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DOE OSTI2025

Data-Enabled Fusion Technology (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

Advancing Scientific Understanding in Fusion Energy and Machine Learning This research represented a significant step forward in machine learning (ML) applications for fusion energy experiments. The project integrated advanced data-driven modeling, optimization techniques, and artificial intelligence to enhance the predictive capabilities and operational efficiency of plasma-based fusion systems. Specifically, tasks focused on ML-enhanced diagnostics, operator guidance tools, and predictive modeling helped improve the ability to interpret complex fusion experiments. Key areas of advancement included: 1) data-driven plasma control, i.e., using ML algorithms to optimize experimental conditions and classify plasma behaviors based on historical data; 2) spectroscopy and diagnostics, i.e., applying AI models to extract previously inaccessible insights from experimental spectroscopy data; and 3) configuration mapping and operator guidance, i.e., developing a predictive framework to assist scientists in identifying the most effective experimental parameters, reducing reliance on manual adjustments. By refining these ML-driven techniques, the project contributed to the broader scientific community’s understanding of plasma dynamics and fusion energy viability. Technical Effectiveness and Economic Feasibility The methods investigated demonstrated high technical effectiveness, as reflected in milestones assessing the predictive accuracy, performance, and optimization of fusion configurations. The development of an Operator Guidance Tool (OGT), for example, led to more precise control of plasma conditions by learning from experimental data and offering real-time adjustments. From an economic standpoint, DeFT provided: 1) the ability to reduce trial-and-error experimentation, which lowered operational costs; 2) improved data interpretation methods, which enabled more efficient resource allocation in large-scale fusion research projects; and 3) the automation of key diagnostic tasks, which reduced manual labor and human error, increasing overall efficiency. 13 The final assessments of predictive models and optimization strategies demonstrated that these approaches were scalable and could be implemented across multiple fusion energy research programs. Public Benefit and Societal Impact This project contributed directly to the broader goal of achieving sustainable and commercially viable fusion energy, which had profound implications for clean energy production and climate change mitigation. The integration of AI-driven solutions into fusion research: 1) sped up scientific discovery, accelerating progress towards achieving energy breakthroughs; 2) reduced the cost of experimentation, making fusion research more accessible; and 3) provided a framework for future AI applications in high-energy physics, benefiting adjacent fields like space exploration, material science, and renewable energy. Additionally, by fostering collaborations between AI researchers and plasma physicists, this project promoted interdisciplinary innovation that could lead to broader applications beyond fusion research.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Enabling Innovative Analysis on Heterogeneous Clusters through HTCdaskgateway

High energy particle (HEP) physics research is going through fundamental changes as we move to collect larger amounts of data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Analysis facilities and distributed computing, through HTCs, have come together to create the next pythonic generation of analysis by utilizing HTCdaskgateway, a Dask gateway extension, allowing users to spawn workers compatible with both their analysis and heterogeneous clusters in line with authentication requirements. This is enabling physicists to engage with scientific python in ways they had not before because of domain specific C++ tools. An example of HTCdaskgateway’s use is Fermilab’s Elastic Analysis Facility.

Chavez, Elise [U. Wisconsin, Madison (main)]↗

DOE OSTI2025

Prototype Development for MBSE-Driven Digital Environment at Fermilab

Complex projects like Fermilab s accelerators and detectors involve thousands of interdependent components and requirements, making traditional documentation hard to keep consistent and often causing rework. Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tackles this by representing the system as a digital, queryable model. While widely used in aerospace and safety-critical industries, MBSE adoption has been limited elsewhere due to steep learning curves and high costs. This project investigates how a web-first, low-code MBSE stack can reduce those barriers and offer an accessible, unified source of truth for engineers and physicists.

Valle, Diego Pedro (ORCID:0009000865900663)↗

DOE OSTI2025

Using molecular dynamics simulations to validate a new approach for determining the melting curves of materials

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), located in the state of New Mexico (United States), is one of the most iconic research centers in the world. Founded in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, it emerged from a global conflict and an unprecedented scientific emergency. At that time, the United States feared that Nazi Germany might develop an atomic weapon first. Under the direction of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the U.S. government established a secret laboratory in an isolated region of the Los Alamos plateau, bringing together some of the greatest scientific minds of the era. This site, then known as Project Y, became the birthplace of the first atomic bomb.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2025

Data Analysis, Machine Learning, & More

At LANL, I have had the privilege and pleasure of working with Dr. Tika Kafle, an optics and condensed matter physicist at the MagLab in TA-35. Dr. Kafle’s research primarily involves the Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES) technique of characterizing materials. More specifically, Dr. Kafle works with Time Resolved ARPES (Tr-ARPES), which extends this technique into the time domain.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2025

WRS Capabilities Booklet [Slides]

WRS is the digital backbone of the Weapons Program—delivering trusted data assets, cyber-assured software and systems, and AI-enabling software—that transform insights into decisive action. We empower physicists, engineers, researchers, and scientists to think faster, act strategically, and stay ahead in an ever-evolving threat landscape. Our efforts ensure critical nuclear weapons data remains secure, accessible, and usable—supporting mission-critical work, informed decision making, and scientific advancement at LANL and across the Nuclear Security Enterprise (NSE).

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

DOE OSTI2026

Lighting a Star on Earth—Again and Again

At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) National Ignition Facility (NIF), scientists are learning what it takes to keep a fusion reaction burning. Their latest experiments, presented this week at the American Physical Society’s Division of Plasma Physics annual meeting, build on a series of successful ignition shots to reveal how capsule design and laser precision can sustain record-setting performance. At NIF, researchers are consistently producing plasmas dominated by self-heating from fusion reactions, achieving target gain greater than two — meaning the fusion output energy exceeds twice the energy used to initiate the reaction. Using the world’s most energetic laser to create these conditions, LLNL scientists can explore the detailed physics of ignition and burn that underpin the Laboratory’s stockpile modernization mission. “It’s a bit like lighting a campfire with a match and a single breath,” said LLNL physicist David Schlossberg, who is co-leading the work. “If you have too little fuel, it burns out quickly; too much, and it won’t light at all. We’ve found the balance between capsule mass and drive strength that starts the burn and keeps it going efficiently.” NIF is the only laboratory in the world to have achieved fusion ignition, a historic breakthrough first realized in December 2022. Since then, the facility has repeated ignition ten times, most recently in October 2025, demonstrating the robustness of the experimental platform and the reproducibility of ignition physics.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2026

QCD Theory and Transverse Momentum Dependent Physics

A major challenge for QCD theorists is to understand how to different categories of QCD physics contribute to a single observable. This is the goal of QCD factorization theory. Today, QCD physicists are tasked with describing increasingly detailed properties of transverse momentum dependent particle distributions, including their shapes and normalizations, their variation with energy and other kinematical variables, the identity of particles involved, correlations with spin, and the relationship between transverse momentum distributions in different processes. Embedded within that broad effort are specific fundamental questions at the heart of QCD theory. Namely, how does one give precise, quantitative meaning to quark and gluon concepts in hard scattering events, and what are the limits of those concepts? In the past two decades, there has been a renaissance in TMD QCD, with a broad spectrum of motivations driving the study of TMD observables. TMD QCD studies are in a transformative stage; subfields that traditionally progressed nearly independently of one other, such as hadronic structure studies and the study of perturbative QCD gluon radiation in high-energy collisions, are becoming intertwined. It is thus becoming increasingly clear that unified approaches -- those that incorporate all the relevant phenomena into a single formalism rooted in QCD fundamentals -- will be critical to the mission to expand the current understanding of QCD nuclear/hadronic dynamics. TMD QCD factorization theorems and their generalizations will be central to these efforts. The factorization theorems, in addition, provide the practical prescription for applying specific calculations to phenomenology. The goal of this project was to unify and push the boundaries of traditional TMD research and prepare it for use in future phenomenological applications.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Research Traineeship for Diversity in Nuclear Physics at Yale Wright Laboratory

This report pertains to the grant titled “Research Traineeship for Diversity in Nuclear Physics at Yale Wright Laboratory.” The award aimed to train and retain a diverse group of future scientists, including underrepresented, first-generation, and low-income undergraduates, as prospective nuclear physicists and leaders in science.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Single Photon Searches at ICARUS with SPINE

The MiniBooNE Low-Energy Excess (LEE) of electron-like events from the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) has puzzled neutrino physicists for decades. One possible explanation has been an unpredicted excess of neutral current (NC) $\Delta$ resonance interactions with a subsequent radiative decay. An increase in the rate of NC $\Delta\rightarrow N\gamma$ events by a factor of 3.18 could explain the LEE seen by MiniBooNE. ICARUS also sees neutrinos from the BNB and can check the rate of these single photon events. The SPINE particle physics reconstruction suite leverages deep neural networks (DNNs) to optimize particle reconstruction and identification in Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs). I present preliminary findings on the effectiveness of these machine learnign (ML) techniques for single photon event reconstruction at ICARUS.

Hausner, Harry [Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000188932280)↗

DOE OSTI2025

IOTA Bake System

The IOTA ring is vital to the advancement of accelerator sciences, and a large part of its attractiveness to accelerator physicists is its modularity and the versatility that this function provides. Up until this point, the FAST accelerator has provided electron beam for the studies in IOTA. With the soon to be commissioned IOTA Proton Injector in lieu, the requirement for better vacuum to support future proton studies in the ring have arrived. Our solution is the IOTA Bake System which has the goal of facilitating this requirement.

Thompson, Travante [Fermilab]↗

DOE OSTI2026

AI-Ready Control System for the Fermilab Accelerator Complex

Reliable, high-intensity operation of the Fermilab Accelerator Complex is critical to the success of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. We describe the requirements and infrastructure necessary to support routine use of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) in the accelerator control system. Three capabilities are identified: a machine learning operations (MLOps) framework standardizing the lifecycle of AI/ML automation from data management through deployment and monitoring; a data quality framework defining and enforcing standards required to build trustworthy AI/ML applications; and workflow integration with large language models to assist physicists, engineers, and operators with information retrieval, code development, and routine analysis. Use cases spanning beam diagnostics, beam control, and support system automation illustrate the technical requirements across the complex.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Exploring Photoproduced $\eta^{(}{'^{)}} \pi^{0}$ Systems in the Search for Exotic Hadrons at GlueX

Physicists have long been captivated by the spectrum of hadrons, aiming to better comprehend the fundamental building blocks of matter. While various experiments have laid the foundation for this spectrum, Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics has revealed new states with forbidden JPC values. This has challenged the constituent quark model, suggesting spin-exotic hybrid mesons that could reshape our understanding of hadronic structure and quark-gluon interactions through gluonic excitations. The GlueX experiment at Jefferson Lab has played a pivotal role in this pursuit, with its efforts centered on analyzing photoproduction data. In order to investigate the lightest predicted exotic state with JPC=1−+ , known as the π1(1600) meson, significant attention has been directed towards both ηπ0 and η′π0 systems. Detailed ongoing amplitude analysis studies of γp→η(′)π0p , leveraging the polarization of the photon beam at the GlueX experiment will be highlighted. Furthermore, first studies on the moments of angular distributions for these channels will also be shown, along with the differential cross section results for the a2(1320) meson. These results aid in identifying the dominant production mechanisms and offer valuable insights into complex hadronic interactions. Ultimately, this contributes to the ongoing search for and future identification of exotic hybrid meson candidates.

Baldwin, Zachary↗

DOE OSTI2025

THE STRUCTURE FUNCTION OF THE FREE NEUTRON AT HIGH X-BJORKEN

Understanding the internal structure of nucleons is one of the primary goal of nuclear physicists. As protons and neutrons are only the bound state solution of the QCD lagrangian (at least inside atomic nuclei), studying protons and neutrons helps uncover nuclear struc ture. Due to its easy availability, many studies on protons have been done on a wide range of kinematics. However, free neutron targets are not readily achievable. So, any information on neutrons has to be extracted from neutron-rich nuclei, and some nuclear models have to be used to subtract the contributions from other nucleons to extract the information on neutrons. So, the Barely Off-shell Nucleon Structure (BONuS12) experiment at Jefferson Lab was conducted to overcome these challenges by using spectator tagging. The experiment effectively created a quasi-free neutron target by scattering electrons off a deuterium target and detecting low-momentum, backward-moving protons using a custom-built Radial Time Projection Chamber (RTPC). Selecting the low momentum and backward-moving spectators would enable us to minimize the model-dependent effects due to final state interactions and target fragmentation. The RTPC was a 40 cm-long cylindrical detector that works on the principle of gaseous ionization. It had three layers of Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) for charge amplification and a surrounding readout pad. The scattered electrons were measured using the CLAS12 detector, and data were collected using a 10.4 GeV electron beam dur ing Spring and Summer 2020. Using spectator tagging, we extracted the structure function ratio Fn 2 of the quasi-free neutron in the deep inelastic scattering at high x, upto x ~ 0.8. The result was extracted in the region with the invariant mass W > 1.8 GeV/c2, and Q2 in the range 1.3 to 11 GeV2. This dissertation presents the methodology, event selection criteria and refinements, estimation and subtraction of backgrounds, and complete analysis of extraction of Fn 2/Fp 2 in a model-independent way. Also, systematic uncertainties in our final analysis will be discussed in detail.

Pokhrel, Madhusudhan [Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk,↗

DOE OSTI2025

Long Range Plan: Dense matter theory for heavy-ion collisions and neutron stars

Since the release of the 2015 Long Range Plan in Nuclear Physics, major events have occurred that reshaped our understanding of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and nuclear matter at large densities, in and out of equilibrium. The US nuclear community has an opportunity to capitalize on advances in astrophysical observations and nuclear experiments and engage in an interdisciplinary effort in the theory of dense baryonic matter that connects low- and high-energy nuclear physics, astrophysics, gravitational waves physics, and data science. This is a white paper prepared by a group of nuclear physicists during the 2023 LRP process.

Lovato, Alessandro↗

DOE OSTI2024

Myths of German Graphite in World War II, with Original Translations

We re-examine the common narrative that a 1941 experimental error by physicists Walther Bothe and Peter Jensen led Germany to abandon graphite as a reactor moderator during World War II. We first detail the history of both German and American graphite experiments, noting that the Americans faced similar setbacks but succeeded only at the end of a costly 18-month graphite purification program. We then use Monte Carlo N-Particle simulations to reconstruct Bothe's 1941 experiment. We find the thermal absorption cross section of Bothe's Siemens electrographite to be 12.2 mb, in contrast to his reported 7.9 mb. This discrepancy arises because the neutrons in Bothe's experiment did not reach thermal equilibrium, leading to an underestimation of neutron absorption. Additionally, despite misconceptions that the Germans were unaware of boron impurities, we share evidence that Wilhelm Hanle accurately measured boron and cadmium impurities in the electrographite. To support our findings, we provide 9 excerpted and 3 complete English translations of classified wartime reports by Heisenberg, Joos, Bothe, Jensen, Höcker, Hanle, and Kremer. Our work aims to illuminate the rational constraints behind Germany's decision to forgo graphite moderation.

Park, Patrick J.↗

NASA NTRS1964

Physics of Nonthermal Radio Sources

On December 3 and 4, 1962, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, an office of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was host to an international group of astronomers and physicists who met to discuss the physics of nonthermal radio sources. This was the third in a continuing series of interdisciplinary meetings held at the Institute on topics which have a special bearing on the main lines of inquiry in the space program. The conference was organized by G. R. Burbidge of the University of California at San Diego and by L. Woltjer, then of the University of Leiden but temporarily at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and now of Columbia University.

Maran, Stephen P.↗

NASA NTRS1964

Biomedical and Human Factors Requirements for a Manned Earth Orbiting Station

This report is the result of a study conducted by Republic Aviation Corporation in conjunction with Spacelabs, Inc.,in a team effort in which Republic Aviation Corporation was prime contractor. In order to determine the realistic engineering design requirements associated with the medical and human factors problems of a manned space station, an interdisciplinary team of personnel from the Research and Space Divisions was organized. This team included engineers, physicians, physiologists, psychologists, and physicists. Recognizing that the value of the study is dependent upon medical judgments as well as more quantifiable factors (such as design parameters) a group of highly qualified medical consultants participated in working sessions to determine which medical measurements are required to meet the objectives of the study. In addition, various Life Sciences personnel from NASA (Headquarters, Langley, MSC) participated in monthly review sessions. The organization, team members, consultants, and some of the part-time contributors are shown in Figure 1. This final report embodies contributions from all of these participants.

EARTH ORBIT↗