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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Debiasing with Diffusion: Probabilistic Reconstruction of Dark Matter Fields from Galaxies with CAMELS

Abstract Galaxies are biased tracers of the underlying cosmic web, which is dominated by dark matter (DM) components that cannot be directly observed. Galaxy formation simulations can be used to study the relationship between DM density fields and galaxy distributions. However, this relationship can be sensitive to assumptions in cosmology and astrophysical processes embedded in galaxy formation models, which remain uncertain in many aspects. In this work, we develop a diffusion generative model to reconstruct DM fields from galaxies. The diffusion model is trained on the CAMELS simulation suite that contains thousands of state-of-the-art galaxy formation simulations with varying cosmological parameters and subgrid astrophysics. We demonstrate that the diffusion model can predict the unbiased posterior distribution of the underlying DM fields from the given stellar density fields while being able to marginalize over uncertainties in cosmological and astrophysical models. Interestingly, the model generalizes to simulation volumes ≈500 times larger than those it was trained on and across different galaxy formation models. The code for reproducing these results can be found athttps://github.com/victoriaono/variational-diffusion-cdm✎.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Simulating Magnetic Reconnection in ‘Two Ribbon’ Type Solar Flares

Magnetic reconnection is an astrophysical process where neighboring magnetic field lines, facing anti-parallel, are reconfigured. This reconfiguration results in built up magnetic energy being explosively released as it is being converted to plasma kinetic and thermal energies. There are various kinds of simulations used to simulation reconnection; our work begins with Athena++, a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation code typically used for astrophysical problems, and a reconnection specific code file. The resistive MHD equations are solved with Riemann solvers. There was an initial test run without modifying the code to understand the dynamics of the simulation. We expand on the original reconnection problem file by implementing a radiative cooling term specific to the corona. The radiative cooling is theorized to have an effect on solar coronal plasma and magnetic reconnection dynamics. The cooling term will be tested with various parameters and compared to the case without cooling to study these dynamics. The condensation found in only the with cooling case emphasizes the importance of implementing this feature and will be later tested with a thermal conduction term. We want to determine the parameter regime where non-equilibrium cooling will be important for the reconnection dynamics.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Astrophysical Insights into Radial Velocity Jitter from an Analysis of 600 Planet-search Stars

Radial velocity (RV) detection of planets is hampered by astrophysical processes on the surfaces of stars that induce a stochastic signal, or “jitter,” which can drown out or even mimic planetary signals. Here, we empirically and carefully measure the RV jitter of more than 600 stars from the California Planet Search sample on a star by star basis. As part of this process, we explore the activity–RV correlation of stellar cycles and include appendices listing every ostensibly companion-induced signal we removed and every activity cycle we noted. We then use precise stellar properties from Brewer et al. to separate the sample into bins of stellar mass and examine trends with activity and with evolutionary state. We find that RV jitter tracks stellar evolution and that in general, stars evolve through different stages of RV jitter: the jitter in younger stars is driven by magnetic activity, while the jitter in older stars is convectively driven and dominated by granulation and oscillations. We identify the “jitter minimum”—where activity-driven and convectively driven jitter have similar amplitudes—for stars between 0.7 and 1.7 M {sub ⊙} and find that more-massive stars reach this jitter minimum later in their lifetime, in the subgiant or even giant phases. Finally, we comment on how these results can inform future RV efforts, from prioritization of follow-up targets from transit surveys like TESS to target selection of future RV surveys.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Simulating of magnetic reconnection in solar flares

Magnetic reconnection is an astrophysical process where neighboring magnetic field lines running anti-parallel are reconfigured. Observations of solar flares are what pushed for serious research regarding magnetic reconnection as it seemed to be the underlying mechanism. The reconfiguration of the field lines results in an explosive release of energy as magnetic field energy is converted into plasma kinetic and thermal energies. Our work begins with Athena++, an astrophysical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation code, and an existing magnetic reconnection setup.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hard X-Ray Emission from the Eastern Jet of SS 433 Powering the W50 “Manatee” Nebula: Evidence for Particle Reacceleration

We present a broadband X-ray study of W50 (the “Manatee” nebula), the complex region powered by the microquasar SS 433, that provides a test bed for several important astrophysical processes. The W50 nebula, a Galactic PeVatron candidate, is classified as a supernova remnant but has an unusual double-lobed morphology likely associated with the jets from SS 433. Using NuSTAR, XMM-Newton, and Chandra observations of the inner eastern lobe of W50, we have detected hard nonthermal X-ray emission up to ~30 keV, originating from a few-arcminute-sized knotty region (“Head”) located ≲18' (29 pc for a distance of 5.5 kpc) east of SS 433, and constrained its photon index to 1.58 ± 0.05 (0.5–30 keV band). The index gradually steepens eastward out to the radio “ear” where thermal soft X-ray emission with a temperature kT ~ 0.2 keV dominates. The hard X-ray knots mark the location of acceleration sites within the jet and require an equipartition magnetic field of the order of ≳12 μG. The unusually hard spectral index from the “Head” region challenges classical particle acceleration processes and points to particle injection and reacceleration in the subrelativistic SS 433 jet, as seen in blazars and pulsar wind nebulae.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Impact of Newly Measured 𝛽-Delayed Neutron Emitters around 78 Ni on Light Element Nucleosynthesis in the Neutrino Wind Following a Neutron Star Merger

Neutron emission probabilities and half-lives of 37 𝛽-delayed neutron emitters from 75 Ni to 92 Br were measured at the RIKEN Nishina Center in Japan, including 11 one-neutron and 13 two-neutron emission probabilities and six half-lives for the first time that supersede theoretical estimates. These nuclei lie in the path of the weak 𝑟 process occurring in neutrino-driven winds from the accretion disk formed after the merger of two neutron stars synthesizing elements in the 𝐴∼80 abundance peak. The presence of such elements dominates the accompanying kilonova emission over the first few days and have been identified in the AT2017gfo event, associated to the gravitational wave detection GW170817. Abundance calculations based on over 17,000 simulated trajectories describing the evolution of matter properties in the merger outflows show that the new data lead to an increase of 50%–70% in the abundance of Y, Zr, Nb, and Mo. This enhancement is large compared to the scatter of relative abundances observed in old very metal poor stars and thus is significant in the comparison with other possible astrophysical processes contributing to the light-element production. These results underline the importance of including experimental decay data for very neutron-rich 𝛽 -delayed neutron emitters into 𝑟 -process models.

59 ≤ A ≤ 89↗
DOE OSTI2022

Searching for velocity-dependent dark matter annihilation signals from extragalactic halos

For this work, we consider gamma-ray signals of dark matter annihilation in extragalactic halos in the case where dark matter annihilates from a p-wave or d-wave state. In these scenarios, signals from extragalactic halos are enhanced relative to other targets, such as the Galactic Center or dwarf spheroidal galaxies, because the typical relative speed of the dark matter is larger in extragalactic halos. We perform a mock data analysis of gamma rays produced by dark matter annihilation in halos detected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We include a model for uncorrelated galactic and extragalactic gamma ray backgrounds, as well as a simple model for backgrounds due to astrophysical processes in the extragalactic halos detected by the survey. We find that, for models which are still allowed by other gamma ray searches, searches of extragalactic halos with the current Fermi exposure can produce evidence for dark matter annihilation, though it is difficult to distinguish the p-wave and d-wave scenarios. With a factor 10x larger exposure, though, discrimination of the velocity-dependence is possible.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

On the halo-mass and radial scale dependence of the lensing is low effect

ABSTRACT The canonical Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model makes precise predictions for the clustering and lensing properties of galaxies. It has been shown that the lensing amplitude of galaxies in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is lower than expected given their clustering properties. We present new measurements and modelling of galaxies in the BOSS LOWZ sample. We focus on the radial and stellar mass dependence of the lensing amplitude mismatch. We find an amplitude mismatch of around $35{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ when assuming ΛCDM with Planck Cosmological Microwave Background (CMB) constraints. This offset is independent of halo mass and radial scale in the range Mhalo ∼ 1013.3−1013.9h−1 M⊙ and $r=0.1\!-\!60 \, h^{-1} \mathrm{Mpc}$ ($k \approx 0.05\!-\!20 \, h \, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$). The observation that the offset is both mass and scale independent places important constraints on the degree to which astrophysical processes (baryonic effects, assembly bias) can fully explain the effect. This scale independence also suggests that the ‘lensing is low’ effect on small and large radial scales probably have the same physical origin. Resolutions based on new physics require a nearly uniform suppression, relative to ΛCDM predictions, of the amplitude of matter fluctuations on these scales. The possible causes of this are tightly constrained by measurements of the CMB and of the low-redshift expansion history.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

First observations of solar halo gamma rays over a full solar cycle

We analyze 15 years of Fermi-LAT data and produce a detailed model of the Sun’s inverse-Compton scattering emission (solar halo), which is powered by interactions between ambient cosmic-ray electrons and positrons with sunlight. By developing a novel analysis method to analyze moving sources, we robustly detect the solar halo at energies between 31.6 MeV and 100 GeV, and angular extensions up to 45° from the Sun, providing new insight into spatial regions where there are no direct measurements of the Galactic cosmic-ray flux. The large statistical significance of our signal allows us to subdivide the data and provide the first 𝛾-ray probes into the time variation and azimuthal asymmetry of the solar modulation potential, finding time-dependent changes in solar modulation both parallel and perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. Our results are consistent with (but with independent uncertainties from) local cosmic-ray measurements, unlocking new probes into astrophysical processes near the solar surface.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Antideuterons and antihelium nuclei from annihilating dark matter

Recent studies of the cosmic-ray antiproton-to-proton ratio have identified an excess of ~10–20 GeV antiprotons relative to the predictions of standard astrophysical models. Intriguingly, the properties of this excess are consistent with the same range of dark matter models that can account for the long-standing excess of γ-rays observed from the Galactic Center. Such dark matter candidates can also produce significant fluxes of antideuterium and antihelium nuclei. In this work we study the production and transport of such particles, both from astrophysical processes as well as from dark matter annihilation. Importantly, in the case of AMS-02, we find that Alfvénic reacceleration (i.e., diffusion in momentum space) can boost the expected number of $\bar {\text d}$ and $^ {\text 3} \overline {\text {He}}$ events from annihilating dark matter by an order of magnitude or more. For relatively large values of the Alfvén speed, and for dark matter candidates that are capable of producing the antiproton and γ-ray excesses, we expect annihilations to produce a few antideuteron events and about one antihelium event in 6 yr of AMS-02 data. This is particularly interesting in light of recent reports from the AMS-02 Collaboration describing the detection of a number of antihelium candidate events.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Spectroscopy of Resonances in the Astrophysical r p –Process Path. Final Technical report

This report describes the results of a project to study the spectrum of proton-resonances which determine the energy release and timescale for the astrophysical rp-process path. Steps to achieve successful experiments include the commissioning of a the in-flight radioactive-beam facility RESOLUT , development of instrumentation and analysis techniques for experiments performed with it. Radioactive-beam experiments performed in the context of the grant included the reactions 25 Al(d,n) 26 Si, 19 O(d,p) 20 O, 19 Ne(d,n) 20 Na and 17 F(d,n) 18 Ne. The experimental program developed experiments and methods to characterize aspects of proton-capture reactions with respect to the in the context of the astrophysical rp-process.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Diagnosis of 3D magnetic field and mode composition in MHD turbulence with Y -parameter

ABSTRACT Magnetic fields are crucial in numerous astrophysical processes within the interstellar medium (ISM). However, the detailed determination of magnetic field geometry is notoriously challenging. Based on the modern magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence theory, we introduce a novel statistical technique, the ‘Y-parameter’, to decipher the magnetic field inclination in the ISM and identify dominant turbulence modes. The Y-parameter, calculated as the ratio of anisotropies of different Stokes parameter combinations, displays contrasting trends with the mean-field inclination angle in Alfvénic and compressible turbulence modes. A Y-parameter value around 1.5 ± 0.5 provide a statistical boundary to determine the dominant MHD turbulence modes. We have discovered specific correlations between the Y-parameter value and the inclination angle that unveil the dominant turbulence mode. This methodology, when applied to future radio polarization surveys such as LOFAR and SKA, promises to significantly enhance our knowledge of 3D magnetic field in the ISM and improve our understanding of interstellar turbulence.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Redshift-space distortions in simulations of the 21-cm signal from the cosmic dawn

ABSTRACT The 21-cm signal from the Cosmic Dawn (CD) is likely to contain large fluctuations, with the most extreme astrophysical models on the verge of being ruled out by observations from radio interferometers. It is therefore vital that we understand not only the astrophysical processes governing this signal, but also other inherent processes impacting the signal itself, and in particular line-of-sight effects. Using our suite of fully numerical radiative transfer simulations, we investigate the impact on the redshifted 21-cm from the CD from one of these processes, namely the redshift-space distortions (RSDs). When RSDs are added, the resulting boost to the power spectra makes the signal more or equally detectable for our models for all redshifts, further strengthening hopes that a power spectra measurement of the CD will be possible. RSDs lead to anisotropy in the signal at the beginning and end of the CD, but not while X-ray heating is underway. The inclusion of RSDs, however, decreases detectability of the non-Gaussianity of fluctuations from inhomogeneous X-ray heating as measured by the skewness and kurtosis. On the other hand, mock observations created from all our simulations that include telescope noise corresponding to 1000 h of observation with the Square Kilometre Array telescope show that we may be able to image the CD for all heating models considered and suggest RSDs dramatically boost fluctuations coming from the inhomogeneous Ly α background.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Dust Formation and Destruction in Core Collapse Supernovae Explosions [Dissertation]

Dust is a crucial component of the Interstellar Medium (ISM) and an important driver in many astrophysical processes. Dust formed from evolved stars increases the metallicity of the ISM, enriching it with heavier elements. Dust makes up the source material of collapsing clouds in the ISM leading to stellar and galactic formation. The stabilization of these systems are aided by dust through absorption and scattering of excess energy. As stellar systems evolve and undergo supernova and mass loss events, enriched dust is produced, further enhancing the metallicity of the ISM. However, despite the importance of dust, the processes that produce dust are not well understood. Core-Collapse Supernovae are one source of dust. Dying massive stars explode, sending their constituent material into the Interstellar Medium, which as the ejecta expands and cools, material condenses and nucleates forming dust grains. I investigate the formation, survivability, and properties of dust. In Chapter 2, dust grain nucleation in CCSNe is discussed. A revised formulation of Kinetic Nucleation Theory (KNT) is used to track the nucleation and growth of dust grains in the ejecta. The affects of the progenitor system on the amount and type of dust is explored, showing a strong dependence on explosion energy. I discuss the code and methods used to model dust nucleation and destruction in Chapter 3. The sputtering and erosion of dust grains in CCSNe shocks are explored in Chapter 4. The erosion and survival of this nucleated dust is modeled through thermal and non-thermal sputtering by the surrounding gas and shocks. The optical properties and scattering of light by surviving dust grains is modeled by Mie scattering in Chapter 5. A discussion of observations of dust in variable star systems and supernovae is outlined in Chapter 6.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Binary–Host Connection: Astrophysics of Gravitational-Wave Binaries from Host Galaxy Properties

Gravitational waves from the merger of binary neutron stars (BNSs) are accompanied by electromagnetic counterparts, making it possible to identify the associated host galaxy. In this work, we explore how properties of the hosts relate to the astrophysical processes leading to the mergers. It is thought that the BNS merger rate within a galaxy at a given epoch depends primarily on the galaxy's star formation history, as well as the underlying merger time-delay distribution of the binary systems. The stellar history of a galaxy, meanwhile, depends on the cosmological evolution of the galaxy through time, and is tied to the growth of structure in the universe. We study the hosts of BNS mergers in the context of structure formation by populating the UniverseMachine simulations with gravitational wave (GW) events, based on a simple time-delay model. We find that different time-delay distributions predict different properties of the associated host galaxies, including the distributions of stellar mass, star formation rate, halo mass, and local and large-scale clustering of hosts. Moreover, BNSs merging today with short delay times occur preferentially in hosts with high star formation rates, while those with long delay times live in dense regions within massive halos that have low star formation. Here, we show that with ${ \mathcal O }(10)$ events from current GW detector networks, it is possible to make preliminary distinctions between formation channels which trace stellar mass, halo mass, or star formation rate. We also find that strategies to follow-up GW events with electromagnetic telescopes can be significantly optimized using the clustering properties of their hosts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Geometric and thermodynamic characterization of binary neutron star accretion discs

Accretion disks formed in binary neutron star mergers play a central role in many astrophysical processes of interest, including the launching of relativistic jets or the ejection of neutron-rich matter hosting heavy element nucleosynthesis. In this work we analyze in detail the properties of accretion disks from 44 ab initio binary neutron star merger simulations for a large set of nuclear equations of state, binary mass ratios, and remnant fates, with the aim of furnishing reliable initial conditions for disk simulations and a comprehensive characterization of their properties. We find that the disks have a significant thermal support, with an aspect ratio decreasing with the mass ratio of the binary from ~0.7 to 0.3. Even if the disk sample spans a broad range in mass and angular momentum, their ratio is independent from the equation of state and from the mass ratio. This can be traced back to the rotational profile of the disk, characterized by a constant specific angular momentum (as opposed to a Keplerian one) of 3 – 5×10 16 cm 2 s –1 . The profiles of the entropy per baryon and of the electron fraction depend on the mass ratio of the binary. For more symmetric binaries, they follow a sigmoidal distribution as a function of the rest mass density, for which we provide a detailed description and a fit. Furthermore, the disk properties discussed in this work can be used as a robust set of initial conditions for future long-term simulations of accretion disks from binary neutron star mergers, posing the basis for progress in the quantitative study of the outflow properties.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

iMaNGA: mock MaNGA galaxies based on IllustrisTNG and MaStar SSPs – I. Construction and analysis of the mock data cubes

ABSTRACT Galaxy formation and evolution simulations are essential tools to probe poorly known astrophysics processes, but particular care is needed to compare simulations with galaxy observations, as observed data need to be modelled as well. We present a method to generate mock galaxies from the hydro-dynamical IllustrisTNG simulations which are suited to compare with integral field spectroscopic observation of galaxies from the SDSS-IV/Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey. First, we include the same instrumental effects and procedures as adopted in the acquisition and analysis of real data. Furthermore, we generate the galaxy spectra from the simulations using new stellar population models based on the MaNGA stellar library (MaStar). In this way, our mock data cubes have the same spatial sampling, cover the same wavelength range (3600–10 300 Å), and share the same spectral resolution (R ≈ 1800) and flux calibration of real MaNGA galaxy spectra. In this first paper, we demonstrate the method over an early- and a late-type simulated galaxy from TNG50. We analyse the correspondent mock MaNGA-like data cubes with the same full spectral fitting code, firefly, which was used for the observed spectra. We find that the intrinsic and recovered age and metallicity gradients are consistent within 1σ, with residuals over all tassels consistent with 0 at the 68 ${{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ confidence level. We also perform the challenging test at comparing intrinsic and recovered star formation histories, finding a close resemblance between input and output. In follow-up papers, we will present a full simulated MaNGA-like catalogue (≈10 000 galaxies) with a comprehensive comparison of TNG50 simulations to MaNGA observational results.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗