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At least 1,063 records · Page 59

Fanaroff-Riley I galaxies as the parent populations of BL Lacertae objects. III - Radio constraints

There is increasing support for the idea that BL Lacertae objects are dominated by beamed emission from a relativistic jet aligned with the line of sight. If so, the most likely parent objects are Fanaroff-Riley type I (F-R I) radio galaxies. This hypothesis is tested by determining the ratio of number densities of the two populations in a manner appropriate for flux-limited samples. Through a direct comparison of predicted and observed luminosity functions, it is shown that available radio samples of F-R I galaxies and BL Lac objects are fully consistent with the beaming hypothesis. The model makes specific predictions about the luminosity function of BL Lacertae objects and their radio counts below currently observed levels.

Urry, C. M.↗

Dust Devil Tracks and Wind Streaks in the North Polar Region of Mars: A Study of the 2007 Phoenix Mars Lander Sites

The 65-72 latitude band of the North Polar Region of Mars, where the 2007 Phoenix Mars Lander will land, was studied using satellite images from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera Narrow-Angle (MOC-NA) camera. Dust devil tracks (DDT) and wind streaks (WS) were observed and recorded as surface evidence for winds. No active dust devils (DDs) were observed. 162 MOC-NA images, 10.3% of total images, contained DDT/WS. Phoenix landing Region C (295-315W) had the highest concentration of images containing DDT/WS per number of available images (20.9%); Region D (130-150W) had the lowest (3.5%). DDT and WS direction were recorded for Phoenix landing regions A (110-130W), B (240-260W), and C to infer local wind direction. Region A showed dominant northwest-southeast DDT/WS, Region B showed dominant north-south, east-west and northeast-southwest DDT/WS, and region C showed dominant west/northwest - east/southeast DDT/ WS. Results indicate the 2007 Phoenix Lander has the highest probability of landing near DDT/WS in landing Region C. Based on DDT/WS linearity, we infer Phoenix would likely encounter directionally consistent background wind in any of the three regions.

Mars↗

New Evidence for Efficient Collisionless Heating of Electrons at the Reverse Shock of a Young Supernova Remnant

Although collisionless shocks are ubiquitous in astrophysics, certain key aspects of them are not well understood. In particular, the process known as collisionless electron heating, whereby electrons are rapidly energized at the shock front, is one of the main open issues in shock physics. Here, we present the first clear evidence for efficient collisionless electron heating at the reverse shock of Tycho's supernova remnant (SNR), revealed by Fe K diagnostics using high-quality X-ray data obtained by the Suzaku satellite. We detect K beta (3p yields 1s) fluorescence emission from low-ionization Fe ejecta excited by energetic thermal electrons at the reverse shock front, which peaks at a smaller radius than Fe K alpha (2p yields 1s) emission dominated by a relatively highly ionized component. Comparisons with our hydrodynamical simulations imply instantaneous electron heating to a temperature 1000 times higher than expected from Coulomb collisions alone. The unique environment of the reverse shock, which is propagating with a high Mach number into rarefied ejecta with a low magnetic field strength, puts strong constraints on the physical mechanism responsible for this heating and favors a cross-shock potential created by charge deflection at the shock front. Our sensitive observation also reveals that the reverse shock radius of this SNR is about 10% smaller than the previous measurement using the Fe K alpha morphology from the Chandra observations. Since strong Fe K beta fluorescence is expected only from low-ionization plasma where Fe ions still have many 3p electrons, this feature is key to diagnosing the plasma state and distribution of the immediate postshock ejecta in a young SNR.

Fe K diagnostics↗

All-Atom Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Cationic Polyelectrolyte Brushes in the Presence of Halide Counterions

Understanding the response of the charged polyelectrolyte (PE) brushes and brush-supported water and ions to the changes in the nature of screening counterions is significant in developing strategies for utilizing PE brushes in various applications. In this paper, we employ all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for studying the behavior of cationic [poly(2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl) trimethylammonium] (PMETA) brushes and brush-supported water and ions in the presence of different halide (X: I – , Br – , Cl – , and F – ) screening counterions. We find that despite the F– ion having the largest charge density, the extent of binding of the counterions on the PMETAX brushes varies as I – > Br – > Cl – > F – , leading to PMETAX brush height being least with I– counterions and greatest with F – counterions. This trend in the binding of the halide ions matches the previous experimental result and can be explained by identifying the chaotropic nature of the I – and Br – ions that promote a disruption of water structure and a more favorable binding of the ions to the polymer chains. Such a binding trend also ensures that the order of the water molecules around the PMETAX chains or the counterions as well as the number of water–water hydrogen bonds inside the brush layer increases in the following order of the counterion-specific PMETAX brushes: F – > Cl – > Br – > I – . Furthermore, halide-ion-PMETAX-chain binding takes place via both interchain and intrachain bridging: intrachain bridging dominates for the case of counterions that show enhanced binding (I – and Br – ), while interchain bridging is more favored for the case of counterions that show weakened binding (F – and Cl – ). Also, a greater degree of intrachain bridging leads to greater compressibility and flexibility of the brush layer. Lastly, we show that the mobility of the halide ions follows a nonmonotonic trend with the charge density: the mobility decreases as I – < Br – < Cl – (as their binding to the PMETAX chains varies as I – > Br – > Cl – ), but the mobility of F – ions is in between that of I – and Br – ions. We argue that the strongly attached hydration layer and the ensuing friction inside the brush layer lead to such a reduced mobility of the F – ions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Accurate and efficient description of interacting carriers in quantum nanostructures by selected configuration interaction and perturbation theory

In this paper, we present a method to accurately and efficiently calculate many-body states of interacting carriers in quantum nanostructures based on a combination of iterative selection of configurations and perturbation theory. This method enables investigations of large excitonic complexes and multielectron systems with near full configuration interaction accuracy, even though only a small subspace of the full many-body Hilbert space is sampled, thus saving orders of magnitudes in computational resources. Important advantages of this method are that the convergence is controlled by a single parameter, the threshold, and that ground and excited states can be treated on an equal footing. On the example of InAsP nanowire quantum dots described using a million-atom tight-binding approach, we demonstrate the extreme efficiency of the method by numerical studies of large excitonic complexes filling up to the fourth electronic shell. We find that the method generally converges fast as a function of the threshold, profiting from a significant acceleration due to the perturbative corrections. The role of the choice of single-particle basis states is discussed. It is found that the algorithm converges faster in the Hartree-Fock basis only for highly charged systems, where Coulomb repulsion dominates. Finally, based on the observation that second-order perturbative energy corrections only depend on off-diagonal elements of the many-body Hamiltonian, we present a way to accurately calculate many-body states that requires only a relatively small number of Coulomb matrix elements.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Projection algorithm for state preparation on quantum computers

We present an efficient method to prepare states of a many-body system on quantum hardware, first isolating individual quantum numbers and then using time evolution to isolate the energy. Our method in its simplest form requires only one additional auxiliary qubit. The total time evolved for an accurate solution is proportional to the ratio of the spectrum range of the trial state to the gap to the lowest excited state, a substantial improvement over other projection algorithms, and the accuracy increases exponentially with the time evolved. Isolating the quantum numbers is efficient because of the known eigenvalues and increases the gap thus shortening the propagation time required. The success rate of the algorithm, or the probability of producing the desired state, is a simple function of measurement times and phases and is dominated by the square overlap of the original state to the desired state. We present examples from the nuclear shell model and the Heisenberg model. In conclusion, we compare this algorithm to previous algorithms for short evolution times and discuss potential further improvements.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Optically Probing Tunable Band Topology in Atomic Monolayers

In many atomically thin materials, their optical absorption is dominated by excitonic transitions. It was recently found that optical selection rules in these materials are influenced by the band topology near the valleys. We propose that gate-controlled band ordering in a single atomic monolayer, through changes in the valley winding number and excitonic transitions, can be probed in helicity-resolved absorption and photoluminescence. Here, this predicted tunable band topology is confirmed by combining an effective Hamiltonian and a Bethe-Salpeter equation for an accurate description of excitons, with first-principles calculations suggesting its realization in Sb-based monolayers.

2-dimensional systems↗

Charged Pion Production Explorations Using the NOvA Near Detector

Measurements of neutrino-nucleus interactions in the few-GeV region provide crucial inputs to the neutrino oscillation program being carried out by currently running experiments (NOvA, SBN, T2K), and next-generation experiments (DUNE, 2HK). This poster presents the status of a measurement using the high-intensity NuMI beam and the NOvA Near Detector of the flux-integrated differential cross-section in pion kinetic energy for $\nu_\mu + N \rightarrow \mu^- + \pi^\pm + X$, where X does not include any charged pions. This signal is sensitive to inelastic processes with Delta resonance production, which dominate at neutrino energies relevant for NOvA and DUNE. To overcome the difficulty of reconstructing the energy of charged pions in a lower-spatial-resolution detector, a novel analysis technique is used that incorporates a multi-template fit to extract the number of events for two signal categories that differ from one another by their purity and resolution. The two signal categories are combined leveraging their complementary errors into a more informative cross section result.

Ewart, Erin [Indiana U.]↗

Simulating Continuum-based Redshift Measurement in the Roman’s High Latitude Spectroscopic Survey

We investigate the capability of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s (Roman) Wide-Field Instrument G150 slitless grism to detect red, quiescent galaxies based on the current reference survey. We simulate dispersed images for Roman reference High-Latitude Spectroscopic Survey (HLSS) and analyze two-dimensional spectroscopic data using the grism Redshift and Line Analysis (Grizli) software. This study focus on assessing Roman grism’s capability for continuum-level redshift measurement for a redshift range of 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 2.5. The redshift recovery is assessed by setting three requirements of: σ z = $\frac{|z–z_{true}|}{1+z}$ ≤ 0.01, signal-to-noise ratio≥ 5 and the presence of a single dominant peak in redshift likelihood function. We find that, for quiescent galaxies, the reference HLSS can reach a redshift recovery completeness of ≥50% for F158 magnitude brighter than 20.2 mag. We also explore how different survey parameters, such as exposure time and the number of exposures, influence the accuracy and completeness of redshift recovery, providing insights that could optimize future survey strategies and enhance the scientific yield of the Roman in cosmological research.

Astronomical simulations↗

Inlet flowfield investigation. Part 2: Computation of the flow about a supercruise forebody at supersonic speeds

A numerical procedure which solves the parabolized Navier-Stokes (PNS) equations on a body fitted mesh was used to compute the flow about the forebody of an advanced tactical supercruise fighter configuration in an effort to explore the use of a PNS method for design of supersonic cruise forebody geometries. Forebody flow fields were computed at Mach numbers of 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5, and at angles-of-attack of 0 deg, 4 deg, and 8 deg. at each Mach number. Computed results are presented at several body stations and include contour plots of Mach number, total pressure, upwash angle, sidewash angle and cross-plane velocity. The computational analysis procedure was found reliable for evaluating forebody flow fields of advanced aircraft configurations for flight conditions where the vortex shed from the wing leading edge is not a dominant flow phenomenon. Static pressure distributions and boundary layer profiles on the forebody and wing were surveyed in a wind tunnel test, and the analytical results are compared to the data. The current status of the parabolized flow flow field code is described along with desirable improvements in the code.

Paynter, G. C.↗

Investigation of a delta-wing fighter model flow field at transonic speeds

The paper reports a flow-field investigation on a 7.52-percent scale model of an advanced fighter aircraft design conducted in the NASA-Langley 16-ft Transonic Tunnel. The effects of free-stream Mach number, angle-of-attack, angle of sideslip, and various vortex control devices on the local flow values were studied. The model was tested at Mach numbers of 0.6, 0.9, and 1.2 and the angles of sideslip of 0 and +/- 5 deg; the model angle-of-attack was varied from -4 to 30 deg. Results are presented in terms of contour plots of local total pressure recovery. The dominant influence on the over-wing flow field was found to be the wing leading-edge vortex which first appears in the survey region at an angle-of-attack of 8 deg and increases in strength and influence with increasing angle-of-attack, finally dominating the entire survey region at very high angles-of-attack.

Bare, E. Ann↗

Observations of molecules in comets

Ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy of comets has identified a large number of species in the coma, most of which appear to be the photodissociation and photoionization products of the 'parent' molecules evaporated directly from the cometary nucleus. Analyses of cometary spectra support the icy conglomerate model of the nucleus with H2O as the dominant ice species. Two molecules detected in the ultraviolet, CO and S2, are of particular interest to the study of the cosmogonic evolution of cometary grains. CO appears to be a highly variable constituent from comet to comet, while S2, first observed in comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock in 1983, is found in no other celestial source. Both of these molecules appear to be parent molecules.

Feldman, P. D.↗

Thermal shock resistance of ceramic matrix composites

The experimental and analytical investigation of the thermal shock phenomena in ceramic matrix composites is detailed. The composite systems examined were oxide-based, consisting of an aluminosilicate matrix with either polycrystalline aluminosilicate or single crystal alumina fiber reinforcement. The program was divided into three technical tasks; baseline mechanical properties, thermal shock modeling, and thermal shock testing. The analytical investigation focused on the development of simple expressions for transient thermal stresses induced during thermal shock. The effect of various material parameters, including thermal conductivity, elastic modulus, and thermal expansion, were examined analytically for their effect on thermal shock performance. Using a simple maximum stress criteria for each constituent, it was observed that fiber fracture would occur only at the most extreme thermal shock conditions and that matrix fracture, splitting parallel to the reinforcing fiber, was to be expected for most practical cases. Thermal shock resistance for the two material systems was determined experimentally by subjecting plates to sudden changes in temperature on one surface while maintaining the opposite surface at a constant temperature. This temperature change was varied in severity (magnitude) and in number of shocks applied to a given sample. The results showed that for the most severe conditions examined that only surface matrix fracture was present with no observable fiber fracture. The impact of this damage on material performance was limited to the matrix dominated properties only. Specifically, compression strength was observed to decrease by as much as 50 percent from the measured baseline.

Carper, D. M.↗

Mammalian Vestibular Macular Synaptic Plasticity: Results from SLS-2 Spaceflight

The effects of exposure to microgravity were studied in rat utricular maculas collected inflight (IF, day 13), post-flight on day of orbiter landing (day 14, R+O) and after 14 days (R+ML). Controls were collected at corresponding times. The objectives were 1) to learn whether hair cell ribbon synapses counts would be higher in tissues collected in space than in tissues collected postflight during or after readaptation to Earth's gravity; and 2) to compare results with those of SLS-1. Maculas were fixed by immersion, micro-dissected, dehydrated and prepared for ultrastructural study by usual methods. Synapses were counted in 100 serial sections 150 nm thick and were located to specific hair cells in montages of every 7th section. Counts were analyzed for statistical significance using analysis of variance. Results in maculas of IF dissected rats, one 13 day control (IFC), and one R + 0 rat have been analyzed. Study of an R+ML macula is nearly completed. For type I cells, IF mean is 2.3 +/-1.6; IFC mean is 1.6 +/-1.0; R+O mean is 2.3 +/- 1.6. For type II cells, IF mean is 11.4 +/- 17.1; IFC mean is 5.5 +/-3.5; R+O mean is 10.1 +/- 7.4. The difference between IF and IFC means for type I cells is statistically significant (p less than 0.0464). For type It cells, IF compared to IFC means, p less than 0.0003; and for IFC to R+O means, p less than 0.0139. Shifts toward spheres (p less than 0.0001) and pairs (p less than 0.0139) were significant in type II cells of IF rats. The results are largely replicating findings from SLS-1 and indicate that spaceflight affects synaptic number, form and distribution, particularly in type II hair cells. The increases in synaptic number and in sphere-like ribbons are interpreted to improve synaptic efficacy, to help return afferent discharges to a more normal state. Findings indicate that a great capacity for synaptic plasticity exists in mammalian gravity sensors, and that this plasticity is more dominant in the local circuitry. The local circuit includes type II cells and is interpreted to be responsible for shaping the final output of the system.

Ross, Muriel D.D.↗

Background Noises Versus Intraseasonal Variation Signals: Small vs. Large Convective Cloud Objects From CERES Aqua Observations

During inactive phases of Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), there are plenty of deep but small convective systems and far fewer deep and large ones. During active phases of MJO, a manifestation of an increase in the occurrence of large and deep cloud clusters results from an amplification of large-scale motions by stronger convective heating. This study is designed to quantitatively examine the roles of small and large cloud clusters during the MJO life cycle. We analyze the cloud object data from Aqua CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System) observations between July 2006 and June 2010 for tropical deep convective (DC) and cirrostratus (CS) cloud object types according to the real-time multivariate MJO index, which assigns the tropics to one of the eight MJO phases each day. The cloud object is a contiguous region of the earth with a single dominant cloud-system type. The criteria for defining these cloud types are overcast footprints and cloud top pressures less than 400 hPa, but DC has higher cloud optical depths (=10) than those of CS (<10). The size distributions, defined as the footprint numbers as a function of cloud object diameters, for particular MJO phases depart greatly from the combined (8-phase) distribution at large cloud-object diameters due to the reduced/increased numbers of cloud objects related to changes in the large-scale environments. The medium diameter corresponding to the combined distribution is determined and used to partition all cloud objects into "small" and "large" groups of a particular phase. The two groups corresponding to the combined distribution have nearly equal numbers of footprints. The medium diameters are 502 km for DC and 310 km for cirrostratus. The range of the variation between two extreme phases (typically, the most active and depressed phases) for the small group is 6-11% in terms of the numbers of cloud objects and the total footprint numbers. The corresponding range for the large group is 19-44%. In terms of the probability density functions of radiative and cloud physical properties, there are virtually no differences between the MJO phases for the small group, but there are significant differences for the large groups for both DC and CS types. These results suggest that the intreseasonal variation signals reside at the large cloud clusters while the small cloud clusters represent the background noises resulting from various types of the tropical waves with different wavenumbers and propagation speeds/directions.

Xu, Kuan-Man↗

Acoustic Mode Decomposition in Rectangular Ducts with Sheared Flow

The performance of new acoustic liner concepts are, in general, characterized and assessed in grazing flow rigs early in the development cycle. These test rigs expose an acoustic liner sample, installed on the side wall of the duct, to a grazing flow and incident acoustic field. The process to characterize these liners involves educing the impedance on the wall where the sample is installed and examining the acoustic power attenuation. Standard approaches to computing impedance or power attenuation generally consider only the effects of a 2D shear flow or uniform flow, on the acoustic field. In this study, the objective is to incorporate 3D shear flow effects in the analysis of acoustic mode attenuation in a rectangular duct flow rig. A modal analysis of microphone measurements obtained on the side walls of the duct upstream and downstream of the test section of the rig is developed. A Galerkin projection of the Pridmore-Brown equation is performed with Chebyshev basis functions in order to incorporate the effects of the Mach number profile on the computation of the axial wavenumber of each mode. Measurements of the Mach number profile are obtained in the test rig and used as input to compute the modes. Comparisons made between the sound field computed with traditional convective Helmholtz modes and the new procedure using Pridmore-Brown modes indicate that the computed acoustic field using Pridmore-Brown modes more accurately reconstruct the acoustic signals at each microphone in the array. The mode structure of the lowest order mode is shown to be significantly impacted by shear flow refraction effects, and higher order mode structures are also effected at higher frequencies and centerline Mach number. An assessment of the acoustic mode attenuation for two acoustic liner samples demonstrates that the computed mode amplitudes for both the traditional and new approach are in agreement for the lowest order mode, but discrepancies arise when higher order modes are the dominant component of the acoustic field.

Duct acoustics↗

Detailed analysis of excited-state systematics in a lattice QCD calculation of 𝑔 𝐴

Excited state contamination remains one of the most challenging sources of systematic uncertainty to control in lattice QCD calculations of nucleon matrix elements and form factors: early time separations are contaminated by excited states and late times suffer from an exponentially bad signal-to-noise problem. High-statistics calculations at large time separations ≳ 1 fm are commonly used to combat these issues. In this work, focusing on g A , we explore the alternative strategy of utilizing a large number of relatively low-statistics calculations at short to medium time separations (0.2–1 fm), combined with a multistate analysis. On an ensemble with a pion mass of approximately 310 MeV and a lattice spacing of approximately 0.09 fm, we find this provides a more robust and economical method of quantifying and controlling the excited state systematic uncertainty. A quantitative separation of various types of excited states enables the identification of the transition matrix elements as the dominant contamination. The excited state contamination of the Feynman-Hellmann correlation function is found to reduce to the 1% level at approximately 1 fm while, for the more standard three-point functions, this does not occur until after 2 fm. Critical to our findings is the use of a global minimization, rather than fixing the spectrum from the two-point functions and using them as input to the three-point analysis. We find that the ground state parameters determined in such a global analysis are stable against variations in the excited state model, the number of excited states, and the truncation of early-time or late-time numerical data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

An isotopic biogeochemical study of the Green River oil shale

Thirty-five different samples from three different sulfur cycles were examined in this stratigraphically oriented study of the Shell 22x-l well (U.S.G.S. C177 core) in the Piceance Basin, Colorado. Carbon isotopic compositions of constituents of Green River bitumens indicate mixing of three main components: products of primary photoautotrophs and their immediate consumers (delta approximately -30% vs PDB), products of methanotrophic bacteria (delta approximately -85%), and products of unknown bacteria (delta approximately -40%). For individual compounds synthesized by primary producers, delta-values ranged from -28 to -32%. 13C contents of individual primary products (beta-carotane, steranes, acyclic isoprenoids, tricyclic triterpenoids) were not closely correlated, suggesting diverse origins for these materials. 13C contents of numerous hopanoids were inversely related to sulfur abundance, indicating that they derived both from methanotrophs and from other bacteria, with abundances of methanotrophs depressed when sulfur was plentiful in the paleoenvironment. gamma-Cerane coeluted with 3 beta(CH3),17 alpha(H),21 beta(H)-hopane, but delta-values could be determined after deconvolution. gamma-Cerane (delta approximately -25%) probably derives from a eukaryotic heterotroph grazing on primary materials, the latter compound (delta approximately -90%) must derive from methanotrophic organisms. 13C contents of n-alkanes in bitumen differed markedly from those of paraffins generated pyrolytically. Isotopic and quantitative relationships suggest that alkanes released by pyrolysis derived from a resistant biopolymer of eukaryotic origin and that this was a dominant constituent of total organic carbon.

Non-NASA Center↗