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All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2013

Mid-rapidity anti-baryon to baryon ratios in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 0.9,\ 2.76\mbox{ and }7\mbox{ TeV}$ measured by ALICE

The ratios of yields of anti-baryons to baryons probes the mechanisms of baryon-number transport. Results for $\overline{\mathrm {p}}/{\mathrm{p}}$ , $\overline{\Lambda}/{\Lambda}$ , ${{\overline{\Xi}}^{+}}/{\Xi ^{-}}$ and ${{\overline{\Omega}}^{+}}/{\Omega^{-}}$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 0.9,\ 2.76\mbox{ and }7\mbox{ TeV}$ , measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC, are reported. Within the experimental uncertainties and ranges covered by our measurement, these ratios are independent of rapidity, transverse momentum and multiplicity for all measured energies. The results are compared to expectations from event generators, such as PYTHIA and HIJING/B, that are used to model the particle production in pp collisions. The energy dependence of $\overline{\mathrm{p}}/{\mathrm{p}}$ , $\overline {\Lambda}/{\Lambda}$ , ${{\overline{\Xi}}^{+}}/{\Xi^{-}}$ and ${{\overline{\Omega}}^{+}}/{\Omega^{-}}$ , reaching values compatible with unity for $\sqrt{s} = 7\mbox{ TeV}$ , complement the earlier $\overline{\mathrm{p}}/{\mathrm{p}}$ measurement of ALICE. These dependencies can be described by exchanges with the Regge-trajectory intercept of $\alpha_{\rm{J}} \approx0.5$ , which are suppressed with increasing rapidity interval Δ y . Any significant contribution of an exchange not suppressed at large Δ y (reached at LHC energies) is disfavoured.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Suppression of Penning discharges between the KATRIN spectrometers

Abstract The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino experiment (KATRIN) aims to determine the effective electron (anti)-neutrino mass with a sensitivity of 0.2eV/c $$^2$$ 2 by precisely measuring the endpoint region of the tritium $$\beta $$ β -decay spectrum. It uses a tandem of electrostatic spectrometers working as magnetic adiabatic collimation combined with an electrostatic (MAC-E) filters. In the space between the pre-spectrometer and the main spectrometer, creating a Penning trap is unavoidable when the superconducting magnet between the two spectrometers, biased at their respective nominal potentials, is energized. The electrons accumulated in this trap can lead to discharges, which create additional background electrons and endanger the spectrometer and detector section downstream. To counteract this problem, “electron catchers” were installed in the beamline inside the magnet bore between the two spectrometers. These catchers can be moved across the magnetic-flux tube and intercept on a sub-ms time scale the stored electrons along their magnetron motion paths. In this paper, we report on the design and the successful commissioning of the electron catchers and present results on their efficiency in reducing the experimental background.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2020

Characterization of water-based liquid scintillator for Cherenkov and scintillation separation

Abstract This paper presents measurements of the scintillation light yield and time profile for a number of concentrations of water-based liquid scintillator, formulated from linear alkylbenzene (LAB) and 2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO). We find that the scintillation light yield is linear with the concentration of liquid scintillator in water between 1 and 10% with a slope of $$127.9\pm 17.0$$ 127.9 ± 17.0 ph/MeV/concentration and an intercept value of $$108.3\pm 51.0$$ 108.3 ± 51.0 ph/MeV, the latter being illustrative of non-linearities with concentration at values less than 1%. This is larger than expected from a simple extrapolation of the pure liquid scintillator light yield. The measured time profiles are consistently faster than that of pure liquid scintillator, with rise times less than 250 ps and prompt decay constants in the range of 2.1–2.85 ns. Additionally, the separation between Cherenkov and scintillation light is quantified using cosmic muons in the CHESS experiment for each formulation, demonstrating an improvement in separation at the centimeter scale. Finally, we briefly discuss the prospects for large-scale detectors.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Structure functions from renormalization group improved small x evolution

Abstract We perform the fit to the structure function $$F_2$$ F 2 data from HERA including terms due to the resummation at small x . The equation for the unintegrated gluon density is solved, previously established within the renormalization group improved small x framework. We find very good description of the structure function $$F_2$$ F 2 and its charm component $$F_2^c$$ F 2 c . The resulting unintegrated gluon density is found to be consistent with the calculations based on similar approaches available in the literature, with only slightly higher intercept value.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2023

Two-pion femtoscopic correlations in Be+Be collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\text {NN}}} = 16.84$ GeV measured by the NA61/SHINE at CERN

This paper reports measurements of two-pion femtoscopic correlations in Be+Be collisions at a beam momentum of 150$A\,\hbox {GeV}\!/\!c$ (energy available in the center-of-mass system for nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\text {NN}}} = 16.84$ GeV) by the NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN SPS accelerator. The obtained momentum space correlation functions can be well described by a Lévy distributed source model. The transverse mass dependence of the Lévy source parameters is presented, and their possible theoretical interpretations are discussed. The results show that the Lévy exponent $\alpha $ is approximately constant as a function of $m_{\text {T}}$ , and far from both the Gaussian case of $\alpha = 2$ or the conjectured value at the critical endpoint, $\alpha = 0.5$. The radius scale parameter R shows a slight decrease in $m_{\text {T}}$ , which can be explained as a signature of transverse flow. Finally, an approximately constant trend of the intercept parameter $\lambda $ as a function of $m_{\text {T}}$ was observed, similar to previous NA44 S + Pb results (obtained with a Gaussian approximation, but unlike RHIC results).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Search for baryon junctions in e+A collisions at the electron ion collider

Constituent quarks in a nucleon are the essential elements in the standard “quark model” associated with the electric charge, spin, mass, and baryon number of a nucleon. Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) describes nucleon as a composite object containing current quarks (valence quarks and sea (anti-)quarks) and gluons. These subatomic elements and their interactions are known to contribute in complex ways to the overall nucleon spin and mass. In the early development of QCD theory in the 1970s, an alternative hypothesis postulated that the baryon number might manifest itself through a non-perturbative configuration of gluon fields forming a Y-shaped topology known as the gluon junction. In this work, we propose to test such hypothesis by measuring (i) the Regge intercept of the net-baryon distributions for e+(p)Au collisions, (ii) baryon and charge transport in the isobaric ratio between e+Ru and e+Zr collisions, and (iii) target flavor dependence of proton and antiproton yields at large rapidity, transported from the hydrogen and deuterium targets in e+p(d) collisions. Our study indicates that these measurements at the EIC can help determine what carries the baryon number.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2013

Taming parallel I/O complexity with auto-tuning

We present an auto-tuning system for optimizing I/O performance of HDF5 applications and demonstrate its value across platforms, applications, and at scale. The system uses a genetic algorithm to search a large space of tunable parameters and to identify effective settings at all layers of the parallel I/O stack. The parameter settings are applied transparently by the auto-tuning system via dynamically intercepted HDF5 calls. To validate our auto-tuning system, we applied it to three I/O benchmarks (VPIC, VORPAL, and GCRM) that replicate the I/O activity of their respective applications. We tested the system with different weak-scaling configurations (128, 2048, and 4096 CPU cores) that generate 30 GB to 1 TB of data, and executed these configurations on diverse HPC platforms (Cray XE6, IBM BG/P, and Dell Cluster). In all cases, the auto-tuning framework identified tunable parameters that substantially improved write performance over default system settings. In conclusion, we consistently demonstrate I/O write speedups between 2x and 100x for test configurations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2019

BonVoision: Leveraging Spatial Data Smoothness For Recovery From Memory Soft Errors

The increasing soft error rates in memory systems raise an emerging concern for modern computing systems. As a result, detectable but uncorrectable errors (DUEs) become potentially more frequent and affect HPC applications. Today, upon encountering a DUE, HPC applications crash, incurring significant performance, storage, and energy overheads. In this paper, we propose a technique to continue application execution past a DUE through the repair of the corrupted memory data by leveraging spatial data smoothness. We present BonVoision, a run-time system that intercepts DUE events, analyzes the binary to identify data elements in the structural neighborhood of the event, and fixes the corrupted data elements by interpolating from the values in their neighborhood. Our evaluation demonstrates that BonVoision incurs negligible overhead and outperforms other recovery strategies by a factor of 2×, on average. We demonstrate that BonVoision also improves the efficiency of existing checkpointing/restart schemes by approximately increasing the optimal checkpoint interval by 23%.

Fang, Bo↗

DOE OSTI2017

Optimization of the angular orientation for a fast ion loss detector in a tokamak

A scintillator type fast ion loss detector measures the gyroradius and pitch angle distribution of superthermal ions escaping from a magnetically confined fusion plasma at a single location. Described here is a technique for optimizing the angular orientation of such a detector in an axisymmetric tokamak geometry in order to intercept losses over a useful and interesting ranges of pitch angle. The method consists of evaluating the detector acceptance as a function of the fast ion constants of motion, i.e. energy, canonical toroidal momentum, and magnetic moment. The detector acceptance can then be plotted in a plane of constant energy and compared with the relevant orbit class boundaries and fast ion source distributions. Knowledge of expected or interesting mechanisms of loss can further guide selection of the detector orientation. The example of a fast ion loss detector for the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U) is considered.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2019

FPChecker

CUDA is the programming model used to program NVIDIA GPUs, which are widely used in DOE supercomputers. FPChecker allows programmers to detect and fix hidden exceptions in the floating-point computations that CUDA executes. When a floating-point exception occurs (e.g., division by zero), GPUs cannot catch these errors. FPChecker intercepts each floating-point operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and reports to users where exceptions occur (file and line of code).

Laguna Peralta, Ignacio↗

DOE OSTI2017

Precancer Atlas to Drive Precision Prevention Trials

Cancer development is a complex process driven by inherited and acquired molecular and cellular alterations. Prevention is the holy grail of cancer elimination, but making this a reality will take a fundamental rethinking and deep understanding of premalignant biology. Here, we propose a national concerted effort to create a Precancer Atlas (PCA), integrating multi-omics and immunity – basic tenets of the neoplastic process. The biology of neoplasia caused by germline mutations has led to paradigm-changing precision prevention efforts, including: tumor testing for mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency in Lynch syndrome establishing a new paradigm, combinatorial chemoprevention efficacy in familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), signal of benefit from imaging-based early detection research in high-germline risk for pancreatic neoplasia, elucidating early ontogeny in BRCA1-mutation carriers leading to an international breast cancer prevention trial, and insights into the intricate germline-somatic-immunity interaction landscape. Emerging genetic and pharmacologic (metformin) disruption of mitochondrial (mt) respiration increased autophagy to prevent cancer in a Li-Fraumeni mouse model (biology reproduced in clinical pilot) and revealed profound influences of subtle changes in mt DNA background variation on obesity, aging, and cancer risk. The elaborate communication between the immune system and neoplasia includes an increasingly complex cellular microenvironment and dynamic interactions between host genetics, environmental factors, and microbes in shaping the immune response. Cancer vaccines are in early murine and clinical precancer studies, building on the recent successes of immunotherapy and HPV vaccine immune prevention. Molecular monitoring in Barrett's esophagus to avoid overdiagnosis/treatment highlights an important PCA theme. Next generation sequencing (NGS) discovered age-related clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP). Ultra-deep NGS reports over the past year have redefined the premalignant landscape remarkably identifying tiny clones in the blood of up to 95% of women in their 50s, suggesting that potentially premalignant clones are ubiquitous. Similar data from eyelid skin and peritoneal and uterine lavage fluid provide unprecedented opportunities to dissect the earliest phases of stem/progenitor clonal (and microenvironment) evolution/diversity with new single-cell and liquid biopsy technologies. Cancer mutational signatures reflect exogenous or endogenous processes imprinted over time in precursors. In conclusion, accelerating the prevention of cancer will require a large-scale, longitudinal effort, leveraging diverse disciplines (from genetics, biochemistry, and immunology to mathematics, computational biology, and engineering), initiatives, technologies, and models in developing an integrated multi-omics and immunity PCA – an immense national resource to interrogate, target, and intercept events that drive oncogenesis.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2018

Polarimetric Radar Relations for Quantification of Snow Based on Disdrometer Data

Abstract Accurate measurements of snow amounts by radar are very difficult to achieve. The inherent uncertainty in radar snow estimates that are based on the radar reflectivity factor Z is caused by the variability of snow particle size distributions and snow particle density as well as the large diversity among snow growth habits. In this study, a novel method for snow quantification that is based on the joint use of radar reflectivity Z and specific differential phase KDP is introduced. An extensive dataset of 2D-video-disdrometer measurements of snow in central Oklahoma is used to derive polarimetric relations for liquid-equivalent snowfall rate S and ice water content IWC in the forms of bivariate power-law relations S = and along with similar relations for the intercept N0s and slope Λs of the exponential snow size distribution. The physical basis of these relations is explained. Their multipliers are sensitive to variations in the width of the canting angle distribution and to a lesser extent the particles’ aspect ratios and densities, whereas the exponents are practically invariant. This novel approach is tested against the S(Z) relation using snow disdrometer measurements in three geographical regions (Oklahoma, Colorado, and Canada). Significant improvement in snow estimates relative to the traditional Z-based methods is demonstrated.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2018

Primary Modes of Global Drop Size Distributions

Understanding drop size distribution (DSD) variability has important implications for remote sensing and numerical modeling applications. Twelve disdrometer datasets across three latitude bands are analyzed in this study, spanning a broad range of precipitation regimes: light rain, orographic, deep convective, organized midlatitude, and tropical oceanic. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to reveal comprehensive modes of global DSD spatial and temporal variability. Although the locations contain different distributions of individual DSD parameters, all locations are found to have the same modes of variability. Based on PCA, six groups of points with unique DSD characteristics emerge. The physical processes that underpin these groups are revealed through supporting radar observations. Group 1 (group 2) is characterized by high (low) liquid water content (LWC), broad (narrow) distribution widths, and large (small) median drop diameters D 0 . Radar analysis identifies group 1 (group 2) as convective (stratiform) rainfall. Group 3 is characterized by weak, shallow radar echoes and large concentrations of small drops, indicative of warm rain showers. Group 4 identifies heavy stratiform precipitation. The low latitudes exhibit distinct bimodal distributions of the normalized intercept parameter N w , LWC, and D 0 and are found to have a clustering of points (group 5) with high rain rates, large N w , and moderate D 0 , a signature of robust warm rain processes. A distinct group associated with ice-based convection (group 6) emerges in the midlatitudes. Although all locations exhibit the same covariance of parameters associated with these groups, it is likely that the physical processes responsible for shaping the DSDs vary as a function of location.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Assessing Raindrop Breakup Parameterizations Using Disdrometer Observations

In this work, an intercomparison of raindrop mean diameter frequency distribution (RDFD) is performed for numerical simulations of precipitating cloud systems using an array of models and microphysics schemes. This includes results from the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) double-moment microphysics, the Hebrew University Cloud Model bin microphysics (HUCM) interfaced to the RAMS parent model, and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model with the Thompson, Morrison, double-moment 6-class (WDM6), and National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) double-moment schemes. Simulations are examined with respect to the raindrop size distribution (DSD) volume-number mean diameter (D m ) and intercept parameter (N w ). When compared to a suite of disdrometer observations, the RDFD resulting from each microphysics scheme exhibits varying degrees of mean drop size constraints and peaks in the frequency distribution of D m . A more detailed investigation of the peaked RDFD from the RAMS simulations suggests that the parameterization of raindrop collisional breakup can impose strong limitations on the evolution of simulated drop growth. As such, a summary and comparison of the drop breakup parameterizations among the aforementioned microphysics schemes is presented. While some drop breakup parameterizations are adjusted toward the observations by modifying the threshold diameter for the onset of breakup, this study explores the use of a modified maximum breakup efficiency. This method permits the parameterization to retain its threshold breakup diameter, while limiting the strength of drop breakup and permitting a broader range of drop sizes. As a result, the simulated mean drop sizes are in better agreement with observations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2017

Exploring the Sensitivity of Photosynthesis and Stomatal Resistance Parameters in a Land Surface Model

Abstract Land surface models, like the Common Land Model component of the ParFlow integrated hydrologic model (PF-CLM), are used to estimate transpiration from vegetated surfaces. Transpiration rates quantify how much water moves from the subsurface through the plant and into the atmosphere. This rate is controlled by the stomatal resistance term in land surface models. The Ball–Berry stomatal resistance parameterization relies, in part, on the rate of photosynthesis, and together these equations require the specification of 20 input parameters. Here, the active subspace method is applied to 2100 year-long PF-CLM simulations, forced by atmospheric data from California, Colorado, and Oklahoma, to identify which input parameters are important and how they relate to three quantities of interest: transpiration, stomatal resistance from the sunlit portion of the canopy, and stomatal resistance from the shaded portion. The slope (mp) and intercept (bp) parameters associated with the Ball–Berry parameterization are consistently important for all locations, along with five parameters associated with ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO)- and light-limited rates of photosynthesis [CO2 Michaelis–Menten constant at 25°C (kc25), maximum ratio of oxygenation to carboxylation (ocr), quantum efficiency at 25°C (qe25), maximum rate of carboxylation at 25°C (vcmx25), and multiplier in the denominator of the equation used to compute the light-limited rate of photosynthesis (wj1)]. The importance of these input parameters, quantified by the active variable weight, and the relationship between the input parameters and quantities of interest vary seasonally and diurnally. Input parameter values influence transpiration rates most during midday, summertime hours when fluxes are large. This research informs model users about which photosynthesis and stomatal resistance parameters should be more carefully selected. Quantifying sensitivities associated with the stomatal resistance term is necessary to better understand transpiration estimates from land surface models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

Wildfire smoke exposure and early childhood respiratory health: a study of prescription claims data

Abstract Wildfire smoke is associated with short-term respiratory outcomes including asthma exacerbation in children. As investigations into developmental wildfire smoke exposure on children’s longer-term respiratory health are sparse, we investigated associations between developmental wildfire smoke exposure and first use of respiratory medications. Prescription claims from IBM MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database were linked with wildfire smoke plume data from NASA satellites based on Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). A retrospective cohort of live infants (2010–2016) born into MSAs in six western states (U.S.A.), having prescription insurance, and whose birthdate was estimable from claims data was constructed ( N = 184,703); of these, gestational age was estimated for 113,154 infants. The residential MSA, gestational age, and birthdate were used to estimate average weekly smoke exposure days ( smoke-day ) for each developmental period: three trimesters, and two sequential 12-week periods post-birth. Medications treating respiratory tract inflammation were classified using active ingredient and mode of administration into three categories:: 'upper respiratory', 'lower respiratory', 'systemic anti-inflammatory'. To evaluate associations between wildfire smoke exposure and medication usage, Cox models associating smoke-days with first observed prescription of each medication category were adjusted for infant sex, birth-season, and birthyear with a random intercept for MSA. Smoke exposure during postnatal periods was associated with earlier first use of upper respiratory medications (1–12 weeks: hazard ratio (HR) = 1.094 per 1-day increase in average weekly smoke-day, 95%CI: (1.005,1.191); 13–24 weeks: HR = 1.108, 95%CI: (1.016,1.209)). Protective associations were observed during gestational windows for both lower respiratory and systemic anti-inflammatory medications; it is possible that these associations may be a consequence of live-birth bias. These findings suggest wildfire smoke exposure during early postnatal developmental periods impact subsequent early life respiratory health.

Dhingra, Radhika↗

DOE OSTI2016

The dual effect of a ferredoxin-hydrogenase fusion protein in vivo: successful divergence of the photosynthetic electron flux towards hydrogen production and elevated oxygen tolerance

Background: Hydrogen photo-production in green algae, catalyzed by the enzyme [FeFe]-hydrogenase (HydA), is considered a promising source of renewable clean energy. Yet, a significant increase in hydrogen production efficiency is necessary for industrial scale-up. We have previously shown that a major challenge to be resolved is the inferior competitiveness of HydA with NADPH production, catalyzed by ferredoxin-NADP+-reductase (FNR). In this work, we explored the in vivo hydrogen production efficiency of Fd-HydA, where the electron donor ferredoxin (Fd) is fused to HydA and expressed in the model organism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Results: We show that once the Fd-HydA fusion gene is expressed in micro-algal cells of C. reinhardtii, the fusion enzyme is able to intercept photosynthetic electrons and use them for efficient hydrogen production, thus supporting the previous observations made in vitro. We found that Fd-HydA has a ~4.5-fold greater photosynthetic hydrogen production rate standardized for hydrogenase amount (PHPRH) than that of the native HydA in vivo. Furthermore, we provide evidence suggesting that the fusion protein is more resistant to oxygen than the native HydA. Conclusions: The in vivo photosynthetic activity of the Fd-HydA enzyme surpasses that of the native HydA and shows higher oxygen tolerance. Therefore, our results provide a solid platform for further engineering efforts towards efficient hydrogen production in microalgae through the expression of synthetic enzymes

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Setup and verification of a SCALE/KENO platform for generic FHR benchmark calculations

The work presented in this article is preliminary to downstream analysis of a generic fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor (gFHR) core performed by the University of Tennessee in collaboration with Kairos Power (KP). A Monte Carlo transport model of the publicly available gFHR equilibrium core is developed in SCALE/KENO with multigroup energy treatment. Several output quantities of interest are used to verify the simulations against a benchmark model developed by KP using the continuous energy Monte Carlo code Serpent 2. Good agreement is seen in flux and fission rate profiles with a maximum relative difference of 1.4% and 2.8% respectively. Furthermore, an effective multiplication factor bias of 44 pcm was observed between the two simulations. The fuel temperature reactivity coefficient calculated with SCALE is within uncertainty to the reference model. This verification acts as a publicly reproducible benchmark for the gFHR in SCALE/KENO. A simplified depletion model is also presented where a single fuel pebble is depleted to discharge burnup through the equilibrium core while the equilibrium core is assumed to be invariant. This method produces results that intercept the equilibrium core concentrations in every case, however, an interesting artifact of this particular depletion model is uncovered. The phenomenon is shown to be a fundamental feature of the differential rate equations and inspires questions about how this system behaves when the time evolution of the equilibrium core is considered. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗