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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 1,009 records · Page 56
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

Torqued fireballs in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We show that the fluctuations in the wounded-nucleon model of the initial stage of relativistic heavy-ion collisions, together with the natural assumption that the forward- (backward-) moving wounded nucleons emit particles preferably in the forward (backward) direction, lead to an event-by-event torqued fireball. The principal axes associated with the transverse shape are rotated in the forward region in the opposite direction than in the backward region. On the average, the standard deviation of the relative torque angle between the forward and backward rapidity regions is {approx}20 deg. for the central and 10 deg. for the midperipheral collisions. The hydrodynamic expansion of a torqued fireball leads to a torqued collective flow, yielding, in turn, torqued principal axes of the transverse-momentum distributions at different rapidities. We propose experimental measures, based on cumulants involving particles in different rapidity regions, which should allow for a quantitative determination of the effect from the data. To estimate the nonflow contributions from resonance decays we run Monte Carlo simulations with therminator, a thermal heavy-ion generator. If the event-by-event torque effect is found in the data, it will support the assumptions concerning the fluctuations in the early stage of the fireball formation, as well as the hypothesis of the asymmetric rapidity shape of the emission functions of the moving sources in the nucleus-nucleus collisions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Distribution function of nuclei from $\mathcal{e}^±$ scattering in the presence of a strong primordial magnetic field

The amplitude of the primordial magnetic field (PMF) is constrained from observational limits on primordial nuclear abundances. Within this constraint, it is possible that nuclear motion is regulated by Coulomb scattering with electrons and positrons (e ± s), while e ± s are affected by a PMF rather than collisions. For example, at a temperature of 10 9 K, thermal nuclei typically experience ~ 10 21 scatterings per second that are dominated by very small angle scattering leading to minuscule changes in the nuclear kinetic energy of order $\mathcal{O}$(1) eV. In this paper the upper limit on the effects of a possible discretization of the e ± momenta by the PMF on the nuclear momentum distribution is estimated under the extreme assumptions that the momentum of the e ± is relaxed before and after Coulomb scattering to Landau levels, and that during Coulomb scattering the PMF is neglected. This assumption explicitly breaks the time reversal invariance of Coulomb scattering, and the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution is not a trivial steady state solution of the Boltzmann equation under these assumptions. Here we numerically evaluate the collision terms in the Boltzmann equation, and show that the introduction of a special direction in the e ± distribution by the PMF generates no directional dependence of the collisional destruction term of nuclei. Large anisotropies in the nuclear distribution function are then constrained from big bang nucleosynthesis. Ultimately, we conclude that a PMF does not significantly affect the isotropy or big bang nucleosynthesis.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Thermal field theory derivation of the source term induced by a fast parton from the quark energy-momentum tensor

I derive the distribution of energy and momentum transmitted from a fast parton to a medium of thermalized quarks, or the source term, in perturbative thermal field theory directly from the quark energy-momentum tensor. The fast parton is coupled to the medium by adding an interaction term to the Lagrangian. The thermal expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor source term is then evaluated using standard Feynman rules at finite temperature. It is found that local excitations, which are important for exciting an observable Mach cone structure, fall sharply as a function of the energy of the fast parton. This may have implications for the trigger p{sub T} dependence of measurements of azimuthal dihadron particle correlations in heavy-ion collisions. In particular, a conical emission pattern would be less likely to be observed for increasing trigger p{sub T}. I show that the results presented in this paper can be generalized to more realistic modeling of fast parton propagation, such as through a time-dependent interaction term, in future studies.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Critical interfaces and duality in the Ashkin-Teller model

We report on the numerical measures on different spin interfaces and Fortuin-Kasteleyn (FK) cluster boundaries in the Askhin-Teller (AT) model. For a general point on the AT critical line, we find that the fractal dimension of a generic spin cluster interface can take one of four different possible values. In particular we found spin interfaces whose fractal dimension is d{sub f}=3/2 all along the critical line. Furthermore, the fractal dimension of the boundaries of FK clusters was found to satisfy all along the AT critical line a duality relation with the fractal dimension of their outer boundaries. This result provides clear numerical evidence that such duality, which is well known in the case of the O(n) model, exists in an extended conformal field theory.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Nearly quantized conductance plateau of vortex zero mode in an iron-based superconductor

Majorana zero modes (MZMs) are spatially-localized zero-energy fractional quasiparticles with non-Abelian braiding statistics that hold promise for topological quantum computing. Owing to the particle-antiparticle equivalence, MZMs reflect quantized conductance at low temperature. By utilizing variable-tunnel-coupled scanning tunneling spectroscopy, we study tunneling conductance of vortex bound states on FeTe 0.55 Se 0.45 superconductors. Here, we report observations of conductance plateaus as a function of tunnel coupling for zero-energy vortex bound states with values close to or even reaching the 2 e 2 / h quantum conductance (here e is the electron charge and h is Planck’s constant). In contrast, no plateaus were observed on either finite energy vortex bound states or in the continuum of electronic states outside the superconducting gap. This behavior of the zero-mode conductance confirms the existence of MZMs in FeTe 0.55 Se 0.45 .

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Spin transfer to Λ and Λ-bar hyperons in deep inelastic scattering at HERMES

Preliminary results on the spin transfer to the Λ and Λ-bar hyperons measured by the HERMES Collaboration are presented. Longitudinal spin transfer directed along the virtual-photon momentum in the Λ rest frame is found to be D{sup Λ}{sub LL }= 0.19 ± 0.04{sub stat} ± 0.02{sub syst}, the transverse component being compatible with zero. For Λ-bar both longitudinal and transverse components are compatible with zero within statistical errors of ±0.1.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Mapping Correlation of a Simulated Dark Matter Source and a Point Source in the Gamma-Ray Sky - Oral Presentation [Slides]

In my research, I analyzed how two gamma-ray source models interact with one another when optimizing to fit data. This is important because it becomes hard to distinguish between the two point sources when they are close together or looking at low energy photons. The reason for the first is obvious, the reason why they become harder to distinguish at lower photon energies is the resolving power of the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope gets worse at lower energies. When the two point sources are highly correlated (hard to distinguish between), we need to change our method of statistical analysis. What I did was show that highly correlated sources have larger uncertainties associated with them, caused by an optimizer not knowing which point source’s parameters to optimize. I also mapped out where their is high correlation for 2 different theoretical mass dark matter point sources so that people analyzing them in the future knew where they had to use more sophisticated statistical analysis.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS1973

Sandstorms and eolian erosion on Mars

It is now apparent that windblown sand plays a major role in the Martian environment. The existence of great sand and dust storms implies the lateral transport of large quantities of material on Mars that provide a convenient mechanism for the filling of craters- an event directly implied both by crater frequency-diameter statistics, and by the appearance of Martian craters. Such fast moving sand particles, saltating close to the Martian surface, can produce by collision and subsequent abrasion significant erosion of the Martian terrain.

Sagan, C.↗
NASA NTRS1975

The variation of solar proton energy spectra and size distribution with heliolongitude

A statistical study of the initial phases of a large number of solar particle events provides an approach for an investigation of the variability in the production process and coronal diffusion. A description is given of the procedures which are suitable for identifying the parent flare of an event, taking into account the heliocentric distribution of the flare-associated events. The determination of the proton energy spectrum at the sun is discussed along with the variation of the spectral index with the associated flare heliocentric longitude, questions concerning the source spectra and the acceleration process, and the size distribution of flare associated particle events.

Van Hollebeke, M. A. I.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Correlation function studies for snow and ice

The random medium model is used to characterize snow and ice fields in the interpretation of active and passive microwave remote sensing data. A correlation function is used to describe the random permittivity fluctuations with the associated mean and variance and correlation lengths; and several samples are investigated to determine typical correlation functions for snow and ice. It is shown that correlation functions are extracted directly from appropriate ground truth data, and an exponential correlation function is observed for snow and ice with lengths corresponding to the actual size of ice particles or air bubbles. Thus, given that a medium has spatially stationary statistics and a small medium, the random medium model can interpret remote sensing data where theoretical parameters correspond to actual physical parameters of the terrain.

Vallese, F.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Energetic interplanetary nucleon flux anisotropies - The effect of earth's bow shock and magnetosheath on sunward flow

Attention is given to the combined, average effects of the bow shock and magnetosheath on the diffusive flow of interplanetary nuclei. The observations presented show that differences between 'connected' and 'unconnected' data subsets are apparent from the beginning of the analysis. Through an investigation of the mean unconnected diffusive anisotropy (those fluxes least affected by the earth's bow shock and magnetosheath) it is confirmed that the cross-field transport of MeV energy nuclei in interplanetary space is statistically significant and in the direction expected from the large-scale particle flux gradients. The direction of particle flow relative to the IMF is then used to show that nucleon flow characteristics on connected IMF differ from those on unconnected IMF. A scenario for producing this difference is then presented. It is concluded that the inclusion of the bow shock connected information biases measurements of the flux anisotropies of MeV energy H.

Christon, S. P.↗
NASA NTRS1990

CCD observations of orbital debris

A portable 31 cm aperture f/1.3 Schmidt telescope with a CCD sensor at the prime focus has been designed and constructed to carry out photometric studies of earth-orbiting debris. When operated in the time delay integration mode in which the readout rate is matched to the predicted motion of the satellite, this system reaches a limiting diameter of about 10 cm for particles at 400 km height and albedo 0.1. It is used for statistical studies of phase angle effects and for swarm-to-swarm albedo differences between several selected debris groups which include the Cosmos 1275, Cosmos 1375, Landsat 1, Landsat 3, NOAA 3, Nimbus 4, Solwind, and Spot-1/Viking groups.

Henize, Karl G.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Study of Analytic Statistical Model for Decay of Light and Medium Mass Nuclei in Nuclear Fragmentation

The angular momentum independent statistical decay model is often applied using a Monte-Carlo simulation to describe the decay of prefragment nuclei in heavy ion reactions. This paper presents an analytical approach to the decay problem of nuclei with mass number less than 60, which is important for galactic cosmic ray (GCR) studies. This decay problem of nuclei with mass number less than 60 incorporates well-known levels of the lightest nuclei (A less than 11) to improve convergence and accuracy. A sensitivity study of the model level density function is used to determine the impact on mass and charge distributions in nuclear fragmentation. This angular momentum independent statistical decay model also describes the momentum and energy distribution of emitted particles (n, p, d, t, h, and a) from a prefragment nucleus.

Cucinotta, Francis A.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Quantifying VOC-Reaction Tracers, Ozone Production, and Continuing Aerosol Production Rates in Urban and Far-Downwind Atmospheres

We have found a surprisingly informative decomposition of the complex question of smoggy ozone production (basically, [HO2] in a more locally determined field of [NO]) in the process of linked investigations of modestly smoggy Eastern North America (by NASA aircraft, July 2004) and rather polluted Flushing, NYC (Queens College, July, 2001). In both rural and very polluted situations, we find that a simple contour graph parameterization of the local principal ozone production rate can be estimated using only the variables [NO] and j(sub rads) [HCHO]: Po(O3) = c (j(sub rads) [HCHO])(sup a) [HCHO](sup b). Here j(sub rads) is the photolysis of HCHO to radicals, presumably capturing many harder-UV photolytic processes and the principle ozone production is that due to HO2; mechanisms suggest that ozone production due to RO2 is closely correlated, often suggesting a limited range of different proportionality factors. The method immediately suggests a local interpretation for concepts of VOC limitation and NOx limitation. We believe that the product j(sub rads) [HCHO] guages the oxidation rate of observed VOC mixtures in a way that also provides [HO2] useful for the principle ozone production rate k [HO2] [NO], and indeed, all ozone chemical production. The success of the method suggests that dominant urban primary-HCHO sources may transition to secondary plume-HCHO sources in a convenient way. Are there other, simple, near-terminal oxidized VOC's which help guage ozone production and aerosol particle formation? Regarding particles, we report on, to the extent NASA Research resources allow, on appealing relationships between far-downwind (Atlantic PBL) HCHO and very fine aerosol (including sulfate. Since j(sub rads) [HCHO] provides a time-scale, we may understand distant-plume particle production in a more quantitative manner. Additionally we report on a statistical search in the nearer field for relationships between glyoxals (important near-terminal aromatic and isoprene reaction products) and aerosol production, looking for VOC's that might be most implicated. All three variables j(sub rads), [HCHO], and [NO] are relatively easily measured in widespread air pollution monitoring networks, and all are deducible form space-borne observations, though estimation of [NO] from [NO2] (the species observable from space) may require care. We report also on airborne and surface observations of HCHO, suggesting that concentrated (urban) and more diffuse (forest) sources may be distinguishable from space. The use of the 3.58 micron microwindow for HCHO remote sensing should allow much sharper resolution of HCHO than the UV. UV sensing requires large and expensive instruments, but even these seem justified since formaldehyde is so informative.

Chatfield, Robert↗
DOE OSTI2011

Heavy Flavor Baryons at the Tevatron

The Tevatron experiments CDF and D0 have filled many empty spots in the spectrum of heavy baryons over the last few years. The most recent results are described in this article: The first direct observation of the {Xi}{sub b}{sup 0}, improved measurements of {Sigma}{sub b} properties, a new measurement of the {Lambda}{sub b} {yields} J/{psi}{Lambda} branching ratio, and a high-statistics study of charm baryons.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗