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At least 667 records · Page 37
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Quantum chromodynamics resolution of the ATOMKI anomaly in 4 He nuclear transitions

Observations of anomalous angular correlations in electron-positron pairs produced from excited states of 4 He, 8 Be, and 12 C nuclei have been suggested as being due to the creation and subsequent decay of a new light particle of mass ~17MeV. In this work, we investigate the possibility that the source of the observed signals is a set of new excitation channels created by the 12-quark hidden-color Fock state within the 4 He nuclear wave function dubbed the “hexadiquark.” We calculate the invariant e + ⁢ e - mass spectrum for the electromagnetic transition from a new excitation of 4 He, estimating its differential and total decay width. We find that we can fit the shape of the anomalous signal with the QCD Fock state at excitation energy E* = 17.9 ± 1MeV and a Gaussian form factor for the electromagnetic decay. We address the physical issues with the fit parameters using properties of the hexadiquark state, in particular the three weakly repulsive 6 C interactions of SU⁡(3) C between diquark pairs. Experimental tests of our model are described in detail. In light of this work, we emphasize the need for independent experimental confirmation or refutation of the ATOMKI results as well as dedicated experiments to search for the proposed new excitations of 4 He and other a-cluster nuclei.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1994

Electronically Controlled Mechanical Seal for Aerospace Applications -- Part 1: Design, Analysis, and Steady State Tests

An electronically-controlled mechanial seal, for use as the purge gas seal in a liquid oxygen turbopump, has been designed, analyzed, and built. The thickness of the lubricating film between the faces is controlled by adjusting the coning of the carbon face. This is done by applying a voltage across a piezoelectric element to which the carbon face is bound. Steady state tests have shown that the leakage rate (and film thickness) can be adjusted over a substantial range, utilizing the available range of voltage.

Salant, Richard F.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Almost strong zero modes at finite temperature

Interacting fermionic chains exhibit extended regions of topological degeneracy of their ground states as a result of the presence of Majorana or parafermionic zero modes localized at the edges. In the opposite limit of infinite temperature, the corresponding nonintegrable spin chains, obtained via generalized Jordan-Wigner mapping, are known to host so-called almost strong zero modes, which are long-lived with respect to any bulk excitations. Here we study the fairly unexplored territory that bridges these two extreme cases of zero and infinite temperature. We blend two established techniques for states, the Lanczos series expansion and a tensor network ansatz, uplifting them to the level of operator algebra. This allows us to efficiently simulate large system sizes for arbitrarily long timescales and to extract the temperature-dependent decay rates. We observe that for the Kitaev-Hubbard model, the decay rate of the edge mode depends exponentially on the inverse temperature 𝛽, and on an effective energy scale Δ eff that is greater than the thermodynamic gap of the system Δ.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS2016

Electronically Excited States of Anistropically Extended Singly-Deprotonated PAH Anions

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) play a significant role in the chemistry of the interstellar medium (ISM) as well as in hydrocarbon combustion. These molecules can have high levels of diversity with the inclusion of heteroatoms and the addition or removal of hydrogens to form charged or radical species. There is an abundance of data on the cationic forms of these molecules, but there have been many fewer studies on the anionic species. The present study focuses on the anionic forms of deprotonated PAHs. It has been shown in previous work that PAHs containing nitrogen heteroatoms (PANHs) have the ability to form valence excited states giving anions electronic absorption features. This work analyzes how the isoelectronic pure PAHs behave under similar structural constructions. Singly-deprotonated forms of benzene, naphthalene, anthracene, and teteracene classes are examined. None of the neutral-radicals possess dipole moments large enough to support dipole-bound excited states in their corresponding closed-shell anions. Even though the PANH anion derivatives support valence excited states for three-ringed structures, it is not until four-ringed structures of the pure PAH anion derivatives that valence excited states are exhibited. However, anisotropically-extended PAHs larger than tetracene will likely exhibit valence excited states. The relative energies for the anion isomers are very small for all of the systems in this study.

Theis, Mallory L.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Intruder configurations in 29 Ne at the transition into the island of inversion: Detailed structure study of 28 Ne

Detailed γ-ray spectroscopy of the exotic neon isotope 28 Ne has been performed for the first time using the one-neutron removal reaction from 29 Ne on a liquid hydrogen target at 240 MeV/nucleon. Based on an analysis of parallel momentum distributions, a level scheme with spin-parity assignments has been constructed for 28 Ne and the negative-parity states are identified for the first time. The measured partial cross sections and momentum distributions reveal a significant intruder p-wave strength providing evidence of the breakdown of the N=20 and N=28 shell gaps. Only a weak, possible f-wave strength was observed to bound final states. Large-scale shell-model calculations with different effective interactions do not reproduce the large p-wave and small f-wave strength observed experimentally, indicating an ongoing challenge for a complete theoretical description of the transition into the island of inversion along the Ne isotopic chain.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Ab initio exploration of low–lying electronic states of linear and bent MNX + (M = Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra; X = O, S, Se, Te, Po) and their origins

High-level multireference and coupled cluster quantum calculations were employed to analyze low-lying electronic states of linear-MNX + and side-bonded-M[NX] + (M = Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra; X = O, S, Se, Te, Po) species. Their full potential energy curves (PECs), dissociation energies (D e s), geometric parameters, excitation energies (T e s), and harmonic vibrational frequencies (ω e s) are reported. The first three chemically bound electronic states of MNX + and M[NX] + are 3 Σ – , 1 Δ, 1 Σ + and 3 A", 1 A', 1 A", respectively. The 3 Σ – , 1 Δ, 1 Σ + of MNX + originate from the M + ( 2 D) + NX( 2 Π) fragments, whereas the 3 A", 1 A', 1A" states of M[NX] + dissociate to M + ( 2 S) + NX( 2 Π) as a result of avoided crossings. The MNX + and M[NX] + are real minima on the potential energy surface and their interconversions are possible. The M 2+ NX – /M 2+ [NX] – ionic structure is an accurate representation for their low-lying electronic states. The D e s of MNX + species were found to depend on the dipole moment (μ) of the corresponding NX ligands and a linear relationship between these two parameters was observed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Loosely bound composite dark matter

We investigate loosely bound composite states made of dark matter, where the binding energy for constituent particles is considerably less than the constituent mass. We focus on models of nuclear and molecular dark matter, where constituents are separated by length scales larger than the inverse constituent mass, just like nuclei and atoms in the Standard Model. The cosmology, structure, and interactions at underground experiments are described. We find that loosely bound composites can have a very large cross section for scattering with nuclei that scales with nucleon number like ∼ A 4 . For some couplings, these composites produce extremely soft (≪ keV) individual atomic recoils while depositing a large amount of total recoil energy (≫ keV) in a single passage through a detector, implying an interesting new class of signatures for low threshold direct detection.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Glycerol Binding at the Narrow Channel of Photosystem II Stabilizes the Low-Spin S 2 State of the Oxygen-Evolving Complex

The oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II (PSII) cycles through redox intermediate states S i (i = 0–4) during the photochemical oxidation of water. The S 2 state involves an equilibrium of two isomers including the low-spin S 2 (LS-S 2 ) state with its characteristic electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) multiline signal centered at g = 2.0, and a high-spin S 2 (HS-S 2 ) state with its g = 4.1 EPR signal. The relative intensities of the two EPR signals change under experimental conditions that shift the HS-S 2 /LS-S 2 state equilibrium. Here, we analyze the effect of glycerol on the relative stability of the LS-S 2 and HS-S 2 states when bound at the narrow channel of PSII, as reported in an X-ray crystal structure of cyanobacterial PSII. Our quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) hybrid models of cyanobacterial PSII show that the glycerol molecule perturbs the hydrogen-bond network in the narrow channel, increasing the pK a of D1-Asp61 and stabilizing the LS-S 2 state relative to the HS-S 2 state. Here, the reported results are consistent with the absence of the HS-S 2 state EPR signal in native cyanobacterial PSII EPR spectra and suggest that the narrow water channel hydrogen-bond network regulates the relative stability of OEC catalytic intermediates during water oxidation.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of single- and double-polarization observables in the photoproduction of 𝜋 + ⁢𝜋 − meson pairs off the proton using CLAS at Jefferson Laboratory

The photoproduction of 𝜋 + ⁢𝜋 − meson pairs off the proton has been studied in the reaction 𝛾⁢𝑝→𝑝⁢𝜋 + ⁢𝜋 − using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) and the frozen-spin target (FROST) in Hall B at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. For the first time, the beam and target asymmetries, 𝐼 𝑠,𝑐 and 𝑃 𝑥,𝑦 , have been measured along with the beam-target double-polarization observables, 𝑃$^{𝑠,𝑐}_{𝑥,𝑦}$, using a transversely polarized target with center-of-mass energies ranging from 1.51 GeV up to 2.04 GeV. These data and additional 𝜋⁢𝜋 photoproduction observables from CLAS and experiments elsewhere were included in a partial-wave analysis within the Bonn-Gatchina framework. Significant contributions from 𝑠-channel resonance production are observed in addition to 𝑡-channel exchange processes. The data indicate significant contributions from 𝑁* and Δ* resonances in the third and fourth resonance regions.

QCD phenomenology↗
DOE OSTI2026

Shuttling Majorana zero modes in disordered and noisy topological superconductors

The braiding of Majorana zero modes (MZMs) forms the fundamental building block for topological quantum computation. Braiding protocols which involve the physical exchange of MZMs are typically envisioned on a network of topological superconducting wires. An important component of these protocols is the transport of MZMs, which can be performed by using electric gates to locally tune sections of the wire between topologically trivial and nontrivial phases. In this work, we numerically simulate this transport by tuning a single section of a superconducting wire which contains either disorder (uncorrelated and correlated) or noise. We focus on the impact of these additional effects on the diabatic error, which describes unwanted transitions between the ground state and excited states. We show that the behavior of the average diabatic error is predominantly controlled by the statistics of the minimum bulk energy gap which is suppressed in the presence of disorder. The increase in diabatic error can be several orders of magnitude and is most deleterious when the disorder correlation length is a finite fraction of the transport distance and negligible when these lengths are far apart. In the presence of noise, the diabatic error is significantly enhanced due to optical transitions which depend on the minimum bulk energy gap as well as the frequency modes present in the noise. The results presented here serve to further characterize the diabatic error in disordered and noisy settings, which are important considerations in practical implementations of physical braiding schemes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Observation of a pseudoscalar excess at the top quark pair production threshold

A search for resonances in top quark pair ($t\overline{t}$) production in final states with two charged leptons and multiple jets is presented, based on proton–proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV , corresponding to 138 fb −1 . The analysis explores the invariant mass of the $t\overline{t}$ system and two angular observables that provide direct access to the correlation of top quark and antiquark spins. A significant excess of events is observed near the kinematic $t\overline{t}$ threshold compared to the non-resonant production predicted by fixed-order perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD). The observed enhancement is consistent with the production of a color-singlet pseudoscalar ($^1S^{[1]}_{0}$) quasi-bound toponium state, as predicted by non-relativistic quantum chromodynamics. Using a simplified model for $^1S^{[1]}_{0}$ toponium, the cross section of the excess above the pQCD prediction is measured to be $8.8^{+1.2}_{-1.4}$ pb.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

An energy-modified quantum defect method for the analysis of Rydberg spectra: Application to 2-butyne

The high resolution Rydberg absorption spectrum of 2-butyne C 4 H 6 recorded previously at the SOLEIL synchrotron facility has been interpreted using multichannel quantum defect theory (MQDT). The calculations are based on the continuum scattering calculations of Xu et al., J. Chem. Phys. 136, 154303 (2012) and of Jacovella et al., J. Phys. Chem. A 119, 12339 (2015) pertaining to the dipole-allowed excited state symmetries in absorption from the ground state. In contrast to the traditional approach of calculating low-lying electronic states first and then attempting to extend the calculations to ever higher energy, here the analysis proceeds through the extension of these detailed calculations of the electronic continuum scattering down into the discrete region of the spectrum. The continuum reaction matrices and dipole transition moments are adapted to the discrete Rydberg region via the use of an energy-modified formulation of MQDT theory and associated energy dependences of the quantum defects. The analysis reproduces more than 40 Rydberg states from n ≈ 10 down to the 3 d and 4 s levels with an rms error of better than 20 cm −1 . Further, these belong to five Rydberg series with three different molecular symmetries. While the approach predicts many additional series, most of these are calculated and observed to carry only little oscillator strength. The analysis shows that the Rydberg spectrum is dominated by the excitation of an e″ symmetry electron of fδ and gπ type, in line with what previous studies of the above-threshold shape resonance of 2-butyne have shown. The present study is intended to serve as an example showing how first principles continuum calculations may be useful for the interpretation of highly bound discrete states in a range that poses problems for the standard ab initio techniques. The quantitative treatment of the dipole absorption cross sections is deferred to a future paper.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Signature of a pair of Majorana zero modes in superconducting gold surface states

Under certain conditions, a fermion in a superconductor can separate in space into two parts known as Majorana zero modes, which are immune to decoherence from local noise sources and are attractive building blocks for quantum computers. Promising experimental progress has been made to demonstrate Majorana zero modes in materials with strong spin–orbit coupling proximity coupled to superconductors. Here we report signatures of Majorana zero modes in a material platform utilizing the surface states of gold. Using scanning tunneling microscope to probe EuS islands grown on top of gold nanowires, we observe two well-separated zero-bias tunneling conductance peaks aligned along the direction of the applied magnetic field, as expected for a pair of Majorana zero modes. This platform has the advantage of having a robust energy scale and the possibility of realizing complex designs using lithographic methods.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Observation of Unprecedented Fractional Magnetization Plateaus in a New Shastry-Sutherland Ising Compound

Geometrically frustrated magnetic systems, such as those based on the Shastry-Sutherland lattice (SSL), offer a rich playground for exploring unconventional magnetic states. The delicate balance between competing interactions in these systems leads to the emergence of novel phases. We present the characterization of Er 2 ⁢Be 2⁢ GeO 7 , an SSL compound with Er 3+ ions forming orthogonal dimers separated by nonmagnetic layers whose structure is invariant under the 𝑃⁢$\bar{4}21$⁢𝑚 space group. Neutron scattering reveals an antiferromagnetic dimer structure at zero field, typical of Ising spins on that lattice and consistent with the anisotropic magnetization observed. However, magnetization measurements exhibit fractional plateaus at 1/4 and 1/2 of saturation, in contrast to the expected 1/3 plateau of the SSL Ising model. By comparing the energy of candidate states with ground-state lower bounds we show that this behavior requires spatially anisotropic interactions, leading to an anisotropic Shastry-Sutherland Ising model symmetric under the 𝐶⁢𝑚⁢𝑚⁢2 space group. This anisotropy is consistent with the small orthorhombic distortion observed with single-crystal neutron diffraction. The other properties, including thermodynamics, which have been investigated theoretically using tensor networks, point to small residual interactions, potentially due to further couplings and quantum fluctuations. This study highlights Er 2 ⁢Be 2 ⁢GeO 7 as a promising platform for investigating exotic magnetic phenomena.

Yadav, Lalit [Duke University, Durham, NC (United ↗
DOE OSTI2026

Trajectory-independent speed limits for controlled open quantum systems

Existing quantum speed limits for controlled open quantum systems depend on the specified trajectory. For example, lower bounds on quantum annealing times in the presence of dissipation depend explicitly on the chosen annealing schedule. Recently, schedule-independent speed limits have been derived for annealing in the closed quantum system setting [L. P. García-Pintos et al ., SciPost Phys. 18 , 159 (2025)]. In this work, we generalize these results to open quantum systems, deriving schedule-independent lower bounds for quantum annealing times in systems described by a Lindblad master equation. We analyze the interplay between coherent control and dissipation in single- and two-qubit examples, demonstrating that the derived lower bounds capture key scaling behavior with respect to the strength of the dissipator. Finally, we apply the bound to thermal state preparation and show that the bound matches the expected asymptotic behavior for an Ising model in the high-temperature limit.

open quantum systems & decoherence↗
DOE OSTI2023

Many-Body Majorana Braiding without an Exponential Hilbert Space

Qubits built out of Majorana zero modes constitute the primary path toward topologically protected quantum computing. Simulating the braiding process of multiple Majorana zero modes corresponds to the quantum dynamics of a superconducting many-body system. It is crucial to study the Majorana dynamics both in the presence of all other quasiparticles and for reasonably large system sizes. We present a method to calculate arbitrary many-body wave functions as well as their expectation values, correlators, and overlaps from time evolved single-particle states of a superconductor, allowing for significantly larger system sizes. We calculate the fidelity, transition probabilities, and joint parities of Majorana pairs to track the quality of the braiding process. Here, we show how the braiding success depends on the speed of the braid. Moreover, we demonstrate the topological CNOT two-qubit gate as an example of two-qubit entanglement. Our Letter opens the path to test and analyze the many theoretical implementations of Majorana qubits. Moreover, this method can be used to study the dynamics of any noninteracting superconductor.

Majorana bound states↗
DOE OSTI2024

Influence of disorder on antidot vortex Majorana states in three-dimensional topological insulators

Topological insulator/superconductor two-dimensional heterostructures are promising candidates for realizing topological superconductivity and Majorana modes. In these systems, a vortex pinned by a prefabricated antidot in the superconductor can host Majorana zero-energy modes (MZMs), which are exotic quasiparticles that may enable quantum information processing. However, a major challenge is to design devices that can manipulate the information encoded in these MZMs. One of the key factors is to create small and clean antidots, so the MZMs, localized in the vortex core, have a large gap to other excitations. If the antidot is too large or too disordered, the level spacing for the subgap vortex states may become smaller than temperature. In this paper, we numerically investigate the effects of disorder, chemical potential, and antidot size on the subgap vortex spectrum, using a two-dimensional effective model of the topological insulator surface. Our model allows us to simulate large system sizes with vortices up to 1.8 µ⁢m in diameter (with a 6 nm lattice constant). We also compare our disorder model with the transport data from existing experiments. As a result, we find that the spectral gap can exhibit a nonmonotonic behavior as a function of disorder strength, and that it can be tuned by applying a gate voltage.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Optical Processes behind Plasmonic Applications

Plasmonics is a revolutionary concept in nanophotonics that combines the properties of both photonics and electronics by confining light energy to a nanometer-scale oscillating field of free electrons, known as a surface plasmon. Generation, processing, routing, and amplification of optical signals at the nanoscale hold promise for optical communications, biophotonics, sensing, chemistry, and medical applications. Surface plasmons manifest themselves as confined oscillations, allowing for optical nanoantennas, ultra-compact optical detectors, state-of-the-art sensors, data storage, and energy harvesting designs. Surface plasmons facilitate both resonant characteristics of nanostructures and guiding and controlling light at the nanoscale. Plasmonics and metamaterials enable the advancement of many photonic designs with unparalleled capabilities, including subwavelength waveguides, optical nanoresonators, super- and hyper-lenses, and light concentrators. Alternative plasmonic materials have been developed to be incorporated in the nanostructures for low losses and controlled optical characteristics along with semiconductor-process compatibility. This review describes optical processes behind a range of plasmonic applications. It pays special attention to the topics of field enhancement and collective effects in nanostructures. The advances in these research topics are expected to transform the domain of nanoscale photonics, optical metamaterials, and their various applications.

2D materials↗