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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 847 records · Page 47
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Correlations of Pairs in Bichromatic Optical Lattices

Correlation functions of two interacting bosons in bound states confined in a quasi-periodic 1D optical lattice are investigated. This two-body problem is exactly solvable, and therefore, various correlation functions can be directly calculated. The first-order correlation and the resulting momentum distribution behave smoothly across the phase boundary and exhibit a strong dependence on the sign of on-site interactions. We demonstrate that this special signature of momentum distribution exists for both the extended phase and the localized phase. In addition to the dependence on the sign of on-site interactions, the second-order quantum coherence reveals complementary information about the quasi-periodic order of the system, the underling structure of the bound states and the characterization of the different phases of the bound states. We also study the second-order correlation in momentum space of the bound states in both the weak and strong coupling regimes and demonstrate different correlation patterns in these two regimes.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1987

The effects of interactions on spiral galaxies. II - Disk star-formation rates

H-alpha emission-line and IRAS far-IR observations of interacting spiral and irregular galaxies are here used to assess the influence of interactions on their global star-formation rates. Two samples of interacting galaxies were observed: a complete sample of close pairs, and an Arp atlas sample of peculiar systems. When compared to a control sample of single galaxies, both samples of interacting systems exhibit systematically higher levels of H-alpha and infrared emission on average, and a larger dispersion in emission properties. Emission levels in the very active system are much more strongly correlated with the properties of the interaction than with the internal properties of the galaxies themselves. Strong disk emission is almost always accompanied by unusually strong nuclear activity. Simple star-formation burst models can reproduce the observed H-alpha equivalent widths and broadband colors of most of the galaxies. The bursts are relatively short (few times 10 million yr) and rarely involve more than 1-2 percent of a galaxy's total mass.

Kennicutt, Robert C., Jr.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Post-Hartree-Fock studies of the He/Mg(0001) interaction: Anti-corrugation, screening, and pairwise additivity

The adsorption of noble gases on metallic surfaces represents a paradigmatic case of van-der-Waals (vdW) interaction due to the role of screening effects on the corrugation of the interaction potential [J. L. F. Da Silva et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 066104 (2003)]. The extremely small adsorption energy of He atoms on the Mg(0001) surface (below 3 meV) and the delocalized nature and mobility of the surface electrons make the He/Mg(0001) system particularly challenging, even for state-of-the-art vdW-corrected density functional-based (vdW-DFT) approaches [M. P. de Lara-Castells et al., J. Chem. Phys. 143, 194701 (2015)]. In this work, we meet this challenge by applying two different procedures. First, the dispersion-corrected second-order Möller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2C) approach is adopted, using bare metal clusters of increasing size. Second, the method of increments [H. Stoll, J. Chem. Phys. 97, 8449 (1992)] is applied at coupled cluster singles and doubles and perturbative triples level, using embedded cluster models of the metal surface. Both approaches provide clear evidences of the anti-corrugation of the interaction potential: the He atom prefers on-top sites, instead of the expected hollow sites. This is interpreted as a signature of the screening of the He atom by the metal for the on-top configuration. The strong screening in the metal is clearly reflected in the relative contribution of successively deeper surface layers to the main dispersion contribution. Aimed to assist future dynamical simulations, a pairwise potential model for the He/surface interaction as a sum of effective He–Mg pair potentials is also presented, as an improvement of the approximation using isolated He–Mg pairs.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1986

Measurements of n-p correlations in the reaction of relativistic neon with uranium

We report a preliminary measurement of coincident neutron-proton pairs emitted at 45 degrees in the interaction of 400, 530, and 650 MeV/A neon beams incident on uranium. Charged particles were identified by time of flight and momentum, as determined in a magnetic spectrometer. Neutral particles were detected using a thick plastic scintillator, and their time of flight was measured between an entrance scintillator, triggered by a charged particle, and the neutron detector. The scatter plots and contour plots of neutron momentum vs. proton momentum appear to show a slight correlation ridge above an uncorrelated background. The projections of this plane on the n-p momentum difference axis are essentially flat, showing a one standard deviation enhancement for each of the three beams energies. At each beam energy, the calculated momentum correlation function for the neutron-proton pairs is enhanced near zero neutron-proton momentum difference by approximately one standard deviation over the expected value for no correlation. This enhancement is expected to occur as a consequence of the attractive final state interaction between the neutron and proton (i.e., virtual or "singlet" deuterons). The implications of these measurements are discussed.

NASA Program Space Medicine↗
DOE OSTI2024

Colloidal Stability of PFSA-Ionomer Dispersions Part II: Determination of Suspension pH Using Single-Ion Potential Energies

Perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomers serve a vital role in the performance and stability of fuel-cell catalyst layers. These properties, in turn, depend on the colloidal processing of precursor inks. Here, to understand the colloidal structure of fuel-cell catalyst layers, we explore the aggregation of PFSA ionomers dissolved in water/alcohol solutions and relate the predicted aggregation to experimental measurements of solution pH. Not all side chains contribute to measured pH because of burying inside particle aggregates. To account for the measured degree of dissociation, a new description is developed for how PFSA aggregates interact with each other. The developed single-counterion electrostatic repulsive pair potential from Part I is incorporated into the Smoluchowski collision-based kinetics of interacting aggregates with buried side chains. We demonstrate that the surrounding solvent mixture affects the degree of aggregation as well as the pH of the system primarily through the solution dielectric permittivity, which drives the strength of the interparticle repulsive energies. Successful pH prediction of Nafion ionomer dispersions in water/n-propanol solutions validates the numerical calculations. Nafion-dispersion pH measurements serve as a surrogate for Nafion particle-size distributions. The model and framework can be leveraged to explore different ink formulations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1990

The spiral-compact galaxy pair AM 2208-251: Computer simulations versus observations

The system AM2208-251 is a roughly edge-on spiral extending east-west with a smaller round compact E system about 60 arcsec east of the spiral nucleus along the major axis of the spiral. Bertola, Huchtmeier, and Zeilinger (1990) have presented optical spectroscopic as well as single dish 21 cm observations of this system. Their spectroscopic data show, via emission lines lambda lambda 3727-29A, a rising rotation curve near the nucleus. These spectroscopic observations may indicate a tidal interaction in the system. In order to learn more about such pairs, the authors simulated the interaction using the computer model developed by Miller (1976 a,b, 1978) and modified by the authors (Byrd 1986, 1987, 1988). To do the simulation they need an idea of the mutual orbits of the two galaxies. Their computer model is a two-dimensional polar N-body program. It consists of a self-gravitating disk of particles, within an inert axially symmetric stabilizing halo potential. The particles are distributed in a 24(radial) by 36(azimuthal) polar grid. Self consistent calculations can be done only within the grid area. The disk is modeled with a finite Mestel disk, where all the particles initially move in circular orbits with constant tangential velocities (Mestel 1963), resulting in a flat rotation curve. The gas particles in the spiral's disk, which make up 30 percent of its mass, collide in the following manner. The number of particles in each bin of the polar grid is counted every time step. If it is greater than a given critical density, all the particles in the bin collide, obtaining in the result the same velocities, equal to the average for the bin. This process produces clumps of gas particles-the star formation sites. The authors suppress the collision in the inner part of the disk (within the circle r = 6) to represent the hole seen in the gas in the nuclear bulge of spirals. They thus avoid spurious effects due to collisions in that region. They also varied the size of the collisional bins, which did not affect their conclusions.

Klaric, Mario↗
DOE OSTI2019

Membrane-mediated fibrillation and toxicity of the tau hexapeptide PHF6

The aggregation of the tau protein into neurofibrillary tangles is believed to correlate with cognitive decline in several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Recent studies suggest that tau's interactions with the cell membrane could serve as a toxicity pathway and also enhance fibrillation into paired helical filaments (PHFs). Conformational changes associated with tau-membrane interactions are poorly understood, and their characterization could improve our understanding of tau pathogenicity. In this study, we investigated the molecular level structural changes associated with the interaction of the tau hexapeptide PHF6 with model lipid membranes and characterized the effects of these interactions on membrane stability and peptide fibrillation. We used two PHF6 forms, the aggregation-prone PHF6 with N-terminal acetylation (Ac-PHF6) and the non-aggregation prone PHF6 with a standard N terminus (NH$^+_3$-PHF6). We found that both PHF6 peptides are neurotoxic and exhibit similar membrane-mediated changes, consisting of: 1) favorable interactions with anionic membranes, 2) membrane destabilization through lipid extraction, and 3) membrane-mediated fibrillation. The rate at which these changes occurred was the main difference between the two peptides. NH$^+_3$-PHF6 displayed slow membrane-mediated fibrillation after 6 days of incubation, whereas Ac-PHF6 adopted a β-sheet conformation at the surface of the membrane within hours. Ac-PHF6 interactions with the membrane were also accompanied by membrane invagination and rapid membrane destabilization. Overall, our results reveal that membrane interactions could play a critical role in tau toxicity and fibrillation, and highlight that unraveling these interactions is important for significantly advancing the development of therapeutic strategies to manage tau-associated neurodegenerative diseases.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Tomography of ultrarelativistic nuclei with polarized photon-gluon collisions

A linearly polarized photon can be quantized from the Lorentz-boosted electromagnetic field of a nucleus traveling at ultrarelativistic speed. When two relativistic heavy nuclei pass one another at a distance of a few nuclear radii, the photon from one nucleus may interact through a virtual quark-antiquark pair with gluons from the other nucleus, forming a short-lived vector meson (e.g., ρ 0 ). In this experiment, the polarization was used in diffractive photoproduction to observe a unique spin interference pattern in the angular distribution of ρ 0 → π + π – decays. The observed interference is a result of an overlap of two wave functions at a distance an order of magnitude larger than the ρ0 travel distance within its lifetime. The strong-interaction nuclear radii were extracted from these diffractive interactions and found to be 6.53 ± 0.06 fm ( 197 Au) and 7.29 ± 0.08 fm ( 238 U), larger than the nuclear charge radii. The observable is demonstrated to be sensitive to the nuclear geometry and quantum interference of nonidentical particles.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

The thermodynamics and kinetics of a nucleotide base pair

The thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of an RNA base pair were obtained through a long-time molecular dynamics simulation of the opening-closing switch process of the base pair near its melting temperature. The thermodynamic parameters were in good agreement with the nearest-neighbor model. The opening rates showed strong temperature dependence, however, the closing rates showed only weak temperature dependence. The transition path time was weakly temperature dependent and was insensitive to the energy barrier. The diffusion constant exhibited super-Arrhenius behavior. The free energy barrier of breaking a single base stack results from the enthalpy increase, ΔH, caused by the disruption of hydrogen bonding and base-stacking interactions. The free energy barrier of base pair closing comes from the unfavorable entropy loss, ΔS, caused by the restriction of torsional angles. These results suggest that a one-dimensional free energy surface is sufficient to accurately describe the dynamics of base pair opening and closing, and the dynamics are Brownian.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Two-Nucleon Short-Range Correlations in Light Nuclei

Understanding the nucleon-nucleon interaction is a fundamental task in nuclear physics, as NN interaction models are a crucial input to modern nuclear structure calculations. While great progress has been made toward understanding this interaction, the available state-of-the-art models predict significantly different behaviors at short distances and high momenta (scale-and-scheme dependence), where two-nucleon Short-Range Correlations (SRCs) dominate the nuclear wave function. Thus, SRCs are a unique tool to constrain the NN interaction and vice versa. SRCs are naturallyoccurring high-local-density NN pairs that, as a result of their short-distance (approx. 0.1 fm) repulsive interaction, fly apart with high momenta, hence populating momentum states above the Fermi level. The study of SRCs also has significant implications for other fields, such as the astrophysics of neutron stars and the behavior of cold atomic gasses. This thesis describes experimental and phenomenological studies of the short-distance / high-momentum structure of the NN interaction through the study of SRCs and vice versa. Experimentally, I report the first measurement of the 3He and 3H(e,e'p) reactions in Hall A of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in kinematics in which the measured cross sections should be sensitive to the underlying nucleon momentum distributions in the range 40 to 500 MeV/c. The resulting cross-section ratios and absolute cross sections were compared to momentum-distribution ratios and precise cross-section calculations respectively. Phenomenologically, I report the generalization of the Contact Formalism (GCF) to nuclear systems, which exploits scale separation and universality to describe nucleons at short distances and high momenta.

Cruz Torres, Reynier↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development and Validation of Generic Maneuvering Flight Noise Abatement Guidance for Helicopters

An extensive flight test campaign has been conducted to look into developing actionable advice for pilots of today’s vehicles to reduce their acoustic footprints. Ten distinct vehicles were tested at three different test ranges, with nine of the vehicles’ data being documented here. Twelve pairs of turning conditions were tested to determine their effect on blade-vortex interaction noise. Each turning flight condition was evaluated using the peak A-weighted, band-limited (50 Hz - 2500 Hz), sound pressure level measured throughout the maneuver. This metric was a surrogate for blade-vortex interaction noise, and the difference between the peak values of each turning pair was investigated. That peak value difference was subsequently corrected by the offset from the intended vehicle altitude at turn initiation from the actual altitude at initiation. The corrected amplitudes were investigated and grouped into six validated actionable guidance principles that can be given to pilots to immediately reduce their acoustic footprint during operations.

Flight Test↗
DOE OSTI2018

Plasmonic Landau damping in active environments

Optical manipulation of charge on the nanoscale is of fundamental importance to an array of proposed technologies from selective photocatalysis to nanophotonics. Open plasmonic systems where collective electron oscillations release energy and charge to their environments offer a potential means to this end as plasmons can rapidly decay into energetic electron-hole pairs; however, isolating this decay from other plasmon-environment interactions remains a challenge. Here we introduce an analytic theory of noble-metal nanoparticles that quantitatively models plasmon decay into electron-hole pairs, demonstrates that this decay depends significantly on the nanoparticle's dielectric environment, and disentangles this effect from competing decay pathways. Using our method to incorporate embedding material and substrate effects on plasmon-electron interaction, we show that predictions from the model agree with four separate experiments. Finally, examination of coupled nanoparticle-emitter systems further shows that the hybridized in-phase mode more efficiently decays to photons whereas the out-of-phase mode more efficiently decays to electron-hole pairs, offering a strategy to tailor open plasmonic systems for charge manipulation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1976

Observations of interaction regions and corotating shocks between one and five AU - Pioneers 10 and 11

Interaction regions between adjacent solar-wind streams have been identified between 1 and 5 AU by Pioneer 10 and 11 magnetic-field and plasma measurements. Beyond 1 AU, a relatively large fraction of the interaction regions have been found to be accompanied by either forward shocks, reverse shocks, or shock pairs. The observations are consistent with previous theoretical proposals that the interaction between adjacent streams leads to the development of corotating interplanetary shocks.

Smith, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Cluster Observations for Combined X-Ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Estimates of Peculiar Velocities and Distances

Measurements of the peculiar velocities of galaxy clusters with respect to the Hubble flow allow the determination of the gravitational field from all matter in the universe, not just the visible component. The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect (the inverse-Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons by the hot gas in clusters of galaxies) allows these velocities to be measured without the use of empirical distance indicators. Additionally, because the magnitude of the SZ effect is independent of redshift, the technique can be used to measure velocities out to the epoch of cluster formation. The SZ technique requires a determination of the temperature of the hot cluster gas from X-ray observations, and measurements of the SZ effect at millimeter wavelengths to separate the contribution from the thermal motions within the gas from that of the cluster peculiax velocity. We have constructed a bolometric receiver, the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Infrared Experiment, specifically to make measurements of the SZ effect at millimeter wavelengths in order to apply the SZ technique to peculiar velocity measurements. This receiver has already been used to set limits to the peculiar velocities of two galaxy clusters at z approx. 0.2. As a test of the SZ technique, the double cluster pair Abell 222 and 223 was selected for observation. Measurements of the redshifts of the two components suggest that, if the clusters are gravitationally bound, they should exhibit a relative velocity of 10OO km/ s, well above the expected precision of 200 km/ s (set by astrophysical confusion) that is expected from the SZ method. The temperature can be measured from ASCA data which we obtained for this cluster pair. However, in order to ensure that the temperature estimate from the ASCA data was not dominated by cooling flows within the cluster, we requested ROSAT HRI observations of this cluster pair. Analysis of the X-ray properties of the cluster pair is continuing by combining the ROSAT observations funded under this proposal, archival PSPC data and our own PI ASCA data. The imaging data shows that neither cluster has a strong cooling flow, although A223 is the more compact of the two components. A223 also has a sub-cluster projected 1 Mpc to the North. The observed properties of this cluster pair are strikingly similar to those of the well-studied pair of A399 and A401 which are widely believed to be interacting and are in the initial stages of merging. This strengthens our selection of this cluster pair as a test for cluster peculiar motions. Combining these X-ray observations with SUZIE measurements of the SZ effect will provide important constraints on cluster merger models. This part of the program has been heavily delayed by bad weather at Mauna Kea, however SZ observations were obtained in November 1997 as part of a separately funded effort. These data are currently being analyzed.

Lange, A. E.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Vortical interactions in turbulent thermoacoustic systems

This study examines the dynamics of vortical interactions and their implications for mitigating thermoacoustic instability in a turbulent combustor. The regions of intense vortical interactions are identified as vortical communities in the network space of weighted directed vortical networks constructed from two-dimensional experimental velocity data. One can expect vortical interactions in the combustor to be strongest near the moment of vortex shedding, as the shed vortices gradually weaken due to dissipation while convecting downstream. However, we show that, during the state of thermoacoustic instability, there is a non-trivial consistent phase lag of approximately 52° between the shedding of the coherent structures from the backward-facing step and the time instant when the vortical interactions attain their local maximum value. We explain this phase lag by investigating the correlation between acoustic pressure fluctuations, spatio-temporal dynamics of coherent structures and vortical interactions in the reaction field of the combustor. We also show the aperiodic variation of vortical interactions during the states of combustion noise and aperiodic epochs of intermittency. Furthermore, the spatio-temporal evolution of pairs of vortical communities with the maximum inter-community interactions provides insight into explaining the critical regions detected in the reaction field during the states of intermittency and thermoacoustic instability, also identified in previous studies. As a result, we further show that the most efficient suppression of thermoacoustic instability via air microjet injection is achieved when steady air jets are introduced to disrupt the maximum inter-community interactions present during the state of thermoacoustic instability.

Sahay, Ankit [Indian Institute of Technology Madra↗
DOE OSTI2023

Comparative study of the superconductivity in the Holstein and optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger models

Theoretical studies suggest that Su-Schrieffer-Heeger-like electron-phonon (e-ph) interactions can mediate high-temperature bipolaronic superconductivity that is robust against repulsive electron-electron interactions. Here we present a comparative analysis of the pairing and competing charge/bond correlations in the two-dimensional Holstein and optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) models using numerically exact determinant quantum Monte Carlo. We find that the SSH interactions support light bipolarons and strong superconducting correlations out to relatively large values of the e-ph coupling λ and densities near half-filling, while the Holstein interaction does not due to the formation of heavy bipolarons and competing charge-density-wave order. We further find that the Holstein and SSH models have comparable pairing correlations in the weak coupling limit for carrier concentrations < n > <<1, where competing orders and polaronic effects are absent. These results support the proposal that SSH (bi)polarons can support superconductivity to larger values of λ in comparison to the Holstein polaron, but that the resulting T c gains are small in the weak coupling limit. We also find that the SSH model's pairing correlations are suppressed after including a weak on-site Hubbard repulsion. Furthermore, these results have important implications for identifying and engineering bipolaronic superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Dense electron-positron plasmas and gamma-ray bursts generation by counter-propagating quantum electrodynamics-strong laser interaction with solid targets

We use quantum electrodynamics (QED) particle-in-cell simulations to investigate and compare the generation of dense electron-positron plasmas and intense γ-ray bursts in the case of counter-propagating laser solid interaction (two-side irradiation) and single laser solid interaction (one-side irradiation). In the case of counter-propagating linearly polarized laser pulses irradiating a thin aluminum foil with each pulse peak power of 12.5 PW (I = 4 × 10{sup 23 }W/cm{sup 2}), we calculate that about 20% of the laser energy is converted into a burst of γ-rays with flux exceeding 10{sup 14 }s.{sup −1} This would be one of the most intense γ-ray sources among those currently available in laboratories. The γ-ray conversion efficiency in the case of two-side irradiation is three times higher than in the case of one-side irradiation using a single 12.5 PW laser. Dense electron-positron plasma with a maximum density of 6 × 10{sup 27 }m{sup −3} are generated simultaneously during the two-side irradiation which is eightfold denser compared to the one-side irradiation. The enhancement of the effects in the case of counter-propagating lasers are the results of the symmetrical compression of the foil target and the formation of electric potential and standing wave around the target. Realizing experimentally the proposed counter-propagating QED-strong laser-solid interaction to produce dense electron-positron pairs and prolific γ-rays will be made possible by the Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics facility under construction.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Composite excitonic states in doped semiconductors

We present a theoretical model of composite excitonic states in doped semiconductors. Many-body interactions between a photoexcited electron-hole pair and the electron gas are integrated into a computationally tractable few-body problem, solved by the variational method. We focus on electron-doped monolayer (ML)-MoSe 2 and ML-WSe 2 due to the contrasting character of their conduction bands. In both cases, the core of the composite is a tightly bound trion (two electrons and a valence-band hole) surrounded by a region depleted of electrons. The composite in ML-WSe 2 further includes a satellite electron with different quantum numbers. The theory is general and can be applied to semiconductors with various energy-band properties, allowing one to calculate their excitonic states and to quantify the interaction with the Fermi sea.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗