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At least 307 records · Page 17

Regulation of Alfvén Eigenmodes by Microturbulence in Fusion Plasmas

Global gyrokinetic simulations of mesoscale reversed shear Alfven eigenmodes (RSAE) excited by energetic particles (EP) in fusion plasmas find that RSAE amplitude and EP transport are much higher than experimental levels at nonlinear saturation, but quickly diminish to very low levels after the saturation when background microturbulence is artificially suppressed. In contrast, in simulations coupling micro-meso scales, the RSAE amplitude and EP transport decrease drastically at the initial saturation but later increases to the experimental levels in the quasi-steady state with bursty dynamics due to regulation by thermal ion temperature gradient (ITG) microturbulence. The quasi-steady state EP transport is larger for a stronger microturbulence. Here, the RSAE amplitude in the quasi-steady state ITG-RSAE turbulence from gyrokinetic simulations, for the first time, agrees very well with experimental measurements.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Quantum Dynamics of Attractive and Repulsive Polarons in a Doped MoSe 2 Monolayer

When mobile impurities are introduced and coupled to a Fermi sea, new quasiparticles known as Fermi polarons are formed. There are two interesting, yet drastically different regimes of the Fermi polaron problem: (i) the attractive polaron (AP) branch connected to pairing phenomena spanning the crossover from BCS superfluidity to the Bose-Einstein condensation of molecules and (ii) the repulsive branch (RP), which underlies the physics responsible for Stoner’s itinerant ferromagnetism. Here, we study Fermi polarons in two-dimensional systems, where many questions and debates regarding their nature persist. The model system we investigate is a doped MoSe2 monolayer. We find the observed AP-RP energy splitting and the quantum dynamics of attractive polarons agree with the predictions of polaron theory. As the doping density increases, the quantum dephasing of the attractive polarons remains constant, indicative of stable quasiparticles, while the repulsive polaron dephasing rate increases nearly quadratically. The dynamics of Fermi polarons are of critical importance for understanding the pairing and magnetic instabilities that lead to the formation of rich quantum phases found in a wide range of physical systems including nuclei, cold atomic gases, and solids.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Toroidal Alfven Wave Coupling (Nonlinear Wave-Wave Interactions) on DIII-D

Connect DIII-D physics with space plasma phenomena. In this case of using the toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes and frequency-chirping Reversed-Shear Alfvén eignmodes in DIII-D, we will document how the nonlinear interactions among dipolar Kinetic Alfvén Wave eigenmodes in space plasmas may determine saturation levels of these fluctuations. We seek evidence of nonlinear energy transfer and wave-wave coupling during 3-wave interactions mediated by a much lower-frequency mode. In FY2019, we found evidence of nonlinear “wave-wave” interactions in 175 relevant shots of archival DIII-D data. Toroidal mode number was identified and spectrograms were produced from each shot’s Mirnov coil data. Bispectral analysis was performed using a preliminary version of a new user friendly code derived from a 1995 M.S. thesis at WVU. These results formed a part of a May 2019 M.S. thesis at WVU.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Full-wave modeling of RF waves in fusion plasmas with finite element method: Progress in past decades and its future role

This paper reviews the progress in computing radio frequency (RF) wave fields in fusion plasmas, specifically focusing on simulations utilizing the finite element method (FEM) over the past few decades. Computing RF wave fields in fusion plasmas presents unique challenges due to large simulation domains, complex antenna structures, non-local dielectric properties, and wide ranges of spatial scales. It highlights key developments and outlines future directions, primarily addressing waves in the ion cyclotron (IC) to lower hybrid (LH) frequency range. We begin with briefly revisiting earlier developments before the widespread availability of modern computer-aided engineering (CAE) software based on FEM. This historical perspective illuminates early progress and the physics difficulties that motivated ongoing work within the community. Modern wave simulations for RF antennas based on FEM are characterized by the use of detailed 3D antenna model geometry generated from engineering CAD software and localized wave dielectric model. Significant advancements have also been made in improving physics models to include phenomena such as RF sheath rectification and wave scattering. FEM-based RF simulations have also been applied to compute wave propagation in the core region, where the inclusion of non-local dielectric response is crucial. This is a challenging goal, and several promising approaches have been proposed in this area. Additionally, RF simulation development initiatives based on open-source libraries have gained popularity, demonstrating scalability and flexibility in extending physics models. This paper will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using such a publicly available FEM library.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Symmetry Breaking and Ascending in the Magnetic Kagome Metal FeGe

Spontaneous symmetry breaking—the phenomenon in which an infinitesimal perturbation can cause the system to break the underlying symmetry—is a cornerstone concept in the understanding of interacting solid-state systems. In a typical series of temperature-driven phase transitions, higher-temperature phases are more symmetric due to the stabilizing effect of entropy that becomes dominant as the temperature is increased. However, the opposite is rare but possible when there are multiple degrees of freedom in the system. Here, we present such an example of a symmetry-ascending phenomenon upon cooling in a magnetic kagome metal FeGe by utilizing neutron Larmor diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. FeGe has a kagome lattice structure with simple A-type antiferromagnetic order below Néel temperature T N ≈ 400 K and a charge density wave (CDW) transition at T CDW ≈ 110 K , followed by a spin-canting transition at around 60 K. In the paramagnetic state at 460 K, we confirm that the crystal structure is indeed a hexagonal kagome lattice. On cooling to around T N , the crystal structure changes from hexagonal to monoclinic with in-plane lattice distortions on the order of 10 − 4 and the associated splitting of the double-degenerate phonon mode of the pristine kagome lattice. Upon further cooling to T CDW , the kagome lattice shows a small negative thermal expansion, and the crystal structure gradually becomes more symmetric upon further cooling. A tendency of increasing the crystalline symmetry upon cooling is unusual; it originates from an extremely weak structural instability that coexists and competes with the CDW and magnetic orders. These observations are against the expectations for a simple model with a single order parameter and hence can only be explained by a Landau free energy expansion that takes into account multiple lattice, charge, and spin degrees of freedom. Thus, the determination of the crystalline lattice symmetry as well as the unusual spin-lattice coupling is a first step towards understanding the rich electronic and magnetic properties of the system, and it sheds new light on intertwined orders where the lattice degree of freedom is no longer dominant. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Absence of E 2 g Nematic Instability and Dominant A 1 g Response in the Kagome Metal CsV 3 Sb 5

Ever since the discovery of the charge density wave (CDW) transition in the kagome metal CsV 3 Sb 5 , the nature of its symmetry breaking has been under intense debate. While evidence suggests that the rotational symmetry is already broken at the CDW transition temperature ( T CDW ), an additional electronic nematic instability well below T CDW has been reported based on the diverging elastoresistivity coefficient in the anisotropic channel ( m E 2 g ). Verifying the existence of a nematic transition below T CDW is not only critical for establishing the correct description of the CDW order parameter, but also important for understanding low-temperature superconductivity. Here, we report elastoresistivity measurements of CsV 3 Sb 5 using three different techniques probing both isotropic and anisotropic symmetry channels. Contrary to previous reports, we find the anisotropic elastoresistivity coefficient m E 2 g is temperature independent, except for a step jump at T CDW . The absence of nematic fluctuations is further substantiated by measurements of the elastocaloric effect, which show no enhancement associated with nematic susceptibility. On the other hand, the symmetric elastoresistivity coefficient m A 1 g increases below T CDW , reaching a peak value of 90 at T * = 20 K . Our results strongly indicate that the phase transition at T * is not nematic in nature and the previously reported diverging elastoresistivity is due to the contamination from the A 1 g channel. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Training Restricted Boltzmann Machines With a D-Wave Quantum Annealer

Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM) is an energy-based, undirected graphical model. It is commonly used for unsupervised and supervised machine learning. Typically, RBM is trained using contrastive divergence (CD). However, training with CD is slow and does not estimate the exact gradient of the log-likelihood cost function. In this work, the model expectation of gradient learning for RBM has been calculated using a quantum annealer (D-Wave 2000Q), where obtaining samples is faster than Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) used in CD. Training and classification results of RBM trained using quantum annealing are compared with the CD-based method. The performance of the two approaches is compared with respect to the classification accuracies, image reconstruction, and log-likelihood results. The classification accuracy results indicate comparable performances of the two methods. Image reconstruction and log-likelihood results show improved performance of the CD-based method. It is shown that the samples obtained from quantum annealer can be used to train an RBM on a 64-bit “bars and stripes” dataset with classification performance similar to an RBM trained with CD. Though training based on CD showed improved learning performance, training using a quantum annealer could be useful as it eliminates computationally expensive MCMC steps of CD.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

General, Rigorous Approach for the Treatment of Interfragment Covalent Bonds

Here, a generalized, projection-based transformation of the method-agnostic Fock operator in various ab initio fragment-based quantum chemistry methods has been developed for the treatment of interfragment covalent bonds. This transformation freezes the relevant localized molecular orbital associated with each interfragment bond, thereby restricting the variational subspace of the fragment wave functions, in order to maintain the proper physical characteristics of the involved covalent bonds. In addition, sets of orbitals that would lead to multiple occupancy of certain orbitals are explicitly removed from the variational space. The transformation is developed for the specific case of mutually orthonormal frozen and unfrozen orbitals within each fragment. The newly developed approach is then used to study model systems with two popular ab initio fragment-based methods, and the results of these calculations are compared to those obtained by existing methodologies. Analysis is focused on both quantitative and qualitative accuracy as well as computational scalability and stability. Other methods for which the developed formalisms are appropriate are outlined, and future extensions of the methods are discussed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Bi-chromatic intensity squeezing using four-wave mixing in 85 Rb vapor

We experimentally investigate four-wave mixing (FWM) in a diamond interaction scheme using 85 Rb vapor, and identify the optimal conditions for joint amplification and relative intensity squeezing of two optical fields: one near the 85 Rb D1 optical transition (λ = 794.6 nm) and the other in the telecom O-band (λ = 1324 nm). We achieved a reduction of relative intensity noise by up to 2.6 ± 0.4 dB compared with the shot noise level, signifying the non-classical quantum correlations. The observed level of intensity squeezing is primarily limited by the available pump laser power, which constrains the achievable FWM gain. Numerical simulations show good agreement with the experimental results.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Role of Equilibrium Fluctuations in Light-Induced Order

Engineering novel states of matter with light is at the forefront of materials research. An intensely studied direction is to realize broken-symmetry phases that are “hidden” under equilibrium conditions but can be unleashed by an ultrashort laser pulse. Despite a plethora of experimental discoveries, the nature of these orders and how they transiently appear remain unclear. To this end, we investigate a nonequilibrium charge density wave (CDW) in rare-earth tritellurides, which is suppressed in equilibrium but emerges after photoexcitation. Using a pump-pump-probe protocol implemented in ultrafast electron diffraction, we demonstrate that the light-induced CDW consists solely of order parameter fluctuations, which bear striking similarities to critical fluctuations in equilibrium despite differences in the length scale. By calculating the dynamics of CDW fluctuations in a nonperturbative model, we further show that the strength of the light-induced order is governed by the amplitude of equilibrium fluctuations. Overall, these findings highlight photoinduced fluctuations as an important ingredient for the emergence of transient orders out of equilibrium. Our results further suggest that materials with strong fluctuations in equilibrium are promising platforms to host hidden orders after laser excitation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Coexistence of Interacting Charge Density Waves in a Layered Semiconductor

Coexisting orders are key features of strongly correlated materials and underlie many intriguing phenomena from unconventional superconductivity to topological orders. Here, we report the coexistence of two interacting charge-density-wave (CDW) orders in EuTe 4 , a layered crystal that has drawn considerable attention owing to its anomalous thermal hysteresis and a semiconducting CDW state despite the absence of perfect FS nesting. By accessing unoccupied conduction bands with time- and angle-resolved photoemission measurements, we find that mono- and bi-layers of Te in the unit cell host different CDWs that are associated with distinct energy gaps. The two gaps display dichotomous evolutions following photoexcitation, where the larger bilayer CDW gap exhibits less renormalization and faster recovery. Surprisingly, the CDW in the Te monolayer displays an additional momentum-dependent gap renormalization that cannot be captured by density-functional theory calculations. This phenomenon is attributed to interlayer interactions between the two CDW orders, which account for the semiconducting nature of the equilibrium state. Finally, our findings not only offer microscopic insights into the correlated ground state of EuTe 4 but also provide a general non-equilibrium approach to understand coexisting, layer-dependent orders in a complex system.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Intrinsic and doping-enhanced superconductivity in monolayer 1 H − TaS 2 : Critical role of charge ordering and spin-orbit coupling

The interplay of superconductivity with charge density wave (CDW) in metallic transition-metal dichalcogenides has been widely debated, and viable strategies manipulating these quantum states in the two-dimensional (2D) limit remain unclear. Using the ab initio anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg theory, we successfully explain the superconductivity observed in monolayer 1H-TaS 2 by simultaneously determining its precise CDW structure and treating the marked modification of electron-phonon interaction and critical temperature T c by spin-orbit coupling effects. With this paradigm, we further show that electron doping weakens the CDW order leading to increased T c up to 11 K, along with a single-gap to two-gap superconductivity transition due to the suppression of the CDW gap. By contrast, a low hole doping barely affects the CDW but still yields a significantly enhanced superconducting order, implying their good coexistence. Combined with the synergistic behavior of CDW and superconductivity, which cooperate upon TaS 2 thickness reduction causing an unusual rise of T c , our results unravel diversified interactions between the two collective orders in ultrathin TaS 2 , being competition, coexistence or cooperation depending on external stimuli, which provide key clues for controlling correlated states in devices based on 2D CDW superconductors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Electronic properties of correlated kagomé metals AV 3 Sb 5 (A = K, Rb, and Cs): A perspective

Following the discovery of a new family of kagomé prototypical materials with structure AV 3 Sb 5 (A=K, Rb, and Cs), there has been a heightened interest in studying the correlation-driven electronic phenomena in these kagomé lattice systems. The study of these materials has gone beyond magneto-transport measurements to reveal exciting features such as Dirac bands, anomalous Hall effect, bulk superconductivity with T c ~0.9–2.5K, and the observation of charge density wave instabilities, suggesting an intertwining of topological physics and new quantum orders. Moreover, very recent works on numerous types of experiments have appeared further examining the unconventional superconductivity and the exotic electronic states found within these kagomé materials. Theories on the strong interactions that play a role in these systems have been proposed to shed light on the nature of these topological charge density waves. In this brief review, we summarize these recent experimental findings and theoretical proposals and envision the materials as new platforms to study the interplay between topological physics and strongly correlated electronic systems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Prospects for fundamental physics with LISA

In this paper, which is of programmatic rather than quantitative nature, we aim to further delineate and sharpen the future potential of the LISA mission in the area of fundamental physics. Given the very broad range of topics that might be relevant to LISA,we present here a sample of what we view as particularly promising fundamental physics directions. We organize these directions through a “science-first” approach that allows us to classify how LISA data can inform theoretical physics in a variety of areas. For each of these theoretical physics classes, we identify the sources that are currently expected to provide the principal contribution to our knowledge, and the areas that need further development. Overall, the classification presented here should not be thought of as cast in stone, but rather as a fluid framework that is amenable to change with the flow of new insights in theoretical physics.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A Novel Design of Guiding Stress Wave Propagation

Impact loads can induce a series of undesirable physical phenomena including vibration, acoustical shock, perforation, fracture and fragmentation, etc. The energy associated with the impact loads can lead to severe structure damage and human injuries. A design approach which effectively reduces these negative impacts through shock/stress wave diversion is highly needed. In this paper, a computational model which predicts stress wave propagation by considering different beam geometries and configurations is developed. Additionally, a novel concept of wave guide design which modifies the stress wave propagation path without disturbance is also presented. Furthermore, this design approach is not only useful for material property characterization particularly at intermediate or high strain rates, but also allows stress wave propagation in a desired direction as the shock/impact energy can be redistributed in controllable paths. The numerical results are experimentally verified through a Drop-Hopkinson bar apparatus at Sandia National Laboratories.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Loop-current charge density wave driven by long-range Coulomb repulsion on the kagomé lattice

Recent experiments on vanadium-based nonmagnetic kagomé metals A⁢V 3 ⁢Sb 5 ⁢(A=K,Rb,Cs) revealed evidence for possible spontaneous time-reversal symmetry (TRS) breaking in the charge density wave (CDW) ordered state. The long-sought-after quantum order of loop currents has been suggested as a candidate for the TRS breaking state. However, a microscopic model for the emergence of the loop-current CDW due to electronic correlations is still lacking. Here, in this work, we calculate the susceptibility of the real and imaginary bond orders on the kagomé lattice near van Hove filling, and reveal the importance of next-nearest-neighbor Coulomb repulsion V 2 in triggering the instability toward imaginary bond ordered CDW. The concrete effective single-orbital t–V 1 –V 2 model on the kagomé lattice is then studied, where t and V 1 are the hopping and Coulomb repulsion on the nearest-neighbor bonds. We obtain the mean-field ground states, analyze their properties, and determine the phase diagram in the plane spanned by V 1 and V 2 at van Hove filling. The region dominated by V 1 is occupied by a 2⁢a 0 ×2⁢a 0 real CDW insulator with the inverse of Star-of-David (ISD) bond configuration. Increasing V 2 indeed drives a first-order transition from ISD to stabilized loop-current insulators that exhibit four possible current patterns of different topological properties, leading to orbital Chern insulators. We then extend these results away from van Hove filling and show that electron doping helps the stabilization of loop currents, and gives rise to doped orbital Chern insulators with emergent Chern Fermi pockets carrying large Berry curvature and orbital magnetic moment. Our findings provide a concrete model realization of the loop-current Chern metal at the mean-field level for the TRS breaking normal state of the kagomé superconductors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Monitoring Fracture Saturation With Internal Seismic Sources and Twin Neural Networks

Seismic coda-wave analysis is a well-developed method for detecting subtle physical changes in complex media by measuring arrival times in the late-arriving energy from multiply scattered or reflected waves. However, a challenge arises when multiply scattered waves are not sufficiently separated in time from the direct arrivals to provide a clear coda wave train. Additional complications for monitoring changes in fracture systems arise when the signals originate from unsynchronized internal sources, such as natural or induced seismicity, from acoustic emission, or from transportable intra-fracture sources (chattering dust), that generate uncontrolled signals that vary in arrival time, amplitude and frequency content. Here, we use a twin neural network (TNN also known as a Siamese neural network) for dimensionality reduction to analyze signals from chattering dust to classify the fluid saturation state of a synthetic fracture system. The TNN with shared weights generates a low-dimensional representation of the data input by minimizing contrastive loss, serving as the input to a multiclass classifier that accurately classifies whether multiple fractures in a fracture system are fully saturated or partially saturated, or whether a change in saturation has occurred in different fractures in the system. Furthermore, these results show that information buried in unresolved codas from uncontrolled sources can be extracted using machine learning to monitor the evolution of fracture systems caused by physical and chemical processes even when the scattered and direct wave fields overlap.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Melting of charge density waves in low dimensions

Charge density waves (CDWs) are collective electronic states that can reshape and melt, even while confined within a rigid atomic crystal. In two dimensions, melting is predicted to be distinct, proceeding through partially ordered nematic and hexatic states that are neither liquid nor crystal. Here, we measure and explain how continuous, hexatic melting of incommensurate CDWs occurs in low-dimensional materials. As a CDW is thermally excited, disorder emerges progressively—initially through smooth elastic deformations that modulate the local wavelength and subsequently via the nucleation of topological defects. Experimentally, we track three hallmark signatures of CDW melting—azimuthal superlattice peak broadening, wavevector contraction, and integrated intensity decay.

42 ENGINEERING↗