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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 1,045 records · Page 58
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DOE OSTI2022

Accurate effective fluid approximation for ultralight axions

Ultralight axions are theoretically interesting and phenomenologically rich dark sector candidates, but they are difficult to track across cosmological timescales because of their fast oscillations. We resolve this problem by developing a novel method to evolve them efficiently and accurately. We first construct an exact effective fluid which at late times matches the axion but which evolves in a simple way. We then approximate this evolution with a carefully chosen equation of state and sound speed. With our scheme we find that we can obtain subpercent accuracy for the linear theory suppression of axion density fluctuations relative to that of cold dark matter without tracking even a single complete oscillation of the axion field. Furthermore, we use our technique to test other approximation schemes and to provide a fitting formula for the transfer function for the matter power spectrum in linear theory in axion models. Implementing our approach in existing cosmological axion codes is straightforward and will help unleash the potential of high-precision next-generation experiments.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Simulations of axion minihalos

The axion, motivated as a solution to the strong CP problem, is also a viable dark matter candidate. The axion field takes random values in causally disconnected regions if the symmetry breaking that establishes the particle occurs after inflation, leading to white-noise density fluctuations at low wave numbers and forming dense minihalos with sub-planetary masses subsequently. There have been two recent proposals that appear capable of testing this scenario, namely using pulsar timing arrays and studying cosmological microlensing caustics. Motivated by these proposals, we use N-body simulations to study the formation of substructures from white-noise density fluctuations. The density profiles of our relaxed axion minihalos can be described by the Navarro–Frenk–White profile, and the minihalos’ concentration number agrees well with a simple, physically-motivated model. We develop a semi-analytic formula to fit the mass function from our simulation, which agrees broadly at different redshifts and only differs at factor of two level from classic halo mass functions. This analytic mass function allows us to consider uncertainties in the post-inflation axion scenario, as well as extrapolate our high-redshift simulations results to the present. Our work estimates the present-day abundance of axion substructures, as is necessary for predicting their effect on cosmological microlensing caustics and pulsar timing. Our calculations suggest that if pulsar timing and microlensing probes can reach recent sensitivity forecasts, they may be sensitive to the post-inflation axion dark matter scenario, even when accounting for uncertainties pertaining to axion strings. For pulsar timing, the most significant caveat is whether axion minihalos are disrupted by stars, which our estimates show is mildly important at the most relevant masses. In conclusion, as our gravitational simulations are scale invariant, the results can be extended to models where the dark matter is comprised of other axion-like particles and even clusters of primordial black holes.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Hidden conformal symmetry from the lattice

We analyze newly expanded and refined data from lattice studies of an SU(3) gauge theory with eight Dirac fermions in the fundamental representation. We focus on the light composite states emerging from these studies, consisting of a set of pseudoscalars and a single light scalar. We first consider the view that this theory is just outside the conformal window. In this case, the pseudoscalars arise from spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry. Identifying the scalar in this case as an approximate dilaton, we fit the lattice data to a dilaton effective field theory, finding that it yields a good fit even at lowest order. For comparison, we then consider the possibility that the theory is inside the conformal window. The fermion mass provides a deformation, triggering confinement. We employ simple scaling laws to fit the lattice data, and find that it is of lesser quality.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Exploring entanglement and spectral split correlations in three-flavor collective neutrino oscillations

In environments with prodigious numbers of neutrinos, such as core-collapse supernovae, neutron star mergers, or the early Universe, neutrino-neutrino interactions are dynamically significant. They can dominate neutrino flavor evolution and force it to be nonlinear, causing collective neutrino oscillations. Such collective oscillations have been studied numerically, for systems with up to millions of neutrinos, using mean-field or one-particle effective approximations. However, such a system of interacting neutrinos is a quantum many-body system, wherein quantum correlations could play a significant role in the flavor evolution—thereby motivating the exploration of many-body treatments that follow the time evolution of these correlations. In many-body flavor evolution calculations with two neutrino flavors, the emergence of spectral splits in the neutrino energy distributions has been found to be correlated with the degree of quantum entanglement across the spectrum. In this work, for the first time, we investigate the emergence of spectral splits in the three-flavor many-body collective neutrino oscillations. We find that the emergence of spectral splits resembles the number and location found in the mean-field approximation but not in the width. Moreover, unlike in the two-flavor many-body calculations, we find that additional degrees of freedom make it more difficult to establish a correlation between the location of the spectral splits and the degree of quantum entanglement across the neutrino energy spectrum. The observation from the two-flavor case, that neutrinos nearest to the spectral split frequency exhibit the highest level of entanglement, is more difficult to ascertain in the three-flavor case because of the presence of multiple spectral splits across different pairwise combinations of flavor and/or mass states. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Chiral limit of 2d QCD revisited with lightcone conformal truncation

We study the chiral limit of 2d QCD with a single quark flavor at finite Nc using LCT. By modifying the LCT basis according to the quark mass in a manner motivated by ’t Hooft’s analysis, we are able to restore convergence for quark masses much smaller than the QCD strong coupling scale. For such small quark masses, the IR of the theory is expected to be well described by the Sine-Gordon model. We verify that LCT numerics are able to capture in detail the spectrum and correlation functions of the Sine-Gordon model. This opens up the possibility for studying deformations of various integrable CFTs using LCT by considering the chiral limit of QCD like theories.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Axion-like particle searches at DarkQuest

Axion-like particles (ALPs) interacting with the Standard Model can be abundantly produced in proton beam fixed-target experiments. Looking for their displaced decays is therefore an effective search strategy for ALPs with a mass in the MeV to GeV range. Focusing on the benchmark models where the ALP interacts dominantly with photons or gluons, we show that the proposed DarkQuest experiment at Fermilab will be able to test parameter space which has been previously inaccessible. We pay particular attention to the self-consistency of gluon-coupled ALP production and decay calculations, which has been recently shown to be a problem in many existing predictions. We also apply these results to explore existing constraints in the ALP parameter space.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantum anomaly detection for collider physics

We explore the use of Quantum Machine Learning (QML) for anomaly detection at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In particular, we explore a semi-supervised approach in the four-lepton final state where simulations are reliable enough for a direct background prediction. This is a representative task where classification needs to be performed using small training datasets - a regime that has been suggested for a quantum advantage. We find that Classical Machine Learning (CML) benchmarks outperform standard QML algorithms and are able to automatically identify the presence of anomalous events injected into otherwise background-only datasets.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

High-dimensional anomaly detection with radiative return in $\mathcal{e}$⁺$\mathcal{e}$⁻ collisions

Experiments at a future $\mathcal{e}$⁺$\mathcal{e}$⁻ collider will be able to search for new particles with masses below the nominal centre-of-mass energy by analyzing collisions with initial-state radiation (radiative return). We show that machine learning methods that use imperfect or missing training labels can achieve sensitivity to generic new particle production in radiative return events. In addition to presenting an application of the classification without labels (CWoLa) search method in $\mathcal{e}$⁺$\mathcal{e}$⁻ collisions, our study combines weak supervision with variable-dimensional information by deploying a deep sets neural network architecture. We have also investigated some of the experimental aspects of anomaly detection in radiative return events and discuss these in the context of future detector design.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Amplitude analysis of the $D^+$ → $π^-π^+π^+$ decay and measurement of the $π^-π^+$ S-wave amplitude

An amplitude analysis of the $D^+$ → $π^-π^+π^+$ decay is performed with a sample corresponding to 1.5 fb -1 of integrated luminosity of $pp$ collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV collected by the LHCb detector in 2012. The sample contains approximately six hundred thousand candidates with a signal purity of 95%. The resonant structure is studied through a fit to the Dalitz plot where the $π^-π^+$ S-wave amplitude is extracted as a function of $π^-π^+$ mass, and spin-1 and spin-2 resonances are included coherently through an isobar model. The S-wave component is found to be dominant, followed by the $ρ(770)^0π^+$ and $f_2(1270)π^+$ components. A small contribution from the $ω$(782) → $π^-π^+$ decay is seen for the first time in the $D^+$ → $π^-π^+π^+$ decay.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Ultralight millicharged dark matter via misalignment

We explore the cosmology and phenomenology of millicharged and millicharge-like dark matter with masses from 1 eV to 10 keV and charges of 10 -18 to 10 -14 . Dark matter in this mass range cannot be thermally produced, but can arise from non-thermal mechanisms. We propose a concrete model employing a spontaneously broken approximate global symmetry, in which millicharged dark matter is produced via the misalignment mechanism. We show that this production mechanism is cosmologically consistent and compatible with the observed dark matter abundance. This model can be implemented using either fundamental scalars or hidden-sector quarks, and coupled either to the Standard Model photon or to a hidden photon. We then consider the phenomenology of light millicharged dark matter, regardless of its cosmological origin, and determine the parameter space consistent with existing experiments and observations. A significant part of the new parameter space we consider may be accessible in the near future through direct deflection experiments, measurements of the cosmic microwave background blackbody spectrum, and future constraints on plasma instabilities due to dark matter self-interaction.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Production of $ {\textrm{K}}_{\textrm{S}}^0 $, Λ ($ \overline{\Lambda}$), Ξ ± , and Ω ± in jets and in the underlying event in pp and p–Pb collisions

The production of strange hadrons ($K^{0}_{S}$, Λ, Ξ ± , and Ω ± ), baryon-to-meson ratios (Λ/$K^{0}_{S}$, Ξ/$K^{0}_{S}$, and Ω/$K^{0}_{S}$), and baryon-to-baryon ratios (Ξ/Λ, Ω/Λ, and Ω/Ξ) associated with jets and the underlying event were measured as a function of transverse momentum (p T ) in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV and p Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The inclusive production of the same particle species and the corresponding ratios are also reported. The production of multi-strange hadrons, Ξ ± and Ω ± , and their associated particle ratios in jets and in the underlying event are measured for the first time. In both pp and p–Pb collisions, the baryon-to-meson and baryon-to-baryon yield ratios measured in jets differ from the inclusive particle production for low and intermediate hadron p T (0.6–6 GeV/c). Ratios measured in the underlying event are in turn similar to those measured for inclusive particle production. In pp collisions, the particle production in jets is compared with P YTHIA 8 predictions with three colour-reconnection implementation modes. None of them fully reproduces the data in the measured hadron p T region. The maximum deviation is observed for Ξ ± and Ω ± which reaches a factor of about six. The event multiplicity dependence is further investigated in p–Pb collisions. In contrast to what is observed in the underlying event, there is no significant event-multiplicity dependence for particle production in jets. The presented measurements provide novel constraints on hadronisation and its Monte Carlo description. In particular, they demonstrate that the fragmentation of jets alone is insufficient to describe the strange and multi-strange particle production in hadronic collisions at LHC energies.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Amplitude analysis of the ${D}_s^{+}$ → π - π + π + decay

A Dalitz plot analysis of the ${D}_s^{+}$ → π - π + π + decay is presented. The analysis is based on proton-proton collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment at a centre of-mass energy of 8 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.5 fb -1 . The resonant structure of the decay is obtained using a quasi-model-independent partial-wave analysis, in which the π + π - S-wave amplitude is parameterised as a generic complex function determined by a fit to the data. The S-wave component is found to be dominant, followed by the contribution from spin-2 resonances and a small contribution from spin-1 resonances. The latter includes the first observation of the ${D}_s^{+}$ → ω(782)π + channel in the ${D}_s^{+}$ → π - π + π + decay. The resonant structures of the ${D}_s^{+}$ → π - π + π + and ${D}^{+}$ → π - π + π + decays are compared, providing information about the mechanisms for the hadron formation in these decays.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗