Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “path integrals”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 145 records · Page 8

The 1976 Helios and Pioneer solar conjunctions-continuing corroboration of the link between Doppler noise and integrated signal path electron density

Observed Doppler noise (rms phase jitter) from the 1976 solar conjunctions of the Helios 1 and 2 and the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft was processed with a recently developed Doppler noise model ISEDB. Good agreement is obtained between the observed data and the model. Correlation is shown between deviations from the ISEDB model and sunspot activity, but it is insufficient to be modeled. Correlation is also shown between ISEDB model deviations for (spacecraft) signal paths on the same side of the sun.

Berman, A. L.↗

Stable Solid Molecular Hydrogen above 900 K from a Machine-Learned Potential Trained with Diffusion Quantum Monte Carlo

Here, we survey the phase diagram of high-pressure molecular hydrogen with path integral molecular dynamics using a machine-learned interatomic potential trained with quantum Monte Carlo forces and energies. Besides the HCP and C2/c–24 phases, we find two new stable phases both with molecular centers in the Fmmm–4 structure, separated by a molecular orientation transition with temperature. The high temperature isotropic Fmmm–4 phase has a reentrant melting line with a maximum at higher temperature (1450 K at 150 GPa) than previously estimated and crosses the liquid-liquid transition line around 1200 K and 200 GPa.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Effects of Nonuniform Beam Filling on Rainfall Retrieval for the TRMM Precipitation Radar

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) will carry the first spaceborne radar for rainfall observation. Because the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) footprint size of 4.3 km is greater than the scale of some convective rainfall events, there is concern that nonuniform filling of the PR antenna beam may bias the retrieved rain-rate profile. The authors investigate this effect theoretically and then observationally using data from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Airborne Rain Mapping Radar (ARMAR), acquired during Tropical Oceans Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment in early 1993. The authors' observational approach is to simulate TRMM PR data using the ARMAR data and compare the radar observables and retrieved rain rate from the simulated PR data with those corresponding to the high-resolution radar measurements. The authors find that the path-integrated attenuation and the resulting path-averaged rain rate are underestimated. The reflectivity and rain rate near the top of the rainfall column are overestimated. The near-surface reflectivity can be overestimated or underestimated, with a mean error very close to zero. The near-surface rain rate, however, is usually underestimated, sometimes severely.

Durden, Stephen L.↗

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↗

An Integral-based Technique to Accelerate the Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer Computation for Supernovae

We present an integral-based technique (IBT) algorithm to accelerate supernova (SN) radiative transfer calculations. The algorithm utilizes “integral packets,” which are calculated by the path integral of the Monte Carlo (MC) energy packets, to synthesize the observed spectropolarimetric signal at a given viewing direction in a 3D time-dependent radiative transfer program. Compared to the event-based technique (EBT) proposed by M. Bulla et al., our algorithm significantly reduces the computation time and increases the MC signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). Using a 1D spherical symmetric Type Ia SN ejecta model DDC10 and its derived 3D model, the IBT algorithm has successfully passed the verification of spherical symmetry and cross comparison on a 3D SN model with the direct-counting technique and EBT. Notably, with our algorithm implemented in the 3D MC radiative transfer code SEDONA, the computation time is faster than EBT by a factor of 10−30, and the S/N is better by a factor of 1.5−3, with the same number of MC quanta.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Black Hole Airy Tail

In Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity, which is dual to a random matrix ensemble, the annealed entropy differs from the quenched entropy at low temperatures and goes negative. However, computing the quenched entropy in JT gravity requires a replica limit that is poorly understood. To circumvent this, we define an intermediate quantity called the semiquenched entropy, which has the positivity properties of the quenched entropy, while requiring a much simpler replica trick. We compute this in JT gravity in different regimes using (i) a bulk calculation involving wormholes corresponding to the Airy limit of the dual matrix integral and (ii) a boundary calculation involving one-eigenvalue instanton saddles proposed by Hernández-Cuenca, demonstrating consistency between these two calculations in their common regime of validity. We also clarify why similar one-eigenvalue instanton saddles cannot be used to compute the quenched entropy due to a breakdown of the saddle-point approximation for the one-eigenvalue instanton in the replica limit. Our results show how to use the gravitational path integral to prove that black holes in JT gravity have isolated ground states and to study their properties.

Gauge-gravity dualities↗

Spacetime quantum mechanics for bosonic and fermionic systems

We provide a Hilbert space approach to quantum mechanics where space and time are treated on an equal footing. Our approach replaces the standard dependence on an external classical time parameter with a spacetime-symmetric algebraic structure, thereby unifying the axioms that traditionally distinguish the treatment of spacelike and timelike separations. Standard quantum evolution can be recovered from timelike correlators, defined by means of a quantum action operator, a quantum version of the action of classical mechanics. The corresponding map also provides an alternative perspective on the path integral formulation that, in the case of fermions, does not require the use of Grassmann variables. In addition, the formalism can be interpreted in terms of generalized quantum states, codifying both the conventional information of a quantum system at a given time and its evolution. We show that these states are solutions to a quantum principle of stationary action grounded in timelike correlations and pseudo-entropies.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Quantum vibronic effects on the electronic properties of solid and molecular carbon

Here, we study the effect of quantum vibronic coupling on the electronic properties of carbon allotropes, including molecules and solids, by combining path integral first principles molecular dynamics (FPMD) with a colored noise thermostat. In addition to avoiding several approximations commonly adopted in calculations of electron-phonon coupling, our approach only adds a moderate computational cost to FPMD simulations and hence it is applicable to large supercells, such as those required to describe amorphous solids. We predict the effect of electron-phonon coupling on the fundamental gap of amorphous carbon, and we show that in diamond the zero-phonon renormalization of the band gap is larger than previously reported.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Absence of Off-Diagonal Long-Range Order in hcp 4 He Dislocation Cores

Here, the mass transport properties along dislocation cores in hcp 4 He are revisited by considering two types of edge dislocations as well as a screw dislocation, using a fully correlated quantum simulation approach. Specifically, we employ the zero-temperature path-integral ground state (PIGS) method together with ergodic sampling of the permutation space to investigate the fundamental dislocation core structures and their off-diagonal long-range order properties. It is found that the Bose-Einstein condensate fraction of such defective 4 He systems is practically null (≤ 10 –6 ), just as in the bulk defect-free crystal. These results provide compelling evidence for the absence of intrinsic superfluidity in dislocation cores in hcp 4 He and challenge the superfluid dislocation-network interpretation of the mass-flux-experiment observations, calling for further experimental investigation.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Nuclear quantum effects on the quasiparticle properties of the chloride anion aqueous solution within the GW approximation

Photoelectron spectroscopy experiments in ionic solutions reveal important electronic structure information, in which the interaction between hydrated ions and water solvent can be inferred. Based on many-body perturbation theory with GW approximation, we theoretically compute the quasiparticle electronic structure of chloride anion solution, which is modeled by path-integral abinitio molecular dynamics simulation by taking account the nuclear quantum effects (NQEs). The electronic levels of hydrated anion as well as water are determined and compared with the recent experimental photoelectron spectra. It is found that NQEs improve the agreement between theoretical prediction and experiment because NQEs effectively weaken the hybridization of the between the Cl – anion and water. Furthermore, our study indicates that NQEs plays a small but non-negligible role in predicting the electronic structure of the aqueous solvation of ions of the Hofmeister series.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Chiral Anomaly in Interacting Condensed Matter Systems

The chiral anomaly is a fundamental quantum mechanical phenomenon which is of great importance to both particle physics and condensed matter physics alike. In the context of QED, it manifests as the breaking of chiral symmetry in the presence of electromagnetic fields. It is also known that anomalous chiral symmetry breaking can occur through interactions alone, as is the case for interacting one-dimensional systems. In this Letter, we investigate the interplay between these two modes of anomalous chiral symmetry breaking in the context of interacting Weyl semimetals. Using Fujikawa’s path integral method, we show that the chiral charge continuity equation is modified by the presence of interactions which can be viewed as including the effect of the electric and magnetic fields generated by the interacting quantum matter. This can be understood further using dimensional reduction and a Luttinger liquid description of the lowest Landau level. These effects manifest themselves in the nonlinear response of the system. In particular, we find an interaction-dependent density response due to a change in the magnetic field as well as a contribution to the nonequilibrium and inhomogeneous anomalous Hall response while preserving its equilibrium value.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Thermodynamic stability of a spin microemulsion in Rashba spin-orbit-coupled bosons

Recent finite-temperature numerical simulations have unveiled a quantum “spin” microemulsion analog, found by raising the temperature of a stripe supersolid phase in a Rashba spin-orbit coupled Bose gas. This microemulsion state is a highly correlated, isotropic normal fluid where atoms self-arrange based on their internal pseudospin into patterns that resemble bicontinuous microemulsions. This finding leaves several open questions regarding the broader accessibility of this phase in experiments. Here, we use equilibrium finite-temperature numerical simulations based on a coherent-state path integral representation to perform a computational investigation into the thermodynamic stability of the spin microemulsion state. Numerical simulations emphasize the requirement of a nearly, but not perfectly, isotropic spin-orbit coupling in order to achieve the microemulsion phase in cold-atom experiments. Moreover, the microemulsion state exists independent of miscibility of the pseudospin components and for a wide range of pseudospin population imbalance, suggesting a high degree of flexibility in choosing the atom and hyperfine states in an experimental realization. Lastly, we demonstrate this feasibility by mimicking a Rashba spin-orbit-coupled 87 Rb experiment in an isotropic harmonic trap, where we confirm the microemulsion's existence via its density profile and equilibrium quasimomentum distribution.

Complex Langevin dynamics↗

Momentum distribution of the uniform electron gas at finite temperature: Effects of spin polarization

We carry out extensive direct path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations of the uniform electron gas (UEG) at finite temperature for different values of the spin-polarization ξ. This allows us to unambiguously quantify the impact of spin effects on the momentum distribution function n(k) and related properties. We find that interesting physical effects like the interaction-induced increase in the occupation of the zero-momentum state n(0) substantially depend on ξ. Our results further advance the current understanding of the UEG as a fundamental model system, and are of practical relevance for the description of transport properties of warm dense matter in an external magnetic field. All PIMC results are freely available online and can be used as a benchmark for the development of methods and applications.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Tunneling between Multiple Histories as a Solution to the Information Loss Paradox

The information loss paradox associated with black hole Hawking evaporation is an unresolved problem in modern theoretical physics. In a recent brief essay, we revisited the evolution of the black hole entanglement entropy via the Euclidean path integral (EPI) of the quantum state and allow for the branching of semi-classical histories along the Lorentzian evolution. We posited that there exist at least two histories that contribute to EPI, where one is an information-losing history, while the other is an information-preserving one. At early times, the former dominates EPI, while at the late times, the latter becomes dominant. By doing so, we recovered the essence of the Page curve, and thus, the unitarity, albeit with the turning point, i.e., the Page time, much shifted toward the late time. In this full-length paper, we fill in the details of our arguments and calculations to strengthen our notion. One implication of this modified Page curve is that the entropy bound may thus be violated. We comment on the similarity and difference between our approach and that of the replica wormholes and the islands’ conjectures.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Carbon Dioxide Active Remote Sensing Using Pulsed 2-µm Lidar

A pulsed 2-µm Integrate Path Differential Absorption (IPDA) lidar was developed at NASA Langley Research Center for high-accuracy and high-precision measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). The instrument targets the R30 CO 2 absorption line and implements high-energy tunable on-line transmitter and advanced HgCdTe avalanche photodiode receiver. During 2019 airborne validation campaign, the IPDA was tested over the ocean for retrieving the weighted-average column dry-air volume mixing ratio of CO 2 (XCO 2 ) from 4.5 km altitude. XCO 2 measurement resulted in 404.43 ± 1.23 ppm using 10 s average, as compared to 405.49 ppm from prediction models. This translates to 0.26% and 0.30% relative accuracy and precision, respectively. Performance models were updated to scale the IPDA technology assuming operation from space platform. Results present XCO 2 measurements using the instrument capabilities considering different target scenarios for Earth’s surface. This demonstrates the potential for the IPDA technique and technology to achieve sustained global CO 2 measurement.

Active Remote Sensing↗