Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “imaginary”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1980

Vertical distribution of aerosol extinction cross section and inference of aerosol imaginary index in the troposphere by lidar technique

The paper reports on vertical profiles of aerosol extinction and backscatter in the troposphere which were obtained from multi zenith angle lidar measurements. It is reported that a direct slant path solution was found to be not possible due to horizontal inhomogeneity of the atmosphere. Attention is given to the use of a regression analysis with respect to zenith angle for a layer integration of the angle dependent lidar equation in order to determine the optical thickness and aerosol extinction-to-backscatter ratio for defined atmospheric layers and the subsequent evaluation of cross-section profiles.

Spinhirne, J. D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Periodic cometary showers: Real or imaginary?

Since the initial reports in 1980, a considerable body of chemical and physical evidence has been accumulated to indicate that a major impact event occurred on earth 65 million years ago. The effects of this event were global in extent and have been suggested as the cause of the sudden demise or mass extinction of a large percentage of life, including the dinosaurs, at the end of the geologic time period known as the Cretaceous. Recent statistical analyses of extinctions in the marine faunal record for the last 250 million years have suggested that mass extinctions may occur with a periodicity of every 26 to 30 million years. Following these results, other workers have attempted to demonstrate that these extinction events, like that at the end of the Cretaceous, are temporally correlated with large impact events. A recent scenario suggests that they are the result of periodic showers of comets produced by either the passage of the solar system through the galactic plane or by perturbations of the cometary cloud in the outer solar system by a, as yet unseen, solar companion. This hypothesized solar companion has been given the name Nemesis.

Grieve, R. A. F.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Can imaginary head tilt shorten postrotatory nystagmus?

In healthy subjects, head tilt upon cessation of a constant-velocity yaw head rotation shortens the duration of postrotatory nystagmus. The presumed mechanism for this effect is that the velocity storage of horizontal semicircular canal inputs is being discharged by otolith organ inputs which signal a constant yaw head position when the head longitudinal axis is no longer earth-vertical. In the present study, normal subjects were rotated head upright in the dark on a vertical-axis rotational chair at 60 degrees/s for 75 s and were required to perform a specific task as soon as the chair stopped. Horizontal position of the right eye was recorded with an infra-red video camera. The average eye velocity (AEV) was measured over a 30-s interval following chair acceleration/deceleration. The ratios (postrotatory AEV/perrotatory AEV) were 1.1 (SD 0.112) when subjects (N=10) kept their head erect, 0.414 (SD 0.083) when subjects tilted their head forward, 1.003 (SD 0.108) when subjects imagined watching a TV show, 1.012 (SD 0.074) when subjects imagined looking at a painting on a wall, and 0.995 (SD 0.074) when subjects imagined floating in a prone position on a lake. Thus, while actual head tilt reduced postrotatory nystagmus, the imagination tasks did not have a statistically significant effect on postrotatory nystagmus. Therefore, velocity storage does not appear to be under the influence of cortical neural signals when subjects imagine that they are floating in a prone orientation.

Non-NASA Center↗
DOE OSTI2022

Serving in the Public Interest: Samuel Insull and the Public Service Utility Imaginary

This chapter examines the rhetoric of Samuel Insull as an example of how early electricity utility executives framed the idea of granting monopoly territories in terms of the “public interest.” While the public interest has not always maintained sustained attention in public policy research, the concept remains as strong as ever a justification for specific policies and procedures that shape how utilities deliver energy to the public. Insull’s public speeches and other events demonstrate an important instantiation of the coproduction of an energy transition and the reimagining of how the public and energy companies interact. Though this model is by no means perfect, it represents an idea of sociotechnical order that has sustained for over a century, a level of persistent change that is instructive for considering how to shape the ongoing transition to sustainable energy systems.

Tidwell, Abraham SD↗
DOE OSTI2014

Can the ring polymer molecular dynamics method be interpreted as real time quantum dynamics?

The ring polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) method has gained popularity in recent years as a simple approximation for calculating real time quantum correlation functions in condensed media. However, the extent to which RPMD captures real dynamical quantum effects and why it fails under certain situations have not been clearly understood. Addressing this issue has been difficult in the absence of a genuine justification for the RPMD algorithm starting from the quantum Liouville equation. To this end, a new and exact path integral formalism for the calculation of real time quantum correlation functions is presented in this work, which can serve as a rigorous foundation for the analysis of the RPMD method as well as providing an alternative derivation of the well established centroid molecular dynamics method. The new formalism utilizes the cyclic symmetry of the imaginary time path integral in the most general sense and enables the expression of Kubo-transformed quantum time correlation functions as that of physical observables pre-averaged over the imaginary time path. Upon filtering with a centroid constraint function, the formulation results in the centroid dynamics formalism. Upon filtering with the position representation of the imaginary time path integral, we obtain an exact quantum dynamics formalism involving the same variables as the RPMD method. The analysis of the RPMD approximation based on this approach clarifies that an explicit quantum dynamical justification does not exist for the use of the ring polymer harmonic potential term (imaginary time kinetic energy) as implemented in the RPMD method. It is analyzed why this can cause substantial errors in nonlinear correlation functions of harmonic oscillators. Such errors can be significant for general correlation functions of anharmonic systems. We also demonstrate that the short time accuracy of the exact path integral limit of RPMD is of lower order than those for finite discretization of path. The present quantum dynamics formulation also serves as the basis for developing new quantum dynamical methods that utilize the cyclic nature of the imaginary time path integral.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Spectral Induced Polarization-Biogeochemical Relationships for Remediation Amendment Monitoring

Geophysical tools such as electrical resistivity (ER) can indirectly monitor subsurface changes in response to remedial injections. These methods exhibit relatively low spatial resolution compared to sediment core characterization but are advantageous due to the ability to collect measurements non-intrusively over time across large volumes of the subsurface. Moreover, along with confirmatory groundwater or core sampling, geophysical methods can be used during active biogeochemical remedies to monitor short-term contaminant transformations and mobility, as well as part of an overall strategy for long-term monitoring of subsurface contaminated sites. The use of alternating current spectral induced polarization (SIP) provides significantly more information than conventional geophysical methods like direct current ER. SIP allows for monitoring changes in both solution and surface conductivity by separation of real and imaginary conductivity, respectively, as well as surface capacitance. In principle, SIP can measure indicators of remedy progression such as precipitation reactions that sequester contaminants, potentially providing a better indication of amendment delivery and reactivity as compared to conventional ER methods. However, multiple processes and material properties have overlapping (interacting) electrical responses across a range of frequencies. Hence, the purpose of this scoping study was to evaluate if SIP can be used to monitor (a) amendment delivery and (b) precipitation and reactivity of amendments under consideration at Hanford. SIP measurements were collected in fully saturated columns packed with sand and Hanford formation sediments containing (a) amendments that were highly conductive with significant capacitance (zero valent iron – ZVI, sulfur modified iron – SMI) and (b) amendments that exhibited low electrical conductivity with a small capacitance (calcite, apatite, bismuth). The sand was a quartz material with homogenous particle size that exhibited a relatively low surface conductivity. It was used as a control for comparison with the sediments from the Hanford Site, which have a greater surface conductivity because of their complex mineralogy and heterogeneous particle size distribution and may have complex interactions with amendments. The amendment mass fraction was varied to represent the different stages and subsurface locations associated with the delivery of a remedy. The primary objective was to identify the solution and solid surface changes associated with the delivery amendments and their secondary reactions within the subsurface. The figure below summarizes results for the amendments tested through this project. The SIP phase shift or imaginary conductivity change for the high conductivity amendments was more than 10 times that of the low conductivity amendments, highlighting the relative ease of detection of ZVI and SMI independent of the background signal from sand or Hanford sediments. The ZVI phase shift and imaginary conductivity changes occur primarily at high frequency (> 100 Hz) whereas SMI changes were at low frequency (0.01 to 10 Hz). SIP signals of SMI also increased over time and the maximum shifted to lower frequencies. The low conductivity amendments (calcite, abiotic and biotic apatite, bismuth subnitrate) exhibited relatively small phase and imaginary conductivity changes when added to sediments. The changes were above minimum detection limits (0.5 mrad for phase shift, 0.03 µS/cm for imaginary conductivity) for the highest concentration except for the commercial bismuth material. The lowest amendment concentration that can be detected is likely sediment specific, as minerals in sediments (clays, magnetite, Fe-oxides) have some capacitance and, therefore, exhibit a variable phase shift.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

Suspending democratic (dis)belief: Nonliberal energy polities of solar power in Morocco and Tanzania

This paper proposes the concept of technodemocratic imaginaries (TDIMs) to supplement the widely-used framework of sociotechnical imaginaries (STIMs) for analyzing nonliberal political contexts in energy social science research. Taking the power of coproductionist analysis of STIMs seriously, TDIMs highlight the inherent instabilities within overarching STIMs by arguing that not only are particular groups marginalized and excluded but that they continue to practice and mobilize their own imaginaries of collective governance and justice vis-à-vis energy systems. In contrast, the existing idea of contested STIMs, in which a shared mode of knowledge politics undergirds different imaginaries, casts aside subaltern modes of political engagement and knowledge-making. TDIMs expand conceptions of democracy to include shared practices of credibility in nonliberal political orders. The intent is not to promote democratic relativism but rather to ask scholars and international energy-access practitioners to suspend their democratic disbelief when studying energy matters in so-called nonliberal contexts. We develop the concept of TDIMs by comparing two African nation-states–Morocco and Tanzania–to show how the states and subaltern groups do (or do not) develop TDIMs related to solar power. While international governance organizations often portray Morocco as authoritarian and Tanzania corrupt, each state differently experienced colonization and decolonization and practices different relationships with domestic subaltern groups. Whereas low-income citizens and indigenous groups seek integration into the Moroccan state’s STIM, the Maasai in Tanzania chart their own TDIM separate from the state and international development groups.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dynamical instability induced by the zero mode under symmetry breaking external perturbation

A complex eigenvalue in the Bogoliubov–de Gennes equations for a stationary Bose-Einstein condensate in the ultracold atomic system indicates the dynamical instability of the system. We also have the modes with zero eigenvalues for the condensate, called the zero modes, which originate from the spontaneous breakdown of symmetries. Although the zero modes are suppressed in many theoretical analyses, we take account of them in this paper and argue that a zero mode can change into one with a pure imaginary eigenvalue by applying a symmetry breaking external perturbation potential. This emergence of a pure imaginary mode adds a new type of scenario of dynamical instability to that characterized by the complex eigenvalue of the usual excitation modes. For illustration, we deal with two one-dimensional homogeneous Bose–Einstein condensate systems with a single dark soliton under a respective perturbation potential, breaking the invariance under translation, to derive pure imaginary modes. - Highlights: • Zero modes are important but ignored in many theories for the cold atomic system. • We discuss the zero mode under symmetry breaking potential in this system. • We consider the zero mode of translational invariance for a single dark soliton. • We show that it turns into an anomalous or pure imaginary mode.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Cell concentrations and metabolites enhance the SIP response to biofilm matrix components

Here we investigated the relative effect of different bacterial biofilm components to influence spectral induced polarization (SIP) signals and Cole-Cole model parameters (i.e. normalized chargeability (S m –1 ) and relaxation time ($τ$)) in order to reduce the ambiguity associated with interpretation of SIP signatures in biostimulated environments. SIP measurements were collected over a frequency range, (i.e. 0.1 Hz –1 kHz) from experimental columns containing Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (non-mucoid bacterial strain) cell suspensions alone and cell suspensions mixed with different molecules associated with P. aeruginosa biofilm matrix (alginate, DNA and phenazine). Results from SIP measurements of cell density investigations suggest an increase in phase (~ 200%), imaginary conductivity (σ" S m –1 ), and normalized chargeability (S m –1 ) values as cell densities increase (1.50–5.55 × 10 9 CFUml –1 ), yet no significant change in the real conductivity (σ' S m –1 ) or relaxation time was observed. The addition of alginate resulted in a suppression of phase (φ mrads), imaginary conductivity (σ" S m –1 ), and normalized chargeability (S m –1 ) response. However, a mixture of cells and alginate increased all parameters but with no significant changes in real conductivity (σ' S m –1 ) or relaxation time. Similar trend was observed in the DNA treatments; increasing concentrations of DNA reduced the imaginary conductivity (σ" S m –1 ), phase (φ mrads), and normalized chargeability (S m –1 ) response. In contrast, the addition of phenazine, a secondary metabolite of P. aeruginosa, resulted in a significant increase in both imaginary conductivity (σ" S m –1 ), phase (φ mrads), and normalized chargeability (S m –1 ) values especially at larger concentrations (>50 mM). Our work suggests that cell density and metabolites are significant factors increasing the polarization response in biofilms and advances the interpretation of electrical signals associated with biofilms in the subsurface.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Mie scattering captures observed optical properties of ambient biomass burning plumes assuming uniform black, brown, and organic carbon mixtures

We use a simple model of a spherical biomass burning aerosol particle containing an internal mixture of black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC) with an effective refractive index calculated as a volume fraction weighted mean of refractive indices. Brown carbon (BrC) is considered to be an OC with an imaginary part of refractive index at the blue end of the solar spectrum higher (in absolute value) than at the red end. Mie scattering formalism is employed to calculate Absorption Ångström Exponent (AAE) as a function of single scattering albedo (SSA) for a set of BC refractive indices, BC volume fraction, and a set of effective refractive indices of BC and BrC mixture. Ambient plumes are characterized by their mean SSA at 405 nm wavelength and two–wavelength (405 nm and 781 nm) AAE values. Comparing observed and model calculated AAE and SSA values identifies the BC refractive index and its volume fraction, and an effective refractive index of the BC and BrC mixture. From these values the imaginary part of BrC refractive index is calculated. For observed southwestern ambient fires the imaginary part of BrC refractive index ≤0.016. In contrast, fires in the Amazon and from Africa are dominated by BC. Here, we also use the Mie scattering model to establish the upper limit on AAE of BC (AAE≤1.4), and the upper limit of the BC and OC mixture (AAE≤1.7). Any AAE(405/781)>1.7 requires the presence of BrC. We derive several relationships between AAE, SSA, BC fractions, and imaginary part of BrC refractive index of ambient fires.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electrical impedance tomography spectroscopy method for characterising particles in solid-liquid phase

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is one of the process tomography techniques to provide an on-line non-invasive imaging for multiphase flow measurement. With EIT measurements, the images of impedance real part, impedance imaginary part, phase angle, and magnitude can be obtained. However, most of the applications of EIT in the process industries rely on the conductivity difference between two phases in fluids to obtain the concentration profiles. It is not common to use the imaginary part or phase angle due to the dominant change in conductivity or complication in the use of other impedance information. In a solid-liquid two phases system involving nano- or submicro-particles, characterisation of particles (e.g. particle size and concentration) have to rely on the measurement of impedance phase angle or imaginary part. Particles in a solution usually have an electrical double layer associated with their surfaces and can form an induced electrical dipole moment due to the polarization of the electrical double layer under the influence of an alternating electric field. Similar to EIT, electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement can record the electrical impedance data, including impedance real part, imaginary part and phase angle (θ), which are caused by the polarization of the electrical double layer. These impedance data are related to the particle characteristics e.g. particle size, particle and ionic concentrations in the aqueous medium, therefore EIS method provides a capability for characterising the particles in suspensions. Electrical impedance tomography based on EIS measurement or namely, electrical impedance tomography spectroscopy (EITS) could image the spatial distribution of particle characteristics. In this paper, a new method, including test set-up and data analysis, for characterisation of particles in suspensions are developed through the experimental approach. The experimental results on tomographic imaging of colloidal particles based on EIS measurement using a sensor of 8 electrodes are reported. Results have demonstrated the potential as well as revealed the challenge in the use of EIS and EITS for characterisation of particle in suspension.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Communication: The description of strong correlation within self-consistent Green's function second-order perturbation theory

We report an implementation of self-consistent Green's function many-body theory within a second-order approximation (GF2) for application with molecular systems. This is done by iterative solution of the Dyson equation expressed in matrix form in an atomic orbital basis, where the Green's function and self-energy are built on the imaginary frequency and imaginary time domain, respectively, and fast Fourier transform is used to efficiently transform these quantities as needed. We apply this method to several archetypical examples of strong correlation, such as a H{sub 32} finite lattice that displays a highly multireference electronic ground state even at equilibrium lattice spacing. In all cases, GF2 gives a physically meaningful description of the metal to insulator transition in these systems, without resorting to spin-symmetry breaking. Our results show that self-consistent Green's function many-body theory offers a viable route to describing strong correlations while remaining within a computationally tractable single-particle formalism.

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

Control of linear modes in cylindrical resistive magnetohydrodynamics with a resistive wall, plasma rotation, and complex gain

Feedback stabilization of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes in a tokamak is studied in a cylindrical model with a resistive wall, plasma resistivity, viscosity, and toroidal rotation. The control is based on a linear combination of the normal and tangential components of the magnetic field just inside the resistive wall. The feedback includes complex gain, for both the normal and for the tangential components, and it is known that the imaginary part of the feedback for the former is equivalent to plasma rotation [J. M. Finn and L. Chacon, Phys. Plasmas 11, 1866 (2004)]. The work includes (1) analysis with a reduced resistive MHD model for a tokamak with finite β and with stepfunction current density and pressure profiles, and (2) computations with a full compressible visco-resistive MHD model with smooth decreasing profiles of current density and pressure. The equilibria are stable for β = 0 and the marginal stability values β{sub rp,rw} < β{sub rp,iw} < β{sub ip,rw} < β{sub ip,iw} (resistive plasma, resistive wall; resistive plasma, ideal wall; ideal plasma, resistive wall; and ideal plasma, ideal wall) are computed for both models. The main results are: (a) imaginary gain with normal sensors or plasma rotation stabilizes below β{sub rp,iw} because rotation suppresses the diffusion of flux from the plasma out through the wall and, more surprisingly, (b) rotation or imaginary gain with normal sensors destabilizes above β{sub rp,iw} because it prevents the feedback flux from entering the plasma through the resistive wall to form a virtual wall. A method of using complex gain G{sub i} to optimize in the presence of rotation in this regime with β > β{sub rp,iw} is presented. The effect of imaginary gain with tangential sensors is more complicated but essentially destabilizes above and below β{sub rp,iw}.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Bonding between graphene and MoS{sub 2} monolayers without and with Li intercalation

We performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations for a bi-layered heterostructure combining a graphene layer with a MoS{sub 2} layer with and without intercalated Li atoms. Our calculations demonstrate the importance of the van der Waals (vdW) interaction, which is crucial for forming stable bonding between the layers. Our DFT calculation correctly reproduces the linear dispersion, or Dirac cone, feature at the Fermi energy for the isolated graphene monolayer and the band gap for the MoS{sub 2} monolayer. For the combined graphene/MoS{sub 2} bi-layer, we observe interesting electronic structure and density of states (DOS) characteristics near the Fermi energy, showing both the gap like features of the MoS{sub 2} layer and in-gap states with linear dispersion contributed mostly by the graphene layer. Our calculated total DOS in this vdW heterostructure reveals that the graphene layer significantly contributes to pinning the Fermi energy at the center of the band gap of MoS{sub 2}. We also find that intercalating Li ions in between the layers of the graphene/MoS{sub 2} heterostructure enhances the binding energy through orbital hybridizations between cations (Li adatoms) and anions (graphene and MoS{sub 2} monolayers). Moreover, we calculate the dielectric function of the Li intercalated graphene/MoS{sub 2} heterostructure, the imaginary component of which can be directly compared with experimental measurements of optical conductivity in order to validate our theoretical prediction. We observe sharp features in the imaginary component of the dielectric function, which shows the presence of a Drude peak in the optical conductivity, and therefore metallicity in the lithiated graphene/MoS{sub 2} heterostructure.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS2002

Estimated Optical Constants of Tagish Lake Meteorite

The visible, near-infrared, and mid-infrared (0.3-25 micron) real and imaginary indices of refraction are derived from reflectance measurements of the Tagish Lake meteorite. These are compared to some real and imaginary indices of refraction of the individual minerals composing the Tagish Lake meteorite. From this comparison it is clear that the imaginary indices of several individual minerals contribute to the estimated imaginary index of the Tagish Lake.

Roush, Ted L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-19067-DND

We discuss methods to separate absorbing carbonaceous aerosols and dust in the AERONET database, including using the imaginary refractive index and the absorbing Angstrom exponent (AAE). Carbonaceous aerosols can be separated from dust in imaginary refractive index space because 95% of biomass burning aerosols have imaginary indices greater than 0.0042 at the 675--1020 nm wavelengths, and 95% of dust has imaginary refractive indices of less than 0.0042 at the 675--1020 nm wavelengths. Alternatively, about 25% of the AAE histogram for "pure dust" overlaps with 75% of the biomass burning AAE histogram, and unique identification of carbonaceous and dust species through AAE analysis is not possible for data in the overlap region.

Greg Schuster↗