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NASA NTRS2000

Coseismic Excitation of the Earth's Polar Motion

Apart from the "shaking" near the epicenter that is the earthquake, a seismic event creates a permanent field of dislocation in the entire Earth. This redistribution of mass changes (slightly) the Earth's inertia tensor; and the Earth's rotation will change in accordance with the conservation of angular momentum. Similar to this seismic excitation of Earth rotation variations, the same mass redistribution causes (slight) changes in the Earth's gravitational field expressible in terms of changes in the Stokes coefficients of its harmonic expansion. In this paper, we give a historical background of the subject and discuss the related physics; we then compute the geodynamic effects caused by earthquakes based on normal-mode summation scheme. The effects are computed using the centroid moment tensor (CMT) solutions for 15,814 major earthquakes from Jan., 1977, through Feb., 1999, as provided in the Harvard CMT catalog. The computational results further strengthens these findings and conclusions: (i) the strong tendency for earthquakes to make the Earth rounder and more compact (however slightly) continues; (ii) so does the trend in the seismic "nudging" of the rotation pole toward the general direction of approx. 140 E, roughly opposite to that of the observed polar drift, but two orders of magnitude smaller in drift speed.

Chao, B. F.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Polar motions excited by a convecting viscous mantle

The role played by time-dependent mantle convection on exciting long-term polar motions is examined by means of a viscous model. For sufficiently low effective viscosity, polar-wander speeds of 0(1 deg/Myr) would require contributions from the off-diagonal elements of the inertia tensor, with magnitudes around 100,000 times smaller than those found in viscoelastic models used for postglacial rebound. Contributions from the large-scale mantle flow to the angular momentum vector can be comparable to those due to changes in moment of inertia tensor for nonlinear rheology or for young planet. The relative roles of the two contributions depend on the nonlinear rheology of the mantle and its convective vigor.

Moser, Jiri↗

NASA NTRS2014

Self-Calibration of BICEP1 Three-Year Data and Constraints on Astrophysical Polarization Rotation

Cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarimeters aspire to measure the faint B-mode signature predicted to arise from inflationary gravitational waves. They also have the potential to constrain cosmic birefringence, rotation of the polarization of the CMB arising from parity-violating physics, which would produce nonzero expectation values for the CMB's temperature to B-mode correlation (TB) and E-mode to B-mode correlation (EB) spectra. However, instrumental systematic effects can also cause these TB and EB correlations to be nonzero. In particular, an overall miscalibration of the polarization orientation of the detectors produces TB and EB spectra which are degenerate with isotropic cosmological birefringence, while also introducing a small but predictable bias on the BB spectrum. We find that BICEP1 three-year spectra, which use our standard calibration of detector polarization angles from a dielectric sheet, are consistent with a polarization rotation of alpha = −2.77deg +/- 0.86deg (statistical) +/- 1.3deg (systematic). We have revised the estimate of systematic error on the polarization rotation angle from the two-year analysis by comparing multiple calibration methods. We also account for the (negligible) impact of measured beam systematic effects. We investigate the polarization rotation for the BICEP1 100 GHz and 150 GHz bands separately to investigate theoretical models that produce frequency-dependent cosmic birefringence. We find no evidence in the data supporting either of these models or Faraday rotation of the CMB polarization by the Milky Way galaxy's magnetic field. If we assume that there is no cosmic birefringence, we can use the TB and EB spectra to calibrate detector polarization orientations, thus reducing bias of the cosmological B-mode spectrum from leaked E-modes due to possible polarization orientation miscalibration. After applying this "self-calibration" process, we find that the upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio decreases slightly, from r < 0.70 to r < 0.65 at 95% confidence.

three-year↗

DOE OSTI2025

Analysis of Polarized Dust Emission Using Data from the First Flight of SPIDER

Using data from the first flight of Spider and from the Planck High Frequency Instrument, we probe the properties of polarized emission from interstellar dust in the Spider observing region. Component-separation algorithms operating in both the spatial and harmonic domains are applied to probe their consistency and to quantify modeling errors associated with their assumptions. Analyses of diffuse Galactic dust emission spanning the full Spider region demonstrate (i) a spectral energy distribution that is broadly consistent with a modified-blackbody (MBB) model with a spectral index of β d = 1.45 ± 0.05 (1.47 ± 0.06) for E (B)-mode polarization, slightly lower than that reported by Planck for the full sky; (ii) an angular power spectrum broadly consistent with a power law; and (iii) no significant detection of line-of-sight polarization decorrelation. Tests of several modeling uncertainties find only a modest impact (~10% in σ r ) on Spider's sensitivity to the cosmological tensor-to-scalar ratio. The size of the Spider region further allows for a statistically meaningful analysis of the variation in foreground properties within it. Assuming a fixed dust temperature T d = 19.6 K, an analysis of two independent subregions of that field results in inferred values of β d = 1.52 ± 0.06 and β d = 1.09 ± 0.09, which are inconsistent at the 3.9σ level. Furthermore, a joint analysis of Spider and Planck 217 and 353 GHz data within one subregion is inconsistent with a simple MBB at more than 3σ, assuming a common morphology of polarized dust emission over the full range of frequencies. This evidence of variation may inform the component-separation approaches of future cosmic microwave background polarization experiments.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS2023

Tensor-to-scalar ratio forecasts for extended LiteBIRD frequency configurations

LiteBIRD is a planned JAXA-led cosmic microwave background (CMB) B -mode satellite experiment aiming for launch in the late 2020s, with a primary goal of detecting the imprint of primordial inflationary gravitational waves. Its current baseline focal-plane configuration includes 15 frequency bands between 40 and 402 GHz, fulfilling the mission requirements to detect the amplitude of gravitational waves with the total uncertainty on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, δr , down to δr < 0.001. A key aspect of this performance is accurate astrophysical component separation, and the ability to remove polarized thermal dust emission is particularly important. In this paper we note that the CMB frequency spectrum falls off nearly exponentially above 300 GHz relative to the thermal dust spectral energy distribution, and a relatively minor high frequency extension can therefore result in even lower uncertainties and better model reconstructions. Specifically, we compared the baseline design with five extended configurations, while varying the underlying dust modeling, in each of which the High-Frequency Telescope (HFT) frequency range was shifted logarithmically toward higher frequencies, with an upper cutoff ranging between 400 and 600 GHz. In each case, we measured the tensor-to-scalar ratio r uncertainty and bias using both parametric and minimum-variance component-separation algorithms. When the thermal dust sky model includes a spatially varying spectral index and temperature, we find that the statistical uncertainty on r after foreground cleaning may be reduced by as much as 30–50% by extending the upper limit of the frequency range from 400 to 600 GHz, with most of the improvement already gained at 500 GHz. We also note that a broader frequency range leads to higher residuals when fitting an incorrect dust model, but also it is easier to discriminate between models through higher χ 2 sensitivity. Even in the case in which the fitting procedure does not correspond to the underlying dust model in the sky, and when the highest frequency data cannot be modeled with sufficient fidelity and must be excluded from the analysis, the uncertainty on r increases by only about 5% for a 500 GHz configuration compared to the baseline.

U. Fuskeland↗

NASA NTRS1989

Polar wander of an ice shell on Europa

The present consideration of a hypothesized ice shell around Europa, which is decoupled from the silicate core by a liquid water layer and possesses a spatially varying thermal equilibrium thickness profile, proceeds through the development of equations for variations in the inertia tensor of a body when second-harmonic-degree topography is added to the crustal base. Attention is given to a realistic model in which the shell and ocean are assumed to undergo reorientations as a single entity independently of the core, but subject to viscous dissipation within the shell. Shell friction is in this case noted to preclude polar wander, unless a low conductivity regolith increases the near-surface temperature by a few tens of degrees C; the ice beneath the regolith would then behave viscously on the time-scale of polar wander.

Ojakangas, Gregory W.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Low-frequency Raman active modes of twisted bilayer MoS 2

Abstract We study the low-frequency Raman active modes of twisted bilayer MoS 2 for several twist angles using a force-field approach and a parametrized bond polarizability model. We show that twist angles near high-symmetry stacking configurations exhibit stacking frustration that leads to significant buckling of the moiré superlattice. We find that atomic relaxation due to the twist is of prime importance. The periodic displacement of the Mo atoms shows the realization of a soliton network, and in turn, leads to the emergence of a number of frequency modes not seen in the high-symmetry stacking systems. Some of the modes are only seen in the XZ Raman polarization setup while others are seen in the XY setup. The symmetry of the normal modes, and how this affects the Raman tensors is examined in detail.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

NASA NTRS1981

Electron temperature anisotropy in the polar wind

The steady state flow of a fully ionized H(+)-O(+)-electron plasma along geomagnetic field lines in the high-latitude topside ionosphere is investigated theoretically, with emphasis on the electron temperature anisotropy and heat flow in the polar wind. The 13-moment system of transport equations developed by Schunk (1975, 1977), which contains a continuity, momentum, internal energy, stress tensor and heat flow equation for each species, is employed to represent the electrons, with a simplified set of transport equations used for the ions, and the transport equations are solved at altitudes from 1500 to 12,000 km for both subsonic and supersonic H(+) outflows. For subsonic H(+) outflows, the electron gas is found to remain collision dominated to high altitudes. For supersonic H(+) outflows, the electron gas is also found to be collision dominated at altitudes below 2500 km, with an anisotropy in electron temperature distribution developing such that the temperature of the perpendicular electrons is greater than that of the parallel electrons at higher altitudes. In addition, the magnitude of downward electron heat flux at 1500 km is shown to have a dramatic effect on the individual parallel and perpendicular electron temperatures.

Schunk, R. W.↗

DOE OSTI2026

Environment-imposed selection rules for nuclear-spin conversion of H 2 in molecular crystals

Nuclear-spin conversion in molecular hydrogen is governed by strict symmetry rules that typically require magnetic fields or catalytic surfaces to break. Here we demonstrate that the intrinsic tensor composition of a non-magnetic molecular crystal field can impose and relax these rules without external fields. High-resolution infrared spectra of H 2 in crystalline CO 2 reveal large rank-2 (quadrupolar) crystal-field splittings of the 𝑚 sublevels, while nuclear-spin conversion occurs only through 𝛥𝑚 = 0 channels. Replacing CO 2 with polar N 2 O introduces rank-1 (dipole) components that partially open 𝛥⁢𝑚 ≠ 0 pathways, while incorporation of paramagnetic NO 2 fully lifts the restriction. Furthermore, these results establish a direct correspondence between crystal-field tensor rank and nuclear-spin dynamics, introducing a general symmetry-based framework for designing and controlling spin-isomer populations and quantum-state connectivity in molecular solids.

McLane, Nathan [University of Maryland, College Pa↗

NASA NTRS1997

Molecular Static Third-Order Polarizabilities of Carbon-Cage Fullerenes and their Correlation with Three Geometric Parameters: Group Order, Aromaticity, and Size

Calculations were performed on the valence contribution to the static molecular third-order polarizabilities (gamma) of thirty carbon-cage fullerenes (C60, C70, five isomers of C78, and twenty-three isomers of C84). The molecular structures were obtained from B3LYP/STO-3G calculations. The values of the tensor elements and an associated numerical uncertainty were obtained using the finite-field approach and polynomial expansions of orders four to eighteen of polarization versus static electric field data. The latter information was obtained from semiempirical calculations using the AM1 hamiltonian.

Moore, Craig E.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Polarized-cathodoluminescence study of uniaxial and biaxial stress in GaAs/Si

The strain-induced splitting of the heavy-hole (hh) and light-hole (lh) valence bands for 4-microns thick GaAs/Si is examined on a microscopic scale using linear polarized-cathodoluminescence imaging and spectroscopy. The energies and intensities of the hh- and lh-exciton luminescence are quantitatively analyzed to determine spatial variations in the stress tensor. The results indicate that regions near and far from the microcracks are primarily subject to uniaxial and biaxial tensile stresses, respectively. The transition region where biaxial stress gradually converts to uniaxial stress is analyzed, and reveals a mixing of lh and hh characters in the strain-split bands.

Rich, D. H.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Modeling the electron cyclotron emission radiation signature from suprathermal electrons in a tokamak

An Electron Cyclotron Emission (ECE) modeling code has been developed to model ECE radiation with an arbitrary electron momentum distribution, a small oblique angle, both ordinary (O-mode) and extraordinary polarizations (X-mode), and multiple cyclotron frequency harmonics. The emission and absorption coefficients are calculated using the Poynting theorem from the cold plasma dispersion and the electron–microwave interaction from the full anti-Hermitian tensor. The modeling shows several ECE radiation signatures that can be used to diagnose the population of suprathermal electrons in a tokamak. First, in an n = 2 X-mode (X2) optically thick plasma and oblique ECE view, the modeling shows that only suprathermal electrons, which reside in a finite region of the velocity and space domains, can effectively generate cyclotron emissions to the ECE receiver. The code also finds that the O1 mode is sensitive to suprathermal electrons of both a high v ⊥ and v || , while the X2 mode is dominantly sensitive to suprathermal electrons of a high v ⊥ . Finally, the modeling shows that an oblique ECE system with both X/O polarization and a broad frequency coverage can be used to effectively yield information of the suprathermal electron population in a tokamak.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Multimodality in the Search for New Physics in Pulsar Timing Data and the Case of Kination-amplified Gravitational-wave Background from Inflation

We investigate the kination-amplified inflationary gravitational-wave background (GWB) interpretation of the signal recently reported by various pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments. Kination is a post-inflationary phase in the expansion history dominated by the kinetic energy of some scalar field, characterized by a stiff equation of state w = 1. Within the inflationary GWB model, we identify two modes that can fit the current data sets (NANOGrav and EPTA) with equal likelihood: the kination-amplification (KA) mode and the ordinary, no-kination-amplification (no-KA) mode. The multimodality of the likelihood motivates a Bayesian analysis with nested sampling. We analyze the free spectra of current PTA data and mock free spectra constructed with higher signal-to-noise ratios using nested sampling. The analysis of the mock spectrum designed to be consistent with the best fit to the NANOGrav 15 yr (NG15) data successfully reveals the expected bimodal posterior for the first time while excluding the reheating mode that appears in the fit to the current NG15 data, making a case for our correct and comprehensive treatment of potential multimodal posteriors arising from future PTA data sets. The resultant Bayes factor is $\mathcal{B}$ $\equiv$ Z no–KA /Z KA = 2.9 ± 1.9, indicating comparable statistical significance between the two modes. Given the theoretical model-building challenges of producing highly blue-tilted primordial tensor spectra, the KA mode has the advantage of requiring less blue primordial spectra, compared with the no-KA mode. The synergy between future cosmic microwave background polarization, pulsar timing, and laser interferometer measurements of gravitational waves will help resolve the ambiguity implied by the multimodal posterior in PTA-only searches.

Cosmology↗

DOE OSTI2025

Direct measurement of the quantum metric tensor in solids

The quantum metric tensor is a central geometric quantity in modern physics that is defined as the distance between nearby quantum states. Despite numerous studies highlighting its relevance to fundamental physical phenomena in solids, measuring the complete quantum metric tensors in real solid-state materials is challenging. In this work, we report a direct measurement of the full quantum metric tensors of Bloch electrons in solids using black phosphorus as a representative material. We extracted the momentum space distribution of the pseudospin texture of the valence band from the polarization dependence of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurement. Our approach is poised to advance our understanding of quantum geometric responses in a wide class of crystalline systems.

Kim, Sunje↗

NASA NTRS1993

The terrestrial gravitational wave environment from known sources

The objective of this project was to produce a gravitational wave spectral line list of all known binary stars producing expected strain amplitudes at Earth in excess of h = 10 (exp -21), or gravitational wave fluxes in excess of F = 10 (exp -12) erg cm(exp -2) s(exp -1). These strain and flux limits lie above the anticipated detection thresholds for space-borne laser interferometers capable of detecting gravitational radiation in the 10 micron Hz to 1 Hz frequency range. The source list was intended to provide frequency (including each harmonic), amplitude and phase (for each polarization and harmonic), and celestial coordinates for each system, lacking only the orientation of the principal polarization axis with respect to the pole of the coordinate system, and the sign of the source phase and frequency (or, equivalently, of the sense of rotation of the strain tensor with time) from providing a complete source description. Such a spectral line list would lay essential groundwork for high-sensitivity, low-frequency searches for gravitational radiation.

Webbink, Ronald F.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Deep Moonquake Focal Mechanisms: Recovery and Implications

A defining characteristic of deep moonquakes is their tendency to occur with tidal periodicity, prompting previous studies to infer that they are related to the buildup and release of tidal stress within the Moon. In studies of tidal forcing, a key constraint is the focal mechanism: the fault parameters describing the type of failure moonquakes represent. The quality of the lunar seismic data and the limited source/receiver geometries of the Apollo seismic network prohibit the determination of deep moonquake fault parameters using first-motion polarities, as is typically done in terrestrial seismology. Without being able to resolve tidal stress onto a known failure plane, we can examine only gross qualities of the tidal stress tensor with respect to moonquake occurrence, so we cannot fully address the role of tidal stress in moonquake generation. We will examine the extent to which shear (S) and compression (P) wave amplitude ratios can constrain moonquake fault geometry by determining whether, for a given cluster, there exists a focal mechanism that can produce a radiation pattern consistent with the amplitudes measured by the Apollo instruments. Amplitudes are read in the ray coordinate frame, directly from seismograms for which the P and S arrivals are clearly identifiable on all long-period channels of the four Apollo stations. We apply an empirical station correction to account for site effects and the differences between P- and S-wave attenuation. Instead of focusing on the best fitting solution only, we formulate the inverse problem using a falsification criterion: all source orientations that do not reproduce the observed SV/P ratios within an error margin derived from the uncertainty of amplitude readings are rejected. All others are accepted as possible solutions. The inversion is carried out using an exhaustive grid search on a regular grid with predefined step size, encompassing all possible combinations of strike, dip and slip. To assess the sensitivity of the inversion for the uncertainty of the lunar interior structure, we carry out repeated inversions with different velocity structures. Our data set consist of a total of 106 events from 25 deep moonquake clusters. The largest contribution of 37 events originates from the most active cluster, A001, while other clusters are represented by 1 to 9 events. Since the definition of a cluster implies that all events share the same source orientation, a comparison of the inversion results of all events from one cluster will reduce ambiguities of the inversion. Once we obtain a suite of fault parameters for a given source, we can attempt to further constrain the focal mechanism with refined analyses of tidal stresses and predictions based on synthetic seismograms.

Knapmeyer, Martin↗

DOE OSTI2025

Short-range magnetic order and planar anisotropy in the topological ferrimagnet Mn 3 ⁢Si 2 ⁢Te 6

Mn 3 ⁢Si 2 ⁢Te 6 is a ferrimagnetic topological nodal-line semiconductor that exhibits unconventional colossal magnetoresistance behavior, with short-range spin fluctuations being potentially intimately linked to the emergent properties. Here we determine the short-range magnetic order and anisotropy through total neutron scattering and polarized neutron powder diffraction measurements on polycrystalline Mn 3 ⁢Si 2⁢ Te 6 . Strong in-plane anisotropy is quantified on the Mn ions through extraction of the local site susceptibility tensor. Here, the real-space local spin structure is determined through the application of magnetic pair distribution function analysis covering a wide temperature range. Short-range order over a locally frustrated trimer of three nearest neighbors is found to exist well above the long-range ferrimagnetic transition.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

NASA NTRS2012

Deep Moonquake Focal Mechanisms: Recovery and Implications

Weber, Renee C.↗