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At least 1,243 records · Page 69
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Strobed imaging as a method for the determination and diagnosis of local seeing

ABSTRACT The image quality budget of many telescopes can have substantial contributions from local seeing, both ‘mirror’ and ‘dome’, which arise from turbulence and temperature variations that are difficult to quantify, measure directly, and ameliorate. We describe a method to determine the ‘local’ seeing degradation due to wavefront perturbations within the final few metres of the optical path from celestial sources to the focal plane of a ground-based telescope, using the primary instrument and along the same path taken by light from celestial sources. The concept involves placing strobed emitters along the light path to produce images on the main focal plane that ‘freeze’ different realizations of index perturbations. This method has the advantage of measuring directly the image motion and scintillation imparted by the dynamic spatial and temporal structure of local perturbations in the index of refraction along the light path, with a clean separation from seeing induced in the atmosphere above the dome. The strobed-source approach allows for rapid image motion and scintillation to be measured directly on the focal plane, even for large-aperture telescopes with wide-field instruments and slow shutters, such as that being constructed for the Rubin Observatory. A conceptual design is presented that uses the ‘guider’ CCDs in the Rubin telescope focal plane to make local-seeing measurements on demand, perhaps even during science exposures.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

How well do local relations predict gas-phase metallicity gradients? Results from SDSS-IV MaNGA

ABSTRACT Gas-phase metallicity gradients in galaxies provide important clues to those galaxies’ formation histories. Using SDSS-IV MaNGA data, we previously demonstrated that gas metallicity gradients vary systematically and significantly across the galaxy mass–size plane: at stellar masses beyond approximately $10^{10}\, \mathrm{M_\odot }$, more extended galaxies display steeper gradients (in units of dex/Re) at a given stellar mass. Here, we set out to develop a physical interpretation of these findings by examining the ability of local ∼kpc-scale relations to predict the gradient behaviour along the mass–size plane. We find that local stellar mass surface density, when combined with total stellar mass, is sufficient to reproduce the overall mass–size trend in a qualitative sense. We further find that we can improve the predictions by correcting for residual trends relating to the recent star formation histories of star-forming regions. However, we find as well that the most extended galaxies display steeper average gradients than predicted, even after correcting for residual metallicity trends with other local parameters. From these results, we argue that gas-phase metallicity gradients can largely be understood in terms of known local relations, but we also discuss some possible physical causes of discrepant gradients.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

The local hole: a galaxy underdensity covering 90 per cent of sky to ≈200 Mpc

We investigate the ‘Local Hole’, an anomalous underdensity in the local galaxy environment, by extending our previous galaxy K-band number-redshift and number-magnitude counts to ≈90 per cent of the sky. Our redshift samples are taken from the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) and the 2M++ catalogues, limited to K < 11.5. We find that both surveys are in good agreement, showing an ≈21–22 per cent underdensity at z < 0.075 when compared to our homogeneous counts model that assumes the same luminosity function (LF) and other parameters as in our earlier papers. Using the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) for n(K) galaxy counts, we measure an underdensity relative to this model of 20±2 per cent at K < 11.5, which is consistent in both form and scale with the observed n(z) underdensity. To examine further the accuracy of the counts model, we compare its prediction for the fainter n(K) counts of the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We further compare these data with a model assuming the parameters of a previous study where little evidence for the Local Hole was found. At 13 < K < 16, we find a significantly better fit for our galaxy counts model, arguing for our higher LF normalization. Although our implied underdensity of ≈20 per cent means local measurements of the Hubble Constant have been overestimated by ≈3 per cent, such a scale of underdensity is in tension with a global ΛCDM cosmology at an ≈3σ level.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Cosmic Dawn (CoDa): the first radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of reionization and galaxy formation in the Local Universe

Cosmic reionization by starlight from early galaxies affected their evolution, thereby impacting reionization itself. Star formation suppression, for example, may explain the observed underabundance of Local Group dwarfs relative to N-body predictions for cold dark matter. Reionization modelling requires simulating volumes large enough [~ (100 Mpc) 3 ] to sample reionization ‘patchiness’, while resolving millions of galaxy sources above ~10 8 M ⊙ combining gravitational and gas dynamics with radiative transfer. Modelling the Local Group requires initial cosmological density fluctuations pre-selected to form the well-known structures of the Local Universe today. Cosmic Dawn (‘CoDa’) is the first such fully coupled, radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of reionization of the Local Universe. Our new hybrid CPU-GPU code, RAMSES-CUDATON, performs hundreds of radiative transfer and ionization rate-solver timesteps on the GPUs for each hydro-gravity timestep on the CPUs. CoDa simulated (91Mpc) 3 with 4096 3 particles and cells, to redshift 4.23, on ORNL supercomputer Titan, utilizing 8192 cores and 8192 GPUs. Global reionization ended slightly later than observed. However, a simple temporal rescaling which brings the evolution of ionized fraction into agreement with observations also reconciles ionizing flux density, cosmic star formation history, CMB electron scattering optical depth and galaxy UV luminosity function with their observed values. Photoionization heating suppressed the star formation of haloes below ~2 × 109 M ⊙ , decreasing the abundance of faint galaxies around M AB1600 = [-10, -12]. For most of reionization, star formation was dominated by haloes between 10 10 –10 11 M ⊙ , so low-mass halo suppression was not reflected by a distinct feature in the global star formation history. Intergalactic filaments display sheathed structures, with hot envelopes surrounding cooler cores, but do not self-shield, unlike regions denser than 100 $\langle$ρ$\rangle$.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2020

Locally adaptive activation functions with slope recovery for deep and physics-informed neural networks

Here we propose two approaches of locally adaptive activation functions namely, layer-wise and neuron-wise locally adaptive activation functions, which improve the performance of deep and physics-informed neural networks. The local adaptation of activation function is achieved by introducing a scalable parameter in each layer (layer-wise) and for every neuron (neuron-wise) separately, and then optimizing it using a variant of stochastic gradient descent algorithm. In order to further increase the training speed, an activation slope-based slope recovery term is added in the loss function, which further accelerates convergence, thereby reducing the training cost. On the theoretical side, we prove that in the proposed method, the gradient descent algorithms are not attracted to sub-optimal critical points or local minima under practical conditions on the initialization and learning rate, and that the gradient dynamics of the proposed method is not achievable by base methods with any (adaptive) learning rates. We further show that the adaptive activation methods accelerate the convergence by implicitly multiplying conditioning matrices to the gradient of the base method without any explicit computation of the conditioning matrix and the matrix–vector product. The different adaptive activation functions are shown to induce different implicit conditioning matrices. Furthermore, the proposed methods with the slope recovery are shown to accelerate the training process.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Low-Density Parity-Check Stabilizer Codes as Gapped Quantum Phases: Stability under Graph-Local Perturbations

We generalize the proof of stability of topological order, due to Bravyi, Hastings, and Michalakis, to stabilizer Hamiltonians corresponding to low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes without the restriction of geometric locality in Euclidean space. We consider Hamiltonians 𝐻 0 defined by ⟦𝑁,𝐾,𝑑⟧ LDPC codes, which obey certain topological quantum order conditions: (i) code distance 𝑑 ≥ 𝑐⁢log (𝑁), implying local indistinguishability of ground states, and (ii) a mild condition on local and global compatibility of ground states—these include good quantum LDPC codes and the toric code on a hyperbolic lattice, among others. We consider stability under weak perturbations that are quasilocal on the interaction graph defined by 𝐻 0 and that can be represented as sums of bounded-norm terms. As long as the local perturbation strength is smaller than a finite constant, we show that the perturbed Hamiltonian has well-defined spectral bands originating from the 𝑂⁡(1) smallest eigenvalues of 𝐻 0 . The band originating from the smallest eigenvalue has 2 𝐾 states, is separated from the rest of the spectrum by a finite energy gap, and has exponentially narrow bandwidth 𝛿 =𝐶⁢𝑁⁢𝑒 −Θ⁡(𝑑) , which is tighter than the best-known bounds even in the Euclidean case. We also obtain that the new ground-state subspace is related to the initial-code subspace by a quasilocal unitary, allowing one to relate their physical properties. Our proof uses an iterative procedure that performs successive rotations to eliminate non-frustration-free terms in the Hamiltonian. Our results extend to quantum Hamiltonians built from classical LDPC codes, which give rise to stable symmetry-breaking phases. These results show that LDPC codes very generally define stable gapped quantum phases, even in the non-Euclidean setting, initiating a systematic study of such phases of matter.

mathematical physics↗
DOE OSTI2026

Local Structural Coherence and Interfacial Charge Transfer in Cu 2 ⁢S/Mo⁢S 2 Heterostructure

Precise control over electronic coupling at nanoscale interfaces is critical for designing materials with tunable charge-transfer behavior and catalytic function. Heterostructures with locally coherent interfaces provide a platform for interrogating interfacial charge redistribution in coupled material systems. Here, we report Cu 2 ⁢S/Mo⁢S 2 heterostructures exhibiting nanoscale crystallographic alignment, which are synthesized through a rapid thermal transformation pathway. We employed electrochemical reduction reactions to probe interfacial charge transfer, revealing shifts in product distribution attributable to modified interfacial energetics, even in the absence of optimized catalytic performance. The observed formate Faradaic efficiency suggests that interfacial electronic modulation in the heterostructure shifts product selectivity towards formate, highlighting how interface-driven electronic modulation can direct reaction pathways and influence product selectivity. Optimizing catalyst loading, architecture, and reactor configuration will be critical for future improvement. Structural and compositional integrity were confirmed through powder x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Electron transfer between Cu 2 ⁢S and Mo⁢S 2 domains was further evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, while selected-area electron diffraction revealed local crystallographic alignment consistent with a local epitaxial relationship at the Cu 2 S/Mo⁢S 2 heterointerface. To illustrate the broader applicability of this approach, a Zn⁢S/Mo⁢S 2 heterostructure was also synthesized using the same microwave strategy, confirming the generalizability of interfacial engineering principles across metal sulfide-Mo⁢S 2 systems. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that controlled local epitaxial alignment serves as an effective design principle for tuning interfacial energetics and catalytic reactivity in complex heterostructure materials.

carbon capture & utilization↗
DOE OSTI2025

Local primordial non-Gaussian bias from time evolution

Primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) is a signature of fundamental physics in the early Universe that is probed by cosmological observations. Here, it is well known that the local type of PNG generates a strong signal in the two-point function of large-scale structure tracers, such as galaxies. This signal, often termed “scale-dependent bias” is a generic feature of modulation of gravitational structure formation by a large-scale mode. It is less well appreciated that the coefficient controlling this signal, b ϕ , is closely connected to the time evolution of the tracer number density. This correspondence between time evolution and local PNG can be simply explained for a universal tracer whose mass function only depends on peak height and, more generally, for nonuniversal tracers in the separate universe picture, which we validate in simulations. We also describe how to recover the bias of tracers subject to a survey selection function and perform a simple demonstration on simulated galaxies. Since the local PNG amplitude in n-point statistics ($f$ NL ) is largely degenerate with the coefficient b ϕ , this proof of concept study demonstrates that Galaxy survey data can allow for more optimal and robust extraction of local PNG information from upcoming surveys.

Sullivan, James M. [University of California, Berk↗
DOE OSTI2026

Generalized Hall conductivities in local commuting projector models: Generalized symmetries and protected surface modes

Hall conductivities are important characterizations of phases of matter. It is known that nonzero Hall conductivities are difficult to realize in local commuting projector lattice models due to no-go theorems in (2+1)⁢D. In this work we construct local commuting projector models in (2+1)⁢D and (3+1)⁢D with nonzero generalized Hall conductivities for ordinary and higher-form continuous symmetries on tensor product Hilbert space of finite local dimension. The model is given by a standard ℤ 𝑁 toric code, but the symmetries do not admit expression in terms of on-site charge operators. The symmetry do not have local charges or currents on the lattice in the absence of boundaries, but there is still a notion of Hall conductivities that coincide with the continuum field theories. We construct protected gapless boundaries of the lattice models using modified Villain formalism. The generalized Hall conductivities are computed by surface currents as well as bulk flux insertion and many-body Chern number.

Anomalies↗
DOE OSTI2025

Tunable pairing with local spin-dependent Rydberg molecule potentials in an atomic Fermi superfluid

We explore the energy spectrum and eigenstates of two-component atomic Fermi superfluids with tunable pairing interactions in the presence of spin-dependent ultralong-range Rydberg molecule (ULRM) potentials, within the Bogoliubov–de Gennes formalism. The attractive ULRM potentials lead to local-density accumulation, while their difference results in a local polarization potential and induces the in-gap Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) states whose energies lie below the bulk energy gap. A transition from equal population to population imbalance occurs as the pairing strength falls below a critical value, accompanied by the emergence of local Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO)–like states characterized by out-of-phase wave functions and lower energies compared to the YSR states. The negative contribution emanating from the FFLO-like states also causes a sign change in the gap function within the ULRM potentials. Depending on the Rydberg excitation, the transition towards population imbalance can be on either the BCS or the Bose-Einstein condensation side of the Fermi superfluid. Additionally, spin-polarized bound states arise along with oscillatory “clumpy states” to compensate for the local-density difference. Here, we discuss possible experimental realizations of the composite Rydberg-atom–Fermi-superfluid system.

Cold and ultracold molecules↗
DOE OSTI2011

Electromagnetic vacuum of complex media: Dipole emission versus light propagation, vacuum energy, and local field factors

We offer a unified approach to several phenomena related to the electromagnetic vacuum of a complex medium made of point electric dipoles. To this aim, we apply the linear response theory to the computation of the polarization field propagator and study the spectrum of vacuum fluctuations. The physical distinction among the local density of states which enter the spectra of light propagation, total dipole emission, coherent emission, total vacuum energy, and Schwinger-bulk energy is made clear. Analytical expressions for the spectrum of dipole emission and for the vacuum energy are derived. Their respective relations with the spectrum of external light and with the Schwinger-bulk energy are found. The light spectrum and the Schwinger-bulk energy are determined by the Dyson propagator. The emission spectrum and the total vacuum energy are determined by the polarization propagator. An exact relationship of proportionality between both propagators is found in terms of local field factors. A study of the nature of stimulated emission from a single dipole is carried out. Regarding coherent emission, it contains two components. A direct one which is transferred radiatively and directly from the emitter into the medium and whose spectrum is that of external light. And an indirect one which is radiated by induced dipoles. The induction is mediated by one (and only one) local field factor. Regarding the vacuum energy, we find that in addition to the Schwinger-bulk energy the vacuum energy of an effective medium contains local field contributions proportional to the resonant frequency and to the spectral line width.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Local-field correction in the strong-coupling regime

The influence of the local-field correction on the strong atom-field coupling regime are investigated using the real-cavity model. The atom is positioned at the center of a multilayer sphere. Three types of mirrors are considered: perfectly reflecting, Lorentz band gap, and Bragg-distributed ones, with special emphasis on experimental practicability. In particular, the influence of the local field on the spectral resonance lines, the Rabi oscillation frequency and decay rate, and the condition indicating the occurrence of the strong-coupling regime are studied in detail. It is shown that the local-field correction gives rise to a structureless plateau in the density of states of the electromagnetic field. The level of the plateau rises with increasing material density and/or absorption, which may eventually destroy the strong-coupling regime. The effect of the local field is especially pronounced at high-material densities due to direct energy transfer from the guest atom to the medium. At lower material density and/or absorption, variation of the material density does not seem to affect much the strong-coupling regime, except for a small shift in the resonance frequency.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Two-dimensional atom localization via spontaneous emission in a coherently driven five-level M-type atomic system

A scheme is proposed for two-dimensional atom localization in the subwavelength domain via controlled spontaneous emission. We consider a five-level M-type atomic system interacting with two orthogonal standing-wave laser fields and the vacuum of the radiation field. The interaction of the atom with space-dependent standing-wave fields can provide information about the position of the atom passing through, thus leading to atom localization. It is found that the localization is significantly improved due to the interference effect between the spontaneous decay channels and the dynamically induced quantum interference generated by the two standing-wave fields. By properly varying the system parameters, we can achieve high-precision and high-resolution atom localization.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Anderson localization of partially incoherent light

We study Anderson localization and propagation of partially spatially incoherent wavepackets in linear disordered potentials, motivated by the insight that interference phenomena resulting from multiple scattering are affected by the coherence of the waves. We find that localization is delayed by incoherence: the more incoherent the waves are, the longer they diffusively spread while propagating in the medium. However, if all the eigenmodes of the system are exponentially localized (as in one- and two-dimensional disordered systems), any partially incoherent wavepacket eventually exhibits localization with exponentially decaying tails, after sufficiently long propagation distances. Interestingly, we find that the asymptotic behavior of the incoherent beam is similar to that of a single instantaneous coherent realization of the beam.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Proposal for efficient two-dimensional atom localization using probe absorption in a microwave-driven four-level atomic system

The behavior of two-dimensional (2D) atom localization is explored by monitoring the probe absorption in a microwave-driven four-level atomic medium under the action of two orthogonal standing-wave fields. Because of the position-dependent atom-field interaction, the information about the position of the atom can be obtained via the absorption measurement of the weak probe field. It is found that the localization behavior is significantly improved due to the joint quantum interference induced by the standing-wave and microwave-driven fields. Most importantly, the atom can be localized at a particular position and the maximal probability of finding the atom in one period of the standing-wave fields reaches unity by properly adjusting the system parameters. The proposed scheme may provide a promising way to achieve high-precision and high-resolution 2D atom localization.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Matter-wave localization in a weakly perturbed optical lattice

By numerical solution and variational approximation of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we studied the localization of a noninteracting and weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate in a weakly perturbed optical lattice in one and three dimensions. The perturbation achieved through a weak delocalizing expulsive or a linear potential as well as a weak localizing harmonic potential removes the periodicity of the optical lattice and leads to localization. We also studied some dynamics of the localized state confirming its stability.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Asymptotically optimal data analysis for rejecting local realism

Reliable experimental demonstrations of violations of local realism are highly desirable for fundamental tests of quantum mechanics. One can quantify the violation witnessed by an experiment in terms of a statistical p value, which can be defined as the maximum probability according to local realism of a violation at least as high as that witnessed. Thus, high violation corresponds to small p value. We propose a prediction-based-ratio (PBR) analysis protocol whose p values are valid even if the prepared quantum state varies arbitrarily and local realistic models can depend on previous measurement settings and outcomes. It is therefore not subject to the memory loophole [J. Barrett et al., Phys. Rev. A 66, 042111 (2002)]. If the prepared state does not vary in time, the p values are asymptotically optimal. For comparison, we consider protocols derived from the number of standard deviations of violation of a Bell inequality and from martingale theory [R. Gill, e-print arXiv:quant-ph/0110137]. We find that the p values of the former can be too small and are therefore not statistically valid, while those derived from the latter are suboptimal. PBR p values do not require a predetermined Bell inequality and can be used to compare results from different tests of local realism independent of experimental details.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Effect of wave-function localization on the time delay in photoemission from surfaces

We investigate streaking time delays in the photoemission from a solid model surface as a function of the degree of localization of the initial-state wave functions. We consider a one-dimensional slab with lattice constant a{sub latt} of attractive Gaussian-shaped core potentials of width {sigma}. The parameter {sigma}/a{sub latt} thus controls the overlap between adjacent core potentials and localization of the electronic eigenfunctions on the lattice points. Small values of {sigma}/a{sub latt}<<1 yield lattice eigenfunctions that consist of localized atomic wave functions modulated by a ''Bloch-envelope'' function, while the eigenfunctions become delocalized for larger values of {sigma}/a{sub latt} > or approx 0.4. By numerically solving the time-dependent Schroedinger equation, we calculate photoemission spectra from which we deduce a characteristic bimodal shape of the band-averaged photoemission time delay: as the slab eigenfunctions become increasingly delocalized, the time delay quickly decreases near {sigma}/a{sub latt}=0.3 from relatively large values below {sigma}/a{sub latt}{approx}0.2 to much smaller delays above {sigma}/a{sub latt}{approx}0.4. This change in wave-function localization facilitates the interpretation of a recently measured apparent relative time delay between the photoemission from core and conduction-band levels of a tungsten surface.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗