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We present the results of a global QCD analysis of helicity parton distribution functions (PDFs) that includes the latest polarized W-lepton production data from the STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). This data allows the first extraction of a nonzero helicity light-quark sea asymmetry within a simultaneous global QCD analysis of unpolarized and helicity PDFs.
In this talk, we revisit inclusive DIS in the small x limit and derive a new factorization formula that accounts for leading powers in both Bjorken and Regge limits. In this semi-classical description, we obtain a new unintegrated gluon distribution which encompasses both the dipole operator and the gluon Parton Distribution Function with an explicit dependence on the longitudinal momentum fraction x.
The nuclear parton distribution functions (nPDFs) of gluons are known to be difficult to determine with fits of deep inelastic scattering (DIS) and Drell-Yan (DY) data alone. Therefore, the nCTEQ15 analysis of nuclear PDFs added inclusive neutral pion production data from RHIC to help in constraining the gluon. In this analysis, we present a new global analysis of nuclear PDFs based on a much larger set of single inclusive light hadron data from RHIC and the LHC. Using our new nCTEQ code (nCTEQ++) with an optimized version of INCNLO we study systematically the limitations of the theory and the impact of the fragmentation function uncertainty.
At the leading twist, the transversity distribution function, h^{q}_{1}(x) h 1 q ( x ) , where x x is the longitudinal momentum fraction of the proton carried by quark q q , encodes the transverse spin structure of the nucleon. Extraction of it is difficult because of its chiral-odd nature. In transversely polarized proton-proton collisions ( p^\uparrow p p ↑ p ), h_{1}^{q}(x) h 1 q ( x ) can be coupled with another chiral-odd partner, a spin-dependent fragmentation function (FF). The resulting asymmetries in hadron(s) azimuthal correlations directly probe h_{1}^{q}(x) h 1 q ( x ) . We report the measurement of correlation asymmetries for charged pion(s) in p^\uparrow p p ↑ p , through the Collins and the Interference FF channel.
The separation of the connected and disconnected sea partons, which were uncovered in the Euclidean path-integral formulation of the hadronic tensor, is accommodated with the CT18 parametrization of the global analysis of the parton distribution functions (PDFs). This is achieved with the help of the distinct small x x behaviors of these two sea parton components and the constraint from the lattice calculation of the ratio of the strange momentum fraction to that of the {\bar u} u ‾ or {\bar d} d ‾ in the disconnected insertion. This allows lattice calculations of separate flavors in both the connected and disconnected insertions to be directly compared with the global analysis results term by term.
Understanding the proton spin composition from the quarks and gluons spin polarization and their motion is important to test various kinds of sum rules and nonperturbative properties of hadrons. At the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), we collide longitudinally polarized proton beams and measure the double helicity asymmetry A_{LL} A L L , which is an important physical quantity for extracting the polarized parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the proton. Direct photon, jet and charged pion production are good channels to probe the gluon spin polarization inside the proton, with the ability to probe also the sign of the gluon spin. Direct photon production is the theoretically ``cleanest’’ channel, with little fragmentation contribution, but limited by statistics. On the other hand, jet and charged pion production have more statistics, but include more hard processes and hadronization effects. I will present the recent measurements of direct photon, jet and charged pion A_{LL} A L L s at PHENIX and show their complementary roles in extracting the gluon spin.
We present a new global QCD analysis of unpolarized parton distribution functions (PDFs) and nuclear effects including for the first time data from the SeaQuest and Marathon experiments in addition to high-energy weak-boson-production data from the Tevatron and Large Hadron Collider. Simultaneously extracting the PDFs and nuclear effects, we examine the impact of the SeaQuest and Marathon data on the light-quark sea asymmetry and the EMC ratios of deuterium, helium, and tritium.
While the unpolarized parton distribution functions of the valence quarks ( d d and u u ) are well determined from DIS experiments, the sea quark counterparts, \bar{d} d ‾ and \bar{u} u ‾ , are much less constrained, in particular, near the valence region. Measurements of W^+/W^- W + / W − production ratio in pp p p collider experiments, such as the STAR experiment at RHIC, can probe the \bar{d}/\bar{u} d ‾ / u ‾ ratio at a large Q^2 Q 2 set by the W W mass. These proceedings will discuss recent results of W W and Z Z cross-section measurements using the STAR pp p p collision data at a center-of-mass energy of \sqrt{s} = 500/510\;\mathrm{GeV} s = 500 / 510 G e V collected in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2017.
The research goal of this Early Career Research Program project is to advance the science of low temperature magnetized plasmas using first-principles kinetic, e.g., solving the Boltzmann equation, models. A better understanding of the plasma transport properties, such as electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity must be obtained to better control and design magnetized plasma sources. A key physical phenomenon in low-temperature magnetized plasmas is the self-organization of plasma flows, e.g., coherent plasma structures and transition between different discharge modes. Understanding the physics of coherent plasma structures has been identified as one of the four important frontier topics in a recent workshop by the Office of Fusion Energy Science. These self-emerging plasma patterns results from the nonlinear coupling between plasma constituents (ions, electrons, and neutral atoms), electromagnetic fields, and materials. The physics of low-temperature magnetized plasmas is particularly complex because (i) the collisionless instabilities affect collisional phenomena (ionization, transport, etc.) and vice versa and (ii) the presence of materials (sheath, electron injection, etc.) influences the bulk plasma properties in low-temperature plasma (LTP) devices. Computational models of these plasma flows remain challenging because the plasma density can vary several orders of magnitudes, a wide range of temporal and spatial scales must be resolved, the phenomena are inherently three-dimensional, and various physical processes, such as wall interaction, instabilities, inelastic collisions, etc., must be simultaneously and self-consistently taken into account. Understanding the fundamental transport mechanisms in cross-field configurations enables additional controllability of plasma properties and electron energy distribution functions (EEDFs).
The confinement of high energy "fast ions" is crucial for the success of magnetic fusion as a practical energy source. The research performed by UC Irvine on NSTX and NSTX-U provided new information about this important topic in the configuration known as a "spherical tokamak." Injected neutral beams provided the fast ions (also known as "beam ions"). There were five overarching goals of the research. One objective was to measure the confinement of beam ions in order to ascertain if they were accomplishing their desired purpose of transferring their energy to the bulk plasma. A second goal was to better understand instabilities that are driven unstable by the fast ions. A related goal was to use the similarities and differences between NSTX and the DIII-D conventional tokamak to better understand the fast-ion driven instabilities. A fourth goal was to develop new instruments to measure fast ions and techniques that facilitate analysis of the data. The fifth objective was to measure and understand acceleration of beam ions by RF waves. Much was accomplished in all of these five areas. In the first, it was shown that the large magnetic moment of the beam ions did not harm confinement but instabilities known as the "sawtooth" and "long-lived mode" do. In the second area, much attention was devoted to the fast-ion instabilities known as "Alfvén eigenmodes." In particular, Alfvén eigenmode "avalanches" can cause ~ 30% of the fast ions to be lost in a single explosive burst. The comparative studies with DIII-D showed that an instability discovered on NSTX is also important in conventional tokamaks. In the fourth category, several instruments were developed, a number of effects that complicate interpretation of the data were understood, and progress toward a new method to infer the fast-ion distribution function from the data was made. In the fifth category, the measured profile of accelerated fast ions was initially much broader than theoretical predictions but subsequent improvements in the theoretical modeling achieved good agreement with the data.
Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), as an easy and simple way of generation of non-thermal plasma, has found a number of applications in variuos fields. However, development of a homogeneous, or uniform, DBD that would operate at atmospheric pressure conditions in atmospheric air, would open a number of new applications in various fields from thin film coatings to plasma medicine. Unfortunately, at atmospheric pressure, a uniform DBD can be easily transformed into a filamentary dielectric DBD; therefore some serious issues arise, such as gas heating due to strong discharges in the random microdischarge channel and non-uniform energy distribution, which adversely affect applications. These issues traditionally are solved by the use of an appropriate working gas composition, an alternating current driving frequency, lowering of gas pressure, etc. The transitions between discharge modes in the same experimental conditions have been thoroughly investigated in nitrogen, rare gases and their mixtures with air and other gases. In many cases (for example, in plasma medicine), these methods, especially those related to gas composition and pressure, may not be applied in a convenient manner. Recent advances in pulsed power technology permitted application of much faster voltage rise times (including the subnanosecond range) and short (few nanoseconds) pulses, and revealed that uniform DBD can, in fact, be generated in atmospheric air. Such discharges are in the great interest for many applications, however to date there still little understanding of the mechanisms of their operation and characteristics. Currently, there is no adequate model of the uniform dielectric barrier discharge development in atmospheric air. Although extensive studies have been performed on understanding of the nature of the pulsed DBD uniformity, until now there is still little understanding of the mechanism of the DBD transition from the filamentary mode to uniform mode. One of the reasons for this is that development of streamers, and later – filaments, occurs on the sub-nanosecond and nanosecond time scales, and therefore requires imaging and other diagnostic techniques with corresponding speed of registration. Recently developed technologies allow such studies. Here we demonstrate that DBD uniformity strongly depends on applied electric field in the discharge gap. More specifically, the discharge uniformity may be achieved in the case when two conditions are satisfied: (1) stong overvoltage in the discharge gap (provided by fast rise times), when anode-directed streamers are formed, and (2) short pulse duration that prevents discharge overheating due to rising conductivity (current) which leads to formation of filaments. We show that by controlling the applied (global) electric field in ns-pulsed DBD, it is possible to control the uniformity of the discharge. In addition, this offers better control of the discharge chemistry due to local changes of electric fields and therefore electron energy distribution function.
The boundary regions of low-temperature plasmas are known to be susceptible to kinetic instabilities, which can affect the energies and fluxes of particles directed at the material boundary. For example, both the ion acoustic instability as well as an instability near the electron plasma frequency have been observed. Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation is a tool that, alongside experiments, can capture the effects these instabilities have on the particle distribution functions. Ultimately, simulations can determine under what conditions these effects are significant by comparing to theoretical predictions and explore conditions unamenable to experiments.
The objectives of this project were to develop new sample environments, measurement methodologies and associated modeling tools for characterizing the structural response to arbitrarily complex processing flows using small angle scattering, and to apply these new tools for understanding the fundamental physics governing the structuring of anisotropic particulate and polymeric materials under flow histories and conditions relevant to industrial processing flows. The research resulted in the development and implementation of a new sample environment, the fluidic four roll mill (FFoRM), for in situ small angle neutron and X-ray scattering (SANS/SAXS) measurements. These measurements are capable of generating large data sets that “fingerprint” how a complex fluid responds to a wide range of flow histories involving time variations in deformation type and rate. New modeling tools were developed to extract detailed microstructural information from such data sets, including orientation distribution functions and interparticle correlation functions, as well as reduced-order parametric descriptors of these high-dimensional functions that can be used to readily map, visualize and interpret a fluid’s structural response to its flow history. These new tools were applied to a range of model materials involving elongated particle suspensions in order to provide new insights into the physics of how flow couples with orientational and structural order in complex flows, particularly under non-dilute conditions for which no accurate theories currently exist. Using these investigations, we elucidated a number of new insights into the fundamental phenomena driving such process-structure-property relationships. These findings provide guidance for the further development of rheological models, and ultimately can inform the rational and model-based design of flow processes to achieve optimized orientational ordering that is key to the properties and function of a wide range of energy-relevant materials.
In this section, we describe a semi-nonlocal kinetic model for the electron heat flux. The model has no free parameters. It takes the more physically motivated approach of placing a limiter on the perturbation to the electron distribution function, rather than the usual ad-hoc limiter on the heat flux. If the kinetic model is fitted by a heat flux limiter model, we find that the higher value of f e = 0.15 is a much closer fit than other models with f e ≃ 0.02.
This campaign is a follow-up project to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility field campaign entitled Cloud Droplet Measurement System for TBS that was focused on integration of the Mesa Photonics' cloud droplet measurement system (CDMS) into the DOE ARM tethered balloon system (TBS) and its initial field testing at ARM’s Southern Great Plains (SGP) atmospheric observatory in February–March 2020. The CDMS performs in situ measurement of droplet size distribution function and droplet number density in clouds. These characteristics are important cloud microphysical properties that are critical input parameters for atmospheric models and are also useful for proper calibration and validation of performance of other atmospheric measurement instrumentation. The overall goals of this campaign were to deploy the CDMS on the DOE ARM TBS, test its compatibility with the TBS under relevant conditions, and perform a series of in-cloud measurements at the third ARM Mobile Facility (AMF3) at Oliktok Point, Alaska. The TBS flights were conducted on November 12–19, 2020.
This technical report documents the creation and implementation of verification tests for solid-element material models 11 through 19 available in DYNA3D/ParaDyn. The verification tests covered all aspects of each material model, except for the Weibull distribution functionality in material models 15 and 19. General test cases were created to verify the elastic and plastic behavior of the material models. Other additional tests were developed to examine the intricacies of each material model. Each test involved the use a kinematic load case and specification of material parameters necessary to activate corresponding features of the material model. The load cases prescribed the full time history of the kinematic motion for the solid elements, and these loads are independent of the material model or element formulation. When possible, closed form solutions were then derived for each verification test in a continuum setting. The DYNA3D simulations for each test were carried out over a unit time interval, t ϵ [0, 1], and the as implemented DYNA3D response was compared to the closed form solutions evaluated at discrete points in time. A relative error measure was determined for each test to justify the proper implementation of the material model. The relative errors comparing the DYNA3D solution to the analytical solution were, in general, on the order of machine precision except where noted. This signifies the proper implementation of solid-element material models 11-19. In the development of these verification tests, six bugs were found and fixed in the source code. Additionally, this work generated eighteen DYNA3D input decks and answer extraction scripts in the DYNA3D/ParaDyn Software Quality Assurance test suite, which are comprised of a total of 285 solid-element tests. Testing for each material model utilizes two input decks and answer extraction scripts, where one focuses on the linear elastic response and the other examines the inelastic and remaining functionalities of the material model. In total, this work added 285 individual verification test problems in the DYNA3D/ParaDyn test suite.
We investigated magnetic reconnection in the Earth’s magnetopause, magnetotail, and the bow shock, by means of fully kinetic simulations and analysis of space data obtained by NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. We elucidated signatures of particle energization in particle distribution functions in the vicinity of reconnection X-line, properties of reconnection in shock-driven turbulence, and wave excitations and nonlinear structures. We advanced the understanding of magnetic reconnection from the viewpoint of particle kinetics in the diffusion region.
Acceptance risk may be estimated using cumulative probability distribution functions applied to populations of measurands and test measurement values. “Simple acceptance” is a decision rule that sets the acceptance range of a test result equal to the tolerance range specification. While acceptance risk is comprised of both consumer risk and producer risk, this paper compares the effects of simple acceptance decision rules and guardbanding decision rules on consumer risk. Consumer risk is also known as the probability of false acceptance. The terms describe the risk of accepting test results as passing when the actual values exceed specification limits. False acceptance is only possible when the true value of a measurand is out of tolerance and the test result indicates that the measurand is within tolerance. Metrologists generally have some information about the test uncertainty regarding a specific acceptance test result. Along with a general lack of knowledge regarding the measurand population parameters, the complicated interplay between risk, dispersion, and central values generally prevents calibration laboratories from fully characterizing acceptance probabilities. Organizations that model the measurand populations can reduce consumer risk by avoiding certification of items whose measurand populations are not well centered. The models in this paper present a recurring trend: guardbanding reduces nonnegligible risks of false acceptance when compared to simple acceptance. However, guardbanding is not the most effective means of acceptance risk mitigation. Systematic characterization of measurand populations can provide the information a calibration laboratory needs to reliably control acceptance risk.