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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 487 records · Page 27
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

A spline-based method to obtain spatially dependent viscosity in confined flows

Coupling chemical physics to continuum theories is a critical step to understanding multi-scale phenomena. This paper will connect non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to a continuum-based Navier-Stokes equation that has relaxed the assumption of spatial uniformity in viscosity. Using a form for viscosity based on spline interpolation, viscosity as a function of position is obtained from the least squares fit of the velocity profile measured from molecular simulations of flow in a nanochannel. Viscosity can vary widely, particularly near the channel boundaries, indicating that uniform viscosity is no longer appropriate. Variations of the viscosity near the channel surfaces imply that considering solution and surface chemistry could be necessary to rigorously understand molecular-scale flows in nanochannels.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Advanced CO 2 Capture Solvent Systems for Dynamic Power Generation: Quarterly Research Performance Progress Report, QR4 (Q4FY24)

We developed an integrated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model to simulate the multi-physics coupled cooling process of mixed gas by cold water within a Direct Contact Cooler (DCC) equipped with a rotating packing bed (RPB). The model captures the interactions between fluid dynamics, heat transfer, mass transport, and phase transitions, while accounting for key operational variables such as RPB rotational speed and the mass flow rates of both liquid and gas. The CFD model has been validated using experimental data, specifically by comparing predicted outflow gas and liquid temperatures to measured results. Our findings demonstrate the significant effects of RPB rotational speed and mass flow rates on cooling performance, providing valuable insights for optimizing DCC efficiency in industrial applications.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2026

Department of Transportation PHMSA Aerosol Spray Project: Phase-0

This report discusses the work conducted at Sandia National Laboratories during the preliminary phase (Phase-0) of the Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) project tasked to better understand what happens to a high-pressure liquid canister or vessel during a fire in which an accidental instantaneous release occurs. Phase 0 had two main objects: (1) to establish a methodology for the high temperature and pressure spray vessel release and (2) to characterize the spray droplet formation. For this test series, diagnostic equipment such as the Malvern Spraytec, high-speed photometric cameras, pencil gauges, and thermocouples were used. Additionally, the effect of surface tension on the particle size distribution was evaluated with 1-liter of distilled water and with the same including the addition of 0.5% soap/water mixture. Results from this effort indicated that the plume formed from the instantaneous release in all conditions primarily included two distinct particle size distributions including 217-312µm and 0.53µm on average. Soapy water formed a higher concentration of smaller mist (0.53µm) than distilled water, potentially due to decreased surface tension with the added surfactant. Though results showed good correlation to certain particle size distributions it is encouraged to conduct additional tests like this with a wider range of liquids with different properties, which could affect the overall particle size distribution when released.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Science & Technology Review: March 2026 - The Future of Lasers

At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we focus on science and technology research to ensure our nation’s security. We also apply that expertise to solve other important national problems in energy, bioscience, and the environment. Science & Technology Review is published eight times a year to communicate, to a broad audience, the Laboratory’s scientific and technological accomplishments in fulfilling its primary missions. The publication’s goal is to help readers understand these accomplishments and appreciate their value to the individual citizen, the nation, and the world.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

From Quantum Time to Manifestly Covariant QFT: On the Need for a Quantum-Action-Based Quantization

In quantum time (QT) schemes, time is promoted to a degree of freedom, allowing Lorentz covariance to be made explicit for single particles. We ask whether this can be lifted to QFT so that Lorentz covariance becomes manifest at the Hilbert-space level, rather than being hidden as in the standard canonical formulation. We address this question by proposing a second-quantized approach in which the elementary particle is the QT particle itself, leading naturally to the notion of spacetime field algebras and of quantum action. We show, however, that a naive many-body construction runs into inconsistencies. To pinpoint their origin we introduce a classical counterpart of the second-quantized formalism, spacetime classical mechanics (SCM), and prove a no-go theorem: Dirac quantization of SCM collapses back to standard QFT and therefore hides covariance. We circumvent this problem by presenting a quantum-action-based quantization that yields a spacetime version of quantum mechanics (SQM), making covariance manifest for (interacting) QFTs. Finally, we show that this resolution is tied to a genuine spacetime generalization of the notion of a quantum state, required by causality and closely connected to recent “states over time” proposals and, in dS/CFT–motivated settings, to microscopic notions of timelike entanglement and emergent time.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Efficiently Verifiable Quantum Advantage on Near-Term Analog Quantum Simulators

Existing schemes for demonstrating quantum computational advantage are subject to various practical restrictions, including the hardness of verification and challenges in experimental implementation. Meanwhile, analog quantum simulators have been realized in many experiments to study novel physics. In this work, we propose a quantum advantage protocol based on verification of an analog quantum simulation, in which the verifier need only run an O ( λ 2 ) -time classical computation, and the prover need only prepare O ( 1 ) samples of a history state and perform O ( λ 2 ) single-qubit measurements, for a security parameter λ . We also propose a near-term feasible strategy for honest provers and discuss potential experimental realizations. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Liu, Zhenning (ORCID:000000020794419X)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Classical optimization with imaginary-time block encoding on quantum computers: The MaxCut problem

Optimization problems in finance, physics, and computer science are typically very hard to tackle in classical computing; quantum computing could help speed up computations and provide efficient methods for tackling large problems. Typically, to treat a problem with a quantum computer, the optimal solution is cast as the ground state of a diagonal Hamiltonian. Here, we develop a method, called imaginary-time evolution block encoding (ITE-BE), based on a recent imaginary-time algorithm, which requires no variational parameter optimization, as all parameters can be derived analytically from the target Hamiltonian. We also demonstrate that our method can be successfully combined with other quantum algorithms such as the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA). For illustration, here we study the MaxCut problem. We find that the QAOA ansatz increases the postselection success of ITE-BE, and shallow QAOA circuits, when boosted with ITE-BE, achieve better performance than deeper QAOA circuits. For the special case of the transverse initial state, we adapt our block-encoding scheme to allow for a deterministic application of the first layer of the circuit.

Zhong, Dawei [University of Southern California, L↗
DOE OSTI2024

Random Circuits in the Black Hole Interior

In this paper, we present a quantitative holographic relation between a microscopic measure of randomness and the geometric length of the wormhole in the black hole interior. To this end, we perturb an AdS black hole with Brownian semiclassical sources, implementing the continuous version of a random quantum circuit for the black hole. We use the random circuit to prepare ensembles of states of the black hole whose semiclassical duals contain Einstein-Rosen (ER) caterpillars: long cylindrical wormholes with large numbers of matter inhomogeneities, of linearly growing length with the circuit time. In this setup, we show semiclassically that the ensemble of ER caterpillars of average length $k\ell_Δ$ and matter correlation scale $\ell_Δ$ forms an approximate quantum state $k$-design of the black hole. At exponentially long circuit times, the ensemble of ER caterpillars becomes polynomial-copy indistinguishable from a collection of random states of the black hole. We comment on the implications of these results for holographic circuit complexity and for the holographic description of the black hole interior.

FOS: Physical sciences↗
DOE OSTI2025

Fault-tolerant operation and materials science with neutral atom logical qubits

We report on the fault-tolerant operation of logical qubits on a neutral atom quantum computer, with logical performance surpassing physical performance for multiple circuits including Bell state preparation (12x error reduction), random circuits (15x), and a prototype Anderson Impurity Model ground state solver for materials science applications (up to 6x, non-fault-tolerantly). The logical qubits are implemented via the [[4, 2, 2]] code (C 4 ). Our work constitutes the first complete realization of the benchmarking protocol proposed by Gottesman 2016 demonstrating results consistent with fault tolerance. In light of recent advances on applying concatenated C 4 /C 6 detection codes to achieve error correction with high code rates and thresholds, our work can be regarded as a building block towards a practical scheme for fault tolerant quantum computation. Our demonstration of a materials science application with logical qubits particularly demonstrates the immediate value of these techniques on current experiments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Holographic codes and bulk RG flows

We consider the coarse-graining of holographic quantum error correcting codes under a generalized notion of bulk renormalization-group flow. In particular, we study the renormalization under this flow of the $A/4G$ term in the Faulkner-Lewkowycz-Maldacena formula and in its Rényi generalization. This provides a general quantum code perspective on the arguments of Susskind and Uglum. Specifically, given a 'UV' code with two-sided recovery and appropriately flat entanglement spectrum together with a set of 'seed' states in the UV code, we explicitly construct an 'IR' code with corresponding properties which contains the given seed states and is of minimal size in a sense we describe.

FOS: Physical sciences↗
DOE OSTI2025

Entanglement Cost for Infinite-Dimensional Physical Systems

We prove that the entanglement cost equals the regularized entanglement of formation for any infinite-dimensional quantum state ρ ΑΒ with finite quantum entropy on at least one of the subsystems A or B. This generalizes a foundational result in quantum information theory that was previously formulated only for operations and states on finite-dimensional systems. The extension to infinite-dimensional systems is nontrivial because the conventional tools for establishing both the direct and converse bounds, i.e., strong typicality, monotonicity, and asymptotic continuity, are no longer directly applicable. To address this problem, we construct a new entanglement dilution protocol for infinite-dimensional states implementable by local operations and a finite amount of one-way classical communication (one-way LOCC), using weak and strong typicality multiple times. We also prove the optimality of this protocol among all protocols, even under infinite-dimensional separable operations, by developing an argument based on alternative forms of monotonicity and asymptotic continuity of the entanglement of formation for infinite-dimensional states. Along the way, we derive a new integral representation for the quantum entropy of infinite-dimensional states, which we believe to be of independent interest. Our results allow us to fully characterize an important operational entanglement measure—the entanglement cost—for all infinite-dimensional physical systems.

Complexity↗
DOE OSTI2026

Josephson dynamics in two-dimensional ring-shaped condensates

We investigate Josephson transport in a fully closed, two-dimensional superfluid circuit formed by a ring-shaped 87 Rb Bose-Einstein condensate that contains two optical barriers acting as movable weak links. Translating these barriers at controlled speeds imposes a steady bias current, enabling direct mapping of the current-chemical-potential (𝐼−Δ⁢𝜇) characteristics. For narrow junctions (𝑤 ≈ 1µ⁢m), the circuit exhibits a pronounced dc branch that terminates at a critical current 𝐼 𝑐 = 9⁢(1) × 10 3 s −1 ; above this threshold, the system switches to an ac, resistive regime. Classical-field simulations that include the moving barriers quantitatively reproduce both the nonlinear 𝐼−Δ⁢𝜇 curve and the measured 𝐼 𝑐 , validating the underlying microscopic picture. Analysis of the ensuing phase dynamics shows that dissipation is mediated by the nucleation and traversal of vortex-antivortex pairs through the junctions, while the bulk condensate remains globally phase locked—direct evidence of the ring's topological constraint enforcing quantized circulation. These results establish a cold-atom analog of a superconducting quantum interference device in which Josephson dynamics can be resolved at the single-vortex level, providing a versatile platform for atomtronic circuit elements, nonreciprocal Josephson devices, and on-chip Sagnac interferometers for multiaxis rotation sensing.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Observation of quantum Darwinism and the origin of classicality with superconducting circuits

The transition from quantum to classical behavior is a central question in modern physics. How can we rationalize everyday classical observations from an inherently quantum world? Quantum Darwinism offers a compelling framework to explain this by proposing that the environment redundantly encodes information about a quantum system, leading to the objective reality. Here, by leveraging cutting-edge superconducting quantum circuits, we observe the highly structured branching quantum states that support classicality and the saturation of quantum mutual information, establishing a robust verification of quantum Darwinism and the underlying geometric structure of quantum states. Additionally, we propose a particular class of observables that can be used as a computationally and experimentally inexpensive quantifier to probe quantum-to-classical transitions. Our investigation delves into how the quantum effects are inaccessible to observers, allowing only classical properties to be detected. It experimentally demonstrates the physical framework through which everyday classical observations emerge from underlying quantum principles and paves the way to settling the measurement problem.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Entanglement negativity and replica symmetry breaking in general holographic states

The entanglement negativity $\mathcal{E}$(A : B) is a useful measure of quantum entanglement in bipartite mixed states. In random tensor networks (RTNs), which are related to fixed-area states, it was found in ref. [1] that the dominant saddles computing the even Rényi negativity $\mathcal{E}$ (2k) generically break the ℤ 2k replica symmetry. This calls into question previous calculations of holographic negativity using 2D CFT techniques that assumed ℤ 2k replica symmetry and proposed that the negativity was related to the entanglement wedge cross section. In this paper, we resolve this issue by showing that in general holographic states, the saddles computing $\mathcal{E}$ (2k) indeed break the ℤ 2k replica symmetry.

AdS-CFT Correspondence↗
DOE OSTI2024

Pressure-induced insulator-to-metal transition in the quantum spin liquid candidate lithium ytterbium diselenide

Metallization of quantum spin liquid (QSL) materials has long been considered as a potential route toward unconventional superconductivity. Here, we investigate the pressurization of lithium ytterbium diselenide (LiYbSe 2 ), a three-dimensional QSL candidate with a pyrochlore structure. High-pressure X-ray diffraction (up to 15 GPa) and Raman spectroscopy (up to 48 GPa) reveal no significant structural changes within this pressure range. Remarkably insulating, LiYbSe 2 exhibits a resistance below 10 5 Ω only at pressures exceeding 25 GPa, accompanied by a gradual reduction of band gap upon compression. Interestingly, an insulator-to-metal transition occurs around 68 GPa, and the metallic behavior persists up to 123.5 GPa, the highest pressure achieved in this study. A possible sign of magnetic transitions is also observed. The insulator-to-metal transition in LiYbSe 2 under high pressure presents an ideal platform to explore the pressure effects on QSL candidates of spin-1/2 Yb 3+ systems with various lattice patterns.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Towards large-scale quantum optimization solvers with few qubits

Quantum computers hold the promise of more efficient combinatorial optimization solvers, which could be game-changing for a broad range of applications. However, a bottleneck for materializing such advantages is that, in order to challenge classical algorithms in practice, mainstream approaches require a number of qubits prohibitively large for near-term hardware. Here we introduce a variational solver for MaxCut problems over $m={{\mathcal{O}}}({n}^{k})$ binary variables using only n qubits, with tunable k > 1. The number of parameters and circuit depth display mild linear and sublinear scalings in m , respectively. Moreover, we analytically prove that the specific qubit-efficient encoding brings in a super-polynomial mitigation of barren plateaus as a built-in feature. Altogether, this leads to high quantum-solver performances. For instance, for m = 7000, numerical simulations produce solutions competitive in quality with state-of-the-art classical solvers. In turn, for m = 2000, experiments with n = 17 trapped-ion qubits feature MaxCut approximation ratios estimated to be beyond the hardness threshold 0.941. Our findings offer an interesting heuristics for quantum-inspired solvers as well as a promising route towards solving commercially-relevant problems on near-term quantum devices.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

DL_POLY Quantum 2.0: A modular general-purpose software for advanced path integral simulations

DL_POLY Quantum 2.0, a vastly expanded software based on DL_POLY Classic 1.10, is a highly parallelized computational suite written in FORTRAN77 with a modular structure for incorporating nuclear quantum effects into large-scale/long-time molecular dynamics simulations. This is achieved by presenting users with a wide selection of state-of-the-art dynamics methods that utilize the isomorphism between a classical ring polymer and Feynman’s path integral formalism of quantum mechanics. Here, the flexible and user-friendly input/output handling system allows the control of methodology, integration schemes, and thermostatting. DL_POLY Quantum is equipped with a module specifically assigned for calculating correlation functions and printing out the values for sought-after quantities, such as dipole moments and center-of-mass velocities, with packaged tools for calculating infrared absorption spectra and diffusion coefficients.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗