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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 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Enlarging the scope of resonant di-Higgs searches: hunting for Higgs-to-Higgs cascades in 4b final states at the LHC and future colliders

We extend the coverage of resonant di-Higgs searches in the $b\bar{b}b\bar{b}$ final state to the process $pp → H_1 → H_2H_2 → b\bar{b}b\bar{b}$, where both $H_{1,2}$ are spin-0 states beyond the Standard Model. Such a process constitutes a joint discovery mode for the new states $H_1$ and $H_2$. We present the first sensitivity study of this channel, using public LHC data to validate our analysis. We also provide a first estimate of the sensitivity of the search for the HL-LHC and future facilities like the HE-LHC and FCC-hh. We analyze the discovery potential of this search for several non-minimal scalar sector scenarios: an extension of the SM with two extra singlet scalar fields, the two-Higgs-doublet model and a two-Higgs doublet model plus a singlet, which captures the scalar potential features of the NMSSM. We find that this channel represents a novel, very powerful probe for extended Higgs sectors, offering complementary sensitivity to existing analyses.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Lepton-flavor violating axions at MEG II

We study the sensitivity of the existing MEG data to lepton flavor violating axion-like particles produced through μ + → e + a$\gamma$ and estimate the discovery potential for the upcoming MEG II experiment in this channel. The MEG II signal efficiency can be improved significantly if a new trigger can be implemented in a dedicated run with a reduced beam intensity. This search would establish the world leading measurement in this channel with only 1 month of data taking.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Residual estimation for grid modification in wall-modeled large eddy simulation using unstructured high-order methods

Here, the accuracy and computational cost of a large eddy simulation are highly dependent on the computational grid. Building optimal grids manually from a priori knowledge is not feasible in most practical use cases; instead, solution-adaptive strategies can provide a robust and cost-efficient method to generate a grid with the desired accuracy. We adapt the residual estimation algorithm developed by Toosi and Larsson for Discontinuous Galerkin Spectral Elements Methods (DGSEM) to guide the grid-adaptation process. The core of the method is the computation of the estimated modeling residual using the polynomial basis functions used in DGSEM, and the averaging of the estimated residual over each element. The final method is assessed in multiple channel flow test cases and for the transonic flow over an airfoil, in both cases making use of mortar interfaces between elements with hanging nodes. The method is found to be robust and reliable, and to provide solutions on grids with significantly fewer elements at comparable accuracy compared to when using human-generated grids.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Fast-RF-Shimming: Accelerate RF shimming in 7T MRI using deep learning

Ultrahigh field (UHF) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) offers an elevated signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), enabling exceptionally high spatial resolution that benefits both clinical diagnostics and advanced research. However, the jump to higher fields introduces complications, particularly transmit radiofrequency (RF) field ($B^{+}_{1}$) inhomogeneities, manifesting as uneven flip angles and image intensity irregularities. These artifacts can degrade image quality and impede broader clinical adoption. Traditional RF shimming methods, such as Magnitude Least Squares (MLS) optimization, effectively mitigate $B^{+}_{1}$ inhomogeneity, but remain time-consuming. Recent machine learning approaches, including RF Shim Prediction by Iteratively Projected Ridge Regression and other deep learning architectures, suggest alternative pathways. Although these approaches show promise, challenges such as extensive training periods, limited network complexity, and practical data requirements persist. In this paper, we introduce a holistic learning-based framework called Fast-RF-Shimming, which achieves a 5000 ​× ​speed-up compared to the traditional MLS method. In the initial phase, we employ random-initialized Adaptive Moment Estimation (Adam) to derive the desired reference shimming weights from multi-channel $B^{+}_{1}$ fields. Next, we train a Residual Network (ResNet) to map $B^{+}_{1}$ fields directly to the ultimate RF shimming outputs, incorporating the confidence parameter into its loss function. Finally, we design Non-uniformity Field Detector (NFD), an optional post-processing step, to ensure the extreme non-uniform outcomes are identified. Comparative evaluations with standard MLS optimization underscore notable gains in both processing speed and predictive accuracy, which indicates that our technique shows a promising solution for addressing persistent inhomogeneity challenges.

Deep learning↗
DOE OSTI2024

Optically multiplexed neutron time-of-flight technique for inertial confinement fusion

Neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) detectors are crucial in diagnosing the performance of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments, which implode targets of deuterium–tritium fuel to achieve thermonuclear conditions. These detectors utilize the fusion neutron energy spectrum to extract key measurements, including the hotspot ion temperature and fuel areal density. Previous work [Danly et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 94, 043502 (2023)] has demonstrated adding 1D spatial resolution to an nTOF-like detector using a neutron aperture and streak camera to measure the ion temperature profile of an ICF implosion. By contrast, the study presented herein explores modifying the 1D detector to use a fast photomultiplier tube (PMT) to validate the design of a 2D spatially resolved instrument based on reconstruction from 1D profiles. The modification would collect time-of-flight traces from separate scintillators in an imaging array with one PMT using optical fibers of varying lengths to time-multiplex the signals. This technique has been demonstrated in ride-along experiments on the OMEGA laser with 20 fiber-coupled scintillator channels connected to a Photek PMT210. Results provide constraints on the fiber lengths and PMT gating requirements to promote pulse fidelity throughout all channels. Calibration of the detector to fixed nTOFs can provide a preliminary estimate of the instrument response function (IRF), although measurement of the IRF is currently under way. These results suggest that nTOF signals can potentially be time-multiplexed with fibers so long as the design is strategic to mitigate signal-to-noise reduction, modal dispersion, and charge build-up in the PMT, which has implications beyond ion temperature imaging.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Effect of competition of spherical and deformed shells in quasifission of superheavy nuclei

Quasifission and fusion-fission represent the two most likely reaction outcomes to occur postcapture in collisions leading to superheavy nuclei. As such, understanding these mechanisms and how they relate to one another is key to understanding the intricate dynamics that drive the formation (or dissociation) of the nascent compound nuclei formed in fusion reactions. This understanding directly translates to a more informed picture of suitable reaction partners and can provide vital information for experimental efforts to study the physics and chemistry of superheavy elements. In this work we report results from time-dependent simulations of 48 Ca + 238 U and 50 Ti + 236 Th reactions at incident energies just above the Coulomb barrier with a focus on the quasifission process that prevent the formation of a fully equilibrated 286 Cn compound nucleus. We study these reactions systematically and consider a wide range of initial configurations to extract a robust estimate of primary fragment yields for the quasifission process. Multiple preferred exit channels are observed, with both spherical and deformed shell effects in the heavy and light fragments driving contributions to the production yields depending on the initial configuration of the system. Orientation effects of the deformed actinide targets are found to be a primary driver of which exit channels are populated. Here, the impact of moving away from a doubly magic projectile is explored with implications towards the reactions considered for current and future superheavy searches.

Gumbel, Richard [Michigan State University, East L↗
DOE OSTI2022

Combining translational and rotational seismic motions to invert local-scale seismic data for time-variable moment tensors: do rotational motions help for high-frequency seismic data produced by underground explosions?

SUMMARY We present an analysis of combining translational and rotational seismic data in an inversion for the time-variable source time functions corresponding to the components of the seismic moment tensor. We conduct a series of numerical experiments where the data are simulated by a combination of an underground explosion and a co-located double couple shear source and recorded on surface-mounted seismometers within 1–2 km of the source. The experiments are designed to mimic explosion seismology experiments, and thus the data are in the 1–10 Hz frequency range and contain very few surface waves. We use a Monte Carlo method to propagate Earth model uncertainty into the estimates of seismic source parameters. In our experiments, we find that the uncertainty of the estimated seismic source parameters increases when we add rotational seismic motions to the inversion when using a constant number of data channels. In this case, the increased degree of uncertainty in the final results is most likely due to the near-surface Earth model uncertainty that we introduce in our simulations. However, for a fixed number of seismic stations, adding rotational seismic motions to the inversion acts to decrease the uncertainty of the estimated seismic source parameters, most likely due to the increase in the number of data channels used in the inversion.

Poppeliers, Christian (ORCID:0000000159526849)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Secure State Estimation with Asynchronous Measurements for Coordinated Cyber Attack Detection in Active Distribution Systems

Coordinated cyber attacks tamper with measurement data to disrupt the situational awareness of active distribution systems. Various sensors report measurements asynchronously at different rates, which introduces challenges during state estimation. In addition, this forces cyber intruders to exert greater effort to compromise multiple communication channels and launch coordinated attacks. Therefore, multi-channel and asynchronous measurements could be harnessed to develop more secure cyber defense strategies. In this paper, a prediction-correction-based multi-rate observer is designed to exploit the value of asynchronous measurements for the detection of coordinated false data injection (FDI) attacks. First, a time-function-dependent prediction-correction strategy is proposed to adjust the sampling interval for each sensor’s measurement. Then, an observer is designed based on the trade-off between estimation error and the optimal period of the most recent sampling instant, with the convergence of estimation error with the maximum permitted sampling interval. Moreover, the conditions for exponential stability are developed using the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional technique. Next, a coordinated FDI attack detection strategy is developed based on the dual nonlinear minimization problem. The proposed attack detection and secure state estimation strategies are tested on the IEEE 13-node system. Simulation results show that these schemes are effective in enhancing attack detection based on asynchronous measurements or compromised data.

asynchronous measurements↗
DOE OSTI2024

On the transferability of residence time distributions in two 10-km long river sections with similar hydromorphic units

Quantifying hydrologic exchange fluxes (HEFs) at the stream-groundwater interface and their residence time distributions (RTDs) in the subsurface are important for managing the water quality and ecosystem health in dynamic river corridors. However, direct simulating high-spatial resolution HEFs and RTDs can be time-consuming, especially for watershed-scale modeling. Efficient surrogate models linking RTDs to hydromorphic units (HUs) can be alternatives for simulating RTDs in large-scale models. A common concern of these surrogate models, though, is the transferability of the relationship between the RTDs and HUs from one river corridor to another. To address this issue, this work evaluates the HEFs and resulting RTD-HU relationships for two 10-km long river corridors along the Columbia River leveraging a one-way coupled three-dimensional transient surface-subsurface water transport modeling framework we previously developed. Applying such a framework at the two river corridors with similar HUs allows for quantitative comparisons of HEFs and RTDs using both statistical tests and machine learning classification models. Finally, our comparison shows that the similarity and transferability of the RTD-HU relationship is very low for the two investigated river sections, which suggests that devising a general algorithm to estimate RTDs based solely on surface water hydrodynamics and short-distance river channel topography data, as well as HU classification, might be nearly impossible.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Expandable Li Percolation Network: The Effects of Site Distortion in Cation-Disordered Rock-Salt Cathode Material

Cation-disordered rock-salt (DRX) materials receive intensive attention as a new class of cathode candidates for high-capacity lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Unlike traditional layered cathode materials, DRX materials have a three-dimensional (3D) percolation network for Li + transportation. The disordered structure poses a grand challenge to a thorough understanding of the percolation network due to its multiscale complexity. In this work, we introduce the large supercell modeling for DRX material Li 1.16 Ti 0.37 Ni 0.37 Nb 0.10 O 2 (LTNNO) via the reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) method combined with neutron total scattering. Here, through a quantitative statistical analysis of the material’s local atomic environment, we experimentally verified the existence of short-range ordering (SRO) and uncovered an element-dependent behavior of transition metal (TM) site distortion. A displacement from the original octahedral site for Ti 4+ cations is pervasive throughout the DRX lattice. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that site distortions quantified by the centroid offsets could alter the migration barrier for Li + diffusion through the tetrahedral channels, which can expand the previously proposed theoretical percolating network of Li. The estimated accessible Li content is highly consistent with the observed charging capacity. The newly developed characterization method here uncovers the expandable nature of the Li percolation network in DRX materials, which may provide valuable guidelines for the design of superior DRX materials.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Selection of charged-current neutrino-induced $K^+$ production interactions in MicroBooNE

MicroBooNE is an 85-ton active mass liquid-argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detector exposed to the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. MicroBooNE’s physics goals is the precision measurement of neutrino interactions on argon in the 1 GeV energy regime. The study of neutrino interactions producing a $K^+$ in the final-state can improve the background estimates for future proton-decay experiments looking for the $p → K^+$$_ν$ channel on argon such as DUNE. In this document we present a simulation study for a selection of events with a $K^+$ that is produced in a charged-current neutrino interaction and decays into a $µ^+$ and a $ν_µ$ in the MicroBooNE detector. It will focus on how we use the particle identification techniques developed by MicroBooNE to achieve a sample with a 7% efficiency and 66.7% purity. This is the first step toward a charged-current kaon production cross section measurement in argon.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Acoustic waves from the 2023 April 20 SpaceX Starship rocket explosion travelling in the elevated ‘AtmoSOFAR’ channel

SUMMARY The ability to detect low-frequency sounds from distant energetic events depends on the temperature and wind structure of the atmosphere. Thus, from time to time surface-based acoustic detectors may not be able to capture sounds arriving from certain directions. However, the temperature minimum at the tropopause may create an acoustic duct called the ‘AtmoSOFAR’ channel that could transmit acoustic waves laterally—but perhaps not to the ground. If true, then elevated sensors such as those borne aloft by balloons would record the signatures even in regions where ground-based sensors cannot. This has been difficult to prove because high altitude acoustic sources are rare and balloon deployments are sporadic. This work describes the detection and characterization of powerful acoustic waves generated during the launch and terminal explosion of the SpaceX Starship rocket on 2023 April 20 using a pair of microbarometers on a stratospheric balloon. The signals travelled through the AtmoSOFAR channel, carrying information about the size and nature of their source. This channel also appears to leak some acoustic energy to the ground, in agreement with previous studies. The acoustic yield of the Starship terminal explosion was on the order of $10^3$ tons trinitrotoluene equivalent, which agrees with the estimated fuel load of the vehicle to about a factor of 2, but is two orders of magnitude larger than optical estimates. These results support an earlier study that claimed lateral transmission of sound from a smaller rocket through the AtmoSOFAR channel. The transmission of source information through the AtmoSOFAR channel motivates its use for monitoring other natural and anthropogenic events using balloon-borne sensors. This may become increasingly important as more and more private and government entities conduct spacecraft launches and reentries. It may also provide a means of monitoring clear air turbulence and other sound-generating atmospheric phenomena at a distance.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Assessing the Role of Hydrodynamics in Enhancing Height-Above-the-Nearest-Drainage Derived Synthetic Rating Curves: A Comparative Study in the Wu River Basin, Taiwan

The conventional approach to generating synthetic rating curves (SRC) using the Height-Above-the-Nearest-Drainage (HAND) method typically relies on the assumption of uniform flow, such as Manning's equation, to establish stage-discharge ratings. The zero-physics application of the uniform flow equation is insufficient for capturing detailed hydraulic features (e.g., backwater effect) and neglects the hydraulic effects from adjacent channels. This lack of hydrodynamic computation can impact the accuracy and effectiveness of riverine flood risk estimation and management. To reduce this foreseeable error, we introduce the HAND-hd workflow, which integrates sophisticated hydrodynamic computations in the production of HAND-based SRC with hydrodynamic features (SRC hd ). The results indicate that SRC hd demonstrates consistent agreement with both gauge observations and benchmark solutions. Additionally, the comparative analysis suggests that SRC hd provides notable improvements in stage-discharge ratings over conventional HAND-based SRCs, particularly in channels with mild bed gradients, where it reduces water stage prediction errors and percent biases. In steeper channel segments, SRC hd maintains comparable accuracy to conventional methods. The comprehensive evaluation in this study emphasizes the potential discrepancies and inaccuracies associated with the adoption of the uniform flow assumption in the conventional HAND-SRCs and addresses the necessity of including hydrodynamic physics in the application of HAND-based SRC (e.g., inundation map) in channels with mild gradients.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Prospects for exotic h → 4 τ decays in single and di-Higgs boson production at the LHC and future hadron colliders

We study the prospects for observing exotic decays of the Standard Model Higgs boson h into light beyond the Standard Model scalars a with mass m a ≲ m h / 2 in the single Higgs and Higgs pair production channels at the high luminosity run of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). Discovery prospects for single Higgs production in the gluon-gluon fusion and vector boson fusion modes with the Higgs boson decaying via the exotic mode h → a a → 4 τ are analyzed at the HL-LHC. The projected sensitivity for exotic Higgs decays in the nonresonant Higgs pair production channel p p → h h → ( h → b b ¯ ) ( h → a a → 4 τ ) → 2 b 4 τ at the HL-LHC and a future s = 100 TeV hadron collider (FCC-hh) are also estimated. Furthermore, we study HL-LHC’s potential reach for the Higgs-strahlung process in the 2 b 4 τ channel, taking into account the contamination from nonresonant Higgs pair production. Finally, the potential reach for resonant Higgs pair production in the 2 b 4 τ channel at the HL-LHC is also explored for several choices of { m H , m a } . Our studies suggest that significant improvements over existing bounds are achievable in several production channels, motivating new dedicated searches for h → a a → 4 τ at the HL-LHC and future colliders. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

The advancing wave front on a sloping channel covered by a rod canopy following an instantaneous dam break

The drag coefficient Cd for a rigid and uniformly distributed rod canopy covering a sloping channel following the instantaneous collapse of a dam was examined using flume experiments. The measurements included space x and time t high resolution images of the water surface h(x, t) for multiple channel bed slopes So and water depths behind the dam Ho along with drag estimates provided by sequential load cells. Using these data, an analysis of the Saint-Venant equation (SVE) for the front speed was conducted using the diffusive wave approximation. An inferred Cd=0.4 from the h(x, t) data near the advancing front region, also confirmed by load cell measurements, is much reduced relative to its independently measured steady-uniform flow case. This finding suggests that drag reduction mechanisms associated with transients and flow disturbances are more likely to play a dominant role when compared to conventional sheltering or blocking effects on Cd examined in uniform flow. The increased air volume entrained into the advancing wave front region as determined from an inflow–outflow volume balance partly explains the Cd reduction from unity.

Mechanics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Q-Cluster: Quantum Error Mitigation Through Noise-Aware Unsupervised Learning

Quantum error mitigation (QEM) is critical in reducing the impact of noise in the pre-fault-tolerant era, and is expected to complement error correction in fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC). In this work, we propose a novel QEM approach, Q-Cluster, that uses unsupervised learning (clustering) to reshape the measured bit-string distribution. Our approach starts with a simplified bit-flip noise model. It first performs clustering on noisy measurement results, i.e., bit-strings, based on the Hamming distance. The centroid of each cluster is calculated using a qubit-wise majority vote. Next, the noisy distribution is adjusted with the clustering outcomes and the bitflip error rates using Bayesian inference. Our simulation results show that Q-Cluster can mitigate high noise rates (up to 40% per qubit) with the simple bit-flip noise model. However, real quantum computers do not fit such a simple noise model. To address the problem, we (a) apply Pauli twirling to tailor the complex noise channels to Pauli errors, and (b) employ a machine learning model, ExtraTrees regressor, to estimate an effective bit-flip error rate using a feature vector consisting of machine calibration data (gate & measurement error rates), circuit features (number of qubits, numbers of different types of gates, etc.) and the shape of the noisy distribution (entropy). Our experimental results show that our proposed Q-Cluster scheme improves the fidelity by a factor of 1.46x, on average, compared to the unmitigated output distribution, for a set of low-entropy benchmarks on five different IBM quantum machines. Our approach outperforms the state-of-art QEM approaches RZNE [28], M3 [24], Hammer [35], and QBEEP [33] by 1.26x,1.29x,1.47x, and 2.65 x, respectively.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Numerical Analysis and Flow Induced Vibration Studies in Pressurized Helium Gas Cooling Channels

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is working with NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes (NMR) on their efforts to produce Mo-99 from the irradiation of Mo-100 targets. The NMR target consists of an Inconel window that allows the electron beam to penetrate and irradiate a stack of Mo-100 discs. The irradiation process generates large amounts of heat and is cooled using pressurized helium gas flowing at 400 g/s. LANL provides both numerical analysis support and experimental support. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for both 300 g/s and 400 g/s are performed on the NMR target to analyze the helium flow through the NMR system. The pressure drop, the mass flow rate through each of the disc and window channels and the force applied on the first disc are some of the quantities estimated using CFD. These results will be combined with Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) estimates of heat flux into the system from the electron beam to perform conjugate heat transfer analysis (CHT). The experiments presented in this report focus on the effect of the flow induced vibrations from helium flowing through the coolant gaps between the discs. There is concern that the flow induced vibrations may lead to excessive mass loss of the enriched Mo-100 discs, and the goal would be to mitigate the mass loss. This work presents benchtop tests of flow through a subset of the target stack which involves high speed imaging and displacement measurements used to estimate disc vibration, as well as mass loss.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Comparison of GOES16 Data with the TRACER-ESCAPE Field Campaign Dataset for Convection Characterization: A Selection of Case Studies and Lessons Learnt

Convective updrafts are one of the main characteristics of convective clouds, responsible for the convective mass flux and the redistribution of energy and condensate in the atmosphere. During the early stages of their lifecycle, convective clouds experience rapid cloud-top ascent manifested by a decrease in the geostationary IR brightness temperature (𝑇⁢𝐵 𝐼⁢𝑅 ). Under the assumption that the convective cloud top behaves like a black body, the ascent rate of the convective cloud top can be estimated as ($\frac{∂𝑇⁢𝐵_{𝐼⁢𝑅}}{∂𝑡}$), and it can be used to infer the near cloud-top convective updraft. The temporal resolution of the geostationary IR measurements and non-uniform beam-filling effects can influence the convective updraft estimation. However, the main shortcoming until today was the lack of independent verification of the strength of the convective updraft. Here, Doppler radar observations from the ESCAPE and TRACER field experiments provide independent estimates of the convective updraft velocity at higher spatiotemporal resolution throughout the convective core column and can be used to evaluate the updraft velocity estimates from the IR cooling rate for limited samples. Isolated convective cells were tracked with dedicated radar (RHIs and PPIs) scans throughout their lifecycle. Radial Doppler velocity measurements near the convective cloud top are used to provide estimates of convective updrafts. These data are compared with the geostationary IR and VIS channels (from the GOES satellite) to characterize the convection evolution and lifecycle based on cloud-top cooling rates.

TRACER/ESCAPE field campaign↗