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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 667 records · Page 37

Topological fermion condensates from anomalies

We show that a class of fermion theory formulated on a compact, curved manifold will generate a condensate whose magnitude is determined only by the volume and Euler characteristic of the space. The construction requires that the fermions be treated as Kahler-Dirac fields and the condensate arises from an anomaly associated with a U(1) global symmetry which is subsequently broken to a discrete subgroup. Remarkably the anomaly survives under discretization of the space which allows us to compute the condensate on an arbitrary triangulation. The results, being topological in character, should hold in a wide range of gravitationally coupled fermion theories both classical and quantum.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Lithography-Defined Semiconductor Moirés with Anomalous In-Gap Quantum Hall States

Quantum materials and phenomena have attracted great interest for their potential applications in next-generation microelectronics and quantum-information technologies. In one especially interesting class of quantum materials, moiré superlattices (MSLs) formed by twisted bilayers of 2D materials, a wide range of novel phenomena are observed. However, there exist daunting challenges such as reproducibility and scalability of utilizing 2D MSLs for microelectronics and quantum technologies due to their exfoliate-tear-stack method. Here, we propose lithography-defined semiconductor MSLs, in which three fundamental parameters electron−electron interaction, spin−orbit coupling, and band topology are designable. We experimentally investigate quantum-transport properties in a moiré specimen made in an InAs quantum well. Strong anomalous in-gap states are observed within the same integer quantum Hall state. Our work opens up new horizons for studying 2D quantum-materials phenomena in semiconductors featuring superior industry-level quality and state-of-the-art technologies, and they may potentially enable new quantum-information and microelectronics technologies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Observation of a topologically non-trivial surface state in half-Heusler PtLuSb (001) thin films

The discovery of topological insulators, materials with bulk band gaps and protected cross-gap surface states in compounds such as Bi 2 Se 3 , has generated much interest in identifying topological surface states (TSSs) in other classes of materials. In particular, recent theoretical calculations suggest that TSSs may be found in half-Heusler ternary compounds. If experimentally realizable, this would provide a materials platform for entirely new heterostructure spintronic devices that make use of the structurally identical but electronically varied nature of Heusler compounds. Here we show the presence of a TSS in epitaxially grown thin films of the half-Heusler compound PtLuSb. Spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, complemented by theoretical calculations, reveals a surface state with linear dispersion and a helical tangential spin texture consistent with previous predictions. As a result, this experimental verification of topological behavior is a significant step forward in establishing half-Heusler compounds as a viable material system for future spintronic devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Atomic-scale probing of short-range order and its impact on electrochemical properties in cation-disordered oxide cathodes

Abstract Chemical short-range-order has been widely noticed to dictate the electrochemical properties of Li-excess cation-disordered rocksalt oxides, a class of cathode based on earth abundant elements for next-generation high-energy-density batteries. Existence of short-range-order is normally evidenced by a diffused intensity pattern in reciprocal space, however, derivation of local atomic arrangements of short-range-order in real space is hardly possible. Here, by a combination of aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, and cluster-expansion Monte Carlo simulations, we reveal the short-range-order is a convolution of three basic types: tetrahedron, octahedron, and cube. We discover that short-range-order directly correlates with Li percolation channels, which correspondingly affects Li transport behavior. We further demonstrate that short-range-order can be effectively manipulated by anion doping or post-synthesis thermal treatment, creating new avenues for tailoring the electrochemical properties. Our results provide fundamental insights for decoding the complex relationship between local chemical ordering and properties of crystalline compounds.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Groenewold-Moyal product, α*-cohomology, and classification of translation-invariant non-commutative structures

The theory of α*-cohomology is studied thoroughly and it is shown that in each cohomology class there exists a unique 2-cocycle, the harmonic form, which generates a particular Groenewold-Moyal star product. This leads to an algebraic classification of translation-invariant non-commutative structures and shows that any general translation-invariant non-commutative quantum field theory is physically equivalent to a Groenewold-Moyal non-commutative quantum field theory.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Supersymmetric quantum mechanics: Engineered hierarchies of integrable potentials and related orthogonal polynomials

Within the context of supersymmetric quantum mechanics and its related hierarchies of integrable quantum Hamiltonians and potentials, a general programme is outlined and applied to its first two simplest illustrations. Going beyond the usual restriction of shape invariance for intertwined potentials, it is suggested to require a similar relation for Hamiltonians in the hierarchy separated by an arbitrary number of levels, N. By requiring further that these two Hamiltonians be in fact identical up to an overall shift in energy, a periodic structure is installed in the hierarchy which should allow for its resolution. Specific classes of orthogonal polynomials characteristic of such periodic hierarchies are thereby generated, while the methods of supersymmetric quantum mechanics then lead to generalised Rodrigues formulae and recursion relations for such polynomials. The approach also offers the practical prospect of quantum modelling through the engineering of quantum potentials from experimental energy spectra. In this paper, these ideas are presented and solved explicitly for the cases N= 1 and N= 2. The latter case is related to the generalised Laguerre polynomials, for which indeed new results are thereby obtained. In the context of dressing chains and deformed polynomial Heisenberg algebras, some partial results for N⩾ 3 also exist in the literature, which should be relevant to a complete study of the N⩾ 3 general periodic hierarchies.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Proposal of a gigawatt-class L/Ku dual-band magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator

We present a gigawatt (GW)-class magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator (MILO) which is capable of generating dual-band high power microwaves (HPMs). The proposed device, deriving from previously studied complex MILO and dual-frequency MILO, is designed to produce two HPMs in L-band and Ku-band, respectively. It is found in particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation that when the diode voltage is 610 kV, HPMs with frequencies of 1.72 GHz and 14.6 GHz can be achieved with powers of 3.3 GW and 2.4 GW, respectively. The corresponding total power conversion efficiency is approximately 12.8%. Power difference of the two generated HPMs is approximately 1.4 dB, and frequency difference of them reaches a level as high as ∼10 dB.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Evidence for thermal x-ray line emission from the synchrotron-dominated supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946

We report the first detection of thermal X-ray line emission from the supernova remnant (SNR) RX J1713.7-3946, the prototype of the small class of synchrotron-dominated SNRs. A softness-ratio map generated using XMM-Newton data shows that faint interior regions are softer than bright shell regions. Using Suzaku and deep XMM-Newton observations, we have extracted X-ray spectra from the softest area, finding clear line features at E{sub ph}∼ 1 and ∼1.35 keV. These lines can be best explained as Ne Lyα and Mg Heα from a thermal emission component. Since the abundance ratios of metals to Fe are much higher than solar values in the thermal component, we attribute the thermal emission to reverse-shocked SN ejecta. The measured Mg/Ne, Si/Ne, and Fe/Ne ratios of 2.0–2.6, 1.5–2.0, and <0.05 solar suggest that the progenitor star of RX J1713.7-3946 was a relatively low-mass star (≲20 M{sub ⊙}), consistent with a previous inference based on the effect of stellar winds of the progenitor star on the surrounding medium. Since the mean blastwave speed of ∼6000 km s{sup −1} (the radius of 9.6 pc divided by the age of 1600 years) is relatively fast compared with other core-collapse SNRs, we propose that RX J1713.7-3946 is a result of an SN Ib/c whose progenitor was a member of an interacting binary. While our analysis provides strong evidence for X-ray line emission, our interpretation of its nature as thermal emission from SN ejecta requires further confirmation especially through future precision spectroscopic measurements using ASTRO-H.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Simultaneous fermion and exciton condensations from a model Hamiltonian

Fermion-exciton condensation in which both fermion-pair (i.e., superconductivity) and exciton condensations occur simultaneously in a single coherent quantum state has recently been conjectured to exist. Here, we capture the fermion-exciton condensation through a model Hamiltonian that can recreate the physics of this new class of highly correlated condensation phenomena. We demonstrate that the Hamiltonian generates the large-eigenvalue signatures of fermion-pair and exciton condensations for a series of states with increasing particle numbers. The results confirm that the dual-condensate wave function arises from the entanglement of fermion-pair and exciton wave functions, which we previously predicted in the thermodynamic limit. Furthermore, this model Hamiltonian—generalizing well-known model Hamiltonians for either superconductivity or exciton condensation—can explore a wide variety of condensation behavior. It provides significant insights into the required forces for generating a fermion-exciton condensate, which will likely be invaluable for realizing such condensations in realistic materials with applications from superconductors to excitonic materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Non-Abelian bosonization and modular transformation approach to superuniversality

Quantum Hall inter-plateau transitions are physical exemplars of quantum phase transitions. Near each of these transitions, the measured electrical conductivity scales with the same correlation length and dynamical critical exponents, i.e., the critical points are superuniversal. In apparent contradiction to these experiments, prior theoretical studies of quantum Hall phase transitions within the framework of Abelian Chern-Simons theory coupled to matter found correlation length exponents that depend on the value of the quantum critical Hall conductivity. Here, we use non-Abelian bosonization and modular transformations to theoretically study the phenomenon of superuniversality. Specifically, we introduce a new effective theory that has an emergent U(N) gauge symmetry with any N > 1 for a quantum phase transition between an integer quantum Hall state and an insulator. We then use modular transformations to generate from this theory effective descriptions for transitions between a large class of fractional quantum Hall states whose quasiparticle excitations have Abelian statistics. We find the correlation length and dynamical critical exponents are independent of the particular transition within a controlled 't Hooft large N expansion, i.e., superuniversal! Furthermore, we argue that this superuniversality could survive away from this controlled large N limit using recent duality conjectures.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Adaptive Neuron Apoptosis for Accelerating Deep Learning on Large Scale Systems

Machine Learning and Data Mining (MLDM) algorithms are becoming ubiquitous in {\em model learning} from the large volume of data generated using simulations, experiments and handheld devices. Deep Learning algorithms -- a class of MLDM algorithms -- are applied for automatic feature extraction, and learning non-linear models for unsupervised and supervised algorithms. Naturally, several libraries which support large scale Deep Learning -- such as TensorFlow and Caffe -- have become popular. In this paper, we present novel techniques to accelerate the convergence of Deep Learning algorithms by conducting low overhead removal of redundant neurons -- {\em apoptosis} of neurons -- which do not contribute to model learning, during the training phase itself. We provide in-depth theoretical underpinnings of our heuristics (bounding accuracy loss and handling apoptosis of several neuron types), and present the methods to conduct adaptive neuron apoptosis. We implement our proposed heuristics with the recently introduced TensorFlow and using its recently proposed extension with MPI. Our performance evaluation on two difference clusters -- one connected with Intel Haswell multi-core systems, and other with nVIDIA GPUs -- using InfiniBand, indicates the efficacy of the proposed heuristics and implementations. Specifically, we are able to improve the training time for several datasets by 2-3x, while reducing the number of parameters by 30x (4-5x on average) on datasets such as ImageNet classification. For the Higgs Boson dataset, our implementation improves the accuracy (measured by Area Under Curve (AUC)) for classification from 0.88/1 to 0.94/1, while reducing the number of parameters by 3x in comparison to existing literature, while achieving a 2.44x speedup in comparison to the default (no apoptosis) algorithm.

Siegel, Charles M.↗

“Graphene-Wrapped” Complex Hydrides as High-Capacity, Regenerable Hydrogen Storage Materials

This project focused on the development of a new class of hydrogen storage material, hydride@graphene, for the next-generation H 2 powered fuel cell vehicles. The new approach was based on a recent technology breakthrough through the collaboration between Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). A “nanoencapsulated” sodium borohydride-graphene composite, NaBH 4 @graphene, was successfully synthesized using a simple solvent-based method. The new composite offers regenerable high H 2 storage capacity in multiple dehydrogenation and rehydrogenation cycles. Under this short project, we successfully synthesized catalyst-doped NaBH 4 @graphene composite and demonstrated five dehydrogenation (DH) and rehydrogenation (RH) cycles with measured gravimetric capacity > 7.4 wt% at 406 ºC. We also successfully demonstrated the improvement in hydrogen release kinetics by lowering DH temperature of 320 degree over bulk NaBH 4 or 138 degree over NaBH 4 @G as the benchmark at the beginning of the project. We collaborated with members of the Hydrogen Materials – Advanced Research Consortium (HyMARC) team in computational modeling, structural characterization and performance measurement.

08 HYDROGEN↗

PR100: Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transition to 100% Renewable Energy [Slides]

Puerto Rico has committed to meeting its electricity needs with 100% renewable energy by 2050. The PR100: Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transition to 100% Renewable Energy study, led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), will leverage world-class expertise, cross-sector modeling capabilities, and community engagement to generate feasible pathways to affordable and reliable electricity across the archipelago. PR100 is being funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through an interagency agreement with DOE's Office of Electricity to support recovery efforts in the island's energy sector leveraging the expertise and capabilities of the National Laboratories including Argonne, Lawrence Berkeley, NREL, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, and Sandia. The public is invited to this virtual launch event to learn more about the scope and benefits of the study and opportunities for engagement. Welcoming remarks will be provided by Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy; Martin Keller, Director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory; and Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

100% renewable energy↗

Advanced Modeling of Plasma-based Particle Accelerators

Plasma-based acceleration (PBA) driven by an intense laser (LWFA) or particle beam (PWFA) can produce ultra-high accelerating fields in excess of a GV/cm. PBA could substantially reduce the size and cost of future linear collider facilities if deployed successfully. PBA enables compact tabletop accelerators that can provide lower energy GeV-class beams in a laboratory setting. PBA enables high quality beam generation suitable for x-ray free electron lasers (XFEL) via controllable methods of self-injection. Challenges in modeling and optimization of multi-stage PBA motivate the need for exascale computing and state-of-the-art PIC codes.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Landsat Signature Development Program

The Landsat Signature Development Program, LSDP, is designed to produce an unsupervised classification of a scene from a Landsat tape. This classification is based on the clustering tendencies of the multispectral scanner data processed from the scene. The program will generate a character map that, by identifying each of the general classes of surface features extracted from the scene data with a specific line printer symbol, indicates the approximate locations and distributions of these general classes within the scene. Also provided with the character map are a number of tables each of which describes either some aspect of the spectral properties of the resultant classes, some inter-class relationship, the incidence of picture elements assigned to the various classes in the character map classification of the scene, or some significant intermediate stage in the development of the final classes.

Hall, R. N.↗

System security in the space flight operations center

The Space Flight Operations Center is a networked system of workstation-class computers that will provide ground support for NASA's next generation of deep-space missions. The author recounts the development of the SFOC system security policy and discusses the various management and technology issues involved. Particular attention is given to risk assessment, security plan development, security implications of design requirements, automatic safeguards, and procedural safeguards.

Wagner, David A.↗

Analytical investigations in aircraft and spacecraft trajectory optimization and optimal guidance

A collection of analytical studies is presented related to unconstrained and constrained aircraft (a/c) energy-state modeling and to spacecraft (s/c) motion under continuous thrust. With regard to a/c unconstrained energy-state modeling, the physical origin of the singular perturbation parameter that accounts for the observed 2-time-scale behavior of a/c during energy climbs is identified and explained. With regard to the constrained energy-state modeling, optimal control problems are studied involving active state-variable inequality constraints. Departing from the practical deficiencies of the control programs for such problems that result from the traditional formulations, a complete reformulation is proposed for these problems which, in contrast to the old formulation, will presumably lead to practically useful controllers that can track an inequality constraint boundary asymptotically, and even in the presence of 2-sided perturbations about it. Finally, with regard to s/c motion under continuous thrust, a thrust program is proposed for which the equations of 2-dimensional motion of a space vehicle in orbit, viewed as a point mass, afford an exact analytic solution. The thrust program arises under the assumption of tangential thrust from the costate system corresponding to minimum-fuel, power-limited, coplanar transfers between two arbitrary conics. The thrust program can be used not only with power-limited propulsion systems, but also with any propulsion system capable of generating continuous thrust of controllable magnitude, and, for propulsion types and classes of transfers for which it is sufficiently optimal the results of this report suggest a method of maneuvering during planetocentric or heliocentric orbital operations, requiring a minimum amount of computation; thus uniquely suitable for real-time feedback guidance implementations.

Markopoulos, Nikos↗

Drop Breakup in Fixed Bed Flows as Model Stochastic Flow Fields

We examine drop breakup in a class of stochastic flow fields as a model for the flow through fixed fiber beds and to elucidate the general mechanisms whereby drops breakup in disordered, Lagrangian unsteady flows. Our study consists of two parallel streams of investigation. First, large scale numerical simulations of drop breakup in a class of anisotropic Gaussian fields will be presented. These fields are generated spectrally and have been shown in a previous publication to be exact representations of the flow in a dilute disordered bed of fibers if close interactions between the fibers and the drops are dynamically unimportant. In these simulations the drop shape is represented by second and third order small deformation theories which have been shown to be excellent for the prediction of drop breakup in steady strong flows. We show via these simulations that the mechanisms of drop breakup in these flows are quite different than in steady flows. The predominant mechanism of breakup appears to be very short lived twist breakups. Moreover, the occurrence of breakup events is poorly predicted by either the strength of the local flow in which the drop finds itself at breakup, or the degree of deformation that the drop achieves prior to breakup. It is suggested that a correlation function of both is necessary to be predictive of breakup events. In the second part of our research experiments are presented where the drop deformation and breakup in PDMS/polyisobutylene emulsions is considered. We consider very dilute emulsions such that coalescence is unimportant. The flows considered are simple shear and the flow through fixed fiber beds. Turbidity, small angle light scattering, dichroism and microscopy are used to interrogate the drop deformation process in both flows. It is demonstrated that breakup at very low capillary numbers occurs in both flows but larger drop deformation occurs in the fixed bed flow. Moreover, it is witnessed that breakup in the bed occurs continuously during flow and apparently with uniform probability through the bed length. The drop deformations witnessed in our experiments are larger than those predicted by the numerical simulations, and future plans to investigate these differences are discussed.

Shaqfeh, Eric S. G.↗