momentum and exactly zero additional charged particles. This is found to be in agreement with the Standard Model prediction.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Evidence for Higgs boson decays to a low-mass dilepton system and a photon in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ =13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for the Higgs boson decaying into a photon and a pair of electrons or muons with an invariant mass mℓℓ < 30 GeV is presented. The analysis is performed using 139 fb -1 of proton–proton collision data, produced by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and collected by the ATLAS experiment. Evidence for the H → ℓℓγ process is found with a significance of 3.2 over the background-only hypothesis, compared to an expected significance of 2.1 for the Standard Model prediction. The best-fit value of the signal-strength parameter, defined as the ratio of the observed signal yield to the one expected in the Standard Model, is μ=1.5±0.5. The Higgs boson production cross-section times the H → ℓℓγ branching ratio for mℓℓ < 30 GeV is determined to be $8.7_{-2.7}^{+2.8}$ fb.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Observation of electroweak W + W – pair production in association with two jets in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

An observation is reported of the electroweak production of a W + W – pair in association with two jets, with both W bosons decaying leptonically. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb –1 of proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV, collected by the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. Events are selected by requiring exactly two opposite-sign leptons (electrons or muons) and two jets with large pseudorapidity separation and high dijet invariant mass. Events are categorized based on the flavor of the final-state leptons. A signal is observed with a significance of 5.6 standard deviations (5.2 expected) with respect to the background-only hypothesis. The measured fiducial cross section is 10.2 ± 2.0 fb and this value is consistent with the standard model prediction of 9.1 ± 0.6 fb.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Evidence of off-shell Higgs boson production from ZZ leptonic decay channels and constraints on its total width with the ATLAS detector

This Letter reports on a search for off-shell production of the Higgs boson using 139 fb —1 of $pp$ collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The signature is a pair of $\overline{Z}$ bosons, with contributions from both the production and subsequent decay of a virtual Higgs boson and the interference of that process with other processes. The two observable final states are $\overline{Z}$ $\overline{Z}$ → 4$\ell$ and $\overline{Z}$ $\overline{Z}$ → 2$\ell$2$ν$ with $\ell$ = $e$ or $μ$. In the $\overline{Z}$ $\overline{Z}$ → 4$\ell$ final state, a dense Neural Network is used to enhance analysis sensitivity with respect to matrix element-based discrimination. The backgroundonly hypothesis is rejected with an observed (expected) significance of 3.3 (2.2) standard deviations, representing experimental evidence for off-shell Higgs boson production. Assuming that no new particles enter the production of the virtual Higgs boson, its total width can be deduced from the measurement of its off-shell production cross-section. The measured total width of the Higgs boson is ${4.5}_{—2.5}^{+3.3}$ MeV, and the observed (expected) upper limit on the total width is found to be 10.5 (10.9) MeV at 95% confidence level.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Observation of four top quark production in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV

The observation of the production of four top quarks in proton-proton collisions is reported, based on a data sample collected by the CMS experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2016–2018 at the CERN LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb − 1 . Events with two same-sign, three, or four charged leptons (electrons and muons) and additional jets are analyzed. Compared to previous results in these channels, updated identification techniques for charged leptons and jets originating from the hadronization of b quarks, as well as a revised multivariate analysis strategy to distinguish the signal process from the main backgrounds, lead to an improved expected signal significance of 4.9 standard deviations above the background-only hypothesis. Four top quark production is observed with a significance of 5.6 standard deviations, and its cross section is measured to be 17.7 − 3.5 + 3.7 (stat) − 1.9 + 2.3 (syst) fb , in agreement with the available standard model predictions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Observation of $Wγγ$ triboson production in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This letter reports the observation of W(ℓν)γγ production in proton-proton collisions. This measurement uses the full Run 2 sample of events recorded at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb -1 . Events with a leptonically-decaying W boson and at least two photons are considered. The background-only hypothesis is rejected with an observed and expected significance of 5.6 standard deviations. The inclusive fiducial production cross section of W(eν)γγ and W(μν)γγ events is measured to be σ fid = 13.8 ± 1.1(stat) $^{+2.1}_{-2.0}$(syst) ± 0.1(lumi) fb, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Search for an exotic decay of the Higgs boson into a Z boson and a pseudoscalar particle in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV

A search for an exotic decay of the Higgs boson to a Z boson and a light pseudoscalar particle (a), decaying to a pair of leptons and a pair of photons, respectively, is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of s = 13 TeV , collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb − 1 . The analysis probes pseudoscalar masses m a between 1 and 30 GeV, leading to two pairs of well-isolated leptons and photons. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the Higgs boson production cross section times its branching fraction to two leptons and two photons. The observed (expected) limits are in the range of 1.1–17.8 (1.7–17.9)fb within the probed m a interval. An excess of data above the expected standard model background with a local (global) significance of 2.6 (1.3) standard deviations is observed for a mass hypothesis of m a = 3 GeV . Limits on models involving axion-like particles, formulated as an effective field theory, are also reported.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Combination of searches for pair-produced leptoquarks at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A statistical combination of various searches for pair-produced leptoquarks is presented, using the full LHC Run 2 (2015–2018) data set of 139 fb -1 collected with the ATLAS detector from proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. All possible decays of the leptoquarks into quarks of the third generation and charged or neutral leptons of any generation are investigated. Since no significant deviations from the Standard Model expectation are observed in any of the individual analyses, combined exclusion limits are set on the production cross-sections for scalar and vector leptoquarks. The resulting lower bounds on leptoquark masses exceed those from the individual analyses by up to 100 GeV, depending on the signal hypothesis.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Investigating the composition of the $K$$^{*}_{0}$(700) state with π ± $K$$^{0}_{S}$ correlations at the LHC

The first measurements of femtoscopic correlations with the particle pair combinations π ± $K$$^{0}_{S}$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are reported by the ALICE experiment. Using the femtoscopic approach, it is shown that it is possible to study the elusive $K$$^{*}_{0}$(700) particle that has been considered a tetraquark candidate for over forty years. Source and final-state interaction parameters are extracted by fitting a model assuming a Gaussian source to the experimentally measured two-particle correlation functions. The final-state interaction in the π ± $K$$^{0}_{S}$ system is modeled through a resonant scattering amplitude, defined in terms of a mass and a coupling parameter, The extracted mass and Breit–Wigner width, derived from the coupling parameter, of the final-state interaction are found to be consistent with previous measurements of the $K$$^{*}_{0}$ (700). The small value and increase of the correlation strength with increasing source size support the hypothesis that the $K$$^{*}_{0}$(700) is a four-quark state, i.e. a tetraquark state of the form (q 1 , $\bar{q}$ 2 , q 3 , $\bar{q}$ 3 ) in which q 1 , q 2 and q 3 indicate the flavor of the valence quarks of the π and $K$$^{0}_{S}$. This latter trend is also confirmed via a simple geometric model that assumes a tetraquark structure of the $K$$^{*}_{0}$(700) resonance.

13 TeV pp collisions↗

Measurement of the production cross section of a Higgs boson with large transverse momentum in its decays to a pair of τ leptons in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV

A measurement of the production cross section of a Higgs boson with transverse momentum greater than 250GeV is presented where the Higgs boson decays to a pair of τ leptons. It is based on proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb − 1 . Because of the large transverse momentum of the Higgs boson the τ leptons from its decays are boosted and produced spatially close, with their decay products overlapping. Therefore, a dedicated algorithm was developed to reconstruct and identify them. The observed (expected) significance of the measured signal with respect to the standard model background-only hypothesis is 3.5 (2.2) standard deviations. The product of the production cross section and branching fraction is measured to be 1.64 − 0.54 + 0.68 times the standard model expectation. The fiducial differential production cross section is also measured as functions of the Higgs boson and leading jet transverse momenta. This measurement extends the probed large-transverse-momentum region in the ττ final state beyond 600GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for pair production of boosted Higgs bosons via vector-boson fusion in the $b$$\overline{b}$$b$$\overline{b}$ final state using $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for Higgs boson pair production via vector-boson fusion is performed in the Lorentz-boosted regime, where a Higgs boson candidate is reconstructed as a single large-radius jet, using 140 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Only Higgs boson decays into bottom quark pairs are considered. The search is particularly sensitive to the quartic coupling between two vector bosons and two Higgs bosons relative to its Standard Model prediction, K 2V . This study constrains K 2V to 0.55 < K 2V < 1.49 at the 95% confidence level. The value K 2V = 0 is excluded with a significance of 3.8 standard deviations with other Higgs boson couplings fixed to their Standard Model values. A search for new heavy spin-0 resonances that would mediate Higgs boson pair production via vector-boson fusion is carried out in the mass range of 1–5 TeV for the first time under several model and decay-width assumptions. No significant deviation from the Standard Model hypothesis is observed and exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are derived.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Measurement of the polarizations of prompt and non-prompt J/ψ and ψ ( 2S ) mesons produced in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV

The polarizations of prompt and non-prompt Image 2 and ψ ( 2S ) mesons are measured in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV, using data samples collected by the CMS experiment in 2017 and 2018, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 103.3 fb − 1 . Based on the analysis of the dimuon decay angular distributions in the helicity frame, the polar anisotropy, λ ϑ , is measured as a function of the transverse momentum, p T , of the charmonium states, in the 25–120 and 20–100 GeV ranges for the Image 2 and ψ ( 2S ) , respectively. The non-prompt polarizations agree with predictions based on the hypothesis that, for p T ≳ 25 GeV , the non-prompt Image 2 and ψ ( 2S ) are predominantly produced in two-body B meson decays. The prompt results clearly exclude strong transverse polarizations, even for p T exceeding 30 times the Image 2 mass, where λ ϑ tends to an asymptotic value around 0.3. Taken together with previous measurements, by CMS and LHCb at s = 7 TeV, the prompt polarizations show a significant variation with p T , at low p T .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for a standard model-like Higgs boson in the mass range between 70 and 110 GeV in the diphoton final state in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV

The results of a search for a standard model-like Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range between 70 and 110 GeV are presented. The analysis uses the data set collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV corresponding to integrated luminosities of 36.3 fb -1 , 41.5 fb -1 and 54.4 fb -1 during the 2016, 2017, and 2018 LHC running periods, respectively. No significant excess over the background expectation is observed and 95% confidence level upper limits are set on the product of the cross section and branching fraction for decays of an additional Higgs boson into two photons. The maximum deviation with respect to the background is seen for a mass hypothesis of 95.4 GeV with a local (global) significance of 2.9 (1.3) standard deviations. The observed upper limit ranges from 15 to 73 fb.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Exploration of mass splitting and muon/tau mixing parameters for an eV-scale sterile neutrino with IceCube

We present the first three-parameter fit to a 3+1 sterile neutrino model using 7.634 years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory on $ν$ μ + $\overline{ν}$ μ charged-current interactions in the energy range 500–9976 GeV. Our analysis is sensitive to the mass-squared splitting between the heaviest and lightest mass state (Δm$^{2}_{41}$), the mixing matrix element connecting muon flavor to the fourth mass state (|U μ4 | 2 ), and the element connecting tau flavor to the fourth mass state (|U $\tau$4 | 2 ). Predicted propagation effects in matter enhance the signature through a resonance as atmospheric neutrinos from the Northern Hemisphere traverse the Earth to the IceCube detector at the South Pole. The remaining sterile neutrino matrix elements are left fixed, with |U e4 | 2 = 0 and δ 14 = 0, as they have a negligible effect, and δ 24 = π is set to give the most conservative limits. The result is consistent with the no-sterile neutrino hypothesis with a probability of 4.3%. Profiling the likelihood of each parameter yields the 90% confidence levels: 2.4eV 2 < Δm$^{2}_{41}$) < 9.6eV 2 , 0.0081< |U μ4 | 2 < 0.10, and |U $\tau$4 | 2 < 0.035, which narrows the allowed parameter-space for |U $\tau$4 | 2 . However, the primary result of this analysis is the first map of the 3+1 parameter space exploring the interdependence of Δm$^{2}_{41}$, |U μ4 | 2 , and |U $\tau$4 | 2 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Pseudo-Dirac neutrinos and relic neutrino matter effect on the high-energy neutrino flavor composition

We show that if neutrinos are pseudo-Dirac, they can potentially affect the flavor ratio predictions for the high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux observed by IceCube. In this context, we point out a novel matter effect induced by the cosmic neutrino background (CνB) on the flavor ratio composition. Specifically, the active-sterile neutrino oscillations over the astrophysical baseline lead to an energy-dependent flavor ratio at Earth due to the CνB matter effect, which is in principle distinguishable from the vacuum oscillation effect, provided there is an asymmetry between the neutrino and antineutrino number densities, as well as a local CνB overdensity. Considering the projected precision of the 3-neutrino oscillation parameter measurements and improved flavor triangle measurements, we show that the next-generation neutrino telescopes, such as KM3NeT and IceCube-Gen2, can in principle probe the pseudo-Dirac neutrino hypothesis and the CνB matter effect.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗