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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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At least 919 records · Page 51
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Observed declines in upper ocean phosphate-to-nitrate availability

Climate warming is increasing ocean stratification, which in turn should decrease the nutrient flux to the upper ocean. This may slow marine primary productivity, causing cascading effects throughout food webs. However, observing changes in upper ocean nutrients is challenging because surface concentrations are often below detection limits. We show that the nutricline depth, where nutrient concentrations reach well-detected levels, is tied to productivity and upper ocean nutrient availability. Next, we quantify nutricline depths from a global database of observed vertical nitrate and phosphate profiles to assess contemporary trends in global nutrient availability (1972–2022). We find strong evidence that the P-nutricline (phosphacline) is mostly deepening, especially throughout the southern hemisphere, but the N-nutricline (nitracline) remains mostly stable. Earth System Model (ESM) simulations support the hypothesis that reduced iron stress and increased nitrogen fixation buffer the nitracline, but not phosphacline, against increasing stratification. These contemporary trends are expected to continue in the coming decades, leading to increasing phosphorus but not nitrogen stress for marine phytoplankton, with important ramifications for ocean biogeochemistry and food web dynamics.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

High-resolution lidar observations of sedimentation-induced size sorting of droplets near a laboratory cloud top

Cloud optical properties and precipitation, which are crucial to weather and climate, are strongly influenced by cloud microphysical properties that are still poorly understood. Here, we develop a high-resolution time-correlated single-photon-counting lidar and apply it to observe cloud microphysical properties at one-centimeter range resolution in a convection chamber under well-controlled conditions. Together with concurrent in-situ measurements and theoretical analysis, our lidar observations indicate that although turbulent mixing tends to homogenize the cloud in the bulk region, entrainment and sedimentation cause inhomogeneities in droplet concentrations near the cloud top. Specifically, the topmost region is directly affected by entrainment, and lidar profiles show clear evidence of entrained air and detrained cloud filament. The transition region below exhibits vertical size sorting of cloud droplets caused by sedimentation. Our results suggest that using a single sedimentation velocity for all cloud droplets, as is done in many atmospheric models, overlooks key physics relevant to the microphysical structure near the cloud top. In conclusion, our conceptual model used to describe these measurements can serve as a step toward improving the current modeling of processes in the cloud top region.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Observations of Atmospheric Corrosion Testing on Heated Austenitic Stainless Steel Surfaces: Exploring the Role of Inert Dust Particulates and Seawater

Relevant atmospheric corrosion laboratory testing environments were developed to explore the influence of inert dust and seawater on the corrosion susceptibility of stainless steel in spent nuclear fuel dry storage conditions. Measurements from dust collected on in-service dry storage canisters were applied to develop exposure conditions. Three atmospheric exposure conditions, two static and one cyclic, were examined with three different surface coverages: co-deposited large dust and seawater, co-deposited small dust and seawater, and solely seawater. Stainless steel coupons representative of spent nuclear fuel dry storage canister material were subjected to the various corrosion environments, with the results from exposures up to 1 year presented here. Post exposure, corrosion damage was analyzed using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Initial observations are presented herein, and potential implications with respect to the influence of inert dust particles on corrosion susceptibility are summarized. In general, the co-deposition of dust and salt resulted in larger pits and exhibited mixed modes of corrosion that were not observed in the no-dust conditions (i.e., crevicing, filiform, and pits within pits). The presence of the inert dust may influence brine spreading and/or act as crevice formers, leading to enhanced corrosion. This study highlights the significance of incorporating dust particulate(s) beyond the deliquescent chemistries to fully evaluate atmospheric corrosion severity.

Sea salt↗
DOE OSTI2026

Direct inference of nuclear equation-of-state parameters from gravitational-wave observations

The observation of neutron star mergers with gravitational waves (GWs) has provided a new method to constrain the dense-matter equation of state (EOS) and to better understand its nuclear physics. However, inferring nuclear microphysics from GW observations necessitates the sampling of EOS model parameters that serve as input for each EOS used during the GW data analysis. The sampling of the EOS parameters requires solving the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff (TOV) equations a large number of times—a process that slows down each likelihood evaluation in the analysis on the order of a few seconds. Here, we employ emulators for the TOV equations built using multilayer perceptron neural networks to enable direct inference of nuclear EOS parameters from GW strain data. Our emulators allow us to rapidly solve the TOV equations, taking in EOS parameters and outputting the associated tidal deformability of a neutron star in only a few tens of milliseconds. We implement these emulators in PyCBC to directly infer the EOS parameters using the event GW170817, providing posteriors on these parameters informed solely by GWs. We benchmark these runs against analyses performed using the full TOV solver and find that the emulators achieve speed ups of nearly two orders of magnitude, with negligible differences in the recovered posteriors. Additionally, we constrain the slope and curvature of the symmetry energy at the 90% upper credible interval to be $L$ sym ≲ 106 MeV and $K$ sym ≲ 26 MeV.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Observed metallization of hydrogen interpreted as a band structure effect

A recent experimental study of the metallization of hydrogen tracked the direct band gap and vibron frequency via infrared measurements up to ~425 GPa (Loubeyre et al (2020 Nature 577 631). Above this pressure, the direct gap has a discontinuous drop to below the minimum experimentally accessible energy (~0.1 eV). The authors suggested that this observation is caused by a structural phase transition between the C2/c-24 molecular phase to another molecular phase such as Cmca-12. Here, through ab initio calculations of pressure dependent vibron frequency and direct band gap, we find that the experimental data is consistent with the C2/c-24 phase up to 425 GPa, and suggest that this consistency extends beyond that pressure. Specifically, we find that qualitative changes in the band structure of the C2/c-24 phase lead to a discontinuous drop of the direct band gap, which can explain the observed drop without a structural transition. In conclusion, this alternative scenario, which naturally explains the absence of hysteresis in the measurements, will hopefully motivate further experimental studies to ascertain the structure of the phase above the high pressure 'phase transition'.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

MiniCarb: a passive, occultation-viewing, 6U CubeSat for observations of CO 2 , CH 4 , and H 2 O

In this report we present the final design, environmental testing, and launch history of MiniCarb, a 6U CubeSat developed through a partnership between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. MiniCarb’s science payload, developed at Goddard, was an occultation-viewing, passive laser heterodyne radiometer for observing methane, carbon dioxide, and water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere at ~1.6 µm s -1 . MiniCarb’s satellite, developed at Livermore, implemented their CubeSat Next Generation Bus plug-and-play architecture to produce a modular platform that could be tailored to a range of science payloads. Following the launch on 5 December 2019, MiniCarb traveled to the International Space Station and was set into orbit on 1 February 2020 via Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus capsule which deployed MiniCarb with tipoff rotation of about 20° s (significantly higher than the typical rate of 3° s -1 from prior CubeSats), from which the attitude control system was unable to recover resulting in a loss of power. In spite of this early failure, MiniCarb had many successes including rigorous environmental testing, successful deployment of its solar panels, and a successful test of the radio and communication through the Iridium network. This prior work and enticing cost (approximately $\$2$ M for the satellite and $\$$250 K for the payload) makes MiniCarb an ideal candidate for a low-cost and rapid rebuild as a single orbiter or constellation to globally observe key greenhouse gases.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Observation of second harmonic electron cyclotron resonance heating and current-drive transition during non-inductive plasma start-up experiment in QUEST

Here, noninductive plasma current start-up using 2nd harmonic electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) with oblique radio frequency (RF) injection is demonstrated in a Q-shu University experiment with steady-state spherical tokamak. A strong transition was observed in the heating and plasma current ramp-up. The initial bulk electron heating regime exhibits T ebulk ~ 140 eV and no hard x-ray (HXR) emission with a low I p of ~15 kA; it abruptly transitions to a regime that exhibits a low T ebulk of ~10 eV and a strong HXR emission with a high I p of ~50 kA. This behavior is distinctly different from that observed in previous fundamental ECRH experiments. The mechanism of the heating and current drive transition are investigated considering wave power absorption and plasma power balance. The results indicate that the transition is caused by the favorable heating of tail electrons where the RF power absorption at the 2nd harmonic increases nearly linearly with T etail , while the power transfer from the tail electrons to the bulk electrons decreases with 1/T etail 0.5 . This causes a rapid transition to a state with high T etail while reducing T ebulk towards colder ion temperature. The understanding of the transition mechanism helps to consider plasma current start-up using 2nd harmonic ECRH for tokamak reactors such as JT-60 SA and ITER.

QUEST↗
DOE OSTI2023

Report on progress in physics: observation of the Breit–Wheeler process and vacuum birefringence in heavy-ion collisions

This report reviews the effort over several decades to observe the linear Breit–Wheeler process ($\gamma\gamma \rightarrow e^+e^-$) and vacuum birefringence (VB) in high-energy particle and heavy-ion collider experiment. This report, motivated by the STAR collaboration's recent observations, attempts to summarize the key issues related to the interpretation of polarized $\gamma\gamma \rightarrow l^+l^-$ measurements in high-energy experiments. To that end, we start by reviewing the historical context and essential theoretical developments, before focusing on the decades of progress made in high-energy collider experiments. Special attention is given to the evolution in experimental approaches in response to various challenges, to the demanding detector capabilities required to unambiguously identify the linear Breit–Wheeler process, and to the connections with VB. Finally, we close the report with a discussion, followed by a look at near-future opportunities for utilizing these discoveries and for testing quantum electrodynamics in previously unexplored regimes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Observation of $\gamma\gamma\to\tau\tau$ in proton-proton collisions and limits on the anomalous electromagnetic moments of the $\tau$ lepton

The production of a pair of τ leptons via photon–photon fusion, ${{\unicode{x03B3}\unicode{x03B3}\to\unicode{x03C4}\unicode{x03C4}}}$, is observed for the first time in proton–proton collisions, with a significance of 5.3 standard deviations. This observation is based on a data set recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{−1}$. Events with a pair of τ leptons produced via photon–photon fusion are selected by requiring them to be back-to-back in the azimuthal direction and to have a minimum number of charged hadrons associated with their production vertex. The τ leptons are reconstructed in their leptonic and hadronic decay modes. The measured fiducial cross section of ${{\unicode{x03B3}\unicode{x03B3}\to\unicode{x03C4}\unicode{x03C4}}}$ is $\sigma^\text{fid}_\text{obs} = 12.4 ^{+3.8}_{-3.1}\,\textrm{fb}$. Constraints are set on the contributions to the anomalous magnetic moment (${a_{\unicode{x03C4}}}$) and electric dipole moments (${d_{\unicode{x03C4}}}$) of the τ lepton originating from potential effects of new physics on the $\unicode{x03B3}\unicode{x03C4}\unicode{x03C4}$ vertex: ${a_{\unicode{x03C4}}} = 0.0009_{-0.0031}^{+0.0032}$ and $|{d_{\unicode{x03C4}}}| \lt 2.9\times 10^{-17}\,{e}\,\textrm{cm}$ (95% confidence level), consistent with the standard model.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Uncertainty quantification of collective nuclear observables from the chiral potential parametrization

We perform an uncertainty estimate of quadrupole moments and B(E2) transition rates that inform nuclear collectivity. In particular, we study the low-lying states of 6 Li and 12 C using the ab initio symmetry-adapted no-core–shell model. For a narrow standard deviation of approximately 1% on the low-energy constants which parametrize high-precision chiral potentials, we find output standard deviations in the collective observables ranging from approximately 3%–6%. The results mark the first step towards a rigorous uncertainty quantification of collectivity in nuclei that aims to account for all sources of uncertainty in ab initio descriptions of challenging collective and clustering observables.

ab initio↗
DOE OSTI2020

Observability of dark matter substructure with pulsar timing correlations

Dark matter substructure on small scales is currently weakly constrained, and its study may shed light on the nature of the dark matter. In this work we observe the gravitational effects of dark matter substructure on measured pulsar phases in pulsar timing arrays (PTAs). Due to the stability of pulse phases observed over several years, dark matter substructure around the Earth-pulsar system can imprint discernible signatures in gravitational Doppler and Shapiro delays. We compute pulsar phase correlations induced by general dark matter substructure, and project constraints for a few models such as monochromatic primordial black holes (PBHs), and Cold Dark Matter (CDM)-like NFW subhalos. This work extends our previous analysis, which focused on static or single transiting events, to a stochastic analysis of multiple transiting events. We find that stochastic correlations, in a PTA similar to the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), are uniquely powerful to constrain subhalos as light as ~ 10 -13 M ⊙ , with concentrations as low as that predicted by standard CDM.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Astrophysical observations of a dark matter-Baryon fifth force

We consider the effects of an attractive, long-range Yukawa interaction between baryons and dark matter (DM), focusing in particular on temperature and pulsar timing observations of neutron stars (NSs). We show that such a fifth force, with strength modestly stronger than gravity at ranges greater than tens of kilometers (corresponding to mediator masses less than 10 -11 eV), can dramatically enhance dark matter kinetic heating, capture, and pulsar timing Doppler shifts relative to gravity plus short range interactions alone. Using the coldest observed NS and pulsar timing array (PTA) data, we derive limits on fifth force strength over a DM mass range spanning light dark matter up to order solar mass composite DM objects. We also consider an indirect limit by combining bullet cluster limits on the DM self-interaction with weak equivalence principle test limits on baryonic self-interactions. Furthermore, we find the combined indirect limits are moderately stronger than kinetic heating and PTA limits, except when considering a DM subcomponent.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Observation of the Y(4230) and a new structure in ${\boldsymbol e^+\boldsymbol e^- \boldsymbol\rightarrow \boldsymbol K^+\boldsymbol K^-\boldsymbol J/\boldsymbol\psi}$

The cross sections of $e^+e^- \rightarrow K^+K^-J/\psi$ at center-of-mass energies from 4.127 to 4.600 GeV are measured based on 15.6 fb -1 data collected with the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII storage ring. Two resonant structures are observed in the line shape of the cross sections. The mass and width of the first structure are measured to be ($4225.3\pm2.3\pm21.5$) MeV and ($72.9\pm6.1\pm30.8$) MeV, respectively. They are consistent with those of the established $Y(4230)$. The second structure is observed for the first time with a statistical significance greater than 8σ, denoted as $Y(4500)$. Its mass and width are determined to be ($4484.7\pm13.3\pm24.1$) MeV and ($111.1\pm30.1\pm15.2$) MeV, respectively. The first presented uncertainties are statistical and the second ones are systematic. The product of the electronic partial width with the decay branching fraction $\Gamma(Y(4230)\to e^+ e^-) \mathcal{B}(Y(4230) \to K^+ K^- J/\psi)$ is reported.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Observation of e⁺e⁻ → pp$\bar{p}\bar{n}\pi^-$ + c. c.

Using data taken at 29 center-of-mass energies between 4.16 and 4.70 GeV with the BESIII detector at the Beijing Electron Positron Collider corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of approximately 18.8 fb -1 , the process e⁺e⁻ → pp$\overline{p}\overline{n}\pi^-$ + c. c. is observed for the first time with a statistical significance of 11.5σ. The average Born cross sections in the energy ranges of (4.160, 4.380) GeV, (4.400, 4.600) GeV and (4.610, 4.700) GeV are measured to be (21.5 ± 5.7 ± 1.2) fb, (46.3 ± 10.6 ± 2.5) fb and (59.0 ± 9.4 ± 3.2) fb, respectively, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. The line shapes of the $\overline{p}\overline{n}$ and ppπ⁻ invariant mass spectra are consistent with phase space distributions, indicating that no hexaquark or di-baryon state is observed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Observation of stationary filaments with resonant magnetic perturbations in NSTX

The application of resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) induces striated heat fluxes on the divertor plate in tokamaks. These striated heat fluxes were previously considered strike point splitting by the intersection between the divertor and predicted magnetic lobe structures. Recently, the existence of stationary 3D filaments has been observed for the first time in National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) plasmas with toroidal mode number n = 3 RMPs. Magnetic field line tracing of these filaments from the midplane to the divertor is consistent with the quantity and the radial and toroidal location of striated heat fluxes observed on the divertor. This study suggests that divertor striated heat flux patterns are linked to these stationary filaments rather than to strike point splitting or magnetic lobe structures for NSTX. This finding will help guide future efforts to understand the heat flux striations in NSTX with RMPs in order to control and reduce the divertor peak heat flux.

RMPs↗
DOE OSTI2023

Direct observation of the magnetic anisotropy of an Fe(II) spin crossover molecular thin film

Abstract In this work, we provide clear evidence of magnetic anisotropy in the local orbital moment of a molecular thin film based on the SCO complex [Fe(H 2 B(pz) 2 ) 2 (bipy)] (pz = pyrazol−1−yl, bipy = 2,2′−bipyridine). Field dependent x-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements indicate that the magnetic easy axis for the orbital moment is along the surface normal direction. Along with the presence of a critical field, our observation points to the existence of an anisotropic energy barrier in the high-spin state. The estimated nonzero coupling constant of ∼2.47 × 10 −5 eV molecule −1 indicates that the observed magnetocrystalline anisotropy is mostly due to spin–orbit coupling. The spin- and orbital-component anisotropies are determined to be 30.9 and 5.04 meV molecule −1 , respectively. Furthermore, the estimated g factor in the range of 2.2–2.45 is consistent with the expected values. This work has paved the way for an understanding of the spin-state-switching mechanism in the presence of magnetic perturbations.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Asymmetric nanoparticle oxidation observed in-situ by the evolution of diffraction contrast

Abstract The use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to observe real-time structural and compositional changes has proven to be a valuable tool for understanding the dynamic behavior of nanomaterials. However, identifying the nanoparticles of interest typically require an obvious change in position, size, or structure, as compositional changes may not be noticeable during the experiment. Oxidation or reduction can often result in subtle volume changes only, so elucidating mechanisms in real-time requires atomic-scale resolution or in-situ electron energy loss spectroscopy, which may not be widely accessible. Here, by monitoring the evolution of diffraction contrast, we can observe both structural and compositional changes in iron oxide nanoparticles, specifically the oxidation from a wüstite-magnetite (FeO@Fe 3 O 4 ) core – shell nanoparticle to single crystalline magnetite, Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticle. The in-situ TEM images reveal a distinctive light and dark contrast known as the ‘Ashby-Brown contrast’, which is a result of coherent strain across the core – shell interface. As the nanoparticles fully oxidize to Fe 3 O 4 , the diffraction contrast evolves and then disappears completely, which is then confirmed by modeling and simulation of TEM images. This represents a new, simplified approach to tracking the oxidation or reduction mechanisms of nanoparticles using in-situ TEM experiments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Optimal adjustment sets for causal query estimation in partially observed biomolecular networks

Abstract Causal query estimation in biomolecular networks commonly selects a ‘valid adjustment set’, i.e. a subset of network variables that eliminates the bias of the estimator. A same query may have multiple valid adjustment sets, each with a different variance. When networks are partially observed, current methods use graph-based criteria to find an adjustment set that minimizes asymptotic variance. Unfortunately, many models that share the same graph topology, and therefore same functional dependencies, may differ in the processes that generate the observational data. In these cases, the topology-based criteria fail to distinguish the variances of the adjustment sets. This deficiency can lead to sub-optimal adjustment sets, and to miss-characterization of the effect of the intervention. We propose an approach for deriving ‘optimal adjustment sets’ that takes into account the nature of the data, bias and finite-sample variance of the estimator, and cost. It empirically learns the data generating processes from historical experimental data, and characterizes the properties of the estimators by simulation. We demonstrate the utility of the proposed approach in four biomolecular Case studies with different topologies and different data generation processes. The implementation and reproducible Case studies are at https://github.com/srtaheri/OptimalAdjustmentSet.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗