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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
NASA NTRS1988

Optoelectronic gain control of a microwave single stage GaAs MESFET amplifier

Gain control of a single stage GaAs MESFET amplifier is demonstrated by the use of optical illumination of photon energy greater than the GaAs bandgap. The optical illumination is supplied by a semiconductor laser diode and is coupled to the Schottky gate of the MESFET by an optical fiber. The increase in gain is observed to be as much as 5.15 dB when the MESFET is biased close to pinchoff, that is, V(sub gs) equals -1.5 V and with optical illumination of 1.5 mW. The computed maximum available gain (MAG) and current gain (bar h sub 21 bar) from the de-embedded s-parameters show that MAG is unaffected by optical illumination, however, bar h(sub 21)bar increases by more than 2 dB under optical illumination of 1.5 mW. The maximum frequency of oscillation (F sub max) and the unity current gain cut-off frequency (F sub t) obtained by extrapolating the MAG and bar h(sub 21)bar curves, respectively, show that the F(sub max) is insensitive to optical illumination but F(sub t) increases by 5 GHz.

Simons, Rainee N.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Application of Fourier transforms for microwave radiometric inversions

Existing microwave radiometer technology now provides a suitable method for remote determination of the ocean surface's absolute brightness temperature. To extract the brightness temperature of the water from the antenna temperature, an unstable Fredholm integral equation of the first kind is solved. Fourier transform techniques are used to invert the integral after it is placed into a cross correlation form. Application and verification of the methods to a two-dimensional modeling of a laboratory wave tank system are included. The instability of the ill-posed Fredholm equation is examined and a restoration procedure is included which smooths the resulting oscillations. With the recent availability and advances of fast Fourier transform (FFT) techniques, the method presented becomes very attractive in the evaluation of large quantities of data.

Holmes, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Ground-based microwave remote sensing of water vapor in the mesosphere and stratosphere

A ground-based, portable microwave radiometer that will be used to measure water vapor in the 30-80-km altitude region, and is to operate 24 hr a day, is described. The thermally excited 22.235-GHz rotational-transition line of water vapor is employed. The emission from this region produces a signal with an apparent brightness temperature of the order 0.1 to 0.5 K. A steerable reflector is used to provide optimal viewing angles, depending on the geographic location and season. Periodic tipping curve scans by this reflector permit determination of the amount of tropospheric correction that is applied to the data. All local oscillators in the receiver are crystal-controlled so that narrow-band spectral analysis of the received line shape can be performed.

Croskey, Charles L.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cosmological implications of the full shape of anisotropic clustering measurements in BOSS and eBOSS

We present the analysis of the full shape of anisotropic clustering measurement from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) quasar sample together with the combined galaxy sample from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), re-analysed using an updated recipe for the non-linear matter power spectrum and the non-local bias parameters. We obtain constraints for flat Lambda cold dark matter cosmologies, focusing on the cosmological parameters that are independent of the Hubble parameter h. Our recovered value for the Root Mean Square (RMS) linear perturbation theory variance as measured on the scale of 12 Mpc is σ 12 = 0.805 ± 0.049, while using the traditional reference scale of 8 h –1 Mpc gives σ 8 = 0.815 ± 0.044. We quantify the agreement between our measurements and the latest cosmic microwave background data from Planck using the suspiciousness metric, and find them to be consistent within 0.64 ± 0.03σ. Combining our clustering constraints with the 3 × 2pt data sample from the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 release slightly degrades this agreement to the level of 1.54 ± 0.08σ, while still showing an overall consistency with Planck. We furthermore study the effect of imposing a Planck – like prior on the parameters that define the shape of the linear matter power spectrum, and find significantly tighter constraints on the parameters that control the evolution of density fluctuations. In particular, the combination of low-redshift data sets prefers a value of the physical dark energy density ω DE = 0.335 ± 0.011, which is 1.7σ higher than the one preferred by Planck.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1974

Application and sensitivity investigation of Fourier transforms for microwave radiometric inversions

Existing microwave radiometer technology now provides a suitable method for remote determination of the ocean surface's absolute brightness temperature. To extract the brightness temperature of the water from the antenna temperature equation, an unstable Fredholm integral equation of the first kind was solved. Fast Fourier Transform techniques were used to invert the integral after it is placed into a cross-correlation form. Application and verification of the methods to a two-dimensional modeling of a laboratory wave tank system were included. The instability of the Fredholm equation was then demonstrated and a restoration procedure was included which smooths the resulting oscillations. With the recent availability and advances of Fast Fourier Transform techniques, the method presented becomes very attractive in the evaluation of large quantities of data. Actual radiometric measurements of sea water are inverted using the restoration method, incorporating the advantages of the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm for computations.

Holmes, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Neutrino Physics from the Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure

This is a report on the status and prospects of the quantification of neutrino properties through the cosmological neutrino background for the Cosmic Frontier of the Division of Particles and Fields Community Summer Study long-term planning exercise. Experiments planned and underway are prepared to study the cosmological neutrino background in detail via its influence on distance-redshift relations and the growth of structure. The program for the next decade described in this document, including upcoming spectroscopic galaxy surveys eBOSS and DESI and a new Stage-IV CMB polarization experiment CMB-S4, will achieve sigma (sigma*mass(sub v)= 16 meV and sigma (Effective number of neutrino species) = 0.020. Such a mass measurement will produce a high significance detection of non-zero sigma*mass(sub v), whose lower bound derived from atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillation data is about 58 meV. If neutrinos have a minimal normal mass hierarchy, this measurement will definitively rule out the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy, shedding light on one of the most puzzling aspects of the Standard Model of particle physics - the origin of mass. This precise a measurement of Neff will allow for high sensitivity to any light and dark degrees of freedom produced in the big bang and a precision test of the standard cosmological model prediction that the effective number of neutrino species = 3.046.

Neutrinos↗
NASA NTRS2009

Dynamic Self-Locking of an OEO Containing a VCSEL

A method of dynamic self-locking has been demonstrated to be effective as a means of stabilizing the wavelength of light emitted by a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) that is an active element in the frequency-control loop of an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) designed to implement an atomic clock based on an electromagnetically- induced-transparency (EIT) resonance. This scheme can be considered an alternative to the one described in Optical Injection Locking of a VCSEL in an OEO (NPO-43454), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 33, No. 7 (July 2009), page 33. Both schemes are expected to enable the development of small, low-power, high-stability atomic clocks that would be suitable for use in applications involving precise navigation and/or communication. To recapitulate from the cited prior article: In one essential aspect of operation of an OEO of the type described above, a microwave modulation signal is coupled into the VCSEL. Heretofore, it has been well known that the wavelength of light emitted by a VCSEL depends on its temperature and drive current, necessitating thorough stabilization of these operational parameters. Recently, it was discovered that the wavelength also depends on the microwave power coupled into the VCSEL. This concludes the background information. From the perspective that led to the conception of the optical injection-locking scheme described in the cited prior article, the variation of the VCSEL wavelength with the microwave power circulating in the frequency-control loop is regarded as a disadvantage and optical injection locking is a solution of the problem of stabilizing the wavelength in the presence of uncontrolled fluctuations in the microwave power. The present scheme for dynamic self-locking emerges from a different perspective, in which the dependence of VCSEL wavelength on microwave power is regarded as an advantageous phenomenon that can be exploited as a means of controlling the wavelength. The figure schematically depicts an atomic-clock OEO of the type in question, wherein (1) the light from the VCSEL is used to excite an EIT resonance in selected atoms in a gas cell (e.g., 87Rb atoms in a low-pressure mixture of Ar and Ne) and (2) the power supplied to the VCSEL is modulated by a microwave signal that includes components at beat frequencies among the VCSEL wavelength and modulation sidebands. As the VCSEL wavelength changes, it moves closer to or farther from a nearby absorption spectral line, and the optical power transmitted through the cell (and thus the loop gain) changes accordingly. A change in the loop gain causes a change in the microwave power and, thus, in the VCSEL wavelength. It is possible to choose a set of design and operational parameters (most importantly, the electronic part of the loop gain) such that the OEO stabilizes itself in the sense that an increase in circulating microwave power causes the VCSEL wavelength to change in a direction that results in an increase in optical absorption and thus a decrease in circulating microwave power. Typically, such an appropriate choice of operational parameters involves setting the nominal VCSEL wavelength to a point on the shorter-wavelength wing of an absorption spectral line.

Strekalov, Dmitry↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Faster Tropical Upper Stratospheric Upwelling is Driving Changes in Ozone Chemistry

Trends in N2O and the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) cause trends in O3 through changes in their reactive product gases, NOx and ClOx, but transport plays an important role because it controls the distribution of the long‐lived source gases that produce ozone‐destroying radicals. In this study we show that increased tropical upwelling 10‐5 hPa from 2013‐2021 has changed upper stratospheric (UpS) composition and shifted the balance of O3 loss processes. We use N2O, HNO3, NOx, temperature and O3 data from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and the SCI‐Sat Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transport Spectrometer (ACE‐FTS) over a 16‐year period to show how changes in reactive nitrogen species affected gas phase ozone chemistry above 30 hPa between June 2013‐May 2021 compared to the previous 8 years, June 2005‐May 2013. We use 2 simulations of the Global Modeling Initiative (GMI) chemistry transport model (CTM), with and without time varying MERRA2 meteorology, to understand how dynamical changes during this 16‐yr period affected O3 through changes in loss via the NOx and ClOx cycles. We also identify the role that the quasi‐biennial oscillation (QBO) in tropical zonal winds plays in the UpS composition changes. We find large increases in tropical upwelling and poleward transport in the northern branch of the UpS transport circulation since 2013 that dramatically increased the abundance of the N2O and its odd nitrogen product gases, NOx and HNO3. O3 loss by NOx in the Arctic UpS increased due to dynamically driven composition change, explaining the observed weak O3 recovery in that region since 2005. The increased upwelling also drove decreases in tropical NOx, leading to increased tropical O3 from 12‐6 hPa.

middle atmosphere chemistry and composition↗
DOE OSTI2022

Using lower-redshift, non-CMB, data to constrain the Hubble constant and other cosmological parameters

Here we use updated Hubble parameter and baryon acoustic oscillation data, as well as other lower-redshift Type Ia supernova, Mg ii reverberation-measured quasar, quasar angular size, H ii starburst galaxy, and Amati-correlated gamma-ray burst data, to jointly constrain cosmological parameters in six cosmological models. The joint analysis provides model-independent determinations of the Hubble constant, H 0 = 69.7 ± 1.2 km s -1 Mpc -1 , and the current non-relativistic matter density parameter, Ω m0 = 0.295 ± 0.017. These error bars are factors of 2.2 and 2.3 larger than the corresponding error bars in the flat ΛCDM model from Planck TT,TE,EE+lowE+lensing cosmic microwave background anisotropy data. Based on the deviance information criterion (DIC), the flat ΛCDM model is most favored but mild dark energy dynamics and a little spatial curvature are not ruled out.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1989

Doppler radar with multiphase modulation of transmitted and reflected signal

A microwave radar signal is generated and split by a circulator. A phase shifter introduces a series of phase shifts into a first part of the split signal which is then transmitted by antenna. A like number of phase shifts is introduced by the phase shifter into the return signal from the target. The circulator delivers the phase shifted return signal and the leakage signal from the circulator to a mixer which generates an IF signal output at the Doppler frequency. The IF signal is amplified, filtered, counted per unit of time, and the result displayed to provide indications of target sense and range rate. An oscillator controls rate of phase shift in the transmitted and received radar signals and provides a time base for the counter. The phase shift magnitude increases may be continuous and linear or discrete functions of time.

Shores, Paul W.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Exploration of the polarization angle variability of the Crab Nebula with POLARBEAR and its application to the search for axionlike particles

The Crab Nebula, also known as Tau A, is a polarized astronomical source at millimeter wavelengths. It has been used as a stable light source for polarization angle calibration in millimeter-wave astronomy. However, it is known that its intensity and polarization vary as a function of time at a variety of wavelengths. Thus, it is of interest to verify the stability of the millimeter-wave polarization. If detected, polarization variability may be used to better understand the dynamics of Tau A, and for understanding the validity of Tau A as a calibrator. One intriguing application of such observation is to use it for the search of axionlike particles (ALPs). Ultralight ALPs couple to photons through a Chern-Simons term, and induce a temporal oscillation in the polarization angle of linearly polarized sources. After assessing a number of systematic errors and testing for internal consistency, we evaluate the variability of the polarization angle of the Crab Nebula using 2015 and 2016 observations with the 150 GHz P instrument. We place a median 95% upper bound of polarization oscillation amplitude A < 0.06 5 ° over the oscillation frequencies from 0.75 year − 1 to 0.66 hour − 1 . Assuming that no sources other than ALP are causing Tau A’s polarization angle variation, that the ALP constitutes all the dark matter, and that the ALP field is a stochastic Gaussian field, this bound translates into a median 95% upper bound of ALP-photon coupling g a γ γ < 2.16 × 10 − 12 GeV − 1 × ( m a / 10 − 21 eV ) in the mass range from 9.9 × 10 − 23 eV to 7.7 × 10 − 19 eV . This demonstrates that this type of analysis using bright polarized sources is as competitive as those using the polarization of cosmic microwave background in constraining ALPs. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Adachi, Shunsuke (ORCID:0000000204007555)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Lensinglike tensions in the Planck legacy release

We analyze the final release of the Planck satellite data to constrain the gravitational lensing potential in a model-independent manner. The amount of lensing determined from the smoothing of the acoustic peaks in the temperature and polarization power spectra is 2σ too high when compared with the measurements using the lensing reconstruction and 2.8σ too high when compared with Λ CDM expectation based on the "unlensed" portion of the temperature and polarization power spectra. The largest change from the previous data release is the Λ CDM expectation, driven by improved constraints to the optical depth to reionization. Here, the anomaly still is inconsistent with actual gravitational lensing, given that the lensing reconstruction constraints are discrepant independent of the model. Within the context of Λ CDM, improvements in its parameter constraints from lensing reconstruction bring this tension to 2.1σ and from further adding baryon acoustic oscillation and Pantheon supernova data to a marginally higher 2.2σ. Once these other measurements are included, marginalizing this lensing-like anomaly cannot substantially resolve tensions with low-redshift measurements of H 0 and S 8 in Λ CDM, Λ CDM + N eff or ΛCDM + Σm ν ; furthermore the artificial strengthening of constraints on Σm ν is less than 20%.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Magnetic droplet soliton pairs

We demonstrate magnetic droplet soliton pairs in all-perpendicular spin-torque nano-oscillators (STNOs), where one droplet resides in the STNO free layer (FL) and the other in the reference layer (RL). Typically, theoretical, numerical, and experimental droplet studies have focused on the FL, with any additional dynamics in the RL entirely ignored. Here we show that there is not only significant magnetodynamics in the RL, but the RL itself can host a droplet driven by, and coexisting with, the FL droplet. Both single droplets and pairs are observed experimentally as stepwise changes and sharp peaks in the dc and differential resistance, respectively. While the single FL droplet is highly stable, the coexistence state exhibits high-power broadband microwave noise. Furthermore, micromagnetic simulations reveal that the pair dynamics display periodic, quasi-periodic, and chaotic signatures controlled by applied field and current. The strongly interacting and closely spaced droplet pair offers a unique platform for fundamental studies of highly non-linear soliton pair dynamics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Cosmological implications from two decades of spectroscopic surveys at the Apache Point Observatory

We present the cosmological implications from final measurements of clustering using galaxies, quasars, and Lyα forests from the completed Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) lineage of experiments in large-scale structure. These experiments, composed of data from SDSS, SDSS-II, BOSS, and eBOSS, offer independent measurements of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements of angular-diameter distances and Hubble distances relative to the sound horizon, r d , from eight different samples and six measurements of the growth rate parameter, fσ 8 , from redshift-space distortions (RSD). This composite sample is the most constraining of its kind and allows us to perform a comprehensive assessment of the cosmological model after two decades of dedicated spectroscopic observation. We show that the BAO data alone are able to rule out dark-energy-free models at more than eight standard deviations in an extension to the flat, ΛCDM model that allows for curvature. When combined with Planck Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements of temperature and polarization, under the same model, the BAO data provide nearly an order of magnitude improvement on curvature constraints relative to primary CMB constraints alone. Independent of distance measurements, the SDSS RSD data complement weak lensing measurements from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) in demonstrating a preference for a flat ΛCDM cosmological model when combined with Planck measurements. The combined BAO and RSD measurements indicate σ 8 =0.85±0.03, implying a growth rate that is consistent with predictions from Planck temperature and polarization data and with General Relativity. When combining the results of SDSS BAO and RSD, Planck, Pantheon Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), and DES weak lensing and clustering measurements, all multiple-parameter extensions remain consistent with a ΛCDM model. Regardless of cosmological model, the precision on each of the three parameters, Ω Λ , H 0 , and σ 8 , remains at roughly 1%, showing changes of less than 0.6% in the central values between models. In a model that allows for free curvature and a time-evolving equation of state for dark energy, the combined samples produce a constraint Ω K =-0.0022±0.0022. The dark energy constraints lead to w 0 =-0.909±0.081 and w a =$-0.49_{-0.30}^{+0.35}$, corresponding to an equation of state of w p =-1.018±0.032 at a pivot redshift z p =0.29 and a Dark Energy Task Force Figure of Merit of 94. The inverse distance ladder measurement under this model yields H 0 =68.18±0.79 km s -1 Mpc -1 , remaining in tension with several direct determination methods; the BAO data allow Hubble constant estimates that are robust against the assumption of the cosmological model. In addition, the BAO data allow estimates of H 0 that are independent of the CMB data, with similar central values and precision under a ΛCDM model. Our most constraining combination of data gives the upper limit on the sum of neutrino masses at Σm ν <0.115 eV (95% confidence). Finally, we consider the improvements in cosmology constraints over the last decade by comparing our results to a sample representative of the period 2000-2010. We compute the relative gain across the five dimensions spanned by w, Ω k , Σm ν , H 0 , and σ 8 and find that the SDSS BAO and RSD data reduce the total posterior volume by a factor of 40 relative to the previous generation. Finally, adding again the Planck, DES, and Pantheon SN Ia samples leads to an overall contraction in the five-dimensional posterior volume of 3 orders of magnitude.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2013

Nine-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Final Maps and Results

We present the final nine-year maps and basic results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) mission. The full nine-year analysis of the time-ordered data provides updated characterizations and calibrations of the experiment. We also provide new nine-year full sky temperature maps that were processed to reduce the asymmetry of the effective beams. Temperature and polarization sky maps are examined to separate cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy from foreground emission, and both types of signals are analyzed in detail.We provide new point source catalogs as well as new diffuse and point source foreground masks. An updated template-removal process is used for cosmological analysis; new foreground fits are performed, and new foreground reduced are presented.We nowimplement an optimal C(exp -1)1 weighting to compute the temperature angular power spectrum. The WMAP mission has resulted in a highly constrained Lambda-CDM cosmological model with precise and accurate parameters in agreement with a host of other cosmological measurements. When WMAP data are combined with finer scale CMB, baryon acoustic oscillation, and Hubble constant measurements, we find that big bang nucleosynthesis is well supported and there is no compelling evidence for a non-standard number of neutrino species (N(sub eff) = 3.84 +/- 0.40). The model fit also implies that the age of the universe is (sub 0) = 13.772 +/- 0.059 Gyr, and the fit Hubble constant is H(sub 0) = 69.32 +/- 0.80 km/s/ Mpc. Inflation is also supported: the fluctuations are adiabatic, with Gaussian random phases; the detection of a deviation of the scalar spectral index from unity, reported earlier by the WMAP team, now has high statistical significance (n(sub s) = 0.9608+/-0.0080); and the universe is close to flat/Euclidean (Omega = −0.0027+0.0039/−0.0038). Overall, the WMAP mission has resulted in a reduction of the cosmological parameter volume by a factor of 68,000 for the standard six-parameter Lambda-CDM model, based on CMB data alone. For a model including tensors, the allowed seven-parameter volume has been reduced by a factor 117,000. Other cosmological observations are in accord with the CMB predictions, and the combined data reduces the cosmological parameter volume even further.With no significant anomalies and an adequate goodness of fit, the inflationary flat Lambda-CDM model and its precise and accurate parameters rooted in WMAP data stands as the standard model of cosmology.

dark matter↗
DOE OSTI2022

Improved limits on the tensor-to-scalar ratio using BICEP and P l a n c k data

In this study, we present constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r using a combination of BICEP/Keck 2018 (BK18) and Planck PR4 data allowing us to fit for r consistently with the six parameters of the Λ CDM model. We discuss the sensitivity of constraints on r to uncertainties in the Λ CDM parameters as defined by the Planck data. In particular, we are able to derive a constraint on the reionization optical depth τ and thus propagate its uncertainty into the posterior distribution for r . While Planck sensitivity to r is slightly lower than the current ground-based measurements, the combination of Planck with BK18 and baryon-acoustic-oscillation data yields results consistent with r = 0 and tightens the constraint to r < 0.032 at 95% confidence.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect with ACT, DES, and BOSS: A novel hybrid estimator

The kinematic and thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (kSZ and tSZ) effects probe the abundance and thermodynamics of ionized gas in galaxies and clusters. We present a new hybrid estimator to measure the kSZ effect by combining cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropy maps with photometric and spectroscopic optical survey data. The method interpolates a velocity reconstruction from a spectroscopic catalog at the positions of objects in a photometric catalog, which makes it possible to leverage the high number density of the photometric catalog and the precision of the spectroscopic survey. Combining this hybrid kSZ estimator with a measurement of the tSZ effect simultaneously constrains the density and temperature of free electrons in the photometrically selected galaxies. Using the 1000 deg 2 of overlap between the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) Data Release 5, the first three years of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Data Release 12, we detect the kSZ signal at 4.8 σ and reject the null (no-kSZ) hypothesis at 5.1 σ . This corresponds to 2.0 σ per 100,000 photometric objects with a velocity field based on a spectroscopic survey with 1 / 5 th the density of the photometric catalog. For comparison, a recent ACT analysis using exclusively spectroscopic data from BOSS measured the kSZ signal at 2.1 σ per 100,000 objects. Our derived constraints on the thermodynamic properties of the galaxy halos are consistent with previous measurements. With future surveys, such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time, we expect that this hybrid estimator could result in measurements with significantly better signal-to-noise than those that rely on spectroscopic data alone.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗