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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Insights into the broadband emission of the TeV blazar Mrk 501 during the first X-ray polarization measurements

Aims.We present the first multiwavelength study of Mrk 501 that contains simultaneous very-high-energy (VHE)γ-ray observations and X-ray polarization measurements from the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Methods.We used radio-to-VHE data from a multiwavelength campaign carried out between March 1, 2022, and July 19, 2022 (MJD 59639 to MJD 59779). The observations were performed by MAGIC,Fermi-LAT,NuSTAR,Swift(XRT and UVOT), and several other instruments that cover the optical and radio bands to complement the IXPE pointings. We characterized the dynamics of the broadband emission around the X-ray polarization measurements through its multiband fractional variability and correlations, and compared changes observed in the polarization degree to changes seen in the broadband emission using a multi-zone leptonic scenario. Results.During the IXPE pointings, the VHE state is close to the average behavior, with a 0.2–1 TeV flux of 20%–50% of the emission of the Crab Nebula. Additionally, it shows low variability and a hint of correlation between VHEγ-rays and X-rays. Despite the average VHE activity, an extreme X-ray behavior is measured for the first two IXPE pointings, taken in March 2022 (MJD 59646 to 59648 and MJD 59665 to 59667), with a synchrotron peak frequency > 1 keV. For the third IXPE pointing, in July 2022 (MJD 59769 to 59772), the synchrotron peak shifts toward lower energies and the optical/X-ray polarization degrees drop. All three IXPE epochs show an atypically low Compton dominance in theγ-rays. The X-ray polarization is systematically higher than at lower energies, suggesting an energy stratification of the jet. While during the IXPE epochs the polarization angles in the X-ray, optical, and radio bands align well, we find a clear discrepancy in the optical and radio polarization angles in the middle of the campaign. Such results further support the hypothesis of an energy-stratified jet. We modeled broadband spectra taken simultaneous to the IXPE pointings, assuming a compact zone that dominates in the X-rays and the VHE band, and an extended zone stretching farther downstream in the jet that dominates the emission at lower energies.NuSTARdata allow us to precisely constrain the synchrotron peak and therefore the underlying electron distribution. The change between the different states observed in the three IXPE pointings can be explained by a change in the magnetization and/or the emission region size, which directly connects the shift in the synchrotron peak to lower energies with the drop in the polarization degree.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2023

Advancements in High-Q development for novel medium-velocity 644 MHz 5-cell elliptical superconducting RF cavities for continuous-wave operation in heavy-ion linacs

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams is a world-leading center for experimental nuclear physics research, and relies on a first-in-kind superconducting RF driver linac to supply 400 kW beams of a uniquely large range of particles, from protons through the heaviest uranium ions. The FRIB400 project proposes to double the end energy of the current superconducting FRIB linac for the heaviest uranium ions from 200 MeV per nucleon (MeV/u) to 400 MeV/u, which equates to approximately 1 GeV for protons. The increased rare isotope production from higher-energy drive beams would deliver new and exciting capabilities to FRIB users, which include extending the facility's reach along the neutron drip-line, greatly increasing the facility's rare isotope yield, and significantly improving the precision of parameter measurements for the nuclear matter equation of state, which is a particularly timely complement to the recent advent of multi-messenger astronomy, and the study of neutron star mergers. The unique set of design parameters defined by the 400 MeV/u (uranium) energy goal, the physical size, continuous-wave operation, and cryogenic capacity of the extant facilities at FRIB, requires development of a first-in-kind beta = v/c = 0.65, 644 MHz 5-cell elliptical superconducting RF (SRF) cavity, with field-leading efficiency, measured by the cavity's intrinsic quality factor, Q_0. The field of SRF has recently experienced a very active period of development, which demonstrated the potential to raise the Q_0 of 1.3 GHz cavities by factors of two to three or more. In addition to uncovering fascinating new properties of the fundamental physics of superconducting RF phenomena, these improvements suggest substantial improvements could be made over the minimum Q_0 of the proposed FRIB400 upgrade SRF cavities, if these new techniques can be adapted to the beta = 0.65, 644 MHz regime. This work presents the first validation of the the novel beta = 0.65, 644 MHz 5-cell elliptical superconducting RF cavity design, and the first results of both conventional and advanced RF surface preparation techniques. In particular, this work focuses on two recently-developed high-Q_0 recipes: N-doping, and furnace baking, setting the current world-record Q_0 for this type of resonant cavity at 3.8 x 10^10 at the FRIB400 operating gradient of 17.5 MV/m. We also find evidence that these results may be further improved upon, and make the case for further RF surface preparation recipe optimization. We then pair these high-power RF investigations with techniques borrowed from material science to try to better understand the ways in which specific properties of the niobium material, such as grain structure and superconducting flux pinning force, can be related to its superconducting RF performance. These experiments better elucidate the effects of high-temperature annealing on niobium samples, which suggest methods of further optimizing cavity flux expulsion and thus SRF performance.Read

McGee, Kellen E.↗
NASA NTRS2007

A New Source of Space Weather Data

The twin STEREO spacecraft were launched on October 26,2006 and, after spending several weeks in alignment orbits, became operational in heliocentric orbits on January 2 1,2007. The spacecraft are now in orbits similar to Earth's and are separating from each other at a rate of about 45 degrees per year as viewed from the sun. The STEREO spacecraft are each equipped with a complement of EUV, and white light imagers as well as particles and fields in situ instruments and a radio burst tracker. In addition to full resolution data downloaded once per day, each spacecraft broadcasts a real time telemetry 'beacon' stream containing compressed images and typically one minute averages of solar wind measurements and radio intensities. These real time data streams are received by a mix of NOAA and NASA-managed tracking stations and the data is transmitted by these stations to the STEREO Science Center at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center where they are processed into useable parameters with a latency of less than five minutes from receipt. As the two spacecraft recede from the sun-Earth line, triangulation of the imaging and radio measurements should allow better estimate of the speed and direction of coronal mass ejections, allowing a more precise estimate of their arrival at Earth. In situ particles and fields measurements, particularly for the spacecraft (Behind) trailing Earth in its orbit, will sample the solar wind that will eventually co-rotate around to the sun-Earth line. Late in the prime mission when the spacecraft are very far (>90 degrees) from the sun-Earth line, observations from the Behind spacecraft, will be particularly valuable for providing a preview of active regions well beyond the sun's East limb (as seen from Earth). Continually updated STEREO space weather data can be viewed and downloaded at http:/lstereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.govldata/beacon/.

Kaiser, Michael L.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Two Giant Outbursts of V0332+53 Observed with INTEGRAL

Context. In July 2015, the high-mass X-ray binary V0332+53 underwent a giant outburst, a decade after the previous one. V0332+53 hosts a strongly magnetized neutron star. During the 2004-2005 outburst, an anti-correlation between the centroid energy of its fundamental cyclotron resonance scattering features (CRSFs) and the X-ray luminosity was observed. Aims. The long ( 100 d) and bright (Lx approx. 10(exp 38) ergs(exp -1)) 2015 outburst offered the opportunity to study during another outburst the unique properties of the fundamental CRSF and its dependence on the X-ray luminosity. Methods. The source was observed by the INTEGRAL satellite for approximately 330 ks. We exploit the spectral resolution at high energies of the SPectrometer on INTEGRAL (SPI) and the Joint European X-ray Monitors to characterize its spectral properties, focusing in particular on the CRSF-luminosity dependence. We complement the data of the 2015 outburst with those collected by SPI in 2004-2005 and left unpublished so far. Results. We find a highly significant anti-correlation of the centroid energy of the fundamental CRSF and the 3-100 keV luminosity of E1 alpha -0:095(8)L(sub 37) keV. This trend is observed for both outbursts. We confirm the correlation between the width of the fundamental CRSF and the X-ray luminosity previously found in the JEM-X and IBIS dataset of the 2004-2005 outburst. By exploiting the RXTE/ASM and Swift/BAT monitoring data we also report on the detection of a approximately 34 d modulation superimposed on the mean profiles and roughly consistent with the orbital period of the pulsar. We discuss possible interpretations of such variability.

X-rays: binaries↗
DOE OSTI2025

A scalable multidimensional fully implicit solver for Hall magnetohydrodynamics

We propose an optimally performant fully implicit algorithm for the Hall magnetohydrodynamics (HMHD) equations based on multigrid-preconditioned Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov methods. HMHD is a challenging system to solve numerically because it supports stiff fast dispersive waves. The preconditioner is formulated using an operator-split approximate block factorization (Schur complement), informed by physics insight. We use a vector-potential formulation (instead of a magnetic field one) to allow a clean segregation of the problematic $\nabla$ x $\nabla$ x operator in the electron Ohm's law subsystem. This segregation allows the formulation of an effective damped block-Jacobi smoother for multigrid. We demonstrate by analysis that our proposed block-Jacobi iteration is convergent and has the smoothing property. The resulting HMHD solver is verified linearly with wave propagation examples, and nonlinearly with the GEM challenge reconnection problem by comparison against another HMHD code. We demonstrate the excellent algorithmic and parallel performance of the algorithm up to 16384 MPI tasks in two dimensions.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1976

Conformal coordinates associated with space-like motions

Conformal transformations in two dimensions provide a simple extension of the Lorentz transformation. The velocity of light appears in such transformations as a singular velocity rather than as an upper limit for the velocity. A well ordered branch of the theory exists for velocities in excess of the velocity of light. If the velocity of a point exceeds the singular velocity in an inertial system, then the conformal representation of the motion is no longer uniform, but contains a folded region. However, the branching of the transformation may be determined so that the elapsed time along the path of such a motion remains positive. Kinematic relations on the other side of the singular velocity seem to complement the usual results of relativity theory in an interesting way. Thus it is known that motion at the speed of light occurs along a null geodesic, and hence corresponds in a certain sense to motion at infinite velocity. The complementary relation is that a motion of infinite velocity corresponds in the same sense to motion at the speed of light.

Jones, R. T.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Effects of the Ionosphere on Passive Microwave Remote Sensing of Ocean Salinity from Space

Among the remote sensing applications currently being considered from space is the measurement of sea surface salinity. The salinity of the open ocean is important for understanding ocean circulation and for modeling energy exchange with the atmosphere. Passive microwave remote sensors operating near 1.4 GHz (L-band) could provide data needed to fill the gap in current coverage and to complement in situ arrays being planned to provide subsurface profiles in the future. However, the dynamic range of the salinity signal in the open ocean is relatively small and propagation effects along the path from surface to sensor must be taken into account. In particular, Faraday rotation and even attenuation/emission in the ionosphere can be important sources of error. The purpose or this work is to estimate the magnitude of these effects in the context of a future remote sensing system in space to measure salinity in L-band. Data will be presented as a function of time location and solar activity using IRI-95 to model the ionosphere. The ionosphere presents two potential sources of error for the measurement of salinity: Rotation of the polarization vector (Faraday rotation) and attenuation/emission. Estimates of the effect of these two phenomena on passive remote sensing over the oceans at L-band (1.4 GHz) are presented.

LeVine, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1975

The Mariner 10 Venus encounter - A review

A brief description is given of the Mariner 10 spacecraft, its complement of scientific instruments, and its encounter with Venus. It is noted that the geometry of the Venus encounter was dictated entirely by the necessity to use Venus' gravitational field to deflect the flight path toward Mercury. Results discussed include observations of plasma and magnetic-field perturbations several hundreds of Venus radii downstream of the solar wind which indicated the presence of a well-developed plasma tail and UV observations of H, He, C, and O abundances in the upper atmosphere. The atomic-oxygen abundance was found to be an order of magnitude higher than that observed on Mars. Radio-occultation measurements showed four distinct temperature inversions in the atmosphere and two nightside ionospheric layers. Results of television observations are also discussed which confirmed the hazy model of the visible atmosphere.

Dunne, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS2016

NASA's Orbital Debris Optical and IR Ground-Based Observing Program Utilizing the MCAT, UKIRT, and Magellan Telescopes

Characterizing debris in Earth-orbit has become increasingly important as the population growth rises steadily, posing greater and greater threats to active satellites with each passing year. Currently, the Joint Space Operations is tracking over 23,000 pieces of debris, ranging in size from 1-meter and larger in geosychronous orbits (GEO) to 10-cm and larger at low-Earth orbits (LEO). Model estimates suggest that there may be more than 500,000 pieces of spacecraft debris larger than 1 cm currently in orbit around the Earth. With such a small fraction of the total population being tracked, and new break-ups occurring in LEO, GEO, and Geo Transfer Orbits, new assets, techniques, and approaches for characterizing this debris are needed. With this in mind, NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office has actively tasked a suite of telescopes around the world. In 2015, the newly-built 1.3m optical Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) came on-line on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean and is currently in its commissioning phase. MCAT is designed to track Earth-orbiting objects above 200km, conduct surveys at GEO, and work in tandem with a newly-installed Raven-class commercial-off-the-shelf system, a 0.4-meter telescope co-located on Ascension with a field-of-view similar to MCAT's and research-grade instrumentation designed to complement MCAT for observations taken either simultaneously or in tandem. The 3.8m infrared UKIRT telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, has been heavily tasked throughout 2015 and into 2016, collecting data on individual targets as well as in survey modes to study both the general GEO population as well as an individual break-up event of a BRIZ-M Rocket body that occurred in January 2016. Data collected include photometry and spectroscopy in the near-Infrared (0.85-2.5 m) and the mid-infrared (8-16 m). Finally, the 6.5-m Baade Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile was used to collect optical photometric survey data in October 2015 of two GEO Titan breakups, focusing on locations of possible debris concentrations as indicated by the NASA standard break-up model.

Lederer, Susan↗
DOE OSTI2025

G-Band Radar Demonstration for Microphysics Field Campaign Report

The G-Band Radar Demonstration for Microphysics (GRDM) campaign took place at the Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE) from March 15 to April 30, 2024. This was a deployment of two of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) radars and one radar from Brookhaven National Laboratory to demonstrate the utility of high-frequency millimeter-wave radars for remote sensing of stratocumulus microphysical properties. The radars were deployed on the Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier alongside the AMF instruments (Figure 1). The radars include a Ka-band (35 GHz), W-band (94 GHz), and four G-band (158, 165, 174, and 240 GHz) channels. The 240 GHz and W-band channels provide complete Doppler spectra, which are useful for advanced analysis. The 158-175 GHz channels are sensitive to the water vapor profile and are useful for attenuation correction. These radars complement the high-sensitivity ARM KAZR. The goal of the deployment was to observe drizzling stratocumulus and demonstrate the capabilities of the multifrequency radar data set to constrain profiles of liquid water content and drizzle drop characteristic size. The data are still being analyzed. The methodology to derive the cloud and precipitation parameters will exploit differential attenuation and differential reflectivity between low-frequency (Ka-band) and high-frequency (G-band) channels. The method will also exploit the capability of the G-band observations to constrain the attenuation due to water vapor. These observations will quantify the capabilities and limitations of the emerging technology of G-band radars for constraint stratocumulus cloud microphysics, which are key to constraining aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions and low-cloud climate feedback.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
NASA NTRS2011

Warm and Saline Events Embedded in the Meridional Circulation of the Northern North Atlantic

Ocean state estimates from 1958 to 2005 from the Simple Ocean Assimilation System (SODA) system are analyzed to understand circulation between subtropical and subpolar Atlantic and their connection with atmospheric forcing. This analysis shows three periods (1960s, around 1980, and 2000s) with enhanced warm, saline waters reaching high latitudes, alternating with freshwater events originating at high latitudes. It complements surface drifter and altimetry data showing the subtropical -subpolar exchange leading to a significant temperature and salinity increase in the northeast Atlantic after 2001. The warm water limb of the Atlantic meridional overturning cell represented by SODA expanded in density/salinity space during these warm events. Tracer simulations using SODA velocities also show decadal variation of the Gulf Stream waters reaching the subpolar gyre and Nordic seas. The negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation index, usually invoked in such variability, fails to predict the warming and salinization in the early 2000s, with salinities not seen since the 1960s. Wind stress curl variability provided a linkage to this subtropical/subpolar gyre exchange as illustrated using an idealized two ]layer circulation model. The ocean response to the modulation of the climatological wind stress curl pattern was found to be such that the northward penetration of subtropical tracers is enhanced when amplitude of the wind stress curl is weaker than normal. In this case both the subtropical and subpolar gyres weaken and the subpolar density surfaces relax; hence, the polar front moves westward, opening an enhanced northward access of the subtropical waters in the eastern boundary current.

Hakkinen, Sirpa↗
DOE OSTI2023

Two-point Correlation Function Studies for the Milky Way: Discovery of Spatial Clustering from Disk Excitations and Substructure

We introduce a two-particle correlation function (2PCF) for the Milky Way, constructed to probe spatial correlations in the orthogonal directions of the stellar disk in the Galactic cylindrical coordinates of R, ϕ, and z. We use this new tool to probe the structure and dynamics of the Galaxy using the carefully selected set of solar neighborhood stars (d ≲ 3 kpc) from Gaia Data Release 2 that we previously employed for studies of axial symmetry breaking in stellar number counts. We make additional, extensive tests, comparing to reference numerical simulations, to ensure our control over possibly confounding systematic effects. Supposing either axial or north–south symmetry, we divide this data set into two nominally symmetric sectors and construct the 2PCF, in the manner of the Landy–Szalay estimator, from the Gaia data. In so doing, working well away from the midplane region in which the spiral arms appear, we have discovered distinct symmetry-breaking patterns in the 2PCF in its orthogonal directions, thus establishing the existence of correlations in stellar number counts alone at subkiloparsec length scales for the very first time. In particular, we observe extensive wavelike structures of amplitude greatly in excess of what we would estimate if the system were in a steady state. We study the variations in these patterns across the Galactic disk, and with increasing ∣z∣, and we show how our results complement other observations of non-steady-state effects near the Sun, such as vertical asymmetries in stellar number counts and the Gaia snail.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1999

Trace Chemistry

The goals of the trace chemistry group were to identify the processes relevant to aerosol and aerosol precursor formation occurring within aircraft gas turbine engines; that is, within the combustor, turbine, and nozzle. The topics of discussion focused on whether the chemistry of aerosol formation is homogeneous or heterogeneous; what species are important for aerosol and aerosol precursor formation; what modeling/theoretical activities to pursue; what experiments to carry out that both support modeling activities and elucidate fundamental processes; and the role of particulates in aerosol and aerosol precursor formation. The consensus of the group was that attention should be focused on SO2, SO3, and aerosols. Of immediate concern is the measurement of the concentration of the species SO3, SO2, H2SO4 OH, HO2, H2O2, O, NO, NO2, HONO, HNO3, CO, and CO2 and particulates in various engines, both those currently in use and those in development. The recommendation was that concentration measurements should be made at both the combustor exit and the engine exit. At each location the above species were classified into one of four categories of decreasing importance, Priority I through IV, as follows: Combustor exit: Priority I species - SO3:SO2 ratio, SO3, SO2, and particulates; Priority II species: OH and O; Priority III species - NO and NO2; and Priority IV species - CO and CO2. For the Engine exit: Priority I species - SO3:SO2 ratio, SO3, SO2,H2SO4, and particulates; Priority II species: OH,HO2, H2O2, and O; Priority III species - NO, NO2, HONO, and HNO3; and Priority IV species - CO and CO2. Table I summarizes the anticipated concentration range of each of these species. For particulate matter, the quantities of interest are the number density, size distribution, and composition. In order to provide data for validating multidimensional reacting flow models, it would be desirable to make 2-D, time-resolved measurements of the concentrations of the above species and, in addition, of the pressure, temperature, and velocity. A near term goal of the experimental program should be to confirm the nonlinear effects of sulfur speciation, and if present, to provide an explanation for them. It is also desirable to examine if the particulate matter retains any sulfur. The recommendation is to examine the effects on SOx production of variations in fuel-bound sulfur and aromatic content (which may affect the amount of particulates formed). These experiments should help us to understand if there is a coupling between particulate formation and SO, concentration. Similarly, any coupling with NOx can be examined either by introducing NOx into the combustion air or by using fuel-bound nitrogen. Also of immediate urgency is the need to establish and validate a detailed mechanism for sulfur oxidation/aerosol formation, whose chemistry is concluded to be homogeneous, because there is not enough surface area for heterogeneous effects. It is envisaged that this work will involve both experimental and theoretical programs. The experimental work will require, in addition to the measurements described above, fundamental studies in devices such as flow reactors and shock tubes. Complementing this effort should be modeling and theoretical activities. One impediment to the successful modeling of sulfur oxidation is the lack of reliable data for thermodynamic and transport properties for several species, such as aqueous nitric acid, sulfur oxides, and sulfuric acid. Quantum mechanical calculations are recommended as a convenient means of deriving values for these properties. Such calculations would also help establish rate constants for several important reactions for which experimental measurements are inherently fraught with uncertainty. Efforts to implement sufficiently detailed chemistry into computational fluid dynamic codes should be continued. Zero- and one-dimensional flow models are also useful vehicles for elucidating the minimal set of species and reactions that must be included in two- and three-dimensional modeling studies.

Radhakrishnan, Krishnan↗
NASA NTRS2011

Effective Tree Scattering at L-Band

For routine microwave Soil Moisture (SM) retrieval through vegetation, the tau-omega [1] model [zero-order Radiative Transfer (RT) solution] is attractive due to its simplicity and eases of inversion and implementation. It is the model used in baseline retrieval algorithms for several planned microwave space missions, such as ESA's Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission (launched November 2009) and NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission (to be launched 2014/2015) [2 and 3]. These approaches are adapted for vegetated landscapes with effective vegetation parameters tau and omega by fitting experimental data or simulation outputs of a multiple scattering model [4-7]. The model has been validated over grasslands, agricultural crops, and generally light to moderate vegetation. As the density of vegetation increases, sensitivity to the underlying SM begins to degrade significantly and errors in the retrieved SM increase accordingly. The zero-order model also loses its validity when dense vegetation (i.e. forest, mature corn, etc.) includes scatterers, such as branches and trunks (or stalks in the case of corn), which are large with respect to the wavelength. The tau-omega model (when applied over moderately to densely vegetated landscapes) will need modification (in terms of form or effective parameterization) to enable accurate characterization of vegetation parameters with respect to specific tree types, anisotropic canopy structure, presence of leaves and/or understory. More scattering terms (at least up to first-order at L-band) should be included in the RT solutions for forest canopies [8]. Although not really suitable to forests, a zero-order tau-omega model might be applied to such vegetation canopies with large scatterers, but that equivalent or effective parameters would have to be used [4]. This requires that the effective values (vegetation opacity and single scattering albedo) need to be evaluated (compared) with theoretical definitions of these parameters. In a recent study [9], effective vegetation opacity of coniferous trees was compared with two independent estimates of the same parameter. First, a zero-order RT model was fitted to multiangular microwave emissivity data in a least-square sense to provide effective vegetation optical depth as done in spaceborne retrieval algorithms. Second, a ratio between radar backscatter measurements with a corner reflector under trees and in an open area was calculated to obtain measured tree propagation characteristics. Finally, the theoretical propagation constant was determined by forward scattering theorem using detailed measurements of size/angle distributions and dielectric constants of the tree constituents (trunk, branches, and needles). Results indicated that the effective attenuation values are smaller than but of similar magnitude to both the theoretical and measured values. This study will complement the previous work [9] and will focus on characterization of effective scattering albedo by assuming that effective vegetation opacity is same as theoretical opacity. The resultant effective albedo will not be the albedo of single forest canopy element anymore, but it becomes a global parameter, which depends on all the processes taking place within the canopy including multiple scattering as described.

Kurum, Mehmet↗
DOE OSTI2020

COVID-19 biomarkers based on respiratory microbiome content

COVID-19 patient care management would greatly benefit from new tools that enable accurate assessment of disease severity and stage, potentially enabling a personalized medicine approach. Detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself, or even quantitation of viral loads, is not sufficient for accurate assessment of disease state beyond diagnosis of infection [eg, doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa344]. Levels of usual suspect protein biomarkers associated with host response to infection [eg, C-reactive protein (CRP); cytokines like IL-6, TNF-alpha, and IL-10; complement proteins like C3a and C5a], and of individual blood cell types (eg, leukocytes, lymphocytes, and subsets thereof), show limited correlation with disease severity and stage, with high patient-to-patient and study-to-study variability [eg, doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa248]. High-dimensional panels of biomarkers should have greater predictive power and resilience to unavoidable sources of variability; however, their assembly from proteins and cell types is extremely difficult, due to technical limitations in analyte measurement, especially with regard to starting material requirements and detection sensitivity. Host response profiling through Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) of gene expression patterns (ie, RNA-Seq) is a promising approach, but at the time of this project there were only two publicly available datasets of relevance [doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa203, doi:10.1080/22221751.2020.1747363], and close inspection of them revealed that each had at least one major flaw that severely undermined its value in supporting robust analysis of host response to SARS-CoV- 2 infection. However, the first of these studies [doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa203] fortuitously collected NGS data not only from host cells, but also from bacteria present in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) recovered from COVID-19 patients; and because the respiratory microbiome (in terms of bacterial species content) is far less complex than the human transcriptome, the NGS data collected were sufficient to provide coverage depth supporting robust analysis. Surprisingly, the authors of the study did not carry out a detailed analysis of these data and their potential for revealing important new information about COVID-19. Therefore, we carried out a meta-analysis of the dataset as a first step in evaluating the potential for profiling of respiratory microbiome dynamics as a means of accurately assessing COVID-19 disease state.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1993

Prospects for future solar-wind missions

Possible activities and future goals for solar wind research in the post Soho era are discussed. Two major enterprises which will open up important fields in the future study of the Sun are addressed. The first deals with in situ study of the solar corona, a region that has not been accessible for direct study in the past. This exploratory work will include the coronal heating and the acceleration of the solar wind much closer to its origin and the determination of the charge states of a large number of ions as a diagnostic tool for fractionation processes in these regions. The second major goal will be the setting up of a baseline for the isotopic composition in the solar system by studying a sample from the Sun in detail. These studies will be complemented by a direct comparison with extra solar samples of interstellar pick up ions, which become accessible with the same instrumentation as is necessary for the detailed investigation of the solar wind's isotopic composition. In order to achieve these goals, advanced composition experiments are developed to investigate the solar wind with enhanced mass resolution, considerably increased geometrical factor, and improved time resolution. The placing of sophisticated mass/charge spectrometers, with the ability to investigate both charge and velocity distributions with enhanced time resolution, in the solar wind acceleration region, is also proposed.

Bochsler, P.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Deriving Laws from Ordering Relations

It took much effort in the early days of non-Euclidean geometry to break away from the mindset that all spaces are flat and that two distinct parallel lines do not cross. Up to that point, all that was known was Euclidean geometry, and it was difficult to imagine anything else. We have suffered a similar handicap brought on by the enormous relevance of Boolean algebra to the problems of our age-logic and set theory. Previously, I demonstrated that the algebra of questions is not Boolean, but rather is described by the free distributive algebra. To get to this stage took much effort, as many obstacles-most self-placed-had to be overcome. As Boolean algebras were all I had ever known, it was almost impossible for me to imagine working with an algebra where elements do not have complements. With this realization, it became very clear that the sum and product rules of probability theory at the most basic level had absolutely nothing to do with the Boolean algebra of logical statements. Instead, a measure of degree of inclusion can be invented for many different partially ordered sets, and the sum and product rules fall out of the associativity and distributivity of the algebra. To reinforce this very important idea, this paper will go over how these constructions are made, while focusing on the underlying assumptions. I will derive the sum and product rules for a distributive lattice in general and demonstrate how this leads to probability theory on the Boolean lattice and is related to the calculus of quantum mechanical amplitudes on the partially ordered set of experimental setups. I will also discuss the rules that can be derived from modular lattices and their relevance to the cross-ratio of projective geometry.

Knuth, Kevin H.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Topological data analysis of task-based fMRI data from experiments on schizophrenia

We use methods from computational algebraic topology to study functional brain networks, in which nodes represent brain regions and weighted edges represent similarity of fMRI time series from each region. With these tools, which allow one to characterize topological invariants such as loops in high-dimensional data, we are able to gain understanding into low-dimensional structures in networks in a way that complements traditional approaches based on pairwise interactions. In the present paper, we analyze networks constructed from task-based fMRI data from schizophrenia patients, healthy controls, and healthy siblings of schizophrenia patients using persistent homology, which allows us to explore the persistence of topological structures such as loops at different scales in the networks. We use persistence landscapes, persistence images, and Betti curves to create output summaries from our persistent-homology calculations, and we study the persistence landscapes and images using k-means clustering and community detection. Based on our analysis of persistence landscapes, we find that the members of the sibling cohort have topological features (specifically, their 1-dimensional loops) that are distinct from the other two cohorts. From the persistence images, we are able to distinguish all three subject groups and to determine the brain regions in the loops (with four or more edges) that allow us to make these distinctions.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗