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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 523 records · Page 29
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DOE OSTI2013

‘Superluminal paradox’ in wave packet propagation and its quantum mechanical resolution

We analyse in detail the reshaping mechanism leading to apparently ‘superluminal’ advancement of a wave packet traversing a classically forbidden region. In the coordinate representation, a barrier is shown to act as an effective beamsplitter, recombining envelopes of the freely propagating pulse with various spacial shifts. Causality ensures that none of the constituent envelopes are advanced with respect to free propagation, yet the resulting pulse is advanced due to a peculiar interference effect, similar to the one responsible for ‘anomalous’ values which occur in Aharonov’s ‘weak measurements’. In the momentum space, the effect is understood as a bandwidth phenomenon, where the incident pulse probes local, rather than global, analytical properties of the transmission amplitude T(p). The advancement is achieved when T(p) mimics locally an exponential behaviour, similar to the one occurring in Berry’s ‘superoscillations’. Seen in a broader quantum mechanical context, the ‘paradox’ is but a consequence of an attempt to obtain ‘which way?’ information without destroying the interference between the pathways of interest. This explains, to a large extent, the failure to adequately describe tunnelling in terms of a single ‘tunnelling time’. -- Highlights: •Apparent superluminality is described in the language of quantum measurements. •A barrier acts as a beamsplitter delaying copies of the initial pulse. •In the coordinate space the effect is similar to what occurs in ‘weak measurements’. •In the momentum space it relies on superoscillations in the transmission amplitude. •It is an interference effect, unlikely to be explained in simpler physical terms.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

A three-step model of high harmonic generation using complex classical trajectories

Highlights: • Rigorous trajectory formulation of strong field physics and high harmonic generation. • The Coulomb ground state is represented by an ensemble of complex trajectories. • Trajectories transition seamlessly from the ground state to ionization or recollision. • The ionized wavepacket is reproduced well from the complex trajectories. • Classically allowed and forbidden processes are treated in a single framework. We present a new trajectory formulation of high harmonic generation that treats classically allowed and classically forbidden processes within a single dynamical framework. Complex trajectories orbit the nucleus, producing the stationary Coulomb ground state. When the field is turned on, these complex trajectories continue their motion in the field-dressed Coulomb potential and therefore tunnel ionization, unbound evolution and recollision are described within a single, seamless framework. The new formulation can bring mechanistic understanding to a broad range of strong field physics effects.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Affine Kac-Moody symmetric spaces related with A{sub 1}{sup (1)}, A{sub 2}{sup (1)}, A{sub 2}{sup (2)}

Symmetric spaces associated with Lie algebras and Lie groups which are Riemannian manifolds have recently got a lot of attention in various branches of Physics for their role in classical/quantum integrable systems, transport phenomena, etc. Their infinite dimensional counter parts have recently been discovered which are affine Kac-Moody symmetric spaces. In this paper we have (algebraically) explicitly computed the affine Kac-Moody symmetric spaces associated with affine Kac-Moody algebras A{sub 1}{sup (1)},A{sub 2}{sup (1)},A{sub 2}{sup (2)}. We hope these types of spaces will play similar roles as that of symmetric spaces in many physical systems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

What the complex joint probabilities observed in weak measurements can tell us about quantum physics

Quantummechanics does not permit joint measurements of non-commuting observables. However, it is possible to measure the weak value of a projection operator, followed by the precise measurement of a different property. The results can be interpreted as complex joint probabilities of the two non-commuting measurement outcomes. Significantly, it is possible to predict the outcome of completely different measurements by combining the joint probabilities of the initial state with complex conditional probabilities relating the new measurement to the possible combinations of measurement outcomes used in the characterization of the quantum state. We can therefore conclude that the complex conditional probabilities observed in weak measurements describe fundamental state-independent relations between non-commuting properties that represent the most fundamental form of universal laws in quantum physics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

The isomonodromy method for black hole scattering

We summarize recent results by the authors [7, 8, 35] on the extraction of scattering amplitudes for scalar fields in Kerr/Kerr-de Sitter backgrounds. Analytical, closed forms are found in terms of the Painlevé V and VI transcendents for generic values of the physical parameters.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Magic moments with John Bell

John Bell, with whom I had a fruitful collaboration and warm friendship, is best known for his seminal work on the foundations of quantum physics, but he also made outstanding contributions to particle physics and accelerator physics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

SPANet: Generalized permutationless set assignment for particle physics using symmetry preserving attention

The creation of unstable heavy particles at the Large Hadron Collider is the most direct way to address some of the deepest open questions in physics. Collisions typically produce variable-size sets of observed particles which have inherent ambiguities complicating the assignment of observed particles to the decay products of the heavy particles. Current strategies for tackling these challenges in the physics community ignore the physical symmetries of the decay products and consider all possible assignment permutations and do not scale to complex configurations. Attention based deep learning methods for sequence modelling have achieved state-of-the-art performance in natural language processing, but they lack built-in mechanisms to deal with the unique symmetries found in physical set-assignment problems. We introduce a novel method for constructing symmetry-preserving attention networks which reflect the problem's natural invariances to efficiently find assignments without evaluating all permutations. This general approach is applicable to arbitrarily complex configurations and significantly outperforms current methods, improving reconstruction efficiency between 19% - 35% on typical benchmark problems while decreasing inference time by two to five orders of magnitude on the most complex events, making many important and previously intractable cases tractable. A full code repository containing a general library, the specific configuration used, and a complete dataset release, are available at https://github.com/Alexanders101/SPANet

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

A periodic table of effective field theories

We systematically explore the space of scalar effective field theories (EFTs) consistent with a Lorentz invariant and local S-matrix. To do so we define an EFT classification based on four parameters characterizing 1) the number of derivatives per interaction, 2) the soft properties of amplitudes, 3) the leading valency of the interactions, and 4) the spacetime dimension. Carving out the allowed space of EFTs, we prove that exceptional EFTs like the non-linear sigma model, Dirac-Born-Infeld theory, and the special Galileon lie precisely on the boundary of allowed theory space. Using on-shell momentum shifts and recursion relations, we prove that EFTs with arbitrarily soft behavior are forbidden and EFTs with leading valency much greater than the spacetime dimension cannot have enhanced soft behavior. We then enumerate all single scalar EFTs in d < 6 and verify that they correspond to known theories in the literature. Finally, our results suggest that the exceptional theories are the natural EFT analogs of gauge theory and gravity because they are one-parameter theories whose interactions are strictly dictated by properties of the S-matrix.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

The role of gauge symmetry in spintronics

In this work we employ a field theoretical approach to explain the nature of the non-conserved spin current in spintronics. In particular, we consider the usual U(1) gauge theory for the electromagnetism at classical level in order to obtain the broken continuity equation involving the spin current and spin-transfer torque. Inspired by the recent work of A. Vernes, B. L. Gyorffy and P. Weinberger where they obtain such an equation in terms of relativistic quantum mechanics, we formalize their result in terms of the well known currents of field theory such as the Bargmann-Wigner current and the chiral current. Thus, an interpretation of spintronics is provided in terms of Noether currents (conserved or not) and symmetries of the electromagnetism. In fact, the main result of the present work is that the non-conservation of the spin current is associated with the gauge invariance of physical observables where the breaking term is proportional to the chiral current. Moreover, we generalize their result by including the electromagnetic field as a dynamical field instead of an external one.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

Power law inflation with electromagnetism

We generalize Ringström’s global future causal stability results (Ringström 2009) [11] for certain expanding cosmological solutions of the Einstein-scalar field equations to solutions of the Einstein–Maxwell-scalar field system. In particular, after noting that the power law inflationary spacetimes (M{sup n+1},g{sup -hat}, ϕ{sup -hat}) considered by Ringström (2009) in [11] are solutions of the Einstein–Maxwell-scalar field system (with exponential potential) as well as of the Einstein-scalar field system (with the same exponential potential), we consider (nonlinear) perturbations of initial data sets of these spacetimes which include electromagnetic perturbations as well as gravitational and scalar perturbations. We show that if (as in Ringström (2009) [11]) we focus on pairs of relatively scaled open sets U{sub R{sub 0}}⊂U{sub 4R{sub 0}} on an initial slice of (M{sup n+1},g{sup -hat}), and if we choose a set of perturbed data which on U{sub 4R{sub 0}} is sufficiently close to that of (M{sup n+1},g{sup -hat},ϕ{sup -hat}, A{sup -hat} = 0), then in the maximal globally hyperbolic spacetime development (M{sup n+1},g,ϕ,A) of this data via the Einstein–Maxwell-scalar field equations, all causal geodesics emanating from U{sub R{sub 0}} are future complete (just as in (M{sup n+1},g{sup -hat})). We also verify that, in a certain sense, the future asymptotic behavior of the fields in the spacetime developments of the perturbed data sets does not differ significantly from the future asymptotic behavior of (M{sup n+1},g{sup -hat}, ϕ{sup -hat}, A{sup -hat} = 0). -- Highlights: •We prove stability of expanding solutions of the Einstein–Maxwell-scalar field equations. •All nearby solutions are geodesically complete. •The topology of the initial slice is irrelevant to our stability results.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Possible existence of wormholes in the central regions of halos

An earlier study (Rahaman, et al., 2014 and Kuhfittig, 2014) has demonstrated the possible existence of wormholes in the outer regions of the galactic halo, based on the Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) density profile. This paper uses the Universal Rotation Curve (URC) dark matter model to obtain analogous results for the central parts of the halo. This result is an important compliment to the earlier result, thereby confirming the possible existence of wormholes in most of the spiral galaxies. - Highlights: • Earlier we showed possible existence of wormholes in the outer regions of halo. • We obtain here analogous results for the central parts of the galactic halo. • Our result is an important compliment to the earlier result. • This confirms possible existence of wormholes in most of the spiral galaxies.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Absence of cosmological constant problem in special relativistic field theory of gravity

The principles of quantum field theory in flat spacetime suggest that gravity is mediated by a massless particle with helicity ±2, the so-called graviton. It is regarded as textbook knowledge that, when the self-coupling of a particle with these properties is considered, the long-wavelength structure of such a nonlinear theory is fixed to be that of general relativity. However, here we indicate that these arguments conceal an implicit assumption which is surreptitiously motivated by the very knowledge of general relativity. This is shown by providing a counterexample: we revisit a nonlinear theory of gravity which is not structurally equivalent to general relativity and that, in the non-interacting limit, describes a free helicity ±2 graviton. We explicitly prove that this theory, known as Weyl-transverse gravity (unimodular gravity with explicit Weyl invariance), can be understood as the result of self-coupling in complete parallelism to the well-known case of general relativity. We discuss the absence of cosmological constant problem in this theory, highlighting that it provides a particular realization of previous arguments formulated in studies of the emergence of the gravitational interaction from condensed-matter-like models. Overall, we conclude that the consideration that gravity is mediated by a massless particle with helicity ±2 does not inextricably lead to the cosmological constant problem.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Dyonic and magnetic black holes with nonlinear arcsin-electrodynamics

Dyonic and magnetic black holes solutions with spherically symmetric configurations in general relativity are obtained. Black holes possessing electric and magnetic charges are studied where the source of the gravitational field is electromagnetic fields obeying the arcsin-electrodynamics. We find corrections to Coulomb’s law and Reissner–Nordström solutions. The principles of causality and unitarity are investigated. We obtain the Hawking temperature and it was shown that at some event horizons there are second-order phase transitions.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

ENSO regimes and the late 1970's climate shift: The role of synoptic weather and South Pacific ocean spiciness

South Pacific subtropical density compensated temperature and salinity (spiciness) anomalies are known to be associated with decadal equatorial variability, however, the mechanisms by which such disturbances are generated, advect and the degree to which they modulate the equatorial thermocline remains controversial. During the late 1970's a climate regime transition preceded a period of strong and sustained El Nino events. Using an ocean general circulation model forced by the constituent mechanical and thermodynamic components of the reanalysed atmosphere we show that the late 1970's transition coincided with the arrival of a large-scale, subsurface cold and fresh water anomaly in the central tropical Pacific. An ocean reanalysis for the period 1990–2007 that assimilates subsurface Argo, XBT and CTD data, reveals that disturbances occur due to the subduction of negative surface salinity anomalies from near 30° S, 100° W which are advected along the σ=25–26 kgm{sup −3} isopycnal surfaces. These anomalies take, on average, seven years to reach the central equatorial Pacific where they may substantially perturb the thermocline before the remnants ultimately ventilate in the region of the western Pacific warm pool. Positive (warm–salty) disturbances, known to occur due to late winter diapycnal mixing and isopycnal outcropping, arise due to both subduction of subtropical mode waters and subsurface injection. On reaching the equatorial band (10° S–0° S) these disturbances tend to deepen the thermocline reducing the model's ENSO. In contrast the emergence of negative (cold–fresh) disturbances at the equator are associated with a shoaling of the thermocline and El Nino events. Process studies are used to show that the generation and advection of anomalous density compensated thermocline disturbances critically depend on stochastic forcing of the intrinsic ocean by weather. We further show that in the absence of the inter-annual component of the atmosphere forcing Central Pacific El Nino events are manifest.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Simulating the universe(s) III: observables for the full bubble collision spacetime

This is the third paper in a series establishing a quantitative relation between inflationary scalar field potential landscapes and the relic perturbations left by the collision between bubbles produced during eternal inflation. We introduce a new method for computing cosmological observables from numerical relativity simulations of bubble collisions in one space and one time dimension. This method tiles comoving hypersurfaces with locally-perturbed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker coordinate patches. The method extends previous work, which was limited to the spacetime region just inside the future light cone of the collision, and allows us to explore the full bubble-collision spacetime. We validate our new methods against previous work, and present a full set of predictions for the comoving curvature perturbation and local negative spatial curvature produced by identical and non-identical bubble collisions, in single scalar field models of eternal inflation. In both collision types, there is a non-zero contribution to the spatial curvature and cosmic microwave background quadrupole. Some collisions between non-identical bubbles excite wall modes, giving extra structure to the predicted temperature anisotropies. We comment on the implications of our results for future observational searches. For non-identical bubble collisions, we also find that the surfaces of constant field can readjust in the presence of a collision to produce spatially infinite sections that become nearly homogeneous deep into the region affected by the collision. Contrary to previous assumptions, this is true even in the bubble into which the domain wall is accelerating.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

A viable logarithmic f(R) model for inflation

Inflation in the framework of f(R) modified gravity is revisited. We study the conditions that f(R) should satisfy in order to lead to a viable inflationary model in the original form and in the Einstein frame. Based on these criteria we propose a new logarithmic model as a potential candidate for f(R) theories aiming to describe inflation consistent with observations from Planck satellite (2015). The model predicts scalar spectral index 0.9615<n{sub s}<0.9693 in agreement with observation and tensor-to-scalar ratio r of order 10{sup −3}. Furthermore, we show that for a class of models, a natural coupling between inflation and a scalar boson is generated through the minimal coupling between gravity and matter fields and a reheating temperature less that 10{sup 9} GeV is obtained.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗