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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 1,567 records · Page 87
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Benchmarking density functionals for hydrogen-helium mixtures with quantum Monte Carlo: Energetics, pressures, and forces

An accurate understanding of the phase diagram of dense hydrogen and helium mixtures is a crucial component in the construction of accurate models of Jupiter, Saturn, and Jovian extrasolar planets. Though DFT based rst principles methods have the potential to provide the accuracy and computational e ciency required for this task, recent benchmarking in hydrogen has shown that achieving this accuracy requires a judicious choice of functional, and a quanti cation of the errors introduced. In this work, we present a quantum Monte Carlo based benchmarking study of a wide range of density functionals for use in hydrogen-helium mixtures at thermodynamic conditions relevant for Jovian planets. Not only do we continue our program of benchmarking energetics and pressures, but we deploy QMC based force estimators and use them to gain insights into how well the local liquid structure is captured by di erent density functionals. We nd that TPSS, BLYP and vdW-DF are the most accurate functionals by most metrics, and that the enthalpy, energy, and pressure errors are very well behaved as a function of helium concentration. Beyond this, we highlight and analyze the major error trends and relative di erences exhibited by the major classes of functionals, and estimate the magnitudes of these e ects when possible.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Auxiliary-field-based trial wave functions in quantum Monte Carlo calculations

Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) algorithms have long relied on Jastrow factors to incorporate dynamic correlation into trial wave functions. While Jastrow-type wave functions have been widely employed in real-space algorithms, they have seen limited use in second-quantized QMC methods, particularly in projection methods that involve a stochastic evolution of the wave function in imaginary time. Here we propose a scheme for generating Jastrow-type correlated trial wave functions for auxiliary-field QMC methods. The method is based on decoupling the two-body Jastrow into one-body projectors coupled to auxiliary fields, which then operate on a single determinant to produce a multideterminant trial wave function. We demonstrate that intelligent sampling of the most significant determinants in this expansion can produce compact trial wave functions that reduce errors in the calculated energies. Lastly, our technique may be readily generalized to accommodate a wide range of two-body Jastrow factors and applied to a variety of model and chemical systems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Evaluation of exchange-correlation functionals with multiple-shock conductivity measurements in hydrogen and deuterium at the molecular-to-atomic transition

The temperature ( T ) and density (ρ) conditions at which hydrogen undergoes a molecular-to-atomic (MA) transition is crucial to our understanding of the gas-giant planets such as Jupiter and Saturn. First-principles (FP) calculations suggest that this transition is coincident with metallization and acts as a catalyst for hydrogen-helium demixing, which has significant consequences for models of planetary interiors. Prediction of this transition boundary has proven to be difficult using FP methods. In particular, detailed comparisons of finite temperature density functional theory (FT-DFT) calculations of the MA transition in both the high- T , low-ρ regime, where the transition is largely T driven, and the low- T , high-ρ regime, where the transition is largely ρ driven, suggest that the transition is very sensitive to the exchange-correlation (xc) functional used in the calculation. Here we present a detailed comparison of previous multiple-shock electrical conductivity measurements with FT-DFT calculations employing various xc functionals to probe a regime where both T and ρ play an important role in the transition. The measurement results are found to be inconsistent with the semilocal xc functional PBE and are in much better agreement with the nonlocal xc functionals vdW-DF1 and vdW-DF2. Furthermore, we show that the inconsistency with PBE likely stems from pressure errors associated with the PBE xc functional, resulting in calculated pressures that are too low at these T and ρ conditions. Together with previous comparisons at high- T , low-ρ and low- T , high-ρ these results provide a consistent picture for the MA transition over a wide T and ρ range. Here, this picture may also provide insight into differences in experimental observations of the metallization of liquid hydrogen and deuterium in the low- T regime.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2021

Examining the EMC effect using the ${F}_{2}^{n}$ neutron structure function

The persistently mysterious deviations from unity of the ratio of nuclear target structure functions to those of deuterium as measured in deep inelastic scattering (often termed the “EMC effect”) have become the canonical observable for studies of nuclear medium modifications to free nucleon structure in the valence regime. The structure function of the free proton is well known from numerous experiments spanning decades. The free neutron structure function, however, has remained difficult to access. Recently it has been extracted in a systematic study of the global data within a parton distribution function extraction framework and is available from the CTEQ–Jefferson Lab (CJ) Collaboration. Here, we leverage the latter to introduce a new method to study the EMC effect in nuclei by reexamining existing data in light of the the magnitude of the medium modifications to the free neutron and proton structure functions independently. From the extraction of the free neutron from world data, it is possible to examine the nuclear effects in deuterium and their contribution to our interpretation of the EMC effect. In this study, we observe that the ratio of the deuteron to the sum of the free neutron and proton structure functions has some x B and Q 2 dependencies that impact the magnitude of the EMC effect as typically observed. Specifically, different EMC slopes are obtained when data from different x B and Q 2 values are utilized. Furthermore, while a linear correlation persists between the EMC and short range correlation effects, the slope is modified when deuteron nuclear effects are removed.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Multiparticle integral and differential correlation functions

This paper formalizes the use of integral and differential cumulants for measurements of multiparticle event-by-event transverse momentum fluctuations, rapidity fluctuations, as well as net-charge fluctuations. This enables the introduction of multiparticle balance functions, defined based on differential correlation functions (factorial cumulants), that suppress two- and three-prong resonance decays effects and enable measurements of underlying long-range correlations obeying quantum number conservation constraints. These multiparticle balance functions satisfy simple sum rules determined by quantum number conservation. It is additionally shown that these multiparticle balance functions arise as an intrinsic component of high-order net-charge cumulants. This implies that the magnitude of these cumulants, measured in a specific experimental acceptance, is strictly constrained by charge conservation and primarily determined by the rapidity and momentum width of these balance functions. The paper also presents techniques to reduce the computation time of differential correlation functions up to order n = 10 based on the methods of moments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2015

Description of induced nuclear fission with Skyrme energy functionals. II. Finite temperature effects

Understanding the mechanisms of induced nuclear fission for a broad range of neutron energies could help resolve fundamental science issues, such as the formation of elements in the universe, but could have also a large impact on societal applications in energy production or nuclear waste management. The goal of this paper is to set up the foundations of a microscopic theory to study the static aspects of induced fission as a function of the excitation energy of the incident neutron, from thermal to fast neutrons. To account for the high excitation energy of the compound nucleus, we employ a statistical approach based on finite temperature nuclear density functional theory with Skyrme energy densities, which we benchmark on the 239 Pu ($n ,f$) reaction. We compute the evolution of the least-energy fission pathway across multidimensional potential energy surfaces with up to five collective variables as a function of the nuclear temperature and predict the evolution of both the inner and the outer fission barriers as a function of the excitation energy of the compound nucleus. We show that the coupling to the continuum induced by the finite temperature is negligible in the range of neutron energies relevant for many applications of neutron-induced fission. We prove that the concept of quantum localization introduced recently can be extended to T > 0 , and we apply the method to study the interaction energy and total kinetic energy of fission fragments as a function of the temperature for the most probable fission. While large uncertainties in theoretical modeling remain, we conclude that a finite temperature nuclear density functional may provide a useful framework to obtain accurate predictions of fission fragment properties.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Production of Th 229 for medical applications: Excitation functions of low-energy protons on Th 232 targets

As a part of a general program to evaluate production routes for 229 Th, we studied production of 229 Th via proton-induced reactions on 232 Th targets bombarded with low-energy protons, E p ≤ 40MeV. The reported excitation functions include those for proton-induced reactions on natural thorium yielding to 228,229,230&232 Pa isotopes; 232 Th( p,xn ) reactions, where x=1, 3, 4, and 5, at proton energy ranges of 12–40 MeV. Although the data for 232 Th(p,n) 228 Pa, 232 Th(p,3n) 230 Pa, and 232 Th(p,5n) 232 Pa reactions were deduced by direct analysis of the thorium foils after irradiation, the data for 232 Th(p,4n) 229 Pa were obtained by radiochemical techniques. The half-life of 229 Pa was evaluated and determined to be 1.55 ± 0.01 d. Further, the α-branching ratio, α/(α + EC) of 229 Pa was evaluated to be 0.53 ± 0.10% by allowing 229 Pa to decay for ~7d, then chemically extracting and quantifying the 225 Ac (t 1/2 = 10.0±0.1d) from 229 Pa samples. In addition, we report the effective production cross section of 229 Th in a thick 232 Th target in the proton energy range of 23–33 MeV. The peak of the excitation function for the 232 Th(p,4n) 229 Pa reaction occurs at 162 ± 14 mb and E p =29.7±0.5MeV. This is only slightly larger than the effective cross section for the 232 Th(p,x) 229 Th reaction (obtained from a thick target experiment). This data indicates that the 232 Th(p,4n) 229 Pa reaction is the major reaction pathway for the cumulative 232 Th(p,x) 229 Th reaction cross section in this energy range. The measured cross sections were compared with theoretical cross sections using the simulation codes Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) and Monte Carlo Neutral Particle 6 (MCNP6). Furthermore, at proton energy ranges of 12–33 MeV, the cumulative excitation function predicted by PHITS for the reactions leading to 229 Th was in close agreement with the experimental function, whereas the function predicted by MCNP6 was a factor of two higher at the peak of the excitation function.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Weak structure functions in $\nu_l-N$ and $\nu_l-A$ scattering with nonperturbative and higher order perturbative QCD effects

We study the effect of various perturbative and nonperturbative QCD corrections on the free nucleon structure functions [FiNWI(x,Q2);i=1–3] and their implications in the determination of nuclear structure functions. The evaluation of the nucleon structure functions has been performed by using the MMHT 2014 parton distribution functions (PDFs) parametrization, and the target mass correction (TMC) and higher twist (HT) effects are incorporated following the works of Schienbein et al. and Dasgupta et al., respectively. These nucleon structure functions are taken as input in the determination of nuclear structure functions. The numerical calculations for the νl/ν¯l-A deep inelastic scattering (DIS) process have been performed by incorporating the nuclear medium effects like Fermi motion, binding energy, nucleon correlations, mesonic contributions, shadowing, and antishadowing in several nuclear targets such as carbon, polystyrene scintillator, iron, and lead, which are being used in MINERνA, and in argon nuclei, which is relevant for the ArgoNeuT and DUNE experiments. The differential scattering cross sections d2σAWIdxdy and (dσAWIdx/dσCHWIdx) have also been studied in the kinematic region of the MINERνA experiment. The theoretical results are compared with the recent experimental data of MINERνA and the earlier data of the NuTeV, CCFR, CDHSW, and CHORUS Collaborations. Moreover, a comparative analysis of the present results for the ratio (dσAWIdx/dσCHWIdx), and the results from the Monte Carlo (MC) generator GENIE and other phenomenological models of Bodek and Yang, and Cloet et al., has been performed in the context of the MINERνA experiment. The predictions have also been made for the ν¯l-A cross section relevant for the MINERνA experiment.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Definition of fragmentation functions and the violation of sum rules

We point out a problem with the formulation and derivations of sum rules for quark fragmentation functions that impacts their validity in QCD, but which potentially points toward an improved understanding of final states in inclusive hard processes. Fragmentation functions give the distribution of final-state hadrons arising from a parton exiting a hard scattering, and the sum rules for momentum, electric charge, etc. express conservation of these quantities. The problem arises from a mismatch between the quark quantum numbers of the initial quark and the fact that all observed final-state hadrons are confined bound states with color zero. We point that, in a confining theory like QCD, the Wilson line in the operator definition of a fragmentation function entails that the final state in a fragmentation function includes a bound state in the external field generated by the Wilson line. We justify this with the aid of general features of string hadronization. The anomalous bound states are restricted to fractional momentum z = 0 . They tend to invalidate sum rules like the one for charge conservation when applied to the fragmentation functions inferred from experimental data but not the momentum sum rule. We propose to exploit our ideas in future studies as a way to relate the fragmentation functions extracted from inclusive cross sections to more detailed nonperturbative descriptions of final state hadronization. We also describe scenarios wherein the traditional sum rules might remain approximately valid with a reasonably high degree of accuracy. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

QCD factorization with multihadron fragmentation functions

Important aspects of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) factorization theorems are the properties of the objects involved that can be identified as universal. One example is that the definitions of parton densities and fragmentation functions for different types of hadrons differ only in the identity of the nonperturbative states that form the matrix elements, but are otherwise the same. This leads to independence of perturbative calculations on nonperturbative details of external states. It also lends support to interpretations of correlation functions as encapsulations of intrinsic nonperturbative properties. These characteristics have usually been presumed to still hold true in fragmentation functions even when the observed nonperturbative state is a small-mass cluster of n hadrons rather than simply a single isolated hadron. However, the multidifferential aspect of cross sections that rely on these latter types of fragmentation functions complicates the treatment of kinematical approximations in factorization derivations. That has led to recent claims that the operator definitions for fragmentation functions need to be modified from the single hadron case with nonuniversal prefactors. With such concerns as our motivation, we retrace the steps for factorizing the unpolarized semi-inclusive e + e − annihilation cross section and confirm that they do apply without modification to the case of a small-mass multihadron observed in the final state. In particular, we verify that the standard operator definition from single hadron fragmentation, with its usual prefactor, remains equally valid for the small-mass n -hadron case with the same hard parts and evolution kernels, whereas the more recently proposed definitions with nonuniversal prefactors do not. Our results reaffirm the reliability of most past phenomenological applications of dihadron fragmentation functions. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Nucleon and nuclear structure functions with nonperturbative and higher order perturbative QCD effects

We have studied the nucleon structure functions F EM iN (x,Q 2 ), i = 1, 2, by including contributions due to the higher order perturbative QCD effect up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) and the nonperturbative effects due to the kinematical and dynamical higher twist (HT) effects. The numerical results for F EM iN (x,Q 2 ) are obtained using Martin, Motylinski, Harland-Lang, Thorne 2014 NLO and NNLO nucleon parton distribution functions (PDFs). The dynamical HT correction has been included following the renormalon approach as well as the phenomenological approach, and the kinematical HT effect is incorporated using the works of Schienbein et al. These nucleon structure functions have been used as an input to calculate the nuclear structure functions F EM iN (x,Q 2 ). In a nucleus, the nuclear corrections arise because of the Fermi motion, binding energy, nucleon correlations, mesonic contribution, and shadowing and antishadowing effects. These nuclear corrections are taken into account in the numerical calculations to obtain the nuclear structure functions F EM iN (x,Q 2 ), for the various nuclear targets such as 12 C, 27 Al, 56 Fe, 64 Cu, 118 Sn, 197 Au, and 208 Pb which are of experimental interest. The effect of isoscalarity correction for nonisoscalar nuclear targets has also been studied. The results for the F EM iN (x,Q 2 ) are compared with nCTEQ nuclear PDFs parametrization as well as with the experimental results from JLab, SLAC, and NMC in the kinematic region of 0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.8 for several nuclei. We have also calculated the ratio R A (x,Q 2 ) = F 2A (x,Q 2 )/2x F 1A (x,Q 2 ) in the moderate Q 2 region for various nuclei and compared the results with the available experimental data from JLab to examine the validity of the Callan-Gross relation in the nuclei. We also make predictions for the nuclear structure functions in 12 C, 64 Cu, and 197 Au in the kinematic region of the proposed experiment at JLab.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Nonempirical Semilocal Free-Energy Density Functional for Matter under Extreme Conditions

The potential for density functional calculations to predict the properties of matter under extreme conditions depends crucially upon having a non-empirical approximate free energy functional valid over a wide range of state conditions. Unlike the ground-state case, no such free-energy exchange- correlation (XC) functional exists. We remedy that with systematic construction of a generalized gradient approximation XC free-energy functional based on rigorous constraints, including the free energy gradient expansion. The new functional provides the correct temperature dependence in the slowly varying regime and the correct zero-T, high-T, and homogeneous electron gas limits. Application in Kohn-Sham calculations for hot electrons in a static fcc Aluminum lattice demon- strates the combined magnitude of thermal and gradient effects handled by this functional. Its accuracy in the increasingly important warm dense matter regime is attested by excellent agreement of the calculated deuterium equation of state with reference path integral Monte Carlo results at intermediate and elevated temperatures and by low density Al calculations over a wide T range.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Lattice QCD Calculations of Transverse-Momentum-Dependent Soft Function through Large-Momentum Effective Theory

The transverse-momentum-dependent (TMD) soft function is a key ingredient in QCD factorization of Drell-Yan and other processes with relatively small transverse momentum. We present a lattice QCD study of this function at moderately large rapidity on a 2 + 1 flavor CLS dynamic ensemble with a = 0.098 fm. We extract the rapidity-independent (or intrinsic) part of the soft function through a large-momentumtransfer pseudoscalar meson form factor and its quasi-TMD wave function using leading-order factorization in large-momentum effective theory. We also investigate the rapidity-dependent part of the soft function—the Collins-Soper evolution kernel—based on the large-momentum evolution of the quasi-TMD wave function.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Lattice QCD Calculation of the Subtraction Function in Forward Compton Amplitude

The subtraction function plays a pivotal role in calculations involving the forward Compton amplitude, which is crucial for predicting the Lamb shift in muonic atoms, as well as the proton-neutron mass difference. In this Letter, we present a lattice QCD calculation of the subtraction function using two domain wall fermion gauge ensembles near the physical pion mass. We utilize a recently proposed subtraction point, demonstrating its advantage in mitigating statistical and systematic uncertainties by eliminating the need for ground-state subtraction. Our results reveal significant contributions from N⁢π intermediate states to the subtraction function. Incorporating these contributions, we compute the proton, neutron, and nucleon isovector subtraction functions at photon momentum transfer Q 2 ϵ[0,2] GeV 2 . For the proton subtraction function, we compare our lattice results with chiral perturbation theory prediction at low Q 2 and with the results from the perturbative operator-product expansion at high Q 2 . Finally, using these subtraction functions as input, we determine their contribution to two-photon exchange effects in the Lamb shift and isovector nucleon electromagnetic self-energy.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Achieving accurate energetics beyond (semi-)local density functional theory: Illustrated with transition metal disulfides, Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 , and Na 3 PS 4 related semiconductors

Understanding, designing, and processing functional metal sulfides are significant challenges partially because of the high temperatures and pressures and the number of secondary phases encountered in these complex systems. In particular, the underlying thermochemical properties are not well understood that would allow prediction of equilibrium conditions and driving forces. In addition, obtaining accurate values for the energetics of metal sulfide systems is far from complete, suggesting application of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Here, the results of an examination of 69 phases by DFT using 12 exchange-correlation (X-C) functionals indicate that (i) the key source of error in predicting the Gibbs energy of a phase is the enthalpy calculated at 0 K rather than entropy at finite temperatures from phonon calculations and (ii) an improved prediction of the thermodynamic properties at 0 K relies on the selected nonlocal X-C functional such as the hybrid potential. Regarding metal sulfides, we conclude from the present DFT results that (1) the secondary phase Cu 2 ZnSn 3 S 8 , associated with the desired photovoltaic material Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 , is not stable at 0 K, but it becomes slightly stable with increasing temperature (i.e., >800 K), primarily due to the vibrational entropy, which makes it difficult to be detected in a typical thin-film growth process; (2) the hybrid X-C functional improves the predicted energetics for most of the layered transition-metal disulfides such as TiS 2 , MoS 2 , and WS 2 , but not for the nonlayered RuS 2 , OsS 2 , and IrS 2 as well as the layered PdS 2 ; and (3) the formation of the solid-state electrolyte Na3PS4 is thermodynamically favored. We further conclude that accurate energetics as a function of temperature for the materials of interest is feasible to be achieved beyond the semilocal DFT calculations with the key being enthalpy predicted at 0 K.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Design and analysis of machine learning exchange-correlation functionals via rotationally invariant convolutional descriptors

Here, we explore the potential of a data-driven approach to the design of exchange-correlation (xc) functionals. The approach, inspired by convolutional filters in computer vision and surrogate functions from optimization, utilizes convolutions of the electron density to form a feature space to represent local electronic environments and neural networks to map the features to the exchange-correlation energy density. These features are orbital free, and provide a systematic route to including information at various length scales. This work shows that convolutional descriptors are theoretically capable of an exact representation of the electron density, and proposes Maxwell-Cartesian spherical harmonic kernels as a class of rotationally invariant descriptors for the construction of machine learned functionals. The approach is demonstrated using data from the B3LYP functional on a number of small molecules containing C, H, O, and N along with a neural network regression model. The machine learned functionals are compared to standard physical approximations and the accuracy is assessed for the absolute energy of each molecular system as well as formation energies. The results indicate that it is possible to reproduce the exchange-correlation portion of B3LYP formation energies to within chemical accuracy using orbital-free descriptors with a spatial extent of 0.2 Å. The findings provide empirical insight into the spatial range of electron exchange, and suggest that the combination of convolutional descriptors and machine learning regression models is a promising framework for xc functional design, although challenges remain in obtaining training data and generating models consistent with pseudopotentials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

MICCO: An Enhanced Multi-GPU Scheduling Framework for Many-Body Correlation Functions

Calculation of many-body correlation functions is one of the critical kernels utilized in many scientific computing areas, especially in Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (Lattice QCD). It is formalized as a sum of a large number of contraction terms each of which can be represented by a graph consisting of vertices describing quarks inside a hadron node and edges designating quark propagations at specific time intervals. Due to its computation- and memory-intensive nature, real-world physics systems (e.g., multi-meson or multi-baryon systems) explored by Lattice QCD prefer to leverage multi-GPUs. Different from general graph processing, many-body correlation function calculations show two specific features: a large number of computation-/data-intensive kernels and frequently repeated appearances of original and intermediate data. The former results in expensive memory operations such as tensor movements and evictions. The latter offers data reuse opportunities to mitigate the data-intensive nature of many-body correlation function calculations. However, existing graph-based multi-GPU schedulers cannot capture these data-centric features, thus resulting in a sub-optimal performance for many-body correlation function calculations. To address this issue, this paper presents a multi-GPU scheduling framework, MICCO, to accelerate contractions for correlation functions particularly by taking the data dimension (e.g., data reuse and data eviction) into account. This work first performs a comprehensive study on the interplay of data reuse and load balance, and designs two new concepts: local reuse pattern and reuse bound to study the opportunity of achieving the optimal trade-off between them. Based on this study, MICCO proposes a heuristic scheduling algorithm and a machine-learning-based regression model to generate the optimal setting of reuse bounds. Specifically, MICCO is integrated into a real-world Lattice QCD system, Redstar, for the first time running on multiple GPUs. The evaluation demonstrates MICCO outperforms other state-of-art works, achieving up to 2.25× speedup in synthesized datasets, and 1.49× speedup in real-world correlation functions.

Wang, Qihan↗
DOE OSTI2021

Balanced stochastic versus deterministic assembly processes benefit diverse yet uneven ecosystem functions in representative agroecosystems

Ecological assembly processes, by influencing community composition, determine ecosystem functions of microbiomes. However, debate remains on how stochastic versus deterministic assembly processes influence ecosystem functions such as carbon and nutrient cycling. Towards a better understanding, we investigated three types of agroecosystems (the upland, paddy, and flooded) that represent a gradient of stochastic versus deterministic assembly processes. Carbon and nutrient cycling multifunctionality, characterized by nine enzymes associated with soil carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and sulfur cycling, was evaluated and then associated with microbial assembly processes and cooccurrence patterns of vital ecological groups. Our results suggest that strong deterministic processes favour microorganisms with convergent functions (as in the upland agroecosystem), while stochasticity-dominated processes lead to divergent functions (as in the flooded agroecosystem). To benefit agroecosystems services, we speculate that it is critical for a system to maintain balance between its stochastic and deterministic assembly processes (as in the paddy agroecosystem). By doing so, the system can preserve a diverse array of functional traits and also allow for particular traits to flourish. To further confirm this speculation, it is necessary to develop a systematic knowledge beyond merely characterizing general patterns towards the associations among community assembly, composition, and ecosystem functions.

Liu, Wenjing↗