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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
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DOE OSTI2011

Emergent flux from particle collisions near a Kerr black hole

The escape fraction at infinity is evaluated for massless particles produced in collisions of weakly interacting particles accreted into a density spike near the particle horizon of an extremal Kerr black hole, for the case of equatorial orbits. We compare with the Schwarzschild case, and argue that in the case of extremal black holes, redshifted signatures can be produced that could potentially explore the physics of particle collisions at center of mass energies that extend beyond those of any feasible terrestrial accelerator.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Collision of two general geodesic particles around a Kerr black hole

We obtain an explicit expression for the center-of-mass (CM) energy of two colliding general geodesic massive and massless particles at any spacetime point around a Kerr black hole. Applying this, we show that the CM energy can be arbitrarily high only in the limit to the horizon and then derive a formula for the CM energy of two general geodesic particles colliding near the horizon in terms of the conserved quantities of each particle and the polar angle. We present the necessary and sufficient condition for the CM energy to be arbitrarily high in terms of the conserved quantities of each particle. To have an arbitrarily high CM energy, the angular momentum of either of the two particles must be fine-tuned to the critical value L{sub i}={Omega}{sub H}{sup -1}E{sub i}, where {Omega}{sub H} is the angular velocity of the horizon and E{sub i} and L{sub i} are the energy and angular momentum of particle i(=1,2), respectively. We show that, in the direct collision scenario, the collision with an arbitrarily high CM energy can occur near the horizon of maximally rotating black holes not only at the equator but also on a belt centered at the equator. This belt lies between latitudes {+-}acos({radical}(3)-1){approx_equal}{+-}42.94 deg. This is also true in the scenario through the collision of a last stable orbit particle.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Ghost particles and Project Poltergeist: Long-ago Lab physicists studied science that haunted them

A neutrino is a tiny, almost massless particle that travels at near light speeds. They were first formed in the early universe and are continually being produced in the nuclear reactions of stars, like the sun, and nuclear reactions on earth. The existence of these “ghost particles” was incredibly difficult to detect, but doing so has helped scientists better understand fundamental principles in physics. Los Alamos Manhattan Project scientist Frederick Reines, along with his colleague Clyde Cowan, is credited with the experimental discovery of the nearly massless elementary particle after his team definitively proved the neutrino’s existence in 1956. Reines received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1995.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Ghost particles and Project Poltergeist: Long-ago Lab physicists studied science that haunted them

A neutrino is a tiny, almost massless particle that travels at near light speeds. They were first formed in the early universe and are continually being produced in the nuclear reactions of stars, like the sun, and nuclear reactions on earth. The existence of these “ghost particles” was incredibly difficult to detect, but doing so has helped scientists better understand fundamental principles in physics. Los Alamos Manhattan Project scientist Frederick Reines, along with his colleague Clyde Cowan, is credited with the experimental discovery of the nearly massless elementary particle after his team definitively proved the neutrino’s existence in 1956. Reines received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1995.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2011

One-loop omega-potential of quantum fields with ellipsoid constant-energy surface dispersion law

Rapidly convergent expansions of a one-loop contribution to the partition function of quantum fields with ellipsoid constant-energy surface dispersion law are derived. The omega-potential is naturally decomposed into three parts: the quasiclassical contribution, the contribution from the branch cut of the dispersion law, and the oscillating part. The low- and high-temperature expansions of the quasiclassical part are obtained. An explicit expression and a relation of the contribution from the cut with the Casimir term and vacuum energy are established. The oscillating part is represented in the form of the Chowla-Selberg expansion of the Epstein zeta function. Various resummations of this expansion are considered. The general procedure developed is then applied to two models: massless particles in a box both at zero and nonzero chemical potential, and electrons in a thin metal film. Rapidly convergent expansions of the partition function and average particle number are obtained for these models. In particular, the oscillations of the chemical potential of conduction electrons in graphene and a thin metal film due to a variation of size of the crystal are described. - Highlights: > We study quantum fields with ellipsoid constant-energy surface dispersion law. > Rapidly convergent expansions of the omega-potential are derived. > Various resummations of the Chowla-Selberg expansion are obtained. > We establish a relation of the Casimir term with the vacuum energy. > Oscillations of the chemical potential of electrons in graphene are described.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Fourth order spatial derivative gravity

In this work, we study a modified theory of gravity that contains up to fourth order spatial derivatives as a model for the Horava-Lifshitz gravity. The propagator is evaluated and, as a result, one extra pole is obtained, corresponding to a spin-2 nonrelativistic massless particle, an extra term which jeopardizes renormalizability, besides the unexpected general relativity unmodified propagator. Then unitarity is proved at the tree level, where the general relativity pole has been shown to have no dynamics, remaining only the 2 degrees of freedom of the new pole. Next, the nonrelativistic effective potential is determined from a scattering process of two identical massive gravitationally interacting bosons. In this limit, Newton's potential is obtained, together with a Darwin-like term that comes from the extra nonpole term in the propagator. Regarding renormalizability, this extra term may be harmful by power counting, but it can be eliminated by adjusting the free parameters of the model. This adjustment is in accord with the detailed balance condition suggested in the literature and shows that the way in which extra spatial derivative terms are added is of fundamental importance.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Rarity of Very Red Trans-Neptunian Objects in the Scattered Disk

We investigate the origins of the photometrically very red (VR) and less red (LR) trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). We first reanalyze the data set of Marsset et al. and find that in addition to the known color–inclination correlation in hot TNOs, a similar trend exists for color–eccentricity. We show that VR TNOs are sharply constrained to eccentricities <0.42 and inclinations <21°, leading to a paucity of VR scattered disk and distant mean motion resonance objects. We then interpret these findings using N-body simulations accounting for Neptune’s outward migration into a massless particles disk and find that these observations are best reproduced with an LR-to-VR color transition line between ∼38 and 42 au in the primordial disk, separating the objects’ formation locations. For an initial surface density profile (Σ ∝ 1/r {sup 2}), a color transition around 38 au is needed to explain the high abundance of VR plutinos, but it creates too many VR scattered disk objects, while a transition line around 42 au seems to better reproduce the scattered disk colors but creates virtually no VR plutinos. Our simulations furthermore show that the rarity of VR particles at high eccentricity is possibly due to the absence of sweeping higher-order MMRs, and secular resonances, beyond 42 au. Inspecting individual populations, we show that the majority of VR SDOs originate as objects trapped in Neptune’s second- and third-order MMRs. These then evolve due to diffusion, scattering, Kozai–Lidov cycles, and secular resonances into their current orbits. Future unbiased color surveys are crucial to better constrain the TNOs dynamical origins.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

The matter-ekpyrotic bounce scenario in Loop Quantum Cosmology

We will perform a detailed study of the matter-ekpyrotic bouncing scenario in Loop Quantum Cosmology using the methods of the dynamical systems theory. We will show that when the background is driven by a single scalar field, at very late times, in the contracting phase, all orbits depict a matter dominated Universe, which evolves to an ekpyrotic phase. After the bounce the Universe enters in the expanding phase, where the orbits leave the ekpyrotic regime going to a kination (also named deflationary) regime. Moreover, this scenario supports the production of heavy massive particles conformally coupled with gravity, which reheats the universe at temperatures compatible with the nucleosynthesis bounds and also the production of massless particles non-conformally coupled with gravity leading to very high reheating temperatures but ensuring the nucleosynthesis success. Dealing with cosmological perturbations, these background dynamics produce a nearly scale invariant power spectrum for the modes that leave the Hubble radius, in the contracting phase, when the Universe is quasi-matter dominated, whose spectral index and corresponding running is compatible with the recent experimental data obtained by PLANCK's team.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Charged fermions tunneling from accelerating and rotating black holes

We study Hawking radiation of charged fermions from accelerating and rotating black holes with electric and magnetic charges. We calculate the tunneling probabilities of incoming and outgoing fermionic particles and find the Hawking temperature of these black holes. We also provide an explicit expression of the classical action for the massive and massless particles in the background of these black holes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Particle motion in Horava-Lifshitz black hole space-times

We study the particle motion in the space-time of a Kehagias-Sfetsos black hole which is a static spherically symmetric solution of a Horava-Lifshitz gravity model. This model reduces to general relativity in the infrared limit and deviates slightly from detailed balance. Taking the viewpoint that the model is essentially a (3+1)-dimensional modification of general relativity we use the geodesic equation to determine the motion of massive and massless particles. We solve the geodesic equation exactly by using numerical techniques. We find that neither massless nor massive particles with nonvanishing angular momentum can reach the singularity at r=0. Next to bound and escape orbits that are also present in the Schwarzschild space-time we find that new types of orbits exist: manyworld bound orbits as well as two-world escape orbits. We also discuss observables such as the perihelion shift and the light deflection.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2011

A New Neutrino Oscillation

Starting in the late 1960s, neutrino detectors began to see signs that neutrinos, now known to come in the flavors electron ({nu}{sub e}), muon ({nu}{sub {mu}}), and tau ({nu}{sub {tau}}), could transform from one flavor to another. The findings implied that neutrinos must have mass, since massless particles travel at the speed of light and their clocks, so to speak, don't tick, thus they cannot change. What has since been discovered is that neutrinos oscillate at two distinct scales, 500 km/GeV and 15,000 km/GeV, which are defined by the baseline (L) of the experiment (the distance the neutrino travels) divided by the neutrino energy (E). Neutrinos of one flavor can oscillate into neutrinos of another flavor at both L/E scales, but the amplitude of these oscillations is different for the two scales and depends on the initial and final flavor of the neutrinos. The neutrino states that propogate unchanged in time, the mass eigenstates {nu}1, {nu}2, {nu}3, are quantum mechanical mixtures of the electron, muon, and tau neutrino flavors, and the fraction of each flavor in a given mass eigenstate is controlled by three mixing angles and a complex phase. Two of these mixing angles are known with reasonable precision. An upper bound exists for the third angle, called {theta}{sub 13}, which controls the size of the muon neutrino to electron neutrino oscillation at an L/E of 500 km/GeV. The phase is completely unknown. The existence of this phase has important implications for the asymmetry between matter and antimatter we observe in the universe today. Experiments around the world have steadily assembled this picture of neutrino oscillation, but evidence of muon neutrino to electron neutrino oscillation at 500 km/GeV has remained elusive. Now, a paper from the T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) experiment in Japan, reports the first possible observation of muon neutrinos oscillating into electron neutrinos at 500 km/GeV. They see 6 candidate signal events, above an expected background of 1.5 events. The probability that the 6 events are all background is only about 0.7%. Stated differently, this is a 2.7{sigma} indication that the parameter that controls the oscillation, the neutrino mixing angle {theta}{sub 13}, is nonzero, just shy of the 3{sigma} requirement to claim 'evidence for.' Nevertheless, this experiment provides the strongest indication to date that this oscillation actually occurs in nature.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Spacetime completeness of non-singular black holes in conformal gravity

We explicitly prove that the Weyl conformal symmetry solves the black hole singularity problem, otherwise unavoidable in a generally covariant local or non-local gravitational theory. Moreover, we yield explicit examples of local and non-local theories enjoying Weyl and diffeomorphism symmetry (in short co-covariant theories). Following the seminal paper by Narlikar and Kembhavi, we provide an explicit construction of singularity-free spherically symmetric and axi-symmetric exact solutions for black hole spacetimes conformally equivalent to the Schwarzschild or the Kerr spacetime. We first check the absence of divergences in the Kretschmann invariant for the rescaled metrics. Afterwords, we show that the new types of black holes are geodesically complete and linked by a Newman-Janis transformation just as in standard general relativity (based on Einstein-Hilbert action). Furthermore, we argue that no massive or massless particles can reach the former Schwarzschild singularity or touch the former Kerr ring singularity in a finite amount of their proper time or of their affine parameter. Finally, we discuss the Raychaudhuri equation in a co-covariant theory and we show that the expansion parameter for congruences of both types of geodesics (for massless and massive particles) never reaches minus infinity. Actually, the null geodesics become parallel at the r =0 point in the Schwarzschild spacetime (the origin) and the focusing of geodesics is avoided. The arguments of regularity of curvature invariants, geodesic completeness, and finiteness of geodesics' expansion parameter ensure us that we are dealing with singularity-free and geodesically-complete black hole spacetimes.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2012

PLANETESIMAL AND PROTOPLANET DYNAMICS IN A TURBULENT PROTOPLANETARY DISK: IDEAL STRATIFIED DISKS

Due to the gravitational influence of density fluctuations driven by magneto-rotational instability in the gas disk, planetesimals and protoplanets undergo diffusive radial migration as well as changes in other orbital properties. The magnitude of the effect on particle orbits can have important consequences for planet formation scenarios. We use the local-shearing-box approximation to simulate an ideal, isothermal, magnetized gas disk with vertical density stratification and simultaneously evolve numerous massless particles moving under the gravitational field of the gas and the host star. We measure the evolution of the particle orbital properties, including mean radius, eccentricity, inclination, and velocity dispersion, and its dependence on the disk properties and the particle initial conditions. Although the results converge with resolution for fixed box dimensions, we find the response of the particles to the gravity of the turbulent gas correlates with the horizontal box size, up to 16 disk scale heights. This correlation indicates that caution should be exercised when interpreting local-shearing-box models involving gravitational physics of magneto-rotational turbulence. Based on heuristic arguments, nevertheless, the criterion L{sub h} /R {approx} O(1), where L{sub h} is the horizontal box size and R is the distance to the host star, is proposed to possibly circumvent this conundrum. If this criterion holds, we can still conclude that magneto-rotational turbulence seems likely to be ineffective at driving either diffusive migration or collisional erosion under most circumstances.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Operator bases, S-matrices, and their partition functions

Relativistic quantum systems that admit scattering experiments are quantitatively described by effective field theories, where S-matrix kinematics and symmetry considerations are encoded in the operator spectrum of the EFT. Here in this paper we use the S-matrix to derive the structure of the EFT operator basis, providing complementary descriptions in (i) position space utilizing the conformal algebra and cohomology and (ii) momentum space via an algebraic formulation in terms of a ring of momenta with kinematics implemented as an ideal. These frameworks systematically handle redundancies associated with equations of motion (on-shell) and integration by parts (momentum conservation). We introduce a partition function, termed the Hilbert series, to enumerate the operator basis — correspondingly, the S-matrix — and derive a matrix integral expression to compute the Hilbert series. The expression is general, easily applied in any spacetime dimension, with arbitrary field content and (linearly realized) symmetries. In addition to counting, we discuss construction of the basis. Simple algorithms follow from the algebraic formulation in momentum space. We explicitly compute the basis for operators involving up to n = 5 scalar fields. This construction universally applies to fields with spin, since the operator basis for scalars encodes the momentum dependence of n-point amplitudes. We discuss in detail the operator basis for non-linearly realized symmetries. In the presence of massless particles, there is freedom to impose additional structure on the S- matrix in the form of soft limits. The most naÏve implementation for massless scalars leads to the operator basis for pions, which we confirm using the standard CCWZ formulation for non-linear realizations. Finally, although primarily discussed in the language of EFT, some of our results — conceptual and quantitative — may be of broader use in studying conformal field theories as well as the AdS/CFT correspondence.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Asymptotic symmetries of massless QED in even dimensions

In this work, we consider the scattering of massless particles coupled to an abelian gauge field in 2n-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Weinberg’s soft photon theorem is recast asWard identities for infinitely many new nontrivial symmetries of the massless QED S-matrix, with one such identity arising for each propagation direction of the soft photon. These symmetries are identified as large gauge transformations with angle-dependent gauge parameters that are constant along the null generators of null infinity. Almost all of the symmetries are spontaneously broken in the standard vacuum and the soft photons are the corresponding Goldstone bosons. In conclusion, our result establishes a relationship between soft theorems and asymptotic symmetry groups in any even dimension.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

On the Rutherford-Santilli neutron model

In 1920 H. Rutherford conjectured that the first particle synthesized in stars is neutron from a proton and an electron after which all known matter is progressively synthesized. However, Pauli objected Rutherford’s version of neutron synthesis because inability to represent spin 1/2 of the neutron. Using this objection E. Fermi proposed emission of massless particle, called “neutrino”. However, Santilli has dismissed the neutrino hypothesis following certain ambiguities such as positive binding energy required in synthesis of neutron. He found that celebrated Schrödinger’s equation of quantum physics is not suitable for obtaining positive binding energy for bound state at the dimension of 10{sup −13}cm. In order to remove these shortcomings, Santilli has developed isomathematics and then hadronic mechanics, which allowed the time invariant representation of Hamiltonian and non-Hamiltonian interactions as needed for the neutron synthesis (see for example: References cited at [1]).Thus the anomalies pertaining to the binding energy, the spin and the magnetic moment got resolved. He successfully calculated missing positive binding energy via isonormalization of the mass for electron when totally immersed within the hyper-dense medium inside the proton. Considering Rutherford’s compression of the isoelectron within the proton in the singlet coupling, he also identified the spin 1/2 for neutron and calculated the magnetic moment of the neutron. In order to verify his logical concept, he repeated the Don Carlo Borghi experiment of synthesis of the neutron from proton and electrons and verified that the said setup indeed produces neutron-type particles called “neutroids” which latter is absorbed by the activated detector substances that produces known nuclear reactions. He dismissed the neutrino hypothesis and replaced it with a longitudinal impulse originating from the ether as a universal substratum, named, “etherino”. He pointed out that all the physical quantities missing in the neutron synthesis, such as energy and spin, are delivered by said impulse.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Crossing beyond scattering amplitudes

We find that different asymptotic measurements in quantum field theory can be related to one another through new versions of crossing symmetry. Assuming analyticity, we conjecture generalized crossing relations for multi-particle processes and the corresponding paths of analytic continuation. We prove them to all multiplicity at tree-level in quantum field theory and string theory. We illustrate how to practically perform analytic continuations on loop-level examples using different methods, including unitarity cuts and differential equations. We study the extent to which anomalous thresholds away from the usual physical region can cause an analytic obstruction to crossing when massless particles are involved. In an appendix, we review and streamline historical proofs of four-particle crossing symmetry in gapped theories.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Four no-go theorems on the existence of spin and orbital angular momentum of massless bosons

The past decades have seen substantial interest in the so-called orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light, driven largely by its diverse range of applications. However, there are fundamental theoretical issues with decomposing the angular momentum of massless particles, such as photons, into spin (SAM) and orbital angular momentum parts. While the angular momentum of massive particles has a natural splitting into the Wigner SAM and OAM, there are numerous proposed splittings for photons and no consensus about which is correct. Moreover, it has been shown that most of the proposed SAM and OAM operators do not satisfy the defining commutation relations of angular momentum operators and are thus not legitimate splittings. Here, we prove that it is generally impossible to split the total angular momentum operator of massless bosons, such as photons and gravitons, into spin and orbital parts. We prove two further generalizations of this result, showing that there are no SAM-OAM splittings even if (1) the SAM operator generates non-internal symmetries or (2) if one allows the SAM and OAM operators to generate non-SO(3) symmetries.

Chern numbers↗