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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 541 records · Page 30
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Dynamic land use implications of rapidly expanding and evolving wind power deployment

Abstract The expansion of wind power poses distinct and varied geographic challenges to a sustainable energy transition. However, current knowledge of its land use impacts and synergies is limited by reliance on static characterizations that overlook the role of turbine technology and plant design in mediating interactions with the environment. Here, we investigate how wind technology development and innovation have shaped landscape interactions with social and ecological systems within the United States and contribute to evolving land area requirements. This work assesses trends in key land use facets of wind power using a holistic set of metrics to establish an evidence base that researchers, technology designers, land use managers, and policymakers can use in envisioning how future wind-intensive energy systems may be jointly optimized for clean energy, social, and environmental objectives. Since 2000, we find dynamic land occupancy patterns and regional trends that are driven by advancing technology and geographic factors. Though most historical U.S. wind deployment has been confined to the temperate grassland biome in the nation’s interior, regional expansion has implicated diverse land use and cover types. A large percentage of the typical wind plant footprint (∼96% to > 99%) is not directly impacted by permanent physical infrastructure, allowing for multiple uses in the spaces between turbines. Surprisingly, turbines are commonly close to built structures. Moreover, rangeland and cropland have supported 93.4% of deployment, highlighting potential synergies with agricultural lands. Despite broadly decreasing capacity densities, offsetting technology improvements have stabilized power densities. Land use intensity, defined as the ratio of direct land usage to lifetime power generation of wind facilities, has also trended downwards. Although continued deployment on disturbed lands, and in close proximity to existing wind facilities and other infrastructure, could minimize the extent of impacts, ambitious decarbonization trajectories may predispose particular biomes to cumulative effects and risks from regional wind power saturation. Increased land-use and sustainability feedback in technology and plant design will be critical to sustainable management of wind power.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Quantum Filtering and Analysis of Multiplicities in Eigenvalue Spectra

Fine-grained spectral properties of quantum Hamiltonians, including both eigenvalues and their multiplicities, provide useful information for characterizing many-body quantum systems as well as for understanding phenomena such as topological order. Extracting such information with small additive error is #BQP-complete in the worst case. In this work, we introduce QFAMES (quantum filtering and analysis of multiplicities in eigenvalue spectra), a quantum algorithm that efficiently identifies clusters of closely spaced dominant eigenvalues and determines their multiplicities under physically motivated assumptions, which allows us to bypass worst-case complexity barriers. QFAMES also enables the estimation of observable expectation values within targeted energy clusters, providing a powerful tool for studying quantum phase transitions and other physical properties. We validate the effectiveness of QFAMES through numerical demonstrations, including its applications to characterizing quantum phases in the transverse-field Ising model and estimating the ground-state degeneracy of a topologically ordered phase in the two-dimensional toric code model. We also generalize QFAMES to the setting of mixed initial states. Our approach offers rigorous theoretical guarantees and significant advantages over existing subspace-based quantum spectral analysis methods, particularly in terms of the sample complexity and the ability to resolve degeneracies.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Estimates for disk and ejecta masses produced in compact binary mergers

There is irresistible observational evidence that binary systems of compact objects with at least one neutron star are progenitors of short gamma-ray bursts, as well as a production site for r -process elements, at least when some matter is ejected by the merger and an accretion disk is formed. Here, the recent observations of gravitational waves in conjunction with electromagnetic counterparts fuel the need for models predicting the outcome of a given merger and the properties of the associated matter outflows as a function of the initial parameters of the binary. In this manuscript, we provide updated fitting formulas that estimate the disk mass for double neutron star binaries and ejecta masses for black hole–neutron star and double neutron star binaries, fitted to the results of numerical simulations. Our proposed fitting formulas improve on existing models by aiming for analytical simplicity, by covering a larger region of parameter space, and by accounting for regions of parameter space not covered by numerical simulations but with physically manifest merger outcomes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Proton imaging of high-energy-density laboratory plasmas

Proton imaging has become a key diagnostic for measuring electromagnetic fields in high-energy-density (HED) laboratory plasmas. Compared to other techniques for diagnosing fields, proton imaging is a measurement that can simultaneously offer high spatial and temporal resolution and the ability to distinguish between electric and magnetic fields without the protons perturbing the plasma of interest. Consequently, proton imaging has been used in a wide range of HED experiments, from inertial-confinement fusion to laboratory astrophysics. An overview is provided on the state of the art of proton imaging, including a discussion of experimental considerations like proton sources and detectors, the theory of proton-imaging analysis, and a survey of experimental results demonstrating the breadth of applications. As a result, topics at the frontiers of proton-imaging development are also described, along with an outlook on the future of the field.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Field Effect in CdSeTe/CdTe Solar Cells with Biased Spectroscopy

Steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements were performed under external electrical bias on thin polycrystalline CdSeTe/CdTe solar cells. The results indicate that internal field effects which can go unnoticed during traditional, unbiased spectroscopy measurements may be more consequential than generally realized. In addition, probing the field behavior with bias may allow investigation of defect states and the determination of transport characteristics, such as mobility.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Design Principles for Resonant Wave Energy Converters: Benchmarking Power Capture and Flow

Control co-design (CCD) in Wave Energy Converters (WECs) integrates the controller, power take-off (PTO), and buoy models during system design to optimize power output. Using the bi-conjugate impedance matching principle, this study models the PTO as a two-port network, revealing impedance matching conditions at the input and output ports as a function of the buoy, PTO, and controller. Here, this study examines the pairing of a flywheel-type pitch resonator PTO within a given buoy constrained by limited space and ballast capacity. The results show that physical constraints imposed by the buoy affect PTO performance. While controller tuning achieves optimal output impedance matching and flywheel inertia is maximized within the buoy's limitations, the PTO's input impedance remains smaller than the complex conjugate of the buoy's intrinsic impedance. This mismatch limits the PTO's ability to generate sufficient reaction torque, particularly outside the resonance frequency, resulting in narrow-band power transfer. The findings emphasize the need for PTO design modifications to improve input power transfer. Pendulum-based PTO mechanisms are proposed as alternatives to couple with multiple buoy motion modes and improve wave-to-wire efficiency while respecting system constraints.

Control Co-Design↗
DOE OSTI2021

Validating pyORBIT for Modeling Beam Dynamics in the IOTA Ring

The Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA) ring is a new Fermilab facility dedicated to beam physics experiments, currently operating with 150 MeV electrons. Space charge effects are expected to be significant when it operates with 2.5 MeV protons. In this contribution, we present results of a suite of validation tests of PyORBIT, a PICstyle space charge code. Single particle dynamics of quasiintegrable optics using an octupole string in IOTA is compared with MADX, and shown to be in good agreement. Requirements for the convergence of space charge computations are systematically established and when possible, tests involving space charge are compared with theoretical predictions.

Li, Runze↗
DOE OSTI2026

AI-driven neutrino diagnostics and radiation-hard beam instrumentation for next-generation neutrino experiments

The Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) at Fermilab will deliver a high-intensity, multi-megawatt neutrino beam to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), enabling precision tests of the three-neutrino paradigm, CP violation searches, neutrino mass ordering determination, and supernova neutrino studies. To accelerate DUNE’s physics reach and ensure robust beam operations, we propose an integrated AI-driven framework with real-time diagnostics and radiation-hardened instrumentation. At its core is a Real-Time Beam Integrity Monitor using a physics-informed Digital Twin. By reconstructing pion phase space from muon profiles and exploiting magnetic horn optic linearity, it enables spill-by-spill beam correction and flux stabilization. By using this approach, flux-related systematics could be reduced from 5% to 1%, potentially accelerating the discovery of CP violations by four to six years. Complementing this, a US–Japan R&D effort will deploy a LAPPD-based muon monitor in the NuMI beamline. ToF measurements can be acquired with picosecond precision using this radiation-hard system, enhancing sensitivity to horn chromatic effects. Simulations confirm strong response to these effects. ML models predict beam quality and horn current to sub-percent accuracy from muon data, enhancing anomaly detection and stability. This scalable, AI-enabled strategy improves beam fidelity, reduces systematics, and sets a new standard for high-power accelerator operations.

Ganguly, Sudeshna [Fermilab] (ORCID:00000003163482↗
DOE OSTI2021

Dynamic Rupture Modeling of the M7.1, 2019 Ridgecrest, California, Earthquake

An important part of the simulation technique implemented in the strong motion prediction recipe developed in Japan, originally proposed by Irikura and Miyake (2011) is the earthquake rupture characterization that is based on established empirical scaling relationships between source parameters and seismic moment. These scaling relationships and rupture characterization are derived from recorded data and are tested by simulations. Recent analysis of results obtained with the Recipe for the 2016 M7.1 Kumamoto earthquake performed by several researchers, indicate that in order to reproduce near-fault long-period ground motions with permanent displacements, typical for earthquakes with surface rupturing, the recipe needs modifications. In particular, improvements are required in characterizing the rupture kinematics at shallow depths, above the seismogenic zone (Irikura et al., 2019). Modeling of rupture dynamics for recorded earthquakes, and numerical simulations for different rupture scenarios, provides physical constrains on slip evolution in time and space, which can be used in adjustments of empirical source scaling relationships for large crustal earthquakes. In this study we mainly focused on rupture dynamics modeling of the 2019 M7 Ridgecrest, California earthquake. The characterization of the kinematic rupture model derived from the dynamic rupture models of this earthquake can inform further refinements of rupture modeling proposed by the Recipe. Through different rupture scenarios we investigated potential relationships between characteristics of Long Period Ground Motion Generation Area (LMGA), used in the Recipe, and asperity depth and rupture initiation.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Evaluation of Modular and Scalable Downstream Passage Systems for Silver American Eels

Implementation of effective downstream passage for silver-phase American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) at hydropower dams using methods that are economically feasible has been a challenge for many project owners. Due to the potential for high mortality rates during turbine passage, resource agencies have focused on mandatory prescriptions that prevent entrainment by physically excluding eels (i.e., narrow trash rack bar spacing) or eliminating turbines as a passage route (i.e., unit shutdowns at night when eel movement is greatest). Both of these options can significantly impact the economic viability of a project. Consequently, there is a need for alternative technologies that can provide safe and effective downstream passage for silver eels without having a major impact on the ability of a project to generate power during the eel downstream migration period. This need is of particular concern now because about 300 hydropower projects within the range of American Eel freshwater habitats are scheduled to be relicensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the next 15 years

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

ATHENA: Analytical Tool for Heterogeneous Neuromorphic Architectures

The ASC program seeks to use machine learning to improve efficiencies in its stockpile stewardship mission. Moreover, there is a growing market for technologies dedicated to accelerating AI workloads. Many of these emerging architectures promise to provide savings in energy efficiency, area, and latency when compared to traditional CPUs for these types of applications — neuromorphic analog and digital technologies provide both low-power and configurable acceleration of challenging artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. If designed into a heterogeneous system with other accelerators and conventional compute nodes, these technologies have the potential to augment the capabilities of traditional High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms [5]. This expanded computation space requires not only a new approach to physics simulation, but the ability to evaluate and analyze next-generation architectures specialized for AI/ML workloads in both traditional HPC and embedded ND applications. Developing this capability will enable ASC to understand how this hardware performs in both HPC and ND environments, improve our ability to port our applications, guide the development of computing hardware, and inform vendor interactions, leading them toward solutions that address ASC’s unique requirements.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Dynamic Rupture Simulations of the Mw7.2 1992 Landers,California, Earthquake

An important part of the simulation technique implemented in the Recipe is the earthquake rupture characterization based on established empirical scaling relationships between source parameters and seismic moment. The scaling relationships used in the rupture characterization are derived from recorded data and are tested against dynamic and kinematic rupture models of crustal earthquakes. Currently, a revised three-stage source scaling relationship between the source rupture area and seismic moment of inland crustal earthquakes, initially proposed by Irikura and Miyake, is being used. Recent analysis of results obtained with the Recipe for the 2016 M7.1 Kumamoto earthquake performed by several researchers, including the PI, Arben Pitarka, indicate that in order to reproduce the near-fault long-period ground motions and the permanent displacements, observed during surface-rupturing earthquakes, the recipe needs modifications to the kinematic rupture parametrization in the shallow crustal weak zone. In particular, improvements are required in characterizing the slip rate function at shallow depths, above the sesimogenic zone. The main objective of this research project was the development of a dynamic rupture model for the Mw7.2 1992 Landers, California earthquake. The dynamic rupture model was used to derive kinematic rupture parameters, such as slip, slip-rate, rupture time distributions, and slip rate functions in the weak (0-4km) and seismogenic crustal zones. In addition to the knowledge gained from the dynamic rupture modeling of Chi-chi, Ridgecrest, Kumamoto and other crustal earthquakes, studied by the PI, the rupture characterization of the Landers earthquake can be helpful in updating the conventional recipe for broadband ground motion simulations of crustal earthquakes with shallow rupture. The project emphasizes the need for performing physics-based earthquake rupture modeling which ultimately will inform further improvements of rupture characterization. In particular, the modeling of rupture dynamics for recorded earthquakes, and numerical simulations for different rupture scenarios, provides physical constrains on slip evolution in time and space, used in adjustments of empirical source scaling relationships for large crustal earthquakes.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

AI-driven neutrino diagnostics and radiation-hard beam instrumentation for next-generation neutrino experiments

The Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) at Fermilab will deliver a high-intensity, multi-megawatt neutrino beam to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), enabling precision tests of the three-neutrino paradigm, CP violation searches, neutrino mass ordering determination, and supernova neutrino studies. To accelerate DUNE’s physics reach and ensure robust beam operations, we propose an integrated AI-driven framework with real-time diagnostics and radiation-hardened instrumentation. At its core is a Real-Time Beam Integrity Monitor using a physics-informed Digital Twin. By reconstructing pion phase space from muon profiles and exploiting magnetic horn optic linearity, it enables spill-by-spill beam correction and flux stabilization. By using this approach, flux-related systematics could be reduced from 5% to 1%, potentially accelerating the discovery of CP violations by four to six years. Complementing this, a US–Japan R&D effort will deploy a LAPPD-based muon monitor in the NuMI beamline. ToF measurements can be acquired with picosecond precision using this radiation-hard system, enhancing sensitivity to horn chromatic effects. Simulations confirm strong response to these effects. ML models predict beam quality and horn current to sub-percent accuracy from muon data, enhancing anomaly detection and stability. This scalable, AI-enabled strategy improves beam fidelity, reduces systematics, and sets a new standard for high-power accelerator operations.

Ganguly, Sudeshna [Fermilab] (ORCID:00000003163482↗
DOE OSTI2021

Machine Learning Using Rapidity-Mass Matrices for Event Classification Problems in HEP

In this work, supervised artificial neural networks (ANN) with rapidity–mass matrix (RMM) inputs are studied using several Monte Carlo event samples for various pp collision processes. The study shows the usability of this approach for general event classification problems. The proposed standardization of the ANN feature space can simplify searches for signatures of new physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) when using machine learning techniques. In particular, we illustrate how to improve signal-over-background ratios in the search for new physics, how to filter out Standard Model events for model-agnostic searches, and how to separate gluon and quark jets for Standard Model measurements.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Overview on Shielding Analyses for the VENUS Instrument at SNS

VENUS, a world‐class versatile neutron imaging instrument, is under construction and is expected to be completed and ready to start commissioning in 2023. The range of cold to epithermal neutrons at SNS will give users of VENUS access to novel imaging methods, as well as to significantly improved existing methods. The instrument is being built on beam line 10 at Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) First Target Station (FTS) facing a decoupled poisoned hydrogen moderator. Instrument design, which includes optics, Front-End components and instrument enclosure components and shape started over 10 years ago and during this time had significant changes. All changes were supported by neutronics analyses to provide adequate shielding for both Front-End and instrument enclosure.Final optics design will provide the field of view (FOV) at the detector position (where the image is formed) to be as high as 0.20 by 0.20 m. Both the beam, which contains a large fraction of high-energy neutrons, and the desire for a large footprint on the detector are challenges for shielding design and budget, because the driving cost for the instrument is the beam line and enclosure shielding. For cost reason VENUS baseline design is optimized with respect to both the instrument cave footprint and its wall thickness, and Front-End shielding is tailored along the beam. Analyses are performed with the Monte Carlo particle transport code MCNPX version 2.7.0 to make choices on materials, thicknesses and configurations of the shielding. Numerous calculations are performed to meet space and coast constrain and to satisfy instrument physics needs and to comply with radiation protection requirements.

Gallmeier, Franz X.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Lorentz symmetry and IR structure of the BFSS matrix model

The BFSS matrix model relates flat space M-theory to a large N limit of matrix quantum mechanics describing N non-relativistic D0-branes. M-theory, being a theory of gravity in flat space, has a rich infrared structure that includes various soft theorems and an infinite set of conserved charges associated to asymptotic symmetries. In this work, we ask: to what extent is this infrared structure present in BFSS? We find that all the salient features concerning the infrared structure of M-theory carry over naturally to the quantum mechanics dual. Moreover, we demonstrate that the dual statement of the soft graviton theorem in the matrix model implies that D0-brane scattering amplitudes in BFSS enjoy the full 11d Lorentz symmetry of M-theory, a claim which has been long anticipated. We also offer several first-principle consistency checks for our findings, including a computation of the soft theorem which does not presuppose the BFSS duality and a non-trivial match between several known symmetries of M-theory and BFSS that appear naturally in this formalism. These calculations give non-perturbative evidence in support of the BFSS duality as a model of flat space holography.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Non-Hermitian quantum mechanics approach for extracting and emulating continuum physics based on bound-state-like calculations: Detailed description

Here, this work applies a reduced basis method to study the continuum physics of a finite quantum system—either few or many-body. Specifically, I develop reduced-order models, or emulators, for the underlying inhomogeneous Schrödinger equation and train the emulators against the equation's bound-state-like solutions at complex energies. The emulators rapidly and accurately interpolate and extrapolate the matrix elements of the Hamiltonian resolvent operator (Green's function) across a parameter space that includes both complex energy and other real-valued physical inputs in the Schrödinger equation. The spectra, discretized and compressed as the result of emulation, and the associated resolvent matrix elements (or amplitudes), have the defining characteristics of non-Hermitian quantum mechanics calculations, featuring complex eigenenergies with negative imaginary parts and branch cuts moved below the real axis in the complex energy plane. Therefore, one now has a method that extracts continuum physics from bound-state-like calculations and emulates those extractions in the input parameter space. Building on a prior Letter [Zhang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 242501 (2025)], this article provides the full theoretical details, a comprehensive analysis of the method's performance, and a brief discussion of how it can be coupled with existing continuum approaches to perform emulations in their input parameter spaces.

ab initio calculations↗