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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 1,351 records · Page 75
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Coupled nuclear–electronic decay dynamics of O2 inner valence excited states revealed by attosecond XUV wave-mixing spectroscopy

Multiple Rydberg series converging to the $O_2^+$ c $^{4}Σ^{-}_{u}$ state, accessed by 20-25 eV extreme ultraviolet (XUV) light, serve as important model systems for the competition between nuclear dissociation and electronic autoionization. The dynamics of the lowest member of these series, the $3sσ_g $ state around 21 eV, has been challenging to study owing to its ultra-short lifetime (<10 fs). Here, we apply transient wave-mixing spectroscopy with an attosecond XUV pulse to investigate the decay dynamics of this electronic state. Lifetimes of 5.8 ± 0.5 fs and 4.5 ± 0.7 fs at 95% confidence intervals are obtained for v = 0 and v = 1 vibrational levels of the 3s Rydberg state, respectively. A theoretical treatment of predissociation and electronic autoionization finds that these lifetimes are dominated by electronic autoionization. The strong dependence of the electronic autoionization rate on the internuclear distance because of two ionic decay channels that cross the 3s Rydberg state results in the different lifetimes of the two vibrational levels. The calculated lifetimes are highly sensitive to the location of the 3s potential with respect to the decay channels; by slight adjustment of the location, values of 6.2 and 5.0 fs are obtained computationally for the v = 0 and v = 1 levels, respectively, in good agreement with experiment. Overall, an intriguing picture of the coupled nuclear-electronic dynamics is revealed by attosecond XUV wave-mixing spectroscopy, indicating that the decay dynamics are not a simple competition between isolated autoionization and predissociation processes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Generation of lower hybrid and whistler waves by an ion velocity ring distribution

Using fully kinetic simulations in two and three spatial dimensions, we consider the generation and nonlinear evolution of lower hybrid waves produced by a cold ion ring velocity distribution in a low beta plasma. We show that the initial development of the instability is very similar in two and three dimensions and not significantly modified by electromagnetic effects, consistent with linear theory. At saturation, the level of electric field fluctuations is a small fraction of the background thermal energy; the electric field and corresponding density fluctuations consist of long, field-aligned striations. Energy extracted from the ring goes primarily into heating the background ions and the electrons at comparable rates. The initial growth and saturation of the magnetic components of the lower hybrid waves are related to the electric field components, consistent with linear theory. As the growing electric field fluctuations saturate, parallel propagating whistler waves develop by the interaction of two lower hybrid waves. At later times, these whistlers are replaced by longer wavelength, parallel propagating whistlers that grow through the decay of the lower hybrid fluctuations. Wave matching conditions demonstrate these conversion processes of lower hybrid waves to whistler waves. The conversion efficiency (=ratio of the whistler wave energy to the energy in the saturated lower hybrid waves) is computed and found to be significant ({approx}15%) for the parameters of the three-dimensional simulation (and even larger in the two-dimensional simulation), although when normalized in terms of the initial kinetic energy in the ring ions the overall efficiency is very small (<10{sup -4}). The results are compared with relevant linear and nonlinear theory.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Determination of electron and hole lifetimes of rutile and anatase TiO{sub 2} single crystals

The dynamical behavior of photoexcited states of TiO{sub 2} governs the activities of TiO{sub 2}-based solar cells and photocatalysts. We determined the lifetimes of photoexcited electrons and holes in rutile and anatase TiO{sub 2} single crystals by combining advantages of time-resolved photoluminescence, photoconductance, and transient absorption spectroscopy. Electrons and holes in rutile show exponential decays with the lifetime of a few tens of nanoseconds, while non-exponential decays are observed in anatase, indicating the presence of multiple carrier trapping processes. We revealed the generic features of the carrier recombination processes in rutile and anatase TiO{sub 2}.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2012

Compositional dependence of the 1.8 {mu}m emission properties of Tm{sup 3+} ions in silicate glass

The compositional dependence of the 1.8 {mu}m emission properties of Tm{sup 3+} ion-doped lead silicate glasses is investigated. Judd-Ofelt parameters are calculated and their variation with different glass modifier ions is obtained. The Judd-Ofelt parameters increase with decreased modifier ionic radius. A large spontaneous emission probability and a large emission cross-section are found to be related with the strength of the modifier ion. Fluorescence spectra are analyzed using rate equations and compared with recorded data. The results are very close, indicating the reliability of this method. Non-radiative probability is deduced by fitting the fluorescence decay curve; it becomes smaller with increased ionic field strength. Energy transfer processes are studied using the extended overlap integral method.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Comparison of two HPGe counting system used in activation studies for nuclear astrophysics

The activation method is a widely used technique to measure charged-particle induced cross sections for astrophys-ical applications. This two step technique is used for example to measure alpha-induced cross sections in γ-process related studies. The first step – in which a target is irradiated with a proton/alpha beam – is followed by the determination of the produced activity. Especially in p-process related studies in the heavier mass range, the produced radioactive nuclei decays mainly with electron-capture, resulting intense x-rays. The activity of the reaction products hence can be determine via the counting of these x-rays, and not only by counting the usually much weaker γ-rays. In this paper we compare the minimum detectable activity (MDA) of two High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors used for x- and γ-ray counting in activation experiments.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

period -1 encodes an ATP-dependent RNA helicase that influences nutritional compensation of the Neurospora circadian clock

Mutants in the period -1 ( prd­ -1) gene, characterized by a recessive allele, display a reduced growth rate and period lengthening of the developmental cycle controlled by the circadian clock. We refined the genetic location of prd­ -1 and used whole genome sequencing to find the mutation defining it, confirming the identity of prd­ -1 by rescuing the mutant circadian phenotype via transformation. PRD-1 is an RNA helicase whose orthologs, DDX5 and DDX17 in humans and Dbp2p in yeast, are implicated in various processes including transcriptional regulation, elongation, and termination, 23 ribosome biogenesis, and RNA decay. Although prd­ -1smutantssiois an ATP-dependent RNA helicase, member of a sub-family display a long period (~25 hrs) circadian developmental cycle, they interestingly display a wild type period when the core circadian oscillator is tracked using a frq -luciferase transcriptional fusion under conditions of limiting nutritional carbon; the core oscillator runs with a long period under glucose-sufficient conditions. Furthermore PRD-1 clearly impacts the circadian oscillator and is not only part of a metabolic oscillator ancillary to the core clock. PRD-1 is an essential protein and its expression is neither light-regulated nor clock-regulated. However, it is transiently induced by glucose; in the presence of sufficient glucose PRD-1 is in the nucleus until glucose runs out which elicits its disappearance from the nucleus. Because circadian period length is carbon concentration-dependent, prd­ -1 may be formally viewed as clock mutant with defective nutritional compensation of circadian period length.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

The hadronic origin of the hard gamma-ray spectrum from blazar 1ES 1101-232

The very hard γ-ray spectrum from distant blazars challenges the traditional synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model, which may indicate that there is a contribution from an additional high-energy component beyond the SSC emission. In this paper, we study the possible origin of the hard γ-ray spectrum from distant blazars. We develop a model to explain the hard γ-ray spectrum from blazar 1ES 1101-232. In the model, the optical and X-ray radiation would come from the synchrotron radiation of primary electrons and secondary pairs and the GeV emission would be produced by the SSC process, however, the hard γ-ray spectrum would originate from the decay of neutral pion produced through proton-photon interactions with the synchrotron radiation photons within the jet. Our model can explain the observed spectral energy distribution of 1ES 1101-232 well, especially the very hard γ-ray spectrum. However, our model requires a very large proton power to efficiently produce the γ-ray through proton-photon interactions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Effective action approach for preheating

Abstract We present a semiclassical non-perturbative approach for calculating the preheating process at the end of inflation. Our method involves integrating out the decayed particles within the path integral framework and subsequently determining world-line instanton solutions in the effective action. This enables us to obtain the effective action of the inflaton, with its imaginary part linked to the phenomenon of particle creation driven by coherent inflaton field oscillations. Additionally, we utilize the Bogoliubov transformation to investigate the evolution of particle density within the medium after multiple inflaton oscillations. We apply our approach to various final state particles, including scalar fields, tachyonic fields, and gauge fields. The non-perturbative approach provides analytical results for preheating that are in accord with previous methods.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2016

Measurement of scintillation and ionization yield with high-pressure gaseous mixtures of Xe and TMA for improved neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter searches

The gaseous Xenon(Xe) time projection chamber (TPC) is an attractive detector technique for neutrinoless double beta decay and WIMP dark matter searches. While it is less dense compared to Liquid Xe detectors, it has intrinsic advantages in tracking capability and better energy resolution. The performance of gaseous Xe can be further improved by molecular additives such as trimethylamine(TMA), which is expected to (1) cool down the ionization electrons, (2) convert Xe excitation energy to TMA ionizations through Penning transfer, and (3) produce scintillation and electroluminescence light in a more easily detectable wavelength (300 nm). In order to test the feasibility of the performance improvements with TMA, in this paper we made the first direct measurement of Penning and fluorescence transfer efficiency with gaseous mixtures of Xe and TMA. While we observed a Penning transfer efficiency up to ~35%, we found strong suppression of primary scintillation light with TMA. We also found that the primary scintillation light with Xe and TMA mixture can be well characterized by ~3% fluorescence transfer from Xe to TMA, with further suppression due to TMA self-quenching. No evidence of the scintillation light produced by recombination of TMA ions was found. This strong suppression of scintillation light makes dark matter searches quite challenging, while the possibility of improved neutrinoless double beta decay searches remains open. Finally, this work has been carried out within the context of the NEXT collaboration.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

Quantum speed limit for the out-of-time-ordered correlator from an open-system perspective

Scrambling, the delocalization of initially localized quantum information, is commonly characterized by the out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC). Employing the OTOC–Renyi-2 entropy theorem, we derive a quantum speed limit for the OTOC, which sets a lower bound for the rate with which information can be scrambled. This bound becomes particularly tractable by describing the scrambling of information in a closed quantum system as an effective decoherence process of an open system interacting with an environment. We prove that decay of the OTOC can be bounded by the strength of the system-environment coupling and two-point environmental correlation functions. We validate our analytic bound numerically using the nonintegrable transverse field Ising model. Furthermore, our results provide a universal and model-agnostic quantitative framework for understanding the dynamical limits of information spreading across quantum many-body physics, condensed matter systems, and engineered quantum platforms.

Fermions↗
DOE OSTI2011

Strategies for measurement-based quantum computation with cluster states transformed by stochastic local operations and classical communication

We examine cluster states transformed by stochastic local operations and classical communication, as a resource for deterministic universal computation driven strictly by projective measurements. We identify circumstances under which such states in one dimension constitute resources for random-length single-qubit rotations, in one case quasideterministically (N-U-N states) and in another probabilistically (B-U-B states). In contrast to the cluster states, the N-U-N states exhibit spin correlation functions that decay exponentially with distance, while the B-U-B states can be arbitrarily locally pure. A two-dimensional square N-U-N lattice is a universal resource for quasideterministic measurement-based quantum computation. Measurements on cubic B-U-B states yield two-dimensional cluster states with bond defects, whose connectivity exceeds the percolation threshold for a critical value of the local purity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Fluctuating and dissipative dynamics of dark solitons in quasicondensates

The fluctuating and dissipative dynamics of matter-wave dark solitons within harmonically trapped, partially condensed Bose gases is studied both numerically and analytically. A study of the stochastic Gross-Pitaevskii equation, which correctly accounts for density and phase fluctuations at finite temperatures, reveals dark-soliton decay times to be lognormally distributed at each temperature, thereby characterizing the previously predicted long-lived soliton trajectories within each ensemble of numerical realizations [S. P. Cockburn et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 174101 (2010)]. Expectation values for the average soliton lifetimes extracted from these distributions are found to agree well with both numerical and analytic predictions based upon the dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii model (with the same ab initio damping). Probing the regime for which 0.8 k{sub B}T<{mu}<1.6 k{sub B}T, we find average soliton lifetimes to scale with temperature as {tau}{approx}T{sup -4}, in agreement with predictions previously made for the low-temperature regime k{sub B}T<<{mu}. The model is also shown to capture the experimentally relevant decrease in the visibility of an oscillating soliton due to the presence of background fluctuations.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Search for B 0 → p Λ ¯ π – γ at Belle

We search for the charmless B 0 decay with final state particles p¯Λπ – γ using the full data sample that contains 772 × 10 6 BB¯ pairs collected at the Υ(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e + e – collider. Here, this decay is predicted to proceed predominantly via the b → sγ radiative penguin process with a high energy photon. No significant signal is found. As a result, we set an upper limit of 6.5 × 10 –7 for the branching fraction of B 0 → p¯Λπ – γ at the 90% confidence level.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Origin of the tentative AMS antihelium events

We demonstrate that the tentative detection of a few antihelium events with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on board the International Space Station can, in principle, be ascribed to the annihilation or decay of Galactic dark matter, when accounting for uncertainties in the coalescence process leading to the formation of antinuclei. We show that the predicted antiproton rate, assuming the antihelium events came from dark matter, is marginally consistent with AMS data, as is the antideuteron rate with current available constraints. We argue that a dark matter origin can be tested with better constraints on the coalescence process, better control of misidentified events, and with future antideuteron data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

TOF SIMS analysis and generation of white photoluminescence from strontium silicate codoped with europium and terbium

White light emitting terbium (Tb{sup 3+}) and europium (Eu{sup 3+}) codoped strontium silicate (Sr{sub 2}SiO{sub 4}) phosphors were prepared by a solid state reaction process. The structure, particle morphology, chemical composition, ion distribution, photoluminescence (PL), and decay characteristics of the phosphors were analyzed by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), and PL spectroscopy, respectively. The XRD data showed that our Sr{sub 2}SiO{sub 4} composed of two phases, namely, β-Sr{sub 2}SiO{sub 4} and α′-Sr{sub 2}SiO{sub 4}, and the α′-Sr{sub 2}SiO{sub 4} phase was more prominent than the β-Sr{sub 2}SiO{sub 4} phase. The SEM micrographs showed that the particles were agglomerated together and they did not have definite shapes. All ions (i.e., negative and positive) present in our materials were identified by TOF-SIMS. In addition, the chemical imaging performed with the TOF-SIMS demonstrated how the individual ions including the dopants (Eu{sup 3+} and Tb{sup 3+}) were distributed in the host lattice. White photoluminescence was observed when the Sr{sub 2}SiO{sub 4}:Tb{sup 3+}, Eu{sup 3+} phosphor was excited at 239 nm using a monochromatized xenon lamp as the excitation source. The phosphor exhibited fast decay lifetimes implying that it is not a good candidate for long afterglow applications.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Results of a higgs boson searches in the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the large hadron collider at energies 7 and 8 TeV

Recent achievements of the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider searching for a Higgs boson are summarized. A new particle with the mass of 125 GeV and properties expected for the Standard Model Higgs boson was discovered three years ago in these experiments in proton-proton collisions when analyzing part of the data taken at the centre-of-mass energies 7 TeV and 8 TeV in 2011 and 2012 year exposures. Today all the data are processed and fully analyzed. Experimental results of studies of individual Higgs boson decay channels as well as their combination to extract such properties as mass, signal strength, coupling constants, spin and parity are reviewed. All experimental results are found to be compatible with the Standard Model predictions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Exotic nuclei in astrophysics

Recently the academic community has marked several anniversaries connected with discoveries that played a significant role in the development of astrophysical investigations. The year 2009 was proclaimed by the United Nations the International Year of Astronomy. This was associated with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei’s discovery of the optical telescope, which marked the beginning of regular research in the field of astronomy. An important contribution to not only the development of physics of the microcosm, but also to the understanding of processes occurring in the Universe, was the discovery of the atomic nucleus made by E. Rutherford 100 years ago. Since then the investigations in the fields of physics of particles and atomic nuclei have helped to understand many processes in the microcosm. Exactly 80 years ago, K. Yanski used a radio-telescope in order to receive the radiation from cosmic objects for the first time, and at the present time this research area of physics is the most efficient method for studying the properties of the Universe. Finally, the April 12, 1961 (50 years ago) launching of the first sputnik into space with a human being onboard, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, marked the beginning of exploration of the Universe with the direct participation of man. All these achievements considerably extended our ideas about the Universe. This work is an attempt to present some problems on the evolution of the Universe: the nucleosynthesis and cosmochronology from the standpoint of physics of particles and nuclei, in particular with the use of the latest results, obtained by means of radioactive nuclear beams. The comparison is made between the processes taking place in the Universe and the mechanisms of formation and decay of nuclei, as well as of their interaction at different energies. Examples are given to show the capabilities of nuclear-physics methods for studying cosmic objects and properties of the Universe. The results of investigations in nuclear reactions, induced by radioactive nuclear beams, make it possible to analyze the nucleosynthesis scenario in the region of light elements in a new manner.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Beamdump facility at Jefferson Lab

The potential of the intense secondary muon, neutrino, and (hypothetical) light dark matter beams at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) is explored. These are produced in the high-power dumps with high-current electron beams. Light dark matter searches with the approved Beam Dump eXperiment (BDX) are driving the realization of a new underground vault behind Hall A that could be extended to a Beamdump Facility with little additional installations. High-energy muons created via the Bethe–Heitler process uniquely do not proceed through the more common pion production and decay channels. Several possible muon physics applications are highlighted. Neutrino detector technologies and experiments suitable for a beamdump facility are outlined.

Accelerator Physics↗