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DOE OSTI2011

Novel QCD Phenomenology

I review a number of topics where conventional wisdom in hadron physics has been challenged. For example, hadrons can be produced at large transverse momentum directly within a hard higher-twist QCD subprocess, rather than from jet fragmentation. Such 'direct' processes can explain the deviations from perturbative QCD predictions in measurements of inclusive hadron cross sections at fixed x{sub T} = 2p{sub T}/{radical}s, as well as the 'baryon anomaly', the anomalously large proton-to-pion ratio seen in high centrality heavy ion collisions. Initial-state and final-state interactions of the struck quark, the soft-gluon rescattering associated with its Wilson line, lead to Bjorken-scaling single-spin asymmetries, diffractive deep inelastic scattering, the breakdown of the Lam-Tung relation in Drell-Yan reactions, as well as nuclear shadowing and antishadowing. The Gribov-Glauber theory predicts that antishadowing of nuclear structure functions is not universal, but instead depends on the flavor quantum numbers of each quark and antiquark, thus explaining the anomalous nuclear dependence measured in deep-inelastic neutrino scattering. Since shadowing and antishadowing arise from the physics of leading-twist diffractive deep inelastic scattering, one cannot attribute such phenomena to the structure of the nucleus itself. It is thus important to distinguish 'static' structure functions, the probability distributions computed from the square of the target light-front wavefunctions, versus 'dynamical' structure functions which include the effects of the final-state rescattering of the struck quark. The importance of the J = 0 photon-quark QCD contact interaction in deeply virtual Compton scattering is also emphasized. The scheme-independent BLM method for setting the renormalization scale is discussed. Eliminating the renormalization scale ambiguity greatly improves the precision of QCD predictions and increases the sensitivity of searches for new physics at the LHC. Other novel features of QCD are discussed, including the consequences of confinement for quark and gluon condensates.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

Light-Front Holography, Light-Front Wavefunctions, and Novel QCD Phenomena

Light-Front Holography is one of the most remarkable features of the AdS/CFT correspondence. In spite of its present limitations it provides important physical insights into the nonperturbative regime of QCD and its transition to the perturbative domain. This novel framework allows hadronic amplitudes in a higher dimensional anti-de Sitter (AdS) space to be mapped to frame-independent light-front wavefunctions of hadrons in physical space-time. The model leads to an effective confining light-front QCD Hamiltonian and a single-variable light-front Schroedinger equation which determines the eigenspectrum and the light-front wavefunctions of hadrons for general spin and orbital angular momentum. The coordinate z in AdS space is uniquely identified with a Lorentz-invariant coordinate {zeta} which measures the separation of the constituents within a hadron at equal light-front time and determines the off-shell dynamics of the bound-state wavefunctions, and thus the fall-off as a function of the invariant mass of the constituents. The soft-wall holographic model modified by a positive-sign dilaton metric, leads to a remarkable one-parameter description of nonperturbative hadron dynamics - a semi-classical frame-independent first approximation to the spectra and light-front wavefunctions of meson and baryons. The model predicts a Regge spectrum of linear trajectories with the same slope in the leading orbital angular momentum L of hadrons and the radial quantum number n. The hadron eigensolutions projected on the free Fock basis provides the complete set of valence and non-valence light-front Fock state wavefunctions {Psi}{sub n/H} (x{sub i}, k{sub {perpendicular}i}, {lambda}{sub i}) which describe the hadron's momentum and spin distributions needed to compute the direct measures of hadron structure at the quark and gluon level, such as elastic and transition form factors, distribution amplitudes, structure functions, generalized parton distributions and transverse momentum distributions. The effective confining potential also creates quark-antiquark pairs from the amplitude q {yields} q{bar q}q. Thus in holographic QCD higher Fock states can have any number of extra q{bar q} pairs. We discuss the relevance of higher Fock-states for describing the detailed structure of space and time-like form factors. The AdS/QCD model can be systematically improved by using its complete orthonormal solutions to diagonalize the full QCD light-front Hamiltonian or by applying the Lippmann-Schwinger method in order to systematically include the QCD interaction terms. A new perspective on quark and gluon condensates is also obtained.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2010

The AdS/QCD Correspondence and Exclusive Processes

The AdS/CFT correspondence between theories in AdS space and conformal field theories in physical space-time provides an analytic, semi-classical, color-confining model for strongly-coupled QCD. The soft-wall AdS/QCD model modified by a positive-sign dilaton metric leads to a remarkable one-parameter description of nonperturbative hadron dynamics at zero quark mass, including a zero-mass pion and a Regge spectrum of linear trajectories with the same slope in orbital angular momentum L and radial quantum number n for both mesons and baryons. One also predicts the form of the non-perturbative effective coupling {alpha}{sub s}{sup AdS}(q) and its {beta}-function which agrees with the effective coupling {alpha}{sub ga} extracted from the Bjorken sum rule. Light-front holography, which connects the fifth-dimensional coordinate of AdS space z to an invariant impact separation variable {zeta}, allows one to compute the analytic form of the frame-independent light-front wavefunctions, the fundamental entities which encode hadron properties as well as decay constants, form factors, deeply virtual Compton scattering, exclusive heavy hadron decays and other exclusive scattering amplitudes. One thus obtains a relativistic description of hadrons in QCD at the amplitude level with dimensional counting for hard exclusive reactions at high momentum transfer. As specific examples we discuss the behavior of the pion and nucleon form factors in the space-like and time-like regions. We also review the phenomenology of exclusive processes including some anomalous empirical results.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Symmetry-Breaking and Self-Sorting in Block Copolymer-Based Multicomponent Nanocomposites

Co-assembly of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) and nanostructured polymer matrix represents an intricate interplay of enthalpic or entropic forces. Particle size largely affects the phase behavior of the nanocomposite. Theoretical studies indicate that new morphologies would emerge when the particles become comparable to the soft matrix's size, but this has rarely been supported experimentally. By designing a multicomponent blend composed of NPs, block copolymer-based supramolecules, and small molecules, a 3-D ordered lattice beyond the native BCP's morphology was recently reported when the particle is larger than the microdomain of BCP. The blend can accommodate various formulation variables. In this work, when the particle size equals the microdomain size, a symmetry-broken phase appears in a narrow range of particle sizes and compositions, which we named the "train track" structure. In this phase, the NPs aligned into a 3-D hexagonal lattice and packed asymmetrically along the c axis, making the projection of the ac and the bc plane resemble train tracks. Computational studies show that the broken symmetry reduces the polymer chain deformation and stabilizes the metastable hexagonally perforated lamellar morphology. Given the mobility of the multicomponent blend, the system shows a self-sorting behavior: segregating into two macroscopic phases with different nanostructures based on only a few nanometers NP size differences. Smaller NPs form "train track" morphology, while larger NPs form a "simple hexagon" structure, where the NPs take a symmetric hexagonal arrangement. Detailed structural evolution and simulation studies confirm the systematic-wide cooperativity across different components, indicating the strong self-regulation of the multicomponent system.

"train track" morphology↗
DOE OSTI2017

Effective field theory approach to open heavy flavor production in heavy-ion collisions

We develop a version of Soft Collinear Effective Theory (SCET) which includes finite quark masses, as well as Glauber gluons that describe the interaction of collinear partons with QCD matter. In the framework of this new effective field theory, labeled SCET M,G , we derive the massive splitting functions in the vacuum and the QCD medium for the processes $Q → Qg, Q → gQ$ and $g→Q\bar{Q}$. The numerical effects due to finite quark masses are sizable and our results are consistent with the traditional approach to parton energy loss in the soft gluon emission limit. In addition, we present a new framework for including the medium-induced full splitting functions consistent with next-to-leading order calculations in QCD for inclusive hadron production. Finally, we show numerical results for the suppression of D- and B-mesons in heavy ion collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=5.02 TeV and 2.76 TeV and compare to available data from the LHC.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Origin of the neutron skin thickness of {sup 208}Pb in nuclear mean-field models

We study whether the neutron skin thickness {Delta}r{sub np} of {sup 208}Pb originates from the bulk or from the surface of the nucleon density distributions, according to the mean-field models of nuclear structure, and find that it depends on the stiffness of the nuclear symmetry energy. The bulk contribution to {Delta}r{sub np} arises from an extended sharp radius of neutrons, whereas the surface contribution arises from different widths of the neutron and proton surfaces. Nuclear models where the symmetry energy is stiff, as typical of relativistic models, predict a bulk contribution in {Delta}r{sub np} of {sup 208}Pb about twice as large as the surface contribution. In contrast, models with a soft symmetry energy like common nonrelativistic models predict that {Delta}r{sub np} of {sup 208}Pb is divided similarly into bulk and surface parts. Indeed, if the symmetry energy is supersoft, the surface contribution becomes dominant. We note that the linear correlation of {Delta}r{sub np} of {sup 208}Pb with the density derivative of the nuclear symmetry energy arises from the bulk part of {Delta}r{sub np}. We also note that most models predict a mixed-type (between halo and skin) neutron distribution for {sup 208}Pb. Although the halo-type limit is actually found in the models with a supersoft symmetry energy, the skin-type limit is not supported by any mean-field model. Finally, we compute parity-violating electron scattering in the conditions of the {sup 208}Pb parity radius experiment (PREX) and obtain a pocket formula for the parity-violating asymmetry in terms of the parameters that characterize the shape of the {sup 208}Pb nucleon densities.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Control of monodomain polymer-stabilized cuboidal nanocrystals of chiral nematics by confinement.

Liquid crystals are important components of optical technologies. Cuboidal crystals consisting of chiral liquid crystals-the so-called blue phases (BPs), are of particular interest due to their crystalline structures and fast response times, but it is critical that control be gained over their phase behavior as well as the underlying dislocations and grain boundaries that arise in such systems. Blue phases exhibit cubic crystalline symmetries with lattice parameters in the 100 nm range and a network of disclination lines that can be polymerized to widen the range of temperatures over which they occur. Here, we introduce the concept of strain-controlled polymerization of BPs under confinement, which enables formation of strain-correlated stabilized morphologies that, under some circumstances, can adopt perfect single-crystal monodomain structures and undergo reversible crystal-to-crystal transformations, even if their disclination lines are polymerized. We have used super-resolution laser confocal microscopy to reveal the periodic structure and the lattice planes of the strain and polymerization stabilized BPs in 3D real space. Our experimental observations are supported and interpreted by relying on theory and computational simulations in terms of a free energy functional for a tensorial order parameter. Simulations are used to determine the orientation of the lattice planes unambiguously. The findings presented here offer opportunities for engineering optical devices based on single-crystal, polymer-stabilized BPs whose inherent liquid nature, fast dynamics, and long-range crystalline order can be fully exploited.

confinement↗
DOE OSTI2014

An analytical coarse-graining method which preserves the free energy, structural correlations, and thermodynamic state of polymer melts from the atomistic to the mesoscale

Structural and thermodynamic consistency of coarse-graining models across multiple length scales is essential for the predictive role of multi-scale modeling and molecular dynamic simulations that use mesoscale descriptions. Our approach is a coarse-grained model based on integral equation theory, which can represent polymer chains at variable levels of chemical details. The model is analytical and depends on molecular and thermodynamic parameters of the system under study, as well as on the direct correlation function in the k → 0 limit, c{sub 0}. A numerical solution to the PRISM integral equations is used to determine c{sub 0}, by adjusting the value of the effective hard sphere diameter, d{sub HS}, to agree with the predicted equation of state. This single quantity parameterizes the coarse-grained potential, which is used to perform mesoscale simulations that are directly compared with atomistic-level simulations of the same system. We test our coarse-graining formalism by comparing structural correlations, isothermal compressibility, equation of state, Helmholtz and Gibbs free energies, and potential energy and entropy using both united atom and coarse-grained descriptions. We find quantitative agreement between the analytical formalism for the thermodynamic properties, and the results of Molecular Dynamics simulations, independent of the chosen level of representation. In the mesoscale description, the potential energy of the soft-particle interaction becomes a free energy in the coarse-grained coordinates which preserves the excess free energy from an ideal gas across all levels of description. The structural consistency between the united-atom and mesoscale descriptions means the relative entropy between descriptions has been minimized without any variational optimization parameters. The approach is general and applicable to any polymeric system in different thermodynamic conditions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2011

Metal artifact reduction in x-ray computed tomography (CT) by constrained optimization

Purpose: The streak artifacts caused by metal implants have long been recognized as a problem that limits various applications of CT imaging. In this work, the authors propose an iterative metal artifact reduction algorithm based on constrained optimization. Methods: After the shape and location of metal objects in the image domain is determined automatically by the binary metal identification algorithm and the segmentation of ''metal shadows'' in projection domain is done, constrained optimization is used for image reconstruction. It minimizes a predefined function that reflects a priori knowledge of the image, subject to the constraint that the estimated projection data are within a specified tolerance of the available metal-shadow-excluded projection data, with image non-negativity enforced. The minimization problem is solved through the alternation of projection-onto-convex-sets and the steepest gradient descent of the objective function. The constrained optimization algorithm is evaluated with a penalized smoothness objective. Results: The study shows that the proposed method is capable of significantly reducing metal artifacts, suppressing noise, and improving soft-tissue visibility. It outperforms the FBP-type methods and ART and EM methods and yields artifacts-free images. Conclusions: Constrained optimization is an effective way to deal with CT reconstruction with embedded metal objects. Although the method is presented in the context of metal artifacts, it is applicable to general ''missing data'' image reconstruction problems.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Evaluating iterative reconstruction performance in computed tomography

Purpose: Iterative reconstruction (IR) offers notable advantages in computed tomography (CT). However, its performance characterization is complicated by its potentially nonlinear behavior, impacting performance in terms of specific tasks. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of IR with both task-specific and task-generic strategies. Methods: The performance of IR in CT was mathematically assessed with an observer model that predicted the detection accuracy in terms of the detectability index (d′). d′ was calculated based on the properties of the image noise and resolution, the observer, and the detection task. The characterizations of image noise and resolution were extended to accommodate the nonlinearity of IR. A library of tasks was mathematically modeled at a range of sizes (radius 1–4 mm), contrast levels (10–100 HU), and edge profiles (sharp and soft). Unique d′ values were calculated for each task with respect to five radiation exposure levels (volume CT dose index, CTDI{sub vol}: 3.4–64.8 mGy) and four reconstruction algorithms (filtered backprojection reconstruction, FBP; iterative reconstruction in imaging space, IRIS; and sinogram affirmed iterative reconstruction with strengths of 3 and 5, SAFIRE3 and SAFIRE5; all provided by Siemens Healthcare, Forchheim, Germany). The d′ values were translated into the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) to represent human observer performance. For each task and reconstruction algorithm, a threshold dose was derived as the minimum dose required to achieve a threshold AUC of 0.9. A task-specific dose reduction potential of IR was calculated as the difference between the threshold doses for IR and FBP. A task-generic comparison was further made between IR and FBP in terms of the percent of all tasks yielding an AUC higher than the threshold. Results: IR required less dose than FBP to achieve the threshold AUC. In general, SAFIRE5 showed the most significant dose reduction potentials (11–54 mGy, 77%–84%), followed by SAFIRE3 (7–36 mGy, 50%–61%) and IRIS (6–26 mGy, 37%–50%). The dose reduction potentials highly depended on task size and task contrast, with tasks of lower contrasts and smaller sizes, i.e., more challenging tasks, indicating higher dose reductions. Softer edge profile showed higher dose reduction potentials with SAFIRE3 and SAFIRE5, but not with IRIS. The task-generic comparison between IR and FBP demonstrated the overall superiority of IR performance, as IR allowed a larger percent of tasks to exceed the threshold AUC: IRIS, 8%–12%; SAFIRE3, 10%–16%; and SAFIRE5, 20%–33%. The improvement with IR was generally more pronounced at lower dose levels. Conclusions: Expanding beyond traditional contrast and noise based assessments of IR, we performed both task-specific and task-generic evaluations of IR performance. The task-specific evaluation demonstrated the dependency of IR’s dose reduction potential on task attributes, which can be employed to optimize IR for clinical indications with specific range of size and contrast. The task-generic evaluation demonstrated IR’s overall superiority over FBP in terms of the range of tasks exceeding a threshold performance level, which can be employed for general comparisons between algorithms.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

Evaluation of the Leon3 Soft-Core Processor Within a Xilinx Radiation-Hardened Field-Programmable Gate Array

The purpose of this document is to summarize the work done to evaluate the performance of the Leon3 soft-core processor in a radiation environment while instantiated in a radiation-hardened static random-access memory based field-programmable gate array. This evaluation will look at the differences between two soft-core processors: the open-source Leon3 core and the fault-tolerant Leon3 core. Radiation testing of these two cores was conducted at the Texas A&M University Cyclotron facility and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The results of these tests are included within the report along with designs intended to improve the mitigation of the open-source Leon3. The test setup used for evaluating both versions of the Leon3 is also included within this document.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1973

Further results on cooling mechanisms for soft X-ray flares

Analysis of data from the soft X-ray proportional counter spectrometer on OSO-4 has been continued along the lines of earlier work. It was noticed that the time profiles of X-ray counts from the OSO-4 instrument's 1 to 3 Angstrom detectors for two events showed a very rapid initial decay after maximum, followed by a much more slowly falling section. At least in the case of the larger of the two events, the change of slope seems quite definitely to be discontinuous. Temperatures and emission measures for both flares have been derived, by fitting an emission function to eight-channel count histograms which form the output of the 1 to 3 Angstrom detectors, analyzed into eight energy intervals by pulse-height analysis. The computer program is described. It employs temperature and continuum emission measures in the Culhane-Acton formula and the flux in the 6.7 KeV iron-line feature as free parameters, adjusting them by small amounts in successive iterations until the original historgram is approximately reproduced. A chi-squared is used to examine the agreement between histograms and terminates the iteration accordingly. Account is taken of the proportional counters' energy resolution in the fitting process.

Craig, I. J. D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Thermal continua of AGN accretion disks

We have computed the thermal continuum energy distribution of thermal radiation from the atmospheres of supermassive accretion disks around supermassive black holes. Non-LTE radiative transfer is combined with a model of the vertical structure at each radius appropriate to the low effective gravities of these disks. Locally, the Lyman edge of H can be in emission or absorption. When the emission is summed over the disk with Doppler and gravitational redshifts taken into account, the observed continuum typically shows little sign of a discontinuity near the Lyman edge. For relatively cool disks, the Lyman edge is in absorption, but it appears as a slope change extending over several hundred angstroms, rather than an abrupt discontinuity. Disks around Kerr black holes can explain the observed range of soft X-ray luminosities of AGN, but disks around Schwarzschild holes are much too faint in soft X-rays.

Shields, G. A.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Predictions of Control Inputs, Periodic Responses and Damping Levels of an Isolated Experimental Rotor in Trimmed Flight

Since the early 1990s the Aeroflightdynamics Directorate at the Ames Research Center has been conducting tests on isolated hingeless rotors in hover and forward flight. The primary objective is to generate a database on aeroelastic stability in trimmed flight for torsionally soft rotors at realistic tip speeds. The rotor test model has four soft inplane blades of NACA 0012 airfoil section with low torsional stiffness. The collective pitch and shaft tilt are set prior to each test run, and then the rotor is trimmed in the following sense: the longitudinal and lateral cyclic pitch controls are adjusted through a swashplate to minimize the 1/rev flapping moment at the 12 percent radial station. In hover, the database comprises lag regressive-mode damping with pitch variations. In forward flight the database comprises cyclic pitch controls, root flap moment and lag regressive-mode damping with advance ratio, shaft angle and pitch variations. This report presents the predictions and their correlation with the database. A modal analysis is used, in which nonrotating modes in flap bending, lag bending and torsion are computed from the measured blade mass and stiffness distributions. The airfoil aerodynamics is represented by the ONERA dynamic stall models of lift, drag and pitching moment, and the wake dynamics is represented by a state-space wake model. The trim analysis of finding, the cyclic controls and the corresponding, periodic responses is based on periodic shooting with damped Newton iteration; the Floquet transition matrix (FTM) comes out as a byproduct. The stabillty analysis of finding the frequencies and damping levels is based on the eigenvalue-eigenvector analysis of the FTM. All the structural and aerodynamic states are included from modeling to trim analysis. A major finding is that dynamic wake dramatically improves the correlation for the lateral cyclic pitch control. Overall, the correlation is fairly good.

Gaonkar, G. H.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Interior impedance wedge diffraction with surface waves

The exact impedance wedge solution is evaluated asymptotically using the method of steepest descents for plane wave illumination at normal incidence. Uniform but different impedances on each face are considered for both soft and hard polarizations. The asymptotic solution isolates the incident, singly reflected, multiply reflected, diffracted, and surface wave fields. Multiply reflected fields of any order are permitted. The multiply reflected fields from the exact solution are written as ratios of auxiliary Maliuzhinets functions, whereas a geometrical analysis gives the reflected fields as products of reflection coefficients. These two representations are shown to be identical in magnitude, phase and the angular range over which they exist. The diffracted field includes four Fresnel transition functions as in the perfect conductor case, and the expressions for the appropriate discontinuities at the shadow boundaries are presented. The surface wave exists over a finite angular range and only for certain surface impedances. A surface wave transition field is included to retain continuity. Computations are presented for interior wedge diffractions although the formulation is valid for both exterior and interior wedges.

Balanis, Constantine A.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Multispectral Emission of the Sun during the First Whole Sun Month: Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations

We demonstrate that a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of the corona can model its global plasma density and temperature structure with sufficient accuracy to reproduce many of the multispectral properties of the corona observed in extreme ultraviolet (EW) and X-ray emission. The key ingredient to this new type of global MHD model is the inclusion of energy transport processes (coronal heating, anisotropic thermal conduction, and radiative losses) in the energy equation. The calculation of these processes has previously been confined to one-dimensional loop models, idealized two-dimensional computations, and three-dimensional active region models. We refer to this as the thermodynamic MHD model, and we apply it to the time period of Carrington rotation 1913 (1996 August 22 to September 18). The form of the coronal heating term strongly affects the plasma density and temperature of the solutions. We perform our calculation for three different empirical heating models: (1) a heating function exponentially decreasing in radius; (2) the model of Schrijver et al.; and (3) a model reproducing the heating properties of the quiet Sun and active regions. We produce synthetic emission images from the density and temperature calculated with these three heating functions and quantitatively compare them with observations from E W Imaging Telescope on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and the soft X-ray telescope on Yohkoh. Although none of the heating models provide a perfect match, heating models 2 and 3 provide a reasonable match to the observations.

Lionello, Roberto↗
DOE OSTI2016

Nonlinear instabilities of multi-site breathers in Klein-Gordon lattices

Here, we explore the possibility of multi-site breather states in a nonlinear Klein–Gordon lattice to become nonlinearly unstable, even if they are found to be spectrally stable. The mechanism for this nonlinear instability is through the resonance with the wave continuum of a multiple of an internal mode eigenfrequency in the linearization of excited breather states. For the nonlinear instability, the internal mode must have its Krein signature opposite to that of the wave continuum. This mechanism is not only theoretically proposed, but also numerically corroborated through two concrete examples of the Klein–Gordon lattice with a soft (Morse) and a hard (Φ 4 ) potential. Compared to the case of the nonlinear Schrödinger lattice, the Krein signature of the internal mode relative to that of the wave continuum may change depending on the period of the multi-site breather state. For the periods for which the Krein signatures of the internal mode and the wave continuum coincide, multi-site breather states are observed to be nonlinearly stable.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Automated bone segmentation from dental CBCT images using patch-based sparse representation and convex optimization

Purpose: Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is an increasingly utilized imaging modality for the diagnosis and treatment planning of the patients with craniomaxillofacial (CMF) deformities. Accurate segmentation of CBCT image is an essential step to generate three-dimensional (3D) models for the diagnosis and treatment planning of the patients with CMF deformities. However, due to the poor image quality, including very low signal-to-noise ratio and the widespread image artifacts such as noise, beam hardening, and inhomogeneity, it is challenging to segment the CBCT images. In this paper, the authors present a new automatic segmentation method to address these problems. Methods: To segment CBCT images, the authors propose a new method for fully automated CBCT segmentation by using patch-based sparse representation to (1) segment bony structures from the soft tissues and (2) further separate the mandible from the maxilla. Specifically, a region-specific registration strategy is first proposed to warp all the atlases to the current testing subject and then a sparse-based label propagation strategy is employed to estimate a patient-specific atlas from all aligned atlases. Finally, the patient-specific atlas is integrated into amaximum a posteriori probability-based convex segmentation framework for accurate segmentation. Results: The proposed method has been evaluated on a dataset with 15 CBCT images. The effectiveness of the proposed region-specific registration strategy and patient-specific atlas has been validated by comparing with the traditional registration strategy and population-based atlas. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves the best segmentation accuracy by comparison with other state-of-the-art segmentation methods. Conclusions: The authors have proposed a new CBCT segmentation method by using patch-based sparse representation and convex optimization, which can achieve considerably accurate segmentation results in CBCT segmentation based on 15 patients.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗