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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 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Viscosity bounds in liquids with different structure and bonding types

Recently, it was realized that liquid viscosity has a lower bound which is nearly constant for all liquids and is governed by fundamental physical constants. This was supported by experimental data in noble and molecular liquids. Here, we perform large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to ascertain this bound in two other important liquid types: the ionic molten salt system LiF and metallic Pb. We find that these ionic and metallic systems similarly have lower viscosity bounds corresponding to the minimum of kinematic viscosity of ∼ 10 − 7 m 2 / s . We show that this agrees with experimental data in other systems with different structures and bonding types, including noble, molecular, metallic, and covalent liquids. This expands the universality of viscosity bounds into the main system types known. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Materials Science↗
DOE OSTI2024

Effects of renormalon scheme and perturbative scale choices on determinations of the strong coupling from e + e − event shapes

We study the role of renormalon cancellation schemes and perturbative scale choices in extractions of the strong coupling constant α s ( m Z ) and the leading nonperturbative shift parameter Ω 1 from resummed predictions of the e + e − event shape thrust. We calculate the thrust distribution to N L 3 L ′ resummed accuracy in soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) matched to the fixed-order O ( α s 2 ) prediction, and perform a new high-statistics computation of the O ( α s 3 ) matching in , although we do not include the latter in our final α s fits due to some observed systematics that require further investigation. We are primarily interested in testing the phenomenological impact sourced from varying amongst three renormalon cancellation schemes and two sets of perturbative scale profile choices. We then perform a global fit to available data spanning center-of-mass energies between 35–207 GeV in each scenario. Relevant subsets of our results are consistent with prior SCET-based extractions of α s ( m Z ) , but we are also led to a number of novel observations. Notably, we find that the combined effect of altering the renormalon cancellation scheme and profile parameters can lead to few-percent-level impacts on the extracted values in the α s − Ω 1 plane, indicating a potentially important systematic theory uncertainty that should be accounted for. We also observe that fits performed over windows dominated by dijet events are typically of a higher quality than those that extend into the far tails of the distributions, possibly motivating future fits focused more heavily in this region. Finally, we discuss how different estimates of the three-loop soft matching coefficient c S ˜ 3 can also lead to measurable changes in the fitted { α s , Ω 1 } values. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Novel insight into the kinetics of amide bond glycolysis for nylon-6 depolymerization

Chemical recycling of nylon-6 to short-chain oligomers and monomer ε-caprolactam via catalytic glycolysis is a potential solution for plastic waste remediation. Here, in this work, the kinetics of amide bond glycolysis (with ethylene glycol) in nylon-6 and the model compound N-phenethyl-3-phenylpropanamide (M1) were evaluated at 473 K in the presence of the cyclic amidine catalyst 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene. Rates of polymer glycolysis were determined by the time-dependent shift in molecular weight distribution, whereas rates of M1 glycolysis were determined using liquid chromatography. The similarity of the first-order rate constants for glycolysis of nylon-6 and M1 at 473 K with 0.03 M amidine catalyst (5 mol% relative to amide bonds), 1.22 × 10 −5 s −1 and 2.18 × 10 −5 s −1 , respectively, confirmed the suitability of M1 as a model compound for nylon-6 glycolysis. Similar rates of glycolysis in the presence of other cyclic amidine catalysts as well as sodium methoxide revealed little influence of base strength. Glycolysis rates were unexpectedly non-linear in catalyst loading and deactivation occurred with long reaction times, presumably by non-selective decomposition of products as detected by liquid chromatography.

Depolymerization rate and rate constant↗
DOE OSTI2020

The effect of rare-earth substitution on the Debye temperature of inorganic phosphors

In the quest to predict photoluminescent efficiency in rare-earth substituted inorganic phosphors, research has shown that materials consisting of ordered, rigid crystal structures tend to possess the highest photoluminescent quantum yields. A compound's Debye temperature (Θ D ), which can be calculated using ab initio calculations, is an ideal proxy for quantitatively comparing structural rigidity among different inorganic compounds, allowing potentially efficient phosphors to be selected from large crystal structure databases. However, the high computational cost of these calculations limits estimating Θ D for unsubstituted host crystal structures only. It is assumed that the low substitution concentration of the rare-earth luminescent center does not significantly influence a material's Debye temperature. This work evaluates the validity of this approximation by examining the effect of luminescent center substitution on a host structure's Θ D . Two well-known phosphors, (Y 1– x Ce x ) 3 Al 5 O 12 ( x = 0 – 0.05) and Ba 1-δ Eu δ MgAl 10 O 17 (δ = 0 – 0.15), were synthesized with varying rare-earth concentrations, while Θ D was computationally estimated and then determined by ultrasonic pulse-echo speed-of-sound and low-temperature heat capacity measurements. Overall, the ensuing results provide key implications for using Θ D as a proxy for structural rigidity in substituted inorganic compounds.

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

On the theory of nonhomogeneous nonequilibrium superconductivity in 2D systems with massless fermions

Here we analyze static and nonequilibrium superconducting properties of a 2D relativistic-like model system with local electron-electron interaction, Rashba spin-orbit interaction αR in presence of time-dependent in-plane magnetic field H(t). It is shown that similar to the 2D case with ordinary massive quasiparticle dispersion ε(k)~|k| 2 at large fields, such a system demonstrates a nonhomogeneous superconducting stripe phase with the order parameter Δ(r)=Δ(0)cos(2[μ B B×r]n/$\hbarυ_F$) (B is the magnetic induction, υF is the Fermi velocity, n is the normal to the plane, μ B is the Bohr magneton, and αR$\ll$υF) where the stripes are oriented along the B direction. In the considered system, the inter-stripe period L and the magnitude of the magnetic field B are related by a universal relation BL=$\hbarυ_F$/μ B ≃0.714∙10 -4 Tm. Contrary to the case of massive quasiparticles, where the condition α R ~υ F can be, in principle, satisfied by increasing α R or by charge doping (Fermi velocity decreasing), in a relativistic-like system, where υF is doping-independent and one-two orders of magnitude larger than typical Fermi velocity in the “standard” 2D systems, the stripe phase can be the ground state at a rather low doping level. We also analyzed the nonequilibrium properties of the system with a focus on the melting of the stripe order (when the magnetic field is quenched to a lower value) and stripe dynamics (when the field is rotated by 90° degrees) and found several notable results. In particular, it was shown that the stripe domains melt according to law R~1$\sqrt{t}$ at initial times, while at longer times they shrink exponentially. In the case of the flipped magnetic field, the stripe orientation gradually turns from x- to y-direction, and the intermediate “crossed-stripe” phase takes place during times of order of picoseconds. Such a crossed phase is built of periodic superconducting bubbles that potentially may have applications in modern ultrafast superconducting technologies.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Proton beam position measurement in air using a BPM

A Beam Position Monitor (BPM) is potentially useful to measure the position and phase of the beam in air in a non-destructive way. An air-gap BPM in experiments, such as beam-induced radioactive waste management and dynamic radiography applications, where a so-called air gap is needed, can be utilized to measure the beam position and phase. In this study, a stripline BPM was used in the air-gap of an 800 MeV proton beam transport line. The downstream end of the primary beamline exit window was made of a thin aluminum plate and allowed the beam to travel 1.2 m in ambient air before re-entering into a vacuum drift section. Such a configuration was arranged to examine the BPM effectiveness in atmospheric temperature and pressure where ionization of air occurs. In this study, a high energy (800 MeV), high current (0.6 A beam peak current/pulse) proton beam of 5 mm radius was transported in the air. The beam position relative to the axis was measured by detecting the signature of the beam in a nanosecond scale. This nanosecond scale detection ability was useful to identify other signals such as plasma effects. The BPM signals were processed at a frequency of 201 MHz; thus, one gets a stronger response in a stripline pattern as it was used in this study instead of a dot-type BPM. Experimental data show that the BPM works well in air, but ionization of air or plasma formation could not be measured over the BPM signal. The design, construction, and performance of a BPM in air environment are presented.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hall instability driven seeding of helical magneto-Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities in axially premagnetized thin-foil liner Z-pinch implosions

Helical magneto-Rayleigh–Taylor instability (MRTI) structures have been observed in z-pinch-driven liner implosion experiments with a pre-imposed axial magnetic field. We show that the formation of these helical structures can be described by a Hall magnetohydrodynamical (HMHD) model. We used the 3D extended magnetohydrodynamics simulation code PERSEUS (which includes Hall physics) [Seyler and Martin, Phys. Plasmas 18, 012703 (2011)] to study these helical instabilities and show that a Hall interchange instability in low-density coronal plasma immediately surrounding the dense liner is responsible for producing helically oriented effects in the magnetic field and current density within the coronal layer. Here, this seeds the helical pitch angle of the MRTI even when other proposed helical seeding mechanisms are either not present in the experiments or not accounted for in the simulations. For example, this mechanism does not require low-density power-feed plasmas to be swept in from large radius or the development of electrothermal instabilities. The Hall Instability is, thus, a new, independent explanation for the origin of the helical instabilities observed in axially premagnetized liner experiments. Simulation results supporting this mechanism are presented.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Atomic isotropic hyperfine properties for second row elements (Al–Cl)

Isotropic hyperfine properties have been obtained for the second row elements Al–Cl using a systematic composite approach consisting of a sequence of core/valence correlation consistent basis sets, up through aug-cc-pCV7Z, along with configuration interaction and coupled cluster methods. The best nonrelativistic final values for the atomic ground states (in MHz) are -1.80 27 Al ( 2 P o 1/2 ), -24.31 29 Si ( 3 P 0 ), 63.70 31 P ( 4 So 3/2 ), 20.77 33 S ( 3 P 2 ), and 35.42 35 Cl ( 2 P o 3/2 ). We find a large K shell contribution to the spin density at the nucleus that is almost canceled by the L and M shell contributions. The spin density in atomic units is approximately linear with respect to the atomic number.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Modeling the electron cyclotron emission radiation signature from suprathermal electrons in a tokamak

An Electron Cyclotron Emission (ECE) modeling code has been developed to model ECE radiation with an arbitrary electron momentum distribution, a small oblique angle, both ordinary (O-mode) and extraordinary polarizations (X-mode), and multiple cyclotron frequency harmonics. The emission and absorption coefficients are calculated using the Poynting theorem from the cold plasma dispersion and the electron–microwave interaction from the full anti-Hermitian tensor. The modeling shows several ECE radiation signatures that can be used to diagnose the population of suprathermal electrons in a tokamak. First, in an n = 2 X-mode (X2) optically thick plasma and oblique ECE view, the modeling shows that only suprathermal electrons, which reside in a finite region of the velocity and space domains, can effectively generate cyclotron emissions to the ECE receiver. The code also finds that the O1 mode is sensitive to suprathermal electrons of both a high v ⊥ and v || , while the X2 mode is dominantly sensitive to suprathermal electrons of a high v ⊥ . Finally, the modeling shows that an oblique ECE system with both X/O polarization and a broad frequency coverage can be used to effectively yield information of the suprathermal electron population in a tokamak.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Luminosity determination using Z boson production at the CMS experiment

The measurement of Z boson production is presented as a method to determine the integrated luminosity of CMS data sets. The analysis uses proton–proton collision data, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2017 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Events with Z bosons decaying into a pair of muons are selected. The total number of Z bosons produced in a fiducial volume is determined, together with the identification efficiencies and correlations from the same data set, in small intervals of 20 pb –1 of integrated luminosity, thus facilitating the efficiency and rate measurement as a function of time and instantaneous luminosity. Using the ratio of the efficiency-corrected numbers of Z bosons, the precisely measured integrated luminosity of one data set is used to determine the luminosity of another. For the first time, a full quantitative uncertainty analysis of the use of Z bosons for the integrated luminosity measurement is performed. The uncertainty in the extrapolation between two data sets, recorded in 2017 at low and high instantaneous luminosity, is less than 0.5%. We show that the Z boson rate measurement constitutes a precise method, complementary to traditional methods, with the potential to improve the measurement of the integrated luminosity.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

Low-Frequency Stability Analysis of Inverter-Based Islanded Multiple-Bus AC Microgrids Based on Terminal Characteristics

For system planning of three-phase inverter-based islanded ac microgrids, the low frequency instability issue caused by interactions of inverter droop controllers is a major concern. When internal control information of procured commercial inverters is unknown, impedance-based small-signal stability criteria facilitate prediction of resonances in medium and high frequency ranges, but they usually assume the grid fundamental frequency as constant and thus they are incapable of analyzing the low-frequency oscillation of the fundamental frequency in islanded microgrids. Aiming at solving this issue, this paper proposes two stability analysis methods based on terminal characteristics of inverters and passive connection network including the dynamics of the fundamental frequency for analysis of low-frequency stability in islanded multiple-bus microgrids. Based on the Component Connection Method (CCM) to systematically separate inverters from the passive connection network, a general approach is developed to model the microgrid as a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) negative feedback system in the common system d-q reference frame. By applying the generalized Nyquist stability criterion (GNC) to the return-ratio and return-difference matrices of the MIMO system model, the low-frequency stability related to the fundamental frequency can be analyzed using the measured terminal characteristics of inverters. Finally, analysis and simulation of a 37-bus microgrid verify the effectiveness of the proposed stability analysis methods.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Multigroup Constant Calculation with Static α-Eigenvalue Monte Carlo for Time-Dependent Neutron Transport Simulations

Herein, multigroup constants for deterministic methods that preserve the time-dependent physics of the neutron transport equations are derived. Alternative multigroup constant weighting spectra are discussed: (1) the fundamental k-eigenfunction, (2) the fundamental α-eigenfunction, and (3) a composite of several α-modes. To generate the fundamental α-eigenfunction for calculating the multigroup constants, a static fundamental α-eigenvalue method is implemented into the open source Monte Carlo code OpenMC. Several static and kinetic problems are devised to verify the implementations and to investigate the relative performance of the alternative multigroup constant weighting spectra. Results emphasize that as a multigroup constant weighting spectrum, the fundamental α-eigenfunction offers physical characteristics that make it advantageous (in producing accurate solutions) over the typically used fundamental k-eigenfunction.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Theoretical prediction of magnetic exchange coupling constants from broken-symmetry coupled cluster calculations

Exchange coupling constants ( J ) are fundamental to the understanding of spin spectra of magnetic systems. In this study, we investigate the broken-symmetry (BS) approaches of Noodleman and Yamaguchi in conjunction with coupled cluster (CC) methods to obtain exchange couplings. J values calculated from CC in this fashion converge smoothly toward the full configuration interaction result with increasing level of CC excitation. We compare this BS-CC scheme to the complementary equation-of-motion CC approach on a selection of bridged molecular cases and give results from a few other methodologies for context.

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

Quantum Machine Learning Applications in High-Energy Physics

Some of the most significant achievements of the modern era of particle physics, such as the discovery of the Higgs boson, have been made possible by the tremendous effort in building and operating large-scale experiments like the Large Hadron Collider or the Tevatron. In these facilities, the ultimate theory to describe matter at the most fundamental level is constantly probed and verified. These experiments often produce large amounts of data that require storing, processing, and analysis techniques that continually push the limits of traditional information processing schemes. Thus, the High-Energy Physics (HEP) field has benefited from advancements in information processing and the development of algorithms and tools for large datasets. More recently, quantum computing applications have been investigated to understand how the community can benefit from the advantages of quantum information science. Nonetheless, to unleash the full potential of quantum computing, there is a need to understand the quantum behavior and, thus, scale up current algorithms beyond what can be simulated in classical processors. In this work, we explore potential applications of quantum machine learning to data analysis tasks in HEP and how to overcome the limitations of algorithms targeted for Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices.

Delgado, Andrea↗
DOE OSTI2021

Background identification in cryogenic calorimeters through $\alpha -\alpha$ delayed coincidences

Localization and modeling of radioactive contaminations is a challenge that ultra-low background experiments are constantly facing. These are fundamental steps both to extract scientific results and to further reduce the background of the detectors. Here we present an innovative technique based on the analysis of $\alpha -\alpha$ delayed coincidences in 232 Th and 238 U decay chains, developed to investigate the contaminations of the ZnSe crystals in the CUPID-0 experiment. This method allows to disentangle surface and bulk contaminations of the detectors relying on the different probability to tag delayed coincidences as function of the $\alpha$ decay position.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Nanoscale Compositional and Strain Gradients Enable High‐Speed and Amplitude‐Resolved Pyroelectric Sensing

The frequency response of pyroelectric sensors is fundamentally governed by thermal time constant (τth, determined by thermal mass and thermal conductance) and electrical impedance arising from film capacitance and readout circuit. Conventional bulk LiTaO3 detectors are optimized for high responsivity at low modulation frequencies (0.1-10 Hz), possessing a large τth that thermally averages rapid temperature oscillations at elevated modulation frequencies, limiting fidelity in resolving dynamic varying thermal signals. Here, compositional and strain gradients are introduced into 100-nm-thick relaxor-ferroelectric films reducing τth to ≈2 µs and producing built-in potentials (≈1.45 V or 145 kV cm-1) that enhance the pyroelectric coefficient and suppress the dielectric constant. This enables complementary dual-mode operation by enhancing current-mode electrical responsivity and improving the voltage-mode figure of merit - advantageous for superior temperature resolution (ΔTmin ≈ 30 µK). The responsivity peak shifts to near 1 kHz (>2500-times higher than conventional bulk sensors), with measurable responsivity extending to a carrier frequency of 100 kHz and amplitude-resolved detection at modulation frequencies up to 15 kHz. These results establish nanoscale internal-field engineering can reshape electro-thermal trade-off in pyroelectric thin films toward zero-bias, high-thermal-sensitivity, and amplitude-resolved thermal sensing across a wide frequency bandwidth.

Lin, Ching‐Che↗