Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Minimum”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,009 records · Page 56
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

A tight-coupling scheme sharing minimum information across a spatial interface between gyrokinetic turbulence codes

A new scheme that tightly couples kinetic turbulence codes across a spatial interface is introduced. This scheme evolves from considerations of competing strategies and down-selection. It is found that the use of a composite kinetic distribution function and fields with global boundary conditions as if the coupled code were one makes the coupling problem tractable. In contrast, coupling the two solutions from each code across the overlap region is found to be more difficult due to numerical dephasing of the turbulent solutions between two solvers. Finally, another advantage of the new scheme is that the data movement can be limited to the 3D fluid quantities, instead of higher dimensional kinetic information, which is computationally more efficient for large scale simulations on leadership class computers.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

A Look Inside the Black Box: Using graph-theoretical descriptors to interpret a Continuous-Filter Convolutional Neural Network (CF-CNN) trained on the global and local minimum energy structures of neutral water clusters

A Continuous Filter Convolutional Neural Network (CF-CNN) was trained to predict the potential energy of water cluster networks \ce{(H2O)_{\textit{N}}}, \textit{N}=10--30, corresponding to local minima lying within 5 kcal/mol from the putative minima taken from a newly published database containing over 5 million unique networks. The chemical sampling space of the database was characterized using chemical descriptors derived from graph theory, which led to the identification of important trends in the topology, connectivity, polygon structures associated with the various networks as a function of cluster size. The resulting graphs are available alongside the original database at \url{https://sites.uw.edu/wdbase/}. The CF-CNN trained on a subset of 500,000 networks for (\textit{N}=10, 30) yielded a mean absolute error of 0.002$\pm$0.002 kcal/mol per water molecule, giving the trained CF-CNN the highest accuracy of any neural network-based surrogate model to date. In addition, clusters of sizes not included in the training set exhibited errors of the same magnitude, indicating that the CF-CNN ptotocol is general enough to accurately predict energies of networks for both smaller and larger sizes than those used during training. The graph-theoretical descriptors were developed in order to analyze the properties of the full database and interpret the predictive power of the CF-CNN. Using topology measures, such as the Wiener index and the average shortest path length along with two similarity measures, we showed that all networks from the test set were within the range of the ones from the training set, suggesting that the training set covered the chemical space of interest quite well. Our graph analysis suggests that the mean degree and number of polygons for networks with larger errors tend to lie further from the mean than those with lower errors. The generality of the used CF-CNN was thus demonstrated, while the use of the graph-theoretical descriptors assisted in interpreting the predicted results.

Bilbrey, Jenna A.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Evaluating the gradients of localized diabatic state energies and couplings at minimum cost

We calculate the gradients of Boys diabatic state energies and couplings when the electronic vector space is generated by configuration interaction singles. Our approach follows the Lagrangian approach of Paz and Glover (rather than direct differentiation of the adiabatic-to-diabatic approaches that have been published previously). The result is that we achieve a dramatic increase in savings over previous approaches, and the present approach should be immediately useful to scientists focused on electronic relaxation, especially chemists studying electron transfer who wish to go beyond the Condon approximation. Here, a future extension to time-dependent density functional theory in the Tamm–Dancoff approximation is clear.

Chemical physics↗
DOE OSTI2016

Generation of ultrashort pulses with minimum duration of 90 fs in a hybrid mode-locked erbium-doped all-fibre ring laser

Regimes of ultrashort pulse generation in an erbium-doped all-fibre ring laser with hybrid mode locking based on single-wall carbon – boron nitride nanotubes and the nonlinear Kerr effect in fibre waveguides are studied. Stable dechirped ultrashort pulses are obtained with a duration of ∼90 fs, a repetition rate of ∼42.2 MHz, and an average output power of ∼16.7 mW, which corresponds to a pulse energy of ∼0.4 nJ and a peak laser power of ∼4.4 kW. (control of laser radiation parameters)

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Optimal design of a single-mode trench-assisted homogeneous multicore fibre with a minimum crosstalk level

We have proposed an optimal design of five different core structures (St1 – St5) for a seven-core trench-assisted multicore fibre, whose core radius and relative core/cladding refractive index difference Δ{sub 1} are optimal for single-mode propagation. The crosstalk performance and its reduction (in dB) with respect to variations in fibre design parameters, such as cladding/trench (Δ{sub 2}) depth and trench width W{sub t} are investigated. It is shown that some fibre operational parameters, like, fibre bending radius, operating wavelength and fibre length, affect the crosstalk performance. It is found that the crosstalk and its reduction amount are extremely dependent on the values of Δ{sub 1} and Δ{sub 2}. The dispersion characteristics of the cores are investigated for all the proposed core structures and the observed dispersion is found to be about – 6 ps nm{sup −1} km{sup −1} at an operating wavelength of 1550 nm. An ultralow crosstalk (less than –100 dB per 100 km) can be achieved mainly with two proposed core structures (St4 and St5) having a suitably higher values of Δ{sub 1} along with a small core radius for single-mode propagation. The multicore fibre design with many cores (up to 55) is demonstrated to ensure a high transmission capacity. (optical fibres)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR DETECTING A STOCHASTIC GRAVITATIONAL WAVE BACKGROUND USING PULSARS

We assess the detectability of a nanohertz gravitational wave (GW) background in a pulsar timing array (PTA) program by considering the shape and amplitude of the cross-correlation function summed over pulsar pairs. The distribution of correlation amplitudes is found to be non-Gaussian and highly skewed, which significantly influences detection and false-alarm probabilities. When only white noise combines with GWs in timing data, our detection results are consistent with those found by others. Contamination by red noise from spin variations and from any uncorrected interstellar plasma effects significantly increases the false-alarm probability. The number of arrival times (and thus the observing cadence) is important only as long as the residuals are dominated by white noise. When red noise and GWs dominate, the statistical significance of the correlation estimate can be improved only by increasing the number of pulsars. We characterize plausible detection regimes by evaluating the number of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) that must be monitored in a high-cadence, five-year timing program to detect a GW background spectrum h{sub c} (f) = A(f/f{sub 0}){sup -2/3} with f{sub 0} = 1 yr{sup -1} and A = 10{sup -15}. Our results indicate that a sample of 20 super-stable MSPs-those with rms timing residuals {sigma}{sub r} {approx}< 20 ns(A/10{sup -15}) from red-noise contributions over a five-year span-will allow detection of the GW background and study of its spectrum. However, a timing program on {approx}> 50-100 MSPs is likely needed for a complete PTA program, particularly if red noise is generally present in MSPs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

TIME DEPENDENCE OF THE PROTON FLUX MEASURED BY PAMELA DURING THE 2006 JULY-2009 DECEMBER SOLAR MINIMUM

The energy spectra of galactic cosmic rays carry fundamental information regarding their origin and propagation. These spectra, when measured near Earth, are significantly affected by the solar magnetic field. A comprehensive description of the cosmic radiation must therefore include the transport and modulation of cosmic rays inside the heliosphere. During the end of the last decade, the Sun underwent a peculiarly long quiet phase well suited to study modulation processes. In this paper we present proton spectra measured from 2006 July to 2009 December by PAMELA. The large collected statistics of protons allowed the time variation to be followed on a nearly monthly basis down to 400 MV. Data are compared with a state-of-the-art three-dimensional model of solar modulation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

DECLINE AND RECOVERY OF THE INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELD DURING THE PROTRACTED SOLAR MINIMUM

The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is determined by the amount of solar magnetic flux that passes through the top of the solar corona into the heliosphere, and by the dynamical evolution of that flux. Recently, it has been argued that the total flux of the IMF evolves over the solar cycle due to a combination of flux that extends well outside of 1 AU and is associated with the solar wind, and additionally, transient flux associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs). In addition to the CME eruption rate, there are three fundamental processes involving conversion of magnetic flux (from transient to wind-associated), disconnection, and interchange reconnection that control the levels of each form of magnetic flux in the interplanetary medium. This is distinct from some earlier models in which the wind-associated component remains steady across the solar cycle. We apply the model of Schwadron et al. that quantifies the sources, interchange, and losses of magnetic flux to 50 yr of interplanetary data as represented by the Omni2 data set using the sunspot number as a proxy for the CME eruption rate. We do justify the use of that proxy substitution. We find very good agreement between the predicted and observed interplanetary magnetic flux. In the absence of sufficient CME eruptions, the IMF falls on the timescale of ∼6 yr. A key result is that rising toroidal flux resulting from CME eruption predates the increase in wind-associated IMF.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

TIME DEPENDENCE OF THE e{sup −} FLUX MEASURED BY PAMELA DURING THE 2006 JULY–2009 DECEMBER SOLAR MINIMUM

Precision measurements of the electron component of cosmic radiation provide important information about the origin and propagation of cosmic rays in the Galaxy not accessible from the study of cosmic-ray nuclear components due to their differing diffusion and energy-loss processes. However, when measured near Earth, the effects of propagation and modulation of Galactic cosmic rays in the heliosphere, particularly significant for energies up to at least 30 GeV, must be properly taken into account. In this paper the electron (e{sup −}) spectra measured by the Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics down to 70 MeV from 2006 July to 2009 December over six-month time intervals are presented. Fluxes are compared with a state-of-the-art three-dimensional model of solar modulation that reproduces the observations remarkably well.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

A minimum assumption approach to MEG sensor array design

Objective. Our objective is to formulate the problem of the magnetoencephalographic (MEG) sensor array design as a well-posed engineering problem of accurately measuring the neuronal magnetic fields. This is in contrast to the traditional approach that formulates the sensor array design problem in terms of neurobiological interpretability the sensor array measurements. Approach. We use the vector spherical harmonics (VSH) formalism to define a figure-of-merit for an MEG sensor array. We start with an observation that, under certain reasonable assumptions, any array of m perfectly noiseless sensors will attain exactly the same performance, regardless of the sensors' locations and orientations (with the exception of a negligible set of singularly bad sensor configurations). We proceed to the conclusion that under the aforementioned assumptions, the only difference between different array configurations is the effect of (sensor) noise on their performance. We then propose a figure-of-merit that quantifies, with a single number, how much the sensor array in question amplifies the sensor noise. Main results. We derive a formula for intuitively meaningful, yet mathematically rigorous figure-of-merit that summarizes how desirable a particular sensor array design is. We demonstrate that this figure-of-merit is well-behaved enough to be used as a cost function for a general-purpose nonlinear optimization methods such as simulated annealing. We also show that sensor array configurations obtained by such optimizations exhibit properties that are typically expected of 'high-quality' MEG sensor arrays, e.g. high channel information capacity. Significance. Our work paves the way toward designing better MEG sensor arrays by isolating the engineering problem of measuring the neuromagnetic fields out of the bigger problem of studying brain function through neuromagnetic measurements.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Minimum magnetic curvature for resilient divertors using Compact Toroidal Hybrid geometry

The properties of resilient divertors are explored using equilibria derived from Compact Toroidal Hybrid (CTH) geometries. Resilience is defined here as the robustness of the strike point patterns as the plasma geometry and/or plasma profiles are changed. The addition of plasma current in the CTH configurations significantly alters the shape of the last closed flux surface and the rotational transform profile, however, it does not alter the strike point pattern on the target plates, and hence has resilient divertor features. The limits of when a configuration transforms to a resilient configuration is then explored. New CTH-like configurations are generated that vary from a perfectly circular cross section to configurations with increasing amounts of toroidal shaping. It is found that even small amounts of toroidal shaping lead to strike point localization that is similar to the standard CTH configuration. Lastly, these results show that only a small degree of three-dimensional shaping is necessary to produce a resilient divertor, implying that any highly shaped optimized stellarator will possess the resilient divertor property.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

On the minimum transport required to passively suppress runaway electrons in SPARC disruptions

In Izzo et al (2022 Nucl. Fusion 62 096029), state-of-the-art modeling of thermal and current quench (CQ) magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) coupled with a self-consistent evolution of runaway electron (RE) generation and transport showed that a non-axisymmetric (n = 1) in-vessel coil could passively prevent RE beam formation during disruptions in SPARC, a compact high-field tokamak projected to achieve a fusion gain Q > 2 in DT plasmas. However, such suppression requires finite transport of REs within magnetic islands and re-healed flux surfaces; conservatively assuming zero transport in these regions leads to an upper bound of RE current ~1MA compared to ~8.7MA of pre-disruption plasma current. Further investigation finds that core-localized electrons, within r/a < 0.4 and with kinetic energies ~0.2–15 MeV, contribute most to the RE plateau formation. Yet only a relatively small amount of transport, i.e. a diffusion coefficient ~18 m 2 s -1 , is needed in the core to fully mitigate these REs. Properly accounting for (a) the CQ electric field's effect on RE transport in islands and (b) the contribution of significant RE currents to disruption MHD may help achieve this.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Constraining the minimum luminosity of high redshift galaxies through gravitational lensing

We simulate the effects of gravitational lensing on the source count of high redshift galaxies as projected to be observed by the Hubble Frontier Fields program and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in the near future. Taking the mass density profile of the lensing object to be the singular isothermal sphere (SIS) or the Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile, we model a lens residing at a redshift of z{sub L} = 0.5 and explore the radial dependence of the resulting magnification bias and its variability with the velocity dispersion of the lens, the photometric sensitivity of the instrument, the redshift of the background source population, and the intrinsic maximum absolute magnitude (M{sub max}) of the sources. We find that gravitational lensing enhances the number of galaxies with redshifts z∼> 13 detected in the angular region θ{sub E}/2 ≤ θ ≤ 2θ{sub E} (where θ{sub E} is the Einstein angle) by a factor of ∼ 3 and 1.5 in the HUDF (df/dν{sub 0} ∼ 9 nJy) and medium-deep JWST surveys (df/dν{sub 0} ∼ 6 nJy). Furthermore, we find that even in cases where a negative magnification bias reduces the observed number count of background sources, the lensing effect improves the sensitivity of the count to the intrinsic faint-magnitude cut-off of the Schechter luminosity function. In a field centered on a strong lensing cluster, observations of z∼> 6 and z∼> 13 galaxies with JWST can be used to infer this cut-off magnitude for values as faint as M{sub max} ∼ -14.4 and -16.1 mag (L{sub min} ≈ 2.5 × 10{sup 26} and 1.2 × 10{sup 27} erg s{sup −1} Hz{sup −1}) respectively, within the range bracketed by existing theoretical models. Gravitational lensing may therefore offer an effective way of constraining the low-luminosity cut-off of high-redshift galaxies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Maximal freedom at minimum cost: linear large-scale structure in general modifications of gravity

We present a turnkey solution, ready for implementation in numerical codes, for the study of linear structure formation in general scalar-tensor models involving a single universally coupled scalar field. We show that the totality of cosmological information on the gravitational sector can be compressed — without any redundancy — into five independent and arbitrary functions of time only and one constant. These describe physical properties of the universe: the observable background expansion history, fractional matter density today, and four functions of time describing the properties of the dark energy. We show that two of those dark-energy property functions control the existence of anisotropic stress, the other two — dark-energy clustering, both of which are can be scale-dependent. All these properties can in principle be measured, but no information on the underlying theory of acceleration beyond this can be obtained. We present a translation between popular models of late-time acceleration (e.g. perfect fluids, f(R), kinetic gravity braiding, galileons), as well as the effective field theory framework, and our formulation. In this way, implementing this formulation numerically would give a single tool which could consistently test the majority of models of late-time acceleration heretofore proposed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

THE METALLICITY DEPENDENCE OF THE MINIMUM MASS FOR CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVAE

Understanding the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae (SNe) and their population statistics is a key ingredient for many current studies in astronomy, but as yet this remains elusive. Using the MESA stellar evolution code, we study the dependence of the lower mass limit for making core-collapse SNe a function of initial stellar metallicity. We find that this mass limit is smallest at [Z] Almost-Equal-To -2 with a value of {approx}8.3 M{sub Sun }. At [Z] = 0 the limit is {approx}9.5 M{sub Sun} and continues to rise with higher metallicity. As a consequence, for a fixed initial mass function the SN rate may be 20%-25% higher at [Z] = -2 than at [Z] = 0. This affects the association of observed SN rates as a probe for the cosmological star formation rate, rate predictions for SN surveys, and population synthesis studies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Combining the synergistic control capabilities of modeling and experiments: Illustration of finding a minimum-time quantum objective

A common way to manipulate a quantum system, for example spins or artificial atoms, is to use properly tailored control pulses. In order to accomplish quantum information tasks before coherence is lost, it is crucial to implement the control in the shortest possible time. Here we report the near time-optimal preparation of a Bell state with fidelity higher than 99% in an NMR experiment, which is feasible by combining the synergistic capabilities of modeling and experiments operating in tandem. In this work, the pulses preparing the Bell state are found by experiments that are recursively assisted with a gradient-based optimization algorithm working with a model. Thus, we exploit the interplay between model-based numerical optimal design and experimental-based learning control. Utilizing the balanced synergism between the dual approaches, as dictated by the case specific capabilities of each approach, should have broad applications for accelerating the search for optimal quantum controls.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗