Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “FUNDAMENTAL INTERACTIONS”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Self-Consistent Relativistic Electron Scattering using the Sherlock Scattering Model for X-ray Diagnostics

We present on a new, self-consistent, arbitrary-temperature Romberg integration scheme for modeling electron scattering in materials in a LANL Lagrangian Shock Hydro (LSH) code. Electron beam-target interactions are fundamental to a wide range of scientific and technological applications. When high-energy electron beams hit their target, they may scatter, deposit energy, or ionize the source. These processes govern the behavior and outcomes in nanotechnology manufacturing, electron microscopy, and modern X-ray diagnostics. Simulating these interactions is essential for interpreting experimental results, predicting material responses, and designing efficient tools and experiments. At Los Alamos, this is done using a LSH code, which is a multi-dimension, multi-material, massively parallel, multi-physics code used to simulate applications from asteroid impacts to electron beam interactions. By effectively and efficiently modeling the way that electrons scatter from the beam we can bolster these simulations and more accurately predict experimental outcomes. The model currently implemented in the LSH of interest is based on work by Papp and does not self-consistently preserve momentum in the slightly relativistic regime; here we adopt a model proposed by Braams and Karney and implement a Romberg integration scheme to compute the diffusion tensor. In this paper we will provide background on the Braams-Karney diffusion tensor as well as the Romberg integration scheme we employed to numerically solve for it. We will show that our integration scheme is accurate in solving for the set of scalar potentials used to re-express the diffusion tensor in differential form, and in solving for the diffusion coefficients in the larger LSH code. By using this diffusion tensor rather than the existing Papp one, and numerically integrating it with a Romberg method, we produce much more accurate, self-consistent results.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Electron in the field of flexural vibrations of a membrane: Quantum time, magnetic oscillations, and coherence breaking

We have studied the motion of an electron in a membrane under the influence of flexural vibrations with a correlator that decreases upon an increase in the distance in accordance with the law r–{sup 2η}. We have conducted a detailed consideration of the case with η < 1/2, in which the perturbation theory is inapplicable, even for an arbitrarily weak interaction. It is shown that, in this case, reciprocal quantum time 1/τ{sub q} is proportional to g{sup 1/(1–η)}T{sup (2–η)/(2–2η)}, where g is the electron–phonon interaction constant and T is the temperature. The method developed here is applied for calculating the electron density of states in a magnetic field perpendicular to the membrane. In particular, it is shown that the Landau levels in the regime with ω{sub c}τ{sub q} » 1 have a Gaussian shape with a width that depends on the magnetic field as B{sup η}. In addition, we calculate the time τ{sub φ} of dephasing of the electron wave function that emerges due to the interaction with flexural phonons for η < 1/2. It has been shown that, in several temperature intervals, quantity 1/τ{sub φ} can be expressed by various power functions of the electron–phonon interaction constant, temperature, and electron energy.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

Thermal and quantum fluctuations of confined Bose–Einstein condensate beyond the Bogoliubov approximation

The formulation for zero mode of a Bose–Einstein condensate beyond the Bogoliubov approximation at zero temperature [Y. Nakamura et al., Phys. Rev. A 89 (2014) 013613] is extended to finite temperature. Both thermal and quantum fluctuations are considered in a manner consistent with a concept of spontaneous symmetry breakdown for a finite-size system. Therefore, we need a proper treatment of the zero mode operators, which invoke non-trivial enhancements in depletion condensate and thermodynamical quantities such as the specific heat. The enhancements are visible in the weak interaction case. Our approach reproduces the results of a homogeneous system in the Bogoliubov approximation in a large particle number limit.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Fluctuation instability of the Dirac Sea in quark models of strong interactions

A number of exactly integrable (quark) models of quantum field theory that feature an infinite correlation length are considered. An instability of the standard vacuum quark ensemble, a Dirac sea (in spacetimes of dimension higher than three), is highlighted. It is due to a strong ground-state degeneracy, which, in turn, stems from a special character of the energy distribution. In the case where the momentumcutoff parameter tends to infinity, this distribution becomes infinitely narrow and leads to large (unlimited) fluctuations. A comparison of the results for various vacuum ensembles, including a Dirac sea, a neutral ensemble, a color superconductor, and a Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) state, was performed. In the presence of color quark interaction, a BCS state is unambiguously chosen as the ground state of the quark ensemble.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Formation and surface melting of nanoparticle superlattices in a solution

The wisdom in the saying of “There are no two snowflakes alike” lies in the importance of history or kinetic pathways in the phase transitions of solids. Likewise, “artificial solids,” namely superlattices consisting of functional nanoparticles, have lattice size, surface morphology, crystallinity, symmetry, and structural reconfiguration (for example, transition into a disordered state) highly dependent on the kinetic pathways as the nanoparticles interact with each other in solution [1]. Great progresses have been made in understanding the formation pathways of superlattices using liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy (TEM) [2-4]. For example, by tracking single nanoparticle’s trajectories, especially aided by U-net neural network-based machine learning, previous studies mapped the fundamental nanoparticle interactions at nanometer resolution [5]. Nonclassical, two-step nucleation pathway has also been elucidated in the system of nanoprisms, by optimizing protocols such as loading nanoparticle suspensions over the supersaturation threshold and minimizing particle‒substrate interaction [2]. Surface morphologies or exposed facets of superlattices have been shown to follow the principles of Wulff construction rule, where the facet-dependent surface energy can be measured based on the capillary wave theory [4]. However, the reverse process of crystallization of superlattices, the conversion from crystalline to disordered state, has been much less explored. On one hand, the melting of nanoparticle superlattices can provide a preferred pathway to induce structural reorganization or shuffling of building blocks for them to transform into different types of crystal structures. On the other hand, understanding nanoscale superlattice melting and comparing such behaviors with the prevailing surface melting theories developed for atomic/molecular solids can provide a potent way to engineer phase transitions of supra- and hierarchical structures constructed from nanoscale entities (e.g., DNA-coated nanoparticles, proteins), for their applications in reprogrammable and switchable materials with multifunctional properties [6, 7]. The experimental challenges to observe melting of superlattices are twofold. Practically it is difficult to load the initial superlattice form, in an intact manner, into the highly confined liquid-phase TEM chamber for in-situ observation. Here, the triggering of melting also needs meticulous manipulation of nanoparticle concentration, interparticle interaction, and solution environment.

Kim, Ahyoung↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cell to Ecosystem: Understanding Methane and Associated Nutrient Cycling by Sediment Hosted Syntrophic Consortia and Their Viral Predators

The anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is a significant worldwide microbial process in anoxic lake and ocean sediments, responsible for sequestering up to 80% of this greenhouse gas. Often considered a metabolism on the edge of thermodynamic probability, the impact of ANaerobic MEthane-oxidizing ‘ANME’ archaea on carbon and nutrient cycling in sediment ecosystems is far reaching. They not only serve as a sink for methane coupled to diverse electron acceptors, but also catalyze the transformation of many important nutrients including nitrogen, phosphate, and iron. While information about the potential mechanisms supporting metabolism in AOM is now available, remarkably little has been learned about their nutritional requirements, their dependencies on bacterial partners, and consequentially their ultimate impact on nutrient transformation and bioavailability within sedimentary ecosystems, and beyond. Further, the role of viruses within sediment ecosystems represents an essential but vastly understudied aspect of the transformation of carbon and nutrients by AOM. Viruses are now widely appreciated as central players in biogeochemical cycles across diverse ecosystems. These nanoscale predators have been shown to enhance the turnover of essential nutrients, thus stimulating microbial growth and environmental viruses themselves may constitute an important reservoir of nitrogen and phosphorous. Little is known about the role of viruses in methane-impacted sedimentary ecosystems, however prior genomic and microscopy evidence suggests that AOM consortia are susceptible to phage infection. The overarching scientific goal of this multi-disciplinary research proposal is to build on these recent discoveries and expand our understanding of interactions and fundamental activities involved in cycling of carbon and nutrients by syntrophic methanotrophic archaeal-bacterial consortia and associated viruses in anoxic sedimentary environments. Our three specific objectives are to 1) Quantify energy and nutrient exchange (e.g. N, P, Fe and vitamins) within AOM consortia and between ANME-bacterial partners; 2) Identify virus-host interactions associated with AOM and assess C and N transfer through viruses in methane-impacted sediment ecosystems; 3) Model energy and nutrient exchange in AOM consortia and viral-host interactions (i.e. viral activity), and their environmental distribution patterns. Our experimental emphasis cuts across scales that are important for understanding microbial and viral interactions and activities within their habitats, as well as community wide biogeochemical transformations. These research goals will be accomplished through the application of novel molecular techniques targeting DNA, RNA, proteins, and metabolites combined with a unique multi-modal analytical imaging pipeline. We will then model the ecophysiological capabilities of diverse sediment-hosted methanotrophic consortia to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the energetic and nutritional interactions between different AOM partner couplings that occur in sediments.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Internal bremsstrahlung of strongly interacting charged particles

A universal theoretical model intended for calculating internal-bremsstrahlung spectra is proposed. In this model, which can be applied to describing nuclear decays of various type (such as alpha decay, cluster decay, and proton emission), use is made of realistic nucleus–nucleus potentials. Theoretical internal-bremsstrahlung spectra were obtained for the alpha decay of the {sup 214}Po nucleus, as well as for the decay of the {sup 222}Ra nucleus via the emission of a {sup 14}C cluster and for the decay of the {sup 113}Cs nucleus via proton emission, and the properties of these spectra were studied. The contributions of various regions (internal, subbarrier, and external) to the internal-bremsstrahlung amplitude were analyzed in detail. It is shown that the contribution of the internal region to the amplitude for internal bremsstrahlung generated in nuclear decay via proton emission is quite large, but that this is not so for alpha decay and decay via cluster emission. Thus, a process in which strong interaction of nuclear particles affects the internal-bremsstrahlung spectrum if found.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Unsteady laminar flow with convective heat transfer through a rotating curved square duct with small curvature

Unsteady laminar flow with convective heat transfer through a curved square duct rotating at a constant angular velocity about the center of curvature is investigated numerically by using a spectral method, and covering a wide range of the Taylor number −300≤Tr≤1000 for the Dean number Dn = 1000. A temperature difference is applied across the vertical sidewalls for the Grashof number Gr = 100, where the outer wall is heated and the inner wall cooled, the top and bottom walls being adiabatic. Flow characteristics are investigated with the effects of rotational parameter, Tr, and the pressure-driven parameter, Dn, for the constant curvature 0.001. Time evolution calculations as well as their phase spaces show that the unsteady flow undergoes through various flow instabilities in the scenario ‘multi-periodic → chaotic → steady-state → periodic → multi-periodic → chaotic’, if Tr is increased in the positive direction. For negative rotation, however, time evolution calculations show that the flow undergoes in the scenario ‘multi-periodic → periodic → steady-state’, if Tr is increased in the negative direction. Typical contours of secondary flow patterns and temperature profiles are obtained at several values of Tr, and it is found that the unsteady flow consists of two- to six-vortex solutions if the duct rotation is involved. External heating is shown to generate a significant temperature gradient at the outer wall of the duct. This study also shows that there is a strong interaction between the heating-induced buoyancy force and the centrifugal-Coriolis instability in the curved channel that stimulates fluid mixing and consequently enhances heat transfer in the fluid.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

The "Fake" Supernova Neutrinos of SBND: Using Muons Decaying at Rest to Study the Charged Current MeV-Scale $V_e$-Ar Cross Section

In a Type-II core collapse supernova, 99% of the total amount of energy is released in the form of neutrinos. However, the nearest supernova explosion in the last few hundred years was in 1987, over thirty years ago. It was also the first from which particle detectors around the world managed to detect the neutrino flux, yielding important information about their properties and the explosion mechanism. Neutrinos are the most weakly interacting subatomic fundamental particles known to date, and they act as a cooling mechanism for the star. Out of the six neutrino flavours currently known, the majority exiting the explosion are electron neutrinos, ve. Neutrino experiments using liquid argon (LAr) as their detector medium are unique at probing this specific channel. In the meantime, however, until the next explosion, we can still practise for the big event. With the Short Baseline Near Detector (SBND) experiment at Fermilab, we can study how electron neutrinos of the same energy coming from the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) interact in LAr, and measure the cross section. As BNB measurements are mostly tailored to higher energy neutrinos, I will present an overview of how SBND is aiming to select the low-energy neutrino candidates from muons Decaying At Rest (DAR) in the absorber and target within the BNB beam pipe. This is not a straightforward feat, encompassing special difficulties that include beam and flux systematic uncertainty simulation, system trigger needs and particular reconstruction efforts, and so I will present how each challenge is being addressed in SBND. This will be a novel measurement in the neutrino particle physics community, and will prove fundamental for the next generation of supernova neutrino detectors.

Kotsiopoulou, Lucy [Edinburgh U.]↗
DOE OSTI2016

G-mode magnetic force microscopy: Separating magnetic and electrostatic interactions using big data analytics

In this work, we develop a full information capture approach for Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM), referred to as generalized mode (G-Mode) MFM. G-Mode MFM acquires and stores the full data stream from the photodetector, captured at sampling rates approaching the intrinsic photodiode limit. The data can be subsequently compressed, denoised, and analyzed, without information loss. Here, G-Mode MFM is implemented and compared to the traditional heterodyne-based MFM on model systems, including domain structures in ferromagnetic Yttrium Iron Garnet and the electronically and magnetically inhomogeneous high entropy alloy, CoFeMnNiSn. We investigate the use of information theory to mine the G-Mode MFM data and demonstrate its usefulness for extracting information which may be hidden in traditional MFM modes, including signatures of nonlinearities and mode-coupling phenomena. Finally, we demonstrate detection and separation of magnetic and electrostatic tip-sample interactions from a single G-Mode image, by analyzing the entire frequency response of the cantilever. G-Mode MFM is immediately implementable on any atomic force microscopy platform and as such is expected to be a useful technique for probing spatiotemporal cantilever dynamics and mapping material properties, as well as their mutual interactions.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Effect of tert -Butyl Substitution on the Interactions of Cobalt Phthalocyanine with a Carbon Monoxide-Functionalized Tip

Supported cobalt phthalocyanines (CoPc) are promising catalysts for CO 2 reduction, a critical process for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Enhancing the catalytic performance of CoPc involves modifying the interaction between the cobalt center and intermediate species. This study focuses on the effects of tert-butyl substitution on CoPc using (tert-butyl) 4 CoPc, where the substitution can both directly alter the molecule’s intramolecular electronic structure and indirectly alter it by the bulky group weakening the interaction with the support. Toward this end, we investigated the structural and chemical properties of (tert-butyl) 4 CoPc on a Ag(111) surface at the single-molecule level using three-dimensional atomic force microscopy (AFM) with a CO-terminated tip and discussed them in comparison with data for unmodified CoPc and amino-substituted CoPc. Notably, distance-dependent force measurements revealed anomalies in the tert-butyl groups’ force curves, attributed to their rotational flexibility. The tert-butyl (t-butyl) groups were also observed to increase the attraction of the central Co atom to CO, but this effect was attributed largely to enhanced interactions of the back of the tip with the peripheral t-butyl groups. In conclusion, while this longer-range interaction would not be expected to impact the interaction of small molecules with the catalytic center, the results reveal the ability of AFM to characterize longer range environmental interactions that can enhance adsorption and subsequent reactions of larger molecules, as well as the role side chains that offer configurational adaptability may play in these interactions.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Test of lepton universality in beauty-quark decays

The standard model of particle physics currently provides our best description of fundamental particles and their interactions. The theory predicts that the different charged leptons, the electron, muon and tau, have identical electroweak interaction strengths. Previous measurements have shown that a wide range of particle decays are consistent with this principle of lepton universality. This article presents evidence for the breaking of lepton universality in beauty-quark decays, with a significance of 3.1 standard deviations, based on proton–proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are of processes in which a beauty meson transforms into a strange meson with the emission of either an electron and a positron, or a muon and an antimuon. If confirmed by future measurements, this violation of lepton universality would imply physics beyond the standard model, such as a new fundamental interaction between quarks and leptons.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Testing isospin symmetry breaking in ab initio nuclear theory

In this work we present the first steps towards benchmarking isospin symmetry breaking in ab initio nuclear theory for calculations of superallowed Fermi β decay. Using the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group, we calculate b and c coefficients of the isobaric multiplet mass equation, starting from two different Hamiltonians constructed from chiral effective field theory. We compare results to experimental measurements for all T = 1 isobaric analog triplets of relevance to superallowed β decay for masses A = 10 to A = 74 and find an overall agreement within approximately 250 keV of experimental data for both b and c coefficients. A greater level of accuracy, however, is obtained by a phenomenological Skyrme interaction or a classical charged-sphere estimate. Lastly, we show that evolution of the valence-space operator does not meaningfully improve the quality of the coefficients with respect to experimental data, which indicates that higher-order many-body effects are likely not responsible for the observed discrepancies.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Magnon spectrum of the helimagnetic insulator Cu 2 OSeO 3

We report that complex low-temperature-ordered states in chiral magnets are typically governed by a competition between multiple magnetic interactions. The chiral-lattice multiferroic Cu 2 OSeO 3 became the first insulating helimagnetic material in which a long-range order of topologically stable spin vortices known as skyrmions was established. Here we employ state-of-the-art inelastic neutron scattering to comprehend the full three-dimensional spin-excitation spectrum of Cu 2 OSeO 3 over a broad range of energies. Distinct types of high- and low-energy dispersive magnon modes separated by an extensive energy gap are observed in excellent agreement with the previously suggested microscopic theory based on a model of entangled Cu 4 tetrahedra. The comparison of our neutron spectroscopy data with model spin-dynamical calculations based on these theoretical proposals enables an accurate quantitative verification of the fundamental magnetic interactions in Cu 2 OSeO 3 that are essential for understanding its abundant low-temperature magnetically ordered phases.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Nonequilibrium phonon tuning and mapping in few-layer graphene with infrared nanoscopy

Electron-phonon interactions are fundamentally important physical processes responsible for many key discoveries in condensed matter physics and material sciences. Herein, by exploiting the scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM) excited with a femtosecond infrared (IR) laser, we explored the strong coupling between IR phonons in few-layer graphene (FLG) with ultrahot electrons, which are heated up by the intense laser field enhanced by the s-SNOM tip. More specifically, we found that the intensity of the phonon resonance can be tuned systematically by varying the laser power that controls the electron temperature. Furthermore, the high spatial resolution of s-SNOM allows us to map the local phonon characteristics at sharp boundaries and nanostructures. Our results offer insights into the intriguing physics behind the electron-phonon interactions in nonequilibrium conditions and open a pathway for manipulating phonons with optical means.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Experimental investigation of ρ{sup 0} photoproduction on the pion in the H1 experiment

Experimental results on quasielastic photoproduction of the ρ{sup 0} meson in association with a neutron, obtained at the HERA collider, are presented. The total and differential cross sections of the γp → ρ{sup 0}nπ{sup +} reaction at the positron–proton center-of-mass energy of √s =319 GeV are measured. The data collected with the H1 detector in 2006 and 2007 correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.16 pb{sup −1}. The kinematic region of the photon–proton cms energy of 20 < W{sub γp} <100 GeV, photon virtuality of Q{sup 2} < 2 GeV{sup 2}, and the ρ{sup 0} transverse momentum below 1 GeV/c is analyzed. Secondary neutrons with energies x{sub L} > 0.35 (in proton-energy units) and emission angles below 0.75 mrad are selected. The model of double peripheral exchange, in which the ρ{sup 0} is elastically produced via the photon interaction with the virtual pion from the proton–neutron vertex, is employed for interpreting the results. The cross section for the ρ{sup 0} elastic photoproduction on the pion, γπ{sup +}→ ρ{sup 0}π{sup +}, is extracted in the one-pion-exchange approximation. The magnitude of the cross section suggests that the γp → ρ{sup 0}nπ{sup +} reaction is significantly affected by absorption.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quantum entropy as a harbinger of factorizability

Deeply inelastic scattering (DIS) is a powerful probe for investigating the QCD structure of hadronic matter and testing the standard model (SM). DIS can be described through QCD factorization theorems which separate contributions to the scattering interaction arising from disparate scales — e.g ., with nonperturbative matrix elements associated with long distances and a perturbative hard scattering kernel applying to short-distance parton-level interactions. The fundamental underpinnings of factorization may be recast in the quantum-theoretic terms of entanglement, (de)coherence, and system localization in a fashion which sheds complementary light on the dynamics at work in DIS from QCD bound states. In this Letter, we propose and quantitatively test such a quantum-information theoretic approach for dissecting factorization in DIS and its domain of validity; we employ metrics associated with quantum entanglement such as a differential quantum entropy and associated Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergences in numerical tests. We deploy these methods on an archetypal quark-spectator model of the proton, for which we monitor quantum decoherence in DIS as underlying model parameters are varied. On this basis, we demonstrate quantitatively how factorization-breaking effects may be imprinted on quantum entropies in a kinematic regime where leading-twist factorization increasingly receives large corrections from finite- Q 2 effects; our findings suggest potential applications of quantum simulation to QCD systems and their interactions.

Deep inelastic scattering↗
DOE OSTI2017

Near-threshold J/ψ-meson photoproduction on nuclei

On the basis of the first-collision model that relies on the nuclear spectral function and which includes incoherent processes involving charmonium production in proton–nucleon collisions, the photoproduction of J/ψ mesons on nuclei is considered at energies close to the threshold for their production on a nucleon. The absorption of final J/ψ mesons, their formation length, and the binding and Fermi motion of target nucleons are taken into account in this model along with the effect of the nuclear potential on these processes. The A dependences of the absolute and relative charmonium yields are calculated together with absolute and relative excitation functions under various assumptions on the magnitude of the cross section for J/ψN absorption, the J/ψ-meson formation length, and their inmedium modification. It is shown that, at energies above the threshold, these features are virtually independent of the formation length and the change in the J/ψ-meson mass in nuclear matter but are rather highly sensitive to the cross section for J/ψN interaction. The calculations performed in the present study can be used to determine the unknown cross section for J/ψ-meson absorption in nuclei from a comparison of their results with data expected from experiments in the Hall C of the CEBAF (USA) facility upgraded to the energy of 12 GeV. It is also shown that the absolute and relative excitation functions for J/ψ mesons in photon–nucleus reactions at subthreshold energies are sensitive to the change in the meson mass and, hence, carry information about the properties of charmonium in nuclear matter.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗