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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 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2010

Physics-Based Methods of Failure Analysis and Diagnostics in Human Space Flight

The Integrated Health Management (IHM) for the future aerospace systems requires to interface models of multiple subsystems in an efficient and accurate information environment at the earlier stages of system design. The complexity of modern aeronautic and aircraft systems (including e.g. the power distribution, flight control, solid and liquid motors) dictates employment of hybrid models and high-level reasoners for analysing mixed continuous and discrete information flow involving multiple modes of operation in uncertain environments, unknown state variables, heterogeneous software and hardware components. To provide the information link between key design/performance parameters and high-level reasoners we rely on development of multi-physics performance models, distributed sensors networks, and fault diagnostic and prognostic (FD&P) technologies in close collaboration with system designers. The main challenges of our research are related to the in-flight assessment of the structural stability, engine performance, and trajectory control. The main goal is to develop an intelligent IHM that not only enhances components and system reliability, but also provides a post-flight feedback helping to optimize design of the next generation of aerospace systems. Our efforts are concentrated on several directions of the research. One of the key components of our strategy is an innovative approach to the diagnostics/prognostics based on the real time dynamical inference (DI) technologies extended to encompass hybrid systems with hidden state trajectories. The major investments are into the multiphysics performance modelling that provides an access of the FD&P technologies to the main performance parameters of e.g. solid and liquid rocket motors and composite materials of the nozzle and case. Some of the recent results of our research are discussed in this chapter. We begin by introducing the problem of dynamical inference of stochastic nonlinear models and reviewing earlier results. Next, we present our analytical approach to the solution of this problem based on the path integral formulation. The resulting algorithm does not require an extensive global search for the model parameters, provides optimal compensation for the effects of dynamical noise, and is robust for a broad range of dynamical models. In the following Section the strengths of the algorithm are illustrated illustrated by inferring the parameters of the stochastic Lorenz system and comparing the results with those of earlier research. Next, we discuss a number of recent results in application to the development of the IHM for aerospace system. Firstly, we apply dynamical inference approach to a solution of classical three tank problems with mixed unknown continuous and binary parameters. The problem is considered in the context of ground support system for filling fuel tanks of liquid rocket motors. It is shown that the DI algorithm is well suited for successful solution of a hybrid version of this benchmark problem even in the presence of additional periodic and stochastic perturbation of unknown strength. Secondly, we illustrate our approach by its application to an analysis of the nozzle fault in a solid rocket motor (SRM). The internal ballistics of the SRM is modelled as a set of one-dimensional partial differential equations coupled to the dynamics of the propellant regression. In this example we are specifically focussed on the inference of discrete and continuous parameters of the nozzle blocking fault and on the possibility of an application of the DI algorithm to reducing the probability of "misses" of an on-board FD&P for SRM. In the next section re-contact problem caused by first stage/upper stage separation failure is discussed. The reaction forces imposed on the nozzle of the upper stage during the re-contact and their connection to the nozzle damage and to the thrust vector control (TVC) signal are obtained. It is shown that transient impact induced torquean be modelled as a response of an effective damped oscillator. A possible application of the DI algorithm to the inference of damage parameters and predicting fault dynamics ahead of time using the actuator signal is discussed. Finally, we formulate Bayesian inferential framework for development of the IHM system for in-flight structural health monitoring (SHM) of composite materials. We consider the signal generated by piezoelectric actuator mounted on composite structure generating elastic waves in it. The signal received by the sensor is than compared with the baseline signal. The possibility of damage inference is discussed in the context of development of the SHM.

Smelyanskiy, Vadim N.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Improved Kelbg Potentials for Z > 1 and Application to Carbon Plasmas

In this work, we present a general form for the electron‐ion diffractive potential derived from the quantum pair density matrix and fit to the improved Kelbg potential for atomic numbers up to $Z = 54$. We apply classical molecular dynamics using the improved Kelbg potential for carbon with various forms of the Pauli potential to compute internal energies and pressures for hot, dense plasma conditions. Our results are compared to an equation of state model based on path integral Monte Carlo and density functional theory simulations to examine the extent to which the improved Kelbg potential reproduces the internal energy and pressure of carbon plasmas. The regions of validity for carbon agree generally with those derived previously for hydrogen once pressure ionization effects are incorporated. Based on our carbon results and previously published hydrogen studies, we discuss the general applicability and limitations of these potentials for equation of state studies in warm dense matter and high energy density plasmas.

general physics↗
DOE OSTI2016

The fluid manifesto: emergent symmetries, hydrodynamics, and black holes

We focus on the question of how relativistic fluid dynamics should be thought of as a Wilsonian effective field theory emerging from Schwinger-Keldysh path integrals. Taking the basic principles of Schwinger-Keldysh formalism seriously, we are led to a series of remarkable statements and conjectures, which we phrase in terms of a broad programme relating relativistic fluid dynamics and topological sigma models. Apart from the intrinsic interest for these ideas from the non-equilibrium field theory viewpoint, we also emphasize its relevance to various fundamental questions in black hole physics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Entropy, extremality, euclidean variations, and the equations of motion

We study the Euclidean gravitational path integral computing the Rényi entropy and analyze its behavior under small variations. We argue that, in Einstein gravity, the extremality condition can be understood from the variational principle at the level of the action, without having to solve explicitly the equations of motion. This set-up is then generalized to arbitrary theories of gravity, where we show that the respective entanglement entropy functional needs to be extremized. We also extend this result to all orders in Newton’s constant G N , providing a derivation of quantum extremality. Understanding quantum extremality for mixtures of states provides a generalization of the dual of the boundary modular Hamiltonian which is given by the bulk modular Hamiltonian plus the area operator, evaluated on the so-called modular extremal surface. This gives a bulk prescription for computing the relative entropies to all orders in G N . We also comment on how these ideas can be used to derive an integrated version of the equations of motion, linearized around arbitrary states.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

An effective matrix model for dynamical end of the world branes in Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity

We study Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity with dynamical end of the world branes in asymptotically nearly AdS2 spacetimes. We quantize this theory in Lorentz signature, and compute the Euclidean path integral summing over topologies including dynamical branes. The latter will be seen to exactly match with a modification of the SSS matrix model. The resolution of UV divergences in the gravitational instantons involving the branes will lead us to understand the matrix model interpretation of the Wilsonian effective theory perspective on the gravitational theory. We complete this modified SSS matrix model nonperturbatively by extending the integration contour of eigenvalues into the complex plane. Furthermore, we give a new interpretation of other phases in such matrix models. We derive an effective W(Φ) dilaton gravity, which exhibits similar physics semiclassically. In the limit of a large number of flavors of branes, the effective extremal entropy S0,eff has the form of counting the states of these branes.

2D Gravity↗
DOE OSTI2016

Noether’s second theorem and Ward identities for gauge symmetries

Recently, a number of new Ward identities for large gauge transformations and large diffeomorphisms have been discovered. Some of the identities are reinterpretations of previously known statements, while some appear to be genuinely new. We present and use Noether’s second theorem with the path integral as a powerful way of generating these kinds of Ward identities. We reintroduce Noether’s second theorem and discuss how to work with the physical remnant of gauge symmetry in gauge fixed systems. We illustrate our mechanism in Maxwell theory, Yang-Mills theory, p-form field theory, and Einstein-Hilbert gravity. We comment on multiple connections between Noether’s second theorem and known results in the recent literature. Finally, our approach suggests a novel point of view with important physical consequences.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Chiral algebras, localization and surface defects

Four-dimensional N = 2 superconformal quantum field theories contain a subsector carrying the structure of a chiral algebra. Using localization techniques, we show for the free hypermultiplet that this structure can be accessed directly from the path integral on the four-sphere. We extend the localization computation to include supersymmetric surface defects described by a generic 4d/2d coupled system. The presence of a defect corresponds to considering a module of the chiral algebra: our results provide a calculational window into its structure constants.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Binding complexity and multiparty entanglement

We introduce “binding complexity”, a new notion of circuit complexity which quantifies the difficulty of distributing entanglement among multiple parties, each consisting of many local degrees of freedom. We define binding complexity of a given state as the minimal number of quantum gates that must act between parties to prepare it. To illustrate the new notion we compute it in a toy model for a scalar field theory, using certain multiparty entangled states which are analogous to configurations that are known in AdS/CFT to correspond to multiboundary wormholes. Pursuing this analogy, we show that our states can be prepared by the Euclidean path integral in (0 + 1)-dimensional quantum mechanics on graphs with wormhole-like structure. We compute the binding complexity of our states by adapting the Euler-Arnold approach to Nielsen’s geometrization of gate counting, and find a scaling with entropy that resembles a result for the interior volume of holographic multiboundary wormholes. We also compute the binding complexity of general coherent states in perturbation theory, and show that for “double-trace deformations” of the Hamiltonian the effects resemble expansion of a wormhole interior in holographic theories.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

A theory of reparameterizations for AdS 3 gravity

We rewrite the Chern-Simons description of pure gravity on global AdS 3 and on Euclidean BTZ black holes as a quantum field theory on the AdS boundary. The resulting theory is (two copies of) the path integral quantization of a certain coadjoint orbit of the Virasoro group, and it should be regarded as the quantum field theory of the boundary gravitons. This theory respects all of the conformal field theory axioms except one: it is not modular invariant. The coupling constant is 1/c with c the central charge, and perturbation theory in 1/c encodes loop contributions in the gravity dual. The QFT is a theory of reparametrizations analogous to the Schwarzian description of nearly AdS2 gravity, and has several features including: (i) it is ultraviolet-complete; (ii) the torus partition function is the vacuum Virasoro character, which is one-loop exact by a localization argument; (iii) it reduces to the Schwarzian theory upon compactification; (iv) it provides a powerful new tool for computing Virasoro blocks at large c via a diagrammatic expansion. We use the theory to compute several observables to one-loop order in the bulk, including the “heavy-light” limit of the identity block. We also work out some generalizations of this theory, including the boundary theory which describes fluctuations around two-sided eternal black holes.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Bra-ket wormholes in gravitationally prepared states

We consider two dimensional CFT states that are produced by a gravitational path integral. As a first case, we consider a state produced by Euclidean AdS2 evolution followed by flat space evolution. We use the fine grained entropy formula to explore the nature of the state. We find that the naive hyperbolic space geometry leads to a paradox. This is solved if we include a geometry that connects the bra with the ket, a bra-ket wormhole. The semiclassical Lorentzian interpretation leads to CFT state entangled with an expanding and collapsing Friedmann cosmology.

2D Gravity↗
DOE OSTI2023

Loop corrections in Minkowski spacetime away from equilibrium. Part II. Finite-time results

Loop corrections to finite-time correlation functions in quantum field theories away from equilibrium can be calculated using the in-in path integral approach. In this paper, we calculate the unequal-time two-point correlator for different massless self-interacting scalar quantum field theories on a Minkowski background, starting the field evolution at an arbitrary initial time. We find the counterterms that need to be added to UV-renormalize the result, including usual in-out counterterms in the dynamics and additional initial state counterterms that are required to cancel all UV divergences. We find that the late-time limit of the renormalized correlation function exhibits a linear or logarithmic growth in time, depending on whether the interaction strength is dimension-one or dimensionless, respectively. The late-time correlations match those obtained in our companion paper and, as shown there, the divergences do not indicate a real IR issue, consistent with what one would expect in Minkowski.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Encoding beyond cosmological horizons in de Sitter JT gravity

Black hole event horizons and cosmological event horizons share many properties, making it natural to ask whether our recent advances in understanding black holes generalize to cosmology. To this end, we discuss a paradox that occurs if observers can access what lies beyond their cosmological horizon in the same way that they can access what lies beyond a black hole horizon. In particular, distinct observers with distinct horizons may encode the same portion of spacetime, violating the no-cloning theorem of quantum mechanics. This paradox is due precisely to the observer-dependence of the cosmological horizon — the sharpest difference from a black hole horizon — although we will argue that the gravity path integral avoids the paradox in controlled examples.

2D gravity↗
DOE OSTI2024

A principle of maximum ignorance for semiclassical gravity

The principle of maximum ignorance posits that the coarse-grained description of a system is maximally agnostic about its underlying microscopic structure. We briefly review this principle for random matrix theory and for the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. We then apply this principle in holography to construct ensembles of random mixed states. This leads to an ensemble of microstates which models our microscopic ignorance, and which on average reproduces the effective semiclassical physics of a given bulk state. We call this ensemble the state-averaging ansatz. The output of our model is a prediction for semiclassical contributions to variances and higher statistical moments over the ensemble of microstates. The statistical moments provide coarse-grained — yet gravitationally non-perturbative — information about the microstructure of the individual states of the ensemble. We show that these contributions exactly match the on-shell action of known wormhole configurations of the gravitational path integral. These results strengthen the view that wormholes simply parametrize the ignorance of the microstructure of a fundamental state, given a fixed semiclassical bulk description.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Constrained HRT Surfaces and their Entropic Interpretation

Abstract Consider two boundary subregionsAandBthat lie in a common boundary Cauchy surface, and consider also the associated HRT surfaceγ B forB. In that context, the constrained HRT surfaceγ A:B can be defined as the codimension-2 bulk surface anchored toAthat is obtained by a maximin construction restricted to Cauchy slices containingγ B . As a result,γ A:B is the union of two pieces,$$ {\gamma}_{A:B}^B $$ γ A : B B and$$ {\gamma}_{A:B}^{\overline{B}} $$ γ A : B B ¯ lying respectively in the entanglement wedges ofBand its complement$$ \overline{B} $$ B ¯ . Unlike the area$$ \mathcal{A}\left({\gamma}_A\right) $$ A γ A of the HRT surfaceγ A , at least in the semiclassical limit, the area$$ \mathcal{A}\left({\gamma}_{A:B}\right) $$ A γ A : B ofγ A:B commutes with the area$$ \mathcal{A}\left({\gamma}_B\right) $$ A γ B ofγ B . To study the entropic interpretation of$$ \mathcal{A}\left({\gamma}_{A:B}\right) $$ A γ A : B , we analyze the Rényi entropies of subregionAin a fixed-area state of subregionB. We use the gravitational path integral to show that then ≈1 Rényi entropies are then computed by minimizing$$ \mathcal{A}\left({\gamma}_A\right) $$ A γ A over spacetimes defined by a boost angle conjugate to$$ \mathcal{A}\left({\gamma}_B\right) $$ A γ B . In the case where the pieces$$ {\gamma}_{A:B}^B $$ γ A : B B and$$ {\gamma}_{A:B}^{\overline{B}} $$ γ A : B B ¯ intersect at a constant boost angle, a geometric argument shows that then ≈1 Rényi entropy is then given by$$ \frac{\mathcal{A}\left({\gamma}_{A:B}\right)}{4G} $$ A γ A : B 4 G . We discuss how then ≈1 Rényi entropy differs from the von Neumann entropy due to a lack of commutativity of then→ 1 andG →0 limits. We also discuss how the behaviour changes as a function of the width of the fixed-area state. Our results are relevant to some of the issues associated with attempts to use standard random tensor networks to describe time dependent geometries.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Non-isometry, state dependence and holography

We establish an equivalence between non-isometry of quantum codes and state dependence of operator reconstruction, and discuss implications of this equivalence for holographic duality. Specifically, we define quantitative measures of non-isometry and state dependence and describe bounds relating these quantities. In the context of holography we show that, assuming known gravitational path integral results for overlaps between semiclassical states, non-isometric bulk-to-boundary maps with a trivial kernel are approximately isometric and bulk reconstruction approximately state-independent. In contrast, non-isometric maps with a non-empty kernel always lead to state-dependent reconstruction. We also show that if a global bulk-to-boundary map is non-isometric, then there exists a region in the bulk which is causally disconnected from the boundary. Finally, we conjecture that, under certain physical assumptions for the definition of the Hilbert space of effective field theory in AdS space, the presence of a global horizon implies a non-isometric global bulk-to-boundary map.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Effective description of sub-maximal chaos: stringy effects for SYK scrambling

It has been proposed that the exponential decay and subsequent power law saturation of out-of-time-order correlation functions can be universally described by collective ‘scramblon’ modes. We develop this idea from a path integral perspective in several examples, thereby establishing a general formalism. After reformulating previous work on the Schwarzian theory and identity conformal blocks in two-dimensional CFTs relevant for systems in the infinite coupling limit with maximal quantum Lyapunov exponent, we focus on theories with sub-maximal chaos: we study the large-q limit of the SYK quantum dot and chain, both of which are amenable to analytical treatment at finite coupling. In both cases we identify the relevant scramblon modes, derive their effective action, and find bilocal vertex functions, thus constructing an effective description of chaos. The final results can be matched in detail to stringy corrections to the gravitational eikonal S-matrix in holographic CFTs, including a stringy Regge trajectory, bulk to boundary propagators, and multi-string effects that are unexplored holographically.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Wormholes from heavy operator statistics in AdS/CFT

We construct higher dimensional Euclidean AdS wormhole solutions that reproduce the statistical description of the correlation functions of an ensemble of heavy CFT operators. We consider an operator which effectively backreacts on the geometry in the form of a thin shell of dust particles. Assuming dynamical chaos in the form of the ETH ansatz, we demonstrate that the semiclassical path integral provides an effective statistical description of the microscopic features of the thin shell operator in the CFT. The Euclidean wormhole solutions provide microcanonical saddlepoint contributions to the cumulants of the correlation functions over the ensemble of operators. We finally elaborate on the role of these wormholes in the context of non-perturbative violations of bulk global symmetries in AdS/CFT.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Extended JT supergravity and random matrix models: The power of the string equation

A number of supersymmetric Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity theories are known to be described (in the Euclidean path integral formulation) by double-scaled random matrix models. Such matrix models can be characterized using a certain “string equation”. It was shown recently that in extended supergravity, when the number of BPS states scales as e$^{S_0}$, where $S_0$ is the extremal entropy, a special ansatz for the leading order solution of the string equation yields the supergravity spectrum. Somewhat miraculously, the construction showed that the functional form of the non-BPS (continuum) sector predicts the precise form of the BPS sector, showing the robustness of the supergravity/matrix-model correspondence. In this paper, we refine the analysis and show that the string equation, combined with some simple requirements on solutions, are powerful tools for constraining the spectrum of extended JT supergravity theories. We re-explore the cases of $\mathcal{N} = 2$ and (small) $\mathcal{N} = 4$ JT supergravity, and then explore the new cases of spectra from $\mathcal{N} = 3$ and $\mathcal{N} = 4$ large JT supergravity (recently derived by Heydeman, Shi, and Turiaci) showing that our approach also works naturally for (nearly) all the models. Based on this success, we conjecture that these new supergravity models also have matrix model descriptions.

Extended Supersymmetry↗