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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

Digital quantum simulation of NMR experiments

Simulations of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments can be an important tool for extracting information about molecular structure and optimizing experimental protocols but are often intractable on classical computers for large molecules such as proteins and for protocols such as zero-field NMR. We demonstrate the first quantum simulation of an NMR spectrum, computing the zero-field spectrum of the methyl group of acetonitrile using four qubits of a trapped-ion quantum computer. We reduce the sampling cost of the quantum simulation by an order of magnitude using compressed sensing techniques. We show how the intrinsic decoherence of NMR systems may enable the zero-field simulation of classically hard molecules on relatively near-term quantum hardware and discuss how the experimentally demonstrated quantum algorithm can be used to efficiently simulate scientifically and technologically relevant solid-state NMR experiments on more mature devices. Our work opens a practical application for quantum computation.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Higher order topological superconductivity in magnet-superconductor hybrid systems

Abstract Quantum engineering of topological superconductors and of the ensuing Majorana zero modes might hold the key for realizing topological quantum computing and topology-based devices. Magnet-superconductor hybrid (MSH) systems have proven to be experimentally versatile platforms for the creation of topological superconductivity by custom-designing the complex structure of their magnetic layer. Here, we demonstrate that higher order topological superconductivity (HOTSC) can be realized in two-dimensional MSH systems by using stacked magnetic structures. We show that the sensitivity of the HOTSC to the particular magnetic stacking opens an intriguing ability to tune the system between trivial and topological phases using atomic manipulation techniques. We propose that the realization of HOTSC in MSH systems, and in particular the existence of the characteristic Majorana corner modes, allows for the implementation of a measurement-based protocols for topological quantum computing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Interpretable, extensible linear and symbolic regression models for charge density prediction using a hierarchy of many-body correlation descriptors

Here, density functional theory (DFT) is routinely used to make electronic structure predictions for high-throughput screening of materials and molecules for technologically relevant areas, like the identification of better catalysts, electronic materials, and drug discovery. However, the DFT formalism is limited by (a) its poor (quadratic-to-quartic) scaling, and (b) the need to perform repeated eigenvalue computations of the electronic Hamiltonian as part of its self-consistent field (SCF) iteration procedure to obtain the converged ground state electron density, ρ (r). Approaches that directly predict ρ (r) of a structure with high accuracy can accelerate conventional SCF calculations and can also be used in linearly scaling methods such as orbital-free DFT. To this end, we present a procedure to predict the ground state electron density of molecular and periodic three-dimensional systems directly from the atomic structure with a particular emphasis on physical interpretability. In our framework, ρ (r) is modeled using many-body correlation descriptors that accurately capture the effects of local atomic arrangements in the neighborhood of a grid point. Our use of a linear regression scheme to fit to charge density data enables transparent analysis of the relative contributions of various types of local atomic correlations. By systematically including increasingly complex correlations, our model is shown to accurately predict ρ (r) for a variety of chemically and electronically diverse systems — amorphous Ge, Al(001) slab, crystalline Ga 2 O 3 , molecular benzene, and polyethylene. We then demonstrate a symbolic regression-based protocol to construct easily computable, interpretable features from lower-order correlations that significantly improves our electron density predictions with effectively no increase in the computational cost.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Hybrid Entanglement Distribution between Remote Microwave Quantum Computers Empowered by Machine Learning

Superconducting microwave circuits with Josephson junctions, the major platform for quantum computing, can only reach the full capability when connected. This requires an efficient protocol to distribute microwave entanglement. While quantum computers typically use discrete-variable (DV) methods for information encoding, the entire continuous-variable (CV) degree of freedom in electromagnetic fields must be utilized to achieve the highest entanglement distribution rate. Here, we propose a hybrid protocol to resolve the incompatibility between DV microwave quantum computers and CV quantum communications. CV microwave entanglement is distributed using optical swapping of optical-microwave entanglement pairs. To interface with DV microwave quantum computers, we further design a hybrid circuit to simultaneously convert and distill high-quality DV entanglement from noisy CV entanglement. The hybrid circuit is trained with machine-learning algorithms, ensuring high entanglement fidelity and generation rate. In conclusion, our work not only provides a practical method to realize efficient quantum links for superconducting microwave quantum computers, but also opens avenues to bridge the gap between DV and CV quantum systems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

A novel semi-structured kinetic model of methanotroph-photoautotroph cocultures for biogas conversion

Through metabolic coupling of methane oxidation and oxygenic photosynthesis, methanotroph-photoautotroph (M-P) cocultures offer a highly promising technology platform for biogas conversion. However, there has not been any quantitative modeling of the coculture growth kinetics. This is mainly due to the inherent difficulty associated with real time characterization of the M-P cocultures and the complex interactions such as the cross-feeding mechanism within the coculture. To address this challenge, we recently developed a novel experimental-computational (E-C) protocol to accurately characterize the M-P coculture in real-time, and validated its accuracy through cell counting. Enabled by the E-C protocol, this work presents the very first kinetic model for M-P cocultures. By explicitly modeling the exchange of in situ produced O 2 /CO 2 within the M-P coculture and coupling the individual biomass growth with mass transfer between the gas and liquid phases, the semi-structured kinetic model accurately predicts the growth dynamics of the M-P coculture under a wide range of growth conditions. The proposed model is validated by a series of wet-lab experiments using Methylomicrobium buryatense 5GB1 - Arthrospira platensis as the model coculture. Although it has been speculated that there may exist other emergent metabolic interactions within the M-P coculture, in addition to the exchange of in situ produced O 2 /CO 2 , there has not been any experimental validation prior to this study. By integrating designed experiments with the semi-structured kinetic model, this study is the first to confirm the existence of the additional emergent metabolic exchanges within the coculture. Furthermore, this study further quantifies the effect of these unknown metabolic interactions on the growth of both species in the model coculture, supporting further research to identify these exchanged metabolites for metabolic engineering.

42 ENGINEERING↗

A dual-species Rydberg array

Large-scale Rydberg atom arrays are used for highly coherent analogue quantum simulations and for digital quantum computations. However, advanced quantum protocols, such as quantum error correction, require midcircuit qubit operations, including the replenishment, reset and read-out of a subset of qubits. A compelling strategy for unlocking these capabilities is a dual-species architecture in which a second atomic species is controlled independently and entangled with the first through Rydberg interactions. Here, we realize a dual-species Rydberg array consisting of rubidium and caesium atoms and explore regimes of interactions and dynamics not accessible in single-species architectures. We achieve enhanced interspecies interactions by electrically tuning the Rydberg states close to a Förster resonance. In this regime, we demonstrate an interspecies Rydberg blockade and implement a quantum state transfer from one species to another. We then generate a Bell state between Rb and Cs hyperfine qubits through an interspecies controlled-phase gate. Finally, we combine interspecies entanglement with a native midcircuit read-out to achieve quantum non-demolition measurements.

atomic and molecular interactions with photons↗

Field Insights: Strengthening Digital Assurance Through On-Site Network Monitoring

The accelerating deployment of digital energy infrastructure, ranging from inverter-based resources (IBRs), battery energy storage systems (BESS), to advanced grid control platforms, has brought unprecedented visibility, flexibility, and efficiency to the electric grid. However, this digital transformation also introduces new cybersecurity challenges, particularly in the form of supply chain risks and operational blind spots at the grid edge. Over the past year, the Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), through its Rapid Risk Assessment initiative, along with the Grid Deployment Office (GDO), through its Technical Assistance for Digital Assurance (TADA) initiative, have supported a series of on-site network engagements led by Idaho National Laboratory (INL). These engagements, conducted in partnership with asset owners across the country, have focused on identifying real-world vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in operational environments, many of which are not detectable through remote assessments or traditional compliance audits. The goal of this report is to distill key findings and lessons learned during network hunt engagements from INL’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 - 2025. It is intended to help asset owners—regardless of their participation in the program—better understand the evolving threat landscape and adopt practical measures to secure their digital energy infrastructure.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Synthetic Scientific Image Generation with VAE, GAN, and Diffusion Model Architectures

Generative AI (genAI) has emerged as a powerful tool for synthesizing diverse and complex image data, offering new possibilities for scientific imaging applications. This review presents a comprehensive comparative analysis of leading generative architectures, ranging from Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) to Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) on through to Diffusion Models, in the context of scientific image synthesis. We examine each model's foundational principles, recent architectural advancements, and practical trade-offs. Our evaluation, conducted on domain-specific datasets including microCT scans of rocks and composite fibers, as well as high-resolution images of plant roots, integrates both quantitative metrics (SSIM, LPIPS, FID, CLIPScore) and expert-driven qualitative assessments. Results show that GANs, particularly StyleGAN, produce images with high perceptual quality and structural coherence. Diffusion-based models for inpainting and image variation, such as DALL-E 2, delivered high realism and semantic alignment but generally struggled in balancing visual fidelity with scientific accuracy. Importantly, our findings reveal limitations of standard quantitative metrics in capturing scientific relevance, underscoring the need for domain-expert validation. We conclude by discussing key challenges such as model interpretability, computational cost, and verification protocols, and discuss future directions where generative AI can drive innovation in data augmentation, simulation, and hypothesis generation in scientific research.

Generative Adversarial Networks↗

ppdx : Automated modeling of protein–protein interaction descriptors for use with machine learning

This paper describes ppdx, a python workflow tool that combines protein sequence alignment, homology modeling, and structural refinement, to compute a broad array of descriptors for characterizing protein–protein interactions. The descriptors can be used to predict various properties of interest, such as protein–protein binding affinities, or inhibitory concentrations (IC 50 ), using approaches that range from simple regression to more complex machine learning models. The software is highly modular. It supports different protocols for generating structures, and 95 descriptors can be currently computed. More protocols and descriptors can be easily added. The implementation is highly parallel and can fully exploit the available cores in a single workstation, or multiple nodes on a supercomputer, allowing many systems to be analyzed simultaneously. As an illustrative application, ppdx is used to parametrize a model that predicts the IC 50 of a set of antigens and a class of antibodies directed to the influenza hemagglutinin stalk.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Demonstration of a quantum-classical coprocessing protocol for simulating nuclear reactions

Quantum computers hold great promise for exact simulations of nuclear dynamical processes (e.g., scattering and reactions), which are paramount to the study of nuclear matter at the limit of stability and in the formation of chemical elements in stars. However, quantum simulations of the unitary (real) time dynamics of fermionic many-body systems require a currently prohibitive number of reliable and long-lived qubits. Here we propose a co-processing algorithm for the simulation of real-time dynamics in which the time evolution of the spatial coordinates is carried out on a classical processor, while the evolution of the spin degrees of freedom is carried out on quantum hardware. We demonstrate this hybrid scheme with the simulation of two neutrons scattering at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Quantum Testbed. After implementing error mitigation strategies to improve the accuracy of the algorithm in addition to a combination of circuit compression techniques and tomography as methods to elucidate the onset of decoherence, our results validate the principle of the proposed co-processing scheme. A generalization of this present scheme will open the way for (real-time) path integral simulations of nuclear scattering.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Quantum Krylov subspace algorithms for ground- and excited-state energy estimation

Quantum Krylov subspace diagonalization (QKSD) algorithms provide a low-cost alternative to the conventional quantum phase estimation algorithm for estimating the ground- and excited-state energies of a quantum many-body system. While QKSD algorithms typically rely on using the Hadamard test for estimating Krylov subspace matrix elements of the form $\langle \phi_i|e^{-\widehat{H}τ}|\phi_j\rangle$, the associated quantum circuits require an ancilla qubit with controlled multiqubit gates that can be quite costly for near-term quantum hardware. In this paper, we show that a wide class of Hamiltonians relevant to condensed-matter physics and quantum chemistry contain symmetries that can be exploited to avoid the use of the Hadamard test. We propose a multifidelity estimation protocol that can be used to compute such quantities, showing that our approach, when combined with efficient single-fidelity estimation protocols, provides a substantial reduction in circuit depth. In addition, here we develop a unified theory of quantum Krylov subspace algorithms and present three quantum-classical algorithms for the ground- and excited-state energy estimation problems, where each algorithm provides various advantages and disadvantages in terms of total number of calls to the quantum computer, gate depth, classical complexity, and stability of the generalized eigenvalue problem within the Krylov subspace.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Towards Quantum Gravity in the Lab on Quantum Processors

The holographic principle and its realization in the AdS/CFT correspondence led to unexpected connections between general relativity and quantum information. This set the stage for studying aspects of quantum gravity models, which are otherwise difficult to access, in table-top quantum-computational experiments. Recent works have designed a special teleportation protocol that realizes a surprising communication phenomenon most naturally explained by the physics of a traversable wormhole. In this work, we have carried out quantum experiments based on this protocol on state-of-the-art quantum computers. The target quantum processing units (QPUs) included the Quantinuum's trapped-ion System Model H1-1 and five IBM superconducting QPUs of various architectures, with public and premium user access. We report the observed teleportation signals from these QPUs with the best one reaching 80% of theoretical predictions. We outline the experimental challenges we have faced in the course of implementation, as well as the new theoretical insights into quantum dynamics the work has led to. We also developed QGLab – an open-source end-to-end software solution that facilitates conducting the wormhole-inspired teleportation experiments on state-of-the-art and emergent generations of QPUs supported by the Q i s k i t and t k e t SDKs. We consider our study and deliverables as an early practical step towards the realization of more complex experiments for the indirect probing of quantum gravity in the lab.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Enhancing the accuracy of XPS calculations: Exploring hybrid basis set schemes for CVS-EOMIP-CCSD calculations

Reliable computational methodologies and basis sets for modeling x-ray spectra are essential for extracting and interpreting electronic and structural information from experimental x-ray spectra. In particular, the trade-off between numerical accuracy and computational cost due to the size of the basis set is a major challenge, since molecular orbitals undergo extreme relaxation in the core-hole state. To gain clarity on the changes in electronic structure induced by the formation of a core-hole, the use of sufficiently flexible basis for expanding the orbitals, particularly for the core region, has been shown to be essential. This work focuses on the refinement of core-hole ionized state calculations using the equation-of-motion coupled cluster family of methods through an extensive analysis on the effectiveness of “hybrid” and mixed basis sets. In this investigation, we utilize the CVS-EOMIP-CCSD method in combination and construct hybrid basis sets piecewise from readily available Dunning’s correlation consistent basis sets in order to calculate x-ray ionization energies (IEs) for a set of small gas phase molecules. Our results provide insights into the impact of basis sets on the CVS-EOMIP-CCSD calculations of K-edge IEs of first-row p-block elements. Furthermore, these insights enable us to understand more about the basis set dependence of the core IEs computed and allow us to establish a protocol for deriving reliable and cost-effective theoretical estimates for computing IEs of small molecules containing such elements.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Designing the Protocols for Programmable Ammonia Catalysis

Programmable catalysis can provide a more energy-efficient and cost-effective route to enhancing commercial ammonia production, a key process in the advancement of renewable energy technologies and the manufacture of fertilizers and basic chemicals. This work explores the computational discovery of optimal forcing protocols to drive such dynamic catalysis models. By employing matrix-free time-stepper methods, coupled with an optimization approach, that integrates Bayesian optimization with a Bayesian continuation strategy to efficiently discover the periodic steady states of such periodically forced systems, we enable the discovery of complex optimal catalyst strain waveforms, while ensuring robust solver convergence. We demonstrate the flexibility of our approach to discover optimized forcing protocols under varying physical constraints on strain modulation or other catalyst operating parameters. We show that these can have a temporal structure more complex than simple step functions. In order to detect undesirable catalytic loops that may correlate with overall reduced performance, we perform a study using graph-theoretical analysis to investigate the dynamics of catalytic kinetic networks formed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Enhancing obfuscation of digital content through use of linear error correction codes

Technologies related to enhancing security of digital content are described. Linear error correction codes (LECCs) are employed for dual purposes: 1) to obfuscate digital content; and 2) to verify integrity of the digital content. A transmitter computing system obfuscates digital content based upon an obfuscation protocol, wherein the obfuscated digital content includes an LECC. A receiver computing system deobfuscates the digital content by performing the inverse of the obfuscation protocol.

Corral, Celestino A.↗

Measuring qubit stability in a gate-based NISQ hardware processor

Some of the most problematic issues that limit the implementation of applications on Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) machines are the adverse impacts of both incoherent and coherent errors. We conducted an in-depth study of coherent errors on a quantum hardware platform using a transverse field Ising model Hamiltonian as a sample user application. We report here on the results from these computations using several error mitigation protocols that profile these errors and provide an indication of the hardware qubit stability. Through a detailed set of measurements we identify inter-day and intra-day qubit calibration drift and the impacts of quantum circuit placement on groups of qubits in different physical locations on the processor. This paper also discusses how these measurements can provide a better understanding of these types of errors and how they may improve efforts to validate the accuracy of quantum computations.

Yeter-Aydeniz, Kübra↗

Computational Modeling of Photovoltaic Mini-Modules Undergoing Accelerated Stress Testing

A finite element model of a four-cell photovoltaic mini-module was developed and compared to experimental results from an accelerated stress test protocol in order to validate that computational models can accurately represent their physical counterparts when subjected to mechanical loading and to assess mini-module representativeness against full scale photovoltaic modules. Deflected shapes across the simulated mini-modules were compared to measured mini-module shapes when subjected to various pressure loads. Displaced mini-module shape results constrained to the experimental protocols of 0.4 mm and 1.1 mm of displacement at the mini-module center were compared to experimental results of full-size modules subjected to module qualification test load levels of 1.0 kPa and 2.4 kPa, to assess if the bending of mini-modules was representative of full-sized modules under the load. Temperature cycling was incorporated into the model to simulate the impacts of stress due to thermal expansion of the backsheet and cells. A preliminary uncertainty analysis was performed to show how variations in material properties and geometric parameters change the simulation results.

computational modeling↗