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At least 127 records · Page 7

Numerical discreteness errors in multispecies cosmological N -body simulations

ABSTRACT We present a detailed analysis of numerical discreteness errors in two-species, gravity-only, cosmological simulations using the density power spectrum as a diagnostic probe. In a simple set-up where both species are initialized with the same total matter transfer function, biased growth of power forms on small scales when the solver force resolution is finer than the mean interparticle separation. The artificial bias is more severe when individual density and velocity transfer functions are applied. In particular, significant large-scale offsets in power are measured between simulations with conventional offset grid initial conditions when compared against converged high-resolution results where the force resolution scale is matched to the interparticle separation. These offsets persist even when the cosmology is chosen so that the two particle species have the same mass, indicating that the error is sourced from discreteness in the total matter field as opposed to unequal particle mass. We further investigate two mitigation strategies to address discreteness errors: the frozen potential method and softened interspecies short-range forces. The former evolves particles under the approximately ‘frozen’ total matter potential in linear theory at early times, while the latter filters cross-species gravitational interactions on small scales in low-density regions. By modelling closer to the continuum limit, both mitigation strategies demonstrate considerable reductions in large-scale power spectrum offsets.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A permutationally invariant full-dimensional ab initio potential energy surface for the abstraction and exchange channels of the H + CH{sub 4} system

We report a permutationally invariant global potential energy surface (PES) for the H + CH{sub 4} system based on ∼63 000 data points calculated at a high ab initio level (UCCSD(T)-F12a/AVTZ) using the recently proposed permutation invariant polynomial-neural network method. The small fitting error (5.1 meV) indicates a faithful representation of the ab initio points over a large configuration space. The rate coefficients calculated on the PES using tunneling corrected transition-state theory and quasi-classical trajectory are found to agree well with the available experimental and previous quantum dynamical results. The calculated total reaction probabilities (J{sub tot} = 0) including the abstraction and exchange channels using the new potential by a reduced dimensional quantum dynamic method are essentially the same as those on the Xu-Chen-Zhang PES [Chin. J. Chem. Phys. 27, 373 (2014)].

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

SU-E-J-172: Bio-Physical Effects of Patients Set-Up Errors According to Whole Breast Irradiation Techniques

Purpose: The dose-related effects of patient setup errors on biophysical indices were evaluated for conventional wedge (CW) and field-in-field (FIF) whole breast irradiation techniques. Methods: The treatment plans for 10 patients receiving whole left breast irradiation were retrospectively selected. Radiobiological and physical effects caused by dose variations were evaluated by shifting the isocenters and gantry angles of the treatment plans. Dose-volume histograms of the planning target volume (PTV), heart, and lungs were generated, and conformity index (CI), homogeneity index (HI), tumor control probability (TCP), and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) were determined. Results: For “isocenter shift plan” with posterior direction, the D95 of the PTV decreased by approximately 15% and the TCP of the PTV decreased by approximately 50% for the FIF technique and by 40% for the CW; however, the NTCPs of the lungs and heart increased by about 13% and 1%, respectively, for both techniques. Increasing the gantry angle decreased the TCPs of the PTV by 24.4% (CW) and by 34% (FIF). The NTCPs for the two techniques differed by only 3%. In case of CW, the CIs and HIs were much higher than that of the FIF in all cases. It had a significant difference between two techniques (p<0.01). According to our results, however, the FIF had more sensitive response by set up errors rather than CW in bio-physical aspects. Conclusions: The radiobiological-based analysis can detect significant dosimetric errors then, can provide a practical patient quality assurance method to guide the radiobiological and physical effects.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Distributed formation control with open-loop Nash strategy

In this paper, we investigate game theoretical multiagent formation control problem. The main challenge of this problem is how to enable local execution of game strategies, e.g., Nash equilibrium, which generally requires global information in the presence of communication topology among agents. Toward this, we first derive open-loop Nash equilibrium for agents minimizing formation error based performance indices and proceed to introduce a distributed estimation scheme to facilitate local implementation of the derived Nash strategies. In addition, a shrinking horizon control technique is integrated into the proposed scheme to handle unexpected state changes. Finally, the proposed scheme is fully distributed and ensures an ϵ-Nash equilibrium. An illustrative examples is presented to verify the effectiveness.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Optimal design of 3D borehole seismic arrays for microearthquake monitoring in anisotropic media during stimulations in the EGS collab project

Multiple U.S. national laboratories, universities and industrial collaborators are conducting collaborative research under the EGS Collab project supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, to understand the fracture creation and imaging during fracturing in enhanced geothermal systems. Microearthquake hypocenter locations and focal mechanisms are used to monitor hydraulic fracturing growth and characterization at the EGS Collab experimental site at the Sanford Underground Research Facility using seismic receivers in multiple monitoring wells. In this study, we develop a methodology for optimal design a 3D borehole seismic array for cost-effective seismic monitoring in anisotropic media using not only the relationship between receiver distributions and standard deviation errors of microearthquake hypocenter locations, but also that between receiver distributions and focal-mechanism inversion errors. Our results indicate that microearthquake hypocenter locations and focal mechanisms can be reasonably well reconstructed for the EGS Collab Experiment I using six monitoring wells, including four fracture-parallel monitoring wells and two orthogonal wells. Lastly, eight seismic receivers evenly distributed in four parallel monitoring wells or twelve receivers in all six monitoring wells are required for hypocenter location, and twelve receivers evenly distributed in six wells or sixteen receivers in four wells are needed for focal-mechanism inversion.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Quantum and quasi-classical dynamics of the OH + CO → H + CO{sub 2} reaction on a new permutationally invariant neural network potential energy surface

A permutationally invariant global potential energy surface for the HOCO system is reported by fitting a larger number of high-level ab initio points using the newly proposed permutation invariant polynomial-neural network method. The small fitting error (∼5 meV) indicates a faithful representation of the potential energy surface over a large configuration space. Full-dimensional quantum and quasi-classical trajectory studies of the title reaction were performed on this potential energy surface. While the results suggest that the differences between this and an earlier neural network fits are small, discrepancies with state-to-state experimental data remain significant.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

An improved back projection algorithm of ultrasound tomography

Binary logic back projection algorithm is improved in this work for the development of fast ultrasound tomography system with a better effect of image reconstruction. The new algorithm is characterized by an extra logical value ‘2’ and dual-threshold processing of collected raw data. To compare with the original algorithm, a numerical simulation was conducted by the verification of COMSOL simulations formerly, and then a set of ultrasonic tomography system is established to perform the experiments of one, two and three cylindrical objects. The object images are reconstructed through the inversion of signals matrix acquired by the transducer array after a preconditioning, while the corresponding spatial imaging errors can obviously indicate that the improved back projection method can achieve modified inversion effect.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Effects of electron viscosity on resonant layer responses to non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations

The resonant field penetration to magnetic islands is the central MHD mechanism of non-axisymmetric plasma responses in a tokamak such as disruptive locking or favorable ELM stabilization. The resonant field penetration can be induced by any non-ideal processes as manifested in the delicate balance under the generalized Ohm's law. Here, we show that the viscous effects by electrons are not ignorable in the field penetration unlike previous presumption, even if the electron viscosity is as small as the square root of its mass compared to the ions. It is clear that its effects become only bigger if the electron viscosity becomes anomalously large. The work strictly follows the three-field model in the linear regime targeting the prediction of the onset of the field penetration and successfully extending it with electron viscosity and identifying new regimes. The results also indicate that the error field thresholds become more strongly dependent on plasma density than ones predicted in the linear regimes without the electron viscosity, which is consistent with experimental observations and thus a significant implication.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

BULK FLOWS FROM GALAXY LUMINOSITIES: APPLICATION TO 2MASS REDSHIFT SURVEY AND FORECAST FOR NEXT-GENERATION DATA SETS

We present a simple method for measuring cosmological bulk flows from large redshift surveys, based on the apparent dimming or brightening of galaxies due to their peculiar motion. It is aimed at estimating bulk flows of cosmological volumes containing large numbers of galaxies. Constraints on the bulk flow are obtained by minimizing systematic variations in galaxy luminosities with respect to a reference luminosity function measured from the whole survey. This method offers two advantages over more popular bulk flow estimators: it is independent of error-prone distance indicators and of the poorly known galaxy bias. We apply the method to the Two Micron All Sky Survey redshift survey to measure the local bulk flows of spherical shells centered on the Milky Way (MW). The result is consistent with that obtained by Nusser and Davis using the SFI++ catalogue of Tully-Fisher distance indicators. We also make an assessment of the ability of the method to constrain bulk flows at larger redshifts (z = 0.1-0.5) from next-generation data sets. As a case study we consider the planned EUCLID survey. Using this method we will be able to measure a bulk motion of {approx}200 km s{sup -1} of 10{sup 6} galaxies with photometric redshifts, at the 3{sigma} level for both z {approx} 0.15 and z {approx} 0.5. Thus, the method will allow us to put strong constraints on dark energy models as well as alternative theories for structure formation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

SUBSTELLAR OBJECTS IN NEARBY YOUNG CLUSTERS. VII. THE SUBSTELLAR MASS FUNCTION REVISITED

The abundance of brown dwarfs (BDs) in young clusters is a diagnostic of star formation theory. Here we revisit the issue of determining the substellar initial mass function (IMF) based on a comparison between NGC 1333 and IC348, two clusters in the Perseus star-forming region. We derive their mass distributions for a range of model isochrones, varying distances, extinction laws, and ages with comprehensive assessments of the uncertainties. We find that the choice of isochrone and other parameters have significant effects on the results, thus we caution against comparing IMFs obtained using different approaches. For NGC 1333, we find that the star/BD ratio R is between 1.9 and 2.4 for all plausible scenarios, consistent with our previous work. For IC348, R is found to be between 2.9 and 4.0, suggesting that previous studies have overestimated this value. Thus the star-forming process generates about 2.5-5 substellar objects per 10 stars. The derived star/BD ratios correspond to a slope of the power-law mass function of α = 0.7-1.0 for the 0.03-1.0 M{sub ☉} mass range. The median mass in these clusters—the typical stellar mass—is between 0.13 and 0.30 M{sub ☉}. Assuming that NGC 1333 is at a shorter distance than IC348, we find a significant difference in the cumulative distribution of masses between the two clusters, resulting from an overabundance of very low mass objects in NGC 1333. Gaia astrometry will constrain the cluster distances better and will lead to a more definitive conclusion. Furthermore, the star/BD ratio is somewhat larger in IC348 compared with NGC 1333, although this difference is still within the margins of error. Our results indicate that environments with higher object density may produce a larger fraction of very low mass objects, in line with predictions for BD formation through gravitational fragmentation of filaments falling into a cluster potential.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dynamic State Estimation and Parameter Calibration of DFIG based on Ensemble Kalman Filter

With the growing interest in the application of wind energy, doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) plays an essential role in the industry nowadays. To deal with the increasing stochastic variations introduced by intermittent wind resource and responsive loads, dynamic state estimation (DSE) are introduced in any power system associated with DFIGs. However, sometimes this dynamic analysis canould not work because the parameters of DFIGs are not accurate enough. To solve the problem, an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) method is proposed for the state estimation and parameter calibration tasks. In this paper, a DFIG is modeled and implemented with the EnKF method. Sensitivity analysis is demonstrated regarding the measurement noise, initial state errors and parameter errors. The results indicate this EnKF method has a robust performance on the state estimation and parameter calibration of DFIGs.

Fan, Rui↗

Material Model Parameters Optimization in Liquid Mercury Target Dynamics Simulation With Machine Learning Surrogates

A pulsed spallation target is subjected to very short (∼0.7μs) but intense loads (23.3 kJ) from repeated proton pulses, which knock away neutrons from the mercury atoms’ nuclei for a wide range application in physics, engineering, medicine, petroleum exploration, biology, chemistry, etc. The effect of this pulsed loading on the stainless-steel target module which contains the flowing mercury target material is difficult to predict not only due to its short but intense explosive-like physical reaction, but also the nonlinear material behavior of the liquid mercury in the structure. Injecting small helium bubbles in the mercury has been an efficient method of mitigating the pressure wave at high power level stage. However, prediction of the resultant loading on the target is more difficult when helium gas is intentionally injected into the mercury. A 2-phase material model that incorporates the Rayleigh-Plesset (R-P) model is expected to address this complex multi-physics dynamics problem by including the bubble dynamics in the liquid mercury. A parameter sensitivity study was firstly employed to understand their impact on the simulation strains. The investigated parameters included E, μ, γ, σ, n, VFgas, and gas cumulative volume curve control parameters a and b. Verification and validation results from sparse polynomial expansions (SPE) method and directional Gaussian smoothing (DGS) optimization show that the surrogate model had training error of ∼7% and validation error of ∼15%, indicating that machine learning methods and surrogate models can help optimize the uncertain parameters in the complex 2-phase material model. This approach is expected to fill the knowledge gap between unknown liquid-gas mixture material model and measured vessel strain responses.

Lin, Lianshan↗

Correlation of free-response and receiver-operating-characteristic area-under-the-curve estimates: Results from independently conducted FROC/ROC studies in mammography

Purpose: From independently conducted free-response receiver operating characteristic (FROC) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) experiments, to study fixed-reader associations between three estimators: the area under the alternative FROC (AFROC) curve computed from FROC data, the area under the ROC curve computed from FROC highest rating data, and the area under the ROC curve computed from confidence-of-disease ratings. Methods: Two hundred mammograms, 100 of which were abnormal, were processed by two image-processing algorithms and interpreted by four radiologists under the FROC paradigm. From the FROC data, inferred-ROC data were derived, using the highest rating assumption. Eighteen months afterwards, the images were interpreted by the same radiologists under the conventional ROC paradigm; conventional-ROC data (in contrast to inferred-ROC data) were obtained. FROC and ROC (inferred, conventional) data were analyzed using the nonparametric area-under-the-curve (AUC), (AFROC and ROC curve, respectively). Pearson correlation was used to quantify the degree of association between the modality-specific AUC indices and standard errors were computed using the bootstrap-after-bootstrap method. The magnitude of the correlations was assessed by comparison with computed Obuchowski-Rockette fixed reader correlations. Results: Average Pearson correlations (with 95% confidence intervals in square brackets) were: Corr(FROC, inferred ROC) = 0.76[0.64, 0.84] > Corr(inferred ROC, conventional ROC) = 0.40[0.18, 0.58] > Corr (FROC, conventional ROC) = 0.32[0.16, 0.46]. Conclusions: Correlation between FROC and inferred-ROC data AUC estimates was high. Correlation between inferred- and conventional-ROC AUC was similar to the correlation between two modalities for a single reader using one estimation method, suggesting that the highest rating assumption might be questionable.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

2D/3D registration algorithm for lung brachytherapy

Purpose: A 2D/3D registration algorithm is proposed for registering orthogonal x-ray images with a diagnostic CT volume for high dose rate (HDR) lung brachytherapy. Methods: The algorithm utilizes a rigid registration model based on a pixel/voxel intensity matching approach. To achieve accurate registration, a robust similarity measure combining normalized mutual information, image gradient, and intensity difference was developed. The algorithm was validated using a simple body and anthropomorphic phantoms. Transfer catheters were placed inside the phantoms to simulate the unique image features observed during treatment. The algorithm sensitivity to various degrees of initial misregistration and to the presence of foreign objects, such as ECG leads, was evaluated. Results: The mean registration error was 2.2 and 1.9 mm for the simple body and anthropomorphic phantoms, respectively. The error was comparable to the interoperator catheter digitization error of 1.6 mm. Preliminary analysis of data acquired from four patients indicated a mean registration error of 4.2 mm. Conclusions: Results obtained using the proposed algorithm are clinically acceptable especially considering the complications normally encountered when imaging during lung HDR brachytherapy.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

SU-F-T-303: Quantification of MLC Positioning Accuracy in VMAT Delivery of Head and Neck Cancer Treatment

Purpose: Knowing MLC leaf positioning error over the course of treatment would be valuable for treatment planning, QA design, and patient safety. The objective of the current study was to quantify the MLC positioning accuracy for VMAT delivery of head and neck treatment plans. Methods: A total of 837 MLC log files were collected from 14 head and neck cancer patients undergoing full arc VMAT treatment on one Varian Trilogy machine. The actual and planned leaf gaps were extracted from the retrieved MLC log files. For a given patient, the leaf gap error percentage (LGEP), defined as the ratio of the actual leaf gap over the planned, was evaluated for each leaf pair at all the gantry angles recorded over the course of the treatment. Statistics describing the distribution of the largest LGEP (LLGEP) of the 60 leaf pairs including the maximum, minimum, mean, Kurtosis, and skewness were evaluated. Results: For the 14 studied patients, their PTV located at tonsil, base of tongue, larynx, supraglottis, nasal cavity, and thyroid gland with volume ranging from 72.0 cm{sup 3} to 602.0 cm{sup 3}. The identified LLGEP differed between patients. It ranged from 183.9% to 457.7% with a mean of 368.6%. For the majority of the patients, the LLGEP distributions peaked at non-zero positions and showed no obvious dependence on gantry rotations. Kurtosis and skewness, with minimum/maximum of 66.6/217.9 and 6.5/12.6, respectively, suggested relatively more peaked while right-skewed leaf error distribution pattern. Conclusion: The results indicate pattern of MLC leaf gap error differs between patients of lesion located at similar anatomic site. Understanding the systemic mechanisms underlying these observed error patterns necessitates examining more patient-specific plan parameters in a large patient cohort setting.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Measuring the efficiency of control rods in the RBMK critical assembly using a model of RKI-1 reactimeter

The efficiency of control rods of the RBMK critical assembly is measured in a series of experiments. The aim of measurements is to determine the characteristics of the model of an RKI-1 reactimeter. The RKI-1 reactimeter is intended for measuring the efficiency of control rods when, according to conditions of operation, the metrological certification of results of an experiment is required. Complications with the metrological certification of reactimeters arise owing to the fact that usually calculated corrections to the results of measurements are required. When the RKI-1 reactimeter is used, there is no need to introduce calculated corrections; the result of measurements is given with the indication of substantiated errors. In connection with this, the metrological certification of the results of measurements using the RKI-1 reactimeter is simplified.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

In-memory integration of existing software components for parallel adaptive unstructured mesh workflows

Unstructured mesh methods, like finite elements and finite volumes, support the effective analysis of complex physical behaviors modeled by partial differential equations over general threedimensional domains. The most reliable and efficient methods apply adaptive procedures with a-posteriori error estimators that indicate where and how the mesh is to be modified. Although adaptive meshes can have two to three orders of magnitude fewer elements than a more uniform mesh for the same level of accuracy, there are many complex simulations where the meshes required are so large that they can only be solved on massively parallel systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A Hindcast Approach to Diagnosing the Equatorial Pacific Cold Tongue SST Bias in CESM1

An ensemble seasonal hindcast approach is used to investigate the development of the equatorial Pacific Ocean cold sea surface temperature (SST) bias and its characteristic annual cycle in the Community Earth System Model, version 1 (CESM1). In observations, eastern equatorial Pacific SSTs exhibit a warm phase during boreal spring and a cold phase during late boreal summer–autumn. The CESM1 climatology shows a cold bias during both warm and cold phases. In our hindcasts, the cold bias during the cold phase develops in less than 6 months, whereas the cold bias during the warm phase takes longer to emerge. The fast-developing cold-phase cold bias is associated with too-strong vertical advection and easterly wind stress over the eastern equatorial region. The antecedent boreal summer easterly wind anomalies also appear in atmosphere-only simulations, indicating that the errors are intrinsic to the atmosphere component. For the slower-developing warm-phase cold bias, we find that the too-cold SSTs over the equatorial region are associated with a slowly evolving upward displacement of subsurface ocean zonal currents and isotherms that can be traced to the ocean component.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗