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At least 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Measurement of parity violation in electron–quark scattering

Symmetry permeates nature and is fundamental to all laws of physics. One example is parity (mirror) symmetry, which implies that flipping left and right does not change the laws of physics. Laws for electromagnetism, gravity and the subatomic strong force respect parity symmetry, but the subatomic weak force does not1, 2. Historically, parity violation in electron scattering has been important in establishing (and now testing) the standard model of particle physics. One particular set of quantities accessible through measurements of parity-violating electron scattering are the effective weak couplings C2q, sensitive to the quarks’ chirality preference when participating in the weak force, which have been measured directly3, 4 only once in the past 40 years. Here we report a measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in electron–quark scattering, which yields a determination of 2C2u-C2d (where u and d denote up and down quarks, respectively) with a precision increased by a factor of five relative to the earlier result. These results provide evidence with greater than 95 per cent confidence that the C2q couplings are non-zero, as predicted by the electroweak theory. They lead to constraints on new parity-violating interactions beyond the standard model, particularly those due to quark chirality. Whereas contemporary particle physics research is focused on high-energy colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider, our results provide specific chirality information on electroweak theory that is difficult to obtain at high energies. Our measurement is relatively free of ambiguity in its interpretation, and opens the door to even more precise measurements in the future.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Clean measurements of the nucleon axial-vector and free-neutron magnetic form factors

We discuss the feasibility of a weak charged current experiment using a low energy electron beam. A first goal is to measure the Q{sup 2} dependence of the axial-vector form factor g{sub a}(Q{sup 2}). It can be measured model-independently and as robustly as for electromagnetic form factors from typical electron scattering experiments, in contrast to the methods used so far to measure g{sub a}(Q{sup 2}). If g{sub a}(Q{sup 2}) follows a dipole form, the axial mass can be extracted with a better accuracy than the world data altogether. The most important detection equipment would be a segmented neutron detector with good momentum and angular resolution that is symmetric about the beam direction, and covers a moderate angular range. A high intensity beam (100 uA) is necessary. Beam polarization is highly desirable as it provides a clean measurement of the backgrounds. Beam energies between 70 and 110 MeV are ideal. This range would provide a Q{sup 2} mapping of g{sub a} between 0.01 <Q{sup 2}< 0.04 GeV{sup 2}. 60 days of beam can yield 14 data points with a subpercent statistical and point to point uncorrelated uncertainties on each point. Such an experiment may also allow to measure the free-neutron magnetic form factor G{sub M}{sup n}. The experiment employs the usual techniques of electron-nucleon scattering and presents no special difficulty. Higher energy extensions are possible. They could yield measurements of g{sub a}(Q{sup 2}) up to Q{sup 2}=3 GeV{sup 2} and the possibility to access other form factors, such as the almost unknown pseudoscalar form factor g{sub P}. However, the experiments become much more challenging as soon as beam energies pass the pion production threshold.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

In situ measurement of low-Z material coating thickness on high Z substrate for tokamaks

Rutherford backscattering of energetic particles can be used to determine the thickness of a coating of a low-Z material over a heavier substrate. Simulations indicate that 5 MeV alpha particles from an {sup 241}Am source can be used to measure the thickness of a Li coating on Mo tiles between 0.5 and 15 μm thick. Using a 0.1 mCi source, a thickness measurement can be accomplished in 2 h of counting. This technique could be used to measure any thin, low-Z material coating (up to 1 mg/cm{sup 2} thick) on a high-Z substrate, such as Be on W, B on Mo, or Li on Mo. By inserting a source and detector on a moveable probe, this technique could be used to provide an in situ measurement of the thickness of Li coating on NSTX-U Mo tiles. A test stand with an alpha source and an annular solid-state detector was used to investigate the measurable range of low-Z material thicknesses on Mo tiles.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Local measurement of thermal conductivity and diffusivity

Simultaneous measurement of local thermal diffusivity and conductivity is demonstrated on a range of ceramic samples. This was accomplished by measuring the temperature field spatial profile of samples excited by an amplitude modulated continuous wave laser beam. A thin gold film is applied to the samples to ensure strong optical absorption and to establish a second boundary condition that introduces an expression containing the substrate thermal conductivity. The diffusivity and conductivity are obtained by comparing the measured phase profile of the temperature field to a continuum based model. A sensitivity analysis is used to identify the optimal film thickness for extracting the both substrate conductivity and diffusivity. Proof of principle studies were conducted on a range of samples having thermal properties that are representatives of current and advanced accident tolerant nuclear fuels. It is shown that by including the Kapitza resistance as an additional fitting parameter, the measured conductivity and diffusivity of all the samples considered agreed closely with the literature values. A distinguishing feature of this technique is that it does not require a priori knowledge of the optical spot size which greatly increases measurement reliability and reproducibility.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Measuring the diffraction properties of an imaging quartz(211) crystal

A dual goniometer X-ray system was used to measure the reflectivity curve for a spherically bent quartz(211) crystal. An analysis of the dual goniometer instrument response function for the rocking curve width measurement was developed and tested against the actual measurements. The rocking curve was measured at 4510.8 eV using the Ti Kα1 characteristic spectral line. The crystal is the dispersion element for a high resolution spectrometer used for plasma studies. It was expected to have a very narrow rocking curve width. The analysis showed that we could measure the upper bound for the rocking curve width of the Qz(211) crystal. The upper bound was 58 μrad giving a lower bound for the instrument resolving power E/ΔE = 34 000. Greatly improved insight into the dual goniometer operation and its limitations was achieved.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Spatially resolved X-ray emission measurements of the residual velocity during the stagnation phase of inertial confinement fusion implosion experiments

A technique for measuring residual motion during the stagnation phase of an indirectly driven inertial confinement experiment has been implemented. This method infers a velocity from spatially and temporally resolved images of the X-ray emission from two orthogonal lines of sight. This work investigates the accuracy of recovering spatially resolved velocities from the X-ray emission data. A detailed analytical and numerical modeling of the X-ray emission measurement shows that the accuracy of this method increases as the displacement that results from a residual velocity increase. For the typical experimental configuration, signal-to-noise ratios, and duration of X-ray emission, it is estimated that the fractional error in the inferred velocity rises above 50% as the velocity of emission falls below 24 μm/ns. By inputting measured parameters into this model, error estimates of the residual velocity as inferred from the X-ray emission measurements are now able to be generated for experimental data. Details of this analysis are presented for an implosion experiment conducted with an unintentional radiation flux asymmetry. The analysis shows a bright localized region of emission that moves through the larger emitting volume at a relatively higher velocity towards the location of the imposed flux deficit. This technique allows for the possibility of spatially resolving velocity flows within the so-called central hot spot of an implosion. This information would help to refine our interpretation of the thermal temperature inferred from the neutron time of flight detectors and the effect of localized hydrodynamic instabilities during the stagnation phase. Across several experiments, along a single line of sight, the average difference in magnitude and direction of the measured residual velocity as inferred from the X-ray and neutron time of flight detectors was found to be ∼13 μm/ns and ∼14°, respectively.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

A MEASUREMENT OF SECONDARY COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND ANISOTROPIES FROM THE 2500 SQUARE-DEGREE SPT-SZ SURVEY

We present measurements of secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies and cosmic infrared background (CIB) fluctuations using data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) covering the complete 2540 deg{sup 2} SPT-SZ survey area. Data in the three SPT-SZ frequency bands centered at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, are used to produce six angular power spectra (three single-frequency auto-spectra and three cross-spectra) covering the multipole range 2000 < ℓ < 11, 000 (angular scales 5' ≳ θ ≳ 1'). These are the most precise measurements of the angular power spectra at ℓ > 2500 at these frequencies. The main contributors to the power spectra at these angular scales and frequencies are the primary CMB, CIB, thermal and kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects (tSZ and kSZ), and radio galaxies. We include a constraint on the tSZ power from a measurement of the tSZ bispectrum from 800 deg{sup 2} of the SPT-SZ survey. We measure the tSZ power at 143 GHz to be D{sub 3000}{sup tSZ}=4.08{sub −0.67}{sup +0.58} μK{sup 2} and the kSZ power to be D{sub 3000}{sup kSZ}=2.9±1.3 μK{sup 2}. The data prefer positive kSZ power at 98.1% CL. We measure a correlation coefficient of ξ=0.113{sub −0.054}{sup +0.057} between sources of tSZ and CIB power, with ξ < 0 disfavored at a confidence level of 99.0%. The constraint on kSZ power can be interpreted as an upper limit on the duration of reionization. When the post-reionization homogeneous kSZ signal is accounted for, we find an upper limit on the duration Δz < 5.4 at 95% CL.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Joint Measurement of Lensing-Galaxy Correlations Using SPT and DES SV Data

We measure the correlation of galaxy lensing and cosmic microwave background lensing with a set of galaxies expected to trace the matter density field. The measurements are performed using pre-survey Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification optical imaging data and millimeter-wave data from the 2500 square degree South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. The two lensing-galaxy correlations are jointly fit to extract constraints on cosmological parameters, constraints on the redshift distribution of the lens galaxies, and constraints on the absolute shear calibration of DES galaxy lensing measurements. We show that an attractive feature of these fits is that they are fairly insensitive to the clustering bias of the galaxies used as matter tracers. The measurement presented in this work confirms that DES and SPT data are consistent with each other and with the currently favored ΛCDM cosmological model. It also demonstrates that joint lensing-galaxy correlation measurement considered here contains a wealth of information that can be extracted using current and future surveys.

cosmic background radiation↗
DOE OSTI2015

Simultaneous measurement of forward-backward asymmetry and top polarization in dilepton final states from $t\bar t$ production at the Tevatron

We present a simultaneous measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry and the top-quark polarization in tt¯ production in dilepton final states using 9.7 fb –1 of proton-antiproton collisions at √s=1.96 TeV with the D0 detector. To reconstruct the distributions of kinematic observables we employ a matrix element technique that calculates the likelihood of the possible tt¯ kinematic configurations. After accounting for the presence of background events and for calibration effects, we obtain a forward-backward asymmetry of A tt¯ =(15.0±6.4(stat)±4.9(syst))% and a top-quark polarization times spin analyzing power in the beam basis of κP=(7.2±10.5(stat)±4.2(syst))%, with a correlation of –56% between the measurements. If we constrain the forward-backward asymmetry to its expected standard model value, we obtain a measurement of the top polarization of κP=(11.3±9.1(stat)±1.9(syst))%. If we constrain the top polarization to its expected standard model value, we measure a forward-backward asymmetry of A tt¯ =(17.5±5.6(stat)±3.1(syst))%. A combination with the D0 A tt¯ measurement in the lepton+jets final state yields an asymmetry of Att¯=(11.8±2.5(stat)±1.3(syst))%. Within their respective uncertainties, all these results are consistent with the standard model expectations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

The proton form factor measurements at Jefferson Lab, past and future

Use of the double-polarization technique to obtain the elastic nucleon form factors has resulted in a dramatic improvement of the quality of two of the four nucleon electromagnetic form factors, G{sub Ep} and G{sub En}. It has also changed our understanding of the proton structure, having resulted in a distinctly different Q{sup 2}-dependence for both G{sub Ep} and G{sub Mp}, contradicting the prevailing wisdom of the 1990’s based on cross section measurements, namely that G{sub Ep} and G{sub Mp} obey a “scaling” relation μG{sub Ep} ∼ G{sub Mp}. A related consequence of the faster decrease of G{sub Ep} revealed by the Jefferson Lab (JLab) polarization results was the disappearance of the early scaling F{sub 2}/F{sub 1} ∼ 1/Q{sup 2} predicted by perturbative QCD. In three experiments, GEp(1), GEp(2) and GEp(3), in Halls A and C at JLab, the ratio of the proton’s electromagnetic elastic form factors, G{sub Ep}/G{sub Mp}, was measured up to four momentum transfer Q{sup 2} of 8.5 GeV{sup 2} with high precision, using the recoil polarization technique. The initial discovery that the proton form factor ratio measured in these three experiments decreases approximately linearly with four-momentum transfer, Q{sup 2}, for values above ∼ 1 GeV{sup 2}, was modified by the GEp(3) results, which suggests a slowing down of this decrease. There is an approved experiment, GEp(5), to continue these measurements to 15 GeV{sup 2}. A dedicated experimental setup, the super bigbite spectrometer (SBS), will be built for this purpose. It will be equipped with a new focal plane polarimeter to measure the polarization of the recoil protons. In this presentation, I will review the status of the proton elastic electromagnetic form factors, mention succinctly a number of theoretical approaches to describe results and show some features required for the future GEp(5) experiment.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Measurement of the transverse momentum and Φ$*\atop{η}$ distributions of Drell–Yan lepton pairs in proton–proton collisions at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Distributions of transverse momentum p$ℓℓ\atop{T}$ and the related angular variable Φ$*\atop{η}$ of DrellΓÇôYan lepton pairs are measured in 20.3$\perp$áfb -1 of protonΓÇôproton collisions at √s=8$\perp$áTeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Measurements in electron-pair and muon-pair final states are corrected for detector effects and combined. Compared to previous measurements in protonΓÇôproton collisions at √s=7$\perp$áTeV, these new measurements benefit from a larger data sample and improved control of systematic uncertainties. Measurements are performed in bins of lepton-pair mass above, around and below the Z-boson mass peak. The data are compared to predictions from perturbative and resummed QCD calculations. For values of Φ$*\atop{η}$<1 the predictions from the Monte Carlo generator ResBos are generally consistent with the data within the theoretical uncertainties. However, at larger values of Φ$*\atop{η}$ this is not the case. Monte Carlo generators based on the parton-shower approach are unable to describe the data over the full range of pℓℓTpTℓℓ while the fixed-order prediction of Dynnlo falls below the data at high values of p$ℓℓ\atop{T}$ . ResBos and the parton-shower Monte Carlo generators provide a much better description of the evolution of the Φ$*\atop{η}$ and p$ℓℓ\atop{T}$ distributions as a function of lepton-pair mass and rapidity than the basic shape of the data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Determining the hubble constant from hubble parameter measurements

We use 28 measurements of the Hubble parameter, H(z), at intermediate redshifts 0.07⩽z⩽2.3 to determine the present-day Hubble constant H{sub 0} in four cosmological models. We measure H{sub 0}=68.3{sub −2.6}{sup +2.7},68.4{sub −3.3}{sup +2.9},65.0{sub −6.6}{sup +6.5}, and 67.9{sub −2.4}{sup +2.4} km s{sup −1} Mpc{sup −1} (1σ errors) in the ΛCDM (spatially flat and non-flat), ωCDM, and ϕCDM models, respectively. These measured H{sub 0} values are more consistent with the lower values determined from recent data on the cosmic microwave background and baryon acoustic oscillations, as well as with the value found from a median statistical analysis of Huchra’s compilation of H{sub 0} measurements, but include the higher local measurements of H{sub 0} within the 2σ confidence limits.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Measuring Alignments between Galaxies and the Cosmic Web at z ∼ 2–3 Using IGM Tomography

Many galaxy formation models predict alignments between galaxy spin and the cosmic web (i.e., directions of filaments and sheets), leading to an intrinsic alignment between galaxies that creates a systematic error in weak-lensing measurements. These effects are often predicted to be stronger at high redshifts (z ≳ 1) that are inaccessible to massive galaxy surveys on foreseeable instrumentation, but IGM tomography of the Lyα forest from closely spaced quasars and galaxies is starting to measure the z ∼ 2–3 cosmic web with requisite fidelity. Using mock surveys from hydrodynamical simulations, we examine the utility of this technique, in conjunction with coeval galaxy samples, to measure alignment between galaxies and the cosmic web at z ∼ 2.5. We show that IGM tomography surveys with ≲5 h {sup −1} Mpc sightline spacing can accurately recover the eigenvectors of the tidal tensor, which we use to define the directions of the cosmic web. For galaxy spins and shapes, we use a model parameterized by the alignment strength, Δ〈cos θ〉, with respect to the tidal tensor eigenvectors from the underlying density field, and also consider observational effects such as errors in the galaxy position angle, inclination, and redshift. Measurements using the upcoming ∼1 deg{sup 2} CLAMATO tomographic survey and 600 coeval zCOSMOS-Deep galaxies should place 3σ limits on extreme alignment models with Δ〈cos θ〉∼0.1, but much larger surveys encompassing >10,000 galaxies, such as Subaru PFS, will be required to constrain models with Δ〈cos θ〉∼0.03. These measurements will constrain models of galaxy–cosmic web alignment and test tidal torque theory at z ∼ 2, improving our understanding of the physics of intrinsic alignments.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2000

Shipboard Sunphotometer Measurements of Aerosol Optical Depth Spectra and Columnar Water Vapor During ACE-2 and Comparison with Selected Land, Ship, Aircraft, and Satellite Measurements

Analyses of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and colurnmn water vapor (CWV) measurements acquired with NASA Ames Research Center's 6-channel Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-6) operated aboard the R/V Professor Vodyanitskiy during the 2nd Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-2) are discussed. Data are compared with various in situ and remote measurements for selected cases. The focus is on 10 July, when the Pelican airplane flew within 70 km of the ship near the time of a NOAA-14/AVHRR satellite overpass and AOD measurements with the 14-channel Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-14) above the marine boundary layer (MBL) permitted calculation of AOD within the MBL from the AATS-6 measurements. A detailed column closure test is performed for MBL AOD on 10 July by comparing the AATS-6 MBL AODs with corresponding values calculated by combining shipboard particle size distribution measurements with models of hygroscopic growth and radiosonde humidity profiles (plus assumptions on the vertical profile of the dry particle size distribution and composition). Large differences (30-80% in the mid-visible) between measured and reconstructed AODs are obtained, in large part because of the high sensitivity of the closure methodology to hygroscopic growth models, which vary considerably and have not been validated over the necessary range of particle size/composition distributions. The wavelength dependence of AATS-6 AODs is compared with the corresponding dependence of aerosol extinction calculated from shipboard measurements of aerosol size distribution and of total scattering mearured by a shipboard integrating nephelometer for several days. Results are highly variable, illustrating further the great difficulty of deriving column values from point measurements. AATS-6 CWV values are shown to agree well with corresponding values derived from radiosonde measurements during 8 soundings on 7 days and also with values calculated from measurements taken on 10 July with the AATS-14 and the University of Washington Passive Humidigraph aboard the Pelican.

Livingston, John M.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Measurement of the Dielectric Constant of Seawater at L-Band: Techniques and Measurements

Satellite instruments, that will monitor salinity from space in the near future, require an accurate relationship between salinity/temperature and seawater dielectric constant. This paper will review measurements that were made of the dielectric constant of seawater during the past several years. The objective of the measurements is to determine the dependence of the dielectric constant of seawater on salinity and on temperature, more accurately than in the past. by taking advantage of modem instrumentation. The measurements of seawater permittivity have been performed as a function of salinity and temperature using a transmission resonant cavity technique. The measurements have been made in the salinity range of 10 to 38 psu and in the temperature range of IOU C to 35 C. These results will be useful in algorithm development for sensor systems such as SMOS and Aquarius. The measurement system consists of a brass microwave cavity that is resonant at 1.413 GHz. The seawater is introduced into the cavity through a capillary glass tube having an inner diameter of 0.1 mm. The diameter of the tube has been made very small so that the amount of seawater introduced in the cavity is small - thus maintaining the sensitivity of the measurements and allowing the use of perturbation theory predicting the seawater permittivity. The change in resonant frequency and the change in cavity Q can be used to determine the real and imaginary pare of the dielectric constant of seawater introduced into the slender tube. The microwave measurements are made by an HPS722D network analyzer. The cavity has been immersed in a u~ateriethylene-glycol bath which is connected to a Lauda circulator. The circulator keeps the brass cavity at a temperature constant to within 0.01 degrees. The system is automated using a Visual Basic program to control the analyzer and to collect the data. The results of the dielectric constant measurements of seawater will be presented. The measurement results will be compared with permittivity values generated from the Kline and Swift relationship. Two methods of calibration will be discussed, The errors that each technique introduces into the measurement resulls will be reviewed. Temperature stability, frequency drift and the effect of increasing cavity transmission loss on the unloaded cavity Q will also be discussed.

Lang, R.↗
DOE OSTI2014

An AFM-based pit-measuring method for indirect measurements of cell-surface membrane vesicles

Highlights: • Air drying induced the transformation of cell-surface membrane vesicles into pits. • An AFM-based pit-measuring method was developed to measure cell-surface vesicles. • Our method detected at least two populations of cell-surface membrane vesicles. - Abstract: Circulating membrane vesicles, which are shed from many cell types, have multiple functions and have been correlated with many diseases. Although circulating membrane vesicles have been extensively characterized, the status of cell-surface membrane vesicles prior to their release is less understood due to the lack of effective measurement methods. Recently, as a powerful, micro- or nano-scale imaging tool, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been applied in measuring circulating membrane vesicles. However, it seems very difficult for AFM to directly image/identify and measure cell-bound membrane vesicles due to the similarity of surface morphology between membrane vesicles and cell surfaces. Therefore, until now no AFM studies on cell-surface membrane vesicles have been reported. In this study, we found that air drying can induce the transformation of most cell-surface membrane vesicles into pits that are more readily detectable by AFM. Based on this, we developed an AFM-based pit-measuring method and, for the first time, used AFM to indirectly measure cell-surface membrane vesicles on cultured endothelial cells. Using this approach, we observed and quantitatively measured at least two populations of cell-surface membrane vesicles, a nanoscale population (<500 nm in diameter peaking at ∼250 nm) and a microscale population (from 500 nm to ∼2 μm peaking at ∼0.8 μm), whereas confocal microscopy only detected the microscale population. The AFM-based pit-measuring method is potentially useful for studying cell-surface membrane vesicles and for investigating the mechanisms of membrane vesicle formation/release.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗