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DOE OSTI2020

Two-Dimensional Video Disdrometer (VDIS) Instrument Handbook

In order to improve the quantitative description of precipitation processes in climate models, the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility has been collecting observations of the drop size spectra of rain events since early in 2006 with impact disdrometers. While ARM is primarily interested in their contribution to the understanding of precipitation processes, disdrometers can also be used for traffic control, airport observation systems, and hydrology. The latest disdrometers employ microwave or laser technologies. Two-dimensional (2D) video disdrometers (VDIS) make the most detailed and complete observations of hydrometeor shape and fall velocity. Four of ARM’s five video disdrometers are deployed; the last is a spare. This handbook provides a detailed description of the instruments and their datastreams.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2025

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 constraints on extended cosmological models

We use new cosmic microwave background (CMB) primary temperature and polarization anisotropy measurements from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) Data Release 6 (DR6) to test foundational assumptions of the standard cosmological model, ΛCDM, and set constraints on extensions to it. We derive constraints from the ACT DR6 power spectra alone, as well as in combination with legacy data from the Planck mission. To break geometric degeneracies, we include ACT and Planck CMB lensing data and baryon acoustic oscillation data from DESI Year-1. To test the dependence of our results on non-ACT data, we also explore combinations replacing Planck with WMAP and DESI with BOSS, and further add supernovae measurements from Pantheon+ for models that affect the late-time expansion history. We verify the near-scale-invariance (running of the spectral index dn s /d ln k = 0.0062 ± 0.0052) and adiabaticity of the primordial perturbations. Neutrino properties are consistent with Standard Model predictions: we find no evidence for new light, relativistic species that are free-streaming (N eff = 2.86 ± 0.13, which combined with astrophysical measurements of primordial helium and deuterium abundances becomes N eff = 2.89 ± 0.11), for non-zero neutrino masses (∑m ν < 0.089 eV at 95% CL), or for neutrino self-interactions. We also find no evidence for self-interacting dark radiation (N idr < 0.134), or for early-universe variation of fundamental constants, including the fine-structure constant (α EM /α EM,0 = 1.0043 ± 0.0017) and the electron mass (m e /m e,0 = 1.0063 ± 0.0056). Our data are consistent with standard big bang nucleosynthesis (we find Y p = 0.2312 ± 0.0092), the COBE/FIRAS-inferred CMB temperature (we find T CMB = 2.698 ± 0.016 K), a dark matter component that is collisionless and with only a small fraction allowed as axion-like particles, a cosmological constant (w = -0.986 ± 0.025), and the late-time growth rate predicted by general relativity (γ = 0.663 ± 0.052). We find no statistically significant preference for a departure from the baseline ΛCDM model. In fits to models invoking early dark energy, primordial magnetic fields, or an arbitrary modified recombination history, we find H 0 = 69.9 +0.8 -1.5 , 69.1 ± 0.5, or 69.6 ± 1.0 km/s/Mpc, respectively; using BOSS instead of DESI BAO data reduces the central values of these constraints by 1–1.5 km/s/Mpc while only slightly increasing the error bars. In general, models introduced to increase the Hubble constant or to decrease the amplitude of density fluctuations inferred from the primary CMB are not favored over ΛCDM by our data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Coastal-Fog Microphysics Using In-Situ Observations and GOES-R Retrievals

Here, the objective of this work is to evaluate GOES-R based fog conditions occurred during the C-FOG (Toward Improving Coastal Fog Prediction) field campaign. C-FOG is designed to advance understanding of fog formation, development, and dissipation over coastal environments to improve its predictability. The project took place along coastlines and open water environments of Eastern Canada (Nova Scotia, NS and the Island of Newfoundland, NL) during August-October of 2018 where environmental conditions play an important role for late season’s fog formation. During the C-FOG field campaign, instruments were located at the Ferryland Supersite, NL, with 2 main sites, and five satellite sites, as well as on the Research Vessel (R/V) Hugh R. Sharp. Key measurement instruments included a Gondola carrying a CDP (cloud droplet probe) and a BCP (backscatter cloud probe) was used for measuring droplet spectra from 1-75 µm on the R/V. A LPM (laser precipitation monitor) with 100 µm-1 cm size range and an OPC (optical particle counter) with 0.3-17 µm at 16 spectral channels provided information for fog and drizzle discrimination. Remote sensing platforms (e.g. profiling microwave radiometer, PMWR), Ceilometer, Lidar), meteorological towers, tethered balloons, and GOES-R products (e.g. fog coverage and droplet size and liquid water path) were used to evaluate fog over horizontal and vertical dimensions. Results suggest that effective radius, phase, liquid water path, and liquid water content values obtained from GOES-R and PMWR were comparable to ground based in-situ observations. It is concluded that integration of observations and nowcasting products may help improve short term local fog predictions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2025

Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity from the cross-correlation of DESI luminous red galaxies and Planck CMB lensing

We use the angular cross-correlation between a luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Survey data release DR9 and the Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing maps to constrain the local primordial non-Gaussianity parameter, f NL , using the scale-dependent galaxy bias effect. The galaxy sample covers approximately 40% of the sky, contains galaxies up to redshift z ∼ 1.4, and is calibrated with the LRG spectra that have been observed for DESI Year 1 (Y1). We apply a nonlinear imaging systematics treatment based on neural networks to remove observational effects that could potentially bias the f NL measurement. Our measurement is performed without blinding, but the full analysis pipeline is tested with simulations including systematics. Using the two-point angular cross-correlation between LRG and CMB lensing only, we find f NL = 39 −38 +40 at the 68% confidence level, and our result is robust in terms of systematics and cosmological assumptions. If we combine this information with the autocorrelation of LRG, applying a scale cut to limit the impact of systematics, we find f NL = 24 −21 +20 at the 68% confidence level. Our results motivate the use of CMB lensing cross-correlations to measure f NL with future datasets, given its stability in terms of observational systematics compared to the angular autocorrelation. Furthermore, performing accurate systematics mitigation is crucially important in order to achieve competitive constraints on f NL from CMB lensing cross-correlation in combination with the tracers’ autocorrelation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Design and performance of a multi-terahertz Fourier transform spectrometer for axion dark matter experiments

Dedicated spectrometers for terahertz radiation with [0.3, 30] THz frequencies using traditional optomechanical interferometry are substantially less common than their infrared and microwave counterparts. This paper presents the design and initial performance measurements of a tabletop Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) for multi-terahertz radiation using infrared optics in a Michelson arrangement. This is coupled to a broadband pyroelectric photodetector designed for [0.1, 30] THz frequencies. We measure spectra of narrowband and broadband input radiation to characterize the performance of this instrument above 10 THz, where signal-to-noise is high. This paves the groundwork for planned upgrades to extend below 10 THz. We also briefly discuss potential astroparticle physics applications of such FTS instruments to broadband axion dark matter searches, whose signature comprises low-rate monochromatic photons with unknown frequency.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2025

Cosmology from Planck CMB lensing and DESI DR1 quasar tomography

We present a measurement of the amplitude of matter fluctuations over the redshift range 0.8 ≤ z ≤ 3.5 from the cross correlation of over 1.2 million spectroscopic quasars selected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) across 7,200 deg 2 (∼ 170 quasars/deg 2 ) and Planck PR4 (NPIPE) cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing maps. We perform a tomographic measurement in three bins centered at effective redshiftsz=1.44, 2.27 and 2.75, which have ample overlap with the CMB lensing kernel. From a joint fit using the angular clustering of all three redshift bins (auto and cross-spectra), and including an Q m prior from DESI DR1 baryon acoustic oscillations to break the $Ω_{m}-σ_{8}$ degeneracy, we constrain the amplitude of matter fluctuations in the matter-dominated regime to be $σ_{8}=0.929^{+0.059}_{-0.074}$ and $S_{8}≡σ_{8}(Ω_m/0.3)^{0.5} = 0.922^{+0.059}_{-0.073}$. We provide a growth of structure measurement with the largest spectroscopic quasar sample to date at high redshift, which is ∼ 1.5σ higher than predictions from ΛCDM fits to measurements of the primary CMB from Planck PR4. The cross-correlation between PR4 lensing maps and DESI DR1 quasars is detected with a signal-to-noise ratio of 21.7 and the quasar auto-correlation at 27.2 for the joint analysis of all redshift bins. We combine our measurement with the CMB lensing auto-spectrum from the ground-based Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT DR6) and Planck PR4 to perform a sound-horizon-free measurement of the Hubble constant, yielding $H_{0}=69.1^{+2.2}_{-2.6} {\rm \ km\ s}^{-1}{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ through its sensitivity to the matter-radiation equality scale.

baryon acoustic oscillations↗

DOE OSTI2023

Aemulus $\nu$: precise predictions for matter and biased tracer power spectra in the presence of neutrinos

Here we present the Aemulusν simulations: a suite of 150 (1.05 h -1 Gpc) 3 N-body simulations with a mass resolution of 3.51 × 10 10 Ω cb /0.3 h -1 M ⊙ in a wνCDM cosmological parameter space. The simulations have been explicitly designed to span a broad range in σ8 to facilitate investigations of tension between large scale structure and cosmic microwave background cosmological probes. Neutrinos are treated as a second particle species to ensure accuracy to 0.5 eV, the maximum neutrino mass that we have simulated. By employing Zel'dovich control variates, we increase the effective volume of our simulations by factors of 10-10 5 depending on the statistic in question. As a first application of these simulations, we build new hybrid effective field theory and matter power spectrum surrogate models, demonstrating that they achieve ≤ 1% accuracy for k ≤ 1 hMpc -1 and 0 ≤ z ≤ 3, and ≤ 2% accuracy for k ≤ 4 hMpc -1 for the matter power spectrum. We publicly release the trained surrogate models, and estimates of the surrogate model errors in the hope that they will be broadly applicable to a range of cosmological analyses for many years to come.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

On the impact of the galaxy window function on cosmological parameter estimation

One important source of systematics in galaxy redshift surveys comes from the estimation of the galaxy window function. Up until now, the impact of the uncertainty in estimating the galaxy window function on parameter inference has not been properly studied. In this paper, we show that the uncertainty and the bias in estimating the galaxy window function will be salient for ongoing and next-generation galaxy surveys using a simulation-based approach. With a specific case study of cross-correlating emission-line galaxies from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys and the Planck cosmic microwave background lensing map, we show that neural network-based regression approaches to modelling the window function are superior in comparison to linear regression-based models. Here, we additionally show that the definition of the galaxy overdensity estimator can impact the overall signal-to-noise of observed power spectra. Finally, we show that the additive biases coming from the window functions can significantly bias the modes of the inferred parameters and also degrade their precision. Thus, a careful understanding of the window functions will be essential to conduct cosmological experiments.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2024

A GHz-frequency multistrip acoustic beam splitter for quantum applications

Here we demonstrate a microwave-frequency, two-track acoustic beam splitter, based on a multistrip coupler design matched to four unidirectional transducers, two on each of the two acoustic tracks that make up the device. We explain the device design and its experimental implementation, showing good agreement between our model and the measured device scattering spectra. The beam splitter regime, dividing an input signal at port 1 into closely equal outputs at ports 2 and 3, is reached over a 94.7 MHz bandwidth centered at 4.79 GHz, with an output power division ratio |S 21 /S 31 | 2 = 1.1 ± 0.2. The measured bandwidth of the device is limited by the bandwidth of the transducers, rather than that of the multistrip coupler.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2025

Frequency-Selectable Laser Source (FLS) for Cosmic Microwave Background Experiments

Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments measure remnant radiation from the early universe and use that data to determine fundamental properties of the universe. We can constrain key parameters, such as \textit{r}, the cosmic tensor-to-scalar ratio, and $N_\text{eff}$, the effective number of relativistic species, by analyzing the CMB power spectra. Improving our measurements of the CMB requires improving our instrument systematics, one of the most important of which is detector bandpass. Current experiments use a Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) to measure bandpass. However, the FTS is systematics limited, and cannot achieve the accuracy needed to make improved CMB measurements. For this reason, we are developing a new instrument, the Frequency-Selectable Laser Source (FLS) to decrease the uncertainty in bandpass by an order of magnitude. In this paper, we describe work completed to support the version 2 upgrade to the FLS. Using ray-tracing software, we modeled the FLS optics to set physical tolerances for the new design. We also discuss the laser calibration, and future work to be completed in further development of the FLS upgrade.

Rosen-Turits, Gabriel M.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Frequency-Selectable Laser Source for Cosmic Microwave Background Experiments

Rosen-Turits, Gabriel M. [Fermilab]↗

DOE OSTI2021

Frequency comb ptychoscopy

Multiheterodyne techniques using frequency combs—radiation sources whose lines are perfectly evenly-spaced—have revolutionized science. By beating sources with the many lines of a comb, their spectra are recovered. Even so, these approaches are fundamentally limited to probing coherent sources, such as lasers. They are unable to measure most spectra that occur in nature. Here we present frequency comb ptychoscopy, a technique that allows for the spectrum of any complex broadband source to be retrieved using a comb. In this approach, the spectrum is reconstructed by unfolding the simultaneous beating of a source with each comb line. We demonstrate this both theoretically and experimentally, at microwave frequencies. This approach can reconstruct the spectrum of nearly any complex source to high resolution, and the speed, resolution, and generality of this technique will allow chip-scale frequency combs to have an impact in a wide swath of new applications, such as remote sensing and passive spectral imaging.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2023

QUIJOTE scientific results – IV. A northern sky survey in intensity and polarization at 10–20 GHz with the multifrequency instrument

ABSTRACT We present QUIJOTE intensity and polarization maps in four frequency bands centred around 11, 13, 17, and 19 GHz, and covering approximately 29 000 deg2, including most of the northern sky region. These maps result from 9000 h of observations taken between May 2013 and June 2018 with the first QUIJOTE multifrequency instrument (MFI), and have angular resolutions of around 1°, and sensitivities in polarization within the range 35–40 µK per 1° beam, being a factor ∼2–4 worse in intensity. We discuss the data processing pipeline employed, and the basic characteristics of the maps in terms of real space statistics and angular power spectra. A number of validation tests have been applied to characterize the accuracy of the calibration and the residual level of systematic effects, finding a conservative overall calibration uncertainty of 5 per cent. We also discuss flux densities for four bright celestial sources (Tau A, Cas A, Cyg A, and 3C274), which are often used as calibrators at microwave frequencies. The polarization signal in our maps is dominated by synchrotron emission. The distribution of spectral index values between the 11 GHz and WMAP 23 GHz map peaks at β = −3.09 with a standard deviation of 0.14. The measured BB/EE ratio at scales of ℓ = 80 is 0.26 ± 0.07 for a Galactic cut |b| > 10°. We find a positive TE correlation for 11 GHz at large angular scales (ℓ ≲ 50), while the EB and TB signals are consistent with zero in the multipole range 30 ≲ ℓ ≲ 150. The maps discussed in this paper are publicly available.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

DOE OSTI2026

BICEP/Keck. XX. Component-separated Maps of the Polarized Cosmic Microwave Background and Thermal Dust Emission Using Planck and BICEP/Keck Observations through the 2018 Observing Season

We present component-separated polarization maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Galactic thermal dust emission, derived using data from the BICEP/Keck experiments through the 2018 observing season and Planck. By employing a maximum-likelihood method that utilizes observing matrices, we produce unbiased maps of the CMB and dust signals. We outline the computational challenges and demonstrate an efficient implementation of the component map estimator. We show methods to compute and characterize power spectra of these maps, opening up an alternative way to infer the tensor-to-scalar ratio from our data. We compare the results of this map-based separation method with the baseline BICEP/Keck analysis. Our analysis demonstrates consistency between the two methods, finding an 84% correlation between the pipelines.

cosmic inflation↗

DOE OSTI2024

Cosmic neutrino decoupling and its observable imprints: insights from entropic-dual transport

Abstract Very different processes characterize the decoupling of neutrinos to form the cosmic neutrino background (CνB) and the much later decoupling of photons from thermal equilibrium to form the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The CνB emerges from the fuzzy, energy-dependent neutrinosphere and encodes the physics operating in the early universe in the temperature rangeT∼ 10 MeV toT∼ 10 keV. This is the epoch where beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics, especially in the neutrino sector, may be influential in setting the light element abundances, the necessarily distorted fossil neutrino energy spectra, and other light particle energy density contributions. Here we use techniques honed in extensive CMB studies to analyze the CνB as calculated in detailed neutrino energy transport and nuclear reaction simulations of the protracted weak decoupling and primordial nucleosynthesis epochs. Our moment method, relative entropy, and differential visibility approach can leverage future high precision CMB and light element primordial abundance measurements to provide new insights into the CνB and any BSM physics it encodes. We demonstrate that the evolution of the energy spectrum of the CνB throughout the weak decoupling epoch is accurately captured in the Standard Model by only three parameters per species, a non-trivial conclusion given the deviation from thermal equilibrium and the impact of the decrease of electron-positron pairs. Furthermore, we can interpret each of the three parameters as physical characteristics of a non-equilibrium system. Though the treatment presented here makes some simplifying assumptions including ignoring neutrino flavor oscillations, the success of our compact description within the Standard Model motivates its use also in BSM scenarios. We further demonstrate how observations of primordial light element abundances can be used to place constraints on the CνB energy spectrum, deriving response functions that can be applied for general deviations from a thermal spectrum. Combined with the description of those deviations that we develop here, our methods provide a convenient and powerful framework to constrain the impact of BSM physics on the CνB.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

DOE OSTI2023

Sidelobe modeling and mitigation for a three mirror anastigmat cosmic microwave background telescope

Telescopes measuring cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization on large angular scales require exquisite control of systematic errors to ensure the fidelity of the cosmological results. In particular, far-sidelobe contamination from wide angle scattering is a potentially prominent source of systematic error for large aperture microwave telescopes. Here we describe and demonstrate a ray-tracing-based modeling technique to predict far sidelobes for a three mirror anastigmat telescope designed to observe the CMB from the South Pole. Those sidelobes are produced by light scattered in the receiver optics subsequently interacting with the walls of the surrounding telescope enclosure. After comparing simulated sidelobe maps and angular power spectra for different enclosure wall treatments, we propose a highly scattering surface that would provide more than an order of magnitude reduction in the degree-scale far-sidelobe contrast compared to a typical reflective surface. Finally, we conclude by discussing the fabrication of a prototype scattering wall panel and presenting measurements of its angular scattering profile.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2026

Nonlinear Information from DESI Luminous Red Galaxies: An Emulator-Based Analysis of Pre- and Post-Reconstruction Power Spectra

We present joint measurements of the pre- and post-reconstruction power spectra, $P_{\rm pre}$ and $P_{\rm post}$, together with their cross-power spectrum, $P_{\rm cross}$, for the Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) in the DESI Data Release 1 (DR1). We jointly analyse these observables with an emulator-based full-shape modeling framework, thereby, for the first time, we extract complementary nonlinear information from the galaxy density field before and after reconstruction in real survey data. Specifically, including $P_{\rm post}$ and $P_{\rm cross}$ in addition to $P_{\rm pre}$ (hereafter $P_{\rm all}$) yields an improvement of approximately $18$-$27\%$ in the $σ_8$ constraint in both $Λ$CDM and $w$CDM, depending on the redshift bin, relative to the $P_{\rm pre}$-only analysis with the cosmic microwave background distance priors (hereafter CMB). In $w$CDM, the joint CMB+$P_{\rm all}$ analysis can tighten the constraints on $w$ by approximately $5$-$15\%$ across the two LRG redshift bins, compared to the CMB+$P_{\rm pre}$ combination. Further incorporating the Type Ia supernova dataset and comparing the cosmological constraints in $w$CDM from each individual power-spectrum component with those from the full combination, we find that $P_{\rm all}$ consistently provides the tightest constraints. From the joint CMB+$P_{\rm all}$+DES-Dovekie dataset, we obtain $Ω_m = 0.314 \pm 0.0048$ and $w = -0.988 \pm 0.023$ for the \texttt{LRG1} sample, and $Ω_m = 0.318 \pm 0.0046$ and $w = -0.988 \pm 0.025$ for \texttt{LRG2}. These results demonstrate that combining pre- and post-reconstruction power spectra with their cross-correlation enables DESI to harvest additional nonlinear information, leading to tighter constraints on cosmological parameters.

Wang, Yuting [NAOC, Beijing; Beijing, GUCAS] (ORCI↗

DOE OSTI2024

Harmonic analysis of discrete tracers of large-scale structure

It is commonplace in cosmology to analyze fields projected onto the celestial sphere, and in particular density fields that are defined by a set of points e.g. galaxies. When performing an harmonic-space analysis of such data (e.g. an angular power spectrum) using a pixelized map one has to deal with aliasing of small-scale power and pixel window functions. We compare and contrast the approaches to this problem taken in the cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure communities, and advocate for a direct approach that avoids pixelization. We describe a method for performing a pseudo-spectrum analysis of a galaxy data set and show that it can be implemented efficiently using well-known algorithms for special functions that are suited to acceleration by graphics processing units (GPUs). The method returns the same spectra as the more traditional map-based approach if in the latter the number of pixels is taken to be sufficiently large and the mask is well sampled. The method is readily generalizable to cross-spectra and higher-order functions. It also provides a convenient route for distributing the information in a galaxy catalog directly in harmonic space, as a complement to releasing the configuration-space positions and weights, and a route to spectral apodization. Finally, we make public a code enabling the application of our method to existing and upcoming datasets.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗