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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 OSTI2016

SIMULATIONS OF ENERGETIC PARTICLES INTERACTING WITH DYNAMICAL MAGNETIC TURBULENCE

We explore the transport of energetic particles in interplanetary space by using test-particle simulations. In previous work such simulations have been performed by using either magnetostatic turbulence or undamped propagating plasma waves. In the current paper we simulate for the first time particle transport in dynamical turbulence. To do so we employ two models, namely the damping model of dynamical turbulence and the random sweeping model. We compute parallel and perpendicular diffusion coefficients and compare our numerical findings with solar wind observations. We show that good agreement can be found between simulations and the Palmer consensus range for both dynamical turbulence models if the ratio of turbulent magnetic field and mean field is δB/B{sub 0} = 0.5.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Banded structures in electron pitch angle diffusion coefficients from resonant wave-particle interactions

Electron pitch angle (D{sub αα}) and momentum (D{sub pp}) diffusion coefficients have been calculated due to resonant interactions with electrostatic electron cyclotron harmonic (ECH) and whistler mode chorus waves. Calculations have been performed at two spatial locations L = 4.6 and 6.8 for electron energies ≤10 keV. Landau (n = 0) resonance and cyclotron harmonic resonances n = ±1, ±2, … ±5 have been included in the calculations. It is found that diffusion coefficient versus pitch angle (α) profiles show large dips and oscillations or banded structures. The structures are more pronounced for ECH and lower band chorus (LBC) and particularly at location 4.6. Calculations of diffusion coefficients have also been performed for individual resonances. It is noticed that the main contribution of ECH waves in pitch angle diffusion coefficient is due to resonances n = +1 and n = +2. A major contribution to momentum diffusion coefficients appears from n = +2. However, the banded structures in D{sub αα} and D{sub pp} coefficients appear only in the profile of diffusion coefficients for n = +2. The contribution of other resonances to diffusion coefficients is found to be, in general, quite small or even negligible. For LBC and upper band chorus waves, the banded structures appear only in Landau resonance. The D{sub pp} diffusion coefficient for ECH waves is one to two orders smaller than D{sub αα} coefficients. For chorus waves, D{sub pp} coefficients are about an order of magnitude smaller than D{sub αα} coefficients for the case n ≠ 0. In case of Landau resonance, the values of D{sub pp} coefficient are generally larger than the values of D{sub αα} coefficients particularly at lower energies. As an aid to the interpretation of results, we have also determined the resonant frequencies. For ECH waves, resonant frequencies have been estimated for wave normal angle 89° and harmonic resonances n = +1, +2, and +3, whereas for whistler mode waves, the frequencies have been calculated for angle 10° and Landau resonance. Further, in ECH waves, the banded structures appear for electron energies ≥1 keV, and for whistler mode chorus waves, structures appear for energies >2 keV at L = 4.6 and above 200 eV for L = 6.8. The results obtained in the present work will be helpful in the study of diffusion curves and will have important consequences for diffuse aurora and pancake distributions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Aging and mixing as pseudo-chemical-reactions between, and on, particles: Perspectives on particle interaction and multi-modal ages in hillslopes and streams

The particle-tracking method was recently extended to allow inter-particle mass transfer and arbitrarily complex reactions by allowing each particle to represent any number of distinct chemical compounds. This methodology allows the tracking (and broadening due to mixing) of the age probability density function (PDF) on each particle. Aquifer heterogeneity leads to channeling and multi-modal age PDFs in stream samples. This observation supports the concept of age classes but clearly shows the more complicated interplay of dispersion, mixing, and travel times on the age distributions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

THE IMPLICIT CONTRIBUTION OF SLAB MODES TO THE PERPENDICULAR DIFFUSION COEFFICIENT OF PARTICLES INTERACTING WITH TWO-COMPONENT TURBULENCE

We explore the transport of energetic particles in two-component turbulence in which the stochastic magnetic field is assumed to be a superposition of slab and two-dimensional modes. It is known that in magnetostatic slab turbulence, the motion of particles across the mean magnetic field is subdiffusive. If a two-dimensional component is added, diffusion is recovered. It was also shown before that in two-component turbulence, the slab modes do not explicitly contribute to the perpendicular diffusion coefficient. In the current paper, the implicit contribution of slab modes is explored and it is shown that this contribution leads to a reduction of the perpendicular diffusion coefficient. This effect improves the agreement between simulations and analytical theory. Furthermore, the obtained results are relevant for investigations of diffusive shock acceleration.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Clustering of electromagnetic showers and particle interactions with graph neural networks in liquid argon time projection chambers

Liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) are a class of detectors that produce high resolution images of charged particles within their sensitive volume. In these images, the clustering of distinct particles into superstructures is of central importance to the current and future neutrino physics program. Electromagnetic (EM) activity typically exhibits spatially detached fragments of varying morphology and orientation that are challenging to efficiently assemble using traditional algorithms. Similarly, particles that are spatially removed from each other in the detector may originate from a common interaction. Graph neural networks (GNNs) were developed in recent years to find correlations between objects embedded in an arbitrary space. The graph particle aggregator (GrapPA) first leverages GNNs to predict the adjacency matrix of EM shower fragments and to identify the origin of showers, i.e., primary fragments. On the PILArNet public LArTPC simulation dataset, the algorithm achieves a shower clustering accuracy characterized by a mean purity of 99.4%, a mean efficiency of 99.6% and a primary identification accuracy of 99.8%. It yields a relative shower energy uncertainty of (4.1 + 1.4 / $\sqrt{\text{E(GeV)})}$% and a shower direction uncertainty of (2.1/ $\sqrt{\text{E(GeV)})}$°. Finally, the optimized algorithm is then applied to the related task of clustering particle instances into interactions and yields a mean purity of 99.8% and a mean efficiency of 99.5% for an interaction density of $\mathcal{O}(1)$ m –3 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Search for long-lived, weakly interacting particles that decay to displaced hadronic jets in proton-proton collisions at s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for the decay of neutral, weakly interacting, long-lived particles using data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. This analysis uses the full data set recorded in 2012: 20.3 fb -1 of proton-proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV. The search employs techniques for reconstructing decay vertices of long-lived particles decaying to jets in the inner tracking detector and muon spectrometer. Signal events require at least two reconstructed vertices. No significant excess of events over the expected background is found, and limits as a function of proper lifetime are reported for the decay of the Higgs boson and other scalar bosons to long-lived particles and for Hidden Valley Z' and Stealth SUSY benchmark models. The first search results for displaced decays in Z' and Stealth SUSY models are presented. The upper bounds of the excluded proper lifetimes are the most stringent to date.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Theory of molecule metal nano-particle interaction: Quantum description of plasmonic lasing

The recent quantum description of a few molecules interacting with plasmon excitations of a spherical metal nano-particle (MNP) as presented in the work of Zhang and May [Phys. Rev. B 89, 245441 (2014)] is extended to systems with up to 100 molecules. We demonstrate the possibility of multiple plasmon excitation and describe their conversion into far-field photons. The calculation of the steady-state photon emission spectrum results in an emission line-narrowing with an increasing number of molecules coupled to the MNP. This is considered as an essential criterion for the action of the molecule-MNP system as a nano-laser. To have exact results for systems with up to 20 molecules, we proceed as recently described by Richter et al. [Phys. Rev. B 91, 035306 (2015)] and study a highly symmetric system. It assumes an equatorial and regular position of identical molecules in such a way that their coupling is dominated by that to a single MNP dipole-plasmon excitation. Changing from the exact computation of the system’s complete density matrix to an approximate theory based on the reduced plasmon density matrix, systems with more than 100 molecules can be described. Finally, nonlinear rate equations are proposed which reproduce the mean number of excited plasmons in their dependence of the number of molecules and of the used pump rate. The second order intensity correlation function of emitted photons is related to the respective plasmon correlation function which approaches unity when the system starts lasing.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

An O ( N ) and parallel approach to integral problems by a kernel-independent fast multipole method: Application to polarization and magnetization of interacting particles

Large classes of materials systems in physics and engineering are governed by magnetic and electrostatic interactions. Continuum or mesoscale descriptions of such systems can be cast in terms of integral equations, whose direct computational evaluation requires O ( N 2 ) operations, where N is the number of unknowns. Such a scaling, which arises from the many-body nature of the relevant Green's function, has precluded wide-spread adoption of integral methods for solution of large-scale scientific and engineering problems. In this work, a parallel computational approach is presented that relies on using scalable open source libraries and utilizes a kernel-independent Fast Multipole Method (FMM) to evaluate the integrals in O ( N ) operations, with O ( N ) memory cost, thereby substantially improving the scalability and efficiency of computational integral methods. We demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency, and scalability of our approach in the context of two examples. In the first, we solve a boundary value problem for a ferroelectric/ferromagnetic volume in free space. In the second, we solve an electrostatic problem involving polarizable dielectric bodies in an unbounded dielectric medium. Lastly, the results from these test cases show that our proposed parallel approach, which is built on a kernel-independent FMM, can enable highly efficient and accurate simulations and allow for considerable flexibility in a broad range of applications.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

SCIDAC Center for simulation of wave particle interactions CompX participation

Harnessing the energy that is released in fusion reactions would provide a safe and abundant source of power to meet the growing energy needs of the world population. The next step toward the development of fusion as a practical energy source is the construction of ITER, a device capable of producing and controlling the high performance plasma required for self-sustaining fusion reactions, or “burning” plasma. The input power required to drive the ITER plasma into the burning regime will be supplied primarily with a combination of external power from radio frequency waves in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies and energetic ions from neutral beam injection sources, in addition to internally generated Ohmic heating from the induced plasma current that also serves to create the magnetic equilibrium for the discharge. The ITER project is a large multi-billion dollar international project in which the US participates. The success of the ITER project depends critically on the ability to create and maintain burning plasma conditions, it is absolutely necessary to have physics-based models that can accurately simulate the RF processes that affect the dynamical evolution of the ITER discharge. The Center for Simulation of WavePlasma Interactions (CSWPI), also known as RF-SciDAC, is a multi-institutional collaboration that has conducted ongoing research aimed at developing: (1) Coupled core-to-edge simulations that will lead to an increased understanding of parasitic losses of the applied RF power in the boundary plasma between the RF antenna and the core plasma; (2) Development of models for core interactions of RF waves with energetic electrons and ions (including fusion alpha particles and fast neutral beam ions) that include a more accurate representation of the particle dynamics in the combined equilibrium and wave fields; and (3) Development of improved algorithms that will take advantage of massively parallel computing platforms at the petascale level and beyond to achieve the needed physics, resolution, and/or statistics to address these issues. CompX provides computer codes and analysis for the calculation of the electron and ion distributions in velocity-space and plasma radius which are necessary for reliable calculations of power deposition and toroidal current drive due to combined radiofrequency and neutral beam at high injected powers. It has also contributed to ray tracing modeling of injected radiofrequency powers, and to coupling between full-wave radiofrequency wave models and the distribution function calculations. In the course of this research, the Fokker-Planck distribution function calculation was made substantially more realistic by inclusion of finite-width drift-orbit effects (FOW). FOW effects were also implemented in a calculation of the phase-space diffusion resulting from radiofrequency full-wave models. Average level of funding for CompX was approximately three man-months per year.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Detailed numerical investigation of 90∘ scattering of energetic particles interacting with magnetic turbulence

In the present paper, we re-visit a well-known problem in diffusion theory, namely the 90∘ scattering problem. We use a test-particle code to compute the pitch-angle Fokker-Planck coefficient at 90∘ for different values of the turbulent magnetic field strength and the magnetic rigidity. We consider a slab model and compare our numerical findings with the analytical result provided by second-order quasilinear theory. We show that the latter theory accurately describes 90∘ scattering. We also replace the slab model by a more realistic two-component model to explore the influence of the turbulence model on 90∘ scattering.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Toward Optimizing Electrospun Nanofiber Fuel Cell Catalyst Layers: Polymer–Particle Interactions and Spinnability

We investigate the effect of the poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) carrier polymer concentration on the microstructure and rheological properties of catalyst inks for electrospun polymer–electrolyte membrane fuel-cell catalyst layers. Characterization of an ink microstructure using oscillatory shear rheology showed that the catalyst particles (platinum on carbon) are significantly agglomerated in the absence of PAA or an ionomer. Both the ionomer and PAA promoted the stability of the particles against agglomeration via electrosteric stabilization by adsorbing onto the particle surface. Increasing the PAA concentration increased the stability of the particles (or reduced the agglomerated structure) due to increasing PAA coverage onto the free surface area of the particles. However, beyond a certain increase in concentration, PAA was found to predominantly remain as an excess free polymer in the ink due to an insufficient free/available surface area on the particles for further PAA coverage. Extensional rheology measurements demonstrated that PAA enhances the extensional viscosities of the inks. Consequently, increasing the PAA concentration in the ink promoted the evolution of uniform nanofibers. However, beyond a certain concentration, a significant increase in the shear viscosities of the inks led to defective fiber morphologies because of the onset of flow instabilities. Electrochemical performance comparisons between catalyst layers with different PAA concentrations showed maximum performance at the PAA concentration that led to the least agglomerated structure of the catalyst, most uniform fiber morphologies, and low concentrations of free (non-adsorbing) PAA in the electrode. These results provide a rationale for optimization of electrospun catalyst nanofibers for both spinnability and electrochemical performance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Enhanced Luminescent Stability through Particle Interactions in Silicon Nanocrystal Aggregates

Close-packed assemblies of ligand-passivated colloidal nanocrystals can exhibit enhanced photoluminescent stability, but the origin of this effect is unclear. Here, we use experiment, simulation, and ab initio computation to examine the influence of interparticle interactions on the photoluminescent stability of silicon nanocrystal aggregates. The time-dependent photoluminescence emitted by structures ranging in size from a single quantum dot to agglomerates of more than a thousand is compared with Monte Carlo simulations of noninteracting ensembles using measured single-particle blinking data as input. In contrast to the behavior typically exhibited by the metal chalcogenides, the measured photoluminescent stability shows an enhancement with respect to the noninteracting scenario with increasing aggregate size. We model this behavior using time-dependent density functional theory calculations of energy transfer between neighboring nanocrystals as a function of nanocrystal size, separation, and the presence of charge and/or surface-passivation defects. In conclusion, our results suggest that rapid exciton transfer from “bright” nanocrystals to surface trap states in nearest-neighbors can efficiently fill such traps and enhance the stability of emission by promoting the radiative recombination of slowly diffusing excited electrons.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Coexistence of considerable inter-particle interactions and spin-glass behavior in La{sub 0.7}Ca{sub 0.3}MnO{sub 3} nanoparticles

We have studied the magnetic and spin-glass (SG) properties of La{sub 0.7}Ca{sub 0.3}MnO{sub 3} single-crystalline nanoparticles, which were prepared by the mechanical milling method with different milling times (t{sub m}). Analyzing the susceptibility data in the paramagnetic region indicates both ferromagnetic (FM) and anti-FM interactions coexisting in nanoparticles. Additionally, there is a peak associated with the freezing temperature (T{sub f}) appearing on the real part curve of the ac susceptibility, χ′(T). The T{sub f} value increases with increasing frequency as expected for SG systems. The SG behavior was also checked by using the criterion parameter c = ΔT{sub f}/T{sub f}Δ(log{sub 10}f), and the power law τ = τ{sub 0}(T/T{sub g} − 1){sup −zν}. The obtained values of c ≈ 5 × 10{sup −2}, τ{sub 0} ≈ 10{sup −5} s and zν ≈ 2–3 are consistent with those expected for SG-like systems, suggesting an existence of a SG phase transition at T{sub g} below T{sub f}, which decreases with decreasing 〈D〉. Basing on ln(f) versus T{sub f} data, and the Néel-Arrhenius model [ln(f) = ln(f{sub 0}) - E{sub a}/k{sub B}T] and Vogel–Fulcher law [ln(f) = ln(f{sub 0}) - E{sub a}/k{sub B}(T - T{sub 0})], the Larmor frequency (f{sub 0}), activation energy (E{sub a}) and effective temperature (T{sub 0}) for the samples with different 〈D〉 were determined. Obtained results indicate the existence a strong interaction between nanoparticles.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Experimental Studies of Elementary Particle Interactions at High Energies

In previous funding periods we studied several diffractive processes at Fermilab during the Tevatron Collider Run I: SD, single diffraction/dissociation, $\overline{p}p \to \overline{p} + G + X_{p}$, DD, double diffraction/dissociation, $\overline{p}p \to X_{\overline{p}} + G + X_{p}$, DPE or CD, double Pomeron exchange or central dissociation, $\overline{p}p \to \overline{p} + G + X_{c} + G + p$, and SDD, single plus double diffraction/dissociation, $\overline{p}p \to \overline{p} + G + X_{c} + G + X_{p}$, where $X_{\overline{p}}, X_{p} $ and $ X_{c}$ are regions with final-state particles and G is a pseudorapidity gap (region of pseudorapidity devoid of particles), presumed to be formed by a color-singlet partonic exchange with vacuum quantum numbers, referred to as Pomeron ($IP$) exchange. In this funding period, we concentrated on measuring diffractive W/Z and dijet production.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Elementary Particle Interactions (Final Technical Report)

Neutrinos provide a promising window to probe a wide range of fundamental physics. The past two decades have brought several remarkable neutrino-related discoveries indicating that one may answer the most sought after question of our matter dominated universe from within the neutrino sector. The global neutrino physics program is currently focused on studying neutrino oscillations, and to understand the implications of this phenomena on the evolution of the universe. Addressing all of these open questions and completing the story of neutrino oscillations requires technological advances in neutrino detection. Liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) are imaging detectors that offer fine-grained tracking, calorimetry and scalability, and are increasingly favored for the next generation of large neutrino detectors. Through leading technical and scientific roles on MicroBooNE, Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND) and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) LArTPC neutrino experiments, the research program supported through this funding has significantly advanced the understanding of neutrino properties along with technical development of LArTPCs for both short- and long-baseline neutrino oscillations physics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗