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At least 1,171 records · Page 65

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NASA NTRS2000

Practical Considerations of Waste Heat Reuse for a Mars Mission Advanced Life Support System

Energy conservation is a key issue in design optimization of Advanced Life Support Systems (ALSS) for long-term space missions. By considering designs for conservation at the system level, energy saving opportunities arise that would otherwise go unnoticed. This paper builds on a steady-state investigation of system-level waste heat reuse in an ALSS with a low degree of crop growth for a Mars mission. In past studies, such a system has been defined in terms of technology types, hot and cold stream identification and stream energy content. The maximum steady-state potential for power and cooling savings within the system was computed via the Pinch Method. In this paper, several practical issues are considered for achieving a pragmatic estimate of total system savings in terms of equivalent system mass (ESM), rather than savings solely in terms of power and cooling. In this paper, more realistic ESM savings are computed by considering heat transfer inefficiencies during material transfer. An estimate of the steady-state mass, volume and crewtime requirements associated with heat exchange equipment is made by considering heat exchange equipment material type and configuration, stream flow characteristics and associated energy losses during the heat exchange process. Also, previously estimated power and cooling savings are adjusted to reflect the impact of such energy losses. This paper goes one step further than the traditional Pinch Method of considering waste heat reuse in heat exchangers to include ESM savings that occur with direct reuse of a stream. For example, rather than exchanging heat between crop growth lamp cooling air and air going to a clothes dryer, air used to cool crop lamps might be reused directly for clothes drying purposes. When thermodynamically feasible, such an approach may increase ESM savings by minimizing the mass, volume and crewtime requirements associated with stream routing equipment.

Levri, Julie↗

DOE OSTI2021

Impact of Dry Cooler Air-Side Performance on a sCO2 Power Cycle for a CSP Application

Uncertainty around the design and control of the supercritical CO2 power cycle must be reduced before this technology can be implemented for large-scale grid support. To better understand the day-to-day performance of an sCO2 cycle, off-design performance calculations must be included for all power block components, and performance assumptions must be removed. This study has expanded the modeled scope to include the air-side performance for the dry cooler and has incorporated discretized heat transfer calculations for both streams through the pre-cooler to better predict off-design performance. This study considered a recompression Brayton cycle in a concentrating solar power application. The cycle model utilized fixed sCO2 turbomachinery maps for the main compressor, recompressor, and expander operating to supply approximately 10 MW gross at the design point. Fixed vendor-supplied fan curves were used to calculate the air-side performance of the dry cooler. The primary heater was modeled considering both the sCO2 and heat transfer fluid streams. Off-design performance was predicted for an ambient temperature range of 0-55℃, a HTF temperature range of 705-735℃, and a HTF mass flow range of 50-105% of the design point value. To understand the importance of modeling the air-side performance, the cycle off-design performance was also calculated using a constant CO2 outlet temperature assumption and a constant approach temperature assumption for the dry cooler. Results show that using these assumptions can significantly alter the power output and cycle efficiency predictions.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Probing the chiral magnetic wave with charge-dependent flow measurements in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC

The Chiral Magnetic Wave (CMW) phenomenon is essential to provide insights into the strong interaction in QCD, the properties of the quark-gluon plasma, and the topological characteristics of the early universe, offering a deeper understanding of fundamental physics in high-energy collisions. Measurements of the charge-dependent anisotropic flow coefficients are studied in Pb-Pb collisions at center-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision $\sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV to probe the CMW. In particular, the slope of the normalized difference in elliptic (v 2 ) and triangular (v 3 ) flow coefficients of positively and negatively charged particles as a function of their event-wise normalized number difference, is reported for inclusive and identified particles. The slope ${r}_3^{\textrm{Norm}}$ is found to be larger than zero and to have a magnitude similar to ${r}_2^{\textrm{Norm}}$, thus pointing to a large background contribution for these measurements. Furthermore, ${r}_2^{\textrm{Norm}}$ can be described by a blast wave model calculation that incorporates local charge conservation. In addition, using the event shape engineering technique yields a fraction of CMW (f CMW ) contribution to this measurement which is compatible with zero. This measurement provides the very first upper limit for f CMW , and in the 10–60% centrality interval it is found to be 26% (38%) at 95% (99.7%) confidence level.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

NASA NTRS2017

The Mechanism for the Energy Buildup Driving Solar Eruptive Events

The underlying origin of solar eruptive events (SEEs), ranging from giant coronal mass ejections to small coronalhole jets, is that the lowest-lying magnetic flux in the Sun's corona undergoes continual buildup of stress and free energy. This magnetic stress has long been observed as the phenomenon of "filament channels:" strongly sheared magnetic field localized around photospheric polarity inversion lines. However, the mechanism for the stress buildup-formation of filament channels-is still debated. We present magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a coronal volume that is driven by transient, cellular boundary flows designed to model the processes by which the photosphere drives the corona. The key feature of our simulations is that they accurately preserve magnetic helicity, the topological quantity that is conserved even in the presence of ubiquitous magnetic reconnection. Although small-scale random stress is injected everywhere at the photosphere, driving stochastic reconnection throughout the corona, the net result of the magnetic evolution is a coherent shearing of the lowest-lying field lines. This highly counterintuitive result-magnetic stress builds up locally rather than spreading out to attain a minimum energy state-explains the formation of filament channels and is the fundamental mechanism underlying SEEs. Furthermore, this process is likely to be relevant to other astrophysical and laboratory plasmas.

Knizhnik, K. J.↗

DOE OSTI2024

"Hall" transport of liquid crystal solitons in Couette flow

Topology establishes a unifying framework for a diverse range of scientific areas including particle physics, cosmology, and condensed matter physics. One of the most fascinating manifestations of topology in the context of condensed matter is the topological Hall effect, and its relative: the Skyrmion Hall effect. Skyrmions are stable vortex-like spin configurations in certain chiral magnets, and when subject to external electric currents can drift in the transverse direction to the current. These quasi-particles are characterised by a conserved topological charge which in the Skyrmion Hall effect plays the role of electric charges in the ordinary Hall effect. Recently, it has been shown that liquid crystals endowed with chiral properties serve as an ideal testbed for the fundamental investigation of topological solitons, including their two- and three-dimensional realisations. Here, we show experimentally and numerically that three-dimensional solitons aka "torons" exhibit a Hall-like effect when driven by shear flows: the torons are deflected in the direction perpendicular to the shear plane. The experimental results are rationalised in terms of the dynamic Ericksen-Leslie equations, which predict the emergence of the transverse component of the net mass flow, the magnitude of which scales as the 3rd power of the shear rate. The perturbation analysis highlights an interplay of the viscous and chiral elastic torques as the mechanism for the emergence of net transverse currents. Numerical simulations demonstrate, however, that torons are not merely dragged by the flow but move with their own transverse speed, much larger than the average flow velocity in the transverse direction. Our findings may enable responsive microfluidic applications relying on soft topological solitons.

FOS: Physical sciences↗

DOE OSTI2024

Dual-module humidity pump for efficient air dehumidification: Demonstration and performance limitations

Condensation dehumidification in conventional air conditioning technologies is energy-intensive, accounting for up to 50% of building cooling energy used in some climates. Selective vacuum membrane dehumidification (VMD) is one of the leading alternative dehumidification technologies due to its potential for significant energy savings, and the “dual-module humidity pump” is one of the most promising VMD concepts. Here, this work is the first to provide experimental proof-of-concept for the dual-module humidity pump system and provides the first thermodynamic modeling framework that accounts for realistic steady-state operating limitations, both of which are lacking in the current literature. Additionally, this work is the first to provide a system design solution that overcomes practical challenges associated with air accumulation in the vacuum channels. The experimental results in this work show that the current prototype can remove up to 45% of the water vapor in the air stream, and the vapor pressure difference in the vapor rejection module needs to be approximately 2–4 times greater than that of the dehumidification module in order to maintain balanced mass transfer. The thermodynamic model applied to typical air conditioning conditions shows that the ideal dehumidification (latent) COPs can reach up to 40, but practical COPs are limited to approximately 10. Furthermore, the model shows that the overall energy efficiency increases as the membrane air selectivity increases, though this improvement gradually starts to diminish when the membrane selectivity is increased above 10,000.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2021

Low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerant supermarket refrigeration system modeling and its application

As an environmentally friendly low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerant, Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) has continuously gained popularity and research attention as alternative refrigerant for supermarket refrigeration system. In this paper, to fulfill the increasing need of accurate Low-GWP supermarket refrigeration models for development of supervisory level control and optimization strategies, a high fidelity model is developed for CO 2 transcritical supermarket refrigeration system which includes compressor rack of low temperature (LT) compressors and medium temperature (MT) compressors, air-cooled gas cooler, evaporator, expansion valves and other auxiliary equipment. A resistance-capacity model structure is proposed to simulate the display cases. Semi-thermodynamic models are proposed to estimate reciprocating compressors volumetric efficiency and power consumption. Furthermore the zone modeling approach is used for evaporator simulation, and air-cooled gas cooler is modeled with distributed modeling method. The expansion valve simulation is based on orifice flow model. To calibrate these models, both manufacture performance data and experimental data are used. The experiments are conducted with a full instrumental CO 2 supermarket refrigeration system installed in Oak Ridge National Lab Flexible Research Platform (FRP). The simulation model can predict the system performance, including power consumption, cooling capacity, mass flow rate, temperature, and pressure, with high accuracy (within ±4%) compared to experimental data. In addition, this developed model has been used to create the system optimum high side pressure for high side expansion valve control, and to generate wide operating range simulation data for developing the batter-equivalent commercial refrigeration system model which can be used in grid interactive control development.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

NASA NTRS1993

The prediction of nozzle performance and heat transfer in hydrogen/oxygen rocket engines with transpiration cooling, film cooling, and high area ratios

An advanced engineering computational model has been developed to aid in the analysis and design of hydrogen/oxygen chemical rocket engines. The complete multi-species, chemically reacting and diffusing Navier-Stokes equations are modelled, finite difference approach that is tailored to be conservative in an axisymmetric coordinate system for both the inviscid and viscous terms. Demonstration cases are presented for a 1030:1 area ratio nozzle, a 25 lbf film cooled nozzle, and transpiration cooled plug-and-spool rocket engine. The results indicate that the thrust coefficient predictions of the 1030:1 nozzle and the film cooled nozzle are within 0.2 to 0.5 percent, respectively, of experimental measurements when all of the chemical reaction and diffusion terms are considered. Further, the model's predictions agree very well with the heat transfer measurements made in all of the nozzle test cases. The Soret thermal diffusion term is demonstrated to have a significant effect on the predicted mass fraction of hydrogen along the wall of the nozzle in both the laminar flow 1030:1 nozzle and the turbulent plug-and-spool rocket engine analysis cases performed. Further, the Soret term was shown to represent a significant fraction of the diffusion fluxes occurring in the transpiration cooled rocket engine.

Kacynski, Kenneth J.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Icing Analysis of a Swept NACA 0012 Wing Using LEWICE3D Version 3.48

Icing calculations were performed for a NACA 0012 swept wing tip using LEWICE3D Version 3.48 coupled with the ANSYS CFX flow solver. The calculated ice shapes were compared to experimental data generated in the NASA Glenn Icing Research Tunnel (IRT). The IRT tests were designed to test the performance of the LEWICE3D ice void density model which was developed to improve the prediction of swept wing ice shapes. Icing tests were performed for a range of temperatures at two different droplet inertia parameters and two different sweep angles. The predicted mass agreed well with the experiment with an average difference of 12%. The LEWICE3D ice void density model under-predicted void density by an average of 30% for the large inertia parameter cases and by 63% for the small inertia parameter cases. This under-prediction in void density resulted in an over-prediction of ice area by an average of 115%. The LEWICE3D ice void density model produced a larger average area difference with experiment than the standard LEWICE density model, which doesn't account for the voids in the swept wing ice shape, (115% and 75% respectively) but it produced ice shapes which were deemed more appropriate because they were conservative (larger than experiment). Major contributors to the overly conservative ice shape predictions were deficiencies in the leading edge heat transfer and the sensitivity of the void ice density model to the particle inertia parameter. The scallop features present on the ice shapes were thought to generate interstitial flow and horse shoe vortices which enhance the leading edge heat transfer. A set of changes to improve the leading edge heat transfer and the void density model were tested. The changes improved the ice shape predictions considerably. More work needs to be done to evaluate the performance of these modifications for a wider range of geometries and icing conditions

Ice Accretion Software↗

NASA NTRS2014

Icing Analysis of a Swept NACA 0012 Wing Using LEWICE3D Version 3.48

Icing CFD↗

DOE OSTI2020

Rotational excitations in rare-earth nuclei: A comparative study within three cranking models with different mean fields and treatments of pairing correlations

High-spin rotational bands in rare-earth Er (Z = 68), Tm (Z = 69), and Yb (Z = 70) isotopes are investigated by three different nuclear models. These are (i) the cranked relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (CRHB) approach with approximate particle number projection by means of the Lipkin-Nogami (LN) method, (ii) the cranking covariant density functional theory (CDFT) with pairing correlations treated by a shell-model-like approach (SLAP) or the so-called particle-number conserving (PNC) method, and (iii) cranked shell model (CSM) based on the Nilsson potential with pairing correlations treated by the PNC method. A detailed comparison between these three models in the description of the ground-state rotational bands of even-even Er and Yb isotopes is performed. The similarities and differences between these models in the description of the moments of inertia, the features of band crossings, and equilibrium deformations and pairing energies of the even-even nuclei under study are discussed. These quantities are considered as a function of rotational frequency and proton and neutron numbers. The changes in the properties of the first band crossings with increasing neutron number in this mass region are investigated. On average, a comparable accuracy of the description of available experimental data is achieved in these models. However, the differences between model predictions become larger above the first band crossings. Because of the time-consuming nature of numerical calculations in the CDFT-based models, a systematic study of the rotational properties of both ground-state and excited-state bands in odd-mass Tm nuclei is carried out only by the PNC-SCM. With few exceptions, the rotational properties of experimental 1-quasiparticle and 3-quasiparticle bands in 165,167,169,171 Tm are reproduced reasonably well. As a result, the appearance of backbendings or upbendings in these nuclei is well understood from the analysis of the variations of the occupation probabilities of the single-particle states and their contributions to total angular momentum alignment with rotational frequency.

150 ≤ A ≤ 189↗

DOE OSTI2021

Data from: "Warming of alpine tundra enhances belowground production and shifts community towards resource acquisition traits"

This archive contains data used to draw conclusions in “Warming of alpine tundra enhances belowground production and shifts community towards resource acquisition traits”, by Yang et al. 2020. Data were collected on Niwot Ridge, in an alpine meadow within the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment (ATWE) field sites in Colorado, USA. Samples were also processed in the U.S. Geological Survey Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, in Boise, Idaho. File formats in this archive include comma-separated values (.csv), portable document format (.pdf), Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), and two types of geospatial files: keyhole markup language (.kml), and ESRI shapefiles (.shp). Leaf scans are .jpg images, and root scans are .tiff/.tif images.The .csv files can be opened using R, Microsoft Excel, or any simple text-editing software such as TextEdit and Notepad. Microsoft Excel files can be opened using Microsoft Excel, and .pdf files can be opened with Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview, or other compatible programs. Scanned images can be opened using any photo and/or picture viewing software.The .kml file can be opened using Google Earth and Google Maps, and the shapefiles can be opened by any programs compatible with shapefiles, such as the ArcGIS Desktop suite, and QGIS.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Measures of belowground net primary productivity (BNPP) are required to understand whether aboveground net primary production (ANPP) changes reflect changes in allocation or are indicative of a whole plant NPP response. Plant functional traits provide a key way to scale from the individual plant to the community level, and provide insight into drivers of NPP responses to environmental change. We used infrared heaters to warm an alpine plant community at Niwot Ridge, Colorado, and applied supplemental water to compensate for soil water loss induced by warming. We measured ANPP, BNPP, and leaf and root functional traits across treatments after 5 years of continuous warming. Community-level ANPP and total NPP (ANPP + BNPP) did not respond to heating or watering, but BNPP increased in response to heating. Heating decreased community-level leaf dry matter content and increased total root length, indicating a shift in strategy from resource conservation to acquisition in response to warming.

13C/12C isotope ratio↗

DOE OSTI2022

Model-based Cross-correlation Search for Gravitational Waves from the Low-mass X-Ray Binary Scorpius X-1 in LIGO O3 Data

We present the results of a model-based search for continuous gravitational waves from the low-mass X-ray binary Scorpius X-1 using LIGO detector data from the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. This is a semicoherent search that uses details of the signal model to coherently combine data separated by less than a specified coherence time, which can be adjusted to balance sensitivity with computing cost. The search covered a range of gravitational-wave frequencies from 25 to 1600 Hz, as well as ranges in orbital speed, frequency, and phase determined from observational constraints. No significant detection candidates were found, and upper limits were set as a function of frequency. The most stringent limits, between 100 and 200 Hz, correspond to an amplitude h $_{0}$ of about 10$^{−25}$ when marginalized isotropically over the unknown inclination angle of the neutron star’s rotation axis, or less than 4 × 10$^{−26}$ assuming the optimal orientation. The sensitivity of this search is now probing amplitudes predicted by models of torque balance equilibrium. For the usual conservative model assuming accretion at the surface of the neutron star, our isotropically marginalized upper limits are close to the predicted amplitude from about 70 to 100 Hz; the limits assuming that the neutron star spin is aligned with the most likely orbital angular momentum are below the conservative torque balance predictions from 40 to 200 Hz. Assuming a broader range of accretion models, our direct limits on gravitational-wave amplitude delve into the relevant parameter space over a wide range of frequencies, to 500 Hz or more.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS2003

Type II Migration and Giant Planet Survival

Type II migration, in which a newly formed large planet opens a gap in its precursor circumstellar nebula and subsequently evolves with it, has been implicated as a delivery mechanism responsible for close stellar companions. Large scale migration is possible in a viscously spreading disk of surface density sigma (r,t) when most of it is sacrificed to the primary in order to promote a small portion of the disk to much higher angular momentum orbits. Embedded planets generally follow its evolution unless their own angular momentum is comparable to that of the disk. The fraction of the starting disk mass, M (sub d) = 2pi integral rsigma(r,0)dr, that is consumed by the star depends on the distance at which material escapes the disk's outer boundary. If the disk is allowed to expand indefinitely, virtually all of the disk will fall into the primary in order to send a vanishingly small portion to infinity. For such a case, it is difficult to explain the survival of any giant planets, including Jupiter and Saturn. Realistically, however, there are processes that could truncate a disk at a finite distance, r(sub d). Recent numerical modeling has illustrated that planets can survive in this case. We show here that much of these results can be understood by simple conservation arguments.

Ward, William R.↗

NASA NTRS1990

A new continuum model for suspensions of gyrotactic micro-organisms

A new continuum model is formulated for dilute suspensions of swimming micro-organisms with asymmetric mass distributions. Account is taken of randomness in a cell's swimming direction, p, by postulating that the probability density function for p satisfies a Fokker-Planck equation analogous to that obtained for colloid suspensions in the presence of rotational Brownian motion. The deterministic torques on a cell, viscous and gravitational, are balanced by diffusion, represented by an isotropic rotary diffusivity Dr, which is unknown a priori, but presumably reflects stochastic influences on the cell's internal workings. When the Fokker-Planck equation is solved, macroscopic quantities such as the average cell velocity Vc, the particle diffusivity tensor D and the effective stress tensor sigma can be computed; Vc and D are required in the cell conservation equation, and sigma in the momentum equation. The Fokker-Planck equation contains two dimensionless parameters, lambda and epsilon; lambda is the ratio of the rotary diffusion time Dr-1 to the torque relaxation time B (balancing gravitational and viscous torques), while epsilon is a scale for the local vorticity or strain rate made dimensionless with B. In this paper we solve the Fokker-Planck equation exactly for epsilon = 0 (lambda arbitrary) and also obtain the first-order solution for small epsilon. Using experimental data on Vc and D obtained with the swimming alga, Chlamydomonas nivalis, in the absence of bulk flow, the epsilon = 0 results can be used to estimate the value of lambda for that species (lambda approximately 2.2; Dr approximately 0.13 s-1). The continuum model for small epsilon is then used to reanalyse the instability of a uniform suspension, previously investigated by Pedley, Hill & Kessler (1988). The only qualitatively different result is that there no longer seem to be circumstances in which disturbances with a non-zero vertical wavenumber are more unstable than purely horizontal disturbances. On the way, it is demonstrated that the only significant contribution to sigma, other than the basic Newtonian stress, is that derived from the stresslets associated with the cells' intrinsic swimming motions.

NASA Discipline Number 28-20↗

NASA NTRS2012

Constraints on the Galactic Halo Dark Matter from Fermi-LAT Diffuse Measurements

We have performed an analysis of the diffuse gamma-ray emission with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) in the Milky Way halo region, searching for a signal from dark matter annihilation or decay. In the absence of a robust dark matter signal, constraints are presented. We consider both gamma rays produced directly in the dark matter annihilation/decay and produced by inverse Compton scattering of the e+/e− produced in the annihilation/decay. Conservative limits are derived requiring that the dark matter signal does not exceed the observed diffuse gamma-ray emission. A second set of more stringent limits is derived based on modeling the foreground astrophysical diffuse emission using the GALPROP code. Uncertainties in the height of the diffusive cosmic-ray halo, the distribution of the cosmic-ray sources in the Galaxy, the index of the injection cosmic-ray electron spectrum, and the column density of the interstellar gas are taken into account using a profile likelihood formalism, while the parameters governing the cosmic-ray propagation have been derived from fits to local cosmic-ray data. The resulting limits impact the range of particle masses over which dark matter thermal production in the early universe is possible, and challenge the interpretation of the PAMELA/Fermi-LAT cosmic ray anomalies as the annihilation of dark matter.

DIFFUSE MEASUREMENTS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Entanglement maximization and mirror symmetry in two-Higgs-doublet models

We consider 2-to-2 scatterings of Higgs bosons in a CP-conserving two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM) and study the implication of maximizing the entanglement in the flavor space, where the two doublets Φ a , a = 1, 2, can be viewed as a qubit: Φ 1 = |0⟩ and Φ 2 = |1⟩. More specifically, we compute the scattering amplitudes for Φ a Φ b → Φ c Φ d and require the outgoing flavor entanglement to be maximal for a full product basis such as the computational basis, which consists of {|00⟩, |01⟩, |10⟩, |11⟩}. In the unbroken phase and turning off the gauge interactions, entanglement maximization results in the appearance of an U(2) × U(2) global symmetry among the quartic couplings, which in general is broken softly by the mass terms. Interestingly, once the Higgs bosons acquire vacuum expectation values, maximal entanglement enforces an exact U(2) × U(2) symmetry, which is spontaneously broken to U(1) × U(1). As a byproduct, this gives rise to Higgs alignment as well as to the existence of 6 massless Nambu-Goldstone bosons. The U(2) × U(2) symmetry can be gauged to lift the massless Goldstones, while maintaining maximal entanglement demands the presence of a discrete Z 2 symmetry interchanging the two gauge sectors. The model is custodially invariant in the scalar sector, and the inclusion of fermions requires a mirror dark sector, related to the standard one by the Z 2 symmetry.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Complex Changes in Membrane Lipids Associated with the Modification of Autophagy in Arabidopsis

Autophagy is a conserved mechanism among eukaryotes that degrades and recycles cytoplasmic components. Autophagy is known to influence the plant metabolome, including lipid content; however, its impact on the plant lipidome is not fully understood, and most studies have analyzed a single or few mutants defective in autophagy. To gain more insight into the effect of autophagy on lipid concentrations and composition, we quantitatively profiled glycerolipids from multiple Arabidopsis thaliana mutants altered in autophagy and compared them with wild-type seedlings under nitrogen replete (+N; normal growth) and nitrogen starvation (−N; autophagy inducing) conditions. Mutants include those in genes of the core autophagy pathway, together with other genes that have been reported to affect autophagy. Using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization—Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-MS), we imaged the cellular distribution of specific lipids in situ and demonstrated that autophagy and nitrogen treatment did not affect their spatial distribution within Arabidopsis seedling leaves. We observed changes, both increases and decreases, in the relative amounts of different lipid species in the mutants compared to WT both in +N and −N conditions, although more changes were seen in −N conditions. The relative amounts of polyunsaturated and very long chain lipids were significantly reduced in autophagy-disrupted mutants compared to WT plants. Collectively, our results provide additional evidence that autophagy affects plant lipid content and that autophagy likely affects lipid properties such as chain length and unsaturation.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗