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At least 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Potential neutron-induced γ-ray background on natural tellurium relevant to 130 Te 0 ν ββ decay searches at the CUORE and SNO+ detectors

Gamma-ray production cross-section data have been obtained for the inelastic neutron scattering reactions 126,128,130 Te(n,n'γ) at five neutron energies between 3.6 and 10 MeV. We report data for the γ-ray energy region relevant to 0ν ββ decay of 130 Te with a Q ββ value of 2527.515 keV, assuming natural-abundance tellurium, as used at CUORE and SNO+. The natural abundance of 130 Te, 128 Te, and 126 Te is 34%, 32%, and 19%, respectively. For CUORE the γ-ray cascades from the excited state in 130 Te at 2527.06 keV and in 126 Te at 2533.85 keV are of concern. For SNO+, accounting for its inferior energy resolution, an additional four levels are important in 130 Te, an additional nine levels in 128 Te, and an additional eight levels in 126 Te. Of these, we report neutron-induced γ-ray production cross sections for the strongest transitions: the 2581.15 keV level in 130 Te, the 2494.20, 2508.06, and 2630.14 keV levels in 128 Te, and the 2496.83 and 2585.46 keV level in 126 Te. Here, the largest cross-section values were found for cascade γ-ray transitions to the ground state, while direct transitions to the ground state are very weak and were not observed in the present work. Both the CUORE and SNO+ detectors, however, may not be able to distinguish between cascade transitions and direct transitions to the ground state, making the neutron-induced excitation of the 2527.06 keV state of 130 Te in particular a potential problem for 0νββ decay searches of 130Te, because it matches its Q ββ value.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

Information-theoretic astrophysical uncertainties in the effective theory of dark matter direct detection

The impact of astrophysical uncertainties in direct detection searches can vary significantly across particle dark matter models and detector targets, due to the different velocity and momentum dependencies of the scattering cross section. We address these uncertainties for all operators of the nonrelativistic effective field theory of dark-matter/nucleon interactions, making use of the Kullback-Leibler (KL) information divergence to measure the deviation of the true dark matter velocity distribution from the Maxwell-Boltzmann form. This approach quantifies how astrophysical uncertainties affect each operator in the effective theory, without assuming any specific functional form for the velocity distribution. While for some operators the uncertainties are smaller than 1 order of magnitude for entropically motivated deviations from the Maxwell-Boltzmann form, for other operators, these uncertainties can be as large as three orders of magnitude near threshold. Furthermore, we identify the dependence of the scattering rate for various operators of the effective theory with different velocity-weighted moments of the velocity distribution, functionally analogous to the mean, variance, or skewness. This provides new analytic insight into which features of the velocity distribution are most relevant to detect a given particle dark matter model. Our technique is general and could be applied to a broader class of physics problems where a physical observable depends on the statistical moments of an uncertain theoretical distribution.

Herrera, Gonzalo [MIT, MKI; Harvard U.; Virginia T↗
DOE OSTI2022

Resonance form factors from finite-volume correlation functions with the external field method

A novel method for the extraction of form factors of unstable particles on the lattice is proposed. The approach is based on the study of two-particle scattering in a static, spatially periodic external field by using a generalization of the Lüscher method in the presence of such a field. It is shown that the resonance form factor is given by the derivative of the resonance pole position in the complex plane with respect to the coupling constant to the external field. Unlike the standard approach, this proposal does not suffer from problems caused by the presence of the triangle diagram.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Systematic over-estimation of lattice thermal conductivity in materials with electrically-resistive grain boundaries

Reducing the thermal conductivity κ of a material via nano-structuring to create small grain sizes is one of the most common strategies to improve thermoelectric materials. In such polycrystalline materials heat carrying phonons are scattered at the grain boundaries, which directly improves the thermoelectric quality factor and ultimately the figure-of-merit zT. In some cases, however, such as in Mg 3 Sb 2 , SnSe, and Mg 2 Si an opposite trend is found where higher lattice thermal conductivity reported in small grain polycrystalline material than in large grain or single crystal materials. This unphysical result indicates a problem with the conventional use of the Wiedemann–Franz law. Here, we trace this problematic finding to the electrical resistance at the grain boundaries, which leads to an overestimation of the phonon or lattice contribution of the thermal conductivity κ L . In materials with significant grain boundary electrical resistance, the estimated electronic contribution to the thermal conductivity LσT is low because the measured electrical conductivity σ is low. However within the grain electrons may still be transporting more heat than the total conductivity suggests, leading to an overestimation of κ L if the conventional κ L = κ – LσT is used with the measured values of κ and σ. Here, the overestimation of κL in small-grain samples is shown to be pervasive across a broad range of thermoelectric materials, including Mg 3 Sb 2 , Mg 2 Si, PbTe, PbSe, SnSe, (Hf,Zr)CoSb, CoSb 3 , and Bi 2 Te 3 alloys, and a correction is necessary to properly understand and predict their charge and heat transport.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

sas-temper

Modeling remains a considerable challenge for practitioners of SAXS and SANS because the materials being studied are not highly ordered, the length scales being studied are large, and the information content of the data is low. Data analysis is both challenging and time consuming. Novices often rely on the assistance of an expert, such as the instrument scientist who supported them at the facility where the experiment was performed, to analyze their data. The high flux provided by modern facilities makes it possible to study dozens of samples or sample conditions during a single trip. Ultimately, the high throughput of modern instruments limits access to instrument scientists. A bottleneck in the research effort results that reduces facility productivity. Sas-temper seeks to address this problem, as well as the intrinsic difficulties of being confident in non-linear least squared fitting of data, by providing tools that automate much of the manual process of initial data fitting and refinement, as well as by providing tools for characterizing the nature of the parameter space that fits the measured data. The tools provided by sas-temper help small-angle scattering practitioners transition data into results.

Heller, William [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), O↗
DOE OSTI2025

Slender-body approach for computing second-order wave loads in the frequency domain

This work presents a slender-body approach to evaluate the second-order wave loads acting on a floating structure in the frequency domain. The approach is in the same spirit as the common use of Morison’s equation to approximate the wave loads without solving the radiation/diffraction problem. To do so, we employ Rainey’s equation, which can be seen as an extension of the inertial part of Morison’s equation to include nonlinear effects. We introduce modifications to Rainey’s formulation in order to evaluate wave kinematics at the mean body position instead of the original approach of considering instantaneous displacements. We also propose a simple approximation to partially account for wave scattering effects on the second-order loads based on the analytical solution of a surface-piercing bottom-mounted vertical circular cylinder. Though limited to structures composed of cylinders, this slender-body approach is orders of magnitude faster than computing second-order wave coefficients with a radiation/diffraction code. We implemented this approach for difference-frequency (slow drift) loads in an open-source frequency-domain floating wind turbine model. We present comparisons against results obtained with radiation/diffraction theory for three reference floating wind turbine designs: the OC3-Hywind spar, the OC4-DeepCwind semisubmersible, and the VolturnUS-S semisubmersible. In general, the results show that the proposed slender-body approach with the correction to approximate wave scattering effects provides useful estimations of the difference-frequency wave loads and the resulting motions of the floater.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

(U) Average Scattering Angle Cosine Sensitivities

The Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF) provides covariances of the average scattering angle cosine $\overline{μ}$ for 117 nuclides, and the NJOY nuclear data processing code can process these covariances. To propagate them to the uncertainty of a response due to uncertainties in $\overline{μ}$ requires sensitivities of the response with respect to $\overline{μ}$. This report uses NJOY’s definition of $\overline{μ}$ and derives a relationship between the sensitivity of a response to $\overline{μ}$ and the sensitivity of the response to the anisotropic P 1 elastic scattering cross section. This relationship has been implemented in the multigroup neutron sensitivity code SENSMG, which relies on the discrete ordinates code PARTISN for the neutron transport calculations. Kodeli has also calculated sensitivities with respect to $\overline{μ}$ and associated uncertainties. However, the formal derivation of this paper shows that the definition of the sensitivity with respect to $\overline{μ}$ is ambiguous because there are multiple ways to change $\overline{μ}$ by changing scattering cross sections. Here we derive two such ways. Both are implemented in SENSMG. This report is organized as follows. Section II discusses $\overline{μ}$ and its significance. Section III presents the equations used for the sensitivity of a response with respect to $\overline{μ}$, and Section IV discusses how to compute these sensitivities with SENSMG and MCNP6.3. Section V is a fast-spectrum test problem, and Sec. VI is a thermal-spectrum problem. Section VII is a summary. The example problem inputs are listed in the appendix.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Multidisciplinary design optimization in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction: a detailed review and call for collaboration

The design of buildings has become a complex and multidisciplinary problem involving multiple conflicting objectives as architects and designers address competing technical, economic, environmental, and societal concerns. This has been driving research in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) toward rigorous multidisciplinary decision-making frameworks that generate and evaluate numerous design alternatives using multi-objective optimization in concert with simulation and analysis models of varying fidelity and computational expense. While such frameworks are well known and widely employed in the aerospace and systems engineering domains, efforts by design professionals and researchers in the AEC field are scattered at best. In this paper, we provide a detailed review of recent developments in optimization frameworks in the AEC field and subsequently highlight how such developments are largely compartmentalized into separate domains such as structural, energy, daylighting, and other performance factors. Herein, we further discuss the technical challenges involved in concurrent coupled multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) in the AEC field such as interoperability issues between Building Information Modeling (BIM) environments, analysis/simulation tools, and optimization frameworks. We conclude by outlining research needed for more unified modeling and simulation-based optimization frameworks to aid in complex and multidisciplinary building design processes. We also highlight the need for the identification and development of multi-fidelity simulation tools for use across multiple design phases. As such, this paper contributes a novel roadmap to leverage aerospace and systems engineering research in MDO into the field of AEC, along with a call for researchers in the MDO community to seek collaborations in AEC field.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

Unsupervised learning for identifying events in active target experiments

This article presents novel applications of unsupervised machine learning methods to the problem of event separation in an active target detector, the Active-Target Time Projection Chamber (AT-TPC). The overarching goal is to group similar events in the early stages of the data analysis, thereby improving efficiency by limiting the computationally expensive processing of unnecessary events. The application of unsupervised clustering algorithms to the analysis of two-dimensional projections of particle tracks from a resonant proton scattering experiment on 46 Ar is introduced. We explore the performance of autoencoder neural networks and a pre-trained VGG16 Simonyan and Zisserman (2015) convolutional neural network. We study clustering performance on both data from a simulated 46 Ar experiment, and real events from the AT-TPC detector. We find that a -means algorithm applied to simulated data in the VGG16 latent space forms almost perfect clusters. Additionally, the VGG16+-means approach finds high purity clusters of proton events for real experimental data. Here, we also explore the application of clustering the latent space of autoencoder neural networks for event separation. While these networks show strong performance, they suffer from high variability in their results.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Breakdown of collinear factorization in the exclusive photoproduction of a π 0 γ pair with large invariant mass

We study the exclusive photoproduction of a π 0 γ pair with large invariant mass M γ π 2 , which is sensitive to the exchange of either two quarks or two gluons in the t channel. In this paper, we show that the process involving two-gluon exchanges does factorize in the Bjorken limit at the leading twist. This can be explicitly demonstrated by the fact that there exist diagrams, which contribute at the leading twist, for which are , due to the pinching of the contour integration of the plus and minus component of the Glauber gluon momentum. For the same reason, π 0 -nucleon scattering to two photons also suffers from the same issue. On the other hand, we stress that there are no issues with respect to collinear factorization for the quark channels. By considering an analysis of all potential reduced diagrams of leading pinch-singular surfaces, we argue that the quark channel is safe from Glauber pinches, and therefore, a collinear factorization in that case follows through without any problems. This means that processes where gluon exchanges are forbidden, such as the exclusive photoproduction of π ± γ and ρ 0 , ± γ , are unaffected by the factorization breaking effects we point out in this paper. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Validation of MPACT BWR capabilities against critical experiments

Over the years, significant validation work for the neutronics code MPACT has been performed against zero-power critical benchmarks and measured data from operating nuclear power plants. As a part of the Modeling and Analysis of Exelon BWRs for Eigenvalue and Thermal Limits Predictability project, new validation efforts relevant to boiling water reactor (BWR) core applications have been performed. This paper presents the results of the critical experiment portion of the BWR validation efforts for MPACT. The Kritz-4 experiments and IPEN/MB-01 BWR-relevant configurations are modeled with MPACT. The Kritz-4 BWR critical experiments were performed at both cold and hot conditions, which is a unique feature among other critical experiment facilities. The MPACT results with linear source (LS) Method of Characteristics (MOC) have very good agreement with the measured criticality. When using the 60-group BWR library with LS and P2 scattering, the maximum k{sub eff} error is 109 pcm, and the average cold-hot bias is only -0.11 pcm/K. The fission rate distributions of MPACT are also verified with Serpent calculations. For the IPEN facility, two configurations are considered: one with a large central void, and one with a cruciform control rod. The MPACT k{sub eff} errors are less than 50 pcm for all IPEN problems. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cuts and contours

The traditional formulation of string amplitudes via worldsheet integrals provides a parametrization of the moduli space that fails to expose the complete singularity structure of the amplitudes. This problem is solved by the positive parametrization of string amplitudes given by surfaceology. In this work, we use this formalism to study a number of properties of string amplitudes at tree-level and one-loop. We introduce several global prescriptions for an integration contour for which the integrals are finite everywhere in kinematic space. At tree-level, this is done in two ways: one directly implements the Feynman iε to analytically continue from Euclidean to Lorentzian worldsheets; the other is a generalization of the closed Pochhammer contour to arbitrary number of points. At loop-level, we present a systematic way of extracting cuts directly from the worldsheet integrand. This provides a powerful set of unitarity constraints, which we use to test the consistency of different “stringy” UV regularizations of field theory amplitudes. In addition, we identify the massive threshold expansion of the integrand, which allows us to reduce the problem to a finite set of Feynman integrals in Schwinger parametrization and provide a straightforward contour prescription reminiscent of its field-theory version.

Bosonic Strings↗
DOE OSTI2022

Fusion by beam ions in a low collisionality, high mirror ratio magnetic mirror

Abstract The classical problem of neutral beam ions slowing down in a magnetic mirror geometry is revisited to provide predictive capability for the new Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror under development at the University of Wisconsin. A Fokker–Planck model named fast beam ion solver (FBIS) is developed to include the spatial non-uniformity of a physical mirror geometry. The mathematical framework allows for efficient orbit averaging of the pitch-angle scattering operator, and permits a determination of the axial profile of the ambipolar potential confining the electrons. The numerical results from FBIS are consistent with earlier work, but further show how mirror-ratio and a near square magnetic well optimizes the fusion gain. The numerical results are also applied to inform the conceptual design of WHAM++, a low capital-cost breakeven-class magnetic mirror device.

Egedal, J. (ORCID:0000000177531529)↗
DOE OSTI2022

Spectral density reconstruction with Chebyshev polynomials

Accurate calculations of the spectral density in a strongly correlated quantum many-body system are of fundamental importance to study its dynamics in the linear response regime. Typical examples are the calculation of inclusive and semiexclusive scattering cross sections in atomic nuclei and transport properties of nuclear and neutron star matter. Integral transform techniques play an important role in accessing the spectral density in a variety of nuclear systems. However, their accuracy is in practice limited by the need to perform a numerical inversion which is often ill-conditioned. Here, in the present work we extend a recently proposed quantum algorithm which circumvents this problem. We show how to perform controllable reconstructions of the spectral density over a finite energy resolution with rigorous error estimates. An appropriate expansion in Chebyshev polynomials allows for efficient simulations also on classical computers. We apply our idea to obtain the local density of states for graphene in a magnetic field as a proof of principle. This paves the way for future applications in nuclear and condensed matter physics.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Quantum Solvers for Plane-Wave Hamiltonians: Abridging Virtual Spaces Through the Optimization of Pairwise Correlations

For many-body methods such as MCSCF and CASSCF, in which the number of one-electron orbitals is optimized and independent of the basis set used, there are no problems with using plane-wave basis sets. However, for methods currently used in quantum computing such as select configuration interaction (CI) and coupled cluster (CC) methods, it is necessary to have a virtual space that is able to capture a significant amount of electron-electron correlation in the system. The virtual orbitals in a pseudopotential plane-wave Hartree–Fock calculation, because of Coulomb repulsion, are often scattering states that interact very weakly with the filled orbitals. As a result, very little correlation energy is captured from them. The use of virtual spaces derived from the one-electron operators has also been tried, and while some correlations are captured, the amount is quite low. To overcome these limitations, we have been developing new classes of algorithms to define virtual spaces by optimizing orbitals from small pairwise CI Hamiltonians, which we term as correlation optimized virtual orbitals with the abbreviation COVOs. With these procedures, we have been able to derive virtual spaces, containing only a few orbitals, which are able to capture a significant amount of correlation. The focus in this manuscript is on using these derived basis sets to target full CI (FCI) quality results for H2 on near-term quantum computers. However, the initial results for this approach were promising. We were able to obtain good agreement with FCI/cc-pVTZ results for this system with just 4 virtual orbitals, using both FCI and quantum simulations. The quality of the results using COVOs suggests that it may be possible to use them in other many-body approaches, including coupled cluster and Møller–Plesset perturbation theories, and open up the door to many-body calculations for pseudopotential plane-wave basis set methods.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Effect of dust on rainfall over the Red Sea coast based on WRF-Chem model simulations

Water is the single most important element of life. Rainfall plays an important role in the spatial and temporal distribution of this precious natural resource, and it has a direct impact on agricultural production, daily life activities, and human health. One of the important elements that govern rainfall formation and distribution is atmospheric aerosol, which also affects the Earth's radiation balance and climate. Therefore, understanding how dust compositions and distributions affect the regional rainfall pattern is crucial, particularly in regions with high atmospheric dust loads such as the Middle East. Although aerosol and rainfall research has garnered increasing attention as both an independent and interdisciplinary topic in the last few decades, the details of various direct and indirect pathways by which dust affects rainfall are not yet fully understood. Here, we explored the effects of dust on rainfall formation and distribution as well as the physical mechanisms that govern these phenomena, using high-resolution WRF-Chem simulations (~1.5 km × 1.5 km) configured with an advanced double-moment cloud microphysics scheme coupled with a sectional eight-bin aerosol scheme. Our model-simulated results were realistic, as evaluated from multiple perspectives including vertical profiles of aerosol concentrations, aerosol size distributions, vertical profiles of air temperature, diurnal wind cycles, and spatio-temporal rainfall patterns. Rainfall over the Red Sea coast is mainly caused by warm rain processes, which are typically confined within a height of ~6 km over the Sarawat mountains and exhibit a strong diurnal cycle that peaks in the evening at approximately 18:00 local time under the influence of sea breezes. Numerical experiments indicated that dust could both suppress or enhance rainfall. The effect of dust on rainfall was calculated as total, indirect, and direct effects, based on 10-year August-average daily-accumulated rainfall over the study domain covering the eastern Red Sea coast. For extreme rainfall events (domain-average daily-accumulated rainfall of ≥ 1.33 mm), the net effect of dust on rainfall was positive or enhancement (6.05 %), with the indirect effect (4.54 %) and direct effect (1.51 %) both causing rainfall increase. At a 5 % significance level, the total and indirect effects were statistically significant whereas the direct effect was not. For normal rainfall events (domain-average daily-accumulated rainfall < 1.33 mm), the indirect effect enhanced rainfall (4.76 %) whereas the direct effect suppressed rainfall (-5.78 %), resulting in a negative net suppressing effect (-1.02 %), all of which were statistically significant. We investigated the possible physical mechanisms of the effects and found that the rainfall suppression by dust direct effects was mainly caused by the scattering of solar radiation by dust. The surface cooling induced by dust weakens the sea breeze circulation, which decreases the associated landward moisture transport, ultimately suppressing rainfall. For extreme rainfall events, dust causes net rainfall enhancement through indirect effects as the high dust concentration facilitates raindrops to grow when the water vapor is sufficiently available. Our results have broader scientific and environmental implications. Specifically, although dust is considered a problem from an air quality perspective, our results highlight the important role of dust on sea breeze circulation and associated rainfall over the Red Sea coastal regions. Our results also have implications for cloud seeding and water resource management.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Isospin 0 and 2 two-pion scattering at physical pion mass using all-to-all propagators with periodic boundary conditions in lattice QCD

A study of two-pion scattering for the isospin channels, 𝐼 = 0 and 𝐼 = 2, using lattice QCD is presented. Möbius domain-wall fermions, on top of the Iwasaki-DSDR gauge action for gluons with periodic boundary conditions, are used for the lattice computations, which are carried out on two ensembles of gauge field configurations generated by the RBC and UKQCD Collaborations with physical masses, inverse lattice spacings of 1.023 and 1.378 GeV, and spatial extents of 𝐿 = 4.63 and 4.58 fm, respectively. The all-to-all propagator method is employed to compute a matrix of correlation functions of two-pion operators. The generalized eigenvalue problem (GEVP) is solved for a matrix of correlation functions to extract phase shifts with multiple states—two pions with a nonzero relative momentum, as well as two pions at rest. Our results for phase shifts for both the 𝐼 = 0 and 𝐼 = 2 channels are consistent with the Roy equation and chiral perturbation theory, though at this preliminary stage our errors for 𝐼 = 0 are large. An important outcome of this work is that we are successful in extracting two-pion excited states, which are useful for studying 𝐾 → 𝜋⁢𝜋 decay, on physical-mass ensembles using the GEVP.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Unleashing the power of EFT in neutrino-nucleus scattering

Neutrino physics is advancing into a precision era with the construction of new experiments, particularly in the few GeV energy range. Within this energy range, neutrinos exhibit diverse interactions with nucleons and nuclei. This study delves in particular into neutrino-nucleus quasi-elastic cross sections, taking into account both standard and, for the first time, non-standard interactions, all within the framework of effective field theory (EFT). The main uncertainties in these cross sections stem from uncertainties in the nucleon-level form factors, and from the approximations necessary to solve the nuclear many-body problem. We explore how these uncertainties influence the potential of neutrino experiments to probe new physics introduced by left-handed, right-handed, scalar, pseudoscalar, and tensor interactions. For some of these interactions the cross section is enhanced, making long-baseline experiments an excellent place to search for them. Our results, including tabulated cross sections for all interaction types and all neutrino flavors, can serve as the foundation for such searches.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗