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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 OSTI2014

Investigations in Elementary Particle Theory

The research interests of our three Co-PI’s complement each other very well. Kephart works mainly on models of particle unification in four or higher dimensions, on aspects of gravity such as inflation, black-holes, and the very early Universe, and on applications of knot theory and topology to various physical systems (including gluon dynamics). Scherrer works mainly on aspects of the intermediate-aged Universe, including dark matter and dark energy, and particle physics in the early Universe. Weiler works mainly on neutrino physics, dark matter signatures, and extreme particle-astrophysics in the late Universe, including origins of the highest-energy cosmic-rays and gamma-rays, and the future potential of neutrino astrophysics. Kephart and Weiler have lately devoted some research attention to the LHC and its reach for probing physics beyond the Standard Model. During the 3-year funding period, our grant supported one postdoc (Chiu Man Ho) and partially supported two students, Peter Denton and Lingjun Fu. Chiu Man collaborated with all three of the Co-PI’s during the 3-year funding period and published 16 refereed papers. Chiu Man has gone on to a postdoc with Steve Hsu at Michigan State University. Denton and Fu will both receive their PhDs during the 2014-15 academic year. The total number of our papers published in refereed journals by the three co-PIs during the period of this grant (2011-present) is 54. The total number of talks given by the group members during this time period, including seminars, colloquia, and conference presentations, is 47. Some details of the accomplishments of our DOE funded researchers during the grant period include Weiler being named a Simons Fellow in 2013. He presented an invited TEDx talk in 2012. His paper on closed timelike curves (2013) garnered a great deal of national publicity. Scherrer’s paper on the “little rip” (2011) fostered a new area of cosmological research, and the name “little rip” has now entered the lexicon of cosmology. His paper on anapole dark matter (2013) generated a great deal of interest in the community. Kephart was one of the co-organizers for a 5-month program on applications of topology to physics and biology, and a Visiting Fellow at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, UK for the fall semester of 2012. His research there resulted in an extended publication on topologically stabilized closed QCD flux tube states.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Antiprotons and Elementary Particles over a Solar Cycle: Results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

We present results over an 11-year Solar cycle of cosmic antiprotons based on 1.1 × 10 6 events in the rigidity range from 1.00 to 41.9 GV. The $\bar{𝑝}$ fluxes exhibit distinct properties. The magnitude of the $\bar{𝑝}$ flux temporal variation is significantly smaller than those of 𝑝, 𝑒 − , and 𝑒 + . A hysteresis between the $\bar{𝑝}$ fluxes and the 𝑝 fluxes is observed, whereas the $\bar{𝑝}$ and 𝑒 − fluxes show a linear correlation. With a model-independent analysis, we found a universal relation between the shape of the rigidity spectrum and the magnitude of flux temporal variation over an 11-year Solar cycle for both positively and negatively charged particles. The simultaneous results on $\bar{𝑝}$ and 𝑝, 𝑒 − , and 𝑒 + provide unique information for understanding particle transport in the Solar System as a function of mass, charge, and spectral shape.

cosmic ray composition & spectra↗
DOE OSTI2021

Theoretical Investigations in Elementary Particle Physics and Cosmological Physics

The goals of this project were to improve our understanding of the fundamental constituents of the universe, at both the smallest and largest scales. At the smallest scales, we examined the masses and mixings of neutrinos, to understand and probe for physics beyond the Standard Model at the LHC, and to explore models in quantum field theory. At the largest scales, we investigated the sources of high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays, the nature of dark matter, and the behavior of dark energy. This report centers on the final extension period, which was focused on publications of the research.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Braids as a representation space of SU(5)

The standard model of particle physics provides very accurate predictions of phenomena occurring at the sub-atomic level, but the reason for the choice of symmetry group and the large number of particles considered elementary is still unknown. Along the lines of previous preon models positing a substructure to explain these aspects, Bilson-Thompson showed how the first family of elementary particles is realized as the crossings of braids made of three strands, with charges resulting from twists of those strands with certain conditions; in this topological model, there are only two distinct neutrino states. Modeling the particles as braids implies these braids must be the representation space of a Lie algebra, giving the symmetries of the standard model. In this paper, this representation is made explicit, obtaining the raising operators associated with the Lie algebra of SU(5), one of the earliest grand unified theories. Because the braids form a group, the action of these operators are braids themselves, leading to their identification as gauge bosons. Possible choices for the other two families are also given. Although this realization of particles as braids is lacking a dynamical framework, it is very suggestive, especially when considered as a natural method of adding matter to loop quantum gravity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Direct observation of the dead-cone effect in quantum chromodynamics

In particle collider experiments, elementary particle interactions with large momentum transfer produce quarks and gluons (known as partons) whose evolution is governed by the strong force, as described by the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). These partons subsequently emit further partons in a process that can be described as a parton shower, which culminates in the formation of detectable hadrons. Studying the pattern of the parton shower is one of the key experimental tools for testing QCD. This pattern is expected to depend on the mass of the initiating parton, through a phenomenon known as the dead-cone effect, which predicts a suppression of the gluon spectrum emitted by a heavy quark of mass m Q and energy E, within a cone of angular size m Q /E around the emitter. Previously, a direct observation of the dead-cone effect in QCD had not been possible, owing to the challenge of reconstructing the cascading quarks and gluons from the experimentally accessible hadrons. We report the direct observation of the QCD dead cone by using new iterative declustering techniques to reconstruct the parton shower of charm quarks. This result confirms a fundamental feature of QCD. Furthermore, the measurement of a dead-cone angle constitutes a direct experimental observation of the non-zero mass of the charm quark, which is a fundamental constant in the standard model of particle physics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗