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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Particle Creation from Entanglement Entropy

We investigate how entanglement entropy can drive particle creation, deriving explicit relations between entropy and the radiated particle spectrum, the total number of particles, and the total energy. Particle production is computed for scenarios that include accelerated motion, black hole evaporation, and beta decay, validating against known results while also extending them. We focus primarily on the low-entropy limit (analogous to nonrelativistic motion), but also examine cases of significant particle production arising from harmonic cycles. The results establish an explicit operational link between information flow and matter creation, providing a concrete demonstration of “it from bit”.

Good, Michael R. R. [Nazarbayev University, Astana↗
DOE OSTI2025

Results of the LEGEND-200 experiment in the search for $0νββ$ decay

The LEGEND experiment is looking for the extremely rare neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay of 76 Ge using isotopically-enriched high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors. The detection of this process would imply that the neutrino is a Majorana particle and the total lepton number would not be conserved, which could be related to the cosmological asymmetry between matter and antimatter through leptogenesis. The long-term goal of the collaboration is LEGEND-1000: a 1-ton detector array planned to run for 10 years, with a projected half-life sensitivity exceeding 10 28 years, fully covering the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. A first search for the 0νββ decay has been carried out by LEGEND-200 building on the experience gained from GERDA and the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR. The experiment has been collecting physics data for a year at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy with 140 kg of HPGe detectors. With a total exposure of 61 kg yr, LEGEND-200 has achieved a background index of $5_{−2}^{+3}$ × 10 −4 counts/(keV kg yr) in the 0νββ decay signal region from the highest performing detectors. After combining the results from GERDA, the MAJORANA Demonstrator and LEGEND-200, an exclusion sensitivity > 2.8 × 10 26 yr has been obtained at 90% confidence level for the 0νββ decay half-life, with no evidence for a signal. A new observed lower limit of $T_{1/2}^{0v} >$ 1.9 × 10 26 yr at 90% confidence level has been established.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Advances in Autoradiography Systems for Nuclear Forensic Analysis

Nuclear forensic analysis techniques work to determine the contents of radiological samples with nondestructive and destructive analysis methods. Autoradiography is a nondestructive analysis method that creates an image of the distribution of radioactivity within the sample. These images allow the location of the radiological content within a sample to be ascertained, which can be used for further analysis. Autoradiography has been used since the discovery of radiation and has been continuously developed to better suit the needs of the medical, nuclear security, nuclear safeguards, and nuclear forensic communities. Recent developments in autoradiography have led to a higher spatial resolution down to a level of tens of microns, real-time capabilities that minimize the risk of overexposure, and the ability to discriminate particles. All of these developments in autoradiography would assist the nuclear forensics community in understanding the placement of radiological content within a sample and in understanding the locations of beta-particle interactions versus those for alpha-particle interactions. This article aims to discuss the history of autoradiography as well as multiple different autoradiographic technologies while focusing on imaging plates, the BeaQuant system, and the ionizing-radiation Quantum Imaging Detector system. This article reviews three autoradiographic techniques and detectors, discusses how they relate to nuclear forensics, and addresses the drawbacks and benefits of each detector.

Autoradiography↗
DOE OSTI2024

Nuclear Computational Low Energy Initiative (NUCLEI)

The NUCLEI project, as defined by the scope of work, developed, implemented and run codes for large-scale computations of many topics in low-energy nuclear physics. Physics studied include the properties of nuclei and nuclear decays, nuclear structure and reactions, and the properties of nuclear matter. The computational techniques used include Quantum Monte Carlo, Configuration Interaction, Coupled Cluster, and Density Functional methods. The research program emphasized areas of high interest to current and possible future DOE nuclear physics facilities, including ATLAS and FRIB (nuclear structure and reactions, and nuclear astrophysics), TJNAF (neutron distributions in nuclei, few body systems, and electroweak processes), NIF (thermonuclear reactions), MAJORANA and FNPB (neutrinoless double-beta decay and physics beyond the Standard Model), and LANSCE (fission studies).

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

New constraint on the Np 237 ( n , γ ) Np 238 integral cross section using the Godiva-IV critical assembly

Accurate knowledge of the 237 Np(n, γ) 238 Np cross section at fast neutron energies is important for applied nuclear science. The presently available experimental data has large disagreements in the fast neutron region. Perform a model-independent measurement of the 237 Np(n, γ) 238 Np integral cross section using a well characterized fast neutron source and compare the result with previous measurements and current nuclear data evaluations. Provide an integral measurement that can be used as a benchmark for current evaluations. Multiple samples of 237 Np were irradiated in the Godiva-IV critical assembly. Following the irradiation, the samples placed in a γ-ray counting setup and the γ-rays emitted from the decay of 238 Np were measured over a time period of approximately 7 days. Multiple γ-ray decay branches of 238 Np were observed. The observed activity of 238 Np was used to calculate the amount of 238 Np produced during the irradiation via the 237 Np(n, γ) 238 Np reaction and an integral cross section of 342(11) mb was measured for the Godiva-IV neutron spectrum. Further, the 238 Np half-life has been measured with a result of 50.31(5) hours. The 237 Np(n, γ) 238 Np integral cross section measured in this work is in agreement with overlapping 1σ error bands to ENDF/B-VIII.0. However, the measured value is 3σ away from the calculated integral cross section using JENDL-5. This measurement offers a reliable benchmark for future 237 Np(n, γ) 238 Np cross section evaluations.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Real-time signal detection for Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy measurements using antenna arrays

Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) is a technique for precision measurement of the energies of charged particles, which is being developed by the Project 8 Collaboration to measure the neutrino mass using tritium beta-decay spectroscopy. Project 8 seeks to use the CRES technique to measure the neutrino mass with a sensitivity of 40 meV, requiring a large supply of tritium atoms stored in a multi-cubic meter detector volume. Antenna arrays are one potential technology compatible with an experiment of this scale, but the capability of an antenna-based CRES experiment to measure the neutrino mass depends on the efficiency of the signal detection algorithms. Here, in this paper, we develop efficiency models for three signal detection algorithms and compare them using simulations from a prototype antenna-based CRES experiment as a case-study. The algorithms include a power threshold, a matched filter template bank, and a neural network based machine learning approach, which are analyzed in terms of their average detection efficiency and relative computational cost. It is found that significant improvements in detection efficiency and, therefore, neutrino mass sensitivity are achievable, with only a moderate increase in computation cost, by utilizing either the matched filter or machine learning approach in place of a power threshold, which is the baseline signal detection algorithm used in previous CRES experiments by Project 8.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

Project 8 apparatus for cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy with 83m Kr and tritium

Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) is a novel technique for the precise measurement of relativistic electron energy. This technique is being employed by the Project 8 collaboration for measuring a high-precision tritium beta decay spectrum to perform a frequency-based measurement of the neutrino mass. In this work, we describe the Project 8 Phase II apparatus, used for the detection of the CRES signal from the conversion electrons of 83m Kr and the first CRES measurement of the beta-decay spectrum of molecular tritium.

Neutrino detectors↗
DOE OSTI2026

First Results on the Search for Lepton Number Violating Neutrinoless Double-𝛽 Decay with the LEGEND-200 Experiment

The LEGEND Collaboration is searching for neutrinoless double-beta (0⁢𝜈⁢𝛽⁢𝛽) decay by operating high-purity germanium detectors enriched in 76 Ge in a low-background liquid argon environment. Building on key technological innovations from the GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment and the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiment, LEGEND-200 has performed a first 0⁢𝜈⁢𝛽⁢𝛽 decay search based on 61.0 kg yr of data. Over half of this exposure comes from our highest performing detectors, including newly developed inverted-coaxial detectors, and is characterized by an estimated background level of 0.5$^{+0.3}_{−0.2}$ ⁢cts/(keV ton yr) in the 0⁢𝜈⁢𝛽⁢𝛽 decay signal region. A combined analysis of data from GERDA, the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, and LEGEND-200, characterized by a 90% confidence level exclusion sensitivity of 2.8 ×10 26 yr on the half-life of 0⁢𝜈⁢𝛽⁢𝛽 decay, reveals no evidence for a signal and sets a new observed lower limit at 𝑇$^{⁢0𝜈}_{1/2}$ > 1.9 × 10 26 yr (90% confidence level). Assuming the decay is mediated by Majorana neutrinos, this corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range 𝑚 𝛽⁢𝛽 < 75–200 meV, depending on the adopted nuclear matrix element.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

AGC-4 As-Run Uncertainty Analysis

The concept of measuring neutron flux (or fluence rate) with activation foils has existed since the late 1940s and is a well-used methodology. Activation foils are selected for their unique isotopic cross sections that create reaction products with desirable properties: relatively simple radioactive decay scheme, measurable quantities of gamma-rays or betas, and half-lives appropriate for the irradiation and decay durations of the experiment. The activation materials, deemed flux wires, fluence wires, dosimeters, or flux foils, are fabricated to have a mass appropriate for the irradiation as well so the measurement using a radiation detector following the irradiation is sufficient but not overwhelming in terms of total activity. Activation measurement results are expressed in terms of reaction rate, which can then be used to “adjust” the neutron spectrum. The Advanced Graphite Creep (AGC)-4 experiment contained 26 flux wire packages, each containing an iron and a niobium wire inside a vanadium capsule. For all stackup positions, the value of fast to thermal neutrons is higher than expected, but the total neutron fluence is near the predicted value of ~2 x 1022 n/cm2. As compared to the predicted neutron spectrum, there are four takeaways in the results as compared to the predicted ATR irradiation: 1) Additional fast (fission) neutrons present, 2) Spectrum hardening due to temperature, 3) Spectrum hardening due to container attenuation, 4) Total neutron fluence is close to predicted values. Since the neutron energy spectrum is a key parameter when attributing neutron damage in materials, the adjusted energy-dependent spectrum and the total neutron fluence results from the dosimeters can be incorporated for future calculations.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Nonthermal Ionization of Kilonova Ejecta: Observable Impacts

The characteristic rapid rise and decline at optical wavelengths of a kilonova is the product of the low ejecta mass (≲0.05 M ⊙ ) and high ejecta velocity (≳0.1c). We show that, even at very early times (≲2 days), regions of ejecta fall below critical density and temperature thresholds at which nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects become important. Here, we present an approximate method for calculating the ionization state of the ejecta that accounts for the NLTE impact of high-energy electrons produced in the beta decay of freshly synthesized r-process elements. We find that incorporating ionization from high-energy electrons produces an “inverted” and “blended” ionization structure, where the most highly ionized species are located in the fastest moving homologous ejecta, and multiple ionization states coexist. In radiation transport calculations, the higher degree of ionization reduces line blanketing in optical bands, leading to improved agreement with the light-curve properties of AT 2017gfo, such as the duration, decay rates, brightness, and colors. Our quasi-NLTE implementation helps to alleviate tensions in kilonova modeling: for high-velocity (∼0.3 c) ejecta components, our models require less mass for a given peak brightness in optical bands, by as much as a factor of 3; our models can explain the presence of observed features associated to Sr II, W III, Se III, and Te III under conditions where LTE models would predict only neutral species; and we naturally predict the coexistence of species like Sr II and Ce III without the need for fine-tuning of the ejecta properties.

High energy astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Outflowing photoionized plasma in Circinus X-1 using the high-resolution X-ray spectrometer Resolve onboard XRISM and the radiative transfer code cloudy

High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy is a key to understanding the mass inflow and outflow of compact objects. Spectral lines carry information about the ionization, density, and velocity structures through their intensity ratios and profiles. They are formed in non-local thermodynamic equilibrium conditions under the intense radiation field from the compact objects; thus radiative transfer (RT) calculation is a requisite for proper interpretations. We present such a study for a low-mass X-ray binary, Circinus X-1, from which the P Cygni profile was discovered using the X-ray grating spectrometer onboard Chandra. We observed the source using the X-ray microcalorimeter onboard XRISM at an orbital phase of 0.93–0.97 and revealed many spectral features unidentified before: the higher series transitions ($n{\rightarrow }1$; $n>2$) of highly ionized (H- and He-like) S, Ca, Ar, and Fe in emission and absorption, the Fe K$\alpha$ and K$\beta$ inner-shell excitation absorption of mildly ionized (O- to Li-like) Fe, and resolved fine-structure level transitions in the Fe Ly$\alpha$ and He$\alpha$ complexes. They blend with each other at different velocity shifts on top of apparently variable continuum emission that changed its flux by an order of magnitude within a 70 ks telescope time. Despite such complexity in the observed spectra, most of them can be explained by a simple model consisting of the photoionized plasma outflowing at $\sim$300 km s$^{-1}$ and the variable blocking material in the line of sight of the incident continuum emission from the accretion disk. We demonstrate this with the aid of the RT code cloudy for the line ratio diagnostics and spectral fitting. We further constrain the physical parameters of the outflow and argue that the outflow is launched close to the outer edge of the accretion disk and can be driven radiatively by being assisted by the line force calculated using the RT simulation.

X-rays: binaries↗
DOE OSTI2025

Research Traineeships for Students from Minority Serving Institutions in Nuclear Physics at the University of Texas at Arlington (Final Technical Report)

This project supported research traineeships for students of minority serving institutions in Texas to perform nuclear physics research at the University of Texas at Arlington, an R1 research university in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. UTA is the leading US institution on the NEXT neutrinoless double beta decay collaboration, and students were paired with junior and senior mentors and undertook research projects in our Nuclear Physics (NP) research laboratories.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Analysis of NCERC Critical Experiments with ENDF/B Nuclear Data Libraries

Nuclear data (ND) libraries are the backbone of the nuclear industry, as they are the collections of tabulated probabilities that define sub-atomic particle interactions with matter. In the areas of criticality safety and experiments, no evaluated nuclear data files (ENDF) are more important than those containing neutron cross section data. It is upon these files, and accompanying radiation transport codes, that practitioners are enabled to safely design both subcritical and critical systems. Likewise, in a symbiotic fashion, it is the same critical assemblies which are used primarily to validate that the cross sections are correct. The ENDF/B library, the United States’ national library maintained by the National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), is soon releasing a new version, ENDF/B-VIII.1. Prior to the official release, several beta versions of the library were prepared and tested in simulation suites. The work presented here are results comparing the newest ENDF/B beta release (ENDF/B-VIII.1b3) and ENDF/B-VIII.0 with recent experiments done at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC) as well as correlated experiments from the Los Alamos Critical Experiments Facility (LACEF). These NCERC and LACEF experiments were performed in part to provide validation for various cross sections that were identified as insufficient in the ENDF/B-VIII.0. In particular, lead, copper, fluorine, and chlorine, as well as the major actinides, were targeted from the last decade of critical experiments.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Radiation Imaging with Event Camera

Neuromorphic or event-based imaging is a new, commercially available sensor technology inspired by how the human eye works. Instead of measuring frames at a fixed rate, the camera measures changes in pixel intensity asynchronously. This difference in readout architecture results in a high dynamic range and low latency. Event-based cameras have been used in a variety of applications, including object tracking, navigation, and lidar technologies. However, event-based cameras have not been adequately researched for their ability to image high-energy particles. This report explores the use of an event camera for imaging alpha, beta, and X-rays particles, when coupled with scintillator screens to convert high-energy particles into visible light. Methods to process event data were developed and are presented here, along with the results. The event camera can measure alpha and beta particles with comparable performance to that of a conventional camera. Event cameras can also image higher-activity sources and offer the possibility of discriminating particle interaction types on the basis of timing differences, which typical cameras cannot do. Additionally, event cameras can image objects with an X-ray source when the source strength dynamically changes but does not create a high-contrast image during static X-ray measurement.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Linear gyrokinetic simulations of toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes in the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak

Linear gyrokinetic (GK) simulations using the Gyrokinetic Toroidal Code (GTC) have been performed to investigate Toroidicity-driven Alfvén Eigenmodes (TAEs) driven by the neutral beam injection (NBI) induced fast ions in the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) to identify the non-perturbative and kinetic effects of thermal plasma. A specific TAE in MAST discharge 26887, with an on-axis NBI power of approximately 1.5 MW and plasma current around 800 kA, exhibited frequency chirping, and the tangential soft x-ray camera array resolved the radial mode structure peaked near |q|=1.5. Various excitation methods were used in the GTC linear simulations, illustrating this code's capability to realistically represent the mechanisms and behaviors of fast ion-driven TAEs in spherical tokamaks. The radial structures from these GK simulations closely match measurements and calculations performed using the NOVA ideal MHD code, though with the frequencies approximately 10 kHz lower, likely due to various kinetic and non-perturbative effects. The simulations measured the damping rates due to continuum damping, radiative damping, and ion Landau damping, revealing that ion Landau damping has the most significant contribution to the total damping rate of the TAE. A comparison of growth rates of TAEs excited by fast ion Maxwellian and slowing-down distributions shows that the TAEs excited by a fast ion anisotropic pitch distribution (as part of the slowing-down distributions) are more unstable compared to those excited by a Maxwellian distribution with an equivalent fast ion beta. This shows that the use of fast ion anisotropy alters the number of fast ions to be in shear Alfvén resonance, and hence, it can greatly affect the stability of TAEs. These tests can be performed with the GTC but impossible with ideal MHD simulations, highlighting the necessity of kinetic simulations such as the GTC for a precise prediction of the TAE stability.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Sterile neutrino dark matter within the ν SMEFT

Sterile neutrinos with masses at the keV scale and mixing to the active neutrinos offer an elegant explanation of the observed dark matter (DM) density. However, the very same mixing inevitably leads to radiative photon emission and the non-observation of such peaked X-ray lines rules out this minimal sterile neutrino DM hypothesis. We show that in the context of the Standard Model effective field theory with sterile neutrinos (νSMEFT), higher dimensional operators can produce sterile neutrino DM in a broad range of parameter space. In particular, νSMEFT interactions can open the large mixing parameter space due to their destructive interference, through operator mixing or matching, in the X-ray emission. We also find that, even in the zero mixing limit, the DM density can always be explained by νSMEFT operators. The testability of the studied νSMEFT operators in searches for electric dipole moments, neutrinoless double beta decay, and pion decay measurements is discussed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗