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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 OSTI2024

Multi-track reconstruction algorithm in the Mu2e experiment

The Mu2e experiment, under construction at Fermilab, will search for the neutrino-less coherent $\mu^-N\rightarrow e^-N$ conversion in the field of a $^{27}$Al nucleus. Such a process violates lepton flavor conservation. About $60\%$ of muons stopped by an $^{27}$Al nucleus will undergo nuclear capture, while about $40\%$ will decay in orbit. To quantify the conversion probability, we define $R_{\mu e}$, which is given by the ratio between the $\mu^-\rightarrow e^-$ conversion rate and the nuclear capture rate [1]: \begin{equation} R_{\mu e}= \frac{\Gamma\left(\mu^- + N\left(Z,A\right)\rightarrow e^- + N\left(Z,A\right)\right)}{\Gamma\left(\mu^- + N\left(Z,A\right)\rightarrow \nu^-_\mu + N\left(Z-1,A\right)\right)}\,. \end{equation} The upper limit on $R_{\mu e}$ is $7\cdot 10^{-13}$ at $90\%$ CL, set by the SINDRUM II experiment~\cite{SINDRUM II:limit}. The goal of the Mu2e experiment is to reach a sensitivity on $R_{\mu e}$ of $8\cdot 10^{-17}$ at $90\%$ CL. This represents a four-order of magnitude improvement over the current experimental limit. Mu2e will take its first data in 2027. The signature for the muon conversion is a monochromatic electron of $104.97$~\si{\mega\eV}/c, an energy slightly below the muon rest mass. While the main experiment goal is to reconstruct the conversion electron, i.e., an event with a single track, there are motivations to develop an efficient tracking algorithm for reconstructing more simultaneous tracks. This could better constrain the background generated by $p\bar{p}$-annihilation in the Al target and to search for other Beyond the Standard Model processes. In this paper, we present an algorithm designed to reconstruct multi-particle events.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

The Mu2e Experiment

The Mu2e experiment will search for the charged-lepton flavor violating (CLFV) neutrino-less conversion of a negative muon into an electron in the field of a nucleus. The conversion process results in a monochromatic electron with an energy of 104.97 MeV, slightly below the muon rest mass. The goal of the experiment is to improve the previous upper limit by four orders of magnitude and reach a SES (single event sensitivity) of $3 \times 10^{-17}$ on the conversion rate, a 90% CL of $8 \times 10^{-17}$, and a $5\sigma$ discovery reach at $2 \times 10^{-16}$. The experiment will use an intense pulsed negative muon beam. The pulsed beam is essential to reducing backgrounds. The other essential element is a sophisticated magnetic system composed of three consecutive solenoids that form the muon beam. Mu2e will use an aluminum target and examine $\sim10^{18}$ stopped muons in three years of running. The Mu2e experiment is under design and construction at the Fermilab Muon Campus. The experiment will begin operations in 2022 and will require about three years of data-taking. Upgrades to other materials than aluminum are already being planned. This article is written specifically for younger researchers to bridge the gap between conference presentations and detailed design reports, and examines issues not covered in the former without the details of the latter.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

General Relativistic Stability and Gravitational Wave Content of Rotating Triaxial Neutron Stars

Triaxial neutron stars can be sources of continuous gravitational radiation detectable by ground-based interferometers. The amplitude of the emitted gravitational wave can be greatly affected by the state of the hydrodynamical fluid flow inside the neutron star. In this work, we examine the most triaxial models along two sequences of constant rest mass, confirming their dynamical stability. We also study the response of a triaxial figure of quasiequilibrium under a variety of perturbations that lead to different fluid flows. Starting from the general relativistic compressible analog of the Newtonian Jacobi ellipsoid, we perform simulations of Dedekind-type flows. We find that in some cases the triaxial neutron star resembles a Riemann-S-type ellipsoid with minor rotation and gravitational wave emission as it evolves towards axisymmetry. The present results highlight the importance of understanding the fluid flow in the interior of a neutron star in terms of its gravitational wave content.

Luo, Yufeng (ORCID:0000000246230683)↗
DOE OSTI2019

Stochastic Ion Acceleration by the Ion-cyclotron Instability in a Growing Magnetic Field

Using 1D and 2D particle-in-cell simulations of a plasma with a growing magnetic field ${\boldsymbol{B}}$, we show herein that ions can be stochastically accelerated by the ion-cyclotron (IC) instability. As ${\boldsymbol{B}}$ grows, an ion pressure anisotropy ${p}_{\perp ,i}\gt {p}_{| | ,i}$ arises due to the adiabatic invariance of the ion magnetic moment (${p}_{| | ,i}$ and $p_{⊥,i}$ are the ion pressures parallel and perpendicular to ${\boldsymbol{B}}$). When initially $β_ i$ = 0.5 (${\beta }_{i}\equiv 8\pi {p}_{i}/| {\boldsymbol{B}}{| }^{2}$, where $p_i$ is the ion isotropic pressure), the pressure anisotropy is limited mainly by inelastic pitch-angle scattering provided by the IC instability, which in turn produces a nonthermal tail in the ion energy spectrum. After ${\boldsymbol{B}}$ is amplified by a factor of ~2.7, this tail can be approximated as a power law of index ~3.4 plus two nonthermal bumps and accounts for 2%–3% of the ions and ~18% of their kinetic energy. On the contrary, when initially $β_i$ = 2, the ion scattering is dominated by the mirror instability, and the acceleration is suppressed. This implies that efficient ion acceleration requires that initially, $β_{i} \lesssim$ 1. Although we focus on cases where ${\boldsymbol{B}}$ is amplified by plasma shear, we check that the acceleration occurs similarly if ${\boldsymbol{B}}$ grows due to plasma compression. Our results are valid in a subrelativistic regime where the ion thermal energy is ~10% of the ion rest-mass energy. This acceleration process can thus be relevant in the inner region of low-luminosity accretion flows around black holes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Fast Dissipation of Colliding Alfvén Waves in a Magnetically Dominated Plasma

Magnetic energy around compact objects often dominates over plasma rest mass, and its dissipation can power the object's luminosity. We describe a dissipation mechanism that works faster than magnetic reconnection. The mechanism involves two strong Alfvén waves with anti-aligned magnetic fields B 1 and B 2 that propagate in opposite directions along the background magnetic field B 0 and collide. The collision forms a thin current sheet perpendicular to B 0 , which absorbs the incoming waves. The current sheet is sustained by an electric field E breaking the magnetohydrodynamic condition E < B and accelerating particles to high energies. We demonstrate this mechanism with kinetic plasma simulations using a simple setup of two symmetric plane waves with amplitude A = B 1 / B 0 = B 2 /B 0 propagating in a uniform B 0 . The mechanism is activated when A > 1/2. It dissipates a large fraction of the wave energy, † = (2A - 1)/A 2 , reaching 100% when A = 1. The plane geometry allows one to see the dissipation process in a one-dimensional simulation. We also perform two-dimensional simulations, enabling spontaneous breaking of the plane symmetry by the tearing instability of the current sheet. At moderate A of main interest, the tearing instability is suppressed. Dissipation transitions to normal, slower, magnetic reconnection at A $\gg$ 1. The fast dissipation described in this paper may occur in various objects with perturbed magnetic fields, including magnetars, jets from accreting black holes, and pulsar wind nebulae.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Magnetized Strongly Turbulent Corona as the Source of Neutrinos from NGC 1068

Abstract The cores of active galactic nuclei are potential accelerators of 10–100 TeV cosmic rays, in turn producing high-energy neutrinos. This picture was confirmed by the compelling evidence of a TeV neutrino signal from the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068, leaving open the question of what is the site and mechanism of cosmic-ray acceleration. One candidate is the magnetized turbulence surrounding the central supermassive black hole. Recent particle-in-cell simulations of magnetized turbulence indicate that stochastic cosmic-ray acceleration is nonresonant, in contrast to the assumptions of previous studies. We show that this has important consequences on a self-consistent theory of neutrino production in the corona, leading to a more rapid cosmic-ray acceleration than previously considered. The turbulent magnetic-field fluctuations needed to explain the neutrino signal are consistent with a magnetically powered corona. We find that strong turbulence, with turbulent magnetic energy density higher than 1% of the rest-mass energy density, naturally explains the normalization of the IceCube neutrino flux, in addition to the neutrino spectral shape. Only a fraction of the protons in the corona, which can be directly inferred from the neutrino signal, are accelerated to high energies. Thus, in this framework, the neutrino signal from NGC 1068 provides a testbed for particle acceleration in magnetized turbulence.

Fiorillo, Damiano F. G. (ORCID:0000000349279850)↗
NASA NTRS1976

Weak interactions and Eotvos experiments

A current-current model for weak interactions is used to show that the weak-interaction contribution to the ground-state energies of typical nuclei is about one part in 100 million of their rest masses. By comparing this contribution with the results of recent versions of the Eotvos experiments, it is concluded that weak-interaction energies obey the principle of equivalence to better than one part in 100, thus refuting claims that those experiments did not test weak-interaction effects.

Haugan, M. P.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Gravitational radiation and the ultimate speed in Rosen's bimetric theory of gravity

In Rosen's bimetric theory of gravity the (local) speed of gravitational radiation is determined by the combined effects of cosmological boundary values and nearby concentrations of matter. It is possible for the speed of gravitational radiation to be less than the speed of light. It is here shown that the emission of gravitational radiation prevents particles of nonzero rest mass from exceeding the speed of gravitational radiation. Observations of relativistic particles place limits on the speed of gravitational radiation and the cosmological boundary values today, and observations of synchroton radiation from compact radio sources place limits on the cosmological boundary values in the past.

Caves, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, 10th, Baltimore, MD, December 15-19, 1980, Proceedings

The present conference on relativistic astrophysics begins with consideration of such topics in the cosmology of the early universe as the implications of the neutrino rest mass, relic neutrino clustering, and the possibility of a matter-antimatter domain structure in the universe, and proceeds to the broader cosmological questions of the distances of extragalactic objects, the mass of the universe, and the dynamics of superclusters. Also considered are the cosmic microwave background, relativistic jet production and propagation in active galaxies, gravitational lenses, positron annihilation radiation from the galactic center region, supernova models, and the acceleration of cosmic rays by shock waves. Summaries are presented in closing, on workshops concerning such topics as gravitational radiation detectors, the UV cosmic ray background, pulsars, supernovae, active galaxies, and quasars.

Ramaty, R.↗
NASA NTRS1982

The cosmic microwave background radiation as a probe of the large-scale structure of the universe

Cosmological and astrophysical implications of large scale fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background are discussed, with attention given to galaxy formation. Angular anisotropies are mentioned as yielding information on the matter distribution during early epochs, characterized by inhomogeneities which persist on large scales. Factors such as the curvature of the universe and the hypothesis of massive neutrinos with m more than 30 eV affect the observed anomalies, which can be traced backwards to determine the source of nonlinear structures. Neutrino rest masses of less than a few eV imply isothermal fluctuations in the initial conditions, while gaseous fragmentation of adiabatic pancakes does provide a basis for an acceptable galaxy formation and clustering scenario. However, the primordial isothermal fluctuations fit well with observational constraints imposed by a neutrino-dominated universe.

Silk, J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Use of a minimum rate of change formalism to quantify variability of extragalactic X-ray sources

A method to obtain rigorous, quantitative constraints on the rate of variability is suggested. The method is motivated by the case when the existence of time variability is unequivocal, but the statistical uncertainties are too large to apply more direct methods such as power spectrum analysis. Conceptually the data are fitted to a function of time and a set of free parameters. The method of Lagrange multipliers is used to solve for that parameter set which minimizes the value of the derivative at time t(m). The result can be related physically to the minimum efficiency with which rest mass must be converted to radiation energy. Slightly different formulations of the general principal are used to estimate maximum source size scales associated with the variability.

Schwartz, Daniel A.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Quantum synchrotron spectra from semirelativistic electrons in teragauss magnetic fields

Synchrotron spectra are calculated from quantum electrodynamic transition rates for thermal and power-law electron distributions. It is shown that quantum effects appear in thermal spectra when the photon energy is greater than the electron temperature, and in power-law spectra when the electron energy in units of the electron rest mass times the magnetic field strength in units of the critical field strength is of order unity. These spectra are compared with spectra calculated from the ultrarelativistic approximation for synchrotron emission. It is found that the approximation for the power-law spectra is good, and the approximation for thermal spectra produces the shape of the spectrum accurately but fails to give the correct normalization. Single photon pair creation masks the quantum effects for power-law distributions, so only modifications to thermal spectra are important for gamma-ray bursts.

Brainerd, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Test of the decaying dark matter hypothesis using the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope

Sciama's hypothesis that the dark matter associated with galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the intergalactic medium consists of tau neutrinos of rest mass 28-30 eV whose decay generates ultraviolet photons of energy roughly 14-15 eV, has been tested using the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope flows aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. A straightforward application of Sciama's model predicts that a spectral line from neutrino decay photons should be observed from the rich galaxy cluster Abell 665 with an SNR of about 30. No such emission was detected. For neutrinos in the mass range 27.2-32.1 eV, the observations set a lower lifetime limit significantly greater than Sciama's model requires.

Davidsen, A. F.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Relativistic fireballs - Energy conversion and time-scales

The expansion energy of a relativistic fireball can be reconverted into radiation when it interacts with an external medium. For expansion with Lorentz factors greater than or approximately equal to 1000 into a typical galactic environment, the corresponding time-scale in the frame of the observer is of the order of seconds. This mechanism would operate in any cosmological scenario of gamma-ray bursts involving initial energies of order a percent of a stellar rest mass, and implies photon energies and time-scales compatible with those observed in gamma-ray bursts.

Rees, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Spin-up of a rapidly rotating star by angular momentum loss - Effects of general relativity

It has recently been shown that a rapidly rotating Newtonian star can spin up by radiating angular momentum. Extremely fast pulsars losing energy and angular momentum by magnetic dipole radiation or gravitational radiation may exhibit this behavior. Here, we show that this phenomenon is more widespread for rapidly rotating stars in general relativity. We construct and tabulate polytropic sequences of fully relativistic rotating stars of constant rest mass and entropy. We find that the range of adiabatic indices allowing spin-up extends somewhat above 4/3 because of the nonlinear effects of relativistic gravity. In addition, there is a new class of 'supramassive' stars which will inevitably spin up by losing angular momentum regardless of their equation of state. A supramassive star, spinning up via angular momentum loss, will ultimately evolve until it becomes unstable to catastrophic collapse to a black hole. Spin-up in a rapidly rotating star may thus be an observational precursor to such collapse.

Cook, Gregory B.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Fully covariant cosmology and its astrophysical implications

We present a cosmological model with good physical properties which is invariant not only under changes of the space and time coordinates but also under changes of an extra (Kaluza-Klein) coordinate related to rest mass. In frames where the latter is chosen to be constant we recover standard cosmology. In frames where it is chosen to be variable we obtain new astrophysical effects and gain insight into the nature of the big bang.

Wesson, Paul S.↗