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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

SU-C-213-01: 3D Printed Patient Specific Phantom Composed of Bone and Soft Tissue Substitute Plastics for Radiation Therapy

Purpose: 3D printed phantoms constructed of multiple tissue approximating materials could be useful in both clinical and research aspects of radiotherapy. This work describes a 3D printed phantom constructed with tissue substitute plastics for both bone and soft tissue; air cavities were included as well. Methods: 3D models of an anonymized nasopharynx patient were generated for air cavities, soft tissues, and bone, which were segmented by Hounsfield Unit (HU) thresholds. HU thresholds were chosen to define air-to-soft tissue boundaries of 0.65 g/cc and soft tissue-to-bone boundaries of 1.18 g/cc based on clinical HU to density tables. After evaluation of several composite plastics, a bone tissue substitute was identified as an acceptable material for typical radiotherapy x-ray energies, composed of iron and PLA plastic. PET plastic was determined to be an acceptable soft tissue substitute. 3D printing was performed on a consumer grade dual extrusion fused deposition model 3D printer. Results: MVCT scans of the 3D printed heterogeneous phantom were acquired. Rigid image registration of the patient and the 3D printed phantom scans was performed. The average physical density of the soft tissue and bone regions was 1.02 ± 0.08 g/cc and 1.39 ± 0.14 g/cc, respectively, for the patient kVCT scan. In the 3D printed phantom MVCT scan, the average density of the soft tissue and bone was 1.01 ± 0.09 g/cc and 1.44 ± 0.12 g/cc, respectively. Conclusion: A patient specific phantom, constructed of heterogeneous tissue substitute materials was constructed by 3D printing. MVCT of the 3D printed phantom showed realistic tissue densities were recreated by the 3D printing materials. Funding provided by intra-department grant by University of Minnesota Department of Radiation Oncology.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Crash Models for Advanced Automotive Batteries: A Review of the Current State of the Art

Safety is a critical aspect of lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery design. Impact/crash conditions can trigger a complex interplay of mechanical contact, heat generation and electrical discharge, which can result in adverse thermal events. The cause of these thermal events has been linked to internal contact between the opposite electrodes, i.e. internal short circuit. The severity of the outcome is influenced by the configuration of the internal short circuit and the battery state. Different loading conditions and battery states may lead to micro (soft) shorts where material burnout due to generated heat eliminates contact between the electrodes, or persistent (hard) shorts which can lead to more significant thermal events and potentially damage the entire battery system and beyond. Experimental characterization of individual battery components for the onset of internal shorts is limited, since it is impractical to canvas all possible variations in battery state of charge, operating conditions, and impact loading in a timely manner. This report provides a survey of modeling and simulation approaches and documents a project initiated and funded by DOT/NHTSA to improve modeling and simulation capabilities in order to design tests that provide leading indicators of failure in batteries. In this project, ORNL has demonstrated a computational infrastructure to conduct impact simulations of Li-ion batteries using models that resolve internal structures and electro-thermo-chemical and mechanical conditions. Initial comparisons to abuse experiments on cells and cell strings conducted at ORNL and Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) at Carderock MD for parameter estimation and model validation have been performed. This research has provided insight into the mechanisms of deformation in batteries (both at cell and electrode level) and their relationship to the safety of batteries.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2019

The two-loop five-point amplitude in $\mathcal{N}$ = 8 supergravity

We compute the symbol of the two-loop five-point amplitude in $\mathcal{N}$ = 8 supergravity. We write an ansatz for the amplitude whose rational prefactors are based on not only 4-dimensional leading singularities, but also d-dimensional ones, as the former are insufficient. Our novel d-dimensional unitarity-based approach to the systematic construction of an amplitude’s rational structures is likely to have broader applications, for example to analogous QCD calculations. We fix parameters in the ansatz by performing numerical integration-by-parts reduction of the known integrand. We find that the two-loop five-point $\mathcal{N}$ = 8 supergravity amplitude is uniformly transcendental. We then verify the soft and collinear limits of the amplitude. There is considerable similarity with the corresponding amplitude for $\mathcal{N}$ = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory: all the rational prefactors are double copies of the Yang-Mills ones and the transcendental functions overlap to a large degree. As a byproduct, we find new relations between color-ordered loop amplitudes in $\mathcal{N}$ = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Interfractional Positional Variability of Fiducial Markers and Primary Tumors in Locally Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer During Audiovisual Biofeedback Radiotherapy

Purpose: To evaluate implanted markers as a surrogate for tumor-based setup during image-guided lung cancer radiotherapy with audiovisual biofeedback. Methods and Materials: Seven patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer were implanted bronchoscopically with gold coils. Markers, tumor, and a reference bony structure (vertebra) were contoured for all 10 phases of the four-dimensional respiration-correlated fan-beam computed tomography and weekly four-dimensional cone-beam computed tomography. Results: The systematic/random interfractional marker-to-tumor centroid displacements were 2/3, 2/2, and 3/3 mm in the x (lateral), y (anterior-posterior), and z (superior-inferior) directions, respectively. The systematic/random interfractional marker-to-bone displacements were 2/3, 2/3, and 2/3 mm in the x, y, and z directions, respectively. The systematic/random tumor-to-bone displacements were 2/3, 2/4, and 4/4 mm in the x, y, and z directions, respectively. All displacements changed significantly over time (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Although marker-based image guidance may decrease the risk for geometric miss compared with bony anatomy-based positioning, the observed displacements between markers and tumor centroids indicate the need for repeated soft tissue imaging, particularly in situations with large tumor volume change and large initial marker-to-tumor centroid distance.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Material separation in x-ray CT with energy resolved photon-counting detectors

Purpose: The objective of the study was to demonstrate that, in x-ray computed tomography (CT), more than two types of materials can be effectively separated with the use of an energy resolved photon-counting detector and classification methodology. Specifically, this applies to the case when contrast agents that contain K-absorption edges in the energy range of interest are present in the object. This separation is enabled via the use of recently developed energy resolved photon-counting detectors with multiple thresholds, which allow simultaneous measurements of the x-ray attenuation at multiple energies. Methods: To demonstrate this capability, we performed simulations and physical experiments using a six-threshold energy resolved photon-counting detector. We imaged mouse-sized cylindrical phantoms filled with several soft-tissue-like and bone-like materials and with iodine-based and gadolinium-based contrast agents. The linear attenuation coefficients were reconstructed for each material in each energy window and were visualized as scatter plots between pairs of energy windows. For comparison, a dual-kVp CT was also simulated using the same phantom materials. In this case, the linear attenuation coefficients at the lower kVp were plotted against those at the higher kVp. Results: In both the simulations and the physical experiments, the contrast agents were easily separable from other soft-tissue-like and bone-like materials, thanks to the availability of the attenuation coefficient measurements at more than two energies provided by the energy resolved photon-counting detector. In the simulations, the amount of separation was observed to be proportional to the concentration of the contrast agents; however, this was not observed in the physical experiments due to limitations of the real detector system. We used the angle between pairs of attenuation coefficient vectors in either the 5-D space (for non-contrast-agent materials using energy resolved photon-counting acquisition) or a 2-D space (for contrast agents using energy resolved photon-counting acquisition and all materials using dual-kVp acquisition) as a measure of the degree of separation. Compared to dual-kVp techniques, an energy resolved detector provided a larger separation and the ability to separate different target materials using measurements acquired in different energy window pairs with a single x-ray exposure. Conclusions: We concluded that x-ray CT with an energy resolved photon-counting detector with more than two energy windows allows the separation of more than two types of materials, e.g., soft-tissue-like, bone-like, and one or more materials with K-edges in the energy range of interest. Separating material types using energy resolved photon-counting detectors has a number of advantages over dual-kVp CT in terms of the degree of separation and the number of materials that can be separated simultaneously.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Toward engineering lattice structures with the material point method (MPM)

This study examines the potential of two variants of the material point method—the generalized interpolation material point (GIMP) and dual domain material point (DDMP) methods—in developing a robust computational framework for engineering lattice structures under different loading conditions. The study begins with assessing the ability of the two methods in predicting elastic buckling phenomena using column geometries with and without initial geometric imperfections. The results indicate that both methods effectively capture buckling phenomena when initial geometric imperfections are introduced. After this verification step, we create several models of tetrahedral lattice structures with varying strut diameter and orientation and subject them to quasi-static loading. We then validate the numerical results using laboratory test results. The results show that, while both methods accurately predict load–displacement curves in the pre-buckling regime, their predictive capabilities diminish in the post-buckling regime. Through visual comparison between the numerical and experimental deformed shapes, it appears that the discrepancies between model and experimental results are attributed to initial geometric imperfections in the lattices that occurred during 3D printing. We then establish a second set of lattice models where different types of initial geometric imperfections are considered. The results from these models show that imperfections have a negligible influence in the pre-buckling regime but affect the behavior considerably in the post-buckling regime. As a final step in this work, we subject the lattice models to impact loading and employ hypothetical soft and stiff materials. These results show that the lattice stiffness, which depends on material stiffness, strut diameter, and orientation, significantly influences the ability of a lattice structure to resist impact. In particular, we find that a stiffer lattice (i.e., one made with a stiff material and thicker struts) is capable of absorbing more energy than a softer one during impact. Although material nonlinearities, inelasticity, and detailed contact formulations are not considered in this study, the findings obtained herein lay the groundwork for engineering lattice structures under extreme loading conditions through a simulation-driven framework based on particle-based methods.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Intermediate time sub-diffusion and stress relaxation in ring polymer melts

The slow dynamics of non-concatenated ring melts remains a frontier problem in polymer science with implications for many soft material environments including cellular biophysics. Here, in this work, we report large-scale simulations of model ring melts that analyze the monomer and center-of-mass (CM) mean square displacements (MSD) and stress relaxation function on intermediate time and length scales. The degree of dynamical slowing down is characterized by the maximally sub-diffusive fractional time scaling exponents. The data span an exceptionally wide range of ring degrees of polymerization and stiffnesses and are not successfully organized based on the classic measure linear chain entanglement, N/N e . Rather, we find that the crossover degree of polymerization, N D , based on ring macromolecular caging that successfully allows master curves to be constructed for the long-time CM self-diffusion constant also collapses these temporal dynamic scaling exponents. Different properties display different exponents and exhibit one or two regimes of linear variation with the logarithm of N D / N . A distinct crossover of the CM-MSD and stress relaxation exponents emerges at sufficiently large N or stiffness that is not found for the monomer MSD, indicating a novel form of dynamic decoupling. This crossover aligns with the predicted critical degree of polymerization for transitioning from a weak to strong caging regime, indicative of activated transport. The latter may reflect the emergence of an intermolecular collective contribution to stress in analogy with dense soft colloidal matter. Suggestions are made for future theoretical work to address the rich patterns of behavior discovered.

Anomalous diffusion↗
DOE OSTI2022

Deep Reinforcement Learning for Distribution System Restoration Using Distributed Energy Resources and Tie-Switches

Distributed energy resources (DERs), such as solar PVs and energy storage, can be used to restore distribution system critical loads after the extreme weather events to increase grid resilience. However, coordinating multiple DERs together with tie-switches for multi-step restoration process under renewable uncertainty is challenging. This paper proposes a deep reinforcement learning to control discrete actions of switching on/off tie switches and DERs for critical load restoration. The restoration problem is first cast into the Markov decision process suitable for DRL. Then, the original soft actor critic (SAC) method for continuous actions has been extended to handle discrete and continuous actions. Numerical comparison results with other stochastic optimization-based approaches on the modified IEEE 33-bus system show that the proposed method can achieve fast critical load restoration in the presence of substation power outage while maintaining system voltage limit throughout the restoration process.

active distribution systems↗
DOE OSTI2014

Computational self-assembly of a one-component icosahedral quasicrystal

Icosahedral quasicrystals (IQCs) are a form of matter that is ordered but not periodic in any direction. All reported IQCs are intermetallic compounds and either of face-centred-icosahedral or primitive-icosahedral type, and the positions of their atoms have been resolved from diffraction data. However, unlike axially symmetric quasicrystals, IQCs have not been observed in non-atomic (that is, micellar or nanoparticle) systems, where real-space information would be directly available. Here, we show that an IQC can be assembled by means of molecular dynamics simulations from a one-component system of particles interacting via a tunable, isotropic pair potential extending only to the third-neighbour shell. The IQC is body-centred, self-assembles from a fluid phase, and in parameter space neighbours clathrates and other tetrahedrally bonded crystals. Our findings elucidate the structure and dynamics of the IQC, and suggest routes to search for it and design it in soft matter and nanoscale systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Poster — Thur Eve — 03: Application of the non-negative matrix factorization technique to [{sup 11}C]-DTBZ dynamic PET data for the early detection of Parkinson's disease

In this work, a class of non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) technique known as alternating non-negative least squares, combined with the projected gradient method, is used to analyze twenty-five [{sup 11}C]-DTBZ dynamic PET/CT brain data. For each subject, a two-factor model is assumed and two factors representing the striatum (factor 1) and the non-striatum (factor 2) tissues are extracted using the proposed NMF technique and commercially available factor analysis software “Pixies”. The extracted factor 1 and 2 curves represent the binding site of the radiotracer and describe the uptake and clearance of the radiotracer by soft tissues in the brain, respectively. The proposed NMF technique uses prior information about the dynamic data to obtain sample time-activity curves representing the striatum and the non-striatum tissues. These curves are then used for “warm” starting the optimization. Factor solutions from the two methods are compared graphically and quantitatively. In healthy subjects, radiotracer uptake by factors 1 and 2 are approximately 35–40% and 60–65%, respectively. The solutions are also used to develop a factor-based metric for the detection of early, untreated Parkinson's disease. The metric stratifies healthy subjects from suspected Parkinson's patients (based on the graphical method). The analysis shows that both techniques produce comparable results with similar computational time. The “semi-automatic” approach used by the NMF technique allows clinicians to manually set a starting condition for “warm” starting the optimization in order to facilitate control and efficient interaction with the data.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Factorization and resummation for groomed multi-prong jet shapes

Observables which distinguish boosted topologies from QCD jets are playing an increasingly important role at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These observables are often used in conjunction with jet grooming algorithms, which reduce contamination from both theoretical and experimental sources. In this paper we derive factorization formulae for groomed multi-prong substructure observables, focusing in particular on the groomed D 2 observable, which is used to identify boosted hadronic decays of electroweak bosons at the LHC. Our factorization formulae allow systematically improvable calculations of the perturbative D 2 distribution and the resummation of logarithmically enhanced terms in all regions of phase space using renormalization group evolution. They include a novel factorization for the production of a soft subjet in the presence of a grooming algorithm, in which clustering effects enter directly into the hard matching. We use these factorization formulae to draw robust conclusions of experimental relevance regarding the universality of the D 2 distribution in both e+e- and pp collisions. In particular, we show that the only process dependence is carried by the relative quark vs. gluon jet fraction in the sample, no non-global logarithms from event-wide correlations are present in the distribution, hadronization corrections are controlled by the perturbative mass of the jet, and all global color correlations are completely removed by grooming, making groomed D 2 a theoretically clean QCD observable even in the LHC environment. Lastly, we compute all ingredients to one-loop accuracy, and present numerical results at next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy for e + e - collisions, comparing with parton shower Monte Carlo simulations. Results for pp collisions, as relevant for phenomenology at the LHC, are presented in a companion paper.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Evidence for Helical Hinge Zero Modes in an Fe-Based Superconductor

Combining topology and superconductivity provides a powerful tool for investigating fundamental physics as well as a route to fault-tolerant quantum computing. There is mounting evidence that the Fe-based superconductor FeTe 0.55 Se 0.45 (FTS) may also be topologically nontrivial. Should the superconducting order be s ± , then FTS could be a higher order topological superconductor with helical hinge zero modes (HHZMs). To test the presence of these modes, we have fabricated normal-metal/superconductor junctions on different surfaces via 2D atomic crystal heterostructures. As expected, junctions in contact with the hinge reveal a sharp zero bias anomaly that is absent when tunneling purely into the c-axis. Additionally, the shape and suppression with temperature are consistent with highly coherent modes along the hinge and are incongruous with other origins of zero bias anomalies. Additional measurements with soft-point contacts in bulk samples with various Fe interstitial contents demonstrate the intrinsic nature of the observed mode. Thus, we provide evidence that FTS is indeed a higher order topological superconductor.

2D superconductor↗
DOE OSTI2011

Novel QCD Phenomenology

I review a number of topics where conventional wisdom in hadron physics has been challenged. For example, hadrons can be produced at large transverse momentum directly within a hard higher-twist QCD subprocess, rather than from jet fragmentation. Such 'direct' processes can explain the deviations from perturbative QCD predictions in measurements of inclusive hadron cross sections at fixed x{sub T} = 2p{sub T}/{radical}s, as well as the 'baryon anomaly', the anomalously large proton-to-pion ratio seen in high centrality heavy ion collisions. Initial-state and final-state interactions of the struck quark, the soft-gluon rescattering associated with its Wilson line, lead to Bjorken-scaling single-spin asymmetries, diffractive deep inelastic scattering, the breakdown of the Lam-Tung relation in Drell-Yan reactions, as well as nuclear shadowing and antishadowing. The Gribov-Glauber theory predicts that antishadowing of nuclear structure functions is not universal, but instead depends on the flavor quantum numbers of each quark and antiquark, thus explaining the anomalous nuclear dependence measured in deep-inelastic neutrino scattering. Since shadowing and antishadowing arise from the physics of leading-twist diffractive deep inelastic scattering, one cannot attribute such phenomena to the structure of the nucleus itself. It is thus important to distinguish 'static' structure functions, the probability distributions computed from the square of the target light-front wavefunctions, versus 'dynamical' structure functions which include the effects of the final-state rescattering of the struck quark. The importance of the J = 0 photon-quark QCD contact interaction in deeply virtual Compton scattering is also emphasized. The scheme-independent BLM method for setting the renormalization scale is discussed. Eliminating the renormalization scale ambiguity greatly improves the precision of QCD predictions and increases the sensitivity of searches for new physics at the LHC. Other novel features of QCD are discussed, including the consequences of confinement for quark and gluon condensates.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

Light-Front Holography, Light-Front Wavefunctions, and Novel QCD Phenomena

Light-Front Holography is one of the most remarkable features of the AdS/CFT correspondence. In spite of its present limitations it provides important physical insights into the nonperturbative regime of QCD and its transition to the perturbative domain. This novel framework allows hadronic amplitudes in a higher dimensional anti-de Sitter (AdS) space to be mapped to frame-independent light-front wavefunctions of hadrons in physical space-time. The model leads to an effective confining light-front QCD Hamiltonian and a single-variable light-front Schroedinger equation which determines the eigenspectrum and the light-front wavefunctions of hadrons for general spin and orbital angular momentum. The coordinate z in AdS space is uniquely identified with a Lorentz-invariant coordinate {zeta} which measures the separation of the constituents within a hadron at equal light-front time and determines the off-shell dynamics of the bound-state wavefunctions, and thus the fall-off as a function of the invariant mass of the constituents. The soft-wall holographic model modified by a positive-sign dilaton metric, leads to a remarkable one-parameter description of nonperturbative hadron dynamics - a semi-classical frame-independent first approximation to the spectra and light-front wavefunctions of meson and baryons. The model predicts a Regge spectrum of linear trajectories with the same slope in the leading orbital angular momentum L of hadrons and the radial quantum number n. The hadron eigensolutions projected on the free Fock basis provides the complete set of valence and non-valence light-front Fock state wavefunctions {Psi}{sub n/H} (x{sub i}, k{sub {perpendicular}i}, {lambda}{sub i}) which describe the hadron's momentum and spin distributions needed to compute the direct measures of hadron structure at the quark and gluon level, such as elastic and transition form factors, distribution amplitudes, structure functions, generalized parton distributions and transverse momentum distributions. The effective confining potential also creates quark-antiquark pairs from the amplitude q {yields} q{bar q}q. Thus in holographic QCD higher Fock states can have any number of extra q{bar q} pairs. We discuss the relevance of higher Fock-states for describing the detailed structure of space and time-like form factors. The AdS/QCD model can be systematically improved by using its complete orthonormal solutions to diagonalize the full QCD light-front Hamiltonian or by applying the Lippmann-Schwinger method in order to systematically include the QCD interaction terms. A new perspective on quark and gluon condensates is also obtained.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2010

The AdS/QCD Correspondence and Exclusive Processes

The AdS/CFT correspondence between theories in AdS space and conformal field theories in physical space-time provides an analytic, semi-classical, color-confining model for strongly-coupled QCD. The soft-wall AdS/QCD model modified by a positive-sign dilaton metric leads to a remarkable one-parameter description of nonperturbative hadron dynamics at zero quark mass, including a zero-mass pion and a Regge spectrum of linear trajectories with the same slope in orbital angular momentum L and radial quantum number n for both mesons and baryons. One also predicts the form of the non-perturbative effective coupling {alpha}{sub s}{sup AdS}(q) and its {beta}-function which agrees with the effective coupling {alpha}{sub ga} extracted from the Bjorken sum rule. Light-front holography, which connects the fifth-dimensional coordinate of AdS space z to an invariant impact separation variable {zeta}, allows one to compute the analytic form of the frame-independent light-front wavefunctions, the fundamental entities which encode hadron properties as well as decay constants, form factors, deeply virtual Compton scattering, exclusive heavy hadron decays and other exclusive scattering amplitudes. One thus obtains a relativistic description of hadrons in QCD at the amplitude level with dimensional counting for hard exclusive reactions at high momentum transfer. As specific examples we discuss the behavior of the pion and nucleon form factors in the space-like and time-like regions. We also review the phenomenology of exclusive processes including some anomalous empirical results.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Symmetry-Breaking and Self-Sorting in Block Copolymer-Based Multicomponent Nanocomposites

Co-assembly of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) and nanostructured polymer matrix represents an intricate interplay of enthalpic or entropic forces. Particle size largely affects the phase behavior of the nanocomposite. Theoretical studies indicate that new morphologies would emerge when the particles become comparable to the soft matrix's size, but this has rarely been supported experimentally. By designing a multicomponent blend composed of NPs, block copolymer-based supramolecules, and small molecules, a 3-D ordered lattice beyond the native BCP's morphology was recently reported when the particle is larger than the microdomain of BCP. The blend can accommodate various formulation variables. In this work, when the particle size equals the microdomain size, a symmetry-broken phase appears in a narrow range of particle sizes and compositions, which we named the "train track" structure. In this phase, the NPs aligned into a 3-D hexagonal lattice and packed asymmetrically along the c axis, making the projection of the ac and the bc plane resemble train tracks. Computational studies show that the broken symmetry reduces the polymer chain deformation and stabilizes the metastable hexagonally perforated lamellar morphology. Given the mobility of the multicomponent blend, the system shows a self-sorting behavior: segregating into two macroscopic phases with different nanostructures based on only a few nanometers NP size differences. Smaller NPs form "train track" morphology, while larger NPs form a "simple hexagon" structure, where the NPs take a symmetric hexagonal arrangement. Detailed structural evolution and simulation studies confirm the systematic-wide cooperativity across different components, indicating the strong self-regulation of the multicomponent system.

"train track" morphology↗
DOE OSTI2017

Effective field theory approach to open heavy flavor production in heavy-ion collisions

We develop a version of Soft Collinear Effective Theory (SCET) which includes finite quark masses, as well as Glauber gluons that describe the interaction of collinear partons with QCD matter. In the framework of this new effective field theory, labeled SCET M,G , we derive the massive splitting functions in the vacuum and the QCD medium for the processes $Q → Qg, Q → gQ$ and $g→Q\bar{Q}$. The numerical effects due to finite quark masses are sizable and our results are consistent with the traditional approach to parton energy loss in the soft gluon emission limit. In addition, we present a new framework for including the medium-induced full splitting functions consistent with next-to-leading order calculations in QCD for inclusive hadron production. Finally, we show numerical results for the suppression of D- and B-mesons in heavy ion collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=5.02 TeV and 2.76 TeV and compare to available data from the LHC.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Origin of the neutron skin thickness of {sup 208}Pb in nuclear mean-field models

We study whether the neutron skin thickness {Delta}r{sub np} of {sup 208}Pb originates from the bulk or from the surface of the nucleon density distributions, according to the mean-field models of nuclear structure, and find that it depends on the stiffness of the nuclear symmetry energy. The bulk contribution to {Delta}r{sub np} arises from an extended sharp radius of neutrons, whereas the surface contribution arises from different widths of the neutron and proton surfaces. Nuclear models where the symmetry energy is stiff, as typical of relativistic models, predict a bulk contribution in {Delta}r{sub np} of {sup 208}Pb about twice as large as the surface contribution. In contrast, models with a soft symmetry energy like common nonrelativistic models predict that {Delta}r{sub np} of {sup 208}Pb is divided similarly into bulk and surface parts. Indeed, if the symmetry energy is supersoft, the surface contribution becomes dominant. We note that the linear correlation of {Delta}r{sub np} of {sup 208}Pb with the density derivative of the nuclear symmetry energy arises from the bulk part of {Delta}r{sub np}. We also note that most models predict a mixed-type (between halo and skin) neutron distribution for {sup 208}Pb. Although the halo-type limit is actually found in the models with a supersoft symmetry energy, the skin-type limit is not supported by any mean-field model. Finally, we compute parity-violating electron scattering in the conditions of the {sup 208}Pb parity radius experiment (PREX) and obtain a pocket formula for the parity-violating asymmetry in terms of the parameters that characterize the shape of the {sup 208}Pb nucleon densities.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗