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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 577 records · Page 32
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

On the initial state and consistency relations

We study the effect of the initial state on the consistency conditions for adiabatic perturbations. In order to be consistent with the constraints of General Relativity, the initial state must be diffeomorphism invariant. As a result, we show that initial wavefunctional/density matrix has to satisfy a Slavnov-Taylor identity similar to that of the action. We then investigate the precise ways in which modified initial states can lead to violations of the consistency relations. We find two independent sources of violations: i) the state can include initial non-Gaussianities; ii) even if the initial state is Gaussian, such as a Bogoliubov state, the modified 2-point function can modify the q-vector → 0 analyticity properties of the vertex functional and result in violations of the consistency relations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

The matrix product approximation for the dynamic cavity method

Stochastic dynamics of classical degrees of freedom, defined on vertices of locally tree-like graphs, can be studied in the framework of the dynamic cavity method which is exact for tree graphs. Such models correspond for example to spin-glass systems, Boolean networks, neural networks, and other technical, biological, and social networks. The central objects in the cavity method are edge messages—conditional probabilities of two vertex variable trajectories. In this paper, we discuss a rather pedagogical derivation for the dynamic cavity method, give a detailed account of the novel matrix product edge message (MPEM) algorithm for the solution of the dynamic cavity equation as introduced, and present optimizations and extensions. Matrix product approximations of the edge messages are constructed recursively in an iteration over time. Computation costs and precision can be tuned by controlling the matrix dimensions of the MPEM in truncations. Without truncations, the dynamics is exact. Data for Glauber–Ising dynamics shows a linear growth of computation costs in time. In contrast to Monte Carlo simulations, the approach has a much better error scaling. Hence, it gives for example access to low probability events and decaying observables like temporal correlations. Here, we discuss optimized truncation schemes and an extension that allows to capture models which have a continuum time limit.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

Stable high-pressure phases in the H-S system determined by chemically reacting hydrogen and sulfur

Synchrotron x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy have been used to study the chemical reactions of molecular hydrogen (H 2 ) with sulfur (S) at high pressures. We find theoretically predicted Cccm and Im3¯m H 3 S to be the reaction products at 50 and 140 GPa, respectively. Im3¯m H 3 S is a stable crystalline phase above 140 GPa and it transforms to R 3 m H 3 S on pressure release below 140 GPa. Here, the latter phase is (meta)stable down to at least 70 GPa where it transforms to Cccm H 3 S upon annealing (T < 1300 K) to overcome the kinetic hindrance. Cccm H 3 S has an extended structure with symmetric hydrogen bonds at 50 GPa, and upon decompression it experiences a transformation to a molecular mixed H 2 S – H 2 structure below 40 GPa without any apparent change in the crystal symmetry.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

How do spherical black holes grow monopole hair?

Black holes in certain modified gravity theories that contain a scalar field coupled to curvature invariants are known to possess (monopole) scalar hair while non-black-hole spacetimes (like neutron stars) do not. Therefore, as a neutron star collapses to a black hole, scalar hair must grow until it settles to the stationary black hole solution with (monopole) hair. In this paper, we study this process in detail and show that the growth of scalar hair is tied to the appearance and growth of the event horizon (before an apparent horizon forms), which forces scalar modes that would otherwise (in the future) become divergent to be radiated away. We prove this result rigorously in general first for a large class of modified theories, and then we exemplify the results by studying the temporal evolution of the scalar field in scalar Gauss-Bonnet gravity in two backgrounds: (i) a collapsing Oppenheimer-Snyder background, and (ii) a collapsing neutron star background. In case (i), we find an exact scalar field solution analytically, while in case (ii) we solve for the temporal evolution of the scalar field numerically, with both cases supporting the conclusion presented above. Thus, our results suggest that the emission of a burst of scalar field radiation is a necessary condition for black hole formation in a large class of modified theories of gravity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Open quantum systems for quarkonia

I review recent applications of the open quantum system framework in the understanding of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions, which has been used as a probe of the quark–gluon plasma for decades. The derivation of the Lindblad equations for quarkonium in both the quantum Brownian motion and the quantum optical limits and their semiclassical counterparts is explained. The hierarchy of time scales assumed in the derivation is justified from the separation of energy scales in nonrelativistic effective field theories of QCD. Physical implications of the open quantum system approach are also discussed. Finally, I list some open questions for future studies.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Dark World: A Tale of WASP-43b in Reflected Light with HST WFC3/UVIS

Optical reflected light eclipse observations provide a direct probe of exoplanet scattering properties, such as from aerosols. We present here the photometric reflected light observations of WASP-43b using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3/UVIS instrument with the F350LP filter (346–822 nm) encompassing the entire optical band. This is the first reflected light photometric eclipse using UVIS in scanning mode; as such, we further detail our scanning extraction and analysis pipeline Arctor. Our HST WFC3/UVIS eclipse light curve for WASP-43b derived a 3σ upper limit of 67 ppm on the eclipse depth, which implies that WASP-43b has a very dark dayside atmosphere. With our atmospheric modeling campaign, we compared our reflected light constraints with predictions from global circulation and cloud models benchmarked with HST and Spitzer observations of WASP-43b. We infer that we do not detect clouds on the dayside within the pressure levels probed by HST WFC3/UVIS with the F350LP filter (P > 1 bar). This is consistent with the general circulation model predictions based on previous WASP-43b observations. Dayside emission spectroscopy results from WASP-43b with HST and Spitzer observations are likely to not be significantly affected by contributions from cloud particles.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2018

Passive wavelength tuning and multichannel photonic coupling using monolithically integrated vertical microresonators on ridge waveguides

The passive tuning of the resonant coupling wavelength in a SiN x vertical microring coupler (VμRC) monolithically integrated on a ridge waveguide by engineering the structural parameters of the VμRCs is experimentally demonstrated and theoretically verified. Multi-channel photonic coupling is achieved by integrating two different VμRCs on a single ridge waveguide. This work represents here a critical step to 3D photonic integration using VμRCs.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

Huygens triviality of the time-independent Schrödinger equation. Applications to atomic and high energy physics

Huygens triviality – a concept invented by Jacques Hadamard – describes an equivalence class connecting those 2nd order partial differential equations which are transformable into the wave equation. In this work it is demonstrated, that the Schrödinger equation with the time-independent Hamiltonian belongs to such an equivalence class. The wave equation is the equation for which Huygens’ principle (HP) holds. The HP was a subject of confusion in both physics and mathematics literature for a long time. Not surprisingly, the role of this principle was obscured from the beginnings of quantum mechanics causing some theoretical and experimental misunderstandings. The purpose of this work is to bring the full clarity into this topic. By doing so, we obtained a large amount of new results related to uses of Lie sphere geometry, of twistors, of Dupin cyclides, of null electromagnetic fields, of AdS-CFT correspondence, of Penrose limits, of geometric algebra, etc. in physical problems ranging from the atomic to high energy physics and cosmology.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

A WENO-solver combined with adaptive momentum discretization for the Wigner transport equation and its application to resonant tunneling diodes

We present a novel numerical scheme for the deterministic solution of the Wigner transport equation, especially suited to deal with situations in which strong quantum effects are present. The unique feature of the algorithm is the expansion of the Wigner function in local basis functions, similar to finite element or finite volume methods. This procedure yields a discretization of the pseudo-differential operator that conserves the particle density on arbitrarily chosen grids. The high flexibility in refining the grid spacing together with the weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme for the advection term allows for an accurate and well-resolved simulation of the phase space dynamics. A resonant tunneling diode is considered as test case and a detailed convergence study is given by comparing the results to a non-equilibrium Green's functions calculation. The impact of the considered domain size and of the grid spacing is analyzed. The obtained convergence of the results towards a quasi-exact agreement of the steady state Wigner and Green's functions computations demonstrates the accuracy of the scheme, as well as the high flexibility to adjust to different physical situations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Using Pulsar Parameter Drifts to Detect Subnanohertz Gravitational Waves

Gravitational waves with frequencies below 1 nHz are notoriously difficult to detect. With periods exceeding current experimental lifetimes, they induce slow drifts in observables rather than periodic correlations. Observables with well-known intrinsic contributions provide a means to probe this regime. In this Letter, we demonstrate the viability of using observed pulsar timing parameters to discover such “ultralow” frequency gravitational waves, presenting two complementary observables for which the systematic shift induced by ultralow-frequency gravitational waves can be extracted. Using existing data for these parameters, we search the ultralow-frequency regime for continuous-wave signals, finding a sensitivity near the expected prediction from inspirals of supermassive black holes. We do not see an excess in the data, setting a limit on the strain of 1.3 × 10 –12 at 450 pHz with a sensitivity dropping approximately quadratically with frequency until 10 pHz. Finally, our search method opens a new frequency range for gravitational wave detection and has profound implications for astrophysics, cosmology, and particle physics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

The Kondo lattice state in the presence of Van Hove singularities: Next-to-leading order scaling

Renormalization group analysis of the Kondo model with a logarithmic Van Hove singularity in the electron density of states has been carried out in the next-to-leading scaling approximation in different magnetic phases. The effective coupling constant remains small, while the renormalized magnetic moment and the frequency of spin fluctuations decrease by several orders of magnitude. In this way, broad regions of non-Fermi-liquid behavior are found from scaling trajectories in a large interval of the bare coupling constant. Applications to the physics of itinerant magnetism are considered.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

On the Enthalpy and Entropy of Point Defect Formation in Crystals

A standard way to determine the formation enthalpy H and entropy S of point defect formation in crystals consists in the application of the Arrhenius equation for the defect concentration. In this work, we show that a formal use of this method actually gives the effective (apparent) values of these quantities, which appear to be significantly overestimated. The underlying physical reason lies in temperature-dependent formation enthalpy of the defects, which is controlled by temperature dependence of the elastic moduli. We present an evaluation of the “true” H- and S-values for aluminum, which are derived on the basis of experimental data by taking into account temperature dependence of the formation enthalpy related to temperature dependence of the elastic moduli. The knowledge of the “true” activation parameters is needed for a correct calculation of the defect concentration constituting thus an issue of major importance for different fundamental and application issues of condensed matter physics and chemistry.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

An Isomorphism between Lyapunov Exponents and Shannon's Channel Capacity

We demonstrate that discrete Lyapunov exponents are isomorphic to numeric overflows of the capacity of an arbitrary noiseless and memoryless channel in a Shannon communication model with feedback. The isomorphism allows the understanding of Lyapunov exponents in terms of Information Theory, rather than the traditional definitions in chaos theory. The result also implies alternative approaches to the calculation of related quantities, such as the Kolmogorov Sinai entropy which has been linked to thermodynamic entropy. This work provides a bridge between fundamental physics and information theory. It suggests, among other things, that machine learning and other information theory methods can be employed at the core of physics simulations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Deep Conservation: A latent dynamics model for exact satisfaction of physical conservation laws [Report]

This work proposes an approach for latent dynamics learning that exactly enforces physical conservation laws. The method comprises two steps. First, we compute a low-dimensional embedding of the high-dimensional dynamical-system state using deep convolutional autoencoders. This defines a low-dimensional nonlinear manifold on which the state is subsequently enforced to evolve. Second, we define a latent dynamics model that associates with a constrained optimization problem. Specifically, the objective function is defined as the sum of squares of conservation-law violations over control volumes in a finite-volume discretization of the problem; nonlinear equality constraints explicitly enforce conservation over prescribed subdomains of the problem. The resulting dynamics model—which can be considered as a projection-based reduced-order model—ensures that the time-evolution of the latent state exactly satisfies conservation laws over the prescribed subdomains. In contrast to existing methods for latent dynamics learning, this is the only method that both employs a nonlinear embedding and computes dynamics for the latent state that guarantee the satisfaction of prescribed physical properties. Numerical experiments on a benchmark advection problem illustrate the method's ability to significantly reduce the dimensionality while enforcing physical conservation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Physics Flash [Newsletter] Winter 2020

The Winter 2020 edition of the Physics Flash newsletter is provided, highlighting activities in the LANL Physical Science Directorate.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Parameterized Neural Ordinary Differential Equations: Applications to Computational Physics Problems

This work proposes an extension of neural ordinary differential equations (NODEs) by introducing an additional set of ODE input parameters to NODEs. This extension allows NODEs to learn multiple dynamics specified by the input parameter instances. Our extension is inspired by the concept of parameterized ordinary differential equations, which are widely investigated in computational science and engineering contexts, where characteristics of the governing equations vary over the input parameters. We apply the proposed parameterized NODEs (PNODEs) for learning latent dynamics of complex dynamical processes that arise in computational physics, which is an essential component for enabling rapid numerical simulations for time-critical physics applications. For this, we propose an encoder-decoder-type framework, which models latent dynamics as PNODEs. We demonstrate the effectiveness of PNODEs with important benchmark problems from computational physics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗