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Analysis of Bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide Interactions with Metal Cations Through a Chemical Informatics Approach

Nominally weakly coordinating anions are useful for modulating the solubility and chemical properties of metal complexes, but identification and analysis of the systematics of the interactions of anions with cationic metal complexes has not received the attention it deserves. Here, a chemical informatics approach is demonstrated for identifying and quantitatively analyzing the ways that the bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide anion (TFSI) can interact with metal-containing species. An open access computer program (PyCIFTer) was developed to facilitate large-scale structural analysis of TFSI-containing species by utilization of experimental atomic coordinate data from single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies obtained from the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD). PyCIFTer establishes a three-dimensional vector space from the raw atomic coordinates, generating acyclic, undirected graphs that are used to rapidly analyze the structural properties (bond lengths and angles) of TFSI in individual structures in sequential/batch fashion. The structures are sorted by PyCIFTer into groups based on pre-set and chemically sensible criteria, affording a comprehensive and systematic view of TFSI structural chemistry. This approach avoids tedious one-at-a-time interrogation of structures, a prospect unreasonable in this case, and many others of contemporary chemical relevance; there were over 1500 structures in the CSD containing TFSI as of November 2024. The results demonstrate that TFSI only rarely binds to cations in the solid state, favoring the formation of species in which TFSI is found in cations’ outer coordination spheres. The prospect of applying PyCIFTer to other moieties is also discussed. PyCIFTer is also schematically compared to the commercial CSD Python application programming interface (API). Taken together, this work demonstrates the usefulness of modular workflows for sequential/batch analysis of structural data from XRD, an approach that appears poised to accelerate the translation of legacy structural results into new chemical insights and hypotheses.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH

Transforming Energy Through Computational Excellence: NREL HPC Resources for High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) Program

NREL hosts computing facilities for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). In 2024, NREL introduced Kestrel, the 3rd generation, EERE-sponsored supercomputer dedicated to renewable energy and energy efficiency research. Kestrel has already been used for hundreds of research projects by NREL, other national laboratories, and university partners. This includes HPC4EI-sponsored industrial partnerships.

high-performance computing

Educational Consortium for Energy-related Data Science & Computation in Building Engineering Programs

The project spearheaded by Pennsylvania State University aims to address the growing need for integrating energy-focused computation and data science into building engineering education. As the demand for energy-efficient building designs and operations increases, the educational sector must adapt to equip future engineers with the necessary skills. This initiative responds to this need by developing a consortium that unites multiple institutions to enhance curriculum development, dataset curation, and resource sharing, thereby ensuring students are well-prepared for the evolving energy sector. The primary goal of the project is to establish a consortium that will develop and disseminate educational materials and training programs focused on energy-related data science and computation. Key accomplishments include the creation of a beta website for resource sharing, the development of training programs and standalone modules, and the curation of datasets accessible to the public. This effort will culminate in a curriculum that incorporates advanced modeling technologies and data science skills into building engineering programs.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI

FY25 Report on Water NSTF Testing: Parametric and Accident Testing with Lower Tank Inlet

The Natural Convection Shutdown Heat Removal Test Facility (NSTF) at Argonne National Laboratory has continued to generate empirical validation data on the performance of water-based reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) for seven years. This data is actively being used to support the development of passive decay heat removal systems for advanced reactors. Distinguishing this facility are 1) the large, ½ scale of the facility and 2) its governance under an NQA-1 qualified program for producing data of the highest pedigree for advanced reactor designers and regulators. In addition to the experimental activities discussed in this report, a computational modeling program continues to support the experimental program and further accuracy and understanding of the computational models. Together, the experimental and computational work create a mutually beneficial relationship integral to the overall program objective of advancing the understanding of the RCCS technology.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS

Quantum Computing Strategy 2026

Quantum computing (QC) is a rapidly maturing technology with the potential for revolutionary impacts on stockpile stewardship science and national security. Recent developments in fault-tolerant architectures have compressed vendor roadmaps, and predictions of a production-ready quantum computer by the mid-2030s are becoming increasingly credible. This strategy provides a roadmap for integrating QC into the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program by investing in four strategic focus areas: 1. Develop Capabilities in Mission-Relevant Quantum Applications: ASC will prioritize developing quantum-ready applications in mission areas that have shown significant promise for quantum advantage, including simulations of materials in extreme environments, nuclear dynamics, solving linear and nonlinear partial differential equations, and uncertainty quantification. These applications directly support stockpile stewardship science and modernization objectives. 2. Conduct R&D in Algorithms, Software, and Hardware: Sustained research into quantum algorithms, robust software tools, and quantum hardware is essential. ASC will develop efficient quantum algorithms; invest in quantum compilers, debuggers, and performance tools; and explore specialized quantum hardware tailored to NNSA’s unique requirements. 3. Engage with Vendors and Partners: Early and active collaboration with commercial quantum hardware vendors and academic partners is critical. Through testbeds, co-design agreements, and quantum demonstration facilities, ASC will influence hardware design, gain early access to emerging technologies, and ensure that quantum platforms evolve to meet mission needs. 4. Build Knowledge, Experience, and Workforce: Expanding and upskilling the quantum-trained workforce is essential to long-term success. This includes hiring, internal training, university outreach, and postdoctoral support to ensure ASC maintains the expertise required to operate, program, and integrate quantum systems as they become available. While quantum computing will never replace classical computing, it has the potential to solve certain problems with speed and accuracy that would be unachievable using any conceivable classical high-performance computing (HPC) system. By investing strategically in QC, ASC will help propel the emergent QC industry, maintain U.S. technological leadership, ensure mission readiness, and position itself to rapidly adopt quantum technologies as they mature.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING

Improving the Capabilities and Computational Efficiency of the RTE+RRTMGP Radiation Code (Final Report)

This report details progress on the RTE+RRTMGP radiation codes made during the period of performance. RTE+RRTMGP is a set of codes for computing radiative fluxes in planetary atmospheres. RRTMGP uses a k-distribution to provide an optical description (absorption and possibly Rayleigh optical depth) of the gaseous atmosphere, along with the relevant source functions, on a pre-determined spectral grid given temperatures, pressures, and gas concentration. RTE computes fluxes given spectrally-resolved optical descriptions and source functions. Spectrally-resolved fluxes are summarized (“reduced”) via a user extensible class. The initial release of the code and the design choices are described in Pincus et al. 2019; the codes are available on Github. Although RRTMGP was based on current (at the time) empirical spectroscopic data, RTE and RRTMGP were developed in large part to modernize software practices. The design focused on flexibility broadly interpreted: by separating code from data and allowing data to drive computation; in coupling to the host model (e.g. the coupling of clouds to radiative fluxes is user-controlled); with respect to programming languages (computational tasks are accessed via widely-compatible C interfaces); and with respect to hardware (the codes run on a range of CPU and GPU architectures). The code also puts an emphasis on modularity and clarity. RTE+RRTMGP v1.0 was released in September 20219. This award supported the evolution of the RTE+RRTMGP code base to support greater flexibility, accuracy, and efficiency.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

7th World Congress on Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME 2023) (Final Technical Report)

Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) has received international attention due to its potential to shorten product development time, while lowering cost and improving design and manufacturing outcomes. ICME is an approach to designing materials solutions for specific applications that use computer modeling programs to predict the behavior of materials and integrate this information into the overall materials, processing, and manufacturing design cycle. The 7th World Congress on Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME 2023) was held in Orlando, Florida from May 21–25, 2023 with the goal to convene stakeholders from across all areas of modeling and simulation, experimental specialization, and design, as well as from across academia, government, and industry, to address ICME tools and techniques and their integration, as well as to examine their application in engineering. This atmosphere facilitated rich interactions between the experimentalists, modelers, and computational and design, from academia, government, and industry, to discuss ICME tools and techniques and their application in engineering.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

COLUMBUS─An Efficient and General Program Package for Ground and Excited State Computations Including Spin–Orbit Couplings and Dynamics

The COLUMBUS program system provides the tools for performing high-level multireference (MR) computations, including the multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) method and its multireference averaged quadratic coupled cluster (MR-AQCC) extension, allowing computations on a wide range of fascinating atomic and molecular systems, including the treatment of open-shells and complicated excited state phenomena. The inclusion of spin−orbit coupling (SOC) directly within the MRCI step enables the description of systems containing heavy elements, such as lanthanides and actinides, whose properties are strongly influenced by SOC. Analytic energy gradients and nonadiabatic couplings at the correlated MRCI level provide the foundation for a variety of dynamics studies, giving insight into ultrafast photochemistry. New and ongoing method developments in COLUMBUS include the computation of spin densities, improved descriptions of ionic states, enhancements to the AQCC method, and the porting of COLUMBUS to graphical processing units (GPUs). New external interfaces enable an enhanced description of electronic resonances and molecules in strong laser fields. This work highlights these new developments while providing a detailed account of the diverse applications of COLUMBUS in recent years.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH

Efficiently Computable Limits on EPR Pair Generation in Quantum Broadcast Channels

We investigate the generation of EPR pairs between three observers in a general causally structured setting, where communication occurs via a noisy quantum broadcast channel. The most general quantum codes for this setup take the form of tripartite quantum channels. Since the receivers are constrained by causal ordering, additional temporal relationships naturally emerge between the parties. These causal constraints enforce intrinsic no-signalling conditions on any tripartite operation, ensuring that it constitutes a physically realizable quantum code for a quantum broadcast channel. We analyze these constraints and, more broadly, characterize the most general quantum codes for communication over such channels. We examine the capabilities of codes that are fully no-signalling among the three parties, positive partial transpose (PPT)-preserving, or both, and derive simple semidefinite programs to compute the achievable entanglement fidelity. We then establish a hierarchy of semidefinite programming converse bounds -- both weak and strong -- for the capacity of quantum broadcast channels for EPR pair generation, in both one-shot and asymptotic regimes. Notably, in the special case of a point-to-point channel, our strong converse bound recovers and strengthens existing results. Finally, we demonstrate how the PPT-preserving codes we develop can be leveraged to construct PPT-preserving entanglement combing schemes, and vice versa.

FOS: Physical sciences

From zonal to nodal capacity expansion planning: Spatial aggregation impacts on a realistic test-case

Solving power system capacity expansion planning (CEP) problems at realistic spatial resolutions is computationally challenging. Thus, a common practice is to solve CEP over zonal models with low spatial resolution rather than over full-scale nodal power networks. Due to improvements in solving large-scale stochastic mixed integer programs, these computational limitations are becoming less relevant, and the assumption that zonal models are realistic and useful approximations of nodal CEP is worth revisiting. Here, this work is the first to conduct a systematic computational study on the assumption that spatial aggregation can reasonably be used for ISO-scale CEP. By considering a realistic, large-scale test network based on the state of California with over 8000 buses, we find that well-designed small spatial aggregations can yield good approximations but that coarser zonal models may result in large distortions of investment decisions, e.g., capacity under-investment of up to 41% for the lowest resolution model considered.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION

Future Generation High Performance Computing Center (FG-HPCC): RFI Technical Considerations

Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) is interested in receiving information about technologies that could be available in the 2029-2030 timeframe that may serve to enable the vision for a Future Generation High Performance Computing (HPC) Center (FG-HPCC) described in this document. The future HPC Center vision has been conceived to meet the future mission needs of the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Program within the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). LLNS envisions a center composed not of many independent clusters, but of heterogeneous elements accessible to users as a single system. The capabilities will be integrated to create a scalable, flexible, yet tightly coupled computing center capable of integrated HPC, AI, and cloud-like workloads.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING

HPC Center of the Future: R&D Acquisition Intent

This document contains intended technical requirements for an anticipated future procurement for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), hereafter referred to as “LLNL” or “the Laboratory”, which seeks to fund a few new and innovative proposals for developing concepts and performing studies that would lead to products available in the 2029-2030 timeframe. Our interest is to incentivize explorations and evaluations of technical capabilities in support of our vision for a High Performance Computing (HPC) center of the future at Livermore Computing (LC), the HPC center at LLNL. To realize this vision a new approach to our approach to acquisition is being considered by LC. The approach is designed to decrease risks for the vendors, while encouraging a broader set of vendors able and we hope willing to partner with LLNL and LC. The future HPC Center vision and acquisition approach was conceived to meet the future mission needs of the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Program within the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING

Reflected entropy in random tensor networks. Part III. Triway cuts

For general random tensor network states at large bond dimension, we prove that the integer Rényi reflected entropies (away from phase transitions) are determined by minimal triway cuts through the network. This generalizes the minimal cut description of bipartite entanglement for these states. A natural extrapolation away from integer Rényi parameters, suggested by the triway cut problem, implies the holographic conjecture S R = 2EW, where S R is the reflected entropy and EW is the entanglement wedge cross-section. Minimal triway cuts can be formulated as integer programs which cannot be relaxed to find a dual maximal flow/bit-thread description. This sheds light on the gap between the existence of tripartite entanglement in holographic states and the bipartite entanglement structure motivated by bit-threads. In particular, we prove that the Markov gap that measures tripartite entanglement is lower bounded by the integrality gap of the integer program that computes the triway cut.

AdS-CFT correspondence

MHD-induced beta limits in the Large Helical Device

Using the extended-magnetohydrodynamics code, M3D-C1, we perform a systematic numerical study of the effect of externally applied heating on the achievable plasma beta in a ten field-period heliotron. Heat sources of varying intensity are applied to a vacuum magnetic field that is representative of the standard configuration of the Large Helical Device, with R 0 = 3.66 m, where R 0 is the radial position of the magnetic axis in vacuum. As the system is driven to a state that is unstable to low-n magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes, nonlinear mode interactions lead to the formation of chaotic magnetic fields. With sufficiently strong heating, a collapse of the electron temperature profile is observed. This demonstrates the necessity of simulating the self-consistent evolution of plasma profiles, without imposing assumptions on the structure of the magnetic field, to accurately determine transport properties in stellarator plasmas. It also highlights the value of these advanced simulation capabilities for accelerating the development of high-performance stellarator operating scenarios.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Spatial description of dislocation nucleation in the shock response of single-crystal aluminum

Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of shock loaded single-crystal Al in the $\langle$100$\rangle$, $\langle$110$\rangle$, $\langle$111$\rangle$, and $\langle$123$\rangle$ orientations are conducted to study elastic and plastic shockwave formation and details associated with dislocation activity. A computer vision-based approach is implemented to capture the presence of dislocations and describe their spatial characteristics in the zone of nucleation behind the propagating shockwave. The methodology developed relies on the sequences of images extracted during shock loading that show dislocation activity within a cross section of the sample. Results reveal that the spacing between activated slip systems is orientation dependent and exhibits a modest reduction for the $\langle$100$\rangle$ and $\langle$111$\rangle$ orientations as shock pressure increases. Comparisons are made to existing theoretical models. Such relationships between shock pressure and dislocation activity, extracted from molecular dynamics simulations, can be used to inform higher length scale simulations or modeling of dislocation-based plasticity during shock.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Evaluating nonlocal heat transport in directly driven chromium spheres using x-ray spectroscopy

We report on experiments investigating heat transport in laser-generated plasmas using directly driven chromium spheres. The spheres are fielded at the OMEGA laser facility and are driven with laser intensities of 5×10 14 Wcm −2 . Plasma conditions in the corona and scattered light are measured experimentally and compared against predictions from two-dimensional (2D) radiation-hydrodynamic simulations using different heat transport models. Spectroscopic analysis of x-ray self-emission is used as an additional diagnostic. X-ray emission is integrated over a large region of the plasma, probing regions that are not observed by localized optical Thomson scattering. In particular, x-ray emission peaks near the plasma critical density, so emission from optically thin lines provides information on plasma conditions where nonlocal transport is most likely to be significant. Three common heat transport models are considered: local transport with flux limiters f = 0.15 and f = 0.03, and the nonlocal Schurtz–Nicolai–Busquet (SNB) model. Consistent with previous work, both the high-flux (f = 0.15) and SNB models show good agreement with experimentally measured plasma conditions in the corona despite overpredicting laser absorption, whereas the low-flux (f = 0.03) model fails to match any experimental data. Conditions inferred from x-ray self-emission line ratios support this conclusion during the period of laser peak power, although synthetic spectra for all models fail to match the experiment during the transient portions of the pulse. For these reasons, the low-flux model is again rejected.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Denoising Seismograms in the Time Domain Using a Deep Learning Model

Deep learning has emerged as a transformative tool for enhancing the extraction of reliable information from seismograms, addressing the increasing demand for precise and efficient seismic data analysis. We introduce an innovative encoder–decoder deep learning model, named WaveDenoiser, designed for noise reduction in the time domain, thereby eliminating the need for spectrogram computations that have been used for existing deep learning tools and significantly improving processing speed. Utilizing the benchmark dataset that is Stanford Earthquake Dataset, we developed three models of varying sizes: base, medium, and large. Notably, the large (referred to as WaveDenoiser) model demonstrated superior performance, achieving a median signal‐to‐noise ratio improvement of 8.8 dB on in‐distribution unseen data (in the same geographic region) and 7.7 dB on out‐distribution unseen data (in a new geographic region), outpacing both the base and medium models. Further evaluation of the WaveDenoiser model revealed a reduction in median arrival‐time errors by 0.02 s for P waves and 0.01 s for S waves when processing waveforms prior to phase picking using PhaseNet on in‐distribution unseen data. When tested on out‐distribution unseen data, the model also effectively reduced the P‐wave median arrival‐time error by 0.02 and 0.01 s in median arrival‐time error for S waves. Importantly, the application of WaveDenoiser resulted in a significant reduction of phase picking outliers by 1.1% to 3.6% for both P and S waves. In addition, we achieved over five times acceleration in processing speed compared with the seisBench implementation of DeepDenoiser. Our findings underscore the potential of WaveDenoiser as a powerful tool for improving seismic data analysis and processing efficiency.

P-waves