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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,153 records · Page 64
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Scalaron production in contracting astrophysical objects

We study the creation of high-energy SM particles in the Starobinsky model of dark energy (a variant of F(R)-gravity) inside the regions contracting due to the Jeans instability. In this modification of gravity, the additional degree of freedom—a scalaron—behaves as a particle with the mass depending on matter density. Therefore, when the mass changes, light scalarons could be created at a nonadiabatic stage. Later, the scalaron mass grows and can reach large values, even the value 10{sup 13} GeV, favored by early time inflation. Heavy scalarons decay contributing to the cosmic ray flux. We analytically calculate the number density of created particles for the exponential (Jeans) contraction and find it negligibly small for the phenomenologically viable and cosmologically interesting range of model parameters. We expect similar results for a generic model of F(R)-gravity mimicking the cosmological constant.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Astrophysical manifestations of clumps of cold dark matter

Small-scale structures (clumps) of dark matter may manifest themselves owing to the annihilation of dark-matter particles in them as pointlike gamma-ray sources. In view of this, investigation into respective effects on the basis of data on unidentified pointlike gamma-ray sources is of importance. It is shown that the existing uncertainties in the description of physical properties of dark-matter particles (their annihilation cross section) and in the distribution of their density in the clumps are of crucial importance; therefore, an analysis of data from the observation of pointlike gamma-ray sources makes it possible to impose constraints on the values of respective uncertain parameters (that is, to single out preferable ones). It is considered that the rate of annihilation of dark-matter particles in the clumps may be enhanced both owing to a higher density and owing to the growth of the cross section at low relative velocities of dark-matter particles in the clumps. In particular, dark-matter particles may have self-interaction of the Coulomb type, and this leads to the enhancement of the annihilation rate because of the Sommerfeld-Sakharov effect. It is shown that the heavy-neutrino model featuring an extra interaction can explain partly Fermi and EGRET data on unidentified pointlike gamma-ray sources. It is indicated that the motion of gamma-ray sources over the celestial sphere can be noticed for several clumps within several years of observations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Exploring the Cosmic Frontier, Task A - Direct Detection of Dark Matter, Task B - Experimental Particle Astrophysics

This report summarizes the work of Task A and B for the period 2013-2016. For Task A the work is for direct detection of dark matter with the single-phase liquid argon experiment Mini-CLEAN. For Task B the work is for the search for new physics in the analysis of fluorescence events with the Auger experiment and for the search for the indirect detection of dark matter with the HAWC experiment.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

DICKE’S SUPERRADIANCE IN ASTROPHYSICS. II. THE OH 1612 MHz LINE

We apply the concept of superradiance that was introduced by Dicke in 1954 to the OH molecule 1612 MHz spectral line, which is often used for the detection of masers in the circumstellar envelopes of evolved stars. Because the detection of 1612 MHz OH masers in the outer shells of envelopes of these stars implies the existence of a population inversion and a high level of velocity coherence, and that these are two necessary requirements for superradiance, we investigate whether superradiance can also happen in these regions. Superradiance is characterized by high-intensity, spatially compact, burst-like features taking place over timescales on the order of seconds to years, depending on the size and physical conditions present in the regions harboring such sources of radiation. Our analysis suggests that superradiance provides a valid explanation for previous observations of intensity flares detected in that spectral line for the U Orionis Mira star and the IRAS 18276-1431 preplanetary nebula.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

ASSESSING ASTROPHYSICAL UNCERTAINTIES IN DIRECT DETECTION WITH GALAXY SIMULATIONS

We study the local dark matter velocity distribution in simulated Milky Way-mass galaxies, generated at high resolution with both dark matter and baryons. We find that the dark matter in the solar neighborhood is influenced appreciably by the inclusion of baryons, increasing the speed of dark matter particles compared to dark matter-only simulations. The gravitational potential due to the presence of a baryonic disk increases the amount of high velocity dark matter, resulting in velocity distributions that are more similar to the Maxwellian Standard Halo Model than predicted from dark matter-only simulations. Furthermore, the velocity structures present in baryonic simulations possess a greater diversity than expected from dark matter-only simulations. We show that the impact on the direct detection experiments LUX, DAMA/Libra, and CoGeNT using our simulated velocity distributions, and explore how resolution and halo mass within the Milky Way’s estimated mass range impact the results. A Maxwellian fit to the velocity distribution tends to overpredict the amount of dark matter in the high velocity tail, even with baryons, and thus leads to overly optimistic direct detection bounds on models that are dependent on this region of phase space for an experimental signal. Our work further demonstrates that it is critical to transform simulated velocity distributions to the lab frame of reference, due to the fact that velocity structure in the solar neighborhood appears when baryons are included. There is more velocity structure present when baryons are included than in dark matter-only simulations. Even when baryons are included, the importance of the velocity structure is not as apparent in the Galactic frame of reference as in the Earth frame.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE SCATTER BROADENING OF FAST RADIO BURST PULSES AND ASTROPHYSICAL IMPLICATIONS

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) have been identified as extragalactic sources that can probe turbulence in the intergalactic medium (IGM) and their host galaxies. To account for the observed millisecond pulses caused by scatter broadening, we examine a variety of possible electron density fluctuation models in both the IGM and the host galaxy medium. We find that a short-wave-dominated power-law spectrum of density, which may arise in highly supersonic turbulence with pronounced local dense structures of shock-compressed gas in the host interstellar medium (ISM), can produce the required density enhancements at sufficiently small scales to interpret the scattering timescale of FRBs. This implies that an FRB residing in a galaxy with efficient star formation in action tends to have a broadened pulse. The scaling of the scattering time with the dispersion measure (DM) in the host galaxy varies in different turbulence and scattering regimes. The host galaxy can be the major origin of scatter broadening, but contributes to a small fraction of the total DM. We also find that the sheet-like structure of the density in the host ISM associated with folded magnetic fields in a viscosity-dominated regime of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence cannot give rise to strong scattering. Furthermore, valuable insights into the IGM turbulence concerning the detailed spatial structure of density and magnetic field can be gained from the observed scattering timescale of FRBs. Our results favor the suppression of micro-plasma instabilities and the validity of the collisional-MHD description of turbulence properties in the collisionless IGM.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

AN ADVANCED LEAKAGE SCHEME FOR NEUTRINO TREATMENT IN ASTROPHYSICAL SIMULATIONS

We present an Advanced Spectral Leakage (ASL) scheme to model neutrinos in the context of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) and compact binary mergers. Based on previous gray leakage schemes, the ASL scheme computes the neutrino cooling rates by interpolating local production and diffusion rates (relevant in optically thin and thick regimes, respectively) separately for discretized values of the neutrino energy. Neutrino trapped components are also modeled, based on equilibrium and timescale arguments. The better accuracy achieved by the spectral treatment allows a more reliable computation of neutrino heating rates in optically thin conditions. The scheme has been calibrated and tested against Boltzmann transport in the context of Newtonian spherically symmetric models of CCSNe. ASL shows a very good qualitative and a partial quantitative agreement for key quantities from collapse to a few hundreds of milliseconds after core bounce. We have proved the adaptability and flexibility of our ASL scheme, coupling it to an axisymmetric Eulerian and to a three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics code to simulate core collapse. Therefore, the neutrino treatment presented here is ideal for large parameter-space explorations, parametric studies, high-resolution tests, code developments, and long-term modeling of asymmetric configurations, where more detailed neutrino treatments are not available or are currently computationally too expensive.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

The H{sub 2} + CO ↔ H{sub 2}CO reaction: Rate constants and relevance to hot and dense astrophysical media

A theoretical thermochemical and kinetic investigation of the thermal H{sub 2} + CO ↔ H{sub 2}CO reaction was performed for a temperature range from 200 to 4000 K. Geometries and vibrational frequencies of reactants, product, and transition state (TS) were obtained at CCSD/cc-pVxZ (x = T and Q) levels and scaling factors were employed to consider anharmonicity effects on vibrational frequencies, zero-point energies, and thermal corrections provided by these methodologies. Enthalpies Gibbs energies, and rate constants for this reaction were determined by including a complete basis set extrapolation correction for the electronic properties calculated at CCSD(T)/cc-pVyZ (y = Q and 5) levels. Our study indicates that enthalpy changes for this reaction are highly dependent on temperature. Moreover, forward and reverse (high-pressure limit) rate constants were obtained from variational TS theory with quantum tunneling corrections. Thus, modified Arrhenius’ equations were fitted by means of the best forward and reverse rate constant values, which provide very reliable estimates for these quantities within the temperature range between 700 and 4000 K. To our knowledge, this is the first kinetic study done for the forward H{sub 2} + CO → H{sub 2}CO process in a wide temperature range. Finally, these results can be used to explain the formaldehyde abundance in hot and dense interstellar media, possibly providing data about the physical conditions associated with H{sub 2}CO masers close to massive star-forming regions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

DISCO: A 3D MOVING-MESH MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS CODE DESIGNED FOR THE STUDY OF ASTROPHYSICAL DISKS

This work presents the publicly available moving-mesh magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) code DISCO. DISCO is efficient and accurate at evolving orbital fluid motion in two and three dimensions, especially at high Mach numbers. DISCO employs a moving-mesh approach utilizing a dynamic cylindrical mesh that can shear azimuthally to follow the orbital motion of the gas. The moving mesh removes diffusive advection errors and allows for longer time-steps than a static grid. MHD is implemented in DISCO using an HLLD Riemann solver and a novel constrained transport (CT) scheme that is compatible with the mesh motion. DISCO is tested against a wide variety of problems, which are designed to test its stability, accuracy, and scalability. In addition, several MHD tests are performed which demonstrate the accuracy and stability of the new CT approach, including two tests of the magneto-rotational instability, one testing the linear growth rate and the other following the instability into the fully turbulent regime.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Center for Astrophysics Optical Infrared Science Archive. I. FAST Spectrograph

We announce the public release of 141,531 moderate-dispersion optical spectra of 72,247 objects acquired over the past 25 yr with the FAST Spectrograph on the Fred L. Whipple Observatory 1.5 m Tillinghast telescope. We describe the data acquisition and processing so that scientists can understand the spectra. We highlight some of the largest FAst Spectrograph for the Tillinghast Telescope (FAST) survey programs, and make recommendations for use. The spectra have been placed in a Virtual Observatory–accessible archive and ready for download.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2017

ASTROPHYSICAL PRIOR INFORMATION AND GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE PARAMETER ESTIMATION

The detection of electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational waves (GWs) has great promise for the investigation of many scientific questions. While it is well known that certain orientation parameters can reduce uncertainty in other related parameters, it was also hoped that the detection of an electromagnetic signal in conjunction with a GW could augment the measurement precision of the mass and spin from the gravitational signal itself. That is, knowledge of the sky location, inclination, and redshift of a binary could break degeneracies between these extrinsic, coordinate-dependent parameters and the physical parameters that are intrinsic to the binary. In this paper, we investigate this issue by assuming perfect knowledge of extrinsic parameters, and assessing the maximal impact of this knowledge on our ability to extract intrinsic parameters. We recover similar gains in extrinsic recovery to earlier work; however, we find only modest improvements in a few intrinsic parameters—namely the primary component’s spin. We thus conclude that, even in the best case, the use of additional information from electromagnetic observations does not improve the measurement of the intrinsic parameters significantly.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Emission Line Ratios of FE III as Astrophysical Plasma Diagnostics

Recent, state-of-the-art calculations of A-values and electron impact excitation rates for Fe iii are used in conjunction with the Cloudy modeling code to derive emission-line intensity ratios for optical transitions among the fine-structure levels of the 3d{sup 6} configuration. A comparison of these with high-resolution, high signal-to-noise spectra of gaseous nebulae reveals that previous discrepancies found between theory and observation are not fully resolved by the latest atomic data. Blending is ruled out as a likely cause of the discrepancies, because temperature- and density-independent ratios (arising from lines with common upper levels) match well with those predicted by theory. For a typical nebular plasma with electron temperature T{sub e}=9000 K and electron density N{sub e}=10{sup 4} cm{sup −3}, cascading of electrons from the levels {sup 3}G{sub 5}, {sup 3}G{sub 4} and {sup 3}G{sub 3} plays an important role in determining the populations of lower levels, such as {sup 3}F{sub 4}, which provide the density diagnostic emission lines of Fe iii, such as {sup 5}D{sub 4} - {sup 3}F{sub 4} at 4658 Å. Hence, further work on the A-values for these transitions is recommended, ideally including measurements if possible. However, some Fe iii ratios do provide reliable N{sub e}-diagnostics, such as 4986/4658. The Fe iii cooling function, calculated with Cloudy using the most recent atomic data, is found to be significantly greater at T {sub e} ≃ 30,000 K than predicted with the existing Cloudy model. This is due to the presence of additional emission lines with the new data, particularly in the 1000–4000 Å wavelength region.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Astrophysical S -factors, Thermonuclear Rates, and Electron Screening Potential for the 3 He(d,p) 4 He Big Bang Reaction via a Hierarchical Bayesian Model

Here, we developed a hierarchical Bayesian framework to estimate S-factors and thermonuclear rates for the 3 He(d,p) 4 He reaction, which impacts the primordial abundances of 3 He and 7 Li. The available data are evaluated and all direct measurements are taken into account in our analysis for which we can estimate separate uncertainties for systematic and statistical effects. For the nuclear reaction model, we adopt a single-level, two-channel approximation of R-matrix theory, suitably modified to take the effects of electron screening at lower energies into account. In addition to the usual resonance parameters (resonance location and reduced widths for the incoming and outgoing reaction channel), we include the channel radii and boundary condition parameters in the fitting process. Our new analysis of the 3 He(d,p) 4 He S-factor data results in improved estimates for the thermonuclear rates. This work represents the first nuclear rate evaluation using R-matrix theory embedded into a hierarchical Bayesian framework, properly accounting for all known sources of uncertainty. Therefore, it provides a test bed for future studies of more complex reactions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗