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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

Diode effect for skyrmions interacting with linear protrusion defects

We simulate collectively interacting skyrmions in a channel with periodic asymmetry, and find a strong diode effect for the skyrmion flow. There is also an asymmetry in the skyrmion annihilation rate for currents applied along the hard or easy substrate asymmetry direction, with a higher annihilation rate for hard direction currents. We map out the diode efficiency as a function of magnetic field and substrate asymmetry angle. We also show that the Magnus force impacts the diode motion and annihilation rate asymmetry by forcing skyrmions into corners of the protrusion geometry.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

QUBIC II: Spectral polarimetry with bolometric interferometry

Bolometric interferometry is a novel technique that has the ability to perform spectral imaging. A bolometric interferometer observes the sky in a wide frequency band and can reconstruct sky maps in several sub-bands within the physical band in post-processing of the data. This provides a powerful spectral method to discriminate between the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and astrophysical foregrounds. In this paper, the methodology is illustrated with examples based on the Q & U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology (QUBIC) which is a ground-based instrument designed to measure the B-mode polarization of the sky at millimeter wavelengths. We consider the specific cases of point source reconstruction and Galactic dust mapping and we characterize the point spread function as a function of frequency. We study the noise properties of spectral imaging, especially the correlations between sub-bands, using end-to-end simulations together with a fast noise simulator. Finally, we conclude showing that spectral imaging performance are nearly optimal up to five sub-bands in the case of QUBIC.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Accelerating cosmological inference with Gaussian processes and neural networks – an application to LSST Y1 weak lensing and galaxy clustering

ABSTRACT Studying the impact of systematic effects, optimizing survey strategies, assessing tensions between different probes and exploring synergies of different data sets require a large number of simulated likelihood analyses, each of which cost thousands of CPU hours. In this paper, we present a method to accelerate cosmological inference using emulators based on Gaussian process regression and neural networks. We iteratively acquire training samples in regions of high posterior probability which enables accurate emulation of data vectors even in high dimensional parameter spaces. We showcase the performance of our emulator with a simulated 3×2 point analysis of LSST-Y1 with realistic theoretical and systematics modelling. We show that our emulator leads to high-fidelity posterior contours, with an order of magnitude speed-up. Most importantly, the trained emulator can be re-used for extremely fast impact and optimization studies. We demonstrate this feature by studying baryonic physics effects in LSST-Y1 3×2 point analyses where each one of our MCMC runs takes approximately 5 min. This technique enables future cosmological analyses to map out the science return as a function of analysis choices and survey strategy.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Theory of magic optical traps for Zeeman-insensitive clock transitions in alkali-metal atoms

Precision measurements and quantum-information processing with cold atoms may benefit from trapping atoms with specially engineered, 'magic' optical fields. At the magic trapping conditions, the relevant atomic properties remain immune to strong perturbations by the trapping fields. Here we develop a theoretical analysis of magic trapping for especially valuable Zeeman-insensitive clock transitions in alkali-metal atoms. The involved mechanism relies on applying a magic bias B field along a circularly polarized trapping laser field. We map out these B fields as a function of trapping laser wavelength for all commonly used alkalis. We also highlight a common error in evaluating Stark shifts of hyperfine manifolds.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Shear banding, intermittency, jamming, and dynamic phases for skyrmions in inhomogeneous pinning arrays

In this work, we examine driven skyrmion dynamics in systems with inhomogeneous pinning where a strip of strong pinning coexists with a region containing no pinning. For driving parallel to the strip, we find that the initial skyrmion motion is confined to the unpinned region and the skyrmion Hall angle is zero. At larger drives, a transition occurs to a phase in which motion also appears within the pinned region, creating a shear band in the skyrmion velocity, while the skyrmion Hall angle is still zero. As the drive increases further, the flow becomes disordered and the skyrmion Hall angle increases with drive until saturating at the highest drives when the system transitions into a moving crystal phase. The different dynamic phases are associated with velocity and density gradients across the pinning boundaries. We map out the dynamic phases as a function of pinning strength, skyrmion density, and Magnus force strength, and correlate the phase boundaries with features in the velocity-force curves and changes in the local and global ordering of the skyrmion structure. For large Magnus forces, the shear banding instability is replaced by large-scale intermittent flow in the pinned region accompanied by simultaneous motion perpendicular to the direction of the drive, which appears as oscillations in the transport curves. We also examine the case of a drive applied perpendicular to the strip, where we find a jamming effect in which the skyrmion flow is blocked by skyrmion-skyrmion interactions until the drive is large enough to induce plastic flow.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Commensuration effects on skyrmion Hall angle and drag for manipulation of skyrmions on two-dimensional periodic substrates

Here, we examine the dynamics of an individually driven skyrmion moving through a background lattice of skyrmions coupled to a 2D periodic substrate as we vary the ratio of the number of skyrmions to the number of pinning sites across commensurate and incommensurate conditions. As the skyrmion density increases, the skyrmion Hall angle is nonmonotonic, dropping to low or zero values in commensurate states and rising to an enhanced value in incommensurate states. Under commensuration, the driven skyrmion is channeled by a symmetry direction of the pinning array and exhibits an increased velocity. At fillings for which the skyrmion Hall angle is zero, the velocity has a narrow band noise signature, while for incommensurate fillings, the skyrmion motion is disordered and the velocity noise is broad band. Under commensurate conditions, multi-step depinning transitions appear and the skyrmion Hall angle is zero at low drives but becomes finite at higher drives, while at incommensurate fillings there is only a single depinning transition. As the gyrotropic component of the skyrmion dynamics, called the Magnus force, increases, peaks in the velocity that appear in commensurate regimes cross over to dips, and new types of directional locking effects can arise in which the skyrmion travels along other symmetry directions of the background lattice. At large Magnus forces, and particularly at commensurate fillings, the driven skyrmion can experience a velocity boost in which the skyrmion moves faster than the applied drive due to the alignment of the Magnus-induced velocity with the driving direction. In some cases, an increase of the Magnus force can produce regimes of enhanced pinning when the skyrmion is forced to move along a nonsymmetry direction of the periodic pinning array. This is in contrast to systems with random pinning, where increasing the Magnus force generally reduces the pinning effect. We demonstrate these dynamics for both square and triangular substrates and map out the different regimes as a function of filling fraction, pinning force, and the strength of the Magnus force in a series of dynamic phase diagrams.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Monte Carlo control loops for cosmic shear cosmology with DES Year 1 data

Weak lensing by large-scale structure is a powerful probe of cosmology and of the dark universe. This cosmic shear technique relies on the accurate measurement of the shapes and redshifts of background galaxies and requires precise control of systematic errors. Monte Carlo control loops (MCCL) is a forward modeling method designed to tackle this problem. It relies on the ultra fast image generator (UFig) to produce simulated images tuned to match the target data statistically, followed by calibrations and tolerance loops. Here, we present the first end-to-end application of this method, on the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 wide field imaging data. We simultaneously measure the shear power spectrum $C_ℓ$ and the redshift distribution $n(z)$ of the background galaxy sample. The method includes maps of the systematic sources, point spread function (PSF), an approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) inference of the simulation model parameters, a shear calibration scheme, and a fast method to estimate the covariance matrix. We find a close statistical agreement between the simulations and the DES Y1 data using an array of diagnostics. In a nontomographic setting, we derive a set of $C_ℓ$ and $n(z)$ curves that encode the cosmic shear measurement, as well as the systematic uncertainty. Following a blinding scheme, we measure the combination of $Ω_m$, $σ_8$, and intrinsic alignment amplitude $A_{IA}$, defined as $S_8D_{IA}=σ_8(Ω_m/0.3)^{0.5}D_{IA}$, where $D_{IA}=1-0.11(A_{IA}-1)$. We find $S_8D_{IA}=0.8954_{-0.039}^{+0.054}$, where systematics are at the level of roughly 60% of the statistical errors. We discuss these results in the context of earlier cosmic shear analyses of the DES Y1 data. Our findings indicate that this method and its fast runtime offer good prospects for cosmic shear measurements with future wide-field surveys.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Non-Gaussian extrema counts for CMB maps

In the context of the geometrical analysis of weakly non-Gaussian cosmic microwave background maps, the 2D differential extrema counts as functions of the excursion set threshold is derived from the full moments expansion of the joint probability distribution of an isotropic random field, its gradient, and invariants of the Hessian. Analytic expressions for these counts are given to second order in the non-Gaussian correction, while a Monte Carlo method to compute them to arbitrary order is presented. Matching count statistics to these estimators is illustrated on fiducial non-Gaussian Planck data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Monopole-antimonopole interaction potential

We numerically study the interactions of twisted monopole-antimonopole pairs in the ’t Hooft-Polyakov model for a range of values of the scalar to vector mass ratio. We also recover the sphaleron solution at maximum twist discovered by Taubes [Commun. Math. Phys. 86, 257 (1982)] and map out its energy and size as functions of parameters.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Knight Shift and Leading Superconducting Instability from Spin Fluctuations in Sr 2 RuO 4

We report that recent nuclear magnetic resonance studies [A. Pustogow et al. , Nature 574, 72 (2019)] have challenged the prevalent chiral triplet pairing scenario proposed for Sr 2 RuO 4 . To provide guidance from microscopic theory as to which other pair states might be compatible with the new data, we perform a detailed theoretical study of spin fluctuation mediated pairing for this compound. We map out the phase diagram as a function of spin-orbit coupling, interaction parameters, and band structure properties over physically reasonable ranges, comparing when possible with photoemission and inelastic neutron scattering data information. We find that even-parity pseudospin singlet solutions dominate large regions of the phase diagram, but in certain regimes spin-orbit coupling favors a near-nodal odd-parity triplet superconducting state, which is either helical or chiral depending on the proximity of the γ band to the van Hove points. A surprising near degeneracy of the nodal s ' and d x 2 - y 2 wave solutions leads to the possibility of a near-nodal time-reversal symmetry broken s ' + i d x 2 - y 2 pair state. Lastly, predictions for the temperature dependence of the Knight shift for fields in and out of plane are presented for all states.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

PKA and HOG signaling contribute separable roles to anaerobic xylose fermentation in yeast engineered for biofuel production

Lignocellulosic biomass offers a sustainable source for biofuel production that does not compete with food-based cropping systems. Importantly, two critical bottlenecks prevent economic adoption: many industrially relevant microorganisms cannot ferment pentose sugars prevalent in lignocellulosic medium, leaving a significant amount of carbon unutilized. Furthermore, chemical biomass pretreatment required to release fermentable sugars generates a variety of toxins, which inhibit microbial growth and metabolism, specifically limiting pentose utilization in engineered strains. Here we dissected genetic determinants of anaerobic xylose fermentation and stress tolerance in chemically pretreated corn stover biomass, called hydrolysate. We previously revealed that loss-of-function mutations in the stress-responsive MAP kinase HOG1 and negative regulator of the RAS/Protein Kinase A (PKA) pathway, IRA2, enhances anaerobic xylose fermentation. However, these mutations likely reduce cells’ ability to tolerate the toxins present in lignocellulosic hydrolysate, making the strain especially vulnerable to it. We tested the contributions of Hog1 and PKA signaling via IRA2 or PKA negative regulatory subunit BCY1 to metabolism, growth, and stress tolerance in corn stover hydrolysate and laboratory medium with mixed sugars. We found mutations causing upregulated PKA activity increase growth rate and glucose consumption in various media but do not have a specific impact on xylose fermentation. In contrast, mutation of HOG1 specifically increased xylose usage. We hypothesized improving stress tolerance would enhance the rate of xylose consumption in hydrolysate. Surprisingly, increasing stress tolerance did not augment xylose fermentation in lignocellulosic medium in this strain background, suggesting other mechanisms besides cellular stress limit this strain’s ability for anaerobic xylose fermentation in hydrolysate.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Precipitation mediates sap flux sensitivity to evaporate demand in the neotropics, Oecologia: Dataset

Using measurements in 34 tree species at seven sites across a precipitation gradient in the neotropics, we determined how the maximum sap flux velocity (vmax) and the VPD threshold at which vmax is reached (VPDmax) vary with precipitation regime (long-term annual precipitation, MAP; seasonal drought intensity, PDRY) and two functional traits related to foliar and wood economics spectra (leaf mass per area, LMA; wood specific gravity, WSG). This study demonstrates that long-term precipitation plays an important role in the sapflux response of humid tropical forests to VPD.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

rmap: An R package to plot and compare tabular data on customizable maps across scenarios and time

`rmap` is an R package that allows users to easily plot tabular data (CSV or R data frames) on maps without any Geographic Information Systems (GIS) knowledge. Maps produced by `rmap` are `ggplot` objects and thus capitalize on the flexibility and advancements of the `ggplot2` package and all elements of each map are thus fully customizable. Additionally `rmap` automatically detects and produces comparison maps if the data has multiple scenarios or time periods as well as animations for time series data. Advanced users can load their own shapefiles if desired. `rmap` comes with a range of pre-built color palettes but users can also provide any `R` color palette or create their own as needed. Four different legend types are available to highlight different kinds of data distributions. The input spatial data can be both gridded or polygon data. `rmap` is desgined in particular for comparing spatial data across scenarios and time periods and comes preloaded with standard country, state, and basin maps as well as custom maps compatible with the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM) spatial boundaries. `rmap` has a growing number of users and its products have been used in multiple multisector dynamics publications as well as a required dependency in other R packages such as `rfasst` and `metis`. `rmap's` automatic processing of tabular data using pre-built map selection, difference map calculations, faceting, and animations offers unique functionality which makes it a powerful and yet simple tool for users looking to explore multi-sector, multi-scenario data across space and time.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

MCNP Simulations of Material Exposure Experiments (U)

Simulations of proposed material exposure experiments were performed using MCNP6. The experiments will expose ampules containing different materials of interest with radiation to observe the chemical breakdown of the materials. Simulations were performed to map out dose in materials as a function of distance from the source, dose variation between materials, dose variation due to ampule orientation, and dose variation due to different source energy. This write up is an overview of the simulations and will provide guidance on how to use the data in the spreadsheet.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

Present and future of JLab CLAS12 physics program

The CLAS12 detector at Jefferson Lab produced the first results in SIDIS and DI-HADRON reactions. Making use of the CEBAF high energy (up to 11 GeV) and highly longitudinal polartized (up to 90%) electron beam will cover unexplored territories in electron-scattering physics. Exclusive reactions on nuclons and nuclei will be measured with high precision in high luminosity (up to 10e35 cm-2s-1) experiments. Mapping out a new class of structure functions, GPDs and TMDs, detecting and reconstructing exotic meson and baryon states and accessing nucleons correlations in nuclei, in the next decade, the CLAS12 rich physics program will provide insight in the complex dynamics of the QCD paving the road to the EIC physics. In this talk, the CLAS12 detector and JLab Hall-B physics program will be described reporting some preliminary results for flag-ship reactions and plans for future upgrades of the detector.

Battaglieri, Marco↗

A Comprehensive Library of X-Ray Pulsars in the Small Magellanic Cloud: Time Evolution of Their Luminosities and Spin Periods

We have collected and analyzed the complete archive of XMM-Newton (116), Chandra (151), and RXTE (952) observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), spanning 1997–2014. The resulting observational library provides a comprehensive view of the physical, temporal, and statistical properties of the SMC pulsar population across the luminosity range of L{sub X}=10{sup 31.2}--10{sup 38} erg s{sup −1}. From a sample of 65 pulsars we report ∼1654 individual pulsar detections, yielding ∼1260 pulse-period measurements. Our pipeline generates a suite of products for each pulsar detection: spin period, flux, event list, high time-resolution light curve, pulse profile, periodogram, and spectrum. Combining all three satellites, we generated complete histories of the spin periods, pulse amplitudes, pulsed fractions, and X-ray luminosities. Some pulsars show variations in pulse period due to the combination of orbital motion and accretion torques. Long-term spin-up/spin-down trends are seen in 12/11 pulsars, respectively, pointing to sustained transfer of mass and angular momentum to the neutron star on decadal timescales. Of the sample, 30 pulsars have a relatively very small spin period derivative and may be close to equilibrium spin. The distributions of pulse detection and flux as functions of spin period provide interesting findings: mapping boundaries of accretion-driven X-ray luminosity and showing that fast pulsars (P < 10 s) are rarely detected, which as of yet are more prone to giant outbursts. Accompanying this paper is an initial public release of the library so that it can be used by other researchers. We intend the library to be useful in driving improved models of neutron star magnetospheres and accretion physics.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The NANOGrav Nine-year Data Set: Measurement and Analysis of Variations in Dispersion Measures

We analyze dispersion measure (DM) variations of 37 millisecond pulsars in the nine-year North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) data release and constrain the sources of these variations. DM variations can result from a changing distance between Earth and the pulsar, inhomogeneities in the interstellar medium, and solar effects. Variations are significant for nearly all pulsars, with characteristic timescales comparable to or even shorter than the average spacing between observations. Five pulsars have periodic annual variations, 14 pulsars have monotonically increasing or decreasing trends, and 14 pulsars show both effects. Of the four pulsars with linear trends that have line-of-sight velocity measurements, three are consistent with a changing distance and require an overdensity of free electrons local to the pulsar. Several pulsars show correlations between DM excesses and lines of sight that pass close to the Sun. Mapping of the DM variations as a function of the pulsar trajectory can identify localized interstellar medium features and, in one case, an upper limit to the size of the dispersing region of 4 au. Four pulsars show roughly Kolmogorov structure functions (SFs), and another four show SFs less steep than Kolmogorov. One pulsar has too large an uncertainty to allow comparisons. We discuss explanations for apparent departures from a Kolmogorov-like spectrum, and we show that the presence of other trends and localized features or gradients in the interstellar medium is the most likely cause.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗