Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “exponential time integration”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 73 records · Page 4

Particle Markov Chain Monte Carlo Approach to Inference in Transient Surface Kinetics

Here, in this work, we develop a novel Bayesian approach to study the adsorption and desorption of CO onto a Pd(111) surface, a process of great importance in natural sciences. The motivation for this work comes from the recent availability of time-resolved infrared spectroscopy data and the need for model interpretability and uncertainty quantification in chemical processes. The objective is to learn the relevant parameters that characterize the process: coverage with time, rate constants, activation energies, and pre-exponential factors. Our approach consists of three main schemes: (i) a problem design and probabilistic model for the whole system, (ii) a particle Markov chain Monte Carlo sampler to learn the hidden coverages and rate constant parameters, and (iii) two Bayesian formulations to infer the activation energies and pre-exponential factors. The flexibility of the Bayesian framework allows for uncertainty quantification where possible and integration of mathematical constraints in the model to reflect the system physically. We found that our results for the activation energies and pre-exponential factor are in agreement with those reported in the experimental literature, independently, and we provide discussions on the advantages and disadvantages as well as applicability to other systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The Sensitivity of Hyporheic Exchange to Fractal Properties of Riverbeds

Hyporheic exchange in riverbeds is driven by current-bed topography interactions. Because riverbeds exhibit topographic roughness across scales, from individual grains to bedforms and bars, they can exhibit fractal patterns. This study analyzed the influence of fractal properties of riverbed topography on hyporheic exchange. A set of synthetic fractal riverbeds with different scaling statistics was used as inputs to sequentially coupled numerical simulations of turbulent channel flow and hyporheic flow. In the analysis, the maximum power spectrum (dune size) and the fractal dimension (topographic complexity) were considered as independent variables and we then investigated how interfacial fluxes and hyporheic travel times are functionally related to these variables. As the maximum power spectrum increases (i.e., dune height to flow depth ratio), the average interfacial flux increases logarithmically whereas it increases exponentially with an increase in fractal dimension. Hyporheic exchange is more sensitive to additional roughness (larger fractal dimensions) than to bedform size (larger maximum power). Our results imply that fractal properties of riverbeds are crucial to predicting hyporheic exchange. The predictive relationships we propose could be integrated with reduced complexity, large-scale models. Further, they can also be used to design artificial topographies that target hyporheic ecosystem services.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Open string amplitudes: singularities, asymptotics and new representations

Open string amplitudes at tree level have been studied for over fifty years. However, there is no known analytic form for general n-point amplitudes, and their conventional representation in terms of worldsheet integrals does not make many of their most basic physical properties manifest. Recently, a formulation of these amplitudes exposing the underlying “binary geometry” via the use of “u” variables has given us many insights into their basic features. In this paper, we initiate a systematic exploration of fundamental aspects of open string amplitudes from this new point of view. We begin by finding explicit expressions for the factorization of amplitudes at general massive levels, which are seen to be determined by products of lower-point massless amplitudes with shifted kinematics. We then study the asymptotic behavior when subsets of kinematic variables become large, delineating regimes with exponential (generalized hard scattering) and power-law (generalized Regge) behavior. We also give precise expressions for the asymptotics, which reveal another example of the recently observed property of factorization away from poles. We derive new recursion relations for the amplitude, which when repeatedly applied reduce to infinite series representations with a wider domain of convergence than the usual integral representations. For the five-point case, we present a new closed-form expression for the amplitude that for the first time gives its analytic continuation to all of kinematic space. We also discuss novel relations between amplitudes at different kinematic points following from the recently observed “split” factorizations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Space–time structure of weak magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

The two-time energy spectrum of weak magnetohydrodynamic turbulence is found by applying a wave-turbulence closure to the cumulant hierarchy constructed from the dynamical equations. Solutions are facilitated via asymptotic expansions in terms of the small parameter $\varepsilon$ , describing the ratio of time scales corresponding to Alfvénic propagation and nonlinear interactions between counter-propagating Alfvén waves. The strength of nonlinearity at a given spatial scale is further quantified by an integration over all possible delta-correlated modes compliant in a given set of three-wave interactions that are associated with energy flux through the said scale. The wave-turbulence closure for the two-time spectrum uncovers a secularity occurring on a time scale of order $\varepsilon ^{-2}$ , and the asymptotic expansion for the spectrum is reordered in a manner comparable to the one-time case. It is shown that for the regime of stationary turbulence, the two-time energy spectrum exponentially decays on a lagged time scale $(\varepsilon ^2 \gamma _k^s)^{-1}$ in proportion to the strength of the associated three-wave interactions, characterized by nonlinear decorrelation frequency $\gamma _k^s$ . The scaling of the form $k_{\perp } v_0 \chi _0$ exhibited by this frequency is reminiscent of random sweeping by the outer scale with characteristic fluctuation velocity $v_0$ that is modified due to competition with Alfvénic propagation (characterized by $\chi _0$ ) at the said scale. A brief calculation of frequency broadening of the power spectrum due to nonlinear interactions is also presented.

Physics↗

On the Cauchy problem for Boltzmann equation modeling a polyatomic gas

In the present article, we consider the Boltzmann equation that models a polyatomic gas by introducing one additional continuous variable, referred to as microscopic internal energy. We establish existence and uniqueness theory in the space homogeneous setting for the full non-linear case, under an extended Grad-type assumption on transition probability rates, which comprises hard potentials for both the relative speed and internal energy with the rate in the interval 0,2, multiplied by an integrable angular part and integrable partition functions. The Cauchy problem is resolved by means of an abstract ordinary differential equation (ODE) theory in Banach spaces for the initial data with finite and strictly positive gas mass and energy, finite momentum, and additionally finite K* polynomial moment, with K* depending on the rate of the transition probability and the structure of a polyatomic molecule or its internal degrees of freedom. Moreover, we prove that polynomially and exponentially weighted Banach space norms associated with the solution are both generated and propagated uniformly in time.

Physics↗

Nanoparticle-Enhanced Plasma Discharge Using Nanosecond High-Voltage Pulses

By discharging nanosecond high-voltage (5 kV) pulses across an insulating substrate containing Au, Pt, or Cu nanoparticles, a 3 order of magnitude (1000×) enhancement in the generation of plasma can be achieved through local field enhancement on the surface of the nanoparticles. The low-temperature nature of this transient plasma is crucial to maintaining the structural integrity of these delicate nanoparticles. These nanoparticles provide up to a 1000-fold enhancement in the generation of the plasma, which is localized to the surface of the nanoparticles where it is potentially useful (e.g., for catalysis). Additionally, we performed both time-domain and frequency-domain calculations of the electromagnetic response of the nanoparticles based on high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) images, which show local field enhancement of the nanosecond high-voltage pulse on the order of 3×. Since the plasma initiation depends exponentially on the peak electric field strength, this 3-fold increase in the local electric field can result in a several orders of magnitude increases in the generation of plasma at a given applied external field strength. In order to rule out plasmon-resonance enhancement, which is often associated with small metal nanoparticles, we performed finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations in the optical frequency domain, which show that the effect of plasmon resonance is negligible for Pt nanoparticles. We therefore attribute the nanoparticle-based enhancement to the generation of plasma (an electrostatic effect) rather than enhanced coupling of light from the near field to the far field via the plasmon resonance phenomenon (an optical effect).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Knowledge Oriented Graph Unified Transformer (KOGUT) v0.1

KOGUT — Knowledge Oriented Graph Unified Transformer KOGUT implements the Relational Graph Transformer (RelGT) architecture for knowledge graph link prediction in biological domains, with a primary focus on microbial growth media prediction. While the original RelGT (arXiv:2505.10960) targets relational tables, time series, and multi-table databases, KOGUT adapts this architecture for heterogeneous biological knowledge graphs, providing first-in-class AI predictive models for microbial cultivation. Key Adaptations Beyond Original RelGT: - Knowledge Graph Focus: Applied to biological KGs with semantic node types (taxa, chemicals, media, phenotypes, environments) versus generic relational database tables, trained on the KG-Microbe knowledge graph (1.3M entities, 2.9M edges, 24 relation types). - Multimodal Node Encoding: Integrates node labels, categories, descriptions, and synonyms from KG metadata through learned embedding layers—adapting relational column features to graph node attributes with textual semantics. - Extended K-Hop Subgraph Strategy: Optimized neighborhood sampling (3-hop default, configurable up to 200 nodes) tuned for sparse biological networks, building on the original local-global attention framework with biological relation preservation. - Biolink Predicate Preservation: Type-specific transformations for 24 biological edge semantics (occurs_in, consumes, produces, has_phenotype, subclass_of) beyond standard relational foreign keys, enabling multi-relation link prediction. - Inductive Learning Support: Enables zero-shot predictions for novel taxa through feature-based embeddings (temperature, oxygen requirements, gram stain, cell shape), extending the original transductive relational benchmark scope to uncultured microorganisms. CheapSOTA Performance Optimizations (This Distribution): - VQ-EMA Centroid Attention: Vector quantization with exponential moving average for improved global context modeling (+5-10% MRR improvement). - HDF5 Precomputed Data Loading: One-time preprocessing of k-hop subgraphs to eliminate redundant graph traversals (2-5× training speedup). - Distributed Data Parallel Training: Multi-GPU support for scaling to larger knowledge graphs (tested on 4× NVIDIA A100 GPUs at NERSC Perlmutter). - Mixed Precision Training: Automatic mixed precision (AMP) for memory efficiency and faster training. Advantages Over Standard Knowledge Graph Embedding Models: Combines RelGT's proven multi-element tokenization (features, type, hop, structure) with graph-native biological representations, enabling interpretable link prediction across heterogeneous entities that standard embedding models (TransE, RotatE, ComplEx) and table-based transformers cannot directly model. Achieves near-perfect performance on microbial growth media prediction (MRR: 0.9966, Precision@1: 0.9932, Hit@10: 1.0000) while maintaining explainability through attention-based reasoning over biological pathways. Training Data: - KG-Microbe merged knowledge graph: 1,379,337 nodes, 2,960,472 edges - 24 biological relation types including taxonomic hierarchies, metabolic interactions, phenotype associations, and environmental relationships - Primary prediction task: Growth media suitability for microbial taxa (biolink:occurs_in, 50K edges) - Multi-relation capability: Predicts links for any of the 24 relation types, including chemical consumption/production, phenotype associations, and taxonomic classification Citation: Original RelGT Architecture: Dwivedi et al., "Relational Graph Transformer", arXiv:2505.10960, 2025 KOGUT Implementation: Knowledge Oriented Graph Unified Transformer for Microbial Growth Media Prediction Developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Trained on NERSC Perlmutter supercomputer

Joachimiak, Marcin [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab↗

Theory of the effect of external stress on the activated dynamics and transport of dilute penetrants in supercooled liquids and glasses

We generalize the self-consistent cooperative hopping theory for a dilute spherical penetrant or tracer activated dynamics in dense metastable hard sphere fluids and glasses to address the effect of external stress, the consequences of which are systematically established as a function of matrix packing fraction and penetrant-to-matrix size ratio. All relaxation processes speed up under stress, but the difference between the penetrant and matrix hopping (alpha relaxation) times decreases significantly with stress corresponding to less time scale decoupling. A dynamic crossover occurs at a critical “slaving onset” stress beyond which the matrix activated hopping relaxation time controls the penetrant hopping time. This characteristic stress increases (decreases) exponentially with packing fraction (size ratio) and can be well below the absolute yield stress of the matrix. Below the slaving onset, the penetrant hopping time is predicted to vary exponentially with stress, differing from the power law dependence of the pure matrix alpha time due to system-specificity of the stress-induced changes in the penetrant local cage and elastic barriers. An exponential growth of the penetrant alpha relaxation time with size ratio under stress is predicted, and at a fixed matrix packing fraction, the exponential relation between penetrant hopping time and stress for different size ratios can be collapsed onto a master curve. Direct connections between the short- and long-time activated penetrant dynamics and between the penetrant (or matrix) alpha relaxation time and matrix thermodynamic dimensionless compressibility are also predicted. The presented results should be testable in future experiments and simulations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Finite-volume formalism for physical processes with an electroweak loop integral

This study investigates finite-volume effects in physical processes that involve the combination of long-range hadronic matrix elements with electroweak loop integrals. We adopt the approach of implementing the electroweak part as the infinite-volume version, which is denoted as the EW ∞ method in this work. A general approach is established for correcting finite-volume effects in cases where the hadronic intermediate states are dominated by either a single particle or two particles. For the single-particle case, this work derives the infinite volume reconstruction method from a new perspective. For the two-particle case, we provide the correction formulas for power-law finite-volume effects and unphysical terms with exponentially divergent time dependence. The finite-volume formalism developed in this study has broad applications, including the QED corrections in various processes and the two-photon exchange contribution in 𝐾 𝐿 → 𝜇 + ⁢𝜇 − or 𝜂 → 𝜇 + ⁢𝜇 − decays.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Time-Resolved Radioluminescence of the Polynuclear Copper(I) Phosphor Cu4I6²–. Different Temporal responses to Photo, X-Ray, β-Ray and α-Particle Excitation

Described for the first time are the time-resolved radioluminescence (TRRL) properties of the highly luminescent copper(I) cluster Cu4I62– using X-ray, b-ray and a-particle excitation. The copper(I) phosphors are two crystalline salts of this anion, [Na2(18-crown-6)2(H2O)3][Cu4I6] (I) and [Li(benzo-15-crown-5)2(H2O)]2[Cu4I6] (II), that had been shown to display strong photoluminescence (PL) when excited with ultraviolet light. The integrated radioluminescence (RL) spectra observed when pulsed X-rays were used as the excitation source are virtually the same as the PL spectra under comparable conditions. These temporal RL spectra are invariant at all observation times indicating that the observed scintillation occurs from a common excited state (or set of excited states). When the TRRL is collected from excitation with a pulsed X-ray source, b-ray decay from 90Sr or a-decay from 244Cm, the longer components (>2 μs) of the TRRL displayed (in each case) lifetimes comparable to those of the strictly exponential PL decays recorded under pulsed laser UV excitation. However, at shorter observation times (< 500 ns), the RL decay deviated from the exponential model, indicating a markedly different temporal luminescence behavior when these materials were excited with pulsed high energy radiation. Furthermore, this effect was the most pronounced for the a-particle excitation. These results suggest that the absorption of a very high energy X-ray photon, b-ray or a-particle at a site within the crystalline solid leads to a high local density of electronic excited states and that coupling between these states provides an alternative channel for excited state decay. Given that the patterns observed

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

Integration of EDWARD readout architecture in full-field fluorescence imaging detector

Data bandwidth, timing resolution and resource utilization in readouts of radiation detectors are a constant challenge. Event driven solutions are pushing against well-trenched framed solutions. The idea for an asynchronous readout architecture called EDWARD ( E vent- D riven W ith A ccess and R eset D ecoder) was presented at the TWEPP 2021 conference. Here we show the progress of our work which resulted in two chip prototypes. The first one, named 3FI65P1, is a full device with the analog pixel circuitry suited for full-field fluorescence imaging. It is already manufactured, and preliminary results are presented. Finally, the second chip, named EDWARD65P1, contains digital pulse generators with Poisson-exponential distribution in each pixel for extraction of the performance matrix of the EDWARD architecture alone.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Estimation of the time for steam generator trip due to cyber intrusions

The time required to trip a pressurized water reactor (PWR) by inserting malicious signals into its steam generator (SG) control system has been studied using the Generic PWR (GPWR) Simulator. A semi-analytical model is developed to approximately reproduce the simulator response and understand the dynamics of the control unit. A series of two proportional-integral controllers determines control action according to preset constants, the readings from the feedwater level sensor, and those from feedwater and steam flowrate transmitters. It is observed that the most important factor that determines whether a trip will occur is how much additional water is added to or withheld from the SG over time compared to normal operating conditions. In order to determine the effects of control action on the SG, changes in mass inventory are considered. This approach models the SG water level as a function of mass inventory and has a backward temporal memory. A Python interface is developed for the GPWR framework to automatically simulate different spoofing scenarios and post-process the related data. We observe that the trip times predominantly depend on flow mismatch and/or level errors. Controller parameters, including the integral time and gain constants, either speed up or slow down the rate of progression to a trip setpoint but do not cause a trip by themselves. The reactor can trip on a high-level signal when the reading crosses above 78%, increased from its reference level of 57%, or a low-level reading when it is below 25%. The present results show roughly how long the operators would have to respond to an attack, given a specific set of spoofing signals within the issue space analyzed. Furthermore, we have generated a simple surface by fitting a combination of exponential functions to the data obtained from the GPWR Simulator. In general, trips on a low level have been observed to occur faster than those on a high level.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Emergence of many-body quantum chaos via spontaneous breaking of unitarity

It is suggested that many-body quantum chaos appears as the spontaneous symmetry breaking of unitarity in interacting quantum many-body systems. It has been shown that many-body level statistics, probed by the spectral form factor (SFF) defined as K(η,t)=$\langle$|Tr exp(-ηH+itH)| 2 $\rangle$, is dominated by a diffuson-type mode in a field theory analysis. The key finding of this Letter is that the “unitary” η = 0 case is different from the η → 0 ± limit, with the latter leading to a finite mass of these modes due to interactions. This mass suppresses a rapid exponential ramp in the SFF, which is responsible for the fast emergence of Poisson statistics in the noninteracting case, and gives rise to a nontrivial random matrix structure of many-body levels. The interaction-induced mass in the SFF shares similarities with the dephasing rate in the theory of weak localization and the Lyapunov exponent of the out-of-time-ordered correlators.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Particle-number distribution in large fluctuations at the tip of branching random walks

Here, we investigate properties of the particle distribution near the tip of one-dimensional branching random walks at large times t , focusing on unusual realizations in which the rightmost lead particle is very far ahead of its expected position, but still within a distance smaller than the diffusion radius ~$\sqrt{t}$. Our approach consists in a study of the generating function $G_{Δx}(λ) = Σ_n$ ${λ^n}p_n(Δx)$ for the probabilities $p_n(Δx)$ of observing $\textit{n}$ particles in an interval of given size $Δ\textit{x}$ from the lead particle to its left, fixing the position of the latter. This generating function can be expressed with the help of functions solving the Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrovsky-Piscounov (FKPP) equation with suitable initial conditions. In the infinite-time and large-$Δ\textit{x}$ limits, we find that the mean number of particles in the interval grows exponentially with $Δ\textit{x}$, and that the generating function obeys a nontrivial scaling law, depending on $Δ\textit{x}$ and λ through the combined variable $[Δx — f(λ)]^3 / Δx^2$, where $\textit{f}$(λ) ≡ – ln(1 – λ) – ln [– ln(1 – λ)]. From this property, one may conjecture that the growth of the typical particle number with the size of the interval is slower than exponential, but, surprisingly enough, only by a subleading factor at large Δ$\textit{x}$. The scaling we argue is consistent with results from a numerical integration of the FKPP equation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A multisite decomposition of the tensor network path integrals

Tensor network decompositions of path integrals for simulating open quantum systems have recently been proven to be useful. However, these methods scale exponentially with the system size. This makes it challenging to simulate the non-equilibrium dynamics of extended quantum systems coupled with local dissipative environments. In this work, we extend the tensor network path integral (TNPI) framework to efficiently simulate such extended systems. The Feynman–Vernon influence functional is a popular approach used to account for the effect of environments on the dynamics of the system. In order to facilitate the incorporation of the influence functional into a multisite framework (MS-TNPI), we combine a matrix product state (MPS) decomposition of the reduced density tensor of the system along the sites with a corresponding tensor network representation of the time axis to construct an efficient 2D tensor network. The 2D MS-TNPI network, when contracted, yields the time-dependent reduced density tensor of the extended system as an MPS. The algorithm presented is independent of the system Hamiltonian. We outline an iteration scheme to take the simulation beyond the non-Markovian memory introduced by solvents. Applications to spin chains coupled to local harmonic baths are presented; we consider the Ising, XXZ, and Heisenberg models, demonstrating that the presence of local environments can often dissipate the entanglement between the sites. We discuss three factors causing the system to transition from a coherent oscillatory dynamics to a fully incoherent dynamics. The MS-TNPI method is useful for studying a variety of extended quantum systems coupled with solvents.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Efficient lattice QCD computation of radiative-leptonic-decay form factors at multiple positive and negative photon virtualities

In previous work [D. Giusti, Methods for high-precision determinations of radiative-leptonic decay form factors using lattice QCD, Phys. Rev. D 107, 074507 (2023)], we showed that form factors for radiative leptonic decays of pseudoscalar mesons can be determined efficiently and with high precision from lattice QCD using the “three-dimensional (3D) method,” in which three-point functions are computed for all values of the current insertion time and the time integral is performed at the data-analysis stage. Here, we demonstrate another benefit of the 3D method: the form factors can be extracted for any number of nonzero photon virtualities from the same three-point functions at no extra cost. We present results for the $D_s → ℓνγ*$ vector form factor as a function of photon energy and photon virtuality, for both positive and negative virtuality, for a single ensemble with 340 MeV pion mass and 0.11 fm lattice spacing. In our analysis, we separately consider the two different time orderings and the different quark flavors in the electromagnetic current. We discuss in detail the behavior of the unwanted exponentials contributing to the three-point functions, as well as the choice of fit models and fit ranges used to remove them for various values of the virtuality. While positive photon virtuality is relevant for decays to multiple charged leptons, negative photon virtuality suppresses soft contributions and is of interest in QCD-factorization studies of the form factors.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Orbital stability analysis of hypothetical Earth-mass and Luna-mass moons in the Sagarmatha (HD 100777) star system

Abstract Six of the solar system planets have 150 confirmed moons (Earth—1, Mars—2, Jupiter—53, Saturn—53, Uranus—27, Neptune—14) and seven of them (Ganymede, Titan, Callisto, Io, the Moon, Europa, Triton) have masses >0.001 $M_\oplus$. However, no exomoons have yet been discovered despite the successful detection of ∼5000 exoplanets. We can infer, based on the solar system planets, that these exoplanets are capable of hosting one or more exomoons. In this paper, we study the possible existence of hypothetical Earth-mass and Luna-mass moons orbiting the Jupiter-mass planet, Laligurans (HD 100777b) in the Sagarmatha (HD 100777) star system by means of orbital stability. We apply long-term orbital integrations and the MEGNO (mean exponential growth of nearby orbits) chaos indicator to study the orbital stability of the moons and predict a phase-space region comprising periodic, chaotic, and unstable orbits. The phase spaces primarily constitute the moon's semimajor axis, which extends from the host planet's Roche radius to the Hill radius, and full range of eccentricity. Specific points are picked from three different regions of the MEGNO map and run as single-orbit integration for up to 10 billion periods of the innermost orbit. Furthermore, the lifetime and maximum eccentricity maps are generated from the direct integration to inspect the stable and unstable orbital configurations. The analyses of these maps, with the aid of time-series plots, show that both moons maintain stable orbits in the low-eccentricity regime and semimajor axis between the Roche limit and 28.4% of the Hill radius of the planet.

Gautam, Aayush (ORCID:0000000247257589)↗