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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 937 records · Page 52
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NASA NTRS1999

Turbulent Diffusivities for Momentum, Heat, Salt and Passive Scalars

A program began ten years ago to build a turbulence model to describe high Reynolds numbers flows. Specifically, the aim was to devise a model that would satisfy two basic conditions: reproduce available turbulence data (laboratory, numerical simulations, etc.) concerning shear driven flows, buoyancy driven flows, 2D turbulence, freely decaying turbulence etc., and yet be manageable so as to be used, for example, in GCM'S. The model was presented in a series of papers that have appeared in Physics of FLuids since 1996. A total of about 80 turbulence statistics were reproduced. The model has no adjustable parameters. The next step was to apply the model to construct the vertical diffusivities K for moment K(sub m), temperature K(sub h), salt K(sub g) and passive scalars K(sub c). First, we took K(sub g) = K(sub h) and tested the model using the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) ocean model. The results for the profiles of T and S vs. depth are indistinguishable from those derided using the latest model, the KPP model by the NCAR group. Presently, we are running the same GFDL code relaxing the assumptive K(sub g) = K(sub h). Indeed, the turbulence model yields a salt diffusivity that depends on Ri and R Rho (= Beta Sigma S/Sigma z/Alpha Sigma T/Sigma z) in such a way that K(sub g) may be quite different from K(sub h). Salt fingers and double diffusivity laboratory data are reproduced. Results from the ocean model will be available shortly. Finally, we are trying to derive the horizontal diffusivities with the goal of providing a physically acceptable representation of mesoscale eddies. The recently suggested GMW parameterization has improved several O-GCM results and the goal here is to try to derive/justify it from a turbulence model and/or propose improvements/modifications. Theoretical work is in progress.

Canuto, Vittorio↗
DOE OSTI2022

Sea Ice Rheology Experiment (SIREx): 1. Scaling and Statistical Properties of Sea-Ice Deformation Fields

As the sea-ice modeling community is shifting to advanced numerical frameworks, developing new sea-ice rheologies, and increasing model spatial resolution, ubiquitous deformation features in the Arctic sea ice are now being resolved by sea-ice models. Initiated at the Forum for Arctic Modeling and Observational Synthesis, the Sea Ice Rheology Experiment (SIREx) aims at evaluating state-of-the-art sea-ice models using existing and new metrics to understand how the simulated deformation fields are affected by different representations of sea-ice physics (rheology) and by model configuration. Part 1 of the SIREx analysis is concerned with evaluation of the statistical distribution and scaling properties of sea-ice deformation fields from 35 different simulations against those from the RADARSAT Geophysical Processor System (RGPS). For the first time, the viscous-plastic (and the elastic-viscous-plastic variant), elastic-anisotropic-plastic, and Maxwell-elasto-brittle rheologies are compared in a single study. We find that both plastic and brittle sea-ice rheologies have the potential to reproduce the observed RGPS deformation statistics, including multi-fractality. Model configuration (e.g., numerical convergence, atmospheric representation, spatial resolution) and physical parameterizations (e.g., ice strength parameters and ice thickness distribution) both have effects as important as the choice of sea-ice rheology on the deformation statistics. It is therefore not straightforward to attribute model performance to a specific rheological framework using current deformation metrics. In light of these results, we further evaluate the statistical properties of simulated Linear Kinematic Features in a SIREx Part 2 companion paper.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Low-frequency Carbon Radio Recombination Lines. I. Calculations of Departure Coefficients

In the first paper of this series, we study the level population problem of recombining carbon ions. We focus our study on high quantum numbers, anticipating observations of carbon radio recombination lines to be carried out by the Low Frequency Array. We solve the level population equation including angular momentum levels with updated collision rates up to high principal quantum numbers. We derive departure coefficients by solving the level population equation in the hydrogenic approximation and including low-temperature dielectronic capture effects. Our results in the hydrogenic approximation agree well with those of previous works. When comparing our results including dielectronic capture, we find differences that we ascribe to updates in the atomic physics (e.g., collision rates) and to the approximate solution method of the statistical equilibrium equations adopted in previous studies. A comparison with observations is discussed in an accompanying article, as radiative transfer effects need to be considered.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Simulating Z 2 lattice gauge theory on a quantum computer

The utility of quantum computers for simulating lattice gauge theories is currently limited by the noisiness of the physical hardware. Various quantum error mitigation strategies exist to reduce the statistical and systematic uncertainties in quantum simulations via improved algorithms and analysis strategies. We perform quantum simulations of Z 2 gauge theory with matter to study the efficacy and interplay of different error mitigation methods: readout error mitigation, randomized compiling, rescaling, and dynamical decoupling. We compute Minkowski correlation functions in this confining gauge theory and extract the mass of the lightest spin-1 state from fits to their time dependence. Quantum error mitigation extends the range of times over which our correlation function calculations are accurate by a factor of 6 and is therefore essential for obtaining reliable masses.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS2003

The Statistical Mechanics of Ideal MHD Turbulence

Turbulence is a universal, nonlinear phenomenon found in all energetic fluid and plasma motion. In particular. understanding magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence and incorporating its effects in the computation and prediction of the flow of ionized gases in space, for example, are great challenges that must be met if such computations and predictions are to be meaningful. Although a general solution to the "problem of turbulence" does not exist in closed form, numerical integrations allow us to explore the phase space of solutions for both ideal and dissipative flows. For homogeneous, incompressible turbulence, Fourier methods are appropriate, and phase space is defined by the Fourier coefficients of the physical fields. In the case of ideal MHD flows, a fairly robust statistical mechanics has been developed, in which the symmetry and ergodic properties of phase space is understood. A discussion of these properties will illuminate our principal discovery: Coherent structure and randomness co-exist in ideal MHD turbulence. For dissipative flows, as opposed to ideal flows, progress beyond the dimensional analysis of Kolmogorov has been difficult. Here, some possible future directions that draw on the ideal results will also be discussed. Our conclusion will be that while ideal turbulence is now well understood, real turbulence still presents great challenges.

Shebalin, John V.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Modeling Protein–Protein and Protein–Ligand Interactions by the ClusPro Team in CASP16

ABSTRACT In the CASP16 experiment, our team employed hybrid computational strategies to predict both protein–protein and protein–ligand complex structures. For protein–protein docking, we combined physics‐based sampling—using ClusPro FFT docking and molecular dynamics—with AlphaFold (AF)‐based sampling, followed by AF‐based refinement. Our method produced numerous high‐accuracy complex models, including cases where AF alone failed, underscoring the critical role of physics‐based sampling alongside deep learning‐based refinement. For protein–ligand docking, we integrated the ClusPro LigTBM template‐based approach with a machine learning‐based confidence model for rescoring. The method preserves conserved interaction fragments derived from homologous complexes, followed by local resampling using physics‐based sampling and a diffusion model. Our template‐based strategy achieved a mean lDDT‐PLI of 0.69 across 233 targets, which was highly competitive. These results demonstrate that combining physics‐based modeling with AI‐driven refinement can significantly enhance the accuracy of both protein–protein and protein–ligand structure predictions.

Ashizawa, Ryota [Department of Applied Mathematics↗
DOE OSTI2020

Theoretical study of various nonlinear phenomena in plasma systems and scaling of magneto-inertial-fusion targets

Plasma physics is an exciting field of study with a wide variety of nonlinear processes that come into play. Examples of such processes include the interaction of small-scale turbulence with large-scale plasma structures and the nonlinear saturation of plasma instabilities, for example those of magneto-hydrodynamical nature. During this Truman LDRD project, I studied a collection of nonlinear problems that are of interest to the field of plasma physics. This LDRD report summarizes four main research accomplishments. First, a new statistical model for describing inhomogeneous drift-wave turbulence inter- acting with zonal flows was developed. This new model includes the effects of nonlinear wave-wave collisions, which are expected to change the spectrum of the underlying DW turbulence and therefore the generation of zonal flows. Second, a new mathematical formalism was proposed to systematically apply the non- linear WKB approximation to general field theories, including those often used in fluid dynamics. This formalism represents an interesting tool for studying physical systems that show an explicit scale separation. Third, a weakly nonlinear model was developed to describe the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability. This instability is of paramount importance to understand as it can reduce the performance of magnetic-inertial-fusion (MIF) platforms. The developed models captures the effects of harmonic generation and saturation of the linear growth of the instability. Finally, a framework was proposed for scaling magneto-inertial fusion (MIF) targets to larger pulsed-power drivers. From this framework, a set of scaling rules were derived that conserve the physical regimes of MIF systems when scaling up in peak current. By doing so, deleterious nonlinear processes that affect MIF performance may be kept at bay.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2002

Confronting Models with Data: The GEWEX Cloud Systems Study

The GEWEX Cloud System Study (GCSS; GEWEX is the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment) was organized to promote development of improved parameterizations of cloud systems for use in climate and numerical weather prediction models, with an emphasis on the climate applications. The strategy of GCSS is to use two distinct kinds of models to analyze and understand observations of the behavior of several different types of clouds systems. Cloud-system-resolving models (CSRMs) have high enough spatial and temporal resolutions to represent individual cloud elements, but cover a wide enough range of space and time scales to permit statistical analysis of simulated cloud systems. Results from CSRMs are compared with detailed observations, representing specific cases based on field experiments, and also with statistical composites obtained from satellite and meteorological analyses. Single-column models (SCMs) are the surgically extracted column physics of atmospheric general circulation models. SCMs are used to test cloud parameterizations in an un-coupled mode, by comparison with field data and statistical composites. In the original GCSS strategy, data is collected in various field programs and provided to the CSRM Community, which uses the data to "certify" the CSRMs as reliable tools for the simulation of particular cloud regimes, and then uses the CSRMs to develop parameterizations, which are provided to the GCM Community. We report here the results of a re-thinking of the scientific strategy of GCSS, which takes into account the practical issues that arise in confronting models with data. The main elements of the proposed new strategy are a more active role for the large-scale modeling community, and an explicit recognition of the importance of data integration.

Randall, David↗
DOE OSTI2021

The size of the Proton: Recent Results from the PRad Experiment

Two new extremely high precision measurements of the proton rms charge radius performed in 2010-2013 with muonic hydrogen atom demonstrated up to six standard deviations smaller values than the accepted average from all previous experiments performed with different methods (scattering and atomic spectroscopy) on ordinary hydrogen. This discrepancy triggered the well-known ?proton radius puzzle? in hadronic physics. To address this puzzle, the PRad collaboration in spring of 2016 performed a novel magnetic-spectrometer-free ep-scattering experiment in Hall B at Jefferson Lab accumulating high statistics and a rich experimental data set. The specifics of the PRad experiment and the final physics results, including the extracted proton radius, as well as, the current status of the puzzle will be presented and discussed in this talk.

Gasparian, Ashot↗
NASA NTRS1993

Objective determination of image end-members in spectral mixture analysis

Spectral mixture analysis was shown to be a powerful, multifaceted tool for analysis of multi- and hyper-spectral data. The essence of the first phase of the approach is to determine a set of image end-members that best account for the spectral variance in an image cube within a constrained, linear least squares mixing model. The selection of the image end-member is usually achieved using a priori knowledge and successive trial and error solutions to refine the total number and physical location of the end-members. However, in many situations a more objective method of determining these essential components is desired. The problem of image end-member determination was approached objectively by using the inherent variance of the data. Unlike purely statistical methods such as factor analysis, this approach derives solutions that conform to a physically realistic model.

Tompkins, Stefanie↗
NASA NTRS1993

Objective determination of image end-members in spectral mixture analysis of AVIRIS data

Spectral mixture analysis has been shown to be a powerful, multifaceted tool for analysis of multi- and hyper-spectral data. Applications of AVIRIS data have ranged from mapping soils and bedrock to ecosystem studies. During the first phase of the approach, a set of end-members are selected from an image cube (image end-members) that best account for its spectral variance within a constrained, linear least squares mixing model. These image end-members are usually selected using a priori knowledge and successive trial and error solutions to refine the total number and physical location of the end-members. However, in many situations a more objective method of determining these essential components is desired. We approach the problem of image end-member determination objectively by using the inherent variance of the data. Unlike purely statistical methods such as factor analysis, this approach derives solutions that conform to a physically realistic model.

Tompkins, Stefanie↗
DOE OSTI2019

Cosmological Probes of Fundamental Physics (Final Report)

This report summarizes the research performed by Hirata’s group under award # DE-SC0006624, which contains both theoretical and observational parts. The theoretical part includes studies of the physics of the reionization era, the period in cosmic history when the first stars and galaxies emitted ultraviolet radiation and turned the intergalactic medium from neutral to ionized. We investigated the ways in which future observations of this era using the 21 cm line of hydrogen could probe inflation (through the effects of gravitational waves on the statistics of this line) and primordial magnetic fields. We also investigated how the physics of the reionization era could impact measurements of the Lyman-α forest using current (BOSS/eBOSS) and near-future (DESI) instruments. It also included a detailed study of sterile neutrinos as a dark matter candidate, including the early Universe modeling required to predict the distribution of sterile neutrinos on small scales. The observational arm of the project included preparations for ground- and space-based dark energy surveys (including PFS and WFIRST), as well as measurements of the growth of structure from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Kinetic theory of particle-in-cell simulation plasma and the ensemble averaging technique

Abstract We derive the kinetic theory of fluctuations in physically and numerically stable particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of electrostatic plasmas. The starting point is the single-time correlation at the start of the simulation between the statistical fluctuations of the weighted densities of macroparticle centers in the plasma particle phase-space. The fluctuations are associated with different initial conditions, typically due to the random initial conditions (in velocity space) of the macroparticles/simulation plasma, assigned according to their initial distribution of probability. The single-time correlations at all time steps and in each spatial grid cell are then determined from the Laplace–Fourier transforms of the discretized Klimontovich-like equation for the macroparticles and Maxwell’s equations for the fields, as computed by modern PIC codes. We recover the expressions for the electrostatic field and the plasma particle density fluctuation autocorrelation spectra as well as the kinetic equations describing the average evolution of PIC-simulated plasma particles, first derived by Langdon (1970b Proc. 4th Conf. Numerical Simulation of Plasmas ) using a test macroparticle approach perturbing a discretized Vlasovian plasma and then averaging the obtained physical quantity over the initial macroparticle velocity distribution. We generalize and extend these results to the modern algorithms in PIC codes using arbitrary macroparticle weights. Analytical estimates of statistical fluctuation amplitudes are derived as a function of the plasma simulation parameters, using the central limit theorem in the limit of a large number of macroparticles per cell. The theory is then used to analyze the ensemble averaging technique of PIC simulations where statistical averages are performed over ensembles of PIC simulations, modeling the same plasma physics problem but using different statistical realizations of the initial distribution functions of the macroparticles. This method is illustrated by linear Landau damping uncovering (from noise, which is usually considered numerical) the physical fluctuations driven by a single small amplitude electrostatic wave perturbing a PIC simulation plasma in equilibrium.

fluctuations correlations↗
NASA NTRS2004

Flow field topology of transient mixing driven by buoyancy

Transient mixing driven by buoyancy occurs through the birth of a symmetric Rayleigh-Taylor morphology (RTM) structure for large length scales. Beyond its critical bifurcation the RTM structure exhibits self-similarity and occurs on smaller and smaller length scales. The dynamics of the RTM structure, its nonlinear growth and internal collision, show that its genesis occurs from an explosive bifurcation which leads to the overlap of resonance regions in phase space. This event shows the coexistence of regular and chaotic regions in phase space which is corroborated with the existence of horseshoe maps. A measure of local chaos given by the topological entropy indicates that as the system evolves there is growth of uncertainty. Breakdown of the dissipative RTM structure occurs during the transition from explosive to catastrophic bifurcation; this event gives rise to annihilation of the separatrices which drives overlap of resonance regions. The global bifurcation of explosive and catastrophic events in phase space for the large length scale of the RTM structure serves as a template for which mixing occurs on smaller and smaller length scales. Copyright 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Nonlinear Dynamics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Positivity from Cosmological Correlators

Abstract Effective field theories in flat space and in anti-de Sitter space are constrained by causality and unitarity, often in the form of positivity bounds. Similar bounds have been harder to demonstrate in cosmological backgrounds, where the roles of unitarity and causality are more obscure. Fortunately, the expansion of the universe ensures that late-time cosmological correlators are effectively classical and the role of unitarity is played by classical statistical inequalities. For multi-field inflation, the resulting positivity constraints have long been known in terms of the Suyama-Yamaguchi inequality. In this paper, we demonstrate that similar statistical bounds imply nontrivial constraints for massive fields in the early universe. We show that any real anomalous dimensions for principal series fields in de Sitter space must be positive. We also derive a limit on the amplitude of particular oscillatory signals from inflation, including those arising in cosmological collider physics. Finally, we demonstrate that these constraints manifest themselves directly in the two-point statistics of matter and galaxies that will be measured in upcoming surveys.

Physics↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Where Lies the Quantumness Behind Detecting Electromagnetic Waves for Frequencies from Infrared and Up?

The synthesis of Newtonian concept of corpuscles during emission with Huygens’ concept of secondary-wavelets during propagation implies that all EM radiations from quantized atoms and molecules are released as discrete amount of energies. However, they propagate out as time-finite Maxwellian light pulses. Huygens also underscored that his secondary wavelets keep propagating as independent pulses in the absence of any interacting medium, or until intercepted by an interface with a medium or a detector. Then we use the Superposition Principle and the coherence theory to derive Einstein’s photoelectric equation by summing innumerable random time-finite pulses. This process driven approach should yield the characteristic statistical variations of photoelectron current pulses, as generated by photodetectors for different kinds of light sources. Lamb & Scully originally proposed this semiclassical approach without assuming that light actually consists of time finite pulses. The quantumness remains confined within the excitation and de-excitations processes in the material particles.

Electromagnetic Waves↗
DOE OSTI2017

Statistical model of exotic rotational correlations in emergent space-time

A statistical model is formulated to compute exotic rotational correlations that arise as inertial frames and causal structure emerge on large scales from entangled Planck scale quantum systems. Noncommutative quantum dynamics are represented by random transverse displacements that respect causal symmetry. Entanglement is represented by covariance of these displacements in Planck scale intervals defined by future null cones of events on an observer's world line. Light that propagates in a nonradial direction inherits a projected component of the exotic rotational correlation that accumulates as a random walk in phase. A calculation of the projection and accumulation leads to exact predictions for statistical properties of exotic Planck scale correlations in an interferometer of any configuration. The cross-covariance for two nearly co-located interferometers is shown to depart only slightly from the autocovariance. Specific examples are computed for configurations that approximate realistic experiments, and show that the model can be rigorously tested.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗