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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 OSTI2022

Room temperature corrosion behaviour of plastically deformed AISI 304 stainless steel by friction stir welding in neutral and acidified chloride solutions

Severe plastic deformation of 304L stainless steel plate was carried out by friction stirring under an isothermal tool temperature at 825°C. The friction stirred zone showed extensive grain refinement, high fraction of low angle grain boundaries due to dislocation rearrangement, Σ3 and Σ9 special grain boundaries and discrete Fe–Cr–Mn-rich particles. Electrochemical polarisation measurements were done on the base metal (BM) and friction stir welded (FSW) specimens in the neutral and acidified 3.5% NaCl solutions. The BM showed marginally better pitting resistance in the neutral chloride solution than the FSW because of a larger fraction of special grain boundaries, and larger grain size. Whereas in acidified 3.5% NaCl solution, the FSW showed better corrosion resistance than the BM. Furthermore, the surface film of the FSW had a lower impedance and a lower defect concentration than the BM indicating higher diffusivity of point defects in the FSW.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Restorable Neutralization of Poly(acrylic acid) Binders toward Balanced Processing Properties and Cycling Performance for Silicon Anodes in Lithium-Ion Batteries

Neutralization of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)-based binders using lithium hydroxide is a common strategy for fabricating silicon anode laminates, which improves rheological properties of slurries toward high-quality electrode laminates. However, the significantly increased basicity causes degradation of Si particles while the irreversible conversion of carboxylic acid groups to lithium carboxylates undermines the binding strength, collectively leading to adverse cycling performance of the fabricated Si anodes. Herein, a novel neutralization process for PAA binders is developed. A weak base, ammonia (NH 3 ), was discovered as a neutralizing agent that still promotes rheological response of binder solutions but results in a reduced pH increase. Interestingly, the resulting ammonium carboxylate groups may cleave during the drying process to restore the neutralized PAA (PAA-NH 3 ) binders to their pristine states. The best-performing composition of 50% neutralization (PAA-50%NH 3 ) provides comparable rheological response as a PAA-Li binder as well as much improved cycling performance. Additionally, the half-cells using the PAA-50%NH 3 binder can deliver 60% capacity retention over 100 cycles at C/3 rate, affording a 23.8% increase compared to PAA-Li half-cells. This restorable neutralization process of PAA binders represents an innovative strategy of mitigating issues from slurry processing of Si particles to achieve concurrent improvements in high-quality lamination and cycling performance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Search for flavor-changing neutral current interactions of the top quark and the Higgs boson decaying to a bottom quark-antiquark pair at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV

A search for flavor-changing neutral current interactions of the top quark (t) and the Higgs boson (H) is presented. The search is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb-1 recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV. Events containing exactly one lepton (muon or electron) and at least three jets, among which at least two are identified as originating from the hadronization of a bottom quark, are analyzed. A set of deep neural networks is used for kinematic event reconstruction, while boosted decision trees distinguish the signal from the background events. No significant excess over the background predictions is observed, and upper limits on the signal production cross sections are extracted. These limits are interpreted in terms of top quark decay branching fractions (B) to the Higgs boson and an up (u) or a charm quark (c). Assuming one nonvanishing extra coupling at a time, the observed (expected) upper limits at 95% confidence level are B(t → Hu) < 0.079 (0.11)% and B(t → Hc) < 0.094 (0.086)%.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Search for flavor-changing neutral current interactions of the top quark mediated by a Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV

A search for flavor-changing neutral current interactions of the top quark (𝑡) and the Higgs boson (𝐻) is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision data collected in 2016–2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb −1 . Events containing a pair of leptons with the same-sign electric charge and at least one jet are considered. The results are used to constrain the branching fraction (ℬ) of the top quark decaying to a Higgs boson and an up (𝑢) or charm (𝑐) quark. No significant excess above the estimated background was found. The observed (expected) upper limits at a 95% confidence level are found to be 0.072% (0.059%) for ℬ⁡(𝑡 → 𝐻⁡𝑢) and 0.043% (0.062%) for ℬ⁡(𝑡 → 𝐻⁡𝑐). These results are combined with two other searches performed by the CMS Collaboration for flavor-changing neutral current interactions of top quarks and Higgs bosons in final states where the Higgs boson decays to either a pair of photons or a pair of bottom quarks. The resulting observed (expected) upper limits at the 95% confidence level are 0.019% (0.027%) for ℬ⁡(𝑡 → 𝐻⁡𝑢) and 0.037% (0.035%) for ℬ⁡(𝑡 → 𝐻⁡𝑐).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A blessing in disguise : Characterisations of ProtoDUNE photon showers for neutrino measurements in DUNE

There are few areas of particle physics as open to new discoveries as the neutrino sector. Although these particles are among the most abundant in the universe, their weak coupling to ordinary matter makes them a challenge to study. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an upcoming precision experiment in neutrino physics planned to be built between Illinois and South Dakota in the US. The most powerful neutrino beam in the world will be aimed at the largest liquid argon time projection chamber in the world through 1300 km of solid rock. In order to prototype this detector, a scale model was constructed and operated at CERN in 2018 called ProtoDUNE. This thesis presents three studies performed on this detector. The first concerns the readout of detector data by the FELIX data acquisition system, as well as compression studies performed on the same data. The second study concerns the identification of photons created in neutral pion decay, which form a major background to neutrino-produced electrons. The distinction between electrons and photons is based on the differing energy deposition in the initial part of the particle showers they produce. The third study concerns the energy reconstruction of particle showers in the detector. Although photon showers created from neutral pion decay are a major background to the eventual neutrino signal, they have a known energy profile and can thus be used to calibrate the energy reconstruction of particle showers in general, a vital requirement for DUNE’s physics goals.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

PCMS: Parallel Coupler For Multimodel Simulations

This paper presents the Parallel Coupler for Multimodel Simulations (PCMS), a new GPU accelerated generalized coupling framework for coupling simulation codes on leadership class supercomputers. PCMS includes distributed control and field mapping methods for up to five dimensions. For field mapping PCMS can utilize discretization and field information to accommodate physics constraints. PCMS is demonstrated with a coupling of the gyrokinetic microturbulence code XGC with a Monte Carlo neutral transport code DEGAS2 and with a 5D distribution function coupling of an energetic particle transport code (GNET) to a gyrokinetic microturbulence code (GTC). Weak scaling is also demonstrated on up to 2,080 GPUs of Frontier with a weak scaling efficiency of 85%.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Control of core–shell nanoparticles properties through plasma synthesis: a computational study

The improved properties of core–shell nanoparticles (CSNPs) over homogeneous nanoparticles (NPs) have expanded and diversified the applications of these nanomaterials. However, controlling the properties of CSNPs can be a challenging task. Low temperature plasmas have proven to be an effective method of producing NPs with uniform size and morphology, and high yield. That said, NP transport and growth dynamics are sensitive to LTP properties. We report on a computational investigation of the evolution of Ge–Si CSNP properties as a function of operating conditions through the modeling of a flowing, two-zone inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactor. Ar/GeH 4 and Ar/SiH 4 gas mixtures were supplied to separate plasma zones at a pressure of 1 Torr to promote growth of Ge cores and Si shells. The negatively charged CSNPs are trapped electrostatically in the vicinity of the antennas where the plasma is generated and where the majority of particle growth occurs. Particles that grow to a critical size are then de-trapped by fluid drag due to neutral gas flow. A two-dimensional hybrid plasma model coupled with a three-dimensional kinetic NP transport model were utilized to resolve plasma chemistry and NP growth processes that take place on distinct timescales. The trends in CSNP properties and trapping mechanisms associated with flow rate, applied ICP power and inlet precursor fraction are discussed. While the spatial distribution of plasma produced radical species can have significant impact on the NP growth process, the NP transport dynamics are what ultimately dictates the growth environment that is unique to each particle and so determines their final dimension and composition. The key to optimizing reactor conditions involves controlling the spatial density of growth species and plasma profile as a means to tailor particle trapping dynamics suitable to produce CSNPs for a specific application.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Search for dark matter production in association with a single top quark in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV

A search for the production of a single top quark in association with invisible particles is performed using proton-proton collision data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb −1 . In this search, a flavor-changing neutral current produces a single top quark or antiquark and an invisible state nonresonantly. The invisible state consists of a hypothetical spin-1 particle acting as a new mediator and decaying to two spin-1/2 dark matter candidates. The analysis searches for events in which the top quark or antiquark decays hadronically. No significant excess of events compatible with that signature is observed. Exclusion limits at 95% confidence level are placed on the masses of the spin-1 mediator and the dark matter candidates, and are compared to constraints from the dark matter relic density measurements. In a vector (axial-vector) coupling scenario, masses of the spin-1 mediator are excluded up to 1.85 (1.85) TeV with an expectation of 2.0 (2.0) TeV, whereas masses of the dark matter candidates are excluded up to 0.75 (0.55) TeV with an expectation of 0.85 (0.65) TeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Leptonic cascade decays of a heavy Higgs boson through vectorlike leptons at the LHC

We demonstrate the potential of fully leptonic cascade decays of a heavy neutral Higgs boson through vectorlike leptons as a simultaneous probe for extended Higgs sectors and extra matter particles at the LHC. The processes we explore are unique in that their event topologies lead to di-boson-like leptonic final states with a lepton pair which does not reconstruct the mass of a gauge boson. By recasting existing $2\ell$ + $E^{\text{miss}}_{R}$ and $3/4\ell$ searches channels using run2 data from the LHC we obtain model independent bounds on the masses of heavy scalars and vectorlike leptons and use these results to explore future prospects at the HL-LHC. Our results can be directly applied to any kind of new physics scenarios sharing the final states and the event topology. For concreteness, we apply our results to a benchmark scenario: a two Higgs doublet model type-II augmented with vectorlike leptons. Remarkably, even with current data the sensitivity of our analysis shows a reach for masses of a heavy neutral Higgs and vectorlike leptons up to 2 TeV and 1.5 TeV, respectively. Even for low tan β ≳ 1, the analysis retains sensitivity to heavy Higgs masses slightly above 1 TeV. The future sensitivities at the HL-LHC extend the reach for heavy Higgses and new leptons to 2.7 TeV and 2 TeV, respectively.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Influence of strong Coulomb coupling on diffusion in atmospheric pressure plasmas

Ion diffusion in atmospheric pressure plasmas is examined and particular attention is paid to the fact that ion–ion interactions can be influenced by strong Coulomb coupling. Three regimes are identified. At low ionization fractions (x i ≲ 10 —6 ), standard weakly correlated ion-neutral interactions set the diffusion rate. At moderate ionization fractions (10 —6 ≲ x i ≲ 10 —2 ) there is a transition from ion-neutral to ion–ion collisions setting the diffusion rate. In this regime, the effect of strong Coulomb coupling in ion–ion collisions is accounted for by applying the mean force kinetic theory. Since both ion-neutral and ion–ion interactions contribute a comparable amount to the total diffusion rate, models (such as particle-in-cell or fluid) must account for both contributions. At high ionization fractions (x i ≳ 10 —2 ), strongly correlated ion–ion collisions dominate and the plasma is heated substantially by a disorder-induced heating (DIH) process associated with strong correlations. The temperature increase due to DIH strongly influences the ion diffusion rate. This effect becomes even more important, and occurs at lower ionization fractions, as the pressure increases above atmospheric pressure. In addition to ion diffusion, DIH affects the neutral gas temperature, therefore influencing the neutral diffusion rate. Model predictions are tested using molecular dynamics simulations, which included a Monte Carlo collision routine to simulate the effect of ion-neutral collisions at the lowest ionization fractions. The model and simulations show good agreement over a broad range of ionization fractions. Importantly, the results provide a model for ion diffusion, on a wide range of ionization fractions and pressures, solely considering the elastic contribution to the diffusion coefficient—as an illustration of how strong Coulomb coupling influences diffusion processes in general.

fast neutral gas heating↗
DOE OSTI2020

Structural reversibility of Cu doped NU-1000 MOFs under hydrogenation conditions

The metal-organic framework (MOF), NU-1000, and its metalated counterparts have found proof-of-concept application in heterogeneous catalysis and hydrogen storage amongst others. A vapor-phase technique, akin to atomic layer deposition (ALD), is used to selectively deposit divalent Cu ions on oxo, hydroxo-bridged hexa-zirconium(IV) nodes capped with terminal –OH and -OH 2 ligands. Subsequent reaction with steam yields node-anchored, CuII-oxo,hydroxo clusters. We find that cluster installation via AIM (= ALD In MOFs) is accompanied by an expansion of MOF mesopore (channel) diameter . We investigated the behavior of the cluster-modified material, termed Cu-AIM-NU-1000, to heat treatment up to 325 °C, at atmospheric pressure with a low flow of H2 into the reaction cell. The response under these conditions revealed two important results: (1) Above 200 °C, the initially installed few-metal-ion clusters reduce to neutral Cu atoms. The neutral atoms migrate from the nodes and aggregate into Cu nanoparticles. While the size of particles formed in the MOF interior is constrained by the width of mesopores (ca. 3 nm), those formed on the exterior surface of the MOF can grow as large as ca. 8 nm. (2) Reduction and release of Cu atoms from the MOFs nodes is accompanied NU-1000 undergoes dynamic structural transformation as it reverts back to its original dimension following the release. These results show while the MOF framework itself remains intact at 325 °C in an H 2 atmosphere, the small, AIM-installed Cu II -oxo,hydroxo clusters are stable with respect to reduction and conversion to metallic nanoparticles only up to ~200 °C.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Analysis of the linear and nonlinear stability of Alfven eigenmodes and fish-bones in JET DT discharges: mode identification and shear flows generation

The plasma in future nuclear fusion reactors will be heated by neutral beam injectors (NBIs) and high frequency electromagnetic waves as well as fusion born alpha particles. Energetic particles (EPs), with energies up to two orders of magnitude larger than the thermal plasma, can trigger EP driven modes and induce harmful EP losses, reducing the plasma heating efficiency and the economical viability of the reactor. The present study is dedicated to analyze the Alfven Eigenmode (AE) activity in JET D–T discharges, the closest experiment to reactor-like operation performed until now. There, EP driven modes are induced by the combined effect of tangential NBIs and ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) driven EP. Linear and nonlinear simulations are performed with the gyro-fluid FAR3d code to analyze the AE activity observed in the discharge 99896. The linear simulations reproduce the unstable n = 3 to 5 toroidal AEs (TAE) at the inner plasma region observed in the experiment, triggered by highly energetic passing deuterium populations injected by the tangential NBIs, further accelerated by the effect of the ICRH up to 1 MeV. In addition, fish-bones triggered by energetic trapped hydrogen induced by the ICRH are also reproduced. On the other hand, the alpha particles density is too small to destabilize AEs in the experiment. Nonetheless, increasing artificially the alpha density by one order of magnitude, an n = 1 beta induced AE can be destabilized in the inner plasma region. Nonlinear simulations indicate the generation of zonal structures during the AE/fish-bone saturation phase. TAE and fish-bones causes a rather weak increase of the passing D and trapped H EP (around 2%), respectively. Shear flows and zonal currents are generated during the saturation of TAE and fish-bones. Nonlinear simulations performed for D–T and pure deuterium thermal plasma indicate AE/fish-bone activity is weaker and shear flows are less intense in the pure deuterium case, trends consistent with the experimental observations that also indicates a deterioration of the thermal plasma confinement. Therefore, both numerical studies and experimental evidence indicate the generation of shear flows by AE/fish-bones could be connected with an improvement of the thermal plasma confinement.

AE↗
DOE OSTI2022

SU(4) Symmetry in Twisted Bilayer Graphene: An Itinerant Perspective

We study symmetry-broken phases in twisted bilayer graphene at small filling above charge neutrality and at van Hove filling. We argue that the Landau functionals for the particle-hole order parameters at these fillings both have an approximate SU(4) symmetry, but differ in the sign of quartic terms. We determine the order parameter manifold of the ground state and analyze its excitations. For small fillings, we find a strong first-order transition to an SU(3) Ⓧ U(1) manifold of orders that break spin-valley symmetry and induce a 3-1 splitting of fermionic excitations. For van Hove filling, we find a weak first-order transition to an SU(2) Ⓧ SU(2) Ⓧ U(1) manifold of orders that preserves the twofold band degeneracy. Here, we discuss the effect of particle-hole orders on superconductivity and compare with strong-coupling approaches.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2026

Final Report: A Multi-Channel Fusion Product

The goal of this project was to measure charged fusion products from the d(d,p)t reaction in MAST-U plasmas as a function of time and position with good energy resolution using a system of up to six charged particle detectors. The data from this new diagnostic will make it possible to determine the neutral beam ion density profile as a function of R, z, and t with reduced model dependency and contribute new information to a global analysis of fast ion diagnostic data needed for the determination of the fast ion distribution function (velocity space tomography).

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Neutral pion reconstruction using machine learning in the experiment at 〈E ν〉 6 GeV

This paper presents a novel neutral-pion reconstruction that takes advantage of the machine learning technique of semantic segmentation using MINERvA data collected between 2013–2017, with an average neutrino energy of 6 GeV. Semantic segmentation improves the purity of neutral pion reconstruction from two γs from 70.7 ± 0.9% to 89.3 ± 0.7% and improves the efficiency of the reconstruction by approximately 40%. We demonstrate our method in a charged current neutral pion production analysis where a single neutral pion is reconstructed. This technique is applicable to modern tracking calorimeters, such as the new generation of liquid-argon time projection chambers, exposed to neutrino beams with 〈E ν〉 between 1–10 GeV. In such experiments it can facilitate the identification of ionization hits which are associated with electromagnetic showers, thereby enabling improved reconstruction of charged-current νe events arising from νμ → νe appearance.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗