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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Stress-Induced Anomalous Transport in Natural Fracture Networks

In this work we investigate the effects of geological stress on fluid flow and tracer transport in natural fracture networks. We show the emergence of non-Fickian (anomalous) transport from the interplay among fracture network geometry, aperture heterogeneity, and geological stress. In this study, we extract the fracture network geometry from the geological map of an actual rock outcrop, and we simulate the geomechanical behavior of fractured rock using a hybrid finite-discrete element method. We analyze the impact of stress on the aperture distribution, fluid flow field, and tracer transport properties. Both stress magnitude and orientation have strong effects on the fracture aperture field, which in turn affects fluid flow and tracer transport through the system. We observe that stress anisotropy may cause significant shear dilation along long, curved fractures that are preferentially oriented to the stress loading. This, in turn, induces preferential flow paths and anomalous early arrival of tracers. An increase in stress magnitude enhances aperture heterogeneity by introducing more small apertures, which exacerbates late-time tailing. This effect is stronger when there is higher heterogeneity in the initial aperture field. To honor the flow field with strong preferential flow paths, we extend the Bernoulli Continuous Time Random Walk model to incorporate dual velocity correlation length scales. The proposed upscaled transport model captures anomalous transport through stressed fracture networks and agrees quantitatively with the high-fidelity numerical simulations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

CHARACTERIZING THE OPTICAL VARIABILITY OF BRIGHT BLAZARS: VARIABILITY-BASED SELECTION OF FERMI ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

We investigate the use of optical photometric variability to select and identify blazars in large-scale time-domain surveys, in part to aid in the identification of blazar counterparts to the {approx}30% of {gamma}-ray sources in the Fermi 2FGL catalog still lacking reliable associations. Using data from the optical LINEAR asteroid survey, we characterize the optical variability of blazars by fitting a damped random walk model to individual light curves with two main model parameters, the characteristic timescales of variability {tau}, and driving amplitudes on short timescales {sigma}-circumflex. Imposing cuts on minimum {tau} and {sigma}-circumflex allows for blazar selection with high efficiency E and completeness C. To test the efficacy of this approach, we apply this method to optically variable LINEAR objects that fall within the several-arcminute error ellipses of {gamma}-ray sources in the Fermi 2FGL catalog. Despite the extreme stellar contamination at the shallow depth of the LINEAR survey, we are able to recover previously associated optical counterparts to Fermi active galactic nuclei with E {>=} 88% and C = 88% in Fermi 95% confidence error ellipses having semimajor axis r < 8'. We find that the suggested radio counterpart to Fermi source 2FGL J1649.6+5238 has optical variability consistent with other {gamma}-ray blazars and is likely to be the {gamma}-ray source. Our results suggest that the variability of the non-thermal jet emission in blazars is stochastic in nature, with unique variability properties due to the effects of relativistic beaming. After correcting for beaming, we estimate that the characteristic timescale of blazar variability is {approx}3 years in the rest frame of the jet, in contrast with the {approx}320 day disk flux timescale observed in quasars. The variability-based selection method presented will be useful for blazar identification in time-domain optical surveys and is also a probe of jet physics.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping project: Ensemble spectroscopic variability of quasar broad emission lines

We explore the variability of quasars in the Mg ii and Hβ broad emission lines and ultraviolet/optical continuum emission using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping project (SDSS-RM). This is the largest spectroscopic study of quasar variability to date: our study includes 29 spectroscopic epochs from SDSS-RM over 6 months, containing 357 quasars with Mg ii and 41 quasars with Hβ. On longer timescales, the study is also supplemented with two-epoch data from SDSS-I/II. The SDSS-I/II data include an additional 2854 quasars with Mg ii and 572 quasars with Hβ. The Mg ii emission line is significantly variable (Δf/f∼10% on ∼100-day timescales), a necessary prerequisite for its use for reverberation mapping studies. The data also confirm that continuum variability increases with timescale and decreases with luminosity, and the continuum light curves are consistent with a damped random-walk model on rest-frame timescales of ≳5 days. We compare the emission-line and continuum variability to investigate the structure of the broad-line region. Broad-line variability shows a shallower increase with timescale compared to the continuum emission, demonstrating that the broad-line transfer function is not a δ-function. Hβ is more variable than Mg ii (roughly by a factor of ∼1.5), suggesting different excitation mechanisms, optical depths and/or geometrical configuration for each emission line. The ensemble spectroscopic variability measurements enabled by the SDSS-RM project have important consequences for future studies of reverberation mapping and black hole mass estimation of 1<z<2 quasars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

MONACO: accurate biological network alignment through optimal neighborhood matching between focal nodes

Motivation: Alignment of protein–protein interaction networks can be used for the unsupervised prediction of functional modules, such as protein complexes and signaling pathways, that are conserved across different species. To date, various algorithms have been proposed for biological network alignment, many of which attempt to incorporate topological similarity between the networks into the alignment process with the goal of constructing accurate and biologically meaningful alignments. Especially, random walk models have been shown to be effective for quantifying the global topological relatedness between nodes that belong to different networks by diffusing node-level similarity along the interaction edges. However, these schemes are not ideal for capturing the local topological similarity between nodes. Results: Here, we propose MONACO, a novel and versatile network alignment algorithm that finds highly accurate pairwise and multiple network alignments through the iterative optimal matching of ‘local’ neighborhoods around focal nodes. Extensive performance assessment based on real networks as well as synthetic networks, for which the ground truth is known, demonstrates that MONACO clearly and consistently outperforms all other state-of-the-art network alignment algorithms that we have tested, in terms of accuracy, coherence and topological quality of the aligned network regions. Furthermore, despite the sharply enhanced alignment accuracy, MONACO remains computationally efficient and it scales well with increasing size and number of networks.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Trapping interlayer excitons in van der Waals heterostructures by potential arrays

Transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures can host interlayer excitons (IXs), which consist of electrons and holes spatially separated in different layers. IXs possess permanent dipoles and have proven to offer a wealth of novel physics. Here we develop a discrete, random-walk model which includes annihilation and repulsion interactions among IXs. Using this model, we simulate the trapping of IXs in traps of different depths, densities, and shapes. Our results show that dipole-dipole interactions play an important role in regulating IX trapping. The effects of dipole interactions can be mitigated with small, deep traps which are realizable with atomic defects and moire potentials.

2-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2026

Risk-Aware Measurement Synchronization and Recovery for DSSE With Heterogeneous Data Sources

Power distribution systems are increasingly integrating heterogeneous sensors with varying data reporting rates and types, which pose challenges to achieving observability at the desired temporal resolution of distribution system state estimation (DSSE). Multisensor failures caused by extreme events exacerbate these issues, introducing substantial uncertainties into DSSE. This article proposes a novel solution to these challenges by ensuring high-resolution system observability despite heterogeneous data sources and multisensor failures. First, a deep learning architecture combining long short-term memory (LSTM) and graph convolutional network (GCN) is employed to synchronize meters with different reporting rates, aiming to achieve system observability. A random-walk-model-based approach is introduced to generate pseudo-measurements while properly characterizing their uncertainties under multisensor failures. Finally, a disaster-risk-informed observability metric (RiOM) is defined to quantify the uncertainty associated with state estimation results. The proposed framework offers deeper insights into the system observability on the fly compared with conventional analysis. The effectiveness of the framework is demonstrated on an IEEE standard test case and a large-scale real-world distribution feeder in mid-Minnesota in the U.S.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2013

Doppler Velocimetry of Current Driven Spin Helices in a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

Spins in semiconductors provide a pathway towards the development of spin-based electronics. The appeal of spin logic devices lies in the fact that the spin current is even under time reversal symmetry, yielding non-dissipative coupling to the electric field. To exploit the energy-saving potential of spin current it is essential to be able to control it. While recent demonstrations of electrical-gate control in spin-transistor configurations show great promise, operation at room temperature remains elusive. Further progress requires a deeper understanding of the propagation of spin polarization, particularly in the high mobility semiconductors used for devices. This dissertation presents the demonstration and application of a powerful new optical technique, Doppler spin velocimetry, for probing the motion of spin polarization at the level of 1 nm on a picosecond time scale. We discuss experiments in which this technique is used to measure the motion of spin helices in high mobility n-GaAs quantum wells as a function of temperature, in-plane electric field, and photoinduced spin polarization amplitude. We find that the spin helix velocity changes sign as a function of wave vector and is zero at the wave vector that yields the largest spin lifetime. This observation is quite striking, but can be explained by the random walk model that we have developed. We discover that coherent spin precession within a propagating spin density wave is lost at temperatures near 150 K. This finding is critical to understanding why room temperature operation of devices based on electrical gate control of spin current has so far remained elusive. We report that, at all temperatures, electron spin polarization co-propagates with the high-mobility electron sea, even when this requires an unusual form of separation of spin density from photoinjected electron density. Furthermore, although the spin packet co-propagates with the two-dimensional electron gas, spin diffusion is strongly suppressed by electron-electron interactions, leading to remarkable resistance to diffusive spreading of the drifting pulse of spin polarization. Finally, we show that spin helices continue propagate at the same speed as the Fermi sea even when the electron drift velocity exceeds the Fermi velocity of 107 cm s -1 .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Quantitative Microscopy Reveals Stepwise Alteration of Chromatin Structure during Herpesvirus Infection

During lytic herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection, the expansion of the viral replication compartments leads to an enrichment of the host chromatin in the peripheral nucleoplasm. We have shown previously that HSV-1 infection induces the formation of channels through the compacted peripheral chromatin. Here, we used three-dimensional confocal and expansion microscopy, soft X-ray tomography, electron microscopy, and random walk simulations to analyze the kinetics of host chromatin redistribution and capsid localization relative to their egress site at the nuclear envelope. Our data demonstrated a gradual increase in chromatin marginalization, and the kinetics of chromatin smoothening around the viral replication compartments correlated with their expansion. We also observed a gradual transfer of capsids to the nuclear envelope. Later in the infection, random walk modeling indicated a gradually faster transport of capsids to the nuclear envelope that correlated with an increase in the interchromatin channels in the nuclear periphery. Our study reveals a stepwise and time-dependent mechanism of herpesvirus nuclear egress, in which progeny viral capsids approach the egress sites at the nuclear envelope via interchromatin spaces.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2012

Total Dose Effects on Bipolar Integrated Circuits at Low Temperature

Total dose damage in bipolar integrated circuits is investigated at low temperature, along with the temperature dependence of the electrical parameters of internal transistors. Bandgap narrowing causes the gain of npn transistors to decrease far more at low temperature compared to pnp transistors, due to the large difference in emitter doping concentration. When irradiations are done at temperatures of -140 deg C, no damage occurs until devices are warmed to temperatures above -50 deg C. After warm-up, subsequent cooling shows that damage is then present at low temperature. This can be explained by the very strong temperature dependence of dispersive transport in the continuous-time-random-walk model for hole transport. For linear integrated circuits, low temperature operation is affected by the strong temperature dependence of npn transistors along with the higher sensitivity of lateral and substrate pnp transistors to radiation damage.

linear integrated circuits↗
NASA NTRS2015

Analysis of Fibrous Felts for Flexible Ablators Using Synchrotron Hard X-Ray Micro-Tomography

We analyzed the material properties of low-density felts that are used as substrates for new-generation flexible and conformal carbon/phenolic ablators, and compared them with those of a rigid carbon fiber preform that is used to manufacture rigid carbon/phenolic ablators. Micro-tomography measurements were obtained using synchrotron X-rays, allowing the characterization of the materials microstructure at the scale of the fibers. Using the tomography voxels as computational grids, we computed tortuosity and room temperature conductivity. In addition we performed micro-scale simulations of the oxidation of carbon fibers using a random walk model for oxygen diffusion and a probability law to model surface reactions.

Ablation↗
DOE OSTI2018

Regularity of the Speed of Biased Random Walk in a One-Dimensional Percolation Model

We consider biased random walks on the infinite cluster of a conditional bond percolation model on the infinite ladder graph. Axelson-Fisk and Häggström established for this model a phase transition for the asymptotic linear speed v̄ of the walk. Namely, there exists some critical value λ{sub c}>0 such that v̄>0 if λ∈(0,λ{sub c}) and v̄=0 if λ≥λ{sub c}. We show that the speed v̄ is continuous in λ on (0,∞) and differentiable on (0,λ{sub c}/2). Moreover, we characterize the derivative as a covariance. For the proof of the differentiability of v̄ on (0,λ{sub c}/2), we require and prove a central limit theorem for the biased random walk. Additionally, we prove that the central limit theorem fails to hold for λ≥λ{sub c}/2.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Probing black hole microstate evolution with networks and random walks

We model black hole microstates and quantum tunneling transitions between them with networks and simulate their time evolution using well-established tools in network theory. In particular, we consider two models based on Bena-Warner three-charge multi-centered microstates and one model based on the D1-D5 system; we use network theory methods to determine how many centers (or D1-D5 string strands) we expect to see in a typical late-time state. We find three distinct possible phases in parameter space for the late-time behaviour of these networks, which we call ergodic, trapped, and amplified, depending on the relative importance and connectedness of microstates. We analyze in detail how these different phases of late-time behavior are related to the underlying physics of the black hole microstates. Our results indicate that the expected properties of microstates at late times cannot always be determined simply by entropic arguments; typicality is instead a highly non-trivial, emergent property of the full Hilbert space of microstates.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1986

Space infrared telescope pointing control system. Infrared telescope tracking in the presence of target motion

The use of charge-coupled-devices, or CCD's, has been documented by a number of sources as an effective means of providing a measurement of spacecraft attitude with respect to the stars. A method exists of defocussing and interpolation of the resulting shape of a star image over a small subsection of a large CCD array. This yields an increase in the accuracy of the device by better than an order of magnitude over the case when the star image is focussed upon a single CCD pixel. This research examines the effect that image motion has upon the overall precision of this star sensor when applied to an orbiting infrared observatory. While CCD's collect energy within the visible spectrum of light, the targets of scientific interest may well have no appreciable visible emissions. Image motion has the effect of smearing the image of the star in the direction of motion during a particular sampling interval. The presence of image motion is incorporated into a Kalman filter for the system, and it is shown that the addition of a gyro command term is adequate to compensate for the effect of image motion in the measurement. The updated gyro model is included in this analysis, but has natural frequencies faster than the projected star tracker sample rate for dim stars. The system state equations are reduced by modelling gyro drift as a white noise process. There exists a tradeoff in selected star tracker sample time between the CCD, which has improved noise characteristics as sample time increases, and the gyro, which will potentially drift further between long attitude updates. A sample time which minimizes pointing estimation error exists for the random drift gyro model as well as for a random walk gyro model.

Powell, J. D.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Radiation breakage of DNA: a model based on random-walk chromatin structure

Monte Carlo computer software, called DNAbreak, has recently been developed to analyze observed non-random clustering of DNA double strand breaks in chromatin after exposure to densely ionizing radiation. The software models coarse-grained configurations of chromatin and radiation tracks, small-scale details being suppressed in order to obtain statistical results for larger scales, up to the size of a whole chromosome. We here give an analytic counterpart of the numerical model, useful for benchmarks, for elucidating the numerical results, for analyzing the assumptions of a more general but less mechanistic "randomly-located-clusters" formalism, and, potentially, for speeding up the calculations. The equations characterize multi-track DNA fragment-size distributions in terms of one-track action; an important step in extrapolating high-dose laboratory results to the much lower doses of main interest in environmental or occupational risk estimation. The approach can utilize the experimental information on DNA fragment-size distributions to draw inferences about large-scale chromatin geometry during cell-cycle interphase.

Chromatin/radiation effects↗
DOE OSTI2019

Development of Upscaling Techniques and Construction of Calibrated Models for Fractured Rocks Using Discrete Fracture Network Approaches

The Pahute Mesa Corrective Action Unit on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) contains several fractured aquifers that can potentially provide high-permeability pathways for radionuclides to migrate away from underground nuclear testing locations. Although the geometric properties of fractures, such as length and orientation, can be found using geophysical methods and borehole image analyses, the hydraulic property of fractures (which are primarily influenced by apertures) are often unknown or have a high degree of uncertainty attached to their values. The aperture values have a profound impact on groundwater velocity and are critical to understanding transport scales at Pahute Mesa. Fracture aperture values and their distributions also have dominant control over radionuclide transport with potential for long-range correlations or scale-invariant dynamics. Understanding of the small-scale transport variability in fractures could lead to identification of distinct characteristics on larger scales. Furthermore, upscaling techniques need to be developed to adequately predict transport behavior at field scales by capturing the transport trends of smaller scale networks. This report explores these vital modeling needs to understand the role of fractures in Pahute Mesa. Discrete fracture network (DFN) models are the basis for constructing a well-calibrated model to ascertain aperture values of fractures in lava-flow aquifers. These models are also used to develop and compare the usefulness of several random-walk-based models to perform transport upscaling.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2013

Simulation of Inflated Pahoehoe Lava Flows

A new stochastic model simulates late-stage pahoehoe lobes where random processes dominate emplacement. The model prescribes probabilistic rules for determining where and when parcels of lava move within the lobe. Unlike a classical Brownian motion random walk, the model allows individual parcels to remain dormant, but fluid, for multiple time steps. The randomness of parcel volume transfers within the lobe interior as well as at the margins qualitatively reflects inflation processes observed in the field. The fraction of inflated volume to total volume increases with the total volume, with greater than 75% of the lobe volume contributed through inflation for typical lobes. The influence on planform shape and topographic cross-sectional profiles of total volume, source area and shape, topographic confinement, and sequential breakouts at the lobe margins, are all explored with the stochastic model. Each of these factors influences the overall lobe thickness and width. The model provides a means for assessing the relative importance of these processes through comparisons with field data. For the first time, Gaussian and parabolic functions are quantitatively fit to field measurements of pahoehoe lobes. Both functional forms provide adequate description of the cross-sectional flow shapes. When comparing simulated lobes to field data, sequential breakouts at the lobe margins are found to be an important process controlling the final topographic distribution of observed pahoehoe lobes.

modeling↗
DOE OSTI2014

Polymer crowding and shape distributions in polymer-nanoparticle mixtures

Macromolecular crowding can influence polymer shapes, which is important for understanding the thermodynamic stability of polymer solutions and the structure and function of biopolymers (proteins, RNA, DNA) under confinement. We explore the influence of nanoparticle crowding on polymer shapes via Monte Carlo simulations and free-volume theory of a coarse-grained model of polymer-nanoparticle mixtures. Exploiting the geometry of random walks, we model polymer coils as effective penetrable ellipsoids, whose shapes fluctuate according to the probability distributions of the eigenvalues of the gyration tensor. Accounting for the entropic cost of a nanoparticle penetrating a larger polymer coil, we compute the crowding-induced shift in the shape distributions, radius of gyration, and asphericity of ideal polymers in a theta solvent. With increased nanoparticle crowding, we find that polymers become more compact (smaller, more spherical), in agreement with predictions of free-volume theory. Our approach can be easily extended to nonideal polymers in good solvents and used to model conformations of biopolymers in crowded environments.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗