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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 289 records · Page 16

Discovery of Gamma Rays from the Quiescent Sun with HAWC

We report the first detection of a TeV γ-ray flux from the solar disk (6.3⁢σ), based on 6.1 years of data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory. The 0.5–2.6 TeV spectrum is well fit by a power law, dN/dE = A⁢(E/1 TeV) -γ , with A = (1.6 ± 0.3)×10 -12 TeV -1 cm -2 s -1 and γ = 3.62 ± 0.14. The flux shows a strong indication of anticorrelation with solar activity. These results extend the bright, hard GeV emission from the disk observed with Fermi-LAT, seemingly due to hadronic Galactic cosmic rays showering on nuclei in the solar atmosphere. However, current theoretical models are unable to explain the details of how solar magnetic fields shape these interactions. HAWC’s TeV detection thus deepens the mysteries of the solar-disk emission.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Fermi Surface Nesting Driving the RKKY Interaction in the Centrosymmetric Skyrmion Magnet Gd 2 PdSi 3

The magnetic skyrmions generated in a centrosymmetric crystal were recently first discovered in Gd 2 PdSi 3 . In light of this, we observe the electronic structure by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and unveil its direct relationship with the magnetism in this compound. The Fermi surface and band dispersions are demonstrated to have a good agreement with the density functional theory (DFT) calculations carried out with careful consideration of the crystal superstructure. Most importantly, we find that the three-dimensional Fermi surface has extended nesting which matches well the q vector of the magnetic order detected by recent scattering measurements. Finally, the consistency we find among ARPES, DFT, and the scattering measurements suggests the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction involving itinerant electrons to be the formation mechanism of skyrmions in Gd 2 PdSi 3 .

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Toward the Discovery of New Elements: Production of Livermorium (𝑍 = 116) with 50 Ti

The 244 Pu ⁢(50 Ti ,𝑥⁢𝑛)⁢ 294−𝑥 Lv reaction was investigated at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s 88-Inch Cyclotron. The experiment was aimed at the production of a superheavy element with 𝑍 ≥114 by irradiating an actinide target with a beam heavier than 48 Ca. Produced Lv ions were separated from the unwanted beam and nuclear reaction products using the Berkeley Gas-filled Separator and implanted into a newly commissioned focal-plane detector system. Two decay chains were observed and assigned to the decay of 290 Lv . The production cross section was measured to be 𝜎 prod = 0.44($^{+0.58}_{−0.28}$) pb at a center-of-target center-of-mass energy of 220(3) MeV. Furthermore, this represents the first published measurement of the production of a superheavy element near the “island of stability,” with a beam of 50 Ti and is an essential precursor in the pursuit of searching for new elements beyond 𝑍 =118.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Fluctuations in Hill’s equation parameters and application to cosmic reheating

Cosmic inflation provides a compelling framework for explaining several observed features of our Universe, but its viability depends on an efficient reheating phase that converts the inflaton’s energy into Standard Model particles. This conversion often proceeds through nonperturbative mechanisms such as parametric resonance, which is described by Hill’s equation. In this work, we investigate how stochastic fluctuations in the parameters of Hill’s equation can influence particle production during reheating. We show that such fluctuations can arise from couplings to light scalar fields and can significantly alter the stability bands in the resonance structure, thereby enhancing the growth of fluctuations and broadening the region of efficient energy transfer. Using random matrix theory and stochastic differential equations, we decompose the particle growth rate into deterministic and noise-induced components and demonstrate analytically and numerically that even modest noise leads to substantial particle production in otherwise stable regimes. Furthermore, these results suggest that stochastic effects can robustly enhance the efficacy of reheating across a wide swath of parameter space, with implications for early Universe cosmology, UV completions involving multiple scalar fields, and the resolution of the cosmological moduli problem.

Cosmology↗

AI ATAC 1: An Evaluation of Prominent Commercial Malware Detectors

This work presents an evaluation of six prominent commercial endpoint malware detectors, a network malware detector, and a file-conviction algorithm from a cyber technology vendor. The evaluation was administered as the first of the Artificial I ntelligence Applications t o Autonomous Cybersecurity (AI ATAC) prize challenges, funded by / completed in service of the US Navy. The experiment employed 100K files (50/50% benign/malicious) with a stratified distribution of file types, including ~1K zero-day program executables (increasing experiment size two orders of magnitude over previous work). We present an evaluation process of delivering a file to a fresh virtual machine donning the detection technology, waiting 90s to allow static detection, then executing the file and waiting another period for dynamic detection; this allows greater fidelity in the observational data than previous experiments, in particular, resource and time-to-detection statistics. To execute all 800K trials (100K files × 8 tools), a software framework is designed to choreograph the experiment into an automated, time-synced, and reproducible workflow with substantial parallelization. Software with base classes for this framework are provided. A cost-benefit model was configured to integrate the tools’ detection statistics into a comparable quantity by simulating costs of use. This provides a ranking methodology for cyber competitions and a lens for reasoning about the varied statistical results. The results provide insights on state of commercial malware detection.

Bridges, Robert↗

Towards Scalable 3D Integration of 2T-nC FeRAM with Hundreds of Layer Stacking

In this article, we study the limits of the number of capacitors and read history dependence in a 2T-nC ferroelectric random-access memory (FeRAM) cell, paving the way for its high-density integration toward hundreds of stacked layers. Through a comprehensive experimental and simulation study on the scaling behavior of the 2T-nC FeRAM architecture, we demonstrate: (i) successful fabrication of 2T-64C cells with robust memory operation and clearly distinguishable ‘0’ and ‘1’ states, even in 64- capacitor configurations; (ii) that the parasitic capacitance of the floating node originates predominantly from the linear component of the ferroelectric capacitor, and its impact on n-scaling—due to degraded sense margin—can be mitigated by floating unselected capacitors with enough TΩ isolation; (iii) that sharing write and read transistors among n capacitors introduces a read history dependence issue due to fluctuating floating node voltage (VFN); and (iv) that a proposed FN discharge scheme can effectively eliminate read-sequence dependence, at the cost of reduced read endurance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

On the Origin of Holes During Polarization Reset in Floating Body Ferroelectric FETs Towards Improving Switching Efficiency

In this article, we performed a comprehensive combined experimental and modeling study on the polarization reset mechanisms of floating body (i.e., channel) ferroelectric FETs, an important class of device with growing interests due to added functionalities and improved reliabilities. Using fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) FeFET as a classical example, we demonstrate that: 1) without hole generation mechanisms, floating body FeFETs during reset is simply a capacitor divider, with negligible ferroelectric voltage drop for switching; ii) Band-to-band-tunneling (BTBT) around gate-to-S/D overlap even with zero drain bias generates holes to facilitate the reset in FDSOI FeFET, though at a slower speed and hold the reset state; iii) With scaling, S/D inner fringe field can enable fast reset, thus offering a potential efficiency boost approach; iv) a compact FDSOI FeFET model is developed that can capture the BTBT effect and reproduce the observed behaviors; v) the reset mechanism is also validated in a NAND string composed of FDSOI FeFETs, demonstrating its relevant applications. These insights show the strategies in improving reset efficiency, i.e., enhanced BTBT and inner fringe field.

42 ENGINEERING↗

First Demonstration of Vertical 2T-nC FeRAM Hybrid Cell and its Scalability for High-Density 3D Ferroelectric Capacitor Memory

In this article, we perform a comprehensive experimental and modeling study into the scaling of vertical 2T-nC ferroelectric random-access memory (FeRAM) hybrid cell to demonstrate a high performance and high-density 3D capacitor memory. We demonstrate: i) first time successful integration of the vertical 2T-3C FeRAM cell by stacking the vertical metal-ferroelectricmetal (MFM) stack on top of Si CMOS transistors; ii) successful experimental operation of the memory cell, including the quasi-nondestructive read out (QNRO) of the polarization without write back after 106 read cycles; iii) the write bit line (WBL) heavily screens the coupling between neighboring strings, making it a minor concern; V ) aggressive stacking of the WBLs, i.e., number of MFMs in a string, could facilitate the self-boosting during write operation due to ferroelectric linear capacitance (CFE), which allows self-boosted inhibition for Vw/2 scheme and worsens the Vw/3 scheme as disturb increases to intolerable 2Vw/3; v) aggressive horizontal scaling significantly increases the read disturb to cells on neighboring planes due to capacitance between two WBLs (Cz).

42 ENGINEERING↗

Modeling pre-Exascale AMR Parallel I/O Workloads via Proxy Applications

The present work investigates the modeling of preexascale input/output (I/O) workloads of Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) simulations through a simple proxy application. We collect data from the AMReX Castro framework running on the Summit supercomputer for a wide range of scales and mesh partitions for the hydrodynamic Sedov case as a baseline to provide sufficient coverage to the formulated proxy model. The non-linear analysis data production rates are quantified as a function of a set of input parameters such as output frequency, grid size, number of levels, and the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) condition number for each rank, mesh level and simulation time step. Linear regression is then applied to formulate a simple analytical model which allows to translate AMReX inputs into MACSio proxy I/O application parameters, resulting in a simple “kernel” approximation for data production at each time step. Results show that MACSio can simulate actual AMReX nonlinear “static” I/O workloads to a certain degree of confidence on the Summit supercomputer using the present methodology. The goal is to provide an initial level of understanding of AMR I/O workloads via lightweight proxy applications models to facilitate autotune data management strategies in anticipation of exascale systems.

Godoy, William↗

Transit Bus Electrification Evaluation from GPS Speed Traces

Through the USAID-NREL partnership, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has evaluated the potential for transit bus electrification in Mexico City and two locations in León, Mexico to inform future vehicle and infrastructure purchases. NREL collected IHz GPS data between September to October of 2017 from the existing transit buses as inputs to the Future Automotive Systems Technology Simulator (FASTSim) tool. NREL used the data and FASTSim models to provide detailed operational performance requirements of electric buses operated within the context of the three locations and highlighted bus operations that are candidates for electrification.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Understanding Reliability Trade-Offs in 1T-nC and 2T-nC FeRAM Designs

Ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) is a promising candidate for energy-efficient nonvolatile memory, particularly for logic-in-memory and compute-in-memory (CIM) applications. Among the available cell architectures, One-Transistor–n-Capacitor (1T-nC) and two-transistor–n-capacitor (2T-nC) FeRAMs each offer distinct trade-offs in density, scalability, and reliability. In this work, we present a comparative study of these two architectures under both dimensional scaling ( XY/Z shrinkage) and vertical integration (increasing stacked capacitors per cell). Using technology computer-aided design (TCAD) and circuit-level simulations, we analyze how scaling impacts ferroelectric capacitance, parasitic coupling, and floating-node (FN) dynamics, which together dictate sense margin (SM) and read stability. A key mitigation strategy—floating unselected capacitors—is applied to both architectures, effectively decoupling the SM from the number of stacked capacitors and enabling tractable analysis across scaling regimes. Results show that 1T-nC suffers more from charge sharing with the bitline (BL), while 2T-nC benefits from transistor isolation and stronger low-voltage sensing at the cost of increased area. By systematically evaluating these behaviors across scaling directions, this work establishes the reliability trade-offs of 1T-nC and 2T-nC cells and provides design guidelines for high-density, vertically integrated FeRAM systems.

1T-nC↗

Research Software Engineering at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Research software engineers (RSE) play a vital role in scientific discoveries worldwide. They lead the core development of the applications, libraries, and tools that enable today’s supercomputers to process the vast volumes of data generated from the world’s most extensive and complicated scientific instruments and facilities. This article describes the mission, culture, and practices of RSE teams at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), including their team dynamics and composition, work ethics, standard practices, and ever-evolving skill sets vital to pursuing scientific innovations and implementing novel ideas. We describe the lessons learned from specific activities that contribute to shaping the identity and growth of RSE roles at ORNL. Lastly, we provide our view for the near future on effective strategies for establishing, leading, and nurturing RSE teams and building a thriving community in collaboration with science stakeholders.

42 ENGINEERING↗

A Cast of Thousands: How the IDEAS Productivity Project Has Advanced Software Productivity and Sustainability

Computational and data-enabled science and engineering are revolutionizing advances throughout science and society, at all scales of computing. For example, teams in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Exascale Computing Project have been tackling new frontiers in modeling, simulation, and analysis by exploiting unprecedented exascale computing capabilities—building an advanced software ecosystem that supports next-generation applications and addresses disruptive changes in computer architectures. However, concerns are growing about the productivity of the developers of scientific software. Members of the Interoperable Design of Extreme-scale Application Software project serve as catalysts to address these challenges through fostering software communities, incubating and curating methodologies and resources, and disseminating knowledge to advance developer productivity and software sustainability. This article discusses how these synergistic activities are advancing scientific discovery—mitigating technical risks by building a firmer foundation for reproducible, sustainable science at all scales of computing, from laptops to clusters to exascale and beyond.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Building and Sustaining a Community Resource for Best Practices in Scientific Software: The Story of BSSw.io

The development of scientific software—a cornerstone of long-term collaboration and scientific progress—parallels the development of other types of software but still poses distinct challenges, especially in high-performance computing. Although web searches yield numerous resources on software engineering, there is still a scarcity specifically for scientific software development. Here, this article introduces the Better Scientific Software site (https://bssw.io), a platform that hosts a community of researchers, developers, and practitioners who share their experiences and insights on scientific software development. Since 2017, this collaborative hub has gained traction within the scientific computing community, attracting a growing number of readers and contributors eager to share ideas and elevate their software development practices. In sharing the BSSw.io site’s story, we hope to encourage further growth of the BSSw.io community through both readership and contributors, with a long-term goal of fostering culture change by increasing emphasis on best practices in scientific software.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

The Path to Autonomous Cyberdefense

Defenders are overwhelmed by attacks against their networks, which will only be exacerbated as attackers leverage artificial intelligence to automate workflows. Here, we propose a path to autonomous cyberagents able to augment defenders by automating critical steps in the cyberdefense lifecycle.

Oesch, Sean↗

OpenSAMPL: An Open Source Library for Timing and Synchronization Measurements and Analytics

Today's power grid operators are implementing timing and synchronization solutions that provide resilience to Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) vulnerabilities. These vendor-specific solutions often come with additional software applications that are designed to monitor that vendor's synchronization performance data. However, resilient timing architectures often resulting in multi-vendor solutions, including approaches that blend terrestrial clocks with space-based subscription services. In such an environment, collecting, analyzing, and visualizing data from a variety of sources within a single platform was heretofore not possible. To address this need, the US Department of Energy's Center for Alternative Synchronization and Timing (CAST) developed OpenSAMPL, the Open Synchronized Analytics and Monitoring Platform, an open-source Python framework for processing, loading, and observing clock measurement data from distributed devices. OpenSAMPL enables the ingestion of diverse clock-probe sources into a scalable time-series database and applies robust analytics. OpenSAMPL currently supports two vendor data pipelines, and will be extended to more in the near future, enabling seamless monitoring of a variety of timing and synchronization devices in a common environment.

Grant, Josh [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000163475060)↗