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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

PTM‐Psi : A python package to facilitate the computational investigation of p ost‐ t ranslational m odification on p rotein s tructures and their i mpacts on dynamics and functions

Abstract Post‐translational modification (PTM) of a protein occurs after it has been synthesized from its genetic template, and involves chemical modifications of the protein's specific amino acid residues. Despite of the central role played by PTM in regulating molecular interactions, particularly those driven by reversible redox reactions, it remains challenging to interpret PTMs in terms of protein dynamics and function because there are numerous combinatorially enormous means for modifying amino acids in response to changes in the protein environment. In this study, we provide a workflow that allows users to interpret how perturbations caused by PTMs affect a protein's properties, dynamics, and interactions with its binding partners based on inferred or experimentally determined protein structure. This Python‐based workflow, called PTM‐Psi , integrates several established open‐source software packages, thereby enabling the user to infer protein structure from sequence, develop force fields for non‐standard amino acids using quantum mechanics, calculate free energy perturbations through molecular dynamics simulations, and score the bound complexes via docking algorithms. Using the S ‐nitrosylation of several cysteines on the GAP2 protein as an example, we demonstrated the utility of PTM‐Psi for interpreting sequence–structure–function relationships derived from thiol redox proteomics data. We demonstrate that the S ‐nitrosylated cysteine that is exposed to the solvent indirectly affects the catalytic reaction of another buried cysteine over a distance in GAP2 protein through the movement of the two ligands. Our workflow tracks the PTMs on residues that are responsive to changes in the redox environment and lays the foundation for the automation of molecular and systems biology modeling.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Physical Properties of BaSnS 2

Phase-pure BaSnS 2 , with space group P2 1 /c, is synthesized, and the structural and physical properties are investigated. We report thermal properties and optical measurements are reported for the first time. The Debye temperature and Sommerfeld coefficient are obtained from temperature-dependent heat capacity measurements, the latter indicating that BaSnS 2 is an electrical insulator. A direct bandgap of 2.4 eV is obtained from diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The findings herein lay the foundation for understanding the physical properties of this material and are part of a continuing effort to investigate previously unexplored ternary chalcogenides.

semiconductors↗

Exploring the scaling limitations of the variational quantum eigensolver with the bond dissociation of hydride diatomic molecules

Abstract Materials simulations involving strongly correlated electrons pose fundamental challenges to state‐of‐the‐art electronic structure methods but are hypothesized to be the ideal use case for quantum computing algorithms. To date, no quantum computer has simulated a molecule of a size and complexity relevant to real‐world applications, despite the fact that the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm can predict chemically accurate total energies. Nevertheless, because of the many applications of moderately sized, strongly correlated systems, such as molecular catalysts, the successful use of the VQE stands as an important waypoint in the advancement toward useful chemical modeling on near‐term quantum processors. In this paper, we take a significant step in this direction. We lay out the steps, write, and run parallel code for an (emulated) quantum computer to compute the bond dissociation curves of the TiH, LiH, NaH, and KH diatomic hydride molecules using the VQE. TiH was chosen as a relatively simple chemical system that incorporates d orbitals and strong electron correlation. Because current VQE implementations on existing quantum hardware are limited by qubit error rates, the number of qubits available, and the allowable gate depth, recent studies using it have focused on chemical systems involving s and p block elements. Through VQE + UCCSD calculations of TiH, we evaluate the near‐term feasibility of modeling a molecule with d‐orbitals on real quantum hardware. We demonstrate that the inclusion of d‐orbitals and the use of the UCCSD ansatz, which are both necessary to capture the correct TiH physics, dramatically increase the cost of this problem. We estimate the approximate error rates necessary to model TiH on current quantum computing hardware using VQE + UCCSD and show them to likely be prohibitive until significant improvements in hardware and error correction algorithms are available.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Dispersed Nickel Phthalocyanine Molecules on Carbon Nanotubes as Cathode Catalysts for Li-CO 2 Batteries

The Li-CO 2 battery has great potential for both CO 2 utilization and energy storage, but its practical application is limited by low energy efficiency and short cycle life. Efficient cathode catalysts are needed to address this issue. Herein, this work reports on molecularly dispersed electrocatalysts (MDEs) of nickel phthalocyanine (NiPc) anchored on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as the cathode catalyst for Li-CO 2 batteries. The dispersed NiPc molecules efficiently catalyze CO 2 reduction, while the conductive and porous CNTs networks facilitate CO 2 evolution reaction, leading to enhanced discharging and charging performance compared to the NiPc and CNTs mixture. Octa-cyano substitution on NiPc (NiPc-CN) further enhances the interaction between the molecule and CNTs, resulting in better cycling stability. The Li-CO 2 battery with the NiPc-CN MDE cathode shows a high discharge voltage of 2.72 V and a small discharging–charging potential gap of 1.4 V, and can work stably for over 120 cycles. The reversibility of the cathode is confirmed by experimental characterizations. Finally, this work lays a foundation for the development of molecular catalysts for Li-CO 2 battery cathodes.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Accelerated Stress Testing of Perovskite Photovoltaic Modules: Differentiating Degradation Modes with Electroluminescence Imaging

Herein, electroluminescence (EL) and thermal imaging are used to examine p–i–n metal halide perovskite (MHP) photovoltaic (PV) mini-modules (MA0.6FA0.4PbI3, 20 cells, 78 cm2) before and after indoor-accelerated stress testing or outdoor deployment. Distinct spatial patterns in the EL images emerge, which depend on the external stress conditions experienced by the mini-module. Imaging results highlight a distribution of dark speckle features that dominate after UV stress, attributed to widespread interfacial contact degradation. Lateral intensity gradients across cells dominate after thermal cycling (TC) stress, attributed to current crowding near scribe defects. While current–voltage analysis alone does not give full insight on the degradation process, this study shows that distinct degradation modes can be further defined by multimodal electro-optical imaging (i.e., EL combined with photoluminescence and dark lock-in thermography). Neither UV exposure nor TC-accelerated stress testing alone replicates the same degradation signatures observed after outdoor deployment, suggesting that multiple degradation modes occur under concurrent stressors outdoors. Finally, spatial characterization of degradation modes in MHP PV mini-modules before and after accelerated stress testing lays the groundwork for developing targeted accelerated stress testing procedures through comparison with outdoor aging.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Holistic Microstructure Control Strategies in Photopolymerization‐Induced Phase Separation of Acrylate Systems

Open porous materials, known for their large surface area and interconnected structures, are essential in various applications, including batteries, ion exchange, catalysis, filtration, and electronic waste recycling. A critical aspect of the functionality of porous membranes is the precise control of pore size and morphology. Photopolymerization-induced phase separation (photo-PIPS) offers a convenient and versatile methods for creating porous structures. However, controlling the porous morphology remains challenging due to the complex interplay between thermodynamics, polymerization kinetics, and monomer structures, which makes it difficult to establish the relationship between processing conditions and resulting morphology in photo-PIPS. Herein, a physics-based phase-field model capable of generating and characterizing the microstructures of porous materials based on both average and localized features is developed. Using the phase-field simulations as test bed, the effects of polarity, light intensity, and curing temperature, as well as the previously unexplored roles of chain transfer agents and substrates, on the morphology of the resulting porous microstructure are investigated. Experiments are performed to verify the results predicted by the simulations. This work lays out a comprehensive guide for designing PIPS-derived porous microstructures and offers practical engineering strategies for tailoring microstructure-level topology and size of pores for application-specific needs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Exon disruptive variants in Populus trichocarpa associated with wood properties exhibit distinct gene expression patterns

Abstract Forest trees may harbor naturally occurring exon disruptive variants (DVs) in their gene sequences, which potentially impact important ecological and economic phenotypic traits. However, the abundance and molecular regulation of these variants remain largely unexplored. Here, 24,420 DVs were identified by screening 1014Populus trichocarpafull genomes. The identified DVs were predominantly heterozygous with allelic frequencies below 5% (only 26% of DVs had frequencies greater than 5%). Using common garden‐grown trees, DVs were assessed for gene expression variation in the developing xylem, revealing that their gene expression can be significantly altered, particularly for homozygous DVs (in the range of 27%–38% of cases depending on the studied common garden). DVs were further investigated for their correlations with 13 wood quality traits, revealing that, among the 148 discovered DV associations, 15 correlated with more than one wood property and six genes had more than one DV in their coding sequences associated with wood traits. Approximately one‐third of DVs correlated with wood property variation also showed significant gene expression variation, confirming their non‐spurious impact. These findings offer potential avenues for targeted introduction of homozygous mutations using tree biotechnology, and while the exact mechanisms by which DVs may directly influence wood formation remain to be unraveled, this study lays the groundwork for further investigation.

Genetics & Heredity↗

Towards a Standard Process Management Infrastructure for Workflows Using Python

Orchestrating the execution of ensembles of processes lies at the core of scientific workflow engines on large scale parallel platforms. This is usually handled using platform-specific command line tools, with limited process management control and potential strain on system resources. The PMIx standard provides a uniform interface to system resources. The low level C implementation of PMIx has hampered its use in workflow engines, leading to the development of Python binding that has yet to gain traction. In this paper, we present our work to harden the PMIx Python client, demonstrating its usability using a prototype Python driver to orchestrate the execution of an ensemble of processes. We present experimental results using the prototype on the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This work lays the foundation for wider adoption of PMIx for workflow engines, and encourages wider support of more PMIx functionality in vendor provided system software stacks.

Elwasif, Wael↗

Flexible User-Defined Domain Decomposition in Kilometer-Scale E3SM Land Model Simulation

The Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) Land Model (ELM) has been extended to kilometer-scale (km-ELM) resolutions, enabling high-fidelity simulations of terrestrial processes at 1 km x 1 km grid spacing. In ELM, domain decomposition partitions the computational domain across processors, ensuring efficient parallel execution. Currently, round-robin decomposition is applied, providing a straightforward way to distribute computational workload. As ELM continues evolving at the kilometer-scale (km-scale), particularly with integrating lateral flow modeling, decomposition strategies must also account for the increased workload and data movement. This paper introduces a flexible user-defined domain decomposition framework, allowing users to customize domain partitioning based on application requirements. The impact of different decomposition strategies is evaluated across various applications concerning computation, communication, and I/O. Results demonstrate that while 1D partitioning yields superior I/O performance, k-nearest neighbors (KNN) clustering effectively reduces inter-process communication overhead. This study lays the groundwork for scalable partitioning in large-scale land surface simulations, enhancing next-generation Earth system modeling.

Wang, Dali [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000168065108)↗

Power-Capping Metric Evaluation for Improving Energy Efficiency in HPC Applications

With high-performance computing systems now running at exascale, optimizing power-scaling management and resource utilization has become more critical than ever. This paper explores runtime power-capping optimizations that leverage integrated CPU-GPU power management on architectures like the NVIDIA GH200 superchip. We evaluate energy-performance metrics that account for simultaneous CPU and GPU power-capping effects by using two complementary approaches: speedup-energy-delay and a Euclidean distance-based multi-objective optimization method. By targeting a mostly compute-bound exascale science application, the Locally Self-Consistent Multiple Scattering (LSMS), we explore challenging scenarios to identify potential opportunities for energy savings in exascale applications, and we recognize that even modest reductions in energy consumption can have significant overall impacts. Our results highlight how GPU task-specific dynamic power-cap adjustments combined with integrated CPU-GPU power steering can improve the energy utilization of certain GPU tasks, thereby laying the groundwork for future adaptive optimization strategies.

Patrou, Maria [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000339754638)↗

Leptonic scalars and collider signatures in a UV-complete model

We study the non-standard interactions of neutrinos with light leptonic scalars ( ϕ ) in a global ( B – L )-conserved ultraviolet (UV)-complete model. The model utilizes Type-II seesaw motivated neutrino interactions with an SU(2) L -triplet scalar, along with an additional singlet in the scalar sector. This UV-completion leads to an enriched spectrum and consequently new observable signatures. We examine the low-energy lepton flavor violation constraints, as well as the perturbativity and unitarity constraints on the model parameters. Then we lay out a search strategy for the unique signature of the model resulting from the leptonic scalars at the hadron colliders via the processes H ±± → W ± W ± ϕ and H ± → W ± ϕ for both small and large leptonic Yukawa coupling cases. We find that via these associated production processes at the HL-LHC, the prospects of doubly-charged scalar H ±± can reach up to 800 (500) GeV and 1.1 (0.8) TeV at the 2 σ (5 σ ) significance for small and large Yukawa couplings, respectively. A future 100 TeV hadron collider will further increase the mass reaches up to 3.8 (2.6) TeV and 4 (2.7) TeV, at the 2 σ (5 σ ) significance, respectively. We also demonstrate that the mass of ϕ can be determined at about 10% accuracy at the LHC for the large Yukawa coupling case even though it escapes as missing energy from the detectors.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Interactions of particles with “continuous spin” fields

Powerful general arguments allow only a few families of long-range interactions, exemplified by gauge field theories of electromagnetism and gravity. However, all of these arguments presuppose that massless fields have zero spin scale (Casimir invariant) and hence exactly boost invariant helicity. This misses the most general behavior compatible with Lorentz symmetry. We present a Lagrangian formalism describing interactions of matter particles with bosonic “continuous spin” fields with arbitrary spin scale ρ. Remarkably, physical observables are well approximated by familiar theories at frequencies larger than ρ, with calculable deviations at low frequencies and long distances. For example, we predict specific ρ-dependent modifications to the Lorentz force law and the Larmor formula, which lay the foundation for experimental tests of the photon’s spin scale. We also reproduce known soft radiation emission amplitudes for nonzero ρ. The particles’ effective matter currents are not fully localized to their worldlines when ρ ≠ 0, which motivates investigation of manifestly local completions of our theory. Our results also motivate the development of continuous spin analogues of gravity and non-Abelian gauge theories. Given the correspondence with familiar gauge theory in the small ρ limit, we conjecture that continuous spin particles may in fact mediate known long-range forces, with testable consequences.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Multi-matrix correlators and localization

Abstract We study generating functions of$$ \frac{1}{4} $$ 1 4 -BPS states in$$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 super Yang-Mills at finiteNby attempting to generalize the Harish-Chandra-Itzykson-Zuber integral to multiple commuting matrices. This allows us to compute the overlaps of two or more generating functions; such calculations arise in the computation of two-point correlators in the free-field limit. We discuss the four-matrix HCIZ integral in the U(2) context and lay out a prescription for finding a more general formula forN> 2. We then discuss its connections with the restricted Schur polynomial operator basis. Our results generalize readily to arbitrary numbers of matrices, opening up the opportunity to study more generic BPS operators.

Physics↗

Two splits, three ways: advances in double splitting quenches

In this work we introduce a method for calculating holographic duals of BCFTs with more than two boundaries. We apply it to calculating the dynamics of entanglement entropy in a 1+1d CFT that is instantaneously split into multiple segments and calculate the entanglement entropy as a function of time for the case of two splits, showing that our approach reproduces earlier results for the double split case. Our manuscript lays the groundwork for future calculations of the entanglement entropy for more than two splits and systems at nonzero temperature.

AdS-CFT correspondence↗

Interacting chiral form field theories and $$ T\overline{T} $$-like flows in six and higher dimensions

Abstract In this paper we initiate the study of six-dimensional non-linear chiral two-form gauge theories as deformations of free chiral two-form gauge theories driven by stress-tensor$$ T\overline{T} $$ T T ¯ -like flows. To lay the background for this study, we elaborate on the relationship between different Lagrangian formulations of duality-invariantp-form theories and corresponding$$ T\overline{T} $$ T T ¯ -like flows in various dimensions. To this end we propose a new formulation which (i) is a generalization of the four-dimensional construction by Ivanov, Nurmagambetov and Zupnik (INZ) and (ii) turns into the PST formulation upon integrating out an auxiliary self-dual field. We elucidate space-time covariant properties of the PST formulation by clarifying and making use of its relation to the INZ-type formulation and to a so-called “clone” construction.

Physics↗

Measuring quantum discord at the LHC

There has been an increasing interest in exploring quantities associated with quantum information at colliders. We perform a detailed analysis describing how to measure the quantum discord in the top anti-top quantum state at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). While for pure states, quantum discord, entanglement, and Bell nonlocality all probe the same correlations, for mixed states they probe different aspects of quantum correlations. The quantum discord, in particular, is interesting because it aims to encapsulate all correlations between systems that cannot have a classical origin. We employ two complementary approaches for the study of the top anti-top system, namely the decay method and the kinematic method. We highlight subtleties associated with measuring discord for reconstructed quantum states at colliders. Usually quantum discord is difficult to compute due to an extremization that must be performed. We show, however, that for the $t\bar{t}$ system this extremization can be performed analytically and we provide closed-form formulas for the quantum discord. We demonstrate that with current LHC datasets, quantum discord can be observed at 3.6 – 5.7σ, depending on the signal region, with the decay method and can be measured at a precision of 0.1 – 0.2% with the kinematic method. At the high luminosity LHC, the observation of quantum discord is expected to be > 5σ using both the decay and kinematic methods and can be measured with a precision of 5% with the decay method and 0.05% with the kinematic method. Additionally, we identify the kinematic cuts at the LHC to isolate the $t\bar{t}$ state that is separable but has non-zero discord. By systematically investigating quantum discord for the first time through a detailed collider analysis, this work expands the toolkit for quantum information studies in particle physics and lays the groundwork for deeper insights into the quantum properties in high-energy collisions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Heavy-quark contributions to the DIS structure functions F 4 and F 5 at NLO in the ACOT scheme

We compute the contributions of heavy quarks to the deep-inelastic scattering structure functions F 4 and F 5 at next-to-leading order of perturbative QCD in the ACOT scheme. Both analytic results including the details of the calculation as well as numerical results for the neutral and charged current cases are presented. Our study thus lays the groundwork for future measurements of these two structure functions in experiments such as the SHiP experiment.

deep inelastic scattering↗

Modelling and computational improvements to the simulation of single vector-boson plus jet processes for the ATLAS experiment

This paper presents updated Monte Carlo configurations used to model the production of single electroweak vector bosons (W, Z/γ$^{∗}$) in association with jets in proton-proton collisions for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Improvements pertaining to the electroweak input scheme, parton-shower splitting kernels and scale-setting scheme are shown for multi-jet merged configurations accurate to next-to-leading order in the strong and electroweak couplings. The computational resources required for these set-ups are assessed, and approximations are introduced resulting in a factor three reduction of the per-event CPU time without affecting the physics modelling performance. Continuous statistical enhancement techniques are introduced by ATLAS in order to populate low cross-section regions of phase space and are shown to match or exceed the generated effective luminosity. This, together with the lower per-event CPU time, results in a 50% reduction in the required computing resources compared to a legacy set-up previously used by the ATLAS collaboration. The set-ups described in this paper will be used for future ATLAS analyses and lay the foundation for the next generation of Monte Carlo predictions for single vector-boson plus jets production.[graphic not available: see fulltext]

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗