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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 685 records · Page 38
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DOE OSTI2014

Interpretation of solar irradiance monitor measurements through analysis of 3D MHD simulations

Measurements from the Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM) on board the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment mission indicate that solar spectral irradiance at visible and IR wavelengths varies in counter phase with the solar activity cycle. The sign of these variations is not reproduced by most of the irradiance reconstruction techniques based on variations of surface magnetism employed so far, and it is not yet clear whether SIM calibration procedures need to be improved or if instead new physical mechanisms must be invoked to explain such variations. We employ three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the solar photosphere to investigate the dependence of solar radiance in SIM visible and IR spectral ranges on variations of the filling factor of surface magnetic fields. We find that the contribution of magnetic features to solar radiance is strongly dependent on the location on the disk of the features, which are negative close to disk center and positive toward the limb. If features are homogeneously distributed over a region around the equator (activity belt), then their contribution to irradiance is positive with respect to the contribution of HD snapshots, but decreases with the increase of their magnetic flux for average magnetic flux larger than 50 G in at least two of the visible and IR spectral bands monitored by SIM. Under the assumption that the 50 G snapshots are representative of quiet-Sun regions, we thus find that the Spectral Irradiance can be in counter-phase with the solar magnetic activity cycle.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Interpreting short gamma-ray burst progenitor kicks and time delays using the host galaxy-dark matter halo connection

Nearly 20% of short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) have no observed host galaxies. Combining this finding with constraints on galaxies' dark matter halo potential wells gives strong limits on the natal kick velocity distribution for sGRB progenitors. For the best-fitting velocity distribution, one in five sGRB progenitors receives a natal kick above 150 km s{sup –1}, consistent with merging neutron star models but not with merging white dwarf binary models. This progenitor model constraint is robust to a wide variety of systematic uncertainties, including the sGRB progenitor time-delay model, the Swift redshift sensitivity, and the shape of the natal kick velocity distribution. We also use constraints on the galaxy-halo connection to determine the host halo and host galaxy demographics for sGRBs, which match extremely well with available data. Most sGRBs are expected to occur in halos near 10{sup 12} M {sub ☉} and in galaxies near 5 × 10{sup 10} M {sub ☉} (L {sub *}); unobserved faint and high-redshift host galaxies contribute a small minority of the observed hostless sGRB fraction. We find that sGRB redshift distributions and host galaxy stellar masses weakly constrain the progenitor time-delay model; the active versus passive fraction of sGRB host galaxies may offer a stronger constraint. Finally, we discuss how searches for gravitational wave optical counterparts in the local universe can reduce follow-up times using these findings.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

OPTICALLY THICK H I DOMINANT IN THE LOCAL INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM: AN ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION TO ''DARK GAS''

Dark gas in the interstellar medium (ISM) is believed to not be detectable either in CO or H I radio emission, but it is detectable by other means including γ rays, dust emission, and extinction traced outside the Galactic plane at |b| > 5°. In these analyses, the 21 cm H I emission is usually assumed to be completely optically thin. We have reanalyzed the H I emission from the whole sky at |b| > 15° by considering temperature stratification in the ISM inferred from the Planck/IRAS analysis of the dust properties. The results indicate that the H I emission is saturated with an optical depth ranging from 0.5 to 3 for 85% of the local H I gas. This optically thick H I is characterized by spin temperature in the range 10 K-60 K, significantly lower than previously postulated in the literature, whereas such low temperature is consistent with emission/absorption measurements of the cool H I toward radio continuum sources. The distribution and the column density of the H I are consistent with those of the dark gas suggested by γ rays, and it is possible that the dark gas in the Galaxy is dominated by optically thick cold H I gas. This result implies that the average density of H I is 2-2.5 times higher than that derived on the optically thin assumption in the local ISM.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

A SEMI-ANALYTICAL LINE TRANSFER MODEL TO INTERPRET THE SPECTRA OF GALAXY OUTFLOWS

We present a semi-analytical line transfer model, (SALT), to study the absorption and re-emission line profiles from expanding galactic envelopes. The envelopes are described as a superposition of shells with density and velocity varying with the distance from the center. We adopt the Sobolev approximation to describe the interaction between the photons escaping from each shell and the remainder of the envelope. We include the effect of multiple scatterings within each shell, properly accounting for the atomic structure of the scattering ions. We also account for the effect of a finite circular aperture on actual observations. For equal geometries and density distributions, our models reproduce the main features of the profiles generated with more complicated transfer codes. Also, our SALT line profiles nicely reproduce the typical asymmetric resonant absorption line profiles observed in starforming/starburst galaxies whereas these absorption profiles cannot be reproduced with thin shells moving at a fixed outflow velocity. We show that scattered resonant emission fills in the resonant absorption profiles, with a strength that is different for each transition. Observationally, the effect of resonant filling depends on both the outflow geometry and the size of the outflow relative to the spectroscopic aperture. Neglecting these effects will lead to incorrect values of gas covering fraction and column density. When a fluorescent channel is available, the resonant profiles alone cannot be used to infer the presence of scattered re-emission. Conversely, the presence of emission lines of fluorescent transitions reveals that emission filling cannot be neglected.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

INTERPRETING THE GLOBAL 21-cm SIGNAL FROM HIGH REDSHIFTS. II. PARAMETER ESTIMATION FOR MODELS OF GALAXY FORMATION

Following our previous work, which related generic features in the sky-averaged (global) 21-cm signal to properties of the intergalactic medium, we now investigate the prospects for constraining a simple galaxy formation model with current and near-future experiments. Markov-Chain Monte Carlo fits to our synthetic data set, which includes a realistic galactic foreground, a plausible model for the signal, and noise consistent with 100 hr of integration by an ideal instrument, suggest that a simple four-parameter model that links the production rate of Lyα, Lyman-continuum, and X-ray photons to the growth rate of dark matter halos can be well-constrained (to ∼0.1 dex in each dimension) so long as all three spectral features expected to occur between 40 ≲ ν/MHz ≲ 120 are detected. Several important conclusions follow naturally from this basic numerical result, namely that measurements of the global 21-cm signal can in principle (i) identify the characteristic halo mass threshold for star formation at all redshifts z ≳ 15, (ii) extend z ≲ 4 upper limits on the normalization of the X-ray luminosity star formation rate (L{sub X}–SFR) relation out to z ∼ 20, and (iii) provide joint constraints on stellar spectra and the escape fraction of ionizing radiation at z ∼ 12. Though our approach is general, the importance of a broadband measurement renders our findings most relevant to the proposed Dark Ages Radio Explorer, which will have a clean view of the global 21-cm signal from ∼40 to 120 MHz from its vantage point above the radio-quiet, ionosphere-free lunar far-side.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

INTERPRETING THE UNRESOLVED INTENSITY OF COSMOLOGICALLY REDSHIFTED LINE RADIATION

Intensity mapping experiments survey the spectrum of diffuse line radiation rather than detect individual objects at high signal-to-noise ratio. Spectral maps of unresolved atomic and molecular line radiation contain three-dimensional information about the density and environments of emitting gas and efficiently probe cosmological volumes out to high redshift. Intensity mapping survey volumes also contain all other sources of radiation at the frequencies of interest. Continuum foregrounds are typically ∼10{sup 2}–10{sup 3} times brighter than the cosmological signal. The instrumental response to bright foregrounds will produce new spectral degrees of freedom that are not known in advance, nor necessarily spectrally smooth. The intrinsic spectra of foregrounds may also not be well known in advance. We describe a general class of quadratic estimators to analyze data from single-dish intensity mapping experiments and determine contaminated spectral modes from the data themselves. The key attribute of foregrounds is not that they are spectrally smooth, but instead that they have fewer bright spectral degrees of freedom than the cosmological signal. Spurious correlations between the signal and foregrounds produce additional bias. Compensation for signal attenuation must estimate and correct this bias. A successful intensity mapping experiment will control instrumental systematics that spread variance into new modes, and it must observe a large enough volume that contaminant modes can be determined independently from the signal on scales of interest.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Interpreting inertial fusion neutron spectra

A burning laser fusion plasma produces a neutron spectrum first described by Brysk (1973 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 15 611). This and more recent work deals with the spectrum produced by a single fluid element. The distribution of temperatures and velocities in multiple fluid elements combine in any real spectrum; here we derive formulas for how the neutron spectrum averages these contributions. The single element momentum spectrum is accurately Gaussian, but the multi-element spectrum exhibits higher moments. In particular, the skew and kurtosis are likely to be large enough to measure. Even the single fluid element spectrum may exhibit measurable directional anisotropy, so that instruments with different lines of sight should see different yields, mean velocities, mean temperatures, and higher moments. Finally, we briefly discuss how scattering in the imploded core modifies the neutron spectrum by changing the relative weighting of fuel regions with different temperatures and velocities.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

The warm CO gas along the uv-heated outflow cavity walls: a possible interpretation for the Herschel/pacs co spectra of embedded YSOs

A fraction of the mid-J (J = 14–13 to J = 24–23) CO emission detected by the Herschel/Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer observations of embedded young stellar objects (YSOs) has been attributed to the UV-heated outflow cavity walls. We have applied our newly developed self-consistent models of photon-dominated-region (PDR) and non-local-thermal-equilibrium-line Radiative transfer In general Grid to the Herschel far-infrared observations of 27 low-mass YSOs and one intermediate-mass YSO, NGC 7129-FIRS2. When the contribution of the hot component (traced by transitions of J > 24) is removed, the rotational temperature of the warm component is nearly constant with ∼250 K. This can be reproduced by the outflow cavity wall (n⩾10{sup 6} cm{sup −3}, logG{sub 0}/n⩾−4.5, logG{sub 0}⩾3, T{sub gas} ≥ 300 K, and X(CO) ≥ 10{sup −5}) heated by a UV radiation field with a blackbody temperature of 15,000 or 10,000 K. However, a shock model combined with an internal PDR will be required to determine the quantitative contribution of a PDR relative to a shock to the mid-J CO emission.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Quantum mechanical interpretation of the ultrafast all optical spin switching

The all-optical spin switching induced by an intense (~TW cm -2 ), near-infrared (775nm), ultrashort (~100 fs) circularly-polarized laser pulse is studied based on the spin–orbit coupled Heisenberg model. We find that the magnetic spin momentum undergoes an oscillation in time during the interaction with a driving laser pulse, which can be explained as a classical counterpart of the Rabi oscillation associated with a spin–orbit coupling. The optimal spin reversal is achieved by adjusting the pulse duration to one half the Rabi oscillation period. A successive spin reversal by a delayed pulse is possible if it has the opposite helicity and a shorter duration relative to the first pulse. Moreover, inclusion of an exchange interaction term in the Hamiltonian leads to a precession of the magnetic spin momentum that lasts even after the driving laser pulse turns off. This spin precession is stronger in antiferromagnets than ferrimagnets.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Using first principles calculations to interpret XANES experiments: extracting the size-dependence of the ( p , T ) phase diagram of sub-nanometer Cu clusters in an O 2 environment

Here, we have used ab initio density functional theory together with ab initio atomistic thermodynamics, and in situ X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) experiments, to study the oxidation of sub-nanometer clusters of Cu n O x supported on a hydroxylated amorphous alumina substrate in an O 2 -rich environment. We obtain ( p , T ) phase diagrams; these differ notably for the nanoclusters compared to the bulk. Both theory and experiment suggest that in the presence of oxygen, the cluster will oxidize from its elemental state to the oxidized state as temperature decreases. We obtain a clear trend for the transition Cu n → Cu n O n/2 : we see that smaller the cluster, greater is the tendency toward oxidation. However, we do not see a monotonic size-dependent trend for the transition Cu n O n/2 → Cu n O n . We suggest that theoretically computed Bader charges constitute a simple yet quantitative way to align experimental measures of XANES edges with theoretical calculations, so as to yield oxidation states for nanoclusters. Our results have important implications for the use of small clusters in fields such as nanocatalysis and nanomedicine.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

Observed metallization of hydrogen interpreted as a band structure effect

A recent experimental study of the metallization of hydrogen tracked the direct band gap and vibron frequency via infrared measurements up to ~425 GPa (Loubeyre et al (2020 Nature 577 631). Above this pressure, the direct gap has a discontinuous drop to below the minimum experimentally accessible energy (~0.1 eV). The authors suggested that this observation is caused by a structural phase transition between the C2/c-24 molecular phase to another molecular phase such as Cmca-12. Here, through ab initio calculations of pressure dependent vibron frequency and direct band gap, we find that the experimental data is consistent with the C2/c-24 phase up to 425 GPa, and suggest that this consistency extends beyond that pressure. Specifically, we find that qualitative changes in the band structure of the C2/c-24 phase lead to a discontinuous drop of the direct band gap, which can explain the observed drop without a structural transition. In conclusion, this alternative scenario, which naturally explains the absence of hysteresis in the measurements, will hopefully motivate further experimental studies to ascertain the structure of the phase above the high pressure 'phase transition'.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Physical interpretation of large Lorentz violation via Weyl semimetals

The physical intepretation of effective field theories of fundamental interactions incorporating large Lorentz violation is a long-standing challenge, known as the concordance problem. In condensed-matter physics, certain Weyl semimetals with emergent Lorentz invariance exhibit large Lorentz violation, thereby offering prospective laboratory analogues for exploration of this issue. We take advantage of the mathematical equivalence between the descriptions of large Lorentz violation in fundamental and condensed-matter physics to investigate the primary aspects of the concordance problem, which arise when the coefficients for Lorentz violation are large or the observer frame is highly boosted. Using thermodynamic arguments, we present a physical solution to the concordance problem and explore some implications.

Lorentz violation↗
DOE OSTI2013

Model independent interpretation of recent CR lepton data after AMS-02

We model the CR leptonic fluxes above 20 GeV in terms of a superposition of a standard and a charge symmetric extra component, which we generically describe as power-laws in momentum. We investigate under these hypotheses the compatibility between AMS-02, Fermi-LAT and PAMELA datasets on positron fraction, electron+positron spectrum and electron spectrum respectively. We find that it is possible to reconcile AMS and Fermi-LAT data within uncertainties, if energy-dependent effects are present in Fermi-LAT systematics. We also study possible deviations from charge symmetry in the extra component and find no compelling evidence for them.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Towards a realistic astrophysical interpretation of the gamma-ray Galactic center excess

A spherical-symmetric gamma-ray emission from (the inner region of the Galaxy (at least up to roughly 10° in latitude and longitude)) has been recently identified in Fermi-LAT data, and initially associated to dark matter particle annihilations. Guided by the evidence for a high gas density in the inner kpc of the Galaxy correlated with a very large Supernova rate, and hence with ongoing cosmic-ray acceleration, we investigate instead the possibility of addressing this excess in terms of ordinary cosmic-ray sources and standard steady-state diffusion. We (alter the source term, and consistently the correlated gamma-ray emissions, in the context of a template-fitting analysis. We focus on a region of interest (ROI) defined as: |l| < 20°; 2° < |b| < 20°, with l and b the Galactic longitude and latitude coordinates.) We analyze in detail the overall goodness of the fit of our framework, and perform a detailed direct comparison against data examining profiles in different directions. Remarkably, the test statistic of the fit related to our scenario turns out to be as good as the Dark Matter one in the ROI here considered.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Dark matter vs. astrophysics in the interpretation of AMS-02 electron and positron data

We perform a detailed quantitative analysis of the recent AMS-02 electron and positron data. We investigate the interplay between the emission from primary astrophysical sources, namely Supernova Remnants and Pulsar Wind Nebulae, and the contribution from a dark matter annihilation or decay signal. Our aim is to assess the information that can be derived on dark matter properties when both dark matter and primary astrophysical sources are assumed to jointly contribute to the leptonic observables measured by the AMS-02 experiment. We investigate both the possibility to set robust constraints on the dark matter annihilation/decay rate and the possibility to look for dark matter signals within realistic models that take into account the full complexity of the astrophysical background. Our results show that AMS-02 data enable to probe efficiently vast regions of the dark matter parameter space and, in some cases, to set constraints on the dark matter annihilation/decay rate that are comparable or even stronger than the ones derived from other indirect detection channels.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Fermi-LAT kills dark matter interpretations of AMS-02 data. Or not?

A number of papers attempt to explain the positron anomaly in cosmic rays, observed by PAMELA and AMS-02, in terms of dark matter (DM) decays or annihilations. However, the recent progress in cosmic gamma-ray studies challenges these attempts. Indeed, as we show, any rational DM model explaining the positron anomaly abundantly produces final state radiation and Inverse Compton gamma rays, which inevitably leads to a contradiction with Fermi-LAT isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background measurements. Furthermore, the Fermi-LAT observation of Milky Way dwarf satellites, supposed to be rich in DM, revealed no significant signal in gamma rays. We propose a generic approach in which the major contribution to cosmic rays comes from the dark matter disc and prove that the tension between the DM origin of the positron anomaly and the cosmic gamma-ray observations can be relieved. We consider both a simple model, in which DM decay/annihilate into charged leptons, and a model-independent minimal case of particle production, and we estimate the optimal thickness of DM disk. Possible mechanisms of formation and its properties are briefly discussed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Impact of the magnetic horizon on the interpretation of the Pierre Auger Observatory spectrum and composition data

The flux of ultra-high energy cosmic rays reaching Earth above the ankle energy (5 EeV) can be described as a mixture of nuclei injected by extragalactic sources with very hard spectra and a low rigidity cutoff.Extragalactic magnetic fields existing between the Earth and the closest sources can affect the observed CR spectrum by reducing the flux of low-rigidity particles reaching Earth. We perform a combined fit of the spectrum and distributions of depth of shower maximum measured with the Pierre Auger Observatory including the effect of this magnetic horizon in the propagation of UHECRs in the intergalactic space.We find that, within a specific range of the various experimental and phenomenological systematics, the magnetic horizon effect can be relevant for turbulent magnetic field strengths in the local neighbourhood in which the closest sources lieof order B$_{rms}$ ≃ (50–100) nG (20 Mpc/d$_{s}$)( 100 kpc/L$_{coh}$)$^{1/2}$, with d$_{s}$ the typical intersource separation and L$_{coh}$ the magnetic field coherence length. When this is the case,the inferred slope of the source spectrum becomes softer and can be closer to the expectations of diffusive shock acceleration, i.e., ∝ E$^{-2}$.An additional cosmic-ray population with higher source density and softer spectra, presumably also extragalactic and dominating the cosmic-ray flux at EeV energies, is also required to reproduce the overall spectrum and composition results for all energies down to 0.6 EeV.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗