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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

Magnetic torque on a rotating superconducting sphere

The London theory of superconductivity is used to calculate the torque on a superconducting sphere rotating in a uniform applied magnetic field. The London theory is combined with classical electrodynamics for a calculation of the direct effect of excess charge on a rotating superconducting sphere. Classical electrodynamics, with the assumption of a perfect Meissner effect, is used to calculate the torque on a superconducting sphere rotating in an arbitrary magnetic induction; this macroscopic approach yields results which are correct to first order. Using the same approach, the torque due to a current loop encircling the rotating sphere is calculated.

Holdeman, L. B.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Nanostructures Exploit Hybrid-Polariton Resonances

Nanostructured devices that exploit the hybrid-polariton resonances arising from coupling among photons, phonons, and plasmons are subjects of research directed toward the development of infrared-spectroscopic sensors for measuring extremely small quantities of molecules of interest. The spectroscopic techniques in question are surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and surface enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA). An important intermediate goal of this research is to increase the sensitivity achievable by these techniques. The basic idea of the approach being followed in this research is to engineer nanostructured devices and thereby engineer their hybrid-polariton resonances to concentrate infrared radiation incident upon their surfaces in such a manner as to increase the absorption of the radiation for SEIRA and measure the frequency shifts of surface vibrational modes. The underlying hybrid-polariton-resonance concept is best described by reference to experimental devices that have been built and tested to demonstrate the concept. The nanostructure of each such device includes a matrix of silicon carbide particles of approximately 1 micron in diameter that are supported on a potassium bromide (KBr) or poly(tetrafluoroethylene) [PTFE] window. These grains are sputter-coated with gold grains of 40-nm size (see figure). From the perspective of classical electrodynamics, in this nanostructure, that includes a particulate or otherwise rough surface, the electric-field portion of an incident electromagnetic field becomes concentrated on the particles when optical resonance conditions are met. Going beyond the perspective of classical electrodynamics, it can be seen that when the resonance frequencies of surface phonons and surface plasmons overlap, the coupling of the resonances gives rise to an enhanced radiation-absorption or -scattering mechanism. The sizes, shapes, and aggregation of the particles determine the frequencies of the resonances. Hence, the task of designing a nanostructure to exhibit the desired radiation-absorption properties translates, in large part, to selecting particle sizes and shapes to obtain the desired enhanced coupling of energy from photons to plasmons and phonons. To broaden the spectral region(s) of enhanced absorption, one would select a distribution of particle sizes and shapes.

Anderson, Mark↗
NASA NTRS1985

Can the master time asymmetry in nature be electrodynamic in origin?

If the electrodynamic measurement process is operationally described by imposing measurement color onto classical electrodynamics, self-energy infinities are eliminated and a retarded electrodynamic time arrow emerges dynamically from internal dynamic-stability conditions. This occurs because the new formalism contains nonlocal radiation fields which carry a negative parity under mathematical time reversal. This result is shown to be compatible with an extended form of T and CPT symmetry which preserves the dynamically chosen retarded electrodynamic arrow of time in the measurement color electrodynamic formalism.

Leiter, D.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Quantum Theory of Surface Lattice Resonances

The collective interactions of nanoparticles arranged in periodic structures give rise to high‐ in‐plane diffractive modes known as surface lattice resonances. Although these resonances and their broader implications have been extensively studied within the framework of classical electrodynamics and linear response theory, a quantum optical theory capable of describing the dynamics of these structures, especially in the presence of material nonlinearities beyond ad hoc few‐mode approximations, is largely missing. To this end, we consider a lattice of metallic nanoparticles coupled to the electromagnetic field and derive the quantum input–output relations within the electric dipole approximation. As applications, we analyze coupling between the nanoparticle array and external quantum emitters, and show how the formalism extends to molecular optomechanics, where the high ‐factors of SLRs enable coupling to collective vibrational modes. We further consider arrays composed of saturable excitonic emitters, demonstrating how emitter nonlinearities can be used to switch the SLR condition between electronic transitions. Using a perturbative approach that accounts for population dynamics, we show how these effects can be probed in pump–probe experiments and give rise to nonlinear phase‐matching phenomena. Our work provides a microscopic framework for modeling SLRs interacting with quantum emitters without phenomenological descriptions of the electromagnetic environment.

molecular optomechanics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Massive twistor worldline in electromagnetic fields

We study the (ambi-)twistor model for spinning particles interacting via electromagnetic field, as a toy model for studying classical dynamics of gravitating bodies including effects of both spins to all orders. We compute the momentum kick and spin kick up to one-loop order and show precisely how they are encoded in the classical eikonal. The all-orders-in-spin effects are encoded as a dynamical implementation of the Newman-Janis shift, and we find that the expansion in both spins can be resummed to simple expressions in special kinematic configurations, at least up to one-loop order. We confirm that the classical eikonal can be understood as the generator of canonical transformations that map the in-states of a scattering process to the out-states. We also remark that cut contributions for converting worldline propagators from time-symmetric to retarded amount to the iterated action of the leading eikonal at one-loop order.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS2001

Experimental Results of Schlicher's Thrusting Antenna

Experiments were conducted to test the claims by Rex L. Schlicher, et al., (Patent 5,142,86 1) that a certain antenna geometry produces thrust greatly exceeding radiation reaction, when driven by repetitive, fast rise, and relatively slower decay current pulses. In order to test this hypothesis, the antenna was suspended by strings as a 3 in pendulum. Current pulses were fed to the antenna along the suspension path by a very flexible coaxial line constructed from loudspeaker cable and copper braid sheath. When driving the antenna via this cabling, our pulser was capable of sustaining 1200 A pulses at a rate of 30 per second up to a minute. In this way, bursts of pulses could be delivered in synch with the pendulum period in order to build up any motion. However, when using a laser beam passing through a lens attached to the antenna to amplify linear displacement by a factor of at least 25, no correlated motion of the beam spot could be detected on a distant wall. We conclude, in agreement with the momentum theorem of classical electromagnetic theory, that any thrust produced is far below practically useful levels. Hence, within classical electrodynamics, there is little hope of detecting any low level motion that cannot be explained by interactions with surrounding structural steel and the Earth's magnetic field.

Fralick, Gustave C.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Surface-enhanced stimulated Raman spectroscopy with squeezed photonic states

Recent advances in generating light in specific quantum states facilitate new sensing applications and enhance or revitalize established measurement and sensing techniques. Stimulated Raman spectroscopy (SRS), a measurement modality based on Raman scattering, could benefit from tuning the quantum properties of the pump and the Stokes lights or the properties of quantum states of the stimulating and excitation fields. Additionally, this modality could also benefit from field enhancement accompanied by plasmon excitation in the surface regions of metal nanoparticles. We present a theoretical investigation of stimulated Raman scattering involving squeezed states of light. The concept of surface- and quantum-enhanced stimulated Raman scattering is introduced. Furthermore, expressions for the respective SRS transition rates are derived, and their dependence on the quantum states of the optical field is discussed, with particular emphasis on the squeezing parameters characterizing these states. For cases involving surface enhancements, we also employ classical computational electrodynamics to guide our exploration of atomically large systems that support plasmon excitation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2026

Updated constraints from electric dipole moments in the MSSM with R-parity violation

We revisit the electric dipole moments (EDMs) of quarks and leptons in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with trilinear R-parity violation (RPV). In this framework, EDMs are induced at the two-loop level via RPV interactions. We perform a comprehensive recalculation of several classes of Barr-Zee type diagrams in a general Rξ gauge. While we find general agreement with previous analytic results in the literature, our work provides a valuable independent cross-check of the complicated calculations. We also point out some subtleties in the intermediate steps and in the choice of the flavor basis for the numerical evaluation of the expressions. By confronting the theoretical predictions with the latest experimental limits on EDMs, we derive updated constraints on combinations of RPV couplings. We highlight an approximate, testable correlation between the proton and neutron EDM that emerges within the considered class of RPV models, offering a distinctive signature for future EDM experiments.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

The constructive method for massive particles in QED

The constructive method of determining amplitudes from on-shell pole structure has been shown to be promising for calculating amplitudes in a more efficient way. However, challenges have been encountered when a massless internal photon is involved in the gluing of three-point amplitudes with massive external particles. In this paper, we use the original on-shell method, old-fashioned perturbation theory, to shed light on the constructive method, and show that one can derive the Feynman amplitude by correctly identifying the residue even when there is an internal photon involved.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Celestial leaf amplitudes

Celestial amplitudes may be decomposed as weighted integrals of AdS 3 -Witten diagrams associated to each leaf of a hyperbolic foliation of spacetime. We show, for the Kleinian three-point MHV amplitude, that each leaf subamplitude is smooth except for the expected light-cone singularities. Moreover, we find that the full translationally-invariant celestial amplitude is simply the residue of the pole in the leaf amplitude at the point where the total conformal weights of the gluons equals three. This full celestial amplitude vanishes up to light-cone contact terms, as required by spacetime translation invariance, and reduces to the expression previously derived by Mellin transformation of the Parke-Taylor formula.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2017

Electromagnetic Scattering and Emission by a Fixed Multi-Particle Object in Local Thermal Equilibrium: General Formalism

The majority of previous studies of the interaction of individual particles and multi-particle groups with electromagnetic field have focused on either elastic scattering in the presence of an external field or self-emission of electromagnetic radiation. In this paper we apply semi-classical fluctuational electrodynamics to address the ubiquitous scenario wherein a fixed particle or a fixed multi-particle group is exposed to an external quasi-polychromatic electromagnetic field as well as thermally emits its own electromagnetic radiation. We summarize the main relevant axioms of fluctuational electrodynamics, formulate in maximally rigorous mathematical terms the general scattering emission problem for a fixed object, and derive such fundamental corollaries as the scattering emission volume integral equation, the Lippmann Schwinger equation for the dyadic transition operator, the multi-particle scattering emission equations, and the far-field limit. We show that in the framework of fluctuational electrodynamics, the computation of the self-emitted component of the total field is completely separated from that of the elastically scattered field. The same is true of the computation of the emitted and elastically scattered components of quadratic linear forms in the total electromagnetic field. These results pave the way to the practical computation of relevant optical observables.

Electromagnetic scattering; Thermal emission; Fluc↗
DOE OSTI2024

Conservative Binary Dynamics at Order 𝛼 5 in Electrodynamics

We compute the potential-photon contributions to the classical relativistic scattering angle of two charged nonspinning bodies in electrodynamics through fifth order in the coupling. We use the scattering amplitudes framework, effective field theory, and multiloop integration techniques based on integration by parts and differential equations. At fifth order, the result is expressed in terms of cyclotomic polylogarithms. Our calculation demonstrates the feasibility of the corresponding calculations in general relativity, including the evaluation of the encountered four-loop integrals.

classical electromagnetism↗
NASA NTRS2007

Electrodynamic Tether Operations beyond the Ionosphere in the Low-Density Magnetosphere

In the classical concept for the operation of electrodynamic tethers in space, a voltage is generated across the tether, either by the tether's orbital motion through the earth's planetary magnetic field or by a power supply; electrons are then collected from the ionospheric plasma at the positive pole; actively emitted back into space at the negative pole; and the circuit is closed by currents driven through the ambient conducting ionosphere. This concept has been proven to work in space by the Tethered Satellite System TSS-1 and TSS-1R Space Shuttle missions; and the Plasma Motor-Generator (PMG) tether flight experiment. However, it limits electrodynamic tether operations to the F-region of the ionosphere where the plasma density is sufficient to conduct the required currents--in other words, between altitudes of approximately 200 to 1000 km in sunlight. In the earth's shadow, the ionospheric density drops precipitously and tether operations, using the above approach, are not effective--even within this altitude range. There are numerous missions that require in-space propulsion in the Earth's shadow and/or outside of the above altitude range. This paper will, therefore, present the fundamentals of a concept that would allow electrodynamic tethers to operate almost anywhere within the magnetosphere, the region of space containing the earth's planetary magnetic field. In other words, because operations would be virtually independent of any ambient plasma, the range of electrodynamic operations would be extended into the earth's shadow and out to synchronous orbit--forty times the present operational range. The key to this concept is the active generation of plasma at each pole of the tether so that current generation ,does not depend on the conductivity of the ambient ionosphere. Arguments will be presented, based on ,existing flight data, which shed light on the behavior of charge emissions in space and show the plausibility of the concept.

Stone, Nobie H.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Higher-form symmetry and chiral transport in real-time Abelian lattice gauge theory

We study classical lattice simulations of theories of electrodynamics coupled to charged matter at finite temperature, interpreting them using the higher-form symmetry formulation of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). We compute transport coefficients using classical Kubo formulas on the lattice and show that the properties of the simulated plasma are in complete agreement with the predictions from effective field theories. In particular, the higher-form formulation allows us to understand from hydrodynamic considerations the relaxation rate of axial charge in the chiral plasma observed in previous simulations. A key point is that the resistivity of the plasma – defined in terms of Kubo formulas for the electric field in the 1-form formulation of MHD – remains a well-defined and predictive quantity at strong electromagnetic coupling. However, the Kubo formulas used to define the conventional conductivity vanish at low frequencies due to electrodynamic fluctuations, and thus the concept of the conductivity of a gauged electric current must be interpreted with care.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Spinning black hole scattering at $ \mathcal{O} $(G 3 S 2 )(G 3 S 2 ): Casimir terms, radial action and hidden symmetry

We resolve subtleties in calculating the post-Minksowskian dynamics of binary systems, as a spin expansion, from massive scattering amplitudes of fixed finite spin. In particular, the apparently ambiguous spin Casimir terms can be fully determined from the gradient of the spin-diagonal part of the amplitudes with respect to S 2 = −s(s+1)ħ 2 , using an interpolation between massive amplitudes with different spin representations. From two-loop amplitudes of spin-0 and spin-1 particles minimally coupled to gravity, we extract the spin Casimir terms in the conservative scattering angle between a spinless and a spinning black hole at $ \mathcal{O} $(G 3 S 2 ), finding agreement with known results in the literature. This completes an earlier study [Phys. Rev. Lett. 130 (2023), 021601] that calculated the non-Casimir terms from amplitudes. We also illustrate our methods using a model of spinning bodies in electrodynamics, finding agreement between scattering amplitude predictions and classical predictions in a root-Kerr electromagnetic background up to $ \mathcal{O} $(α 3 S 2 ). For both gravity and electrodynamics, the finite part of the amplitude coincides with the two-body radial action in the aligned spin limit, generalizing the amplitude-action relation beyond the spinless case. Surprisingly, the two-loop amplitude displays a hidden spin-shift symmetry in the probe limit, which was previously observed at one loop. We conjecture that the symmetry holds to all orders in the coupling constant and is a consequence of integrability of Kerr orbits in the probe limit at the first few orders in spin.

Classical Theories of Gravity↗
DOE OSTI2025

A cavity-enhanced spectroscopist's lens on molecular polaritons

Polariton chemistry has been hailed as a potential new route to direct molecular processes with electromagnetic fields. To make further strides, the community needs to clarify which unusual polaritonic phenomena are true hallmarks of cavity quantum electrodynamics and which can be rationalized with classical optical physics. Here, in this work, we provide a tutorial perspective on the formation, spectroscopy, and behavior of molecular polaritons using classical optics. Where possible, we draw connections to cavity-enhanced spectroscopy and recast open questions in terms that may be more familiar to the broader community of physical chemists.

Cavity quantum electrodynamics↗
DOE OSTI2025

When do molecular polaritons behave like optical filters?

This review outlines several linear optical effects featured by molecular polaritons arising in the collective strong light–matter coupling regime. Under weak laser irradiation and when the single-molecule light–matter coupling can be neglected (often in the limit when the number of molecules per photon mode is large), we show that the excited-state molecular dynamics under collective strong coupling can be exactly replicated without the cavity using a shaped (or “filtered”) laser, whose field amplitude is enhanced by the cavity quality factor, shining on the bare molecules. As a consequence, the absorption within a cavity can be understood as the overlap between the polariton transmission and the bare molecular absorption, suggesting that polaritons act in part as optical filters. This framework demystifies and provides a straightforward explanation for a large class of experiments and theoretical models in molecular polaritonics, highlighting that the same effects can be achieved without the cavity with shaped laser pulses. With a few modifications, this simple conceptual picture can also be adapted to understand the incoherent nonlinear response of polaritonic systems. This review establishes a clear distinction between polaritonic phenomena that can be fully explained through classical linear optics and those that require a quantum electrodynamics approach. It also highlights the need to differentiate between effects that necessitate polaritons (i.e., hybrid light–matter states) and those that can occur in the weak coupling regime. Here, we further discuss that certain quantum optical effects like fluorescence can be partially described as optical filtering, whereas some others like cavity-induced Raman scattering go beyond this. Further exploration in these areas is needed to uncover novel polaritonic phenomena beyond optical filtering.

Schwennicke, Kai [University of California, San Di↗