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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 973 records · Page 54

The effect of reducing dietary lipid and food availability on precocious male maturation in Chinook Salmon: A production-scale hatchery experiment

Abstract Objective Age of maturation in Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha is phenotypically plastic, influenced by both genotype and environmental factors, including the availability and composition of the diet. Salmon hatchery programs often rear fish under accelerated growth regimes using high-lipid diets that can result in earlier age at maturity, including increased prevalence of age-2 males (minijacks). The goal of this investigation was to compare alternative dietary regimes to mitigate for this shift in age at maturity in hatchery-reared Umatilla River fall Chinook Salmon. Methods Juvenile fish were reared at Bonneville Hatchery, Oregon, under four dietary treatments across four replicate brood years. Dietary treatments included two feeding frequencies (standard [fed 7 days/week] and reduced [fed 4 days/week]) and two dietary lipid levels (standard [18%] and reduced [12%]) in a 2 × 2 factorial design. Dietary treatments were applied for approximately 9 months, beginning in March (a month after fry emergence) and lasting until December of the first year, after which all fish were reared on the standard feeding regime (7 days–18%) until the time of release the following spring as yearlings. Result We observed significant interannual variation in the proportion of minijacks produced among dietary treatments. For all brood years, decreasing the feeding frequency from 7 to 4 days/week reduced the proportion minijacks by 35.9%, and lowering dietary lipid from 18% to 12% reduced the proportion minijacks by 30%. The combined effects of reducing the feeding frequency and lowering dietary lipid were additive, reducing the proportion minijacks by 65.5% compared to the standard rearing regime. Growth and energetic indices were monitored throughout and confirmed findings from previous laboratory-based studies indicating that physiological status 10–12 months prior to spawn timing is important for the “decision” to mature. Conclusion Results of this investigation provide useful insights for optimizing rearing regimes for the Umatilla River program and other Chinook Salmon hatchery programs.

Harstad, Deborah L. (ORCID:0000000202676085)↗

Reflections on bubble walls

We discuss the dynamics of expanding bubble walls in the presence of massive dark photons whose mass changes as they cross the wall. For sufficiently thin walls, we show that there exists a transient kinematic regime characterized by a constant reflection probability of longitudinal — but not transverse — modes. This effect can have important implications for the dynamics of expanding vacuum bubbles in the early Universe. Most notably, it leads to a new source of pressure on the expanding interface, featuring a non-monotonic dependence on the γ-factor of the bubble walls and reaching a peak at intermediate γ-factors that we dub Maximum Dynamic Pressure. When this pressure is large enough to halt the acceleration of the bubble walls, the difference in vacuum energy densities goes into making a fraction of the dark photons relativistic, turning them into dark radiation. If the dark radiation remains relativistic until late times, an observable contribution to ΔNeff is possible for phase transitions with strength α ~ 10 -2 - 10 -1 .

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

ESnet/JLab FPGA Accelerated Transport

To increase the science rate for high data rates/volumes, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) has partnered with Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) to define an edge to data center traffic shaping / steering transport capability featuring data event aware network shaping and forwarding. The keystone of this ESnet+JLab FPGA Accelerated Transport (EJFAT) is the joint development of an AI/ML directed dynamic compute work Load Balancer (LB) of UDP streamed data. The LB is a suite consisting of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) executing the dynamically configurable, low fixed latency LB data plane featuring real-time packet redirection and high throughput, and a control plane running on the FPGA host computer that monitors network and compute farm telemetry in order to make dynamic AI/ML guided decisions for destination compute host redirection/load balancing and destination resource provisioning. The LB provides for three-tier horizontal scaling across LB suites, core compute hosts, and CPUs within a host. The LB effectively provides seamless integration of edge/core computing to support direct experimental data processing for immediate use by JLab science programs and others such as the EIC as well as data centers of the future requiring high throughput and low latency for both hot and cooled data for both running experiment data acquisition systems and data center use cases.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Electron Storage Ring Development for ICS Sources

The purpose of the Fast-Track SBIR was to enhance the performance of the Compact Light Source (CLS) by a factor of 10 in flux and brightness. This was accomplished in collaboration with the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory by increasing the intensity of the stored electron beam, by decreasing the emittance of the stored beam, and by decreasing the spot size at the interaction point of the CLS. In addition, the CLS feedbacks and software were developed further to enhance the operational stability and reliability. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory participated at the 30% level of funding and effort.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Reduction of ablated surface expansion in pulsed-power-driven experiments using an aerosol dielectric coating (Final Technical Report)

The quality of warm dense matter samples created by magnetic compression can be largely affected by material ablation. When the ablated material carries currents, local instabilities can grow, which can lead to nonuniformities in the final magnetic pressure. Extending the previous work by Peterson et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 135002 (2014)], Awe et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 065001 (2016)], and Hutchison et al. [Phys. Rev. E 97, 053208 (2018)], the experiments reported here demonstrate that the expansion of the ablated material can be significantly reduced by using a simple aerosol spray technique. Coating the current-carrying surfaces with a 30–60-μm layer of polyurethane reduced the expansion of the ablated material by a factor of 2 and eliminated material ejections from sharp corners. This technique, tested at the Michigan Accelerator for Inductive Z-Pinch Experiments pulsed power facility at the University of Michigan with currents up to 400 kA, could allow the production of homogeneous warm dense matter samples on pulsed-power drivers. Because of the simplicity of this method, this work brings forth an important contribution to pulsed-power-driven experiments designed to study nuclear fusion, material properties, and radiation science.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Enhancing CO 2 Mineralization Rate and Extent of Iron and Steel Slag via Grinding

Roughly 10% of the CO 2 emissions from iron and steel making are attributable to the direct release of CO 2 from the thermal decomposition of carbonates to produce flux, mainly CaO, used for impurity removal. Notably, these direct emissions remain even if carbon-based steelmaking is replaced by hydrogen-based steelmaking. After removing impurities from the molten metal, this flux becomes the solid waste product called ‘slag’, a primarily Ca-silicate material. The transformation of slag back into carbonates is thermodynamically spontaneous with negative ΔG in the ambient environment, meaning that ~10% of the CO 2 emissions from iron and steel making could be negated if equipment and methods were developed to support CO 2 mineralization. However, the rate of CO 2 mineralization using slag is slowed by several environmental, geometric, and processing factors. We leverage an experimentally verified model of CO 2 mineralization to determine how to efficiently accelerate the process. Increasing the crystallinity of slag, increasing the relative humidity, and reducing the grain size of slag particles provide the greatest increase in CO 2 mineralization rate at the lowest energy penalty. Increasing the concentration of CO 2 and the temperature provide only modest increases in the CO 2 mineralization rate while incurring a substantial energy penalty. For steelmaking slags, CO 2 mineralization represents low-hanging fruit as the current reuse pathways are low value. For ironmaking slag, replacing the production of amorphous slag for the cement industry with the production of crystalline slag for CO 2 mineralization becomes financially preferable when a carbon price/tax exceeds 67.40 USD/t-CO 2 .

42 ENGINEERING↗

Lepton–Nucleus Interactions within Microscopic Approaches

This review paper emphasizes the significance of microscopic calculations with quantified theoretical error estimates in studying lepton–nucleus interactions and their implications for electron scattering and accelerator neutrino oscillation measurements. We investigate two approaches: Green’s Function Monte Carlo and the extended factorization scheme, utilizing realistic nuclear target spectral functions. In our study, we include relativistic effects in Green’s Function Monte Carlo and validate the inclusive electron scattering cross section on carbon using available data. We compare the flux-folded cross sections for neutrino-carbon scattering with T2K and MINER$v$ A experiments, noting the substantial impact of relativistic effects in reducing the theoretical curve strength when compared to MINER$v$ A data. Additionally, we demonstrate that quantum Monte Carlo-based spectral functions accurately reproduce the quasi-elastic region in electron scattering data and T2K flux-folded cross sections. By comparing results from Green’s Function Monte Carlo and the spectral function approach, which share a similar initial target state description, we quantify errors associated with approximations in the factorization scheme and the relativistic treatment of kinematics in Green’s Function Monte Carlo.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

NO EVIDENCE OF INTRINSIC OPTICAL/NEAR-INFRARED LINEAR POLARIZATION FOR V404 CYGNI DURING ITS BRIGHT OUTBURST IN 2015: BROADBAND MODELING AND CONSTRAINT ON JET PARAMETERS

We present simultaneous optical and near-infrared (NIR) polarimetric results for the black hole binary V404 Cyg spanning the duration of its seven-day-long optically brightest phase of its 2015 June outburst. The simultaneous R- and K{sub s}-band light curves showed almost the same temporal variation except for the isolated (∼30-minute duration) orphan K{sub s} -band flare observed at MJD 57193.54. We did not find any significant temporal variation of polarization degree (PD) and position angle (PA) in both R and K{sub s} bands throughout our observations, including the duration of the orphan NIR flare. We show that the observed PD and PA are predominantly interstellar in origin by comparing the V404 Cyg polarimetric results with those of the surrounding sources within the 7′ × 7′ field of view. The low intrinsic PD (less than a few percent) implies that the optical and NIR emissions are dominated by either disk or optically thick synchrotron emission, or both. We also present the broadband spectra of V404 Cyg during the orphan NIR flare and a relatively faint and steady state by including quasi-simultaneous Swift /XRT and INTEGRAL fluxes. By adopting a single-zone synchrotron plus inverse-Compton model as widely used in modeling of blazars, we constrained the parameters of a putative jet. Because the jet synchrotron component cannot exceed the Swift /XRT disk/corona flux, the cutoff Lorentz factor in the electron energy distribution is constrained to be <10{sup 2}, suggesting that particle acceleration is less efficient in this microquasar jet outburst compared to active galactic nucleus jets. We also suggest that the loading of the baryon component inside the jet is inevitable based on energetic arguments.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Emission-line Data Cubes of the HH 32 Stellar Jet

We analyze data cubes of over 60 emission lines in the HH 32 stellar jet acquired with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI). The data cover the less explored blue portion of the spectrum between 3586 and 6351 Å and have both high spectral (R ∼ 10,000) and spatial (≲1″) resolution. The study includes all three major ionization states of oxygen, three Balmer lines, multiple lines of Fe ii and Fe iii, and the first data cubes ever acquired for important unblended diagnostic lines such as He ii λ4686, Ca i λ3933, and Mg i] λ4571. The data cubes generally sort according to excitation and have a relatively continuous progression from the highest-excitation ions (He ii, O iii) through the intermediate-excitation ions (O i and H i) to the lowest-excitation ions (Ca ii and Mg i). Merging the KCWI cubes with Hubble Space Telescope images leads to several new insights about the flow, including evidence for bow shocks, partial bow shocks, spur shocks, Mach disks, jet deflection shocks, a wiggling jet, and potential shock precursors. The most surprising result is that one of the velocity components of Fe ii in the Mach disk suddenly increases in flux relative to other lines by a factor of two, implying that the Mach disk vaporizes dust in the jet. Hence, jets must accelerate or entrain dust to speeds of over 300 km s{sup −1} without destroying the grains.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Emerging low-cloud feedback and adjustment in global satellite observations

From mid-2003 to mid-2024, a global decrease in low-cloud amount enhanced the absorption of solar radiation by 0.22±0.07 W m −2 per decade (±1σ range), accelerating the energy imbalance trend during that period (0.44 W m −2 per decade). Through controlling factor analysis, here we show that the low-cloud trend is due to a combination of cloud feedback and adjustments to greenhouse gases and aerosols (respectively 0.09±0.02, 0.05±0.03, and 0.03±0.03 W m −2 per decade), which jointly account for 74 % of the trend. The contribution of natural climate variability is weak but uncertain (0.01±0.08 W m −2 per decade), owing to a poorly constrained trend in boundary-layer inversion strength. Importantly, the observed low-cloud radiative trend lies well within the range of values simulated by contemporary global climate models under conditions close to present day. Any systematic model error in the representation of present-day global energy imbalance trends is thus likely to originate in processes unrelated to low clouds.

Geosciences↗

Grazing incidence imaging telescope for X-ray astronomy using sounding rockets

A sounding rocket flight to image a point X-ray source and to determine the detector background characteristics in a space environment is evaluated. The verification of the HRI detector design in a flight environment is described. The environmental factors, including ambient neutral and charged particle densities, the electromagnetic radiation field, and the vibration and acceleration induced at launch, that affect the operations of the HRI are discussed.

Source record↗

Time and energy dependence of heavy ion abundances in solar flare energetic particle events

Data from a survey of solar flare events undertaken by the UMD/MPI ULET telescope on the IMP-8 satellite during the period 1973-1977 yields examples of time and energy dependence of the abundances and spectra of the He, C, O and Fe heavy ions. Time variations are found in the O/He, O/C and Fe/O ratios which appear to be inconsistent with models based entirely on rigidity-dependent propagation in the interplanetary medium. It is speculated that such other factors as the abundance differences at the flare site on the sun, or features of the acceleration and release mechanisms, may play an important role in the variations discussed.

Mason, G. M.↗

First-order Fermi particle acceleration by relativistic shocks

Monte Carlo calculations of test particle spectra and acceleration times are presented from first-order Fermi particle acceleration for parallel shocks with arbitrary flow velocities and compression ratios r up to seven, shock velocities u1 up to 0.98c, and injection energies ranging from thermal to highly superthermal. Far above the injection energy, the spectra are well-approximated by a power law and the spectra are always harder than for nonrelativistic shocks. Approximate analytic expression are given for the spectral slope as a function of u1 and r. The acceleration time as a function of particle energy is less than for nonrelativistic shocks by a factor that increases with u1 and is about three for u1 = 0.98c. It is confirmed that the spectrum for pitch-angle diffusion is considerably steeper than for large-angle scattering for the same shock parameters.

Ellison, Donald C.↗

System controls challenges of hypersonic combined-cycle engine powered vehicles

Hypersonic aircraft with air-breathing engines have been described as the most complex and challenging air/space vehicle designs ever attempted. This is particularly true for aircraft designed to accelerate to orbital velocities. The propulsion system for the National Aerospace Plane will be an active factor in maintaining the aircraft on course. Typically addressed are the difficulties with the aerodynamic vehicle design and development, materials limitations and propulsion performance. The propulsion control system requires equal materials limitations and propulsion performance. The propulsion control system requires equal concern. Far more important than merely a subset of propulsion performance, the propulsion control system resides at the crossroads of trajectory optimization, engine static performance, and vehicle-engine configuration optimization. To date, solutions at these crossroads are multidisciplinary and generally lag behind the broader performance issues. Just how daunting these demands will be is suggested. A somewhat simplified treatment of the behavioral characteristics of hypersonic aircraft and the issues associated with their air-breathing propulsion control system design are presented.

Morrison, Russell H.↗

The growth of small corrosion fatigue cracks in alloy 2024

The corrosion fatigue crack growth characteristics of small surface and corner cracks in aluminum alloy 2024 is established. The damaging effect of salt water on the early stages of small crack growth is characterized by crack initiation at constituent particle pits, intergranular microcracking for a less than 100 micrometers, and transgranular small crack growth for a micrometer. In aqueous 1 percent NaCl and at a constant anodic potential of -700 mV(sub SCE), small cracks exhibit a factor of three increase in fatigue crack growth rates compared to laboratory air. Small cracks exhibit accelerated corrosion fatigue crack growth rates at low levels of delta-K (less than 1 MPa square root of m) below long crack delta-K (sub th). When exposed to Paris regime levels of crack tip stress intensity, small corrosion fatigue cracks exhibit growth rates similar to that observed for long cracks. Results suggest that crack closure effects influence the corrosion fatigue crack growth rates of small cracks (a less than or equal to 100 micrometers). This is evidenced by similar small and long crack growth behavior at various levels of R. Contrary to the corrosion fatigue characteristics of small cracks in high strength steels, no pronounced chemical crack length effect is observed for Al by 2024 exposed to salt water.

Piascik, Robert S.↗

Advanced Aerospace Tribological Systems - Current Status and Future Technology Needs

The state of the art of space and aeronautics tribology, the current and future technology problems, and perceived needs for future missions are discussed. Mechanisms of liquid and solid lubrication, and liquid- and solid-lubrication factors are examined. Such current and future tribological problem areas as aerospace plane, space simulation, and accelerated testing are addressed. Consideration is also given to the following novel lubrication technologies: inerted lubrication systems, mist lubrication, vapor deposition, catalytically gas-generated carbon, dense thin films of solid lubricants, powder lubrication, and gas and magnetic bearings. Recommendations for ensuring the success of current and future space and aeronautics missions are presented.

Fusaro, Robert L.↗

Parallel 3D Multi-Stage Simulation of a Turbofan Engine

A 3D multistage simulation of each component of a modern GE Turbofan engine has been made. An axisymmetric view of this engine is presented in the document. This includes a fan, booster rig, high pressure compressor rig, high pressure turbine rig and a low pressure turbine rig. In the near future, all components will be run in a single calculation for a solution of 49 blade rows. The simulation exploits the use of parallel computations by using two levels of parallelism. Each blade row is run in parallel and each blade row grid is decomposed into several domains and run in parallel. 20 processors are used for the 4 blade row analysis. The average passage approach developed by John Adamczyk at NASA Lewis Research Center has been further developed and parallelized. This is APNASA Version A. It is a Navier-Stokes solver using a 4-stage explicit Runge-Kutta time marching scheme with variable time steps and residual smoothing for convergence acceleration. It has an implicit K-E turbulence model which uses an ADI solver to factor the matrix. Between 50 and 100 explicit time steps are solved before a blade row body force is calculated and exchanged with the other blade rows. This outer iteration has been coined a "flip." Efforts have been made to make the solver linearly scaleable with the number of blade rows. Enough flips are run (between 50 and 200) so the solution in the entire machine is not changing. The K-E equations are generally solved every other explicit time step. One of the key requirements in the development of the parallel code was to make the parallel solution exactly (bit for bit) match the serial solution. This has helped isolate many small parallel bugs and guarantee the parallelization was done correctly. The domain decomposition is done only in the axial direction since the number of points axially is much larger than the other two directions. This code uses MPI for message passing. The parallel speed up of the solver portion (no 1/0 or body force calculation) for a grid which has 227 points axially.

Turner, Mark G.↗

Effects of Radiation on Rat Retina after 18 days of Space Flight

Although cumulative effects an retina from low-dose radiation during prolonged spaceflight are not known, ary impairment of vision could set limits for spaceflight duration. Cosmic rays are now considered to be the cause of the "light flashes" seen during spaceflight by activating retina cells as they pass through the photoreceptors. Previous studies have also shown retinal cellular alterations and cell necrosis from high-energy, particle (HZE) radiation. Ten rats, 5 centrifuged during flight (FC) to simulate gravity and 5 in-flight stationary (FS) experiencing hypogravity, orbited Earth for 18.5 days on Cosmos 936. The animals were sacrificed 25 days post-recovery and the eyes flown to Ames Res. Ctr. The pattern of cell necrosis in the retinas from the FC group showed the same response to radiation as the FS. This would indicate that hypogravity was not a factor in the observed results. Also the cellular response in the retinas exposed in the Berkeley accelerator again matched both the FC and FS eyes. Thus all three conditions provide comparable changes and indicate HZE particles as the possible cause of the cellular alterations, channels, and breakdown.

Philpott, D.↗