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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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Highly Available Nuclear Power for Mission-Critical Applications
Some energy consumers require power on an anytime, all-year-round basis with a high level of certainty, including defense installations, isolated communities, and some industrial processes. For these customers, interruptions in electricity or heat can mean substantial financial loss or even loss of life. In the absence of grid-scale energy storage, a high level of power availability can be accomplished only through the robustness and redundancy of power generators. The NuScale small modular reactor design is well suited to provide highly available power because of several features related to both the nuclear steam supply system and the overall plant design. In analogy to Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) systems used to provide highly reliable data storage, a NuScale plant can assure sustained power generation by virtue of its Redundant Array of Integral Reactors (RAIR).This paper describes the NuScale RAIR plant features and summarizes the results of a rigorous analysis of RAIR availability as a function of power or, conversely, the RAIR plant output power as a function of power availability. The analysis utilized the Matrix Laboratory code (MATLAB) and included probability distributions for the frequency and duration of module outages due to planned and unplanned events. Further, the study evaluated the impact of implementing turbine bypass rather than module shutdown and using one or more modules to supply house loads in the case of loss of off-site power (LOOP). Availability results are presented for a 12-module RAIR plant with and without turbine bypass enabled during a LOOP and for different possible connections to the off-site power distribution grid and dedicated service loads. Results indicate that a very high level of availability can be achieved at relatively high power output levels, regardless of turbine bypass and dedicated load connection, compared to the operating fleet.
Century: Zap Energy’s 100-kW-Scale Repetitive Sheared-Flow-Stabilized Z -Pinch System with Liquid Metal Cooling
Zap Energy is developing the sheared-flow-stabilized (SFS) Z-pinch concept for commercial applications. The SFS Z pinch relies on plasma self-organization, in the sense that plasma dynamics play a critical role in confinement. Using plasma axial current for confinement and compression eliminates the need for external confinement or heating technologies. This compact magnetic confinement technology could, in turn, provide the basis for a cost-effective deuterium-tritium fusion power plant. In addition to a robust experimental program pushing plasma performance towards breakeven conditions, Zap Energy has parallel programs developing power handling systems suitable for future power plants. Technologies under development include high average-power repetitive pulsed power, high duty-cycle cathodes, and liquid metal wall systems. Century is the name of Zap Energy’s first effort to integrate these three components into an operational system capable of firing non-reacting hydrogen SFS Z-pinch plasmas into a liquid-metal-lined container at sustained repetition rates on the order of 0.1 Hz. Here, the pulsed power driver and liquid metal heat exchanger are both designed to sustain input powers of 100 kW. Construction and initial operations with an interim ~10 kW liquid metal heat exchanger are described.
MiniCarb: a passive, occultation-viewing, 6U CubeSat for observations of CO 2 , CH 4 , and H 2 O
In this report we present the final design, environmental testing, and launch history of MiniCarb, a 6U CubeSat developed through a partnership between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. MiniCarb’s science payload, developed at Goddard, was an occultation-viewing, passive laser heterodyne radiometer for observing methane, carbon dioxide, and water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere at ~1.6 µm s -1 . MiniCarb’s satellite, developed at Livermore, implemented their CubeSat Next Generation Bus plug-and-play architecture to produce a modular platform that could be tailored to a range of science payloads. Following the launch on 5 December 2019, MiniCarb traveled to the International Space Station and was set into orbit on 1 February 2020 via Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus capsule which deployed MiniCarb with tipoff rotation of about 20° s (significantly higher than the typical rate of 3° s -1 from prior CubeSats), from which the attitude control system was unable to recover resulting in a loss of power. In spite of this early failure, MiniCarb had many successes including rigorous environmental testing, successful deployment of its solar panels, and a successful test of the radio and communication through the Iridium network. This prior work and enticing cost (approximately $\$2$ M for the satellite and $\$$250 K for the payload) makes MiniCarb an ideal candidate for a low-cost and rapid rebuild as a single orbiter or constellation to globally observe key greenhouse gases.
Hi-COLA: fast, approximate simulations of structure formation in Horndeski gravity
We introduce Hi-COLA, a code designed to run fast, approximate N-body simulations of non-linear structure formation in reduced Horndeski gravity. Given an input Lagrangian, Hi-COLA dynamically constructs the appropriate field equations and consistently solves for the cosmological background, linear growth, and screened fifth force of that theory. Hence Hi-COLA is a general, adaptable, and useful tool that allows the mildly non-linear regime of many Horndeski theories to be investigated for the first time, at low computational cost. In this work, we first describe the screening approximations and simulation setup of Hi-COLA for theories with Vainshtein screening. We validate the code against traditional N-body simulations for cubic Galileon gravity, finding 2.5% agreement up to k max = 1.2 h/Mpc. To demonstrate the flexibility of Hi-COLA, we additionally run the first simulations of an extended shift-symmetric gravity theory. We use the consistency and modularity of Hi-COLA to dissect how the modified background, linear growth, and screened fifth force all contribute to departures from ΛCDM in the non-linear matter power spectrum. Hi-COLA can be found at https://github.com/Hi-COLACode/Hi-COLA.
Continental-scale patterns of extracellular enzyme activity in the subsoil: an overlooked reservoir of microbial activity
Abstract Chemical stabilization of microbial-derived products such as extracellular enzymes (EE) onto mineral surfaces has gained attention as a possibly important mechanism leading to the persistence of soil organic carbon (SOC). While the controls on EE activities and their stabilization in the surface soil are reasonably well-understood, how these activities change with soil depth and possibly diverge from those at the soil surface due to distinct physical, chemical, and biotic conditions remains unclear. We assessed EE activity to a depth of 1 m (10 cm increments) in 19 soil profiles across the Critical Zone Observatory Network, which represents a wide range of climates, soil orders, and vegetation types. For all EEs, activities per mass of soil correlated positively with microbial biomass (MB) and SOC, and all three of these variables decreased logarithmically with depth ( p < 0.05). Across all sites, over half of the potential EE activities per mass soil consistently occurred below 20 cm for all measured EEs. Activities per unit MB or SOC were substantially higher at depth (soils below 20 cm accounted for 80% of whole-profile EE activity), suggesting an accumulation of stabilized (i.e. mineral sorbed) EEs in subsoil horizons. The pronounced enzyme stabilization in subsurface horizons was corroborated by mixed-effects models that showed a significant, positive relationship between clay concentration and MB-normalized EE activities in the subsoil. Furthermore, the negative relationships between soil C, N, and P and C-, N-, and P-acquiring EEs found in the surface soil decoupled below 20 cm, which could have also been caused by EE stabilization. This finding suggests that EEs may not reflect soil nutrient availabilities deeper in the soil profile. Taken together, our results suggest that deeper soil horizons hold a significant reservoir of EEs, and that the controls of subsoil EEs differ from their surface soil counterparts.
Direct ink write multi-material printing of PDMS-BTO composites with MWCNT electrodes for flexible force sensors
Here, with recent advances of additive manufacturing technology, direct ink write (DIW) printing has allowed to incorporate multi-material printing of various materials with freedom of design and complex geometric shapes to complete functional sensors in a one-step fabrication. This paper introduces the use of DIW 3D printing of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with barium titanate (BTO) filler as stretchable composites with tunable piezoelectric properties that can be used for force sensors applications. To improve the bonding between stretchable piezoelectric composites and electrodes, multi-walled carbon nanotubes was included in the fabrication of electrodes at a fixed ratio of 11 wt. %. The alignment of the BTO dipoles was achieved through corona poling method, which applies an electric charge on the surface layer of the functional material, aligning the dipoles in the desired direction and thus gaining the piezoelectricity. Different BTO mixing ratios (10–50 wt. %) were evaluated in order to obtain tunable piezoelectric properties and compare the sensitivity with respect their elastic properties. Tensile testing and piezoelectric testing were carried out to characterize mechanical and piezoelectric properties. Results showed that fabricated PDMS with 50 wt. % BTO gave the highest piezoelectric coefficient (d 33 ) of 11.5 pC N -1 and with an output voltage of 385 mV under compression loading of >200 lbF. This demonstrates feasibility of using multi-material DIW printing to fabricate piezoelectric force sensors with integrated electrodes in one-step without compromising the flexibility of the material.
High energy burden and low-income energy affordability: conclusions from a literature review
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A review of non-cognitive applications for neuromorphic computing
Abstract Though neuromorphic computers have typically targeted applications in machine learning and neuroscience (‘cognitive’ applications), they have many computational characteristics that are attractive for a wide variety of computational problems. In this work, we review the current state-of-the-art for non-cognitive applications on neuromorphic computers, including simple computational kernels for composition, graph algorithms, constrained optimization, and signal processing. We discuss the advantages of using neuromorphic computers for these different applications, as well as the challenges that still remain. The ultimate goal of this work is to bring awareness to this class of problems for neuromorphic systems to the broader community, particularly to encourage further work in this area and to make sure that these applications are considered in the design of future neuromorphic systems.
Models and Methods for Sparse (Hyper)Network Science in Business, Industry, and Government
The authors are hosting an AMS sponsored Mathematics Research Community (MRC) focusing on two themes that have garnered intense attention in network models of complex relational data: (1) how to faithfully model multi-way relations in hypergraphs, rather than only pairwise interactions in graphs; and (2) challenges posed by modelling networks with extreme sparsity. Here we introduce and explore these two themes and their challenges. In this work, we hope to generate interest from researchers in pure and applied mathematics and computer science.
Sawfly Genomes Reveal Evolutionary Acquisitions That Fostered the Mega-Radiation of Parasitoid and Eusocial Hymenoptera
The tremendous diversity of Hymenoptera is commonly attributed to the evolution of parasitoidism in the last common ancestor of parasitoid sawflies (Orussidae) and wasp-waisted Hymenoptera (Apocrita). However, Apocrita and Orussidae differ dramatically in their species richness, indicating that the diversification of Apocrita was promoted by additional traits. These traits have remained elusive due to a paucity of sawfly genome sequences, in particular those of parasitoid sawflies. Here, we present comparative analyses of draft genomes of the primarily phytophagous sawfly Athalia rosae and the parasitoid sawfly Orussus abietinus. Our analyses revealed that the ancestral hymenopteran genome exhibited traits that were previously considered unique to eusocial Apocrita (e.g., low transposable element content and activity) and a wider gene repertoire than previously thought (e.g., genes for CO 2 detection). Moreover, we discovered that Apocrita evolved a significantly larger array of odorant receptors than sawflies, which could be relevant to the remarkable diversification of Apocrita by enabling efficient detection and reliable identification of hosts.
TOI-2374 b and TOI-3071 b: two metal-rich sub-Saturns well within the Neptunian desert
ABSTRACT We report the discovery of two transiting planets detected by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), TOI-2374 b and TOI-3071 b, orbiting a K5V and an F8V star, respectively, with periods of 4.31 and 1.27 d, respectively. We confirm and characterize these two planets with a variety of ground-based and follow-up observations, including photometry, precise radial velocity monitoring and high-resolution imaging. The planetary and orbital parameters were derived from a joint analysis of the radial velocities and photometric data. We found that the two planets have masses of (57 ± 4) M⊕ or (0.18 ± 0.01) MJ, and (68 ± 4) M⊕ or (0.21 ± 0.01) MJ, respectively, and they have radii of (6.8 ± 0.3) R⊕ or (0.61 ± 0.03) RJ and (7.2 ± 0.5) R⊕ or (0.64 ± 0.05) RJ, respectively. These parameters correspond to sub-Saturns within the Neptunian desert, both planets being hot and highly irradiated, with Teq ≈ 745 K and Teq ≈ 1812 K, respectively, assuming a Bond albedo of 0.5. TOI-3071 b has the hottest equilibrium temperature of all known planets with masses between 10 and 300 M⊕ and radii less than 1.5 RJ. By applying gas giant evolution models we found that both planets, especially TOI-3071 b, are very metal-rich. This challenges standard formation models which generally predict lower heavy-element masses for planets with similar characteristics. We studied the evolution of the planets’ atmospheres under photoevaporation and concluded that both are stable against evaporation due to their large masses and likely high metallicities in their gaseous envelopes.
Error-mitigated nonorthogonal quantum eigensolver via shadow tomography
We present a shadow-tomography-enhanced nonorthogonal quantum eigensolver (NOQE) for more efficient and accurate electronic structure calculations on near-term quantum devices. By integrating shadow tomography into the NOQE, the measurement cost scales linearly rather than quadratically with the number of reference states, while also reducing the required qubits and circuit depth by half. This approach enables extraction of all matrix elements via randomized measurements and classical postprocessing. We analyze its sample complexity and show that, for small systems, it remains constant in the high-precision regime, while for larger systems, it scales linearly with the system size. We further apply shadow-based error mitigation to suppress noise-induced bias without increasing quantum resources. Demonstrations on the hydrogen molecule in the strongly correlated regime achieve chemical accuracy under realistic noise, showing that our method is both resource-efficient and noise-resilient for practical quantum chemistry simulations in the near term.
Impact of composition and symmetry energy on the temperature of quasiprojectiles simulated with antisymmetrized molecular dynamics
The equation of state describes the emergent physical properties of matter. Experimental data is needed to help constrain the equation of state for nuclear matter. These constraints can help distinguish between an “asy-stiff” and an “asy-soft” equation of state, which has astrophysical implications. One path to help constrain the models is to analyze the nuclear caloric curve; some experiments have shown dependence on neutron excess, and may thus be sensitive to the asymmetry. A difference in the caloric curve based on the asymmetry of the reconstructed quasiprojectile (QP) had been observed using 70 Zn on 70 Zn at 35 MeV/nucleon taken with the NIMROD array. Antisymmetrized molecular dynamics calculations were performed for the same system and deexcited with gemini++. Both Gogny (asy-soft) and Gogny-as (asy-stiff) data sets were generated. The particles were then filtered based on detector geometric acceptance and thresholds. From the accepted particles, the excitation energy and temperature were calculated in the same way as for experimental data. Additionally, filter effects on the observed nuclear caloric curves were investigated. A tendency for the asy-stiff nuclear caloric curves to have higher temperatures than their asy-soft counterparts was observed for a number of probes. In addition, some probes may show sensitivity to the reconstructed composition of the QP, but this is inconclusive due to high statistical fluctuations and a large dependence on the exact method of event selection.
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.
Temporally quasiperiodic data, propagating in the laboratory frame, can be rendered periodic by Galilean transformation
For a broad class of distributions of temperature, concentration, or another quantity propagating rectilinearly, we show that temporally quasiperiodic behavior in the laboratory frame can be rendered periodic by Galilean transformation. The approach is illustrated analytically and numerically using as an example a closed-form model distribution generated from a one-dimensional partial differential equation, and a detailed process is developed to determine frame speed from more general quasiperiodic, one-dimensional, temporally- and spatially-discretized data. Furthermore, the approach is extended to two- and three-dimensional rectilinear propagation, and its application to nonrectilinear propagation, along with implications for interpreting noise-corrupted data, are also discussed.
Classical Simulation of Boson Sampling Based on Graph Structure
Boson sampling is a fundamentally and practically important task that can be used to demonstrate quantum supremacy using noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices. In this Letter, we present classical sampling algorithms for single-photon and Gaussian input states that take advantage of a graph structure of a linear-optical circuit. The algorithms’ complexity grows as so-called treewidth, which is closely related to the connectivity of a given linear-optical circuit. Using the algorithms, we study approximated simulations for local Haar-random linear-optical circuits. For equally spaced initial sources, we show that, when the circuit depth is less than the quadratic in the lattice spacing, the efficient simulation is possible with an exponentially small error. Notably, right after this depth, photons start to interfere each other and the algorithms’ complexity becomes subexponential in the number of sources, implying that there is a sharp transition of its complexity. Finally, when a circuit is sufficiently deep enough for photons to typically propagate to all modes, the complexity becomes exponential as generic sampling algorithms. We numerically implement a likelihood test with a recent Gaussian boson sampling experiment and show that the treewidth-based algorithm with a limited treewidth renders a larger likelihood than the experimental data.
Complexity Phase Diagram for Interacting and Long-Range Bosonic Hamiltonians
Here, we classify phases of a bosonic lattice model based on the computational complexity of classically simulating the system. We show that the system transitions from being classically simulable to classically hard to simulate as it evolves in time, extending previous results to include on-site number-conserving interactions and long-range hopping. Specifically, we construct a complexity phase diagram with easy and hard “phases” and derive analytic bounds on the location of the phase boundary with respect to the evolution time and the degree of locality. We find that the location of the phase transition is intimately related to upper bounds on the spread of quantum correlations and protocols to transfer quantum information. Remarkably, although the location of the transition point is unchanged by on-site interactions, the nature of the transition point does change. Specifically, we find that there are two kinds of transitions, sharp and coarse, broadly corresponding to interacting and noninteracting bosons, respectively. Our Letter motivates future studies of complexity in many-body systems and its interplay with the associated physical phenomena.