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NASA NTRS2016

The Exoplanet Mass-Ratio Function From the MOA-II Survey: Discovery of a Break and Likely Peak at a Neptune Mass

We report the results of the statistical analysis of planetary signals discovered in MOA-II microlensing survey alert system events from 2007 to 2012. We determine the survey sensitivity as a function of planet star mass ratio, q, and projected planet star separation, s, in Einstein radius units. We find that the mass-ratio function is not a single power law, but has a change in slope at q approx.10(exp -4), corresponding to approx. 20 Stellar Mass for the median host-star mass of approx. 0.6 M. We find significant planetary signals in 23 of the 1474 alert events that are well-characterized by the MOA-II survey data alone. Data from other groups are used only to characterize planetary signals that have been identified in the MOA data alone. The distribution of mass ratios and separations of the planets found in our sample are well fit by a broken power-law model. We also combine this analysis with the previous analyses of Gould et al. and Cassan et al., bringing the total sample to 30 planets. The unbroken power-law model is disfavored with a p-value of 0.0022, which corresponds to a Bayes factor of 27 favoring the broken power-law model. These results imply that cold Neptunes are likely to be the most common type of planets beyond the snow line.

MOA-II microlensing survey alert↗
DOE OSTI2025

Depth-dependent links between microbial taxa and nitrous oxide emissions in a long-term cotton cropping system employing soil health practices

Long-term management practices can shape soil microbial communities in ways that influence nitrogen (N) dynamics and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions. We leverage a 41-year continuous cotton cropping experiment with contrasting tillage, cover cropping, and N fertilization regimes to investigate how these long-term strategies influence soil microbial communities and their associations with N 2 O fluxes during the cotton growing season. Using 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding, we assessed microbial composition in surface and subsurface soils and evaluated its relationship with temporal N 2 O emissions. Among the management practices, N fertilization – a known driver of N 2 O emissions – had the strongest effect on microbial community composition and was linked to a greater number of taxa correlated to N 2 O emissions, particularly in surface soils. Soil pH emerged as a key variable influencing microbial structure across depth and was negatively associated with both N 2 O emissions and microbial composition in the surface layers of fertilized soils. In total, 57 archaeal/bacterial taxa were correlated with N 2 O fluxes, but only seven were shared across depths, suggesting distinct microbial contributors in surface and subsurface soils. Several of these taxa have been previously reported to be associated with N and C cycling processes such as nitrate respiration or carbon turnover, indicating functional context to their correlation with N 2 O fluxes. Temporal shifts in the abundance of key taxa aligned with seasonal peaks in N 2 O emissions, notably in early and late August, and were most pronounced under conventional tillage, hairy vetch cover cropping, and N fertilization. While 16S-based associations cannot confirm functional gene presence or activity, these findings demonstrate that long-term fertilization and associated soil acidification are dominant drivers of microbial shifts linked to N 2 O emissions and highlight the importance of accounting for depth-specific and seasonal microbial dynamics when evaluating management impacts on greenhouse gas emissions.

16S rRNA gene sequencing↗
DOE OSTI2024

Informing solar blind radioluminescence imaging through a calibrated spectrum

While direct radiation detection methods offer great insight into the origin of ionizing particles and photons, their use to locate contaminated areas or concealed radioactive sources can lead to undue exposure of personnel and equipment to ionizing radiation or the potential for contamination. These same sources induce ultraviolet (UV) optical photon fluorescence in air – a process referred to as radioluminescence – that may be imaged from low dose regions over larger attenuation lengths than ionizing radiation. However, most optical detection methods are limited to low lighting conditions to image the more abundant ultraviolet-A (UV-A) photons. To extend this capability to room light or daytime conditions, the solar blind region (Ultraviolet-C (UV-C), <280 nm) can be tapped. Though the emission yield of UV-C photons is roughly two orders of magnitude lower than that in the UV-A regime, the UV-C offers dramatic improvements in signal-to-noise ratios under bright lighting conditions due to decreased background interferences. The yield of specific UV-C lines, if present in the literature at all, varies widely, which has a large impact in modeling and analyzing standoff UV-C measurement scenarios. Thus, we have captured improved radioluminescence spectra over 250–400 nm and identified observed emission peaks in ambient air. Many of the UV-C photons produced by ionizing radiation excitation result from high-energy, molecular nitrogen Gaydon-Herman transitions which have had limited study to date for this application. Relating these findings to published UV-A yields, we estimate emissions between 0.15–0.19 photons/MeV over 250–280 nm. Additionally, we also use a commercial corona-discharge imaging camera to demonstrate outdoor UV-C radiation mapping of alpha and gamma emitters from 50 and 75 m standoffs, respectively. The imaged “counts” are compared to optically modelled values and show the same trend over distance.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

Optimizing Cryo-Focused Pyrolysis GC/MS for Tracing Soil Organic Matter Across Diverse Ecosystems

The cycling of organic matter in terrestrial soils and sediments is central to a range of biogeochemical processes that regulate nutrient cycling, crop productivity, trace gas emissions, and contaminant transport. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (py-GC/MS) is a powerful tool for characterizing bulk soil organic matter (SOM) at the molecular level. In this study, we used a cryo-focused py-GC/MS system to analyze soil samples from seven diverse ecosystems: vernal pool, prairie pothole, temperate forest, tropical forest, tundra, wildfire-affected boreal forest, and grassland. We addressed a key bottleneck in molecular-level SOM characterization by developing an automated data analysis pipeline to optimize py-GC/MS and complementary evolved gas analysis/mass spectrometry (EGA/MS) methods, incorporating advanced tools for peak deconvolution, developing a custom compound class library, and implementing fragmentation spectrum-based molecular networking for the first time. This improved workflow was applied to soil samples from all seven ecosystems, including multiple depths and density fractions. Our findings demonstrate that ecosystem type plays a dominant role in shaping compositional differences in SOM. We also identified trends in the source of SOM compounds (e.g., microbial vs plantderived) across soil depth and density fractions, which are critical for understanding persistence and turnover of SOM. Our molecular networking analysis indicated that although many compounds are widespread across ecosystems, others are restricted to specific environments, such as wetlands. This underscores the utility of molecular-level data in elucidating the complexity of SOM composition and the environmental drivers that shape it. Such molecular-level insights can deepen our knowledge of biogeochemical SOM cycles.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Exploring Local Vibrational Structure in Protein-Bound Chlorophyll a: Isotope-Enrichment Experiments and Electrostatic Analysis

Local chlorophyll (Chl) vibrations play an essential role in biological photosynthesis by facilitating rapid energy transfer between pigments. In research studies, they also provide a useful spectroscopic probe of the local protein environment that surrounds each pigment. However, measuring the complete vibrational absorption spectrum of a protein-bound Chl molecule is much more difficult than, for example, Chl in neat solvent due to overlap with protein vibrations that typically drown out Chl vibrational features. Resonance Raman and fluorescence spectroscopies provide a way around this problem for Franck–Condon active vibrations, but these often rely on cryogenic measurement conditions and fail to capture vibrational signatures from, e.g., ester-group vibrations that lack coupling to a convenient electronic transition. In the present contribution, we use 13 C-enrichment of the protein backbone to shift protein background signals to lower frequency, providing a largely clean spectral window in which to study local Chl a C═O stretch modes. A room-temperature absorption spectrum for Chl a in the water-soluble chlorophyll protein (WSCP) of Lepidium virginicum is thus extracted as a difference between protein-plus-pigment and protein-only vibrational spectra. Excellent agreement in the molecular fingerprint region with the vibrational spectrum of Chl a in organic solvents confirms that the resulting spectrum represents the response of the protein-bound Chl a molecule. Furthermore, the ester group resonance is observed to shift in response to the S53P mutation that eliminates a 17 3 ester group hydrogen bond from the protein environment. Finally, we analyze these experimental results using MD-based electrostatic analysis, finding that electric-field mapping at the C atom of the ester group provides a satisfactory explanation for the observed frequency shifts between organic solvent and protein environment. MD analysis further suggests that a red-shifted ester peak observed experimentally for the S53P mutant results from solvation of the 17 3 Chl ester group due increase water penetration into the Chl-binding pocket relative to wild-type WSCP. Here, we anticipate that these results will prove useful both for benchmarking future simulation work and as a reference for interpreting Chl vibrational spectra as a probe of pigment–protein interactions.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Broken Symmetry Optical Transitions in (6,5) Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Containing sp 3 Defects Revealed by First-Principles Theory

We present a first-principles many-body perturbation theory study of nitrophenyl-doped (6,5) single-walled nanotubes (SWCNTs) to understand how sp 3 doping impacts the excitonic properties. sp 3 -doped SWCNTs are promising as a class of optoelectronic materials with bright tunable photoluminescence, long spin coherence, and single-photon emission (SPE), motivating the study of spin excitations. We predict that the dopant results in a single unpaired spin localized around the defect site, which induces multiple low-energy excitonic peaks. By comparing optical absorption and photoluminescence from experiment and theory, we identify the transitions responsible for the red-shifted, defect-induced E 11 * peak, which has demonstrated SPE for some dopants; the presence of this state is due to both the symmetry-breaking associated with the defect and the presence of the defect-induced in-gap state. Furthermore, we find an asymmetry between the contribution of the two spin channels, suggesting that this system has potential for spin-selective optical transitions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

CMIP6 Models Predict Significant 21st Century Decline of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

We explore the representation of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in 27 models from the CMIP6 multi-model ensemble. Comparison with RAPID and SAMBA observations suggests that the ensemble mean represents the AMOC strength and vertical profile reasonably well. Linear trends over the entire historical period (1850-2014) are generally neutral, but many models exhibit an AMOC peak around the 1980’s. Ensemble-mean AMOC decline in future (SSP) scenarios is stronger in CMIP6 than CMIP5 models. In fact, AMOC decline in CMIP6 is surprisingly insensitive to the scenario at least up to 2060. We find an emergent relationship among a majority of models between AMOC strength and 21st century AMOC decline. Constraining this relationship with RAPID observations suggests that the AMOC might decline between 6 and 8 Sv (34-45%) by 2100. A smaller group of models projects much less AMOC weakening of only up to 30%.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Nonlocal, diamagnetic electromagnetic effects in magnetically insulated transmission lines

We identify the time-dependent physics responsible for the critical reduction of current losses in magnetically insulated transmission lines (MITLs) due to uninsulated space charge-limited currents of electrons emitted by field stress. A drive current of sufficiently short pulse length introduces a strong enough time dependence that steady-state results alone become inadequate for the complete understanding of current losses. The time-dependent physics can be described as a nonlocal, diamagnetic electromagnetic response of space charge limited currents. As the pulse length is increased or equivalently, the MITL length reduced, these time-dependent effects diminish and current losses converge to those predicted by the well-known Child–Langmuir law in the external (vacuum) fields. We present a simple one-dimensional (1D) model that encapsulates the essence of this physics. We find excellent agreement with 2D particle-in-cell simulations for two MITL geometries, Cartesian parallel plate and azimuthally symmetric straight coaxial. Based on the 1D model, we explore various scaling dependencies of MITL losses with relevant parameters, e.g., peak current, pulse length, geometrical dimensions, etc. We propose an improved physics model of magnetic insulation in the form of a Hull curve, which could also help improve predictions of current losses by common circuit element codes, such as BERTHA. Finally, we describe how to calculate the temperature rise due to electron impact within the 1D model.

Computer simulation↗
DOE OSTI2026

Improving protonic ceramic electrochemical cell performance via a dual-phase reaction-sintered bilayer electrolyte

Protonic ceramic electrochemical cells (PCCs) are promising energy conversion devices, but their fabrication remains challenging. In particular, the typical electrolytes for PCCs such as BaCe 0.7 Zr 0.1 Y 0.1 Yb 0.1 O 3−δ (7111) and BaCe 0.4 Zr 0.4 Y 0.1 Yb 0.1 O 3−δ (4411) suffer from intrinsic barium evaporation issues during high-temperature sintering. This tendency towards barium loss, combined with their highly refractory nature, leads to a tradeoff between sinterability and chemical stability. To address this tradeoff, we propose a bilayer electrolyte combining layers of 4411 and 7111 materials that is designed to enhance sinterability and conductivity through dual-phase reactive sintering. Our findings demonstrate that the bilayer structure exhibits shrinkage behavior closely matched to that of the fuel electrode substrate, with a higher shrinkage compared to a single-layer 4411 electrolyte. Utilizing this bilayer electrolyte structure, our PCCs achieve a peak power density of 637 mW∙cm −2 in fuel-cell mode and a current density of 1060 mA∙cm −2 at 1.3 V in electrolysis mode at 600 °C. Our PCCs demonstrate high Faradaic efficiency of 83% at 1.3 V and 500 °C. Hybrid distribution of relaxation times (DRT) polarization mapping further reveals that the bilayer structure reduces Ohmic and polarization resistance in both fuel-cell and electrolysis modes.

ceramic processing↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hunting extreme BL Lacertae blazars with Fermi-Large Area Telescope

ABSTRACT The emission of very-high-energy (VHE) photons ($E\ \gt\ 100\ \mathrm{GeV}$) in blazars is closely connected to the production of ultra-relativistic particles and the role of these γ-ray sources as cosmic particle accelerators. This work focuses on a selection of 22 γ-ray objects from the 2BIGB catalogue of high-synchrotron-peaked sources, which are classified as blazar candidates of uncertain type in the 4FGL-DR2 catalogue. We study these sources by means of a re-analysis of the first 10 yr of γ-ray data taken with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope, including the attenuation by the extragalactic background light. Their broad-band spectral energy distributions are also evaluated, using multiwavelength archival data in the radio, optical, and X-ray bands, in terms of one-zone synchrotron-self-Compton models, adding an external Compton component when needed. Out of this analysis, we identify 17 new extreme high-synchrotron-peaked (EHSP) candidates and compare their physical parameters with those of prototypical EHSP blazars. Finally, the resulting models are used to assess their detectability by the present and future generation of ground-based Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes. We find two VHE candidates within the reach of the current and next generation of Cherenkov telescopes: J0847.0−2336 and J1714.0−2029.

Nievas Rosillo, M. (ORCID:0000000283219168)↗
DOE OSTI2023

Type Ia supernova observations combining data from the Euclid mission and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory

ABSTRACT The Euclid mission will provide first-of-its-kind coverage in the near-infrared over deep (three fields, ∼10–20 square degrees each) and wide (∼10 000 square degrees) fields. While the survey is not designed to discover transients, the deep fields will have repeated observations over a two-week span, followed by a gap of roughly six months. In this analysis, we explore how useful the deep field observations will be for measuring properties of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). Using simulations that include Euclid’s planned depth, area, and cadence in the deep fields, we calculate that more than 3700 SNe between 0.0 < $z$ < 1.5 will have at least five Euclid detections around peak with signal-to-noise ratio larger than 3. While on their own, Euclid light curves are not good enough to directly constrain distances, when combined with legacy survey of space and time (LSST) deep field observations, we find that uncertainties on SN distances are reduced by 20–30 per cent for $z$ < 0.8 and by 40–50 per cent for $z$ > 0.8. Furthermore, we predict how well additional Euclid mock data can be used to constrain a key systematic in SN Ia studies – the size of the luminosity ‘step’ found between SNe hosted in high-mass (>1010 M⊙) and low-mass (<1010 M⊙) galaxies. This measurement has unique information in the rest-frame near-infrared (NIR). We predict that if the step is caused by dust, we will be able to measure its reduction in the NIR compared to optical at the 4σ level. We highlight that the LSST and Euclid observing strategies used in this work are still provisional and some level of joint processing is required. Still, these first results are promising, and assuming that Euclid begins observations well before the Nancy Roman Space Telescope (Roman), we expect this data set to be extremely helpful for preparation for Roman itself.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data-driven results for light-quark connected and strange-plus-disconnected hadronic g − 2 short- and long-distance windows

A key issue affecting the attempt to reduce the uncertainty on the Standard Model prediction for the muon anomalous magnetic moment is the current discrepancy between lattice-QCD and data-driven results for the hadronic vacuum polarization. Progress on this issue benefits from precise data-driven determinations of the isospin-limit light-quark-connected (lqc) and strange-plus-light-quark-disconnected ( s + lqd ) components of the related RBC/UKQCD windows. In this paper, using a strategy employed previously for the intermediate window, we provide data-driven results for the lqc and s + lqd components of the short- and long-distance RBC/UKQCD windows. Comparing these results with those from the lattice, we find significant discrepancies in the lqc parts but good agreement for the s + lqd components. We also explore the impact of recent CMD- 3 e + e − → π + π − cross section results, demonstrating that an upward shift in the ρ -peak region of the type seen in the CMD-3 data serves to eliminate the discrepancies for the lqc components without compromising the good agreement between lattice and data-driven s + lqd results. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Benton, Genessa (ORCID:0009000515763654)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Visualizing electron localization of WS 2 /WSe 2 moiré superlattices in momentum space

The search for materials with flat electronic bands continues due to their potential to drive strong correlation and symmetry breaking orders. Electronic moirés formed in van der Waals heterostructures have proved to be an ideal platform. However, there is no holistic experimental picture for how superlattices modify electronic structure. By combining spatially resolved angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with optical spectroscopy, we report the first direct evidence of how strongly correlated phases evolve from a weakly interacting regime in a transition metal dichalcogenide superlattice. By comparing short and long wave vector moirés, we find that the electronic structure evolves into a highly localized regime with increasingly flat bands and renormalized effective mass. The flattening is accompanied by the opening of a large gap in the spectral function and splitting of the exciton peaks. These results advance our understanding of emerging phases in moiré superlattices and point to the importance of interlayer physics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Discovery of an unconventional quantum echo by interference of Higgs coherence

Detecting photon echoes from superconducting Higgs modes is challenging due to the necessity of preserving and retrieving phase coherence encoded in multiple Higgs and quasiparticle (QP) excitations. Here, we demonstrate the emergence of a Higgs echo in niobium superconductors. This approach disentangles unique quantum pathways involving the Higgs mode and QP excitations. Using Higgs echo spectroscopy, we also uncover unconventional echo formation caused by inhomogeneous broadening and “soft” QP bands, which dynamically evolve under terahertz (THz) driving. Specifically, THz pulse pairs modulate the superconducting gap, imprinting coherence and forming a temporal “Higgs grating.” This grating produces echoes with distinctive characteristics: (i) echo rephasing spectral peaks at superconducting gap frequencies, (ii) asymmetric echo formation delays unlike those observed in atoms or semiconductors, and (iii) negative-time echo signals stemming from Higgs-QP anharmonic interactions. Combined with advanced time-frequency analysis, these findings distinguish Higgs from QP responses and clarify their intricate interactions in THz-driven superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Spectroscopy signatures of electron correlations in a trilayer graphene/hBN moiré superlattice

ABC-stacked trilayer graphene/hexagonal boron nitride moiré superlattice (TLG/hBN) has emerged as a playground for correlated electron physics. Here, we report spectroscopy measurements of dual-gated TLG/hBN using Fourier transform infrared photocurrent spectroscopy. We observed a strong optical transition between moiré minibands that narrows continuously as a bandgap is opened by gating, indicating a reduction of the single-particle bandwidth. At half-filling of the valence flat band, a broad absorption peak emerges at ~18 milli–electron volts, indicating direct optical excitation across an emerging Mott gap. Similar photocurrent spectra are observed in two other correlated insulating states at quarter- and half-filling of the first conduction band. Our findings provide key parameters of the Hubbard model for the understanding of electron correlation in TLG/hBN.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Observations of Coastal Wind Momentum Flux: Dependence on Fetch and Waves with Comparisons to COARE

Here, using observations from the Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory, this paper investigates how momentum flux in the marine atmospheric surface layer over the coastal ocean varies with fetch, wave age, and wave slope and assesses the performance of the COARE 3.5 bulk parameterization. Long-fetch (at least 300 km) and short-fetch (3–6 km away from land) conditions have very similar momentum flux, with the latter being just 15% higher. The COARE 3.5 wind speed–dependent formulation closely matches the observations. The sea state dependence of wave age and wave slope is analyzed by considering both peak frequency and mean frequency in a wave spectrum. The slope of regression lines between normalized roughness and wave age is sensitive to wind speed ranges and the scatter of momentum flux, potentially explaining why earlier studies did not find a universal formula to characterize the wave dependence. Although the observed momentum flux exhibits an obvious dependence on wave age, a robust quadratic fit between momentum flux and the 10-m neutral wind speed exists only for young waves. For the short-fetch conditions, the momentum flux does not increase as wave slope increases. This may be because waves generated by local wind are still weak and swell that propagates from other areas dominates the wave spectra. In other words, the wave slope computed by considering the spectra does not properly reflect the local wind–wave interaction.

Air-sea interaction↗
DOE OSTI2020

The First Habitable-zone Earth-sized Planet from TESS. III. Climate States and Characterization Prospects for TOI-700 d

We present self-consistent three-dimensional climate simulations of possible habitable states for the newly discovered habitable-zone Earth-sized planet TOI-700 d. We explore a variety of atmospheric compositions, pressures, and rotation states for both ocean-covered and completely desiccated planets in order to assess the planet’s potential for habitability. For all 20 of our simulated cases, we use our climate model outputs to synthesize transmission spectra, combined-light spectra, and integrated broadband phase curves. These climatologically informed observables will help the community assess the technological capabilities necessary for future characterization of this planet—as well as similar transiting planets discovered in the future—and will provide a guide for distinguishing possible climate states if one day we do obtain sensitive spectral observations of a habitable planet around an M star. We find that TOI-700 d is a strong candidate for a habitable world and can potentially maintain temperate surface conditions under a wide variety of atmospheric compositions. Unfortunately, the spectral feature depths from the resulting transmission spectra and the peak flux and variations from our synthesized phase curves for TOI-700 d do not exceed 10 ppm. This will likely prohibit the James Webb Space Telescope from characterizing its atmosphere; however, this motivates the community to invest in future instrumentation that perhaps can one day reveal the true nature of TOI-700 d and to continue to search for similar planets around less distant stars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

H α Dots: Direct-method Metal Abundances of Low-luminosity Star-forming Systems

Utilizing low-luminosity star-forming systems discovered in the Hα Dots survey, we present spectroscopic observations undertaken using the Kitt Peak National Observatory 4 m telescope for 26 sources. With determinations of robust, “direct”-method metal abundances, we examine the properties of these dwarf systems, exploring their utility in characterizing starburst galaxies at low luminosities and stellar masses. We find that the Hα Dots survey provides an effective new avenue for identifying star-forming galaxies in these regimes. In addition, we examine abundance characteristics and metallicity scaling relations with these sources, highlighting a flattening of both the luminosity–metallicity (L–Z) and stellar mass–metallicity (M * –Z) relation slopes in these regimes as compared with those utilizing samples covering wider respective dynamic ranges. These local, accessible analogs to the kinds of star-forming dwarfs common at high redshift will help shed light on the building blocks that assembled into the massive galaxies common today.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗