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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
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DOE OSTI2024

Ab initio computations of strongly deformed nuclei near Zr 80

Nuclei around N ≈ Z ≈ 40 are strongly deformed and exhibit coexistence of shapes. These phenomena have challenged nuclear models. Here, we perform ab initio coupled-cluster computations of low-lying collective states and electromagnetic quadrupole transitions of the even-even nuclei 72 Kr, 76,78 Sr, 78,80 Zr, and 84 Mo starting from chiral nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon forces. Our calculations reproduce the coexistence of oblate and prolate shapes in these nuclei, yield rotational bands and strong electromagnetic transitions, but are not accurate for some observables and nuclei. Finally, these results highlight the advances and challenges of ab initio computations of heavy deformed nuclei.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

High-precision mass measurement of 103 Sn restores smoothness of the mass surface

As a step towards the ultimate goal of a high-precision mass measurement of doubly magic 100 Sn, the mass of 103 Sn was measured at the Low Energy Beam and Ion Trap (LEBIT) located at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). Utilizing the time-of-flight ion cyclotron resonance technique, a mass uncertainty of 3.7 keV was achieved, an improvement by more than an order of magnitude compared to a recent measurement performed in 2023 at the Cooler Storage Ring (CSRe) in Lanzhou. Although the LEBIT and CSRe mass measurements of 103 Sn are in agreement, they diverge from the experimental mass value reported in the 2016 version of the Atomic Mass Evaluation (AME2016), which was derived from the measured 𝑄 𝛽 + value and the mass of 103 In. In AME2020, this indirectly measured 103 Sn mass was classified as a “seriously irregular mass” and replaced with an extrapolated value, which aligns with the most recent measured values from CSRe and LEBIT. As such, the smoothness of the mass surface is confidently reestablished for 103 Sn. Here, LEBIT's mass measurement of 103 Sn enabled a significant reduction in the mass uncertainties of five parent isotopes which are now dominated by uncertainties in their respective 𝑄 values.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Yrast structures of 98 Nb and 99 Mo

Neutron-rich nuclei in the A ≈ 100 mass region are interesting due to a rapid shape transition, especially pronounced in the Zr isotopes, and more recently observed in Nb isotopes. 98 Nb, with only one proton and one neutron outside the subshell closure nucleus of 96 Zr, is amenable to shell model calculations. To further examine the rapid shape transition the yrast structure of 98 Nb was established in this work. This was the only yrast structure missing from all immediate neighbors to 96 Zr. The yrast structure of 98 Nb was studied in the fission of the compound systems formed in three heavy-ion induced reactions, 24 Mg (134.5 MeV) + 173 Yb, 23 Na (129 MeV) + 176 Yb, and 18 O (91 MeV) + 208 Pb. Prompt γ-ray spectroscopy was accomplished using the Gammasphere array. Excitation energies up to 3 MeV were observed for the first time in 98 Nb. The yrast structure above the previously known (5) + isomer was established. In the process of studying 98 Nb the yrast structure of positive-parity states in 99 Mo was extended to 3.7 MeV excitation energy, the previously-known 99 Nb level scheme was enriched, and two new levels were added in the level scheme of 97 Zr. The coupling of the odd proton occupying the g 9/2 orbital to the yrast states in the core nucleus of 97 Zr can account for all observed states in 98 Nb. The yrast structure for the positive-parity states of 99 Mo is compared to the deformed ground-state bands of the 101 Ru isotone and of 98,100 Mo.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of the 175 Hf half-life

Hafnium-175 is a useful radioisotope for numerous applications; however, its evaluated half-life (70 ± 2 days) has a large uncertainty. To enable a new measurement of the half-life, 175 Hf was produced via proton irradiation of natural lutetium and chemically purified. The 175 Hf sample was counted approximately once a month with three high-purity germanium detectors for 13 months (~5.5 half-lives). A 133 Ba standard was counted in an identical manner to quantify systematic uncertainties over the measurement period. In conclusion, the measured 175 Hf half-life is 69.90 ± 0.07 days, in agreement with the evaluated value, but with significantly reduced uncertainty.

150 ≤ A ≤ 189↗
DOE OSTI2025

Improved structure of calcium isotopes from ab initio calculations

The in-medium similarity renormalization group (IMSRG) is a powerful and flexible many-body method to compute the structure of nuclei starting from nuclear forces. Recent developments have extended the IMSRG from its standard truncation at the normal-ordered two-body level, the IMSRG(2), to a precision approximation including normal-ordered three-body operators, the IMSRG(3)-N 7 . This improvement provides a more precise solution to the many-body problem and makes it possible to quantify many-body uncertainties in IMSRG calculations. We explore the structure of 44,48,52 Ca using the IMSRG(3)-N 7 , focusing on understanding existing discrepancies of the IMSRG(2) to experimental results. We find a significantly better description of the first 2 + excitation energy of 48 Ca, improving the description of the shell closure at N=28. At the same time, we find that the IMSRG(3)-N 7 corrections to charge radii do not resolve the systematic underprediction of the puzzling large charge radius difference between 52 Ca and 48 Ca. We present estimates of many-body uncertainties of IMSRG(2) calculations applicable also to other systems based on the size extensivity of the method.

39 ≤ A ≤ 58↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reinvestigation of the level structures of the even-even nuclei 90 Zr and 92 Zr

Excited states of 90 Zr and 92 Zr were investigated using the fusion reactions 6 Li + 89 Y and 14 N + 82 Se , respectively. Based on the experimental data, 5 and 18 new 𝛾 rays have been added to the level schemes of 90 Zr and 92 Zr , respectively. The level structures of 90 Zr and 92 Zr have been interpreted with shell-model calculations using the GWBXG and SNET effective interactions. The neutron core-breaking and the importance of the 1⁢𝑔 7/2 and 1⁢ℎ 11/2 orbits for high-spin states of 92 Zr were discussed. Finally, the excitation energy of the neutron core-breaking of nuclei in the 𝐴=90 region was compared.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quantum magic and multipartite entanglement in the structure of nuclei

Motivated by the Gottesman-Knill theorem, we present a detailed study of the quantum complexity of p -shell and s d -shell nuclei. Valence-space nuclear shell-model wave functions generated by the code are mapped to qubit registers using the Jordan-Wigner mapping (12 qubits for the p shell and 24 qubits for the s d shell), from which measures of the many-body entanglement ( n -tangles) and magic (nonstabilizerness) are determined. While exact evaluations of these measures are possible for nuclei with a modest number of active nucleons, Monte Carlo simulations are required for the more complex nuclei. The broadly applicable Pauli-string I ̂ Z ̂ exact (PSIZe) Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique is introduced to accelerate the evaluation of measures of magic in deformed nuclei (with hierarchical wave functions), by factors of ≈ 8 for some nuclei. Significant multinucleon entanglement is found in the s d shell, dominated by proton-neutron configurations, along with significant measures of magic. This is evident not only for the deformed states, but also for nuclei on the path to instability via regions of shape coexistence and level inversion. These results indicate that quantum-computing resources will accelerate precision simulations of such nuclei and beyond. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Using DAPPER to extract the photon strength function of 58 Fe using the inverse Oslo and shape methods

The photon strength function of 58 Fe has been extracted using both the Oslo and Shape methods from particle–γ coincidence data measured using the Detector Array for Photons, Protons, and Exotic Residues, which probes nuclei utilizing (d,p) reactions in inverse kinematics. Four particle–γ coincidence matrices, each constructed with different treatments of the γ–ray energies, are explored in order to observe the impact on the resulting nuclear level density and photon strength. The final photon strength function reported is found to agree well with previous Oslo measurements of other iron isotopes. Systematic uncertainties are included, using different model parameters and their reported errors to perform the Oslo method normalization. The model-independent Shape method is explored and the functional form of the photon strength function obtained is in agreement with the Oslo method results. A low-energy enhancement is not reported for 58 Fe in this work given possible subtraction issues originating from strongly populated states.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Coupling between collective modes in the deformed 98 Zr nucleus: Insights from consistent HFB + QRPA calculations with the Gogny interaction

The zirconium isotopes exhibit structural properties that present multiple challenges to nuclear theory. Investigations of the coupling present within isoscalar modes and within isovector modes are scarce but important for advancing our understanding of the microscopic picture of nuclei. To explore some of these underlying coupling features, and to test the predictive power of a state-of-the-art nuclear structure approach, we provide a detailed analysis of the properties of 90,96,98 Zr . This region includes a benchmarking case and offers insights into nuclear deformation phenomena. Here, to investigate the coupling between collective modes in deformed nuclei, we focused our analysis on the ground and excited-state properties of these isotopes, employing a consistent approach with the axially symmetric deformed Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) and the quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) framework, both using the Gogny D1M force. This approach effectively describes both low-lying and giant-resonance states. We devoted special attention to the deformed 98 Zr nucleus, where we confirm the existence of coupling between monopole and quadrupole excitations through the 𝐾 𝜋 = 0 + QRPA components and demonstrate an analogous dipole-octupole coupling through the 𝐾 𝜋 = 0 − and 𝐾 𝜋 = 1 − components. Intrinsic transition densities and associated radial projections illustrate the coupling. Our work complements and extends earlier studies carried out using density-functional-based methods and notably, we included the complete Coulomb interaction also in the pairing fields, i.e., we treat terms exactly that are approximated in typical calculations that use the Gogny D1 and D2 interaction families.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Production of neutron-rich isotopes for 𝑍 ≥ 98 in the 238 U + 248 Cm reaction

Multinucleon transfer (MNT) reactions in actinide systems are a promising method to synthesize transuranium neutron-rich elements. Appropriate theoretical approaches are needed to understand the mechanisms behind MNT. We employ a microscopic approach to calculate neutron-rich isotope production in the reaction 238 U + 248 Cm system. Here, the stochastic mean-field (SMF) approach is used to calculate the primary cross sections in MNT reactions based on the quasifission and inverse quasifission processes, and a statistical de-excitation model with GEMINI ++ code to calculate the secondary fragment cross sections. The calculated cross sections using SMF and GEMINI ++ explain available experimental results for the 238 U + 248 Cm system at 𝐸 c.m. = 898.7 MeV energy. This shows the effectiveness and applicability of the quantal diffusion approach, based on the SMF theory, in heavy-ion collisions. Production of transuranium neutron-rich elements with a proton number up to 𝑍=101 is obtained with sizable cross sections. Theoretical results calculated for the 𝑍=102–105 region, for which there are no experimental data, show that the cross-section values would be lower than the microbarn level. SMF theory does not contain any adjustable parameters other than the standard parameters of the energy density functional used in the TDHF theory and is an important approach for the microscopic understanding of reaction mechanisms.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Toward scalable bound-to-resonance extrapolations for few- and many-body systems

In open quantum many-body systems, the theoretical description of resonant states of many particles strongly coupled to the continuum can be challenging. Such states are commonplace in, for example, exotic nuclei and hadrons, and can reveal important information about the underlying forces at play in these systems. In this work, we demonstrate that the complex-augmented eigenvector continuation (CA-EC) method, originally formulated for the two-body problem with uniform complex scaling, can reliably perform bound-to-resonance extrapolations for genuine three-body resonances having no bound subsystems. Here, we first establish that three-body bound-to-resonance extrapolations are possible by benchmarking different few-body approaches, and we provide arguments to explain how the extrapolation works in the many-body case. We furthermore pave the way towards scalable resonance extrapolations in many-body systems by showing that the CA-EC method also works in the Berggren basis, studying a realistic application using the Gamow shell model.

Ab initio calculations↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data-driven analysis of dipole strength functions using artificial neural networks

Here, we present a data-driven analysis of dipole strength functions across the nuclear chart, employing an artificial neural network to model nuclear dipole responses. We train the network on a dataset of experimentally measured dipole strength functions for 216 different nuclei. To assess its predictive capability, we test the trained model on an additional set of 10 new nuclei, where experimental data exist. We demonstrate that the artificial neural network not only accurately reproduces known data but also identifies potential inconsistencies in experimental datasets, indicating which results may warrant further review or possible rejection. For nuclei where experimental data are sparse or unavailable, the network confirms theoretical calculations, reinforcing its utility as a predictive tool in nuclear physics. Finally, utilizing the predicted electric dipole polarizability, we extract the value of the symmetry energy at saturation density and find it consistent with results from the literature.

artificial neural networks↗
DOE OSTI2023

Multidifferential study of identified charged hadron distributions in Z -tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =13$ TeV

Jet fragmentation functions are measured for the first time in proton-proton collisions for charged pions, kaons, and protons within jets recoiling against a Z boson. The charged-hadron distributions are studied longitudinally and transversely to the jet direction for jets with transverse momentum 20 < p T < 100 GeV and in the pseudorapidity range 2.5 < η <4. The data sample was collected with the LHCb experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.64 fb –1 . Triple differential distributions as a function of the hadron longitudinal momentum fraction, hadron transverse momentum, and jet transverse momentum are also measured for the first time. This helps constrain transverse-momentum-dependent fragmentation functions. Differences in the shapes and magnitudes of the measured distributions for the different hadron species provide insights into the hadronization process for jets predominantly initiated by light quarks.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Moments of parton distribution functions of any order from lattice QCD

We describe a procedure to determine moments of parton distribution functions of any order in lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The procedure is based on the gradient flow for fermion and gauge fields. The flowed matrix elements of twist-2 operators renormalize multiplicatively, and the matching with the physical matrix elements can be obtained using continuum symmetries and the irreducible representations of Euclidean 4-dimensional rotations. We calculate the matching coefficients at one-loop in perturbation theory for moments of any order in the flavor nonsinglet case. We also give specific examples of operators that could be used in lattice QCD computations. It turns out that it is possible to choose operators with identical Lorentz indices and still have a multiplicative matching. One can thus use twist-2 operators exclusively with temporal indices, thus substantially improving the signal-to-noise ratio in the computation of the hadronic matrix elements.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗