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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Nonproliferation and Arms Control Research and Development (NPAC R&D) [Slides]

NPAC R&D focus areas include: Advancing U.S. capabilities to detect and characterize nuclear weapon development activities globally, including material production, the movement of special nuclear materials and nuclear weapons, and the testing or use of nuclear weapons, Supporting the development and testing of policy options and technical capabilities for international nuclear safeguards, arms control / treaty verification, nuclear export controls, and nonproliferation initiatives consistent with U.S. Government goals and objectives to enable monitoring and verification, Utilizing uranium, lithium, and high explosives (HE) materials expertise to support national-level activities in nuclear forensics and nuclear detection technology testing and evaluation, Providing unique training and capacity-building programs, particularly with the Nuclear Detection and Sensor Testing Center (NDSTC), and Engaging internationally to promote nonproliferation and arms control norms and best practices through bilateral and multilateral work.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evolution of Main-sequence-like Surviving Companions in Type Ia Supernova Remnants

Recent theoretical and numerical studies of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) explosions within the single-degenerate scenario suggest that the nondegenerate companions could survive during the supernova impact and could be detectable in nearby supernova remnants. However, observational efforts show less promising evidence of the existence of surviving companions from the standard single-degenerate channels. The spin-up/spin-down models are possible mechanisms to explain the nondetection of surviving companions. In these models, the spin-up phase could increase the critical mass for explosion, leading to a super-Chandrasekhar-mass explosion, and the spin-down phase could lead to extra mass loss and angular momentum redistribution. Since the spin-down timescale for the delayed explosion of a rotating white dwarf is unclear, in this paper we explore a vast parameter space of main-sequence-like surviving companions via two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of supernova impact and the subsequent stellar evolution of surviving companions. Tight universal relations to describe the mass-stripping effect, supernova kick, and depth of supernova heating are provided. Our results suggest that the not-yet-detected surviving companions from observations of nearby SN Ia remnants might favor low-mass companions, short binary separation, or stronger supernova explosion energies than the standard single-degenerate channels.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fast collective neutrino oscillations inside the neutrino sphere in core-collapse supernovae

Neutrinos are believed to have a key role in the explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernovae as they carry most of the energy released by the gravitational collapse of a massive star. If their flavor is converted fast inside the neutrino sphere, the supernova explosion may be influenced. This paper is reporting the results of the extended work of our previous paper. Here, we perform a thorough survey of the electron lepton number (ELN) crossing in one of our self-consistent, realistic Boltzmann simulations in two spatial dimensions under axisymmetry for the existence of the crossings between $ν_e$ and $\bar{ν}_e$ angular distributions, or the ELN crossing. We report for the first time the positive detections deep inside the core of the massive star in the vicinity of neutrino sphere at $\textit{r}$ ≈ 16 – 21 km . We find that low values of the electron fraction $Y_e$ produced by convective motions together with the appearance of light elements are critically important to give rise to the ELN crossing by enhancing the chemical potential difference between proton and neutron, and hence by mitigating the Fermi-degeneracy of $ν_e$. Since the region of positive detection are sustained and, in fact, expanding with time, it may have an impact on the explosion of core-collapse supernovae, observational neutrino astronomy, and nucleosynthesis of heavy nuclei.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Kilonova Detection

The first observation of gravitational waves (GW) from a binary neutron star collision, known as GW170817, was detected by Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo GW observatories. This event marked a profound discovery of the kilonova, which occurs when two neutron stars collide, resulting in an energetically explosive release of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and emitting bright electromagnetic radiation. This project focuses on assessing how well kilonovae will be detected in the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. By using Kasen models with varying ejecta mass, ejecta velocity, and lanthanide fraction, we analyze these 329 models and create kilonova light curves to assess the number of visible kilonovae for each band, based on the minimum magnitude at various redshifts.

Khalid, Anna↗
DOE OSTI2020

First on-line detection of radioactive fission isotopes produced by laser-accelerated protons

Abstract The on-going developments in laser acceleration of protons and light ions, as well as the production of strong bursts of neutrons and multi- $$\hbox {MeV}$$ MeV photons by secondary processes now provide a basis for novel high-flux nuclear physics experiments. While the maximum energy of protons resulting from Target Normal Sheath Acceleration is presently still limited to around $$100 \, \hbox {MeV}$$ 100 MeV , the generated proton peak flux within the short laser-accelerated bunches can already today exceed the values achievable at the most advanced conventional accelerators by orders of magnitude. This paper consists of two parts covering the scientific motivation and relevance of such experiments and a first proof-of-principle demonstration. In the presented experiment pulses of $$200 \, \hbox {J}$$ 200 J at $$\approx \, 500 \, \hbox {fs}$$ ≈ 500 fs duration from the PHELIX laser produced more than $$10^{12}$$ 10 12 protons with energies above $$15 \, \hbox {MeV}$$ 15 MeV in a bunch of sub-nanosecond duration. They were used to induce fission in foil targets made of natural uranium. To make use of the nonpareil flux, these targets have to be very close to the laser acceleration source, since the particle density within the bunch is strongly affected by Coulomb explosion and the velocity differences between ions of different energy. The main challenge for nuclear detection with high-purity germanium detectors is given by the strong electromagnetic pulse caused by the laser-matter interaction close to the laser acceleration source. This was mitigated by utilizing fast transport of the fission products by a gas flow to a carbon filter, where the $$\upgamma$$ γ -rays were registered. The identified nuclides include those that have half-lives down to $$39 \, \hbox {s}$$ 39 s . These results demonstrate the capability to produce, extract, and detect short-lived reaction products under the demanding experimental condition imposed by the high-power laser interaction. The approach promotes research towards relevant nuclear astrophysical studies at conditions currently only accessible at nuclear high energy density laser facilities.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Trace Compound Analysis in TATB by Liquid Chromatography coupled with Spectroscopic and Spectrometric Detection

Accurate quantitation of 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) is important because of its strategic use as an energetic material. A purity determination is also needed for the proper assessment of performance. A fast and sensitive method has been developed to measure the purity of TATB in polymer-bonded materials. The target material is extracted with DMSO, and the extract is separated on a reversed-phase chromatography column. The column effluent is monitored by diode array detection (DAD) at 354 nm. The characteristic UV-Vis response and retention time identify the individual components when compared to pure compound standards. The chemical structures of compounds with no pure standards available have been determined by high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS) and MS/MS. The major component, TATB, along with 1-chloro-3,5-dinitro-2,4,6-triaminobenzene (T4A) and mono-benzofuroxan (FX1) were quantitated directly from pure compound standards. Several trace concentration components, mono-benzofurazan (F1), 1-bromo-3,5-dinitro-2,4,6-triaminobenzene (Br-T4A), 2,4,6-triamino-1-nitroso-3,5-dinitrobenzene (MN-TATB), 2,4,6-triamino-1-hydroxyl-3,5-dinitrobenzene (HO-TATB), and 2,4,6-triamino-1-nitrile-3,5-dinitrobenzene (Nitrile-TATB) were also detected and structures verified via MS/MS. Approximate concentrations were determined using calibrations from standards of similar structures. Additional trace components were also detected by MS. Contained herein are the results of analyses of TATB-based materials characterized for polymer-bonded formulations compared to different preparations of TATB. The accuracy, details, and process of developing this method are reported here.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Computational Prediction of Infrasound Arrival Times and Directions from Stationary and Moving Impulsive Sources

This report addresses the need to predict infrasound signal arrival times and back azimuths at monitoring stations, enabling more focused and efficient searches within recorded waveform data. The primary challenge is estimating expected signal arrival windows for stationary and moving acoustic sources, such as chemical explosions, volcanic eruptions, meteoroids, and spacecraft re-entry events. To address this challenge, a reproducible methodology is described that uses simplified propagation speeds for boundary layer, tropospheric, stratospheric, and thermospheric atmospheric waveguides. While the Python source code itself is not freely available, this document provides detailed, step-by-step instructions, and equations enabling users to replicate and adapt the method independently. The method reliably predicts signal arrival intervals and back azimuths, thereby supporting rapid detection and accurate interpretation of infrasound events. Results demonstrate that this method effectively identifies plausible signal arrival intervals and directions, facilitating faster event detection and more reliable interpretation. This methodology directly supports atmospheric monitoring, planetary defense, and forensic analysis of explosive atmospheric events.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Development and validation of a software for simulating γ-γ coincidence emission and detection probabilities

Gamma-gamma coincidence spectrometers have the potential to significantly enhance detection sensitivity for ultra-trace radionuclide measurements. The implementation of these spectrometers, however, is limited by the complexity of acquisition hardware, data processing and quantification. This work reports development of a novel radionuclide quantification software for γ-γ coincidence measurements. For any radionuclide, the software parses the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) database, recursively simulating all possible γ-γ coincidence signatures and their respective emission and detection probabilities. Implemented using Python programming language, the software employs several strategies to boost overall computational performance. Since coincidence-based spectrometers are of notable interest in monitoring compliance for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the software’s execution was tested for 84 CTBT-relevant radionuclides. To date, the software has been experimentally validated for 15 radionuclides using the Advanced Radionuclide Gamma spectrOmeter (ARGO) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA (PNNL). Notably, the software can be operated in convergence mode, whereby coincidence detection efficiency’s convergence behavior can help avoid unreliable radionuclide activity estimates. With growing number of coincidence spectrometers worldwide, this paper aims to assist the radiation metrology community in developing similar software for their system.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantification of spatial and seasonal trends in the atmosphere and construction of statistical models for infrasonic propagation

SUMMARY Infrasonic waves are influenced by variations in the density, pressure and temperature as well as the ambient winds. Modelling infrasonic propagation can be challenging due to the dynamic nature of the atmosphere as well as the sparseness of measurements which result in variability and notable uncertainty. A framework is presented to quantify spatial and seasonal trends in atmospheric structure via analysis of the effective sound speed profile and identification of temporal trends in the middle atmospheric waveguide produced by the circumpolar vortex winds. Seasonal definitions identifying typical atmospheric structures during the summer, winter and spring/fall transition periods are identified using atmospheric data from 2010 through 2020. Seasonal trend analysis is conducted for a number of locations across the contiguous United States to quantify spatial variations in atmospheric structure that impact infrasonic propagation. For each season and location, empirical orthogonal function analysis is used to reduce the historical archive of atmospheric data into a smaller representative set that can be analysed using numerical tools more efficiently. Infrasonic ray tracing and finite-frequency modal propagation analyses are applied to construct propagation path geometry and transmission loss statistics which are useful in localization and yield estimation for infrasonic sources, respectively. An example application is detailed in which transmission loss statistics are combined with an explosive source model and noise statistics to quantify the capability of a network to detect nearby sources.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Infrasonic directivity of monopole, dipole and bipole ground-surface reflected sources

Infrasound (acoustic waves below 20 Hz) can be used to detect, locate and quantify activity in the atmosphere such as volcanic eruptions and anthropogenic explosions. Attempts to quantify volcanic eruption parameters such as exit velocity, plume height and mass flow rate using infrasound data depend strongly on assumptions of the acoustic source type. Infrasonic sources may produce omnidirectional or directional wavefields, while propagation effects, such as interaction with topography, can induce further wavefield directivity that is measured by field instrumentation. Limited sampling of these wavefields can hinder our ability to infer the underlying source, and thus our understanding of the eruption characteristics. Equivalent sources are often used to represent acoustic source mechanisms and resultant wavefields. In this study, we review equivalent acoustic sources as they pertain to infrasonic scale and wavelengths commonly encountered in very local (⁠<5 km range) geophysical field deployments. We highlight the equivalent infrasonic bipole source that can be induced by ground-reflection of an elevated monopole; we are not aware of any prior infrasound studies that use the bipole source concept. We use analytical and numerical methods to explore source directivity of monopole, dipole and bipole ground-reflected sources at infrasonic frequencies as well as the additional directivity complications introduced by interactions with topography. We illustrate that for typical volcano-infrasound wavelengths, increasing height above the ground as well as increasing source frequency leads to increased wavefield directivity. Numerical modelling using a simple omnidirectional monopole source embedded in topography further illustrates that both horizontal and vertical infrasound directionality can be induced by topography at the distance scales appropriate for local volcano infrasound monitoring. Information summarized in this analytical and numerical exploration of infrasound directivity may be used to help guide future volcano-infrasound field deployments intended to estimate source parameters or quantify wavefield directivity. Analytic solutions for simple whole-space or half-space atmospheres provide useful formulations for planning or initially analysing geophysical field-scale experimental data; however, especially at very local distances from the source (⁠<5 km), 3-D simulations are necessary to account for complex topography commonly encountered in volcano-infrasound applications.

Infrasound↗
DOE OSTI2022

Tracer Gas Model Development and Verification in PFLOTRAN

Tracer gases, whether they are chemical or isotopic in nature, are useful tools in examining the flow and transport of gaseous or volatile species in the underground. One application is using detection of short-lived argon and xenon radionuclides to monitor for underground nuclear explosions. However, even chemically inert species, such as the noble gases, have bene observed to exhibit non-conservative behavior when flowing through porous media containing certain materials, such as zeolites, due to gas adsorption processes. This report details the model developed, implemented, and tested in the open source and massively parallel subsurface flow and transport simulator PFLOTRAN for future use in modeling the transport of adsorbing tracer gases.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Discriminating Types of Volcanic Electrical Activity: Toward an Eruption Detection Algorithm

Abstract We present a method for classification of the two distinct types of electrical activity that occur during an explosive volcanic eruption: vent discharges and lightning. Vent discharges occur at the onset of an explosion and create a distinctive radio frequency signature called continual radio frequency. Seconds to minutes after the onset of the eruption, lightning begins to occur throughout the eruption column. We use logistic regression to classify a radio frequency impulse as being part of either a lightning flash or a period of continual radio frequency. The classifier uses the number of peaks in the amplitude envelope from 1 ms windows before and after the impulsive very high frequency waveform, with an average accuracy of 97.9%. We propose that this method could be used in an algorithm to determine when explosive eruptions occurred by identification of the distinctive signatures of vent discharges and lightning.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Cosmic Overture Echoed in a Stellar Final Act: Implications of Nanohertz Gravitational Waves for Core Collapse Supernova Neutrinos

The growing evidence for nanohertz gravitational waves, from NANOGrav and other observations, may be pointing to a cosmological first-order phase transition at temperatures of 𝒪⁢(10−100)⁢MeV. Such an interpretation requires beyond the Standard Model dynamics in this energy range. If so, it may well be the case that galactic core-collapse supernova explosions would produce the key components related to the first-order phase transition, leaving detectable imprints on the spectrum of neutrinos emitted in the initial few seconds of the collapse. This might provide further evidence in support of the early universe interpretation of the nanohertz gravitational wave signal. The scenario proposed here is also suggestive of a low-mass seesaw mechanism to explain neutrino masses. We outline the prospects for future observations of Galactic supernovae to uncover the signals of this scenario, with further confirmation from future pulsar timing array measurements of primordial nanohertz gravitational waves.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nuclear explosion monitoring network design considerations

Design of an efficient monitoring network requires information on the type and size of releases to be detected, the accuracy and reliability of the measuring equipment, and the desired network performance. This work provides a scientific basis for optimizing or minimizing networks of 133 Xe samplers to achieve a desired performance level for different levels of release. The approach of this work varies the density of sampling locations to find optimal location subsets, and to explore the properties of variations of those subsets – how crucial is a specific subset; are substitutions problematic? The choice of possible station locations is arbitrary but constrained to some extent by the location of islands, land masses, difficult topography (mountains, etc.) and the places where infrastructure exists to run and support a sampler. Performance is evaluated using hypothetical releases and atmospheric transport models that cover an entire year.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2022

Damage Detection and Electrical Performance Impact of Flat-Flexible Circuits

Flat-flexible circuits or ‘flex circuits’ have varied applications in electronics and in explosive detonation systems. They pose advantages over conventional coaxial cables in their ability to fit into small mechanical envelopes and routings. A typical flex circuit is composed of a laminated assembly of multiple layers of conductor and dielectric materials. Copper, because of its high electrical conductivity, is one of the primary materials used in flex circuit conductors. The conductor must maintain structural integrity and electrical continuity when the flexible circuit is bent during processing or to fit an application envelope. Under some strain conditions a cable may have degraded electrical performance even though visible damage may not be evident. Dislocation density can increase by mechanisms such as dislocation forest hardening, where gliding dislocations in primary slip planes get pinned at obstacles and form Frank-Read sources. Dislocation density increases within the conductor layers may impact electrical resistivity but would not necessarily result in visible mechanical failure. In some detonation applications, such as for building implosion for demolition, the time for signal transmission and voltage used for firing detonators can be critical. If the resistance in a single flex cable within a building demolition array is too high, the resultant demolition shape may be asymmetric, leading to unplanned damage to nearby structures and potential hazards to public safety. This study will apply non-destructive evaluation techniques to evaluate the detectability of damage accumulation in flat, flexible copper-conductor cables and discuss potential implications to their practical use.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Proteomic Characterization of Damaged Single Hairs Recovered after an Explosion for Protein-Based Human Identification

Evidence recovery is challenging where an explosion has occurred. Though hair evidence may be sufficiently robust to be recovered at the site, forensic analysis underutilizes the matrix by relying on morphological analysis. Where DNA is compromised, particularly in hair, protein-based human identification presents a promising alternative. Detection of amino acid polymorphisms in hair proteins as genetically variant peptides (GVPs) permits the inference of individualizing single nucleotide polymorphisms for identification. However, an explosive blast may damage hair proteins and compromise GVP identification. This work evaluates effects of an explosive blast on the hair proteome and GVP identification, investigates microscopy as a predictor of proteome profiling success in recovered hairs to improve analysis throughput, and quantifies discriminative power in damaged hairs. The proteomics dataset has been deposited into the ProteomeXchange Consortium (PXD017427). With the exception of degradation in keratins K75, K80, K40, and keratin-associated protein KAP10-11 as markers of hair cuticular damage, corroborated by scanning electron microscopic analysis, minimal hair proteome degradation following explosion allowed successful proteome profiling of single hairs regardless of morphological damage. Finally, GVP identification remained independent of explosion conditions, permitting similar discriminative power between exploded and undamaged hairs. These findings lend greater confidence to GVP analysis in one-inch hairs for forensic identification and provide information about hair protein localization.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Toward Global Regional Seismic Moment Tensor Inversion with Three-Dimensional Earth Models for Nuclear Explosion Monitoring with Sparse Networks: Demonstration of Reciprocity for Strain Greens Tensor Database Simulation with Salvus

Seismic source characterization is an essential function of global nuclear explosion monitoring (NEM). While large events (roughly with moment magnitude, M w , greater than 5.0) can often be easily detected, located and identified with high signal-to-noise ratios at teleseismic distances (> 20°), trends in NEM research require confident source characterization at much lower magnitudes (say down to 3.0) and exploitation of sparse observations (from only a few stations) at regional distance (< 20°). Regional distance waveform inversion to characterize sources is now widely used and effective (e.g. Ford et al., 2009; Alvizuri and Tape, 2018; Alvizuri et al., 2018; Chiang et al., 2018; Ford et al., 2022). These methods obtain the magnitude, depth and seismic moment tensor, which represents the forces that excited the observed seismic waves (slip on an earthquake fault, explosion, collapse or a combination of various forces). Common to many problems in seismology, the isolation of the source 2 properties requires removal of path propagation effects that waves experience while traveling through the three-dimensional (3D) Earth (the structure exists due to different rock types, material properties, temperature and tectonic processes).

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evaluating factors influencing infrasonic signal detection and automatic processing performance utilizing a regional network

Physical and deployment factors that influence infrasound signal detection and assess automatic detection performance for a regional infrasound network of arrays in the Western U.S. are explored using signatures of ground truth (GT) explosions (yields). Despite these repeated known sources, published infrasound event bulletins contain few GT events. Arrays are primarily distributed toward the south-southeast and south-southwest at distances between 84 and 458 km of the source with one array offering azimuthal resolution toward the northeast. Events occurred throughout the spring, summer, and fall of 2012 with the majority occurring during the summer months. Depending upon the array, automatic detection, which utilizes the adaptive F-detector successfully, identifies between 14% and 80% of the GT events, whereas a subsequent analyst review increases successful detection to 24%–90%. Combined background noise quantification, atmospheric propagation analyses, and comparison of spectral amplitudes determine the mechanisms that contribute to missed detections across the network. This analysis provides an estimate of detector performance across the network, as well as a qualitative assessment of conditions that impact infrasound monitoring capabilities. Finally, the mechanisms that lead to missed detections at individual arrays contribute to network-level estimates of detection capabilities and provide a basis for deployment decisions for regional infrasound arrays in areas of interest.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗