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At least 91 records · Page 5

Big data health physics: a case study in operational health physics

This paper, written as a two part project as required by Illinois Institute of Technology’s Phys597 Reading & Special Problems class and health physics professional master’s program, focuses on the results of a prototype data collection process implemented at a Los Alamos National Laboratory facility. In particular, this paper examines the data in a statistical context in an effort to optimize operational health physics processes at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Physical electronics and surface physics

Physical electronics and surface physics - contact potential measurements of adsorption of oxygen on Ta and steady-state analysis of desorption of molecules from nonuniform surfaces

CONTACT POTENTIAL↗

Solar Physics - Plasma Physics Workshop

A summary of the proceedings of a conference whose purpose was to explore plasma physics problems which arise in the study of solar physics is provided. Sessions were concerned with specific questions including the following: (1) whether the solar plasma is thermal or non-themal; (2) what spectroscopic data is required; (3) what types of magnetic field structures exist; (4) whether magnetohydrodynamic instabilities occur; (5) whether resistive or non-magnetohydrodynamic instabilities occur; (6) what mechanisms of particle acceleration have been proposed; and (7) what information is available concerning shock waves. Very few questions were answered categorically but, for each question, there was discussion concerning the observational evidence, theoretical analyses, and existing or potential laboratory and numerical experiments.

Baum, P. J.↗

Backscatter analysis of dihedral corner reflectors using physical optics and the physical theory of diffraction

The backscatter cross-sections of dihedral corner reflectors in the azimuthal plane are presently determined by both physical optics (PO) and the physical theory of diffraction (PTD), yielding results for the vertical and horizontal polarizations. In the first analysis method used, geometrical optics is used in place of PO at initial reflections in order to maintain the planar character of the reflected wave and reduce the complexity of the analysis. In the second method, PO is used at almost every reflection in order to maximize the accuracy of the PTD solution at the expense of a rapid increase in complexity. Induced surface current densities and resulting cross section patterns are illustrated for the two methods.

Griesser, Timothy↗

Nuclear winter - Physics and physical mechanisms

The basic physics of the environmental perturbations caused by multiple nuclear detonations is explored, summarizing current knowledge of the possible physical, chemical, and biological impacts of nuclear war. Emphasis is given to the impact of the bomb-generated smoke (soot) particles. General classes of models that have been used to simulate nuclear winter are examined, using specific models as examples.

Turco, R. P.↗

Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays: Old Physics or New Physics?

We consider the advantages of and the problems associated with hypotheses to explain the origin of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECR: E greater than 10 EeV) and the "trans-GZK" cosmic rays (TGZK: E greater than 100 EeV) both through "old physics" (acceleration in cosmic sources) and "new physics" (new particles, topological defects, fat neutrino cross sections, Lorentz invariance violation).

Stecker, F. W.↗

2019 NASA Division of Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications Fluid Physics Workshop Report

On October 16 and 17, 2019, NASA’s Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications (SLPSRA) Division held the 2019 NASA SLPSRA Fluid Physics Workshop at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Researchers from academia, industry, and Government agencies gathered to provide recommendations to NASA on exploration-related microgravity challenges in multiphase systems and thermal transport processes. The goal of the workshop was to identify overarching future research themes relevant to NASA’s exploration goals in three key areas: (1) boiling and condensation; (2) water recovery; and (3) heat pipes.

microgravity↗

Report of the Topical Group on Higgs Physics for Snowmass 2021: The Case for Precision Higgs Physics

A future Higgs Factory will provide improved precision on measurements of Higgs couplings beyond those obtained by the LHC, and will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of fundamental physics, including the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking, the origin of the masses and mixing of fundamental particles, the predominance of matter over antimatter, and the nature of dark matter. Future colliders will measure Higgs couplings to a few per cent, giving a window to beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics in the 1-10 TeV range. In addition, they will make precise measurements of the Higgs width, and characterize the Higgs self-coupling. Here, this report details the work of the EF01 and EF02 working groups for the Snowmass 2021 study.

Dawson, Sally↗

Kaon physics without new physics in $$ \varepsilon _K$$

Abstract Despite the observation of significant suppressions of $$b\rightarrow s\mu ^+\mu ^-$$ b → s μ + μ - branching ratios no clear sign of New Physics (NP) has been identified in $$\Delta F=2$$ Δ F = 2 observables $$\Delta M_{d,s}$$ Δ M d , s , $$\varepsilon _K$$ ε K and the mixing induced CP asymmetries $$S_{\psi K_S}$$ S ψ K S and $$S_{\psi \phi }$$ S ψ ϕ . Assuming negligible NP contributions to these observables allows to determine CKM parameters without being involved in the tensions between inclusive and exclusive determinations of $$|V_{cb}|$$ | V cb | and $$|V_{ub}|$$ | V ub | . Furthermore this method avoids the impact of NP on the determination of these parameters present likely in global fits. Simultaneously it provides SM predictions for numerous rare K and B branching ratios that are most accurate to date. Analyzing this scenario within $$Z^\prime $$ Z ′ models we point out, following the 2009 observations of Monika Blanke and ours of 2020, that despite the absence of NP contributions to $$\varepsilon _K$$ ε K , significant NP contributions to $$K^+\rightarrow \pi ^+\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K + → π + ν ν ¯ , $$K_{L}\rightarrow \pi ^0\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K L → π 0 ν ν ¯ , $$K_S\rightarrow \mu ^+\mu ^-$$ K S → μ + μ - , $$K_L\rightarrow \pi ^0\ell ^+\ell ^-$$ K L → π 0 ℓ + ℓ - , $$\varepsilon '/\varepsilon $$ ε ′ / ε and $$\Delta M_K$$ Δ M K can be present. In the simplest scenario, this is guaranteed, as far as flavour changes are concerned, by a single non-vanishing imaginary left-handed $$Z^\prime $$ Z ′ coupling $$g^L_{sd}$$ g sd L . This scenario implies very stringent correlations between the Kaon observables considered by us. In particular, the identification of NP in any of these observables implies automatically NP contributions to the remaining ones under the assumption of non-vanishing flavour conserving $$Z^\prime $$ Z ′ couplings to $$q{\bar{q}}$$ q q ¯ , $$\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ ν ν ¯ , and $$\mu ^+\mu ^-$$ μ + μ - . A characteristic feature of this scenario is a strict correlation between $$K^+\rightarrow \pi ^+\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K + → π + ν ν ¯ and $$K_{L}\rightarrow \pi ^0\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K L → π 0 ν ν ¯ branching ratios on a branch parallel to the Grossman-Nir bound. Moreover, $$\Delta M_K$$ Δ M K is automatically suppressed as seems to be required by the results of the RBC-UKQCD lattice QCD collaboration. Furthermore, there is no NP contribution to $$K_L\rightarrow \mu ^+\mu ^-$$ K L → μ + μ - which otherwise would bound NP effects in $$K^+\rightarrow \pi ^+\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K + → π + ν ν ¯ . Of particular interest are the correlations of $$K^+\rightarrow \pi ^+\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K + → π + ν ν ¯ and $$K_{L}\rightarrow \pi ^0\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K L → π 0 ν ν ¯ branching ratios and of $$\Delta M_K$$ Δ M K with the ratio $$\varepsilon '/\varepsilon $$ ε ′ / ε . We investigate the impact of renormalization group effects in the context of the SMEFT on this simple scenario.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Kilonovae Across the Nuclear Physics Landscape: The Impact of Nuclear Physics Uncertainties on r-process-powered Emission

Merging neutron stars produce “kilonovae”—electromagnetic transients powered by the decay of unstable nuclei synthesized via rapid neutron capture (the r-process) in material that is gravitationally unbound during inspiral and coalescence. Kilonova emission, if accurately interpreted, can be used to characterize the masses and compositions of merger-driven outflows, helping to resolve a long-standing debate about the origins of r-process material in the Universe. We explore how the uncertain properties of nuclei involved in the r-process complicate the inference of outflow properties from kilonova observations. Using r-process simulations, we show how nuclear physics uncertainties impact predictions of radioactive heating and element synthesis. For a set of models that span a large range in both predicted heating and final abundances, we carry out detailed numerical calculations of decay product thermalization and radiation transport in a kilonova ejecta with a fixed mass and density profile. The light curves associated with our models exhibit great diversity in their luminosities, with peak brightness varying by more than an order of magnitude. We also find variability in the shape of the kilonova light curves and their color, which in some cases runs counter to the expectation that increasing levels of lanthanide and/or actinide enrichment will be correlated with longer, dimmer, redder emission.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

LHC physics dataset for unsupervised New Physics detection at 40 MHz

In the particle detectors at the Large Hadron Collider, hundreds of millions of proton-proton collisions are produced every second. If one could store the whole data stream produced in these collisions, tens of terabytes of data would be written to disk every second. The general-purpose experiments ATLAS and CMS reduce this overwhelming data volume to a sustainable level, by deciding in real-time whether each collision event should be kept for further analysis or be discarded. We introduce a dataset of proton collision events that emulates a typical data stream collected by such a real-time processing system, pre-filtered by requiring the presence of at least one electron or muon. This dataset could be used to develop novel event selection strategies and assess their sensitivity to new phenomena. In particular, we intend to stimulate a community-based effort towards the design of novel algorithms for performing unsupervised new physics detection, customized to fit the bandwidth, latency and computational resource constraints of the real-time event selection system of a typical particle detector.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Quantum information meets high-energy physics: input to the update of the European strategy for particle physics

Some of the most astonishing and prominent properties of Quantum Mechanics, such as entanglement and Bell nonlocality, have only been studied extensively in dedicated low-energy laboratory setups. The feasibility of these studies in the high-energy regime explored by particle colliders was only recently shown and has gathered the attention of the scientific community. For the range of particles and fundamental interactions involved, particle colliders provide a novel environment where quantum information theory can be probed, with energies exceeding by about 12 orders of magnitude those employed in dedicated laboratory setups. Furthermore, collider detectors have inherent advantages in performing certain quantum information measurements and allow for the reconstruction of the state of the system under consideration via quantum state tomography. Here, we elaborate on the potential, challenges, and goals of this innovative and rapidly evolving line of research and discuss its expected impact on both quantum information theory and high-energy physics.

Physics↗

Theoretical Investigations in Elementary Particle Physics and Cosmological Physics

The goals of this project were to improve our understanding of the fundamental constituents of the universe, at both the smallest and largest scales. At the smallest scales, we examined the masses and mixings of neutrinos, to understand and probe for physics beyond the Standard Model at the LHC, and to explore models in quantum field theory. At the largest scales, we investigated the sources of high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays, the nature of dark matter, and the behavior of dark energy. This report centers on the final extension period, which was focused on publications of the research.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

FAIR Framework for Physics-Inspired AI in High Energy Physics (Final Technical Report)

The main deliverable of this proposal was to publish data from high energy physics experiments in a FAIR format so that non-specialists could develop machine learning technologies using our data. The Minnesota team of Profs. Cushman, Furmanski and Rusack, from the high energy experiments CDMS, Micro-Boone and CMS, respectively, and Prof J. Sun from Computer Science worked to organize the data, to provide code to access the data, and where relevant provide documentation describing the data. The FAIR4HEP collaboration was formed with groups from UC San Diego, MIT, and the University of Illinois, with the principal investigator was Dr. Huerta. Collectively we collaborated on the publication of datasets from the LHC experiments. Members of the Minnesota group contributed to the common papers published by the collaboration

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

AIR Framework for Physics-Inspired Artificial Intelligence in High Energy Physics (Final Report)

The FAIR4HEP project was a collaboration between Argonne National Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota, and the University of California San Diego funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Research (ASCR) from 2020 to 2023. The primary focus of the FAIR4HEP project was to advance our understanding of the relationship between data and artificial intelligence (AI) models by exploring relationships among them through the development of findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) frameworks. Using high-energy physics (HEP) as the science driver, this project developed a FAIR framework to advance our understanding of AI, provide new insights to apply AI techniques and provide an environment where novel approaches to AI can be explored. This final report summarizes the accomplishments of the MIT group.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗