Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “HEAVY IONS”

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 OSTI2023

Report on progress in physics: observation of the Breit–Wheeler process and vacuum birefringence in heavy-ion collisions

This report reviews the effort over several decades to observe the linear Breit–Wheeler process ($\gamma\gamma \rightarrow e^+e^-$) and vacuum birefringence (VB) in high-energy particle and heavy-ion collider experiment. This report, motivated by the STAR collaboration's recent observations, attempts to summarize the key issues related to the interpretation of polarized $\gamma\gamma \rightarrow l^+l^-$ measurements in high-energy experiments. To that end, we start by reviewing the historical context and essential theoretical developments, before focusing on the decades of progress made in high-energy collider experiments. Special attention is given to the evolution in experimental approaches in response to various challenges, to the demanding detector capabilities required to unambiguously identify the linear Breit–Wheeler process, and to the connections with VB. Finally, we close the report with a discussion, followed by a look at near-future opportunities for utilizing these discoveries and for testing quantum electrodynamics in previously unexplored regimes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Constraints from isoscaling on the source size in energetic heavy ion collisions

In the framework of the statistical multifragmentation model, the nuclear isoscaling analysis is extended to constrain the ratio between the sizes of the decaying sources formed in a collision between two heavy ions. It is found that the ratio between the probabilities of observing n fragments in each event, for each of the sources, follows a scaling law, similar to the traditional nuclear isoscaling. However, the corresponding slope is sensitive to the source sizes. This property is explained analytically using the grand-canonical ensemble. Furthermore, the extent to which our findings are affected by finite size effects and by the deexcitation of the hot primary fragments is investigated. The scaling turns out to be robust and weakly affected by effects implied by these two aspects. We also find that the Poisson distribution is a fairly good approximation to the above mentioned probabilities, associated with both the primordial fragments, produced at the breakup stage, and the final ones, found at the end of the fragment deexcitation process.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Identifying the nature of the QCD transition in heavy-ion collisions with deep learning

In this proceeding, we review our recent work using deep convolutional neural network (CNN) to identify the nature of the QCD transition in a hybrid modeling of heavy-ion collisions. Within this hybrid model, a viscous hydrodynamic model is coupled with a hadronic cascade “after-burner”. As a binary classification setup, we employ two different types of equations of state (EoS) of the hot medium in the hydrodynamic evolution. The resulting final-state pion spectra in the transverse momentum and azimuthal angle plane are fed to the neural network as the input data in order to distinguish different EoS. To probe the effects of the fluctuations in the event-by-event spectra, we explore different scenarios for the input data and make a comparison in a systematic way. We observe a clear hierarchy in the predictive power when the network is fed with the event-by-event, cascade-coarse-grained and event-fine-averaged spectra. The carefully-trained neural network can extract high-level features from pion spectra to identify the nature of the QCD transition in a realistic simulation scenario.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Searching for solitons in heavy-ion reactions near the fermi energy

Solitons are special shape-conserving hydrodynamical solutions that appear in many areas of physics. Here, we explore the existence of such solutions in microscopic descriptions of the heavy ion reaction 12 C + 28 Si → 12 C*+ 7α in the range E/A = 10 – 65 MeV/u. After recognizing the centrality of the collision and time-reversibility as fundamental requirements for the presence of solitonic 12 C, we utilize the Hybrid α-Cluster model for our analysis with a novel methodology. Our results suggest soliton production for E/A = 25 – 45 MeV/u in the forward direction, with a total cross section being at least in the order of a few μb. This, apart from being encouraging for possible experimental studies, maybe connected to possible toroid states of 28 Si at low angular momenta.

Heavy ion reactions↗
DOE OSTI2025

Feasibility of measuring the speed of sound of the quark-gluon plasma from the multiplicity and mean 𝑝 𝑇 of ultracentral heavy-ion collisions

The mean transverse momentum ⟨𝑝 𝑇 ⟩ of hadrons has been observed experimentally and in numerical simulations to have a power-law dependence on the hadronic multiplicity 𝑁 in ultracentral relativistic heavy-ion collisions: ⟨𝑝 𝑇 ⟩∝𝑁 𝑏 UC . It has been put forward that this exponent 𝑏 UC is the speed of sound of quark-gluon plasma measured at a temperature determined from ⟨𝑝 𝑇 ⟩. We study step by step the connection between (i) the energy and entropy of hydrodynamic simulations and (ii) experimentally measurable observables. We show that an argument based on energy and entropy should yield an exponent equal to the pressure over energy density 𝑃/ɛ, rather than the speed of sound 𝑐$_s^2$; however, we also observe that ⟨𝑝 𝑇 ⟩ and 𝑁 are not sufficiently accurate proxies for the energy and entropy to make this possible in practice. From simulations, we find that the exponent 𝑏 UC is significantly different whether the “effective volume” is strictly constant or not, a condition that cannot be enforced experimentally. Additional tests using a modified equation of state find that the exponent 𝑏 UC exhibits a variable degree of correlations with the speed of sound and with 𝑃/ɛ, but is not an accurate measurement of either quantity in general.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Properties of the QCD matter: review of selected results from the relativistic heavy ion collider beam energy scan (RHIC BES) program

In the paper, we discuss the development of the multigap resistive plate chamber time-of-flight (TOF) technology and the production of the solenoidal tracker at RHIC (STAR) TOF detector in China at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Subsequently, recent experimental results from the first beam energy scan program (BES-I) at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) pertaining to measurements of collectivity, chirality, criticality, global polarization, strangeness, heavy flavor, dilepton and light nuclei productions are reviewed.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Speed of Sound and Baryon Cumulants in Heavy-Ion Collisions

We present a method that may allow an estimate of the value of the speed of sound as well as its logarithmic derivative with respect to the baryon number density in matter created in heavy-ion collisions. To this end, we utilize well-known observables: cumulants of the baryon number distribution. In analyses aimed at uncovering the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter, cumulants gather considerable attention as their qualitative behaviour along the explored range of collision energies is expected to aid in detecting the QCD critical point. We show that the cumulants may also reveal the behavior of the speed of sound in the temperature and baryon chemical potential plane. We demonstrate the applicability of such estimates within two models of nuclear matter, and explore what might be understood from known experimental data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Heavy ion beam probe for Wendelstein 7-X measurement capabilities as projected through its design

A heavy ion beam probe (HIBP) diagnostic is being developed for studies of plasma equilibrium and turbulence in the optimized Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator. Operation of W7-X has experimentally demonstrated that its optimized magnetic field results in improved neoclassical particle confinement and, as a result, turbulence is the predominant cause of energy transport. The HIBP will have the unique ability to provide experimental data needed to complement models of both neoclassical and turbulent transport. It will acquire direct measurements in the W7-X plasma interior of the electric potential (needed for understanding ambipolar particle flux) and fluctuations of electron density and potential (needed for understanding turbulence). The HIBP for W7-X will inject singly charged ion beams with energies of up to 2 MeV and is designed to access the upper cross section of the W7-X plasma. We use trajectory simulations to illustrate the plasma coverage that the diagnostic can achieve in the reference magnetic configurations of W7-X. We calculate beam signal levels, discuss anticipated measurement sensitivity of broadband fluctuations of electron density and plasma potential, and show how they depend on plasma density. We also discuss the diagnostic sensitivity to equilibrium plasma potential.

Instruments & Instrumentation↗
DOE OSTI2021

Heavy ion irradiation response of an additively manufactured 316LN stainless steel

Additive manufacturing has become an appealing technique to fabricate three-dimensional metallic materials and components for nuclear reactors. However, response of additively manufactured alloys to high-dose heavy ion irradiations at elevated temperatures is still not well understood. Here, an additively manufactured 316LN austenitic stainless steel with high-density solidification cells was irradiated using 3.5 MeV Fe ion to a peak dose of 220 dpa at 450 °C. Microscopy studies show a lower Frank loop density and smaller size in the additively manufactured sample compared with its cold worked counterpart, and the cellular structures may largely suppress the formation of perfect loops and dislocation networks and reduce the magnitude of solute segregations comparing with high angle grain boundaries. In conclusion, the present work advances the understanding on the high-temperature irradiation response of additively manufactured steels for nuclear reactor applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Density changes in amorphous silicon induced by swift heavy ions

For this study, pure and gold-doped amorphous silicon membranes were irradiated with swift heavy ions (75 MeV Ag or 1.1 GeV Au ions) and studied using small-angle x-ray scattering. The samples that were irradiated with 1.1 GeV Au ions produced a scattering pattern consistent with core-shell-type ion tracks of 2.0 ± 0.1 nm (core) and 7.0 ± 0.3 nm (total) radius irrespective of gold doping, consistent with radii previously observed. The density in the core is nearly 4% different from that of the surrounding material. The entire track (core + shell) is slightly less dense than the surrounding material, yielding an expansion or hammering constant A of 0.036 ± 0.003 nm 2 per ion track, consistent with the macroscopic “hammering” deformation. No tracks were found in samples irradiated with 75 MeV Ag ions, and no signature specific to the gold impurity doping could be observed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2026

Unveiling Swift Heavy Ion Track Morphology in Sr-Based High-Entropy Perovskites

The incorporation of multiple cations on a single lattice site in the high-entropy oxides is considered the key driving factor for modifying the known atomic-level response to energetic ion irradiation due to the presence of structural disorder; however, these effects are not well-understood yet. In this work, we present atomic-level insight into irradiation-induced nanoscale phase transformations in a perovskite-structured high-entropy oxide, Sr(Zr 0.2 Sn 0.2 Ti 0.2 Hf 0.2 Nb 0.2 )O 3 (Sr(HE)O 3 ), subjected to 774 MeV swift Xe heavy ions, where damage is dominated by inelastic ion−lattice interactions. While these ions generally are known to create nanoscale disordered channels, “ion tracks”, along the penetration direction in the material, this study shows the formation of discontinuous and partially recrystallized ion tracks in Sr(HE)O 3 . Compared to SrTiO 3 irradiated under identical energy loss conditions, the ion tracks in Sr(HE)O 3 exhibit significantly reduced diameters and a markedly different interfacial structure. Notably, the crystalline−amorphous interface in Sr(HE)O 3 shows minimal lattice distortion, confined to approximately 2−3 monolayers, in contrast to the extended disordered shell commonly observed in SrTiO 3 . Using in situ atomic-resolution electron microscopy, we further demonstrate that the amorphous/disordered regions within Sr(HE)O 3 ion tracks remain highly stable under electron irradiation, whereas tracks in SrTiO 3 readily recrystallize. This enhanced stability is attributed to the dominance of structural and chemical complexity arising from multiple B-site cations, which suppress defect migration and templated recrystallization driven by electronic excitations and local heating. Overall, this study highlights how high-entropy oxide chemistry fundamentally reshapes irradiation damage evolution, offering insights into defect formation and phase stability under extreme conditions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

“Transition from dissipative fluid dynamics to particles in heavy ion collisions”(Final Technical Report)

This report summarizes research activities and achievements made under Award No. DE-SC00016524. We advanced the following areas: i) self-consistent bulk viscous and baryon number diffusion corrections from kinetic theory, ii) hadron gas bulk viscosity determination, and iii) discovery of novel mechanisms of elliptic flow generation and suppression in heavy-ion collisions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Multi-messenger heavy-ion collision physics

We report that this work studies the production of direct photons in relativistic nuclear collisions, along with the production of hadrons. Radiation from the very first instants to the final moments of the evolution is included. The hybrid model used here describes all stages of relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Chronologically, those are an initial state reflecting the collision of nuclei described within the Color Glass Condensate effective theory; a pre-equilibrium phase based on non-equilibrium linear response; relativistic viscous hydrodynamics, and a hadronic afterburner. The effect of the preequilibrium phase on both photonic and hadronic observables is highlighted for the first time. The potential of photon observables - spectrum, differential elliptic and triangular flow - to reveal the chemical equilibration time is studied. Finally, we consider "small collision systems", including proton+nucleus collisions and collisions of light nuclei, as probed by hadronic and electromagnetic observables. We demonstrate how photon production can signal the formation of quark-gluon plasma in such small systems.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Free spectator nucleons in ultracentral relativistic heavy-ion collisions as a probe of neutron skin

Besides the yield ratio of free spectator neutrons produced in ultracentral 96 Zr + 96 Zr to 96 Ru + 96 Ru collisions, we propose that the yield ratio N n /N p of free spectator neutrons to protons in a single collision system at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider or the CERN Large Hadron Collider can be a more sensitive probe of the neutron-skin thickness Δrnp and the slope parameter L of the symmetry energy. Here, the idea is demonstrated based on the proton and neutron density distributions of colliding nuclei obtained from Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov calculations, and on a Glauber model that provides information of spectator matter. The final spectator particles are produced from direct emission, clusterization by a minimum spanning tree algorithm or a Wigner function approach, and deexcitation of heavy clusters by gemini. A larger Δr np associated with a larger L value increases the isospin asymmetry of spectator matter and thus leads to a larger N n /N p , especially in ultracentral collisions where the multiplicity of free nucleons are free from the uncertainties of cluster formation and deexcitation. We have further shown that the double ratio of N n /N p in isobaric collision systems or in collisions by isotopes helps to cancel the detecting efficiency for protons. Effects from nuclear deformation and electromagnetic excitation are studied, and they are found to be subdominant compared to the expected sensitivity to Δr np .

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Advancing the understanding of energy-energy correlators in heavy-ion collisions

We investigate the collinear limit of the energy-energy correlator (EEC) in a heavy-ion context. First, we revisit the leading-logarithmic (LL) resummation of this observable in vacuum following a diagrammatic approach. We argue that this route allows to naturally incorporate medium-induced effects into the all-orders structure systematically. As an example, we show how the phase-space constraints imposed by the static medium on vacuum-like emissions can be incorporated into the LL result by modifying the anomalous dimensions. On the fixed-order side, we calculate the $\mathcal{O}$(α s ) expansion of the in-medium EEC for a γ → $q\overline{q}$ splitting with arbitrary kinematics including, for the first time, subleading colour corrections. When comparing this result to previously used approximations in the literature, we find up to $\mathcal{O}$(1) deviations in the regime of interest for jet quenching signatures. Energy loss effects are also quantified and further suppress the EEC at large angles. These semi-analytic studies are complemented with a phenomenological study using the jet quenching Monte Carlo JetMed. Finally, we argue that the imprint of medium-induced effects in energy-energy correlators can be enhanced by using an alternative definition that takes as input Lund primary declusterings instead of particles.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Investigation of sCVD diamond detectors for low energy heavy-ion reactions

Here the performance characteristics of single-crystalline diamond detectors at varying rates of heavy-ions below 50 MeV/u have been investigated. When tested with a 228 Th source, the energy resolution of these detectors is better than 1.0% FWHM for 8.8 MeV α-particles. With a slight reduction in the energy resolution, simultaneous timing resolution of 314 ps has been achieved. Isotopic resolution has been achieved up to magnesium using a diamond telescope at low rates with a 20 MeV/u 20 Ne + 12 C reaction. At moderate rates of direct 7.5 MeV/u 78 Kr, polarization effects are observed, though this effect can be diminished by increasing the applied voltage on the detector up to a limit. After an accumulated dose of 6.9 × 10 8 direct 78 Kr particles transmitting through the detector, a degradation in the energy resolution of the 8.8 MeV peak from 1.6% to 5.3% is observed, indicating that permanent damage has been done to the detector.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

Halo removal experiments with hollow electron lens in the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

A hollow electron beam has been proposed as an active control tool to remove the beam halo from high-energy, high-current hadron or ion machines (such as the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider). To study the halo removal rate and assess the effect on the ion beam core, one of the two electron lenses in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider was changed from a Gaussian beam profile to a hollow profile. We describe the design and verification of the hollow electron beam parameters as well as the methods to minimize the hollow beam profile distortions, which can result in an ion beam emittance increase. The hollow beam alignment with the ion beam by using a backscattered electron detector has been demonstrated. Furthermore, experiments were carried out to explore the efficiency of the halo removal by scanning the current and inner radius of the hollow electron beam, which is pulsed either every turn or every nth turn. The effects of the hollow electron beam on the ion beam emittance and luminosity were also assessed experimentally by scanning the inner radius of the electron beam.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗