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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Sensitivity of nonlinear photoionization to resonance substructure in collective excitation

Collective behaviour is a characteristic feature in many-body systems, important for developments in fields such as magnetism, superconductivity, photonics and electronics. Recently, there has been increasing interest in the optically nonlinear response of collective excitations. Here we demonstrate how the nonlinear interaction of a many-body system with intense XUV radiation can be used as an effective probe for characterizing otherwise unresolved features of its collective response. Resonant photoionization of atomic xenon was chosen as a case study. The excellent agreement between experiment and theory strongly supports the prediction that two distinct poles underlie the giant dipole resonance. Our results pave the way towards a deeper understanding of collective behaviour in atoms, molecules and solid-state systems using nonlinear spectroscopic techniques enabled by modern short-wavelength light sources.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Structure and substructure analysis of DAFT/FADA galaxy clusters in the [0.4–0.9] redshift range

Context. The DAFT/FADA survey is based on the study of ~90 rich(masses found in the literature >2 x 10^14 M_⊙)and moderately distant clusters (redshifts 0.4 < z < 0.9), all withHST imaging data available. This survey has two main objectives: to constrain dark energy(DE) using weak lensing tomography on galaxy clusters and to build a database (deepmulti-band imaging allowing photometric redshift estimates, spectroscopic data, X-raydata) of rich distant clusters to study their properties.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Partonic substructure of nucleons and nuclei with dimuon production

Dimuon production has been studied in a series of fixed-target experiments at Fermilab during the last two decades. Highlights from these experiments, together with recent results from the Fermilab E866 experiment, are presented. Future prospects for studying the parton distributions in the nucleons and nuclei using dimuon production are also discussed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

KINEMATIC AND SPATIAL SUBSTRUCTURE IN NGC 2264

We present an expanded kinematic study of the young cluster NGC 2264 based upon optical radial velocities measured using multi-fiber echelle spectroscopy at the 6.5 m MMT and Magellan telescopes. We report radial velocities for 695 stars, of which approximately 407 stars are confirmed or very likely members. Our results more than double the number of members with radial velocities from Fűrész et al., resulting in a much better defined kinematic relationship between the stellar population and the associated molecular gas. In particular, we find that there is a significant subset of stars that are systematically blueshifted with respect to the molecular ({sup 13}CO) gas. The detection of Lithium absorption and/or infrared excesses in this blueshifted population suggests that at least some of these stars are cluster members; we suggest some speculative scenarios to explain their kinematics. Our results also more clearly define the redshifted population of stars in the northern end of the cluster; we suggest that the stellar and gas kinematics of this region are the result of a bubble driven by the wind from O7 star S Mon. Our results emphasize the complexity of the spatial and kinematic structure of NGC 2264, important for eventually building up a comprehensive picture of cluster formation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2010

AN OBSERVED LACK OF SUBSTRUCTURE IN STARLESS CORES

In this paper, we present the results of a high resolution (5'') Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy and Sunyaev-Zeldovich Array survey of the 3 mm continuum emission from 11 of the brightest (at 1.1 mm) starless cores in the Perseus molecular cloud. We detect 2 of the 11 cores, both of which are composed of single structures, and the median 3{sigma} upper limit for the non-detections is 0.2 M{sub sun} in a {approx}5'' beam. These results are consistent with, and as stringent as, the low detection rate of compact 3 mm continuum emission in dense cores in Perseus reported by Olmi et al. From the non-detection of multiple components in any of the 11 cores, we conclude that starless core mass functions derived from bolometer maps at resolutions range 10''-30'' (e.g., with MAMBO, SCUBA, or Bolocam) are unlikely to be significantly biased by the blending of lower mass cores with small separations. These observations provide additional evidence that the majority of starless cores in Perseus have inner density profiles shallower than r {sup -2}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2010

FERMI-LAT SENSITIVITY TO DARK MATTER ANNIHILATION IN VIA LACTEA II SUBSTRUCTURE

We present a study of the ability of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to detect dark matter (DM) annihilation signals from the Galactic subhalos predicted by the Via Lactea II N-body simulation. We implement an improved formalism for estimating the boost factor needed to account for the effect of DM clumping on scales below the resolution of the simulation, and we incorporate a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the response of the Fermi-LAT, including a simulation of its all-sky observing mode integrated over a 10 year mission. We find that for WIMP masses up to about 150 GeV c {sup -2} in standard supersymmetric models with ({sigma}v) = 3 x 10{sup -26} cm{sup 3} s{sup -1}, a few subhalos could be detectable with >5 standard deviation significance and would likely deviate significantly from the appearance of a point source.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2010

KINEMATICS IN KAPTEYN'S SELECTED AREA 76: ORBITAL MOTIONS WITHIN THE HIGHLY SUBSTRUCTURED ANTICENTER STREAM

We have measured the mean three-dimensional kinematics of stars in Kapteyn's Selected Area (SA) 76 (l = 209.{sup 0}3, b = 26.{sup 0}4) that were selected to be Anticenter Stream (ACS) members on the basis of their radial velocities (RVs), proper motions (PMs), and location in the color-magnitude diagram. From a total of 31 stars ascertained to be ACS members primarily from its main-sequence turnoff, a mean ACS RV (derived from spectra obtained with the Hydra multi-object spectrograph on the WIYN 3.5 m telescope) of V{sub helio} = 97.0 {+-} 2.8 km s{sup -1} was determined, with an intrinsic velocity dispersion {sigma}{sub o} = 12.8 {+-} 2.1 km s{sup -1}. The mean absolute PMs of these 31 ACS members are {mu}{sub {alpha}} cos {delta} = -1.20 {+-} 0.34 mas yr{sup -1} and {mu}{sub {delta}} = -0.78 {+-} 0.36 mas yr{sup -1}. At a distance to the ACS of 10 {+-} 3 kpc, these measured kinematical quantities produce an orbit that deviates by {approx}30{sup 0} from the well-defined swath of stellar overdensity constituting the ACS in the western portion of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey footprint. We explore possible explanations for this and suggest that our data in SA 76 are measuring the motion of a kinematically cold sub-stream among the ACS debris that was likely a fragment of the same infalling structure that created the larger ACS system. The ACS is clearly separated spatially from the majority of claimed Monoceros ring detections in this region of the sky; however, with the data in hand, we are unable to either confirm or rule out an association between the ACS and the poorly understood Monoceros structure.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

SPATIALLY RESOLVING SUBSTRUCTURES WITHIN THE MASSIVE ENVELOPE AROUND AN INTERMEDIATE-MASS PROTOSTAR: MMS 6/OMC-3

With the Submillimeter Array, the brightest (sub)millimeter continuum source in the Orion Molecular Cloud-2/3 region, MMS 6, has been observed in the 850 {mu}m continuum emission with approximately 10 times better angular resolution than previous studies ( Almost-Equal-To 0.''3, Almost-Equal-To 120 AU at Orion). The deconvolved size, the mass, and the column density of MMS 6-main are estimated to be 0.''32 Multiplication-Sign 0.''29 (132 AU Multiplication-Sign 120 AU), 0.29 M{sub Sun }, and 2.1 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 25} cm{sup -2}, respectively. The estimated extremely high mean number density, 1.5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 10} cm{sup -3}, suggests that MMS 6-main is likely optically thick at 850 {mu}m. We compare our observational data with three theoretical core models: prestellar core, protostellar core + disk-like structure, and first adiabatic core. These comparisons clearly show that the observational data cannot be modeled as a simple prestellar core with a gas temperature of 20 K. A self-luminous source is necessary to explain the observed flux density in the (sub)millimeter wavelengths. Our recent detection of a very compact and energetic outflow in the CO (3-2) and HCN (4-3) lines supports the presence of a protostar. We suggest that MMS 6 is one of the first cases of an intermediate-mass protostellar core at an extremely young stage. In addition to the MMS 6-main peak, we have also spatially resolved a number of spiky structures and sub-clumps, distributed over the central 1000 AU. The masses of these sub-clumps are estimated to be 0.066-0.073 M{sub Sun }, which are on the order of brown dwarf masses. Higher angular resolution and higher sensitivity observations with ALMA and EVLA will reveal the origin and nature of these structures such as whether they are originated from fragmentations, spiral arms, or inhomogeneity within the disk-like structures/envelope.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

EARLIEST STAGES OF PROTOCLUSTER FORMATION: SUBSTRUCTURE AND KINEMATICS OF STARLESS CORES IN ORION

We study the structure and kinematics of nine 0.1 pc scale cores in Orion with the IRAM 30 m telescope and at higher resolution eight of the cores with CARMA, using CS(2-1) as the main tracer. The single-dish moment zero maps of the starless cores show single structures with central column densities ranging from 7 to 42 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 23} cm{sup -2} and LTE masses from 20 M{sub Sun} to 154 M{sub Sun }. However, at the higher CARMA resolution (5''), all of the cores except one fragment into 3-5 components. The number of fragments is small compared to that found in some turbulent fragmentation models, although inclusion of magnetic fields may reduce the predicted fragment number and improve the model agreement. This result demonstrates that fragmentation from parsec-scale molecular clouds to sub-parsec cores continues to take place inside the starless cores. The starless cores and their fragments are embedded in larger filamentary structures, which likely played a role in the core formation and fragmentation. Most cores show clear velocity gradients, with magnitudes ranging from 1.7 to 14.3 km s{sup -1} pc{sup -1}. We modeled one of them in detail, and found that its spectra are best explained by a converging flow along a filament toward the core center; the gradients in other cores may be modeled similarly. We infer a mass inflow rate of {approx}2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -3} M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1}, which is in principle high enough to overcome radiation pressure and allow for massive star formation. However, the core contains multiple fragments, and it is unclear whether the rapid inflow would feed the growth of primarily a single massive star or a cluster of lower mass objects. We conclude that fast, supersonic converging flow along filaments play an important role in massive star and cluster formation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Satellite alignment. I. Distribution of substructures and their dependence on assembly history from n-body simulations

Observations have shown that the spatial distribution of satellite galaxies is not random, but aligned with the major axes of central galaxies. This alignment is dependent on galaxy properties, such that red satellites are more strongly aligned than blue satellites. Theoretical work conducted to interpret this phenomenon has found that it is due to the non-spherical nature of dark matter halos. However, most studies overpredict the alignment signal under the assumption that the central galaxy shape follows the shape of the host halo. It is also not clear whether the color dependence of alignment is due to an assembly bias or an evolution effect. In this paper we study these problems using a cosmological N-body simulation. Subhalos are used to trace the positions of satellite galaxies. It is found that the shapes of dark matter halos are mis-aligned at different radii. If the central galaxy shares the same shape as the inner host halo, then the alignment effect is weaker and agrees with observational data. However, it predicts almost no dependence of alignment on the color of satellite galaxies, though the late accreted subhalos show stronger alignment with the outer layer of the host halo than their early accreted counterparts. We find that this is due to the limitation of pure N-body simulations where satellite galaxies without associated subhalos ('orphan galaxies') are not resolved. These orphan (mostly red) satellites often reside in the inner region of host halos and should follow the shape of the host halo in the inner region.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

WEAK GRAVITATIONAL LENSING AS A PROBE OF PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SUBSTRUCTURES IN DARK MATTER HALOS

We propose a novel method to select satellite galaxies in outer regions of galaxy groups or clusters using weak gravitational lensing. The method is based on the theoretical expectation that the tangential shear pattern around satellite galaxies would appear with negative values at an offset distance from the center of the main halo. We can thus locate the satellite galaxies statistically with an offset distance of several lensing smoothing scales by using the standard reconstruction of surface mass density maps from weak lensing observation. We test the idea using high-resolution cosmological simulations. We show that subhalos separated from the center of the host halo are successfully located even without assuming the position of the center. For a number of such subhalos, the characteristic mass and offset length can be also estimated on a statistical basis. We perform a Fisher analysis to show how well upcoming weak lensing surveys can constrain the mass density profile of satellite galaxies. In the case of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope with a sky coverage of 20,000 deg{sup 2}, the mass of the member galaxies in the outer region of galaxy clusters can be constrained with an accuracy of ∼0.1 dex for galaxy clusters with mass 10{sup 14} h {sup –1} M {sub ☉} at z = 0.15. Finally we explore the detectability of tidal stripping features for subhalos having a wide range of masses of 10{sup 11}-10{sup 13} h {sup –1} M {sub ☉}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

On the cluster physics of Sunyaev–Zel’dovich and X-ray surveys. IV. Characterizing density and pressure clumping due to infalling substructures

Understanding the outskirts of galaxy clusters at the virial radius (R{sub 200}) and beyond is critical for an accurate determination of cluster masses, structure growth, and to ensure unbiased cosmological parameter estimates from cluster surveys. This problem has drawn renewed interest due to recent determinations of gas mass fractions beyond R{sub 200}, which appear to be considerably larger than the cosmic mean. Here, we use a large suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to study the inhomogeneity of the intra-cluster medium and employ different variants of simulated physics, including radiative gas physics and thermal feedback by active galactic nuclei. We find that density and pressure clumping closely trace each other as a function of radius, but the bias on density remains on average <20% within R{sub 200}. At larger radii, clumping increases steeply due to the continuous infall of coherent structures that have not yet passed the accretion shock. Density and pressure clumping increase with cluster mass and redshift, which probes on average dynamically younger objects that are still in the process of assembling. The angular power spectra of gas density and pressure show that the clumping signal is dominated by large-scale cosmic filaments that reach from the cosmic web into the clusters, signaling the presence of gravitationally driven “super clumping.” While the prolateness of the gravitational halo potential implies an approximate radial correlation of these gaseous large-scale structures, gas density and pressure lose coherence on small scales across different radii due to dissipative gas physics. In contrast, the angular power spectrum of dark matter shows an almost uniform size distribution due to unimpeded subhalos. We provide a synopsis of the radial dependence of the clusters’ non-equilibrium measures (kinetic pressure support, ellipticity, and clumping) that all increase sharply beyond R{sub 200}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Can the dark matter annihilation signal be significantly boosted by substructures?

A very general cosmological consideration suggests that, along with galactic dark matter halos, much smaller dark matter structures may exist. These structures are usually called 'clumps', and their mass extends to 10{sup −6} M {sub ⊙} or even lower. The clumps should give the main contribution into the signal of dark matter annihilation, provided that they have survived until the present time. Recent observations favor a cored profile for low-mass astrophysical halos. We consider cored clumps and show that they are significantly less firm than the standard NFW ones. In contrast to the standard scenario, the cored clumps should have been completely destroyed inside ∼ 20 kpc from the Milky Way center. The dwarf spheroidals should not contain any dark matter clumps. On the other hand, even under the most pessimistic assumption about the clump structure, the clumps should have survived in the Milky Way at a distance exceeding 50 kpc from the center, as well as in low-density cosmic structures. There they significantly boost the dark matter annihilation. We show that at least 70% of the clumps endured the primordial structure formation should still exist untouched in the present-day Universe.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Dark matter substructure modelling and sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to Galactic dark halos

Hierarchical structure formation leads to a clumpy distribution of dark matter in the Milky Way. These clumps are possible targets to search for dark matter annihilation with present and future γ-ray instruments. Many uncertainties exist on the clump distribution, leading to disputed conclusions about the expected number of detectable clumps and the ensuing limits that can be obtained from non-detection. In this paper, we use the CLUMPY code to simulate thousands of skymaps for several clump distributions. This allows us to statistically assess the typical properties (mass, distance, angular size, luminosity) of the detectable clumps. Varying parameters of the clump distributions allows us to identify the key quantities to which the number of detectable clumps is the most sensitive. Focusing our analysis on two extreme clump configurations, yet consistent with results from numerical simulations, we revisit and compare various calculations made for the Fermi -LAT instrument, in terms of number of dark clumps expected and the angular power spectrum for the Galactic signal. We then focus on the prospects of detecting dark clumps with the future CTA instrument, for which we make a detailed sensitivity analysis using open-source CTA software. Based on a realistic scenario for the foreseen CTA extragalactic survey, and accounting for a post-trial sensitivity in the survey, we show that we obtain competitive and complementary limits to those based on long observation of a single bright dwarf spheroidal galaxy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

MAGNETIC SUBSTRUCTURE IN THE NORTHERN FERMI BUBBLE REVEALED BY POLARIZED MICROWAVE EMISSION

We report a correspondence between giant, polarized microwave structures emerging north from the Galactic plane near the Galactic center and a number of GeV gamma-ray features, including the eastern edge of the recently discovered northern Fermi Bubble. The polarized microwave features also correspond to structures seen in the all-sky 408 MHz total intensity data, including the Galactic center Spur. The magnetic field structure revealed by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe polarization data at 23 GHz suggests that neither the emission coincident with the Bubble edge nor the Galactic center Spur are likely to be features of the local interstellar medium. On the basis of the observed morphological correspondences, similar inferred spectra, and the similar energetics of all sources, we suggest a direct connection between the Galactic center Spur and the northern Fermi Bubble.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

SUBSTRUCTURE IN BULK VELOCITIES OF MILKY WAY DISK STARS

We find that Galactic disk stars near the anticenter exhibit velocity asymmetries in both the Galactocentric radial and vertical components across the midplane as well as azimuthally. These findings are based on Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) spectroscopic velocities for a sample of ∼400, 000 F-type stars, combined with proper motions from the PPMXL catalog for which we have derived corrections to the zero points based in part on spectroscopically discovered galaxies and QSOs from LAMOST. In the region within 2 kpc outside the Sun's radius and ±2 kpc from the Galactic midplane, we show that stars above the plane exhibit net outward radial motions with downward vertical velocities, while stars below the plane have roughly the opposite behavior. We discuss this in the context of other recent findings, and conclude that we are likely seeing the signature of vertical disturbances to the disk due to an external perturbation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Inferring dark matter substructure with astrometric lensing beyond the power spectrum

Abstract Astrometry—the precise measurement of positions and motions of celestial objects—has emerged as a promising avenue for characterizing the dark matter population in our Galaxy. By leveraging recent advances in simulation-based inference and neural network architectures, we introduce a novel method to search for global dark matter-induced gravitational lensing signatures in astrometric datasets. Our method based on neural likelihood-ratio estimation shows significantly enhanced sensitivity to a cold dark matter population and more favorable scaling with measurement noise compared to existing approaches based on two-point correlation statistics. We demonstrate the real-world viability of our method by showing it to be robust to non-trivial modeled as well as unmodeled noise features expected in astrometric measurements. This establishes machine learning as a powerful tool for characterizing dark matter using astrometric data.

convolutional neural networks (1938)↗