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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Theoretical Nuclear Physics (Final Report)

This award from the Department of Energy supported the PI, Che-Ming Ko of Texas A&M University, for the period from April 1, 2022 to August 31, 2025 at an amount of $150,000 to carry out the project entitled “Theoretical nuclear physics”. The scientific goal of the project was to develop transport models for heavy ion collisions at various energies and with both stable and rare isotopes and to carry out systematic comparisons of theoretical predictions with experimental data. Results from this project has led to the publication of 14 papers in and the submission of 10 papers to peer-reviewed journals, the publication of 3 papers in and the submission of 1 paper to conference proceedings. Also, the PI has presented 12 invited talks at international conferences and workshops. In the following, a brief summary of these results is given.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Abrupt structural transition in exotic molybdenum isotopes unveils an isospin-symmetric island of inversion

Like electrons in atoms, protons and neutrons in nuclei occupy orbitals in a shell structure with energy gaps at magic numbers. Radioactive-beam experiments revealed the disappearance of magic numbers in some neutron-rich isotopes. In these nuclei, configurations involving particles excited across the shell gap gain correlation energy, becoming the ground state. Neutron-rich regions of the nuclear chart that exhibit this property are known as “Islands of Inversion”. Here we present the lifetime measurement of the first 2 + states in 84 Mo (N = Z) and 86 Mo (N = Z + 2) revealing an unexpected sharp structural change between them defining the edge of the region of deformation around 80 Zr. Similarly to the neutron-rich N = 40 Island of Inversion near 64 Cr where cross-shell excitations dominate, we identify this region as an Island of Inversion with symmetrical proton and neutron excitations that we term “Isospin-Symmetric Island of Inversion”. Three-nucleon forces are suggested to drive Mo isotope structural changes.

experimental nuclear physics↗
DOE OSTI2024

In-beam spectroscopy reveals competing nuclear shapes in the rare isotope 62 Cr

In recent decades, rareisotope facilities have enabled the study of short-lived, neutron-rich nuclei. Their measured properties indicate that shell structure changes in the regime of unbalanced neutron-to-proton ratios compared to that of stable nuclei. In the so-called islands of inversion in the nuclear chart – around the neutron-rich nuclei 32 Mg, 42 Si and 64 Cr, for example – the textbook shell-model picture predicts the presence of spherical shapes due to the respective magic neutron numbers of 20, 28, and 40 of these nuclei. However, nuclei in these regions turn out to be deformed in their ground states. Another hallmark of these islands is shape coexistence, where a nucleus assumes different shapes with excitation energy. Furthermore, we present evidence for this phenomenon from the observation of an excited 0 + state in 62 Cr, two neutrons away from the heart of the island of inversion around neutron number N = 40. We use large-scale shell-model calculations to interpret the results and report extrapolations for the doubly-magic nucleus 60 Ca.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Extreme shape coexistence observed in 70 Co

The shape of the atomic nucleus is a property that underpins our understanding of nuclear systems, impacts the limits of nuclear existence, and enables probes of physics beyond the Standard Model. Nuclei can adopt a variety of shapes, including spheres, axially deformed spheroids, and pear shapes. In some regions of the nuclear chart where a spherical nucleus would naively be expected, deformed nuclear states can result from the collective action of constituent protons and neutrons. In a small subset of nuclei both spherical and deformed nuclear states have been experimentally observed, a phenomenon termed shape coexistence. We present spectroscopic evidence for the coexistence of J π = 1 + spherical and deformed states in 70 Co, separated by less than 275 keV. This close degeneracy of levels with the same J π and different shapes demonstrates an extreme example of shape coexistence resulting from the interplay of independent particle motion and collective behavior in highly unstable nuclear systems and identifies the Co isotopes as a transition point between deformed ground states observed in the Cr isotopes and spherical configurations observed in the closed-shell Ni isotopes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Electromagnetic properties of indium isotopes illuminate the doubly magic character of 100 Sn

Understanding the nuclear properties in the vicinity of 100 Sn, which has been suggested to be the heaviest doubly magic nucleus with proton number Z equal to neutron number N, has been a long-standing challenge for experimental and theoretical nuclear physics. In particular, contradictory experimental evidence exists regarding the role of nuclear collectivity in this region of the nuclear chart. Here, we provide further evidence for the doubly magic character of 100 Sn by measuring the ground-state electromagnetic moments and nuclear charge radii of indium (Z = 49) isotopes as N approaches 50 from above using precision laser spectroscopy. Our results span almost the complete range between the two major closed neutron shells at N = 50 and N = 82 and reveal parabolic trends as a function of the neutron number, with a clear reduction towards these two closed neutron shells. Furthermore, a detailed comparison between our experimental results and numerical results from two complementary nuclear many-body frameworks (density functional theory and ab initio methods) exposes deficiencies in nuclear models and establishes a benchmark for future theoretical developments.

100Sn↗
DOE OSTI2024

Transverse momentum-dependent heavy-quark fragmentation at next-to-leading order

The transverse momentum-dependent fragmentation functions (TMD FFs) of heavy (bottom and charm) quarks, which we recently introduced, are universal building blocks that enter predictions for a large number of observables involving final-state heavy quarks or hadrons. They enable the extension of fixed-order subtraction schemes to quasi-collinear limits, and are of particular interest in their own right as probes of the nonperturbative dynamics of hadronization. In this paper we calculate all TMD FFs involving heavy quarks and the associated TMD matrix element in heavy-quark effective theory (HQET) to next-to-leading order in the strong interaction. Our results confirm the renormalization properties, large-mass, and small-mass consistency relations predicted in our earlier work. We also derive and confirm a prediction for the large-z behavior of the heavy-quark TMD FF by extending, for the first time, the formalism of joint resummation to capture quark mass effects in heavy-quark fragmentation. Our final results in position space agree with those of a recent calculation by another group that used a highly orthogonal organization of singularities in the intermediate momentum-space steps, providing a strong independent cross check. As an immediate application, we present the complete quark mass dependence of the energy-energy correlator (EEC) in the back-to-back limit at $\mathcal{O}\left({\alpha}_s\right)$.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

The 1 → 3 massive splitting functions from QCD factorization and SCET

Splitting functions are universal functions describing the collinear dynamics of gauge theories, and as such are crucial ingredients for a wide variety of calculations in perturbative QCD. We present analytic results for the triple collinear splitting functions in QCD with a single massive parton. We derive the splitting functions using two distinct methods; first by expanding the squared matrix elements in the collinear limit, and secondly by using soft-collinear effective theory with massive quarks. We find agreement between these two approaches, providing a strong check of our results. Additionally, we also check all iterated and soft limits of our results, finding agreement with predictions from factorization. Our results provide an important ingredient for higher order perturbative calculations involving massive partons, and for the description of the collinear dynamics of heavy flavor jets.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Multi-hadron systems via Lattice QCD

This project supported a broad set of research in theoretical nuclear physics which has been designed to support current and future experimental DOE facilities. The broad summary of physical observables of interest in this project were the bread-and-butter observables obtained in experimental nuclear and particle physics experiments, namely scattering amplitude including multi-hadronic states. The primary goal of this project was to design a systematically improvable paradigm for accessing such amplitudes directly from the Standard Model of Particle Physics. The main tools that were used and explored in this project were scattering theory, lattice QCD, and future quantum computers. The physics outputs included various novel formalisms, exploratory lattice QCD calculations, and a new proposal for studying any scattering observable using future quantum computers.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Potential for tensor polarized deuterons in Hall D at Jefferson lab

Hall D at Jefferson lab is an ideal place to install a polarized deuteron target which can be “tensor polarized”, allowing the separation of the spin states m = 0, ±1 or the measurement of tensor asymmetries. The bremsstrahlung photon beam with 3 - 12 GeV endpoint provides very little heating or radiation damage compared to an electron beam, allowing the target to be run in frozen spin mode. Adiabatic fast passage spin manipulations can then be used to greatly enhance the population of the m = 0 spin state of the deuteron. Coherent photoproduction of ρ mesons from deuterium is sensitive to double-scattering at high momentum transfer and in the m = 0 spin state an additional sensitivity at intermediate momentum transfer opens up. In conclusion, we propose a frozen spin target for Hall D and the measurement of ρ photoproduced coherently from the deuteron as a flagship measurement.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Investigating the crust of neutron stars with neural-network quantum states

An accurate description of low-density nuclear matter is crucial for explaining the physics of neutron star crusts. In the density range between approximately 0.01 fm −3 and 0.1 fm −3 , matter transitions from neutron-rich nuclei to various higher-density pasta shapes, before ultimately reaching a uniform liquid. In this work, we introduce a variational Monte Carlo method based on a neural Pfaffian-Jastrow quantum state, which allows us to model the transition from the liquid phase to neutron-rich nuclei microscopically. At low densities, nuclear clusters dynamically emerge from the microscopic interactions among protons and neutrons, which we model based on pionless effective field theory. Our variational Monte Carlo approach represents a significant improvement over the state-of-the-art auxiliary-field diffusion Monte Carlo method, which is severely hindered by the fermion-sign problem in this low-density regime and cannot capture the onset of clusters. In addition to computing the energy per particle of symmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter, we analyze an intermediate isospin-asymmetry configuration to elucidate the formation of nuclear clusters. We also provide evidence that the presence of such nuclear clusters influences the amount of protons in the crust compared to protons in beta-equilibrated, neutrino-transparent matter.

Nuclear astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Incoherent diffractive dijet production and gluon Bose enhancement in the nuclear wave function

We investigate the effect of gluon Bose enhancement in the nuclear wave function on the dijet production in incoherent diffractive processes in DIS and ultraperipheral collisions. We demonstrate that Bose enhancement leads to an enhancement of diffractive dijet production cross section when the transverse momenta of the two jets are aligned at zero relative angle. This enhancement is maximal when the magnitude of the transverse momenta of the two jets are equal, and disappears rather quickly as a function of the ratio of the two momenta. We study both the dilute limit and fully nonlinear dense regime where the nuclear wave function is evolved with the leading order JIMWLK equation. In both cases we observe a visible effect, with it being enhanced by the evolution due to the dynamical generation of the color neutralization scale.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Exploring baryon resonances with transition generalized parton distributions: status and perspectives

QCD gives rise to a rich spectrum of excited baryon states. Understanding their internal structure is important for many areas of nuclear physics, such as nuclear forces, dense matter, and neutrino-nucleus interactions. Generalized parton distributions (GPDs) are an established tool for characterizing the QCD structure of the ground-state nucleon. They are used to create 3D tomographic images of the quark/gluon structure and quantify the mechanical properties such as the distribution of mass, angular momentum, and forces in the system. Transition GPDs extend these concepts to N → N* transitions and can be used to characterize the 3D structure and mechanical properties of baryon resonances. They can be probed in high-momentum-transfer exclusive electroproduction processes with resonance transitions e + N → e' + M + N*, such as deeply-virtual Compton scattering (M = γ) or meson production (M = π, K, etc.), and in related photon/hadron-induced processes. This White Paper describes a research program aiming to explore baryon resonance structure with transition GPDs. This includes the properties and interpretation of the transition GPDs, theoretical methods for structures and processes, first experimental results from JLab 12 GeV, future measurements with existing and planned facilities (JLab detector and energy upgrades, COMPASS/AMBER, EIC, EicC, J-PARC, LHC ultraperipheral collisions), and the theoretical and experimental developments needed to realize this program.

Experimental Nuclear Physics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Imaging shapes of atomic nuclei in high-energy nuclear collisions

Atomic nuclei are self-organized, many-body quantum systems bound by strong nuclear forces within femtometre-scale space. These complex systems manifest a variety of shapes, traditionally explored using non-invasive spectroscopic techniques at low energies. However, at these energies, their instantaneous shapes are obscured by long-timescale quantum fluctuations, making direct observation challenging. Here we introduce the collective-flow-assisted nuclear shape-imaging method, which images the nuclear global shape by colliding them at ultrarelativistic speeds and analysing the collective response of outgoing debris. This technique captures a collision-specific snapshot of the spatial matter distribution within the nuclei, which, through the hydrodynamic expansion, imprints patterns on the particle momentum distribution observed in detectors. We benchmark this method in collisions of ground-state uranium-238 nuclei, known for their elongated, axial-symmetric shape. Our findings show a large deformation with a slight deviation from axial symmetry in the nuclear ground state, aligning broadly with previous low-energy experiments. This approach offers a new method for imaging nuclear shapes, enhances our understanding of the initial conditions in high-energy collisions and addresses the important issue of nuclear structure evolution across energy scales.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Discovering nuclear models from symbolic machine learning

Numerous phenomenological nuclear models have been proposed to describe specific observables within different regions of the nuclear chart. However, developing a unified model that describes the complex behavior of all nuclei remains an open challenge. Here, we explore whether symbolic Machine Learning (ML) can rediscover traditional nuclear physics models or identify alternatives with improved simplicity, fidelity, and predictive power. To address this challenge, we developed a Multi-objective Iterated Symbolic Regression approach that handles symbolic regressions over multiple target observables, accounts for experimental uncertainties and is robust against high-dimensional problems. As a proof of principle, we applied this method to describe the nuclear binding energies and charge radii of light and medium mass nuclei. Our approach identified simple analytical relationships based on the number of protons and neutrons, providing interpretable models with precision comparable to state-of-the-art nuclear models. Additionally, we integrated this ML-discovered model with an existing complementary model to estimate the limits of nuclear stability. These results highlight the potential of symbolic ML to develop accurate nuclear models and guide our description of complex many-body problems.

Nuclear structure↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quantum computing universal thermalization dynamics in a (2 + 1)D Lattice Gauge Theory

Simulating non-equilibrium phenomena in strongly-interacting quantum many-body systems, including thermalization, is a promising application of near-term and future quantum computation. By performing experiments on a digital quantum computer consisting of fully-connected optically-controlled trapped ions, we study the role of entanglement in the thermalization dynamics of a Z 2 lattice gauge theory in 2+1 spacetime dimensions. Using randomized-measurement protocols, we efficiently learn a classical approximation of non-equilibrium states that yields the gap-ratio distribution and the spectral form factor of the entanglement Hamiltonian. These observables exhibit universal early-time signals for quantum chaos, a prerequisite for thermalization. Our work, therefore, establishes quantum computers as robust tools for studying universal features of thermalization in complex many-body systems, including in gauge theories.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2026

The nucleardatapy toolkit for simple access to experimental nuclear data, astrophysical observations, and theoretical predictions

Systematic comparisons across theoretical predictions for the properties of dense matter, nuclear physics data, and astrophysical observations (also called meta-analyses) are performed. Existing predictions for symmetric nuclear and neutron matter properties are considered, and they are shown in this paper as an illustration of the present knowledge. Asymmetric matter is constructed assuming the isospin asymmetry quadratic approximation. It is employed to predict the pressure at twice saturation energy-density based only on nuclear-physics constraints, and we find it compatible with the one from the gravitational-wave community. To make our meta-analysis transparent, updated in the future, and to publicly share our results, the Python toolkit nucleardatapy is described and released here. Hence, this paper accompanies nucleardatapy, which simplifies access to nuclear-physics data, including theoretical calculations, experimental measurements, and astrophysical observations. This Python toolkit is designed to easily provide data for: (i) predictions for uniform matter (from microscopic or phenomenological approaches); (ii) correlation among nuclear properties induced by experimental and theoretical constraints; (iii) measurements for finite nuclei (nuclear chart, charge radii, neutron skins or nuclear incompressibilities, etc.) and hypernuclei (single particle energies); and (iv) astrophysical observations. This toolkit provides data in a unified format for easy comparison and provides new meta-analysis tools. It will be continuously developed, and we expect contributions from the community in our endeavor.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

High-temperature 205 Tl decay clarifies 205 Pb dating in early Solar System

Radioactive nuclei with lifetimes on the order of millions of years can reveal the formation history of the Sun and active nucleosynthesis occurring at the time and place of its birth. Among such nuclei whose decay signatures are found in the oldest meteorites, 205 Pb is a powerful example, as it is produced exclusively by slow neutron captures (the s process), with most being synthesized in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. However, making accurate abundance predictions for 205 Pb has so far been impossible because the weak decay rates of 205 Pb and 205 Tl are very uncertain at stellar temperatures. To constrain these decay rates, we measured for the first time the bound-state β - decay of fully ionized 205 Tl 81+ , an exotic decay mode that only occurs in highly charged ions. The measured half-life is 4.7 times longer than the previous theoretical estimate and our 10% experimental uncertainty has eliminated the main nuclear-physics limitation. With new, experimentally backed decay rates, we used AGB stellar models to calculate 205 Pb yields. Propagating those yields with basic galactic chemical evolution (GCE) and comparing with the 205 Pb/ 204 Pb ratio from meteorites, we determined the isolation time of solar material inside its parent molecular cloud. We find positive isolation times that are consistent with the other s-process short-lived radioactive nuclei found in the early Solar System. Our results reaffirm the site of the Sun’s birth as a long-lived, giant molecular cloud and support the use of the 205 Pb– 205 Tl decay system as a chronometer in the early Solar System.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Theoretical tools for neutrino scattering: interplay between lattice QCD, EFTs, nuclear physics, phenomenology, and neutrino event generators

Maximizing the discovery potential of increasingly precise neutrino experiments will require an improved theoretical understanding of neutrino-nucleus cross sections over a wide range of energies. Low-energy interactions are needed to reconstruct the energies of astrophysical neutrinos from supernovae bursts and search for new physics using increasingly precise measurement of coherent elastic neutrino scattering. Higher-energy interactions involve a variety of reaction mechanisms including quasi-elastic scattering, resonance production, and deep inelastic scattering that must all be included to reliably predict cross sections for energies relevant to DUNE and other accelerator neutrino experiments. Refined nuclear interaction models in these energy regimes will also be valuable for other applications, such as measurements of reactor, solar, and atmospheric neutrinos. This manuscript discusses the theoretical status, challenges, required resources, and path forward for achieving precise predictions of neutrino-nucleus scattering and emphasizes the need for a coordinated theoretical effort involved lattice QCD, nuclear effective theories, phenomenological models of the transition region, and event generators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗