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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

Understanding random-walk dynamical phase coexistence through waiting times

We study the appearance of first-order dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) as “intermittent” coexisting phases in the fluctuations of random walks on graphs. We show that the diverging timescale leading to critical behavior is the waiting time to jump from one phase to another. This timescale is crucial for observing the system's relaxation to stationarity and demonstrate ergodicity of the system at criticality. We illustrate these results through three analytical examples which provide insights into random walks exploring random graphs. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Stuhrmann, David C. (ORCID:0009000726916649)↗

Dynamical phase transitions in the collisionless pre-thermal states of isolated quantum systems: theory and experiments

Abstract We overview the concept of dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) in isolated quantum systems quenched out of equilibrium. We focus on non-equilibrium transitions characterized by an order parameter, which features qualitatively distinct temporal behavior on the two sides of a certain dynamical critical point. DPTs are currently mostly understood as long-lived prethermal phenomena in a regime where inelastic collisions are incapable to thermalize the system. The latter enables the dynamics to substain phases that explicitly break detailed balance and therefore cannot be encompassed by traditional thermodynamics. Our presentation covers both cold atoms as well as condensed matter systems. We revisit a broad plethora of platforms exhibiting pre-thermal DPTs, which become theoretically tractable in a certain limit, such as for a large number of particles, large number of order parameter components, or large spatial dimension. The systems we explore include, among others, quantum magnets with collective interactions, ϕ 4 quantum field theories, and Fermi–Hubbard models. A section dedicated to experimental explorations of DPTs in condensed matter and AMO systems connects this large variety of theoretical models.

Physics↗

Vortex Dynamic Phases in Type II Superconducting Strips with Regular and Flattened Triangular Pinning Arrays

The dynamic behavior of vortices in type II superconducting infinite strips is simulated with two types of triangular pinning lattices: the regular one and a flattened triangular array that mimics the vortex lattice in a superconducting strip in the absence of a pinning array. The calculations were made at zero temperature and perpendicular magnetic field. The size effects are investigated for several strip widths maintaining the density and size of pinning centers unchanged. A driving force is applied in the infinite direction to analyze the depinning process and the different dynamic regimes. For the regular triangular pinning lattice, we found that there is a great richness of vortex dynamical phases because depending on strip width, part of the vortices may stabilize in different interstitial positions and the depinning process depends on the commensurability of each vortex chain. For the flattened triangular lattice, the system exhibits one ordered moving phase for narrower strips and two moving phases for the larger strip. As the transport force increases, vortices in the larger strip go from a disordered to an ordered phase. Moreover, the flattened lattice shows a much higher critical depinning force than the regular one due to commensurability effects.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Dynamic phases, pinning, and pattern formation for driven dislocation assemblies

We examine driven dislocation assemblies and show that they can exhibit a set of dynamical phases remarkably similar to those of driven systems with quenched disorder such as vortices in superconductors, magnetic domain walls, and charge density wave materials. These phases include pinned-jammed, fluctuating, and dynamically ordered states, and each produces distinct dislocation patterns as well as specific features in the noise fluctuations and transport properties. Lastly, our work suggests that many of the results established for systems with quenched disorder undergoing plastic depinning transitions can be applied to dislocation systems, providing a new approach for understanding pattern formation and dynamics in these systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The Quantum Phase-Dynamical Properties of the Squeezed Vacuum State Intensity-Couple Interacting with the Atom

The Phase-dynamical properties of the squeezed vacuum state intensity-couple interacting with the two-level atom in an ideal cavity are studied using the Hermitian phase operator formalism. Exact general expressions for the phase distribution and the associated expectation value and variance of the phase operator have been derived. we have also obtained the analytic results of the phase variance for two special cases-weakly and strongly squeezed vacuum. The results calculated numerically show that squeezing has a significant effect on the phase properties of squeezed vacuum.

Fan, An-Fu↗

A windowed mean trajectory approximation for condensed phase dynamics

We propose a trajectory-based quasi-classical method for approximating dynamics in condensed phase systems. Building upon the previously developed optimized mean trajectory approximation that has been used to compute linear and nonlinear spectra, we borrow some ideas from filtering trajectory methods to obtain a novel semiclassical method for the dynamical propagation of density matrices. This new approximation is tested rigorously against standard multistate electronic models, spin-boson models, and models of the Fenna–Matthews–Olson complex. For dissipative systems, the current method is significantly better or as good as many other semiclassical methods available, especially at low temperatures and for off-diagonal density matrix elements, whereas for scattering models, the current method bears similar limitations as mean-field propagation schemes. All results are tested against the numerically exact hierarchical equations of motion method. In conclusion, the new method shows excellent agreement across various parameter regimes with numerically exact results, highlighting the robustness and accuracy of our approach.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Fast Atomic-Scale Chemical Imaging of Crystalline Materials and Dynamic Phase Transformations

Chemical imaging at the atomic-scale provides a useful real-space approach to chemically investigate solid crystal structures, and has been recently demonstrated in aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Atomic-scale chemical imaging by STEM using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) offers easy data interpretation with a one-to-one correspondence between image and structure but has a severe shortcoming due to the poor efficiency of X-ray generation and collection. As a result, it requires a long acquisition time of typical > few 100 seconds, limiting its potential applications. Here we describe the development of an atomic-scale STEM EDS chemical imaging technique that cuts the acquisition time to one or a few seconds, efficiently reducing the acquisition time by more than 100 times. This method was demonstrated using LaAlO 3 (LAO) as a model crystal. Applying this method to the study of phase transformation induced by electron-beam radiation in a layered lithium transition-metal (TM) oxide, i.e., Li[Li 0.2 Ni 0.2 Mn 0.6 ]O 2 (LNMO), a cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries, we obtained a time-series of the atomic-scale chemical imaging, showing the transformation progressing by preferably jumping of Ni atoms from the TM layers into the Li-layers. The new capability offers an opportunity for temporal, atomic-scale chemical mapping of crystal structures for the investigation of materials susceptible to electron irradiation as well as phase transformation and dynamics at the atomic-scale.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Random Close Packing as a Dynamical Phase Transition

Sphere packing is an ancient problem. The densest packing is known to be a face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal, with space-filling fraction Φ FCC = π / √ 18 ≈ 0.74 . The densest “random packing,” random close packing (RCP), is yet ill defined, although many experiments and simulations agree on a value Φ RCP ≈ 0.64 . We introduce a simple absorbing-state model, biased random organization (BRO), which exhibits a Manna class dynamical phase transition between absorbing and active states that has as its densest critical point Φ cmax ≈ 0.64 ≈ Φ RCP and, like other Manna class models, is hyperuniform at criticality. The configurations we obtain from BRO appear to be structurally identical to RCP configurations from other protocols. This leads us to conjecture that the highest-density absorbing state for an isotropic biased random organization model produces an ensemble of configurations that characterizes the state conventionally known as RCP.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Dynamical phase transitions in models of collective neutrino oscillations

Collective neutrino oscillations can potentially play an important role in transporting lepton flavor in astrophysical scenarios where the neutrino density is large, typical examples are the early universe and supernova explosions. It has been argued in the past that simple models of the neutrino Hamiltonian designed to describe forward scattering can support substantial flavor evolution on very short timescales t ≈ log(N) / (G Fρν ), with N the number of neutrinos, G F the Fermi constant and ρ ν the neutrino density. This finding is in tension with results for similar but exactly solvable models for which t ≈ √N/(G Fρν ) instead. In this work we provide a coherent explanation of this tension in terms of dynamical phase transitions (DPT) and study the possible impact that a DPT could have in more realistic models of neutrino oscillations and their mean-field approximation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Dynamic phases, stratification, laning, and pattern formation for driven bidisperse disk systems in the presence of quenched disorder

Using numerical simulations, we examine the dynamics of driven two-dimensional bidisperse disks flowing over quenched disorder. The system exhibits a series of distinct dynamical phases as a function of applied driving force and packing fraction, including a phase-separated state as well as a smectic state with liquid-like or polycrystalline features. At low driving forces, we find a clogged phase with an isotropic density distribution, while at intermediate driving forces the disks separate into bands of high and low densities with either liquid-like or polycrystalline structure in the high-density bands. In addition to the density phase separation, we find that in some cases there is a fractionation of the disk species, particularly when the disk size ratio is large. The species phase-separated regimes form a variety of patterns such as large disks separated by chains of smaller disks. Here, our results show that the formation of laning states can be enhanced by tuning the ratio of disk radius of the two species, due to the clumping of small disks in the interstitial regions between the large disks. This system could be experimentally realized using sterically interacting colloidal particles suspended in a viscous fluid driven over random pinning arrays or granular matter suspended in fluid moving over a random landscape.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Genomic materials design: CALculation of PHAse Dynamics

The CALPHAD system of fundamental phase-level databases, now known as the Materials Genome, has enabled a mature technology of computational materials design and qualification that has already met the acceleration goals of the national Materials Genome Initiative. Here, as first commercialized by QuesTek Innovations, the methodology combines efficient genomic-level parametric design of new material composition and process specifications with multidisciplinary simulation-based forecasting of manufacturing variation, integrating efficient uncertainty management. Recent projects demonstrated under the multi-institutional CHiMaD Design Center notably include novel alloys designed specifically for additive manufacturing. With the proven success of the CALPHAD-based Materials Genome technology, current university research emphasizes new methodologies for affordable accelerated expansion of more accurate CALPHAD databases. Rapid adoption of these new capabilities by US apex corporations has compressed the materials design and development cycle to under 2 years, enabling a new “materials concurrency” integrated into a new level of concurrent engineering supporting an unprecedented level of manufacturing innovation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Probing Dynamic Phase Changes in Electrochemical Systems with Cryogenic and in Situ Analytical Electron Microscopy (Final Technical Report)

In this project, we focus on the advancement of our newly developed, unique in situ and cryogenic analytical electron microscopy (AEM) techniques and the development of additional high-end capabilities to quantitatively elucidate the mechanisms of resistive state changes in solid-state electrochemical materials for non-volatile, neuromorphic memory. The objectives of the proposed research are (1) to characterize and elucidate the mechanisms by which electronic state changes occur in various solid-state devices to build guiding principles for electrochemically activated smart materials; (2) to advance our understanding of such mechanisms by coupling cryogenic and in situ techniques to control kinetics of the observed mechanisms while mitigating probe-induced damage; and (3) to utilize additional advanced techniques including electron-beam induced current and quantum mechanical simulations in order to identify the underlying fundamental science of such processes, including roles of defect formation and its effect on phase nucleation, as well as dynamics of these processes in the electrochemical systems at the nanometer scale.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Dynamics of skyrmions in chiral magnets: Dynamic phase transitions and equation of motion

We study the dynamics of skyrmions in a metallic chiral magnet. First, we show that skyrmions can be created dynamically by destabilizing the ferromagnetic background state through a spin polarized current. We then treat skyrmions as rigid particles and derive the corresponding equation of motion. The dynamics of skyrmions is dominated by the Magnus force, which accounts for the weak pinning of skyrmions observed in experiments. Finally, we discuss the quantum motion of skyrmions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Dynamic phase transformations in additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V during thermo-mechanical gyrations

A complex interaction of process parameters, geometry and scan strategies in Additive Manufacturing (AM), can bring about spatial and temporal transients, i.e., Σ T ( x, y, z, time ), within a part. Published literature focusses on fluctuating thermal cycles on the microstructure evolution. However, the microstructural variations have not been correlated to dynamic flow behavior due to the macro- and micro-scale phenomena, i.e., accumulated plastic strains brought about by large thermal gradients, transformational strains and crystallographic misfit strains. Therefore, here we studied the mechanical response of Ti6Al4V alloys produced by AM under externally imposed controlled thermo-mechanical reversals in a Gleeble® thermo-mechanical simulator. The stress-strain behaviors were correlated to phase fractions, lattice strains, and also limited information on crystallographic texture using neutron diffraction techniques at the VULCAN Beamline at SNS, ORNL and also metallographic studies. The results are discussed and rationalized based on theories of static and dynamic phase transformations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Performance monitoring for new phase dynamic optimization of instruction dispatch cluster configuration

In a processor having multiple clusters which operate in parallel, the number of clusters in use can be varied dynamically. At the start of each program phase, the configuration option for an interval is run to determine the optimal configuration, which is used until the next phase change is detected. The optimum instruction interval is determined by starting with a minimum interval and doubling it until a low stability factor is reached.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Defect-phase-dynamics approach to statistical domain-growth problem of clock models

The growth of statistical domains in quenched Ising-like p-state clock models with p = 3 or more is investigated theoretically, reformulating the analysis of Ohta et al. (1982) in terms of a phase variable and studying the dynamics of defects introduced into the phase field when the phase variable becomes multivalued. The resulting defect/phase domain-growth equation is applied to the interpretation of Monte Carlo simulations in two dimensions (Kaski and Gunton, 1983; Grest and Srolovitz, 1984), and problems encountered in the analysis of related Potts models are discussed. In the two-dimensional case, the problem is essentially that of a purely dissipative Coulomb gas, with a sq rt t growth law complicated by vertex-pinning effects at small t.

Kawasaki, K.↗

Active microrheology and dynamic phases for pattern-forming systems with competing interactions

We consider the driven dynamics of a probe particle moving through an assembly of particles with competing long-range repulsive and short-range attractive interactions, which form crystal, stripe, labyrinth, and bubble states as the ratio of attraction to repulsion is varied. We show that the probe particle exhibits a depinning-like threshold from an elastic regime, where the probe particle is trapped by interactions with the other particles, to a plastic flow regime, where the probe particle can break bonds in the surrounding medium. For a fixed particle density, the depinning threshold and sliding velocity of the probe particle vary nonmonotonically as the attraction term is increased. A velocity minimum appears near the crystal to stripe crossover, and there is a significant increase in the depinning threshold in the bubble regime when the probe particle is strongly confined inside the bubbles. For fixed attractive interaction but increasing particle density, the behavior is also nonmonotonic, and there are jumps and drops in the velocity and depinning threshold corresponding to points at which the system transitions between different structures. There are also several distinct flow states that can be characterized by the amount of plastic deformation induced by the probe particle in the surrounding medium. Each flow state generates a different amount of effective drag on the probe particle, and there can be jumps in the velocity-force curve at transitions between the states. In conclusion, we also find that when oriented stripes are present, the probe particle can move along the stripe in an edge transport state that has a finite Hall angle.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗