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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 OSTI2023

Universality of effective central charge in interface CFTs

When an interface connects two CFTs, the entanglement entropy between the two CFTs is determined by a quantity called the effective central charge. The effective central charge does not have a simple form in terms of the central charges of the two CFTs, but intricately depends on the transmissive properties of the interface. In this article, we examine universal properties of the effective central charge. We first clarify how the effective central charge appears when considering general subsystems of the interface CFT. Then using this result and ideas used in the proof of the c-theorem, we provide a universal upper bound on the effective central charge. In past studies, the effective central charge was defined only in two dimensions. We propose an analogue of the effective central charge in general dimensions possessing similar universal properties as in two dimensions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Centrality dependence of Lévy-stable two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in $\sqrt{𝑠{𝑁⁢𝑁}}$ = 200 GeV Au + Au collisions

The PHENIX experiment measured the centrality dependence of two-pion Bose-Einstein correlation functions in $\sqrt{𝑠{𝑁⁢𝑁}}$ = 200 GeV Au + Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The data are well represented by Lévy-stable source distributions. The extracted source parameters are the correlation-strength parameter 𝜆, the Lévy index of stability 𝛼, and the Lévy-scale parameter 𝑅 as a function of transverse mass 𝑚 𝑇 and centrality. The 𝜆⁡(𝑚 𝑇 ) parameter is constant at larger values of 𝑚 𝑇 , but decreases as 𝑚 𝑇 decreases. The Lévy-scale parameter 𝑅⁡(𝑚 𝑇 ) decreases with 𝑚 𝑇 and exhibits proportionality to the length scale of the nuclear overlap region. The Lévy exponent 𝛼⁡(𝑚 𝑇 ) is independent of 𝑚 𝑇 within uncertainties in each investigated centrality bin, but shows a clear centrality dependence. At all centralities, the Lévy exponent 𝛼 is significantly different from that of Gaussian (𝛼 = 2) or Cauchy (𝛼 = 1) source distributions. Comparisons to the predictions of Monte-Carlo simulations of resonance-decay chains show that, in all but the most peripheral centrality class (50%–60%), the obtained results are inconsistent with the measurements, unless a significant reduction of the in-medium mass of the 𝜂′ meson is included. Finally, in each centrality class, the best value of the in-medium 𝜂′ mass is compared to the mass of the 𝜂 meson, as well as to several theoretical predictions that consider restoration of U 𝐴⁢ (1) symmetry in hot hadronic matter.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Adaptive Site Management Strategies for the Hanford Central Plateau Groundwater

Adaptive site management (ASM) is a systematic and iterative management approach that can be used to expedite the remediation of large and/or complex sites. ASM is defined as a formal and systematic project or site management approach centered on rigorous site planning and a firm understanding of site conditions and uncertainties, using science and technology to routinely re-evaluate and prioritize site remedial actions and characterization activities. The goal of the approach is to create a framework of structured and continuous planning, implementation, and assessment processes that accommodates new information and changing site conditions to develop effective and efficient cleanup approaches that achieves the required outcome(s) while optimizing costs, cleanup timeframe, and performance. Central to ASM is an evolving conceptual site model (CSM). Over time, incremental reductions in uncertainty associated with the CSM will occur, while supporting continued progress toward site cleanup and closure through remedy optimization and evaluation. ASM has the potential to expedite cleanup for the Central Plateau area at Hanford through a planned and systematic approach for reducing uncertainty with targeted characterization activities, while continuing remediation activities that advance cleanup for key risk-driving contaminants. A core component of cleanup within the Central Plateau is the 200 West Pump-and-Treat (P&T) system. Even with an active P&T remedy, uncertainty exists with respect to plume distributions, total mass in the aquifer, and currently known continuing sources. Additional uncertainty is associated with multiple contaminant source locations in the vadose zone, which have the potential to create new groundwater plumes in the absence of any source control measures, although not all contaminant fluxes to groundwater will result in contaminant concentrations above cleanup levels. Collectively, these uncertainties need to be addressed in the CSM to support effective and efficient site progress toward cleanup goal(s). Other nontechnical factors that may warrant an ASM approach at the Hanford Central Plateau are associated with the formation of operable units (OUs) used to manage cleanup. With the exception of the 200-ZP-1 OU, the three remaining groundwater OUs only have interim action records of decision. Nine vadose zone source area OUs are also in the early stages of the remedial investigation and feasibility study process, with pending characterization and technology identification activities. A set of proposed site objectives for the Central Plateau are provided in this document as an initial consideration/example and basis for discussion for ASM implementation. These example site objectives were selected with the goal of maintaining protectiveness at the Columbia River through confinement of contaminant plumes within an administratively controlled area below existing surface waste sites and waste disposal facilities. Although site decision makers and regulators need to provide concurrence, these site objectives are used in this document to describe the elements of an ASM approach, including selection of interim objectives and a long-term adaptive management plan. Interim objectives are also defined to yield measurable incremental progress toward the overall site goals. This document identifies initial technical considerations for developing an ASM framework for the Central Plateau cleanup decisions. These considerations are intended to facilitate more specific decisions, such as objectives, near- and long-term actions, and performance metrics, to develop an overall approach that maintains protectiveness but recognizes the uncertainty, long timeframe, and technical challenges that need to be considered in selecting, implementing, and managing remediation at the Hanford Central Plateau.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2021

Protein conformational switch discerned via network centrality properties

Network analysis has emerged as a powerful tool for examining structural biology systems. The spatial organization of the components of a biomolecular structure has been rendered as a graph representation and analyses have been performed to deduce the biophysical and mechanistic properties of these components. For proteins, the analysis of protein structure networks (PSNs), especially via network centrality measurements and cluster coefficients, has led to identifying amino acid residues that play key functional roles and classifying amino acid residues in general. Whether these network properties examined in various studies are sensitive to subtle (yet biologically significant) conformational changes remained to be addressed. Here, we focused on four types of network centrality properties (betweenness, closeness, degree, and eigenvector centralities) for conformational changes upon ligand binding of a sensor protein (constitutive androstane receptor) and an allosteric enzyme (ribonucleotide reductase). We found that eigenvector centrality is sensitive and can distinguish salient structural features between protein conformational states while other centrality measures, especially closeness centrality, are less sensitive and rather generic with respect to the structural specificity. We also demonstrated that an ensembleinformed, modified PSN with static edges removed (which we term PSN*) has enhanced sensitivity at discerning structural changes.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Distribution of centrality measures on undirected random networks via the cavity method

The Katz centrality of a node in a complex network is a measure of the node’s importance as far as the flow of information across the network is concerned. For ensembles of locally tree-like undirected random graphs, this observable is a random variable. Its full probability distribution is of interest but difficult to handle analytically because of its “global” character and its definition in terms of a matrix inverse. Leveraging a fast Gaussian Belief Propagation-Cavity algorithm to solve linear systems on tree-like structures, we show that i) the Katz centrality of a single instance can be computed recursively in a very fast way, and ii) the probability P ( K ) that a random node in the ensemble of undirected random graphs has centrality K satisfies a set of recursive distributional equations, which can be analytically characterized and efficiently solved using a population dynamics algorithm. We test our solution on ensembles of Erdős-Rényi and Scale Free networks in the locally tree-like regime, with excellent agreement. The analytical distribution of centrality for the configuration model conditioned on the degree of each node can be employed as a benchmark to identify nodes of empirical networks with over- and underexpressed centrality relative to a null baseline. We also provide an approximate formula based on a rank- 1 projection that works well if the network is not too sparse, and we argue that an extension of our method could be efficiently extended to tackle analytical distributions of other centrality measures such as PageRank for directed networks in a transparent and user-friendly way.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Superiority of compensatory reserve measurement compared with the Shock index for early and accurate detection of reduced central blood volume status

Shock index (SI) equals the ratio of heart rate (HR) to systolic blood pressure (SBP) with clinical evidence that it is more sensitive for trauma patient status assessment and prediction of outcome compared with either HR or SBP alone. We used lower body negative pressure (LBNP) as a human model of central hypovolemia and compensatory reserve measurement (CRM) validated for accurate tracking of reduced central blood volume to test the hypotheses that SI: (1) presents a late signal of central blood volume status; (2) displays poor sensitivity and specificity for predicting the onset of hemodynamic decompensation; and (3) cannot identify individuals at greatest risk for the onset of circulatory shock. We measured HR, SBP, and CRM in 172 human subjects (19–55 years) during progressive LBNP designed to determine tolerance to central hypovolemia as a model of hemorrhage. Subjects were subsequently divided into those with high tolerance (HT) (n = 118) and low tolerance (LT) (n = 54) based on completion of 60 mm Hg LBNP. The time course relationship between SI and CRM was determined and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) was calculated for sensitivity and specificity of CRM and SI to predict hemodynamic decompensation using clinically defined thresholds of 40% for CRM and 0.9 for SI. The time and level of LBNP required to reach a SI = 0.9 (~60 mm Hg LBNP) was significantly greater (p < 0.001) compared with CRM that reached 40% at ~40 mm Hg LBNP. Shock index did not differ between HT and LT subjects at 45 mm Hg LBNP levels. ROC AUC for CRM was 0.95 (95% CI = 0.94–0.97) compared with 0.91 (0.89–0.94) for SI (p = 0.0002). Despite high sensitivity and specificity, SI delays time to detect reductions in central blood volume with failure to distinguish individuals with varying tolerances to central hypovolemia.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Learning Functions Varying along a Central Subspace

Many functions of interest are in a high-dimensional space but exhibit low-dimensional structures. This paper studies regression of an s-Hölder function in $R^D$ which varies along a central subspace of dimension $d$ while $d \ll D$. A direct approximation of $f$ in $R^D$ with an accuracy $\varepsilon$ requires the number of samples in the order of $\varepsilon^{-(2s+D)/s}$. In this paper, we analyze the generalized contour regression (GCR) algorithm for the estimation of the central subspace and use piecewise polynomials for function approximation. GCR is among the best estimators for the central subspace, but its sample complexity is an open question. In this paper, we partially answer this questions by proving that if a variance quantity is exactly known, GCR leads to a mean squared estimation error of $O(n^{-1})$ for the central subspace. The estimation error of this variance quantity is also given in this paper. The mean squared regression error of $f$ is proved to be in the order of $(n/\log n)^{-\frac{2s}{2s+d}}$, where the exponent depends on the dimension of the central subspace instead of the ambient space . This result demonstrates that GCR is effective in learning the low-dimensional central subspace. We also propose a modified GCR with improved efficiency. Here, the convergence rate is validated through several numerical experiments.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Structural and stellar-population properties versus bulge types in Sloan Digital Sky Survey central galaxies

ABSTRACT This paper studies pseudo-bulges (P-bulges) and classical bulges (C-bulges) in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) central galaxies using the new bulge indicator ΔΣ1, which measures relative central stellar-mass surface density within 1 kpc. We compare ΔΣ1 to the established bulge-type indicator Δ〈μe〉 from Gadotti (2009) and show that classifying by ΔΣ1 agrees well with Δ〈μe〉. ΔΣ1 requires no bulge–disc decomposition and can be measured on SDSS images out to z = 0.07. Bulge types using it are mapped on to 20 different structural and stellar-population properties for 12 000 SDSS central galaxies with masses 10.0 < log M*/M⊙ < 10.4. New trends emerge from this large sample. Structural parameters show fairly linear log–log relations versus ΔΣ1 and Δ〈μe〉 with only moderate scatter, while stellar-population parameters show a highly non-linear ‘elbow’ in which specific star formation rate remains roughly flat with increasing central density and then falls rapidly at the elbow, where galaxies begin to quench. P-bulges occupy the low-density end of the horizontal arm of the elbow and are universally star forming, while C-bulges occupy the elbow and the vertical branch and exhibit a wide range of star formation rates at a fixed density. The non-linear relation between central density and star formation rate has been seen before, but this mapping on to bulge class is new. The wide range of star formation rates in C-bulges helps to explain why bulge classifications using different parameters have sometimes disagreed in the past. The elbow-shaped relation between density and stellar indices suggests that central structure and stellar populations evolve at different rates as galaxies begin to quench.

Luo, Yifei↗
DOE OSTI2020

Tracking moisture sources of precipitation over Central Asia: A study based on the water-source-tagging method

Central Asia is a semi-arid to arid region that is sensitive to hydrological changes. We use the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5), equipped with a water tagging capability, to investigate the major moisture sources for climatological precipitation and its long-term trends over Central Asia. Europe, the north Atlantic and local evaporation, which explain 33.2±1.5%, 23.0±2.5% and 19.4±2.2% of the precipitation, respectively, are identified as the most dominant moisture sources for northern Central Asia (NCA). For precipitation over southern Central Asia (SCA), Europe, the north Atlantic and local evaporation contributes 25.4±2.7%, 18.0±1.7% and 14.7±1.9%, respectively. In addition, the contributions of South Asia (8.6±1.7%) and Indian Ocean (9.5±2.0%) are also substantial for SCA. Modulated by the seasonal meridional shift of subtropical westerly jet, moisture originating from low- and mid-latitude is important in winter, spring and autumn, while northern Europe contributes more in summer. We also explain the observed drying trends over southeastern Central Asia in spring and over NCA in summer during 1956-2005. The drying trend over the southeastern Central Asia in spring is mainly due to the decrease of local evaporation and weakened moisture fluxes from the Arabian Peninsula and Arabian Sea associated with the warming Western Pacific. The drying trend over NCA in summer can be attributed to the decrease of local evaporation and reduced moisture from northern Europe due to the southward shift of the subtropical westerly jet.

Jiang, Jie↗
DOE OSTI2022

SDSS-IV MaNGA: How the Stellar Populations of Passive Central Galaxies Depend on Stellar and Halo Mass

We analyze spatially resolved and co-added SDSS-IV MaNGA spectra with signal-to-noise ratio ~100 from 2200 passive central galaxies (z ~ 0.05) to understand how central galaxy assembly depends on stellar mass (M*) and halo mass (M h ). We control for systematic errors in M h by employing a new group catalog from Tinker and the widely used Yang et al. catalog. At fixed M*, the strengths of several stellar absorption features vary systematically with M h . Completely model-free, this is one of the first indications that the stellar populations of centrals with identical M* are affected by the properties of their host halos. To interpret these variations, we applied full spectral fitting with the code alf. At fixed M*, centrals in more massive halos are older, show lower [Fe/H], and have higher [Mg/Fe] with 3.5σ confidence. We conclude that halos not only dictate how much M* galaxies assemble but also modulate their chemical enrichment histories. Turning to our analysis at fixed M h , high-M* centrals are older, show lower [Fe/H], and have higher [Mg/Fe] for M h > 10 12 h –1 M⊙ with confidence >4σ. While massive passive galaxies are thought to form early and rapidly, our results are among the first to distinguish these trends at fixed M h . They suggest that high-M* centrals experienced unique early formation histories, either through enhanced collapse and gas fueling or because their halos were early forming and highly concentrated, a possible signal of galaxy assembly bias.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

A full year of aerosol size distribution data from the central Arctic under an extreme positive Arctic Oscillation: insights from the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition

Abstract. The Arctic environment is rapidly changing due to accelerated warming in the region. The warming trend is driving a decline in sea ice extent, which thereby enhances feedback loops in the surface energy budget in the Arctic. Arctic aerosols play an important role in the radiative balance and hence the climate response in the region, yet direct observations of aerosols over the Arctic Ocean are limited. In this study, we investigate the annual cycle in the aerosol particle number size distribution (PNSD), particle number concentration (PNC), and black carbon (BC) mass concentration in the central Arctic during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition. This is the first continuous, year-long data set of aerosol PNSD ever collected over the sea ice in the central Arctic Ocean. We use a k-means cluster analysis, FLEXPART simulations, and inverse modeling to evaluate seasonal patterns and the influence of different source regions on the Arctic aerosol population. Furthermore, we compare the aerosol observations to land-based sites across the Arctic, using both long-term measurements and observations during the year of the MOSAiC expedition (2019–2020), to investigate interannual variability and to give context to the aerosol characteristics from within the central Arctic. Our analysis identifies that, overall, the central Arctic exhibits typical seasonal patterns of aerosols, including anthropogenic influence from Arctic haze in winter and secondary aerosol processes in summer. The seasonal pattern corresponds to the global radiation, surface air temperature, and timing of sea ice melting/freezing, which drive changes in transport patterns and secondary aerosol processes. In winter, the Norilsk region in Russia/Siberia was the dominant source of Arctic haze signals in the PNSD and BC observations, which contributed to higher accumulation-mode PNC and BC mass concentrations in the central Arctic than at land-based observatories. We also show that the wintertime Arctic Oscillation (AO) phenomenon, which was reported to achieve a record-breaking positive phase during January–March 2020, explains the unusual timing and magnitude of Arctic haze across the Arctic region compared to longer-term observations. In summer, the aerosol PNCs of the nucleation and Aitken modes are enhanced; however, concentrations were notably lower in the central Arctic over the ice pack than at land-based sites further south. The analysis presented herein provides a current snapshot of Arctic aerosol processes in an environment that is characterized by rapid changes, which will be crucial for improving climate model predictions, understanding linkages between different environmental processes, and investigating the impacts of climate change in future Arctic aerosol studies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Projected Changes in Temperature and Precipitation Over the United States, Central America, and the Caribbean in CMIP6 GCMs

The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) dataset is used to examine projected changes in temperature and precipitation over the United States (U.S.), Central America and the Caribbean. The changes are computed using an ensemble of 31 models for three future time slices (2021–2040, 2041–2060, and 2080–2099) relative to the reference period (1995–2014) under three Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs; SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5). The CMIP6 ensemble reproduces the observed annual cycle and distribution of mean annual temperature and precipitation with biases between – 0.93 and 1.27 °C and – 37.90 to 58.45%, respectively, for most of the region. However, modeled precipitation is too large over the western and Midwestern U.S. during winter and spring and over the North American monsoon region in summer, while too small over southern Central America. Temperature is projected to increase over the entire domain under all three SSPs, by as much as 6 °C under SSP5-8.5, and with more pronounced increases in the northern latitudes over the regions that receive snow in the present climate. Annual precipitation projections for the end of the twenty-first century have more uncertainty, as expected, and exhibit a meridional dipole-like pattern, with precipitation increasing by 10–30% over much of the U.S. and decreasing by 10–40% over Central America and the Caribbean, especially over the monsoon region. Seasonally, precipitation over the eastern and central subregions is projected to increase during winter and spring and decrease during summer and autumn. Over the monsoon region and Central America, precipitation is projected to decrease in all seasons except autumn. The analysis was repeated on a subset of 9 models with the best performance in the reference period; however, no significant difference was found, suggesting that model bias is not strongly influencing the projections.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Centrality definition in e + A collisions at the electron–ion collider

Here, in this work, we investigate the feasibility of defining centrality in electron–ion collisions at the electron–ion collider (EIC) by examining the correlation between the impact parameter and several observables, including total energy, total transverse momentum, and total number of particles. Using the BeAGLE Monte Carlo generator, we simulate e + Au and e + Ru collisions at different energies and analyze the correlation between the impact parameter and these observables across different kinematic regions. Our findings indicate that the correlation is weak in the central rapidity region but becomes stronger in the forward and far-forward rapidity regions. However, the correlation is not sufficiently robust to allow for precise centrality determination. We conclude that defining centrality in electron–ion collisions is more challenging than in ion–ion collisions, necessitating further studies to develop a robust centrality definition for the EIC.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Measurement of the central exclusive production of charged particle pairs in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV with the STAR detector at RHIC

We report on the measurement of the Central Exclusive Production of charged particle pairs h+h- (h = π, K, p) with the STAR detector at RHIC in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV. The charged particle pairs produced in the reaction pp → p' + h + h - + p' are reconstructed from the tracks in the central detector and identified using the specific energy loss and the time of flight method, while the forward-scattered protons are measured in the Roman Pot system. Exclusivity of the event is guaranteed by requiring the transverse momentum balance of all four final-state particles. Differential cross sections are measured as functions of observables related to the central hadronic final state and to the forward-scattered protons. They are measured in a fiducial region corresponding to the acceptance of the STAR detector and determined by the central particles’ transverse momenta and pseudorapidities as well as by the forward-scattered protons’ momenta. This fiducial region roughly corresponds to the square of the four-momentum transfers at the proton vertices in the range 0.04 GeV 2 < -t 1 , -t 2 < 0.2 GeV 2 , invariant masses of the charged particle pairs up to a few GeV and pseudorapidities of the centrally-produced hadrons in the range |η| < 0.7. The measured cross sections are compared to phenomenological predictions based on the Double Pomeron Exchange (DPE) model. Structures observed in the mass spectra of π + π - and K + K - pairs are consistent with the DPE model, while angular distributions of pions suggest a dominant spin-0 contribution to π + π - production. For π + π - production, the fiducial cross section is extrapolated to the Lorentz-invariant region, which allows decomposition of the invariant mass spectrum into continuum and resonant contributions. The extrapolated cross section is well described by the continuum production and at least three resonances, the f 0 (980), f 2 (1270) and f 0 (1500), with a possible small contribution from the f 0 (1370). Fits to the extrapolated differential cross section as a function of t 1 and t 2 enable extraction of the exponential slope parameters in several bins of the invariant mass of π + π - pairs. These parameters are sensitive to the size of the interaction region.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

On the Breakdown of ENSO's Relationship With Thermocline Depth in the Central-Equatorial Pacific

Recent classification of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) into two types, Eastern (EP) and Central (CP) events, has highlighted the importance of the central Pacific. We show here that the local correlation between ENSO subsurface temperatures (T sub ) in the upper 100-m and thermocline depth anomalies breaks down in the central equatorial Pacific, whereas T sub remains well correlated with sea surface height anomalies. This observed difference in the central equatorial Pacific is simulated by almost all climate models. It arises from a vertically slanted Tsub anomaly structure that is unique to the central equatorial Pacific. We show that this feature is an adiabatic response to wind-driving that is even present in a linear dynamic model, as long as the model has enough baroclinic modes to adequately represent the observed vertical complexity. Our findings have implications for better understanding the different importance of thermocline feedback in CP and EP events.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Notable impact of wildfires in the western United States on weather hazards in the central United States

Increased wildfire events constitute a significant threat to life and property in the United States. Wildfire impact on severe storms and weather hazards is another pathway that threatens society, and our understanding of which is very limited. Here, we use unique modeling developments to explore the effects of wildfires in the western US (mainly California and Oregon) on precipitation and hail in the central US. We find that the western US wildfires notably increase the occurrences of heavy precipitation rates by 38% and significant severe hail (≥2 in.) by 34% in the central United States. Both heat and aerosols from wildfires play an important role. By enhancing surface high pressure and increasing westerly and southwesterly winds, wildfires in the western United States produce ( 1 ) stronger moisture and aerosol transport to the central United States and ( 2 ) larger wind shear and storm-relative helicity in the central United States. Both the meteorological environment more conducive to severe convective storms and increased aerosols contribute to the enhancements of heavy precipitation rates and large hail. Moreover, the local wildfires in the central US also enhance the severity of storms, but their impact is notably smaller than the impact of remote wildfires in California and Oregon because of the lessened severity of the local wildfires. As wildfires are projected to be more frequent and severe in a warmer climate, the influence of wildfires on severe weather in downwind regions may become increasingly important.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Centrality determination in heavy-ion collisions with the LHCb detector

The centrality of heavy-ion collisions is directly related to the created medium in these interactions. A procedure to determine the centrality of collisions with the LHCb detector is implemented for lead-lead collisions at √ s NN = 5 TeV and lead-neon fixed-target collisions at √ s NN = 69 GeV. The energy deposits in the electromagnetic calorimeter are used to determine and define the centrality classes. The correspondence between the number of participants and the centrality for the lead-lead collisions is in good agreement with the correspondence found in other experiments, and the centrality measurements for the lead-neon collisions presented here are performed for the first time in fixed-target collisions at the LHC.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

A study of the central stellar populations of galaxies in SDSS-IV MaNGA: identification of a subsample with unusually young and massive stars

ABSTRACT This paper describes a search for galaxy centres with clear indications of unusual stellar populations with an initial mass function flatter than Salpeter at high stellar masses. Out of a sample of 668 face-on galaxies with stellar masses in the range $10^{10}\!-\!10^{11} \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$, I identify 15 galaxies with young- to intermediate-age central stellar populations with unusual stellar population gradients in the inner regions of the galaxy. In these galaxies, the 4000-Å break is either flat or rising towards the centre of the galaxy, indicating that the central regions host evolved stars, but the H α equivalent width also rises steeply in the central regions. The ionization parameter [O iii]/[O ii] is typically low in these Galactic Centres, indicating that ionizing sources are stellar rather than AGN. Wolf–Rayet features characteristic of hot young stars are often found in the spectra and these also get progressively stronger at smaller galactocentric radii. These outliers are compared to a control sample of galaxies of similar mass with young inner stellar populations, but where the gradients in H α equivalent width and 4000-Å break follow each other more closely. The outliers exhibit central Wolf–Rayet red bump excesses much more frequently, they have higher central stellar and ionized gas metallicities, and they are also more frequently detected at 20-cm radio wavelengths. I highlight one outlier where the ionized gas is clearly being strongly perturbed and blown out either by massive stars after they explode as supernovae, or by energy injection from matter falling on to a black hole.

Kauffmann, Guinevere↗