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At least 1,135 records · Page 63

Searching for three-nucleon short-range correlations

Three-nucleon (3N) short-range correlations (SRCs) are some of the most elusive structures in nuclei. Their observation and the subsequent study of their internal makeup will have a significant impact on our understanding of the dynamics of the superdense nuclear matter which exists at the cores of neutron stars. In this paper, we discuss the kinematic conditions and observables that are most favorable for probing 3N SRCs in inclusive electronuclear processes and make a prediction for a quadratic dependence of the probabilities of finding a nucleon in 2N and 3N SRCs. We demonstrate that this prediction is consistent with the limited high-energy experimental data available, suggesting that we have observed, for the first time, 3N SRCs in electronuclear processes. Our analysis enables us to extract a 3 (A, Z), the probability of finding 3N SRCs in nuclei relative to the A = 3 system.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Three-cluster dynamics within an ab initio framework

In this study, we introduce a fully antisymmetrized treatment of three-cluster dynamics within the ab initio framework of the no-core shell model/resonating-group method. Energy-independent nonlocal interactions among the three nuclear fragments are obtained from realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions and consistent ab initio many-body wave functions of the clusters. The three-cluster Schrödinger equation is solved with bound-state boundary conditions by means of the hyperspherical-harmonic method on a Lagrange mesh. We discuss the formalism in detail and give algebraic expressions for systems of two single nucleons plus a nucleus. Using a soft similarity-renormalization-group evolved chiral nucleon-nucleon potential, we apply the method to a 4 He+n+n description of 6 He and compare the results to experiment and to a six-body diagonalization of the Hamiltonian performed within the harmonic-oscillator expansions of the no-core shell model. Differences between the two calculations provide a measure of core ( 4 He) polarization effects.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Development of a Stiffness-Based Chemistry Load Balancing Scheme, and Optimization of Input/Output and Communication, to Enable Massively Parallel High-Fidelity Internal Combustion Engine Simulations

A closed-cycle gasoline compression ignition engine simulation near top dead center (TDC) was used to profile the performance of a parallel commercial engine computational fluid dynamics code, as it was scaled on up to 4096 cores of an IBM Blue Gene/Q supercomputer. The test case has 9 million cells near TDC, with a fixed mesh size of 0.15 mm, and was run on configurations ranging from 128 to 4096 cores. Profiling was done for a small duration of 0.11 crank angle degrees near TDC during ignition. Optimization of input/output performance resulted in a significant speedup in reading restart files, and in an over 100-times speedup in writing restart files and files for post-processing. Improvements to communication resulted in a 1400-times speedup in the mesh load balancing operation during initialization, on 4096 cores. An improved, “stiffness-based” algorithm for load balancing chemical kinetics calculations was developed, which results in an over 3-times faster run-time near ignition on 4096 cores relative to the original load balancing scheme. With this improvement to load balancing, the code achieves over 78% scaling efficiency on 2048 cores, and over 65% scaling efficiency on 4096 cores, relative to 256 cores.

CFD, Mira, Supercomputing, High Performance Comput↗

Dakota uncertainty quantification methods applied to the NEK-5000 SAHEX model.

This report summarizes the results of a NEAMS project focused on the use of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis methods within the NEK-5000 and Dakota software framework for assessing failure probabilities as part of probabilistic risk assessment. NEK-5000 is a software tool under development at Argonne National Laboratory to perform computational fluid dynamics calculations for applications such as thermohydraulics of nuclear reactor cores. Dakota is a software tool developed at Sandia National Laboratories containing optimization, sensitivity analysis, and uncertainty quantification algorithms. The goal of this work is to demonstrate the use of uncertainty quantification methods in Dakota with NEK-5000.

Weirs, V. Gregory↗

Photoconversion in Disordered Semiconductors: Spatial, Spectral, and Temporal Insights through Nonlinear Microscopy (Final Technical Report)

Conversion of solar photons to useable energy requires two processes to occur successfully in a light-harvesting material: 1) the initial photoexcited state must efficiently produce excited states that are free to move, and 2) those states must be transported to a new location where they can do useful work before any potential is lost as heat. The core focus of this project examined the spatial and energetic dynamics of these two primary events of photoconversion in solution-processed semiconducting materials. The electronic properties of these systems are complex and strongly influenced by the cumulative interaction of local morphology and composition, along with defects, interfaces, and trap sites. It is therefore important to interrogate these systems at the local level, where structural and compositional heterogeneity can be precisely correlated to variation in functionality. Utilizing ultrafast laser spectroscopy coupled together with optical microscopy, this project examined how excited states and free charges spatially and energetically evolve on length scales between 10 nanometers and 10 microns and on timescales from 50 femtoseconds to 1 nanosecond. Insights gained from measurements made on these characteristic length and time scales provided new insight into how macroscopic functionality in disordered photovoltaic materials emerges from the interplay of nanoscale and mesoscale interactions.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Site- and Species-Specific Influences on Sub-Alpine Conifer Growth in Mt. Rainier National Park, USA

Identifying the factors that influence the climate sensitivity of treeline species is critical to understanding carbon sequestration, forest dynamics, and conservation in high elevation forest/meadow ecotones. Using tree cores from four sub-alpine conifer species collected from three sides of Mt. Rainier, WA, USA, we investigated the influences of species identity and sites with different local climates on radial growth–climate relationships. We created chronologies for each species at each site, determined influential plant-relevant annual and seasonal climatic variables influencing growth, and investigated how the strength of climate sensitivity varied across species and location. Overall, similar climate variables constrained growth on all three sides of the mountain for each of the four study species. Summer warmth positively influenced radial growth, whereas snow, spring warmth, previous summer warmth, and spring humidity negatively influenced growth. We discovered only a few subtle differences in the climate sensitivity of co-occurring species at the same site and between the same species at different sites in pairwise comparisons. A model including species by climate interactions provided the best balance between parsimony and fit, but did not lead to substantially greater predictive power relative to a model without site or species interactions. Our results imply that at treeline in moist temperate regions like Mt. Rainier, the same climatic variables drive annual variation in growth across species and locations, despite species differences in physiology and site differences in mean climates.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Passive seismic experiment

The network of seismometers installed by the Apollo 17 and other Apollo missions is described. The effects of the impacts of lunar modules and S-4B stages on the lunar surfaces are discussed. The information concerning lunar composition which is obtained by analyzing the seismic signals generated by moonquakes and meteoroid impacts are analyzed. It is concluded that the seismic activity within the moon is extremely low compared to that with the earth. The moon is characterized by a rigid, dynamically inactive outer shell, approximately 1000 kilometers thick, surrounding a core that has markedly different elastic properties.

Latham, G. V.↗

Collapse and fragmentation of molecular cloud cores. I - Moderately centrally condensed cores

3D calculations of the collapse of moderately centrally condensed molecular cloud cores with varied thermal and rotational energies are presented. The calculations are carried out using a newly developed and tested second-order accurate radiative hydrodynamics code. Because of the use of a second-order accurate numerical scheme and initial clouds that resemble both observed prolate molecular cloud cores and magnetically supported clouds at the initiation of the dynamic collapse phase, the new models provide a superior estimate of the likelihood of fragmentation as a mechanism for binary star formation.

Boss, Alan P.↗

Elevated-Temperature Tests Under Static and Aerodynamic Conditions on Honeycomb-Core Sandwich Panels

Stainless-steel honeycomb-core sandwich panels which differed primarily in skin thicknesses were tested at elevated temperatures under static and aerodynamic conditions. The results of these tests were evaluated to determine the insulating effectiveness and structural integrity of the panels. The static radiant-heating tests were performed in front of a quartz-tube radiant heater at panel skin temperatures up to 1,5000 F. The aerodynamic tests were made in a Mach 1.4 heated blowdown wind tunnel. The tunnel temperature was augmented by additional heat supplied by a radiant heater which raised the panel surface temperature above 8000 F during air flow. Static radiant-heating tests of 2 minutes duration showed that all the panels protected the load-carrying structure about equally well. Thin-skin panels showed an advantage for this short-time test over thick-skin panels from a standpoint of weight against insulation. Permanent inelastic strains in the form of local buckles over each cell of the honeycomb core caused an increase in surface roughness. During the aero- dynamic tests all of the panels survived with little or no damage, and panel flutter did not occur.

Groen, Joseph M.↗

Planetary Origin Evolution and Structure

This wide-ranging grant supported theoretical modeling on many aspects of the formation, evolution and structure of planets and satellites. Many topics were studied during this grant period, including the evolution of icy bodies; the origin of magnetic fields in Ganymede; the thermal histories of terrestrial planets; the nature of flow inside giant planets (especially the coupling to the magnetic field) and the dynamics of silicate/iron mixing during giant impacts and terrestrial planet core formation. Many of these activities are ongoing and have not reached completion. This is the nature of this kind of research.

Stevenson, David J.↗

Excitation of Earth Rotation Variations "Observed" by Time-Variable Gravity

Time variable gravity measurements have been made over the past two decades using the space geodetic technique of satellite laser ranging, and more recently by the GRACE satellite mission with improved spatial resolutions. The degree-2 harmonic components of the time-variable gravity contain important information about the Earth s length-of-day and polar motion excitation functions, in a way independent to the traditional "direct" Earth rotation measurements made by, for example, the very-long-baseline interferometry and GPS. In particular, the (degree=2, order= 1) components give the mass term of the polar motion excitation; the (2,O) component, under certain mass conservation conditions, gives the mass term of the length-of-day excitation. Combining these with yet another independent source of angular momentum estimation calculated from global geophysical fluid models (for example the atmospheric angular momentum, in both mass and motion terms), in principle can lead to new insights into the dynamics, particularly the role or the lack thereof of the cores, in the excitation processes of the Earth rotation variations.

Chao, Ben F.↗

Core Technical Capability Laboratory Management System

The Core Technical Capability Lab - oratory Management System (CTCLMS) consists of dynamically generated Web pages used to access a database containing detailed CTC lab data with the software hosted on a server that allows users to have remote access.

Shaykhian, Linda↗

Interstellar Magnetic Fields and Polarimetry of Dust Emission

Magnetic fields are an important ingredient in the stormy cosmos. Magnetic fields: (1) are intimately involved with winds from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and stars (2) create at least some of the structures observed in the ISM (3) modulate the formation of clouds, cores, and stars within a turbulent medium (4) may be dynamically important in protostellar accretion disks (5) smooth weak shocks (C-shocks).

stormy cosmos↗

Lunar Surface Operations Modeling Using Digital Astronaut Simulation

During Apollo, crew members experienced a number of falls while engaging in extravehicular activity. The Digital Astronaut Simulation (DAS) expanded human biomechanics modeling tools to begin investigating this prospective mission safety and success challenge for the Artemis program. A core capability was developed to detect if a motion is dynamically feasible in a given gravitational environment. Fed by motion capture and mass properties data, this technology enables observation of whether tasks performed in 1G can be performed the same way in lunar gravity or if they require modifications.

Long Duration Health↗

Interfacial solvation and slow transport of hydrated excess protons in non-ionic reverse micelles

This work employs molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the solvation and transport properties of hydrated excess protons (with a hydronium-like core structure) in non-ionic Igepal CO-520 reverse micelles of various sizes in a non-polar solvent. Multiscale Reactive Molecular Dynamics (MS-RMD) simulations were used to describe vehicular and hopping diffusion during the proton transport process. As detailed herein, an excess proton shows a marked tendency to localize in the interfacial region of micellar water pools. Slow proton transport was observed which becomes faster with increasing micellar size. Further analysis reveals that the slow diffusion of an excess proton is a combined result of slow water diffusion and the low proton hopping rate. This study also confirms that a low proton hopping rate in reverse micelles stems from the interfacial solvation of hydrated excess protons and the immobilization of interfacial water. The low water density in the interfacial region makes it difficult to form a complete hydrogen bond network near the hydrated excess proton, and therefore locks in the orientation of hydrated proton cations. The immobilization of the interfacial water also slows the relaxation of the overall hydrogen bond network.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Reaction theories for exotic nuclei

This contribution discusses two important dynamical effects in the scattering of exotic beams. The first part deals proton breakup. The Coulomb interactions between the core and the target and the proton and the target are treated to all orders, including also the full multipole expansion of the Coulomb potential. The dynamics of proton Coulomb breakup is compared to that of an equivalent neutron of larger binding energy in order to elucidate the differences with the well understood neutron breakup mechanism. With respect to nuclear breakup it is found that a proton behaves exactly as a neutron of larger binding energy. The extra 'effective energy' is due to the combined core-target Coulomb barrier. In Coulomb breakup we distinguish the effect of the core-target Coulomb potential (called recoil effect), with respect to which the proton behaves again as a more bound neutron, from the direct proton-target Coulomb potential. The latter gives cross sections about an order of magnitude larger than the recoil term. The two effects give rise to complicated interferences in the parallel momentum distributions. They are instead easily separable in the proton angular distributions which are therefore suggested as a very useful observable for future experimental studies. The second part has to do with the dynamics of one-neutron and one-proton removal from unstable nuclei with large asymmetry {Delta}S S{sub n}-S{sub p} in the separation energies and incident energies below 80 MeV/nucleon. Strong non-sudden effects are observed in the case of deeply-bound-nucleon removal. The corresponding parallel momentum distributions exhibit an abrupt cutoff at high momentum that corresponds to an energy threshold occurring when the incident energy per particle is of comparable magnitude as the nucleon separation energy.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

THE CHANGE IN JUPITER'S MOMENT OF INERTIA DUE TO CORE EROSION AND PLANETARY CONTRACTION

We explore the change in Jupiter's normalized axial moment of inertia (NMOI) assuming that Jupiter undergoes core erosion. It is found that Jupiter's contraction combined with an erosion of 20 M{sub Circled-Plus} from a primordial core of 30 M{sub Circled-Plus} can significantly change Jupiter's NMOI over time. It is shown that Jupiter's NMOI could have changed from {approx}0.235 to {approx}0.264 throughout its evolution. We find that an NMOI value of {approx}0.235 as suggested by dynamical models could, in principle, be consistent with Jupiter's primordial internal structure. Low NMOI values, however, persist only for the first {approx}10{sup 6} years of Jupiter's evolution. Re-evaluation of dynamical stability models as well as more sophisticated evolution models of Jupiter with core erosion seem to be required in order to provide more robust estimates for Jupiter's primordial NMOI.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Distortion of Magnetic Fields in a Starless Core II: 3D Magnetic Field Structure of FeSt 1-457

Three-dimensional (3D) magnetic field information on molecular clouds and cores is important for revealing their kinematical stability (magnetic support) against gravity, which is fundamental for studying the initial conditions of star formation. In the present study, the 3D magnetic field structure of the dense starless core FeSt 1-457 is determined based on the near-infrared polarimetric observations of the dichroic polarization of background stars and simple 3D modeling. With an obtained angle of line-of-sight magnetic inclination axis θ{sub inc} of 45{sup ∘}±10{sup ∘} and previously determined plane-of-sky magnetic field strength B{sub pol} of 23.8 ± 12.1 μG, the total magnetic field strength for FeSt 1-457 is derived to be 33.7 ± 18.0 μG. The critical mass of FeSt 1-457, evaluated using both magnetic and thermal/turbulent support is M{sub cr}=3.70±0.92 M{sub ⊙}, which is identical to the observed core mass, M{sub core}=3.55±0.75 M{sub ⊙}. We thus conclude that the stability of FeSt 1-457 is in a condition close to the critical state. Without infalling gas motion and no associated young stars, the core is regarded to be in the earliest stage of star formation, i.e., the stage just before the onset of dynamical collapse following the attainment of a supercritical condition. These properties could make FeSt 1-457 one of the best starless cores for future studies of the initial conditions of star formation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗