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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 1,189 records · Page 66
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Additively manufactured Ni-20Cr to V functionally graded material: Computational predictions and experimental verification of phase formations

Throughout this work, a database for the Cr-Ni-V system was constructed by modeling the binary Cr-V and ternary Cr-Ni-V systems using the CALPHAD approach aided by density functional theory (DFT)-based first-principles calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations. To validate this new database, a functionally graded material (FGM) using Ni-20Cr and elemental V was fabricated using directed energy deposition additive manufacturing (DED AM) and experimentally characterized. The deposited Ni-20Cr was pure fcc phase, while increasing the amount of V across the gradient resulted in the formation of sigma phase, followed by the bcc phase. The experimentally measured phase data was compared with computational predictions made using a Cr-Ni-V thermodynamic database from the literature as well as the database developed in the present work. The newly developed database was shown to better predict the experimentally observed phases due to its accurate modeling of binary systems within the database and the ternary liquid phase, which is critical for accurate Scheil calculations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Mu*STAR ADSR Fuel Conversion Facility Evaluation and Cost Analysis

The purpose of the reported effort is the development of a conceptual process for conversion of used nuclear fuel (UNF) from light water reactors (LWRs) to a fluoride salt form to facilitate its use for power generation in a Mu*STAR Accelerator-driven Subcritical Reactor (ADSR). This document evaluates potential processes for converting UNF into a fluoride salt, evaluates the costs/benefits of using enriched lithium in the carrier salt, and analyzes comparable costs of similar facilities to make a rough order of magnitude estimate for the cost to design, construct, and commission a Mu*STAR ADSR fuel conversion facility. This document also makes a high-level comparison of the Mu*STAR ADSR fuel cycle with other important fuel cycles. The results of the cost analysis show that the Mu*STAR ADSR fuel conversion facility will cost more than $100M, possibly up to around $1B, to design and construct. The cost will depend on the size of the hot cell required, which will depend on the processing options chosen for converting the UNF to a molten salt. Operations and maintenance of the facility will be on the order of $10M per year. The design, fabrication, and installation of the remote process equipment to support the fuel conversion will be an additional cost of more than $50M. Cost surveys of Department of Energy hot cell designs and previous Department of Energy hot cell construction suggest that the cost variance may be large, and the risk of escalating costs may be high in the regulation-mandated atmosphere of nuclear facility design and construction. The molten salt for the Mu*STAR ADSR contains all of the nonvolatile isotopes in the UNF, and there is never a separation of the plutonium from the fission products. This makes this conversion process much more proliferation resistant than the reprocessing options used for other closed fuel cycles. When normalized to the amount of electricity produced, the Mu*STAR ADSR fuel cycle’s expected cost might be less than any reprocessing fuel cycle and possibly less than the once-through cycle now used. Simulations show that once the conversion to fluoride is made, that up to seven times as much energy can be extracted from the UNF than was produced by the LWR while making it [Bowman, 2010]. Using once-only, on-site conversion to fluoride means no mining, no enrichment, no manufacturing of fuel rods, and no transportation costs. Typically, the UNF was produced over a 40-year period in an LWR; it can potentially be used for 280 years in Mu*STAR, producing the same power as the LWR did, ultimately requiring disposal of approximately the same volume of material as the LWR generated. Mu*STAR burns most of the higher actinides, which could reduce both the cost of disposal and significantly reduce the longevity of its radiotoxicity. Mu*STAR ADSR’s ability to demonstrate unique and valuable peripheral benefits are additional arguments for this technology, including (1) turning UNF into a valuable commodity (thus, its disposal will not be such an immediate problem, so continued operation of existing LWRs will be more acceptable); (2) burning fissile or fertile fuel including excess weapons-grade plutonium in subcritical mode; and (3) providing high-temperature process heat to convert natural gas to synthetic diesel fuel, water to hydrogen, or for other process-heat applications.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Non-Technical Barriers to Geothermal Development in California and Nevada

Geothermal project development in the United States may be subject to numerous permits, authorizations, and other regulatory requirements at the federal, state, and local level, which are necessary to address potential environmental and resource impacts at geothermal project sites. This report presents the findings of our study, including an analysis of federal, state, and local geothermal regulatory and permitting processes, case studies analyzing site-specific attributes that may impact project development at four selected geothermal project sites, an analysis of cost and timeline implications for geothermal project development, and the results of a qualitative study focused on inter-agency coordination and collaboration efforts between federal, state, and/or local agencies for geothermal projects located in California and Nevada. Our analysis found that development timelines may be impacted by multiple federal and state environmental review processes and duplicative permitting requirements as well as coordination efforts between numerous federal, state, and local agencies involved in issuing authorizations and permits necessary for project development. In addition, projects in California and Nevada may face site-specific environmental challenges due to the presence of sensitive resources (e.g., biological species and species habitat, cultural resources) that may result in project construction delays. Our study results also indicate that protracted geothermal development timelines caused by delays in acquiring necessary permits and environmental reviews may result in loss of generated electricity revenue and additional financing costs, which may increase economic uncertainty associated with project development. Through our qualitative analysis, we found that utilization of best practices, including tiering to existing environmental review documents and developing memoranda of understanding, which clearly delineate agency roles and responsibilities may reduce overall project timelines, costs, and uncertainties associated with geothermal project development in California and Nevada.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Non-Technical Barriers to Geothermal Development in California and Nevada [Slides]

This presentation presents the findings of our study, including an analysis of federal, state, and local geothermal regulatory and permitting processes, case studies analyzing site-specific attributes that may impact project development at four selected geothermal project sites, an analysis of cost and timeline implications for geothermal project development, and the results of a qualitative study focused on inter-agency coordination and collaboration efforts between federal, state, and/or local agencies for geothermal projects located in California and Nevada. Our analysis found that development timelines may be impacted by multiple federal and state environmental review processes and duplicative permitting requirements as well as coordination efforts between numerous federal, state, and local agencies involved in issuing authorizations and permits necessary for project development. In addition, projects in California and Nevada may face site-specific environmental challenges due to the presence of sensitive resources (e.g., biological species and species habitat, cultural resources) that may result in project construction delays. Our study results also indicate that protracted geothermal development timelines caused by delays in acquiring necessary permits and environmental reviews may result in loss of generated electricity revenue and additional financing costs, which may increase economic uncertainty associated with project development. Through our qualitative analysis, we found that utilization of best practices, including tiering to existing environmental review documents and developing memoranda of understanding, which clearly delineate agency roles and responsibilities may reduce overall project timelines, costs, and uncertainties associated with geothermal project development in California and Nevada.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Behavioral simulations and experimental evaluations of stress induced spatial nonuniformity of dynamic bulk modulus in additive friction stir deposited AA 6061

Additive friction stir deposition (AFSD) is a rapidly developing solid-state additive manufacturing (AM) technology that enables the fabrication of customized products on a relatively large scale. The unique forge-liked process offers high quality products with refined equiaxed microstructure and exceptional mechanical performance. However, in AFSD, the spatially distributed mechanical properties within a deposited layer have not been established so far, due to the lack of a suitable large-scale mapping method. In the present work, an ultrasonic dynamic-elasticity mapping method was employed to map the distribution of physical properties in a AFSD 6061 Al. Strong spatial asymmetries in elastographies were mainly due to the residual stresses. The origin of the asymmetries was investigated through thermo-mechanical simulations of the AFSD process. It was observed that majority of the asymmetries were associated with the mechanical residual stresses instead of the symmetric thermal residual stresses during linear deposition of the AFSD process. However, the thermal residual stresses can be manipulated to become asymmetric with a 90° turn in the linear deposition path, due to the difference between the levels of cooling along the edges of the inner and outer corners. Hence, the mechanical and thermo-mechanical residual stresses can be additive or subtractive depending on the direction of the turns. Here, such numerically predicted behaviors were also experimentally observed on the AFSD fabricated samples by ultrasonic elastography. Furthermore, additional preliminary studies on multi-layer AFSD fabrications show the asymmetric mechanical stresses generated during the deposition process on different layers generate constructive or destructive interference which results to spatially variable dynamic bulk modulus depending on the deposition orientations of layers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Therapeutic recombinant protein production in plants: Challenges and opportunities

Societal Impact Statement Therapeutic protein production in plants is an area of great potential for increasing and improving the production of proteins for the treatment or prevention of disease in humans and other animals. There are a number of key benefits of this technique for scientists and society, as well as regulatory challenges that need to be overcome by policymakers. Increased public understanding of the costs and benefits of therapeutic protein production in plants will be instrumental in increasing the acceptance, and thus the medical and veterinary impact, of this approach. Summary Therapeutic recombinant proteins are a powerful tool for combating many diseases which have previously been hard to treat. The most utilized expression systems are Chinese Hamster Ovary cells and Escherichia coli , but all available expression systems have strengths and weaknesses regarding development time, cost, protein size, yield, growth conditions, posttranslational modifications and regulatory approval. The plant industry is well established and growing and harvesting crops is easy and affordable using current infrastructure. Growth conditions are generally simple: sunlight, water, and the addition of cheap, available fertilizers. There are multiple options for plant expression systems, including species, genetic constructs and protein targeting, each best suited to a particular type of therapeutic protein production. Transient expression systems provide a mechanism to rapidly transfect plants and produce therapeutic protein in a matter of weeks, rather than the months it can take for many competing expression systems, while proteins targeted to cereal seeds can be harvested, stored and potentially purified much more easily than in competing systems. Current challenges for plant expression systems include a lack of regulatory approval, environmental containment concerns and nonhuman glycosylation, which may limit the scope of the type of therapeutic proteins that can be manufactured in plants. The specific strengths of plant expression systems could facilitate the production of certain therapeutic proteins quickly and cheaply in the near future.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Fractional corresponding operator in quantum mechanics and applications: A uniform fractional Schrödinger equation in form and fractional quantization methods

In this paper we use Dirac function to construct a fractional operator called fractional corresponding operator, which is the general form of momentum corresponding operator. Then we give a judging theorem for this operator and with this judging theorem we prove that R–L, G–L, Caputo, Riesz fractional derivative operator and fractional derivative operator based on generalized functions, which are the most popular ones, coincide with the fractional corresponding operator. As a typical application, we use the fractional corresponding operator to construct a new fractional quantization scheme and then derive a uniform fractional Schrödinger equation in form. Additionally, we find that the five forms of fractional Schrödinger equation belong to the particular cases. As another main result of this paper, we use fractional corresponding operator to generalize fractional quantization scheme by using Lévy path integral and use it to derive the corresponding general form of fractional Schrödinger equation, which consequently proves that these two quantization schemes are equivalent. Meanwhile, relations between the theory in fractional quantum mechanics and that in classic quantum mechanics are also discussed. As a physical example, we consider a particle in an infinite potential well. We give its wave functions and energy spectrums in two ways and find that both results are the same.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

A new model to study cell-to-cell transfer of αSynuclein in vivo

Highlights: • Parkinson's disease involved the loss of dopaminergic neurons associated with the accumulation of misfolded alpha-synuclein. • The neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease spread through the brain by the transfer of alpha-synuclein from cell to cell. • The mechanisms involved alpha-synuclein secretion, uptake and spreading are not well understood. • In this study we developed a new model to monitor cell-to-cell transfer of alpha-Synuclein in vivo. Parkinson's disease (PD) compromises motor control due to the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. At the histopathological level, PD is characterized by the accumulation of Lewy bodies, large protein inclusions containing aggregated αSynuclein (αSyn). The progression of PD involves the spreading of αSyn misfolding through the brain mediated by a prion-like mechanism, where the protein is transferred between cells. Here we report that αSyn internalization is a dynamic process, where the protein transits through different sub-cellular compartments. Importantly, cells incorporating αSyn develop larger protein-like inclusions when compared to αSyn producing cells. We developed a new tool to monitor cell-to-cell transfer of αSyn in vivo using an adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector expressing αSyn fused to a red fluorescent protein in addition to soluble EGFP to label donor cells. Intra-nigral delivery of this reporter AAV construct allowed the visualization of αSyn incorporation into surrounding neurons. This work provides a new tool to study αSyn cell-to-cell transfer in vivo and may open new opportunities to study PD pathogenesis.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Developing a circularly permuted variant of Renilla luciferase as a bioluminescent sensor for measuring Caspase-9 activity in the cell-free and cell-based systems

Highlights: • A luciferase based biosensor for measuring caspase-9 activity has been constructed using circular permutation strategy. • The designed biosensor detects the caspase-9 activity in a cell-free coupled assay system. • The designed biosensor can be implemented as a cell-based biosensor to detect cellular caspase-9 activity and apoptosis. Biosensors and whole cell biosensors consisting of biological molecules and living cells can sense a special stimulus on a living system and convert it to a measurable signal. A major group of them are the bioluminescent sensors derived from luciferases. This type of biosensors has a broad application in molecular biology and imaging systems. In this project, a luciferase-based biosensor for detecting and measuring caspase-9 activity is designed and constructed using the circular permutation strategy. The spectroscopic method results reveal changes in the biosensor structure. Additionally, its activity is examined in a cell-free coupled assay system. Afterward, the biosensor is utilized for measuring the cellular caspase-9 activity upon apoptosis induction in a cancer cell line. In following the gene of biosensor is sub-cloned into a eukaryotic vector and transfected to HEK293T cell line and then its activity is measured upon apoptosis induction in the presence and absence of a caspase-9 inhibitor. The obtained results show that the designed biosensor detects the caspase-9 activity in the cell-free and cell-based systems.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Orbital-enriched flat-top partition of unity method for the Schrödinger eigenproblem

Quantum mechanical calculations require the repeated solution of a Schrödinger equation for the wavefunctions of the system, from which materials properties follow. Recent work has shown the effectiveness of enriched finite element type Galerkin methods at significantly reducing the degrees of freedom required to obtain accurate solutions. However, time to solution has been adversely affected by the need to solve a generalized rather than standard eigenvalue problem and the ill-conditioning of associated system matrices. In this work, we address both issues by proposing a stable and efficient orbital-enriched partition of unity method to solve the Schrödinger boundary-value problem in a parallelepiped unit cell subject to Bloch-periodic boundary conditions. In the proposed partition of unity method, the three-dimensional domain is covered by overlapping patches, with a compactly-supported weight function associated with each patch. A key ingredient in our approach is the use of non-negative weight functions that possess the flat-top property, i.e., each weight function is identically equal to unity over some finite subset of its support. This flat-top property provides a pathway to devise a stable approximation over the whole domain. On each patch, we use $p$th degree orthogonal (Legendre) polynomials that ensure $p$th order completeness, and in addition include eigenfunctions of the radial Schrödinger equation. Furthermore, we adopt a variational lumping approach to construct a (block-)diagonal overlap matrix that yields a standard eigenvalue problem for which there exist efficient eigensolvers. The accuracy, stability, and efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated for the Schrödinger equation with a harmonic potential as well as a localized Gaussian potential. In conclusion, we show that the proposed approach delivers optimal rates of convergence in the energy, and the use of orbital enrichment significantly reduces the number of degrees of freedom for a given desired accuracy in the energy eigenvalues while the stability of the enriched approach is fully maintained.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Regional surrogates for predictive control of digital twins

Digital twins of complex systems must involve a model that is fast, generalizable, and usable for real-time control. For example, high-fidelity nonlinear multiphysics simulations can capture laser-material interactions, but are too slow for optimization or model predictive control (MPC). Reduced-order models, used to accelerate such computation, frequently fail to generalize to unseen inputs or control states. We show theoretically that this failure is intrinsic, i.e., that a learned model is non-unique outside the sampled subspace when its low-rank structure arises from limited excitation and clustered eigenvalues, rather than from a user-imposed truncation alone. Motivated by this result, we propose a control-ready regional surrogate-construction framework for both autonomous and nonautonomous dynamics; it employs Koopman lifting to represent nonlinearities, while preserving spatial locality. We illustrate our approach by constructing a control-ready surrogate for the digital twin of a thermal component of additive-manufacturing process. Our surrogate, localized in space through a von Neumann stencil, is learned from noisy high-fidelity simulations that emulate thermal-camera images collected during the manufacturing. It is linear in thermo-physically augmented states so that MPC reduces to a convex quadratic program. The surrogate requires no online correction, generalizes to unseen scan paths and power profiles of the laser, and is more than three orders of magnitude faster than a finite-difference solver. Furthermore, when the MPC sequence computed on the digital twin is applied to this solver, closed-loop temperature regulation is recovered, showing that the surrogate preserves control-relevant input-output behavior.

Data-driven model↗
DOE OSTI2017

Order–Disorder Transitions and Superionic Conductivity in the Sodium nido -Undeca(carba)borates

The salt compounds NaB 11 H 14 , Na-7-CB10H13, Li-7-CB 10 H 13 , Na-7,8-C 2 B 9 H 12 , and Na-7,9-C 2 B 9 H 12 all contain geometrically similar, monocharged, nido-undeca(carba)borate anions (i.e., truncated icosohedral-shaped clusters constructed of only 11 instead of 12 {B-H} + {C-H} vertices and an additional number of compensating bridging and/or terminal H atoms). We used first-principles calculations, X-ray powder diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, neutron vibrational spectroscopy, neutron elastic-scattering fixed-window scans, quasielastic neutron scattering, and electrochemical impedance measurements to investigate their structures, bonding potentials, phase-transition behaviors, anion orientational mobilities, and ionic conductivities compared to those of their closo-poly(carba)borate cousins. All exhibited order-disorder phase transitions somewhere between room temperature and 375 K. All disordered phases appear to possess highly reorientationally mobile anions (> ~10 10 jumps s -1 above 300 K) and cation-vacancy-rich, close-packed or body-center-cubic-packed structures [like previously investigated closo-poly(carba)borates]. Moreover, all disordered phases display superionic conductivities but with generally somewhat lower values compared to those for the related sodium and lithium salts with similar monocharged 1-CB 9 H 10 - and CB 11 H 12 - closo-carbaborate anions. This study significantly expands the known toolkit of solid-state, poly(carba)borate-based salts capable of superionic conductivities and provides valuable insights into the effect of crystal lattice, unit cell volume, number of carbon atoms incorporated into the anion, and charge polarization on ionic conductivity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Deep Understanding of Strong Metal Interface Confinement: A Journey of Pd/FeO x Catalysts

Tuning the atomic interface configuration of noble metals (NMs) and transition-metal oxides is an effective straightforward yet challenging strategy to modulate the activity and stability of heterogeneous catalysts. Herein, Pd supported on mesoporous Fe 2 O 3 with a high specific surface area was rationally designed and chosen to construct the Pd/iron oxide interface. As a versatile model, the physicochemical environments of Pd nanoparticles (NPs) could be precisely controlled by taming the reduction temperature. The experimental and density functional theory calculation results unveiled that the catalyst in the support–metal interface confinement (SMIC) state showed significantly enhanced catalytic activity and sintering resistance for CO oxidation. The constructed Fe sites at the interfaces between FeO x overlayers and Pd NPs not only provided additional coordinative unsaturated ferrous sites for the adsorption and activation of O 2 , thereby facilitating the activation efficiency of O 2 , but also impressively changed the reaction pathway of CO oxidation. As a result, the catalyst followed the Pd/Fe dual-site mechanism instead of the classical Mars–van Krevelen mechanism. For the catalyst in the strong metal–support interaction (SMSI) state, its catalytic activity was seriously suppressed because of the excessive encapsulation of the active Pd sites by FeO x overlayers. Thus, the present study therefore provides detailed insights into the SMIC and SMSI in ferric oxide-supported Pd catalysts, which could guide the preparation of highly efficient supported catalysts for practical applications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Historical and Future Global Irrigation Energy Consumption by Fuel and Region

Irrigation energy use is a significant component of agricultural production costs, contributing directly to the energy and emissions intensity of crop production and ultimately to food prices. Understanding the existing structure of irrigation energy consumption help achieve food-energy-water security and environmental goals. We present a comprehensive global data set detailing country-level irrigation energy consumption, emphasizing the comparative use of electric, diesel, and emerging solar pumps. To our knowledge, no such data set exists. We draw from a literature review to develop a logistic transformed regression model to estimate the shares of fuel sources for irrigation across countries over historical years to construct a global data set of country-level irrigation energy consumption by multiple fuel sources. Additionally, we compare our estimates of irrigation energy use with agricultural energy use as reported by the International Energy Agency and other external sources. We then use this data to project future irrigation energy use with the Global Change Analysis Model, which is a multisector dynamics model, to showcase the usage of this data set. Projections under the reference scenario show a global shift in fuel types for irrigation pumping, while patterns vary across regions, with India and Pakistan leading in solar-powered irrigation growth and countries like the USA and China continuing to rely primarily on grid electricity. This data set provides a resource to understand the role of irrigation fuel choices within the broader energy sector, as well as the connected agricultural, land use, and water sectors under alternative future scenarios, enabling informed decision making toward efficient agricultural practices.

Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM)↗
DOE OSTI2016

Palladium/N-heterocyclic carbene catalysed regio and diastereoselective reaction of ketones with allyl reagents via inner-sphere mechanism

The palladium-catalysed allylic substitution reaction is one of the most important reactions in transition-metal catalysis and has been well-studied in the past decades. Most of the reactions proceed through an outer-sphere mechanism, affording linear products when monosubstituted allyl reagents are used. Here, we report an efficient Palladium-catalysed protocol for reactions of beta-substituted ketones with monosubstituted allyl substrates, simply by using N-heterocyclic carbene as ligand, leading to branched products with up to three contiguous stereocentres in a ( syn, anti )-mode with excellent regio and diastereoselectivities. The scope of the protocol in organic synthesis has been examined preliminarily. As a result, mechanistic studies by both experiments and density functional theory ( DFT) calculations reveal that the reaction proceeds via an inner-sphere mechanism-nucleophilic attack of enolate oxygen on Palladium followed by C-C bond-forming [3,3']-reductive elimination.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Bilinear covariants and spinor fields duality in quantum Clifford algebras

Classification of quantum spinor fields according to quantum bilinear covariants is introduced in a context of quantum Clifford algebras on Minkowski spacetime. Once the bilinear covariants are expressed in terms of algebraic spinor fields, the duality between spinor and quantum spinor fields can be discussed. Thus, by endowing the underlying spacetime with an arbitrary bilinear form with an antisymmetric part in addition to a symmetric spacetime metric, quantum algebraic spinor fields and deformed bilinear covariants can be constructed. They are thus compared to the classical (non quantum) ones. Classes of quantum spinor fields classes are introduced and compared with Lounesto's spinor field classification. A physical interpretation of the deformed parts and the underlying Z-grading is proposed. The existence of an arbitrary bilinear form endowing the spacetime already has been explored in the literature in the context of quantum gravity [S. W. Hawking, “The unpredictability of quantum gravity,” Commun. Math. Phys. 87, 395 (1982)]. Here, it is shown further to play a prominent role in the structure of Dirac, Weyl, and Majorana spinor fields, besides the most general flagpoles and flag-dipoles. We introduce a new duality between the standard and the quantum spinor fields, by showing that when Clifford algebras over vector spaces endowed with an arbitrary bilinear form are taken into account, a mixture among the classes does occur. Consequently, novel features regarding the spinor fields can be derived.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Reliable clock estimation using linear weighted fusion based on pairwise broadcast synchronization

Clock synchronization in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has been studied extensively in recent years and many protocols are put forward based on the point of statistical signal processing, which is an effective way to optimize accuracy. However, the accuracy derived from the statistical data can be improved mainly by sufficient packets exchange, which will consume the limited power resources greatly. In this paper, a reliable clock estimation using linear weighted fusion based on pairwise broadcast synchronization is proposed to optimize sync accuracy without expending additional sync packets. As a contribution, a linear weighted fusion scheme for multiple clock deviations is constructed with the collaborative sensing of clock timestamp. And the fusion weight is defined by the covariance of sync errors for different clock deviations. Extensive simulation results show that the proposed approach can achieve better performance in terms of sync overhead and sync accuracy.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

CMB spectral distortions as solutions to the Boltzmann equations

We propose to re-interpret the cosmic microwave background spectral distortions as solutions to the Boltzmann equation. This approach makes it possible to solve the second order Boltzmann equation explicitly, with the spectral y distortion and the momentum independent second order temperature perturbation, while generation of μ distortion cannot be explained even at second order in this framework. We also extend our method to higher order Boltzmann equations systematically and find new type spectral distortions, assuming that the collision term is linear in the photon distribution functions, namely, in the Thomson scattering limit. As an example, we concretely construct solutions to the cubic order Boltzmann equation and show that the equations are closed with additional three parameters composed of a cubic order temperature perturbation and two cubic order spectral distortions. The linear Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect whose momentum dependence is different from the usual y distortion is also discussed in the presence of the next leading order Kompaneets terms, and we show that higher order spectral distortions are also generated as a result of the diffusion process in a framework of higher order Boltzmann equations. The method may be applicable to a wider class of problems and has potential to give a general prescription to non-equilibrium physics.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗