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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

WASP-107b’s Density Is Even Lower: A Case Study for the Physics of Planetary Gas Envelope Accretion and Orbital Migration

With a mass in the Neptune regime and a radius of Jupiter, WASP-107b presents a challenge to planet formation theories. Meanwhile, the planet’s low surface gravity and the star’s brightness also make it one of the most favorable targets for atmospheric characterization. Here, we present the results of an extensive 4 yr Keck/HIRES radial-velocity (RV) follow-up program of the WASP-107 system and provide a detailed study of the physics governing the accretion of the gas envelope of WASP-107b. We reveal that WASP-107b’s mass is only 1.8 Neptune masses (M {sub b} = 30.5 ± 1.7 M {sub ⊕}). The resulting extraordinarily low density suggests that WASP-107b has a H/He envelope mass fraction of >85% unless it is substantially inflated. The corresponding core mass of <4.6 M {sub ⊕} at 3σ is significantly lower than what is traditionally assumed to be necessary to trigger massive gas envelope accretion. We demonstrate that this large gas-to-core mass ratio most plausibly results from the onset of accretion at ≳1 au onto a low-opacity, dust-free atmosphere and subsequent migration to the present-day a {sub b} = 0.0566 ± 0.0017 au. Beyond WASP-107b, we also detect a second, more massive planet (M{sub c}sin i=0.36±0.04M{sub J}) on a wide eccentric orbit (e {sub c} = 0.28 ± 0.07) that may have influenced the orbital migration and spin–orbit misalignment of WASP-107b. Overall, our new RV observations and envelope accretion modeling provide crucial insights into the intriguing nature of WASP-107b and the system’s formation history. Looking ahead, WASP-107b will be a keystone planet to understand the physics of gas envelope accretion.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Determining the Structure of Rotating Massive Stellar Cores with Gravitational Waves

The gravitational wave (GW) signal resulting from stellar core collapse encodes a wealth of information about the physical parameters of the progenitor star and the resulting core-collapse supernova (CCSN). We present a novel approach to constrain CCSN progenitor properties at collapse using two of the most detectable parts of the GW signal: the core-bounce signal and evolution of the dominant frequency mode from the protoneutron star. We focus on the period after core bounce but before explosion and investigate the predictive power of GWs from rotating CCSNe to constrain properties of the progenitor star. We analyze 34 2D and four 3D neutrino-radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of stellar core collapse in progenitors of varied initial mass and rotation rate. Extending previous work, we verify the compactness of the progenitor at collapse to correlate with the early ramp-up slope, and in rotating cases, also with the core angular momentum. Combining this information with the bounce signal, we present a new analysis method to constrain the pre-collapse core compactness of the progenitor. Because these GW features occur less than a second after core bounce, this analysis could allow astronomers to predict electromagnetic properties of a resulting CCSN even before shock breakout.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Constraining the Dense Matter Equation of State with New NICER Mass–Radius Measurements and New Chiral Effective Field Theory Inputs

Pulse profile modeling of X-ray data from the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer is now enabling precision inference of neutron star mass and radius. Combined with nuclear physics constraints from chiral effective field theory (χEFT), and masses and tidal deformabilities inferred from gravitational-wave detections of binary neutron star mergers, this has led to a steady improvement in our understanding of the dense matter equation of state (EOS). Here, we consider the impact of several new results: the radius measurement for the 1.42 M ⊙ pulsar PSR J0437−4715 presented by Choudhury et al., updates to the masses and radii of PSR J0740+6620 and PSR J0030+0451, and new χEFT results for neutron star matter up to 1.5 times nuclear saturation density. Using two different high-density EOS extensions—a piecewise-polytropic (PP) model and a model based on the speed of sound in a neutron star (CS)—we find the radius of a 1.4 M ⊙ (2.0 M ⊙ ) neutron star to be constrained to the 95% credible ranges ${12.28}_{-0.76}^{+0.50}$ km (${12.33}_{-1.34}^{+0.70}$ km) for the PP model and ${12.01}_{-0.75}^{+0.56}$ km (${11.55}_{-1.09}^{+0.94}$ km) for the CS model. The maximum neutron star mass is predicted to be ${2.15}_{-0.16}^{+0.14}$M ⊙ and ${2.08}_{-0.16}^{+0.28}$M ⊙ for the PP and CS models, respectively. We explore the sensitivity of our results to different orders and different densities up to which χEFT is used, and show how the astrophysical observations provide constraints for the pressure at intermediate densities. Moreover, we investigate the difference R 2.0 − R 1.4 of the radius of 2 M ⊙ and 1.4 M ⊙ neutron stars within our EOS inference.

gravitational wave sources↗
DOE OSTI2021

Combining Electromagnetic and Gravitational-Wave Constraints on Neutron-Star Masses and Radii

In this work, we perform a joint Bayesian inference of neutron-star mass and radius constraints based on GW170817, observations of quiescent low-mass x-ray binaries (QLMXBs), photospheric radius expansion x-ray bursting sources, and x-ray timing observations of J0030+0451. With this dataset, the form of the prior distribution still has an impact on the posterior mass-radius curves and equation of state (EOS), but this impact is smaller than recently obtained when considering QLMXBs alone. We analyze the consistency of the electromagnetic data by including an “intrinsic scattering” contribution to the uncertainties, and find only a slight broadening of the posteriors. This suggests that the gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observations of neutron-star structure are providing a consistent picture of the neutron-star mass-radius curve and the EOS.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

The University of Virginia, Theoretical High Energy Physics (Final Technical Report)

We summarize research performed in the final reporting period of grant DE-SC0007984 for University of Virginia, Theoretical High Energy Physics. Progress was made on studying quantum mechanical effects in the showering of high energy particles inside a quark-gluon plasma, on the effects of extra dimensions on gravitational waves, and on expanding the use of what is known as the "worldline" formalism in quantum field theory.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Impact of a midband gravitational wave experiment on detectability of cosmological stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds

In this report we make forecasts for the impact a future “midband” space-based gravitational wave experiment, most sensitive to 10 -2 - 10Hz,could have on potential detections of cosmological stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds (SGWBs). Specific proposed midband experiments considered are TianGo, B-DECIGO, and AEDGE. We propose a combined power-law integrated sensitivity (CPLS) curve combining GW experiments over different frequency bands, which shows the midband improves sensitivity to SGWBs by up to two orders of magnitude at 10 -2 - 10 Hz . We consider GW emission from cosmic strings and phase transitions as benchmark examples of cosmological SGWBs. We explicitly model various astrophysical SGWB sources, most importantly from unresolved black hole mergers. Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo, we demonstrated that midband experiments can, when combined with LIGO A+ and LISA, significantly improve sensitivities to cosmological SGWBs and better separate them from astrophysical SGWBs. In particular, we forecast that a midband experiment improves sensitivity to cosmic string tension G μ by up to a factor of 10, driven by improved component separation from astrophysical sources. For phase transitions, a midband experiment can detect signals peaking at 0.1–1 Hz, which for our fiducial model corresponds to early Universe temperatures of T * ~10 4 – 10 6 GeV , generally beyond the reach of LIGO and LISA. The midband closes an energy gap and better captures characteristic spectral shape information. It thus substantially improves measurement of the properties of phase transitions at lower energies of T * ~ O(10 3 ) GeV , potentially relevant to new physics at the electroweak scale, whereas in this energy range LISA alone will detect an excess but not effectively measure the phase transition parameters. Our modeling code and chains are publicly available.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2026

Cosmic Overture Echoed in a Stellar Final Act: Implications of Nanohertz Gravitational Waves for Core Collapse Supernova Neutrinos

The growing evidence for nanohertz gravitational waves, from NANOGrav and other observations, may be pointing to a cosmological first-order phase transition at temperatures of 𝒪⁢(10−100)⁢MeV. Such an interpretation requires beyond the Standard Model dynamics in this energy range. If so, it may well be the case that galactic core-collapse supernova explosions would produce the key components related to the first-order phase transition, leaving detectable imprints on the spectrum of neutrinos emitted in the initial few seconds of the collapse. This might provide further evidence in support of the early universe interpretation of the nanohertz gravitational wave signal. The scenario proposed here is also suggestive of a low-mass seesaw mechanism to explain neutrino masses. We outline the prospects for future observations of Galactic supernovae to uncover the signals of this scenario, with further confirmation from future pulsar timing array measurements of primordial nanohertz gravitational waves.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Virtual Hawking Radiation

We consider the effects of off-shell Hawking radiation on scattering processes involving black holes coupled to quantum fields. The focus here is to the case of gravitational scattering of a scalar field mediated by the exchange of virtual Hawking gravitons from a four-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole. Our result is obtained in the context of a worldline effective field theory for the black hole, and is valid in the semi-classical limit where the Schwarzschild radius rs is larger than the Planck length 1/m Pl . In addition, we assume that four-momentum exchange q is smaller than r s –1 and that the incoming particle has energy larger then the black hole's Hawking temperature. The inelastic cross section we obtain is a new, leading order quantum gravity effect, arising at the same order in q 2 /$m$ $^{2}_{Pl}$ as the well understood one-loop graviton vacuum polarization corrections to gravitational scattering between massive particles.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Nonperturbative quantum gravity in a closed Lorentzian universe

We study how meaningful physical predictions can arise in nonperturbative quantum gravity in a closed Lorentzian universe. In such settings, recent developments suggest that the quantum gravitational Hilbert space is one-dimensional and real for each α-sector, as induced by spacetime wormholes. This appears to obstruct the conventional quantum-mechanical prescription of assigning probabilities via projection onto a basis of states. While previous approaches have introduced external observers or augmented the theory to resolve this issue, we argue that quantum gravity itself contains all the necessary ingredients to make physical predictions. We demonstrate that the emergence of classical observables and probabilistic outcomes can be understood as a consequence of partial observability: physical observers access only a subsystem of the universe. Tracing out the inaccessible degrees of freedom yields reduced density matrices that encode classical information, with uncertainties exponentially suppressed by the environment’s entropy. We develop this perspective using both the Lorentzian path integral and operator formalisms and support it with a simple microscopic model. Our results show that quantum gravity in a closed universe naturally gives rise to meaningful, robust predictions without recourse to external constructs.

AdS-CFT Correspondence↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fragmentation in Gravitationally Unstable Collapsar Disks and Subsolar Neutron Star Mergers

Abstract Although stable neutron stars (NSs) can in principle exist down to massesM ns ≈ 0.1M ⊙ , standard models of stellar core-collapse predict a robust lower limitM ns ≳ 1.2M ⊙ , roughly commensurate with the Chandrasekhar massM Ch of the progenitor’s iron core (electron fractionY e ≈ 0.5). However, this limit may be circumvented in sufficiently dense neutron-rich environments (Y e < 0.5) for which M Ch ∝ Y e 2 is reduced to ≲1M ⊙ . Such physical conditions could arise in the black hole accretion disks formed from the collapse of rapidly rotating stars (“collapsars”), as a result of gravitational instabilities and cooling-induced fragmentation, similar to models for planet formation in protostellar disks. We confirm that the conditions to form subsolar-mass NS (ssNS) may be marginally satisfied in the outer regions of massive neutrino-cooled collapsar disks. If the disk fragments into multiple ssNSs, their subsequent coalescence offers a channel for precipitating subsolar mass LIGO/Virgo gravitational-wave mergers that does not implicate primordial black holes. The model makes several additional predictions: (1) ∼Hz frequency Doppler modulation of the ssNS-merger gravitational-wave signals due to the binary’s orbital motion in the disk; (2) at least one additional gravitational-wave event (coincident within ≲hours), from the coalescence of the ssNS-merger remnant(s) with the central black hole; (3) an associated gamma-ray burst and supernova counterpart, the latter boosted in energy and enriched withr-process elements from the NS merger(s) embedded within the exploding stellar envelope (“kilonovae inside a supernova”).

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2026

Stacked reverberation mapping of high-redshift quasars in DESI. I. Feasibility analysis

The broad-line region of quasars has long been probed by reverberation mapping techniques that measure time lags between continuum and broad emission-line variations. Stacked reverberation mapping has been proposed as a less observationally expensive alternative to traditional methods. This ensemble approach also reduces biases from small-number statistics. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is conducting the most extensive spectroscopic survey of quasars to date. We create mock light curves emulating expected DESI quasar observations at redshifts $1.48\lt z\lt 5.2$ and luminosities $44.68 \le \log \lambda L_{1350 \mathring{\rm A}{}} / \mathrm{erg\, s^{-1}} \le 45.99$ to test stacked reverberation mapping feasibility using sparse spectroscopic data paired with well-sampled photometric data. The pipeline, using the lag estimation code JAVELIN (Just Another Vehicle for Estimating Lags In Nuclei), successfully recovers the simulated C IV lags within 1σ of the true values using spectroscopic light curves composed of only a few spectral epochs (2–10) with irregular cadences. We investigate how observational factors, including C IV flux error magnitude, number of stacked quasars, and spectral epoch count, affect performance. This work motivates a pathway for future stacked reverberation mapping projects with large-scale spectroscopic surveys of quasars having $\ge 2$ spectroscopic observations. Our results suggest an economical alternative for constraining and extending the radius–luminosity relation to higher redshifts and luminosities. Subsequently, this relation can be employed more reliably in single-epoch black hole mass measurements and quasar cosmology in these distant regimes.

quasars: general, quasars: supermassive black hole↗
DOE OSTI2024

Dark sector searches with the CMS experiment

Astrophysical observations provide compelling evidence for gravitationally interacting dark matter in the universe that cannot be explained by the standard model of particle physics. The extraordinary amount of data from the CERN LHC presents a unique opportunity to shed light on the nature of dark matter at unprecedented collision energies. This Report comprehensively reviews the most recent searches with the CMS experiment for particles and interactions belonging to a dark sector and for dark-sector mediators. Models with invisible massive particles are probed by searches for signatures of missing transverse momentum recoiling against visible standard model particles. Searches for mediators are also conducted via fully visible final states. The results of these searches are compared with those obtained from direct-detection experiments. Searches for alternative scenarios predicting more complex dark sectors with multiple new particles and new forces are also presented. Many of these models include long-lived particles, which could manifest themselves with striking unconventional signatures with relatively small amounts of background. Searches for such particles are discussed and their impact on dark-sector scenarios is evaluated. Many results and interpretations have been newly obtained for this Report.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Absorptive effects and classical black hole scattering

Abstract We describe an approach to incorporating the physical effects of the absorption of energy by the event horizon of black holes in the scattering amplitudes based post-Minkowskian, point-particle effective description. Absorptive dynamics are incorporated in a model-independent way by coupling the usual point-particle description to an invisible sector of gapless internal degrees-of-freedom. The leading order dynamics of this sector are encoded in the low-energy expansion of a spectral density function obtained by matching an absorption cross section in the ultraviolet description. This information is then recycled using the scattering amplitudes based Kosower-Maybee-O’Connell in-in formalism to calculate the leading absorptive contribution to the impulse and change in rest mass of a Schwarzschild black hole scattering with a second compact body sourcing a massless scalar, electromagnetic or gravitational field. The results obtained are in complete agreement with previous worldline Schwinger-Keldysh calculations and provide an alternative on-shell scattering amplitudes approach to incorporating horizon absorption effects in the gravitational two-body problem.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2023

Scaling Containment on a Large Centrifuge

Containment science concerns the trapping or leakage of radioactive cavity gases from underground nuclear explosions (UNEs). The most physically relevant data for validation of containment science comes from legacy UNE testing or large field-scale chemical explosions. Field-scale tests can inform on the degree of residual stress imparted to host geology and possible formation of an accompanying gas-containing “stress cage”, for example, as a function of chemical explosion yield. However, field testing can be expensive, difficult to conduct, and challenging to instrument with limitations on data coverage (i.e., the number of boreholes; difficult coring through damage zones). Small-scale laboratory tests are typically simpler to conduct and more thoroughly characterize, but may not include the right scale of containment processes for stress-cage or chimney formation. This report presents the theory and fundamentals of large centrifuge physical modeling, including a history of explosive or similar testing relevant to containment science investigations on centrifuges. Subscale models with embedded chemical explosives in the enhanced gravity of a large centrifuge can represent hundreds of meters of depth and large explosions not otherwise attainable in the laboratory as based on scaling of length, energy, and other processes by the g-factor of the centrifuge (i.e., the number of times larger the centrifugal force is than the gravitational force on the Earth’s surface). The centrifuge uniquely joins the simplicity and exhaustiveness of laboratory-scale characterization with the physics of field-scale processes. This report is part of Sandia National Laboratories’ (SNL’s) effort to prepare for physical modeling with approximately one-meter tall geologic models of stress cage and/or chimney formation on its 29-foot [8.84 m] radius centrifuge with a load capacity of 1.6 million 𝑔-pounds [726 𝑔-ton]. The scaling relationships herein will inform model design decisions and performance requirements for in-flight sensors.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Statistically-informed deep learning for gravitational wave parameter estimation

We introduce deep learning models to estimate the masses of the binary components of black hole mergers, $(m_1,m_2)$, and three astrophysical properties of the post-merger compact remnant, namely, the final spin, $a_\mathrm f$, and the frequency and damping time of the ringdown oscillations of the fundamental $\ell = m = 2$ bar mode, $(\omega_\mathrm R, \omega_\mathrm I)$. Our neural networks combine a modified WaveNet architecture with contrastive learning and normalizing flow. We validate these models against a Gaussian conjugate prior family whose posterior distribution is described by a closed analytical expression. Upon confirming that our models produce statistically consistent results, we used them to estimate the astrophysical parameters $(m_1,m_2, a_\mathrm f, \omega_\mathrm R, \omega_\mathrm I)$ of five binary black holes: GW150914, GW170104, GW170814, GW190521 and GW190630. We use PyCBC Inference to directly compare traditional Bayesian methodologies for parameter estimation with our deep learning based posterior distributions. Our results show that our neural network models predict posterior distributions that encode physical correlations, and that our data-driven median results and 90% confidence intervals are similar to those produced with gravitational wave Bayesian analyses. This methodology requires a single V100 NVIDIA GPU to produce median values and posterior distributions within two milliseconds for each event. Furthermore, this neural network, and a tutorial for its use, are available at the Data and Learning Hub for Science.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Bayesian inference of fine features of the nuclear equation of state from future neutron star radius measurements to 0.1 km accuracy

To more precisely constrain the equation of state (EOS) of supradense neutron-rich nuclear matter, future high-precision x-ray and gravitational wave observatories are proposed to measure the radii of neutron stars (NSs) with an accuracy better than about 0.1 km. However, it remains unclear what particular aspects (other than the stiffness generally spoken of in the literature) of the EOS and to what precision they will be better constrained. In this work, within a Bayesian framework using a metamodel EOS for NSs, we infer the posterior probability distribution functions (PDFs) of incompressibility K 0 and skewness J 0 of symmetric nuclear matter (SNM) as well as the slope L, curvature K sym , and skewness J sym characterizing the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy E sym ⁡(ρ), respectively, from mean values of NS radii consistent with existing observations and an expected accuracy Δ⁢R ranging from about 1.0 to 0.1 km. Here, we found that (1) the Δ⁢R has little effect on inferring the stiffness of SNM at suprasaturation densities, (2) smaller Δ⁢R reveals more accurately not only the PDFs but also pairwise correlations among parameters characterizing high-density E sym ⁡(ρ), (3) a double-peak feature of the PDF(K sym ) corresponding to the strong K sym – J sym and K sym – L anticorrelations is revealed when Δ⁢R is less than about 0.2 km, and the locations of the two peaks are sensitive to the maximum value of J sym reflecting the stiffness of E sym ⁡(ρ) above about 3 times the saturation density ρ 0 of SNM, and (4) the high-precision radius measurement for canonical NSs is more useful than that for massive ones for constraining the EOS of nucleonic matter around (2–3)⁢ρ 0 .

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

The Dark Energy Survey supernova program: a reanalysis of cosmology results and evidence for evolving dark energy with an updated Type Ia supernova calibration

We present improved cosmological constraints from a re-analysis of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) 5-year sample of Type Ia supernovae (DES-SN5YR). This re-analysis includes an improved photometric cross-calibration, recent white dwarf observations to cross-calibrate between DES and low-redshift surveys, retraining the salt3 light-curve model and fixing a numerical approximation in the host-galaxy colour law. Our fully recalibrated sample, which we call DES-Dovekie, comprises ~1600 likely Type Ia SNe from DES and ~200 low-redshift SNe from other surveys. With DES-Dovekie, we obtain Ω m = 0.330 ± 0.015 in flat Lambda-cold dark matter (⁠ΛCDM) which changes Ω m by –0.022 compared to DES-SN5YR. Combining DES-Dovekie with cosmic microwave background data from Planck, Atacama Cosmology Telescope, and South Pole Telescope and the DESI DR2 measurements in a flat CDM cosmology, we find ω 0 = –0.803 ± 0.054 and ω a = –0.72 ± 0.21⁠. Our results hold a significance of 3.2σ, reduced from 4.2σ for DES-SN5YR, to reject the null hypothesis that the data are compatible with the cosmological constant. This significance is equivalent to a Bayesian model preference odds of approximately 5:1 in favour of the flat ω 0 ω a CDM model. Using generally accepted thresholds for model preference, our updated data exhibits only a weak preference for evolving dark energy.

dark energy↗