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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 1,027 records · Page 57
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Light detection and cosmic rejection in the ICARUS LArTPC at Fermilab

Abstract The ICARUS-T600 detector is a 760-ton Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) currently operating at Fermilab as the Far Detector in the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program. The SBN program is composed of three LArTPCs with a central goal of testing the sterile neutrino hypothesis. After operating for 3-years in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory, the ICARUS detector was shipped to CERN where it was outfitted with 360 8” Photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs) for a new optical detection system. The PMT system detects fast scintillation light from charged particles interacting in the Liquid Argon, generating the trigger signal for the full detector and allows 3D reconstruction of events. Now operating at shallow depth, the detector is exposed to a high flux of cosmic rays that can fake neutrino interactions. To mitigate this effect a Cosmic Ray Tagger (CRT) and a 3-meter-thick concrete were installed. Precise timing information from both the PMT and CRT subsystems can help to identify whether an interaction originated from inside or outside of the ICARUS cryostat. This paper reviews a method for cosmogenic background reduction and timing calibration of the CRT and PMT light detection systems in ICARUS.

Instruments & Instrumentation↗
DOE OSTI2026

Modeling light signals using data from the first pulsed neutron source program at the DUNE vertical drift ColdBox test facility at the CERN Neutrino Platform

In this paper, we present a first quantitative test of detected light signals produced in a pulsed neutron source run in a small vertical drift LArTPC at the CERN Neutrino Platform ColdBox test facility. The ColdBox cryostat, detectors, neutron sources, and particle interactions are modeled and simulated using Fluka. We demonstrate the ability to identify the contribution from neutron interactions using X-ARAPUCA photodetectors, and show first comparisons of data to simulation, which indicate reasonable agreement. A time constant is also fitted from the neutron-beam-off light signal spectrum and found consistent between data and simulation. Several important systematic effects are discussed and serve as guides for future runs at larger LArTPCs.

Detector modelling and simulations I (interaction ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Watch and learn—a generalized approach for transferrable learning in deep neural networks via physical principles

Transfer learning refers to the use of knowledge gained while solving a machine learning task and applying it to the solution of a closely related problem. Such an approach has enabled scientific breakthroughs in computer vision and natural language processing where the weights learned in state-of-the-art models can be used to initialize models for other tasks which dramatically improve their performance and save computational time. Here we demonstrate an unsupervised learning approach augmented with basic physical principles that achieves fully transferrable learning for problems in statistical physics across different physical regimes. By coupling a sequence model based on a recurrent neural network to an extensive deep neural network, we are able to learn the equilibrium probability distributions and inter-particle interaction models of classical statistical mechanical systems. Our approach, distribution-consistent learning, DCL, is a general strategy that works for a variety of canonical statistical mechanical models (Ising and Potts) as well as disordered interaction potentials. Using data collected from a single set of observation conditions, DCL successfully extrapolates across all temperatures, thermodynamic phases, and can be applied to different length-scales. This constitutes a fully transferrable physics-based learning in a generalizable approach.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

First Evidence of Solar Neutrino Interactions on 13 C

The SNO+ Collaboration reports the first evidence of 8 B solar neutrinos interacting on 13 C nuclei. The charged current interaction proceeds through 13 C +𝜈 𝑒 → 13 N+𝑒 − which is followed, with a 10 minute half life, by 13 N → 13 C +𝑒 + +𝜈 𝑒 . The detection strategy is based on the delayed coincidence between the electron and the positron. Evidence for the charged current signal is presented with a significance of 4.2⁢𝜎. Using the natural abundance of 13 C present in the scintillator, 5.7 metric tons of 13 C over 231 days of data were used in this analysis. The 5.6$^{+3.0}_{−2.3}$ observed events in the data set are consistent with the expectation of 4.7$^{+0.6}_{−1.3}$ events. This result is the second real-time measurement of CC interactions of 8 B neutrinos with nuclei and constitutes the lowest energy observation of neutrino interactions on 13 C generally. This enables the first direct measurement of the CC 𝜈 𝑒 reaction to the ground state of 13 N , yielding an average cross section of (16.1$^{+8.5}_{−6.7}$⁢(stat.)$^{+1.6}_{−2.7}$⁢(syst.))×10 −43 cm 2 over the relevant 8 B solar neutrino energies.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

New physics particles mixing with mesons: Production in the fragmentation chain

A class of extensions to the Standard Model adds hypothetical long-lived particles (LLPs) that have mass- or kinetic-mixing with neutral mesons, such as pions or rho mesons. The mixing can contribute significantly to the production of LLPs at proton accelerator experiments, and no consistent description of these production modes exists in the literature. In this paper, we develop a framework for studying different LLPs—dark photons, vector mediators coupled to the baryon current, and axionlike particles with different coupling patterns. In particular, we implement the production mechanisms in PYTHIA 8, study how the overall flux and kinematic distributions depend on the LLP’s mass, and compare various subprocesses where the mixing contributes—proton bremsstrahlung, meson decay, and production in the fragmentation chain. We find that our new description of LLP production predicts an integrated flux that differs from current approaches by one to two orders of magnitude, and highlight the unavoidable theoretical uncertainties coming from poor knowledge of the properties of heavy mesons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

First JSNS 2 measurement of the electron neutrino flux using the 12 C⁡(𝜈 𝑒 ,𝑒 − )⁢ 12 N g.s. reaction

JSNS2 (J-PARC Sterile Neutrino Search at J-PARC Spallation Neutron Source) is an experiment searching for sterile neutrinos through the observation of ν¯μ→ν¯e appearance oscillations, using neutrinos produced by muon decay-at-rest. A key aspect of the experiment involves accurately understanding the neutrino flux and the quantities of pions and muons, which are progenitors of (anti)neutrinos, given that their production rates have yet to be measured. We present the first electron-neutrino flux measurement using C12(νe,e−)12Ng.s. reaction in JSNS2, yielding a flux of (6.7±1.6(stat)±1.7(syst))×10−9 cm−2 proton−1 at the JSNS2 detector location, located at 24 meters distance from the mercury target. This flux measurement is consistent with predictions from simulations based on hadron models.

Particle decays↗
DOE OSTI2017

Efficiency of fermionic quantum distillation

Here, we present a time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group investigation of the quantum distillation process within the Fermi-Hubbard model on a quasi-one-dimensional ladder geometry. The term distillation refers to the dynamical, spatial separation of singlons and doublons in the sudden expansion of interacting particles in an optical lattice, i.e., the release of a cloud of atoms from a trapping potential. Remarkably, quantum distillation can lead to a contraction of the doublon cloud, resulting in an increased density of the doublons in the core region compared to the initial state. As a main result, we show that this phenomenon is not limited to chains that were previously studied. Interestingly, there are additional dynamical processes on the two-leg ladder such as density oscillations and self-trapping of defects that lead to a less efficient distillation process. An investigation of the time evolution starting from product states provides an explanation for this behavior. Initial product states are also considered since in optical lattice experiments, such states are often used as the initial setup. We propose configurations that lead to a fast and efficient quantum distillation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Constructing Hubbard models for the hydrogen chain using sliced-basis density matrix renormalization group

Sliced-basis DMRG(sb-DMRG) is used to simulate a chain of hydrogen atoms and to construct low-energy effective Hubbard-like models. The downfolding procedure first involves a change of basis to a set of atom-centered Wannier functions constructed from the natural orbitals of the exact DMRG one-particle density matrix. The Wannier function model is then reduced to a fewer-parameter Hubbard-like model, whose parameters are determined by minimizing the expectation value of the Wannier Hamiltonian in the ground state of the Hubbard Hamiltonian. This indirect variational procedure not only yields compact and simple models for the hydrogen chain, but also allows us to explore the importance of constraints in the effective Hamiltonian, such as the restricting the range of the single-particle hopping and two-particle interactions, and to assess the reliability of more conventional downfolding. The entanglement entropy for a model's ground state, cut in the middle, is an important property determining the ability of DMRG and tensor networks to simulate the model, and here we study its variation with the range of the interactions. Counterintuitively, we find that shorter ranged interactions often have larger entanglement.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Measurement of neutron-proton capture in the $\mathrmSNO+ water phase

The SNO+ experiment collected data as a low-threshold water Cherenkov detector from September 2017 to July 2019. Measurements of the 2.2-MeV γ 's produced by neutron capture on hydrogen were made using an Am-Be calibration source, for which a large fraction of emitted neutrons are produced simultaneously with a 4.4-MeV γ. Analysis of the delayed coincidence between the 4.4-MeV γ and the 2.2-MeV capture γ revealed a neutron detection efficiency that is centered around 50% and varies at the level of 1% across the inner region of the detector, which to our knowledge is the highest efficiency achieved among pure water Cherenkov detectors. Finally, in addition, the neutron capture time constant was measured and converted to a thermal neutron-proton capture cross section of $336.3^{+1.2}_{-1.5}$ mb .

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Measurement of spin density matrix elements in Λ ( 1520 ) photoproduction at 8.2–8.8 GeV

We report on the measurement of spin density matrix elements of the $\Lambda(1520)$ in the photoproduction reaction $\gamma p\rightarrow \Lambda(1520)K^+$, via its subsequent decay to $K^{-}p$. The measurement was performed as part of the GlueX experimental program in Hall D at Jefferson Lab using a linearly polarized photon beam with $E_\gamma =$ 8.2-8.8 GeV. These are the first such measurements in this photon energy range. Results are presented in bins of momentum transfer squared, $-(t-t_\text{0})$. We compare the results with a Reggeon exchange model and determine that natural exchange amplitudes are dominant in $\Lambda(1520)$ photoproduction.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Angular correlation between the fission fragment intrinsic spins

The generation of fission fragment (FF) spins and of their relative orbital angular momentum has been debated for more than six decades, and no consensus has been achieved so far. The interpretation of recent experimental results of Wilson et al., has been challenged by several recent theoretical studies, which are not in agreement with one another. According to the interpretation by Wilson et al., the FF spins emerge very long after scission occurrs. Randrup and Vogt, while agreeing that the FF spins are uncorrelated, conclude on the basis of a phenomenological model that these spins are uncorrelated already before scission. Bulgac et al., in a fully microscopic study demonstrate that the primordial FF spin final values are defined before the emission of prompt neutrons and statistical gammas and are strongly correlated with a relative angle between spins close to 2π/3, a result in full agreement with the present independent analysis. The prompt neutrons and statistical gammas carry a significant amount of angular momentum according to the study of Stetcu et al. which can lead to a decorrelation of the FF bandhead spins of the yrast lines measured by Wilson et al., and which also provides arguments why these measured spins are so different from the primordial FF spins evaluated by Bulgac et al.. Here, I show that the unexpected character of the angular correlation between the primordial FF intrinsic spins, recently evaluated by Bulgac et al., which favors FF intrinsic spins pointing predominantly in opposite directions, can be understood by using simple general phase space arguments. The observation by Wilson et al., that the FF spins are uncorrelated follows from both the results of the microscopic calculation of Bulgac et al., and the present analysis of the full correlated probability distribution of the FF spins together with the relative orbital angular momentum of the primordial FFs. These arguments may apply also to heavy-ion collisions and, since there is no use of specifics of the particle interactions, the present results might apply to atomic and molecular systems as well.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Variational Monte Carlo calculations of n + H 3 scattering

A paramount goal in nuclear physics is to unify ab initio treatments of bound and unbound states. The position-space quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods have a long history of successful bound-state calculations in light systems but have seen minimal implementation in unbound systems. Here, we introduce a numerical method to improve the efficiency and accuracy of unbound-state calculations in QMC. As an initial application, we compute scattering observables for the smallest system available to probe three-body forces, the neutron-triton system, using variational Monte Carlo (VMC) wave functions. The method involves inferring long-range amplitudes in the wave function from integrals over the short-range region where all the particles interact. This approach using integral relations is well established in the literature; here, we develop it for the QMC framework. We validate our approach with a consistency check between short-range spectroscopic overlap functions computed from direct evaluation and from the integral relations; scattering amplitudes are long-range asymptotics of those overlaps. Comparison against published benchmark calculations using the same potential demonstrates that when applied to the current VMC wave functions, the integral method produces more accurate scattering observables than direct evaluation from the same variational wave function. However, it still differs noticeably from the exact results. Using additional interactions, we then present phase shifts and mixing parameters for the n + 3 H system. In particular, we present one of the first applications of the Norfolk family of local coordinate-space chiral potentials in unbound systems of A > 2. The Norfolk results accurately describe s-wave scattering but predict p-wave cross sections too large. Compared with previous QMC scattering calculations, the integral method avoids difficulties associated with the precise computation of energy differences and with convergence outside the interaction region, which is particularly severe in the variational calculation. Application of the integral method here paves the way for its use in Green's function Monte Carlo (GFMC) calculations. In GFMC, the wave functions are more accurate, but the high-precision convergence of their tails is slow, and there are additional difficulties in reading out amplitudes. Here, the integral methods will address both of those remaining problems.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Measurements of the γ v p → p ' π + π - cross section with the CLAS detector for 0.4 GeV 2 < Q 2 < 1.0 GeV 2 and 1.3 GeV < W < 1.825 GeV

New results on the single-differential and fully-integrated cross sections for the process $\gamma_{v} p \rightarrow p' \pi^{+} \pi^{-}$ are presented. The experimental data were collected with the CLAS detector at Jefferson Laboratory. Measurements were carried out in the kinematic region of the reaction invariant mass $W$ from 1.3 to 1.825 GeV and the photon virtuality $Q^2$ from 0.4 to 1.0~GeV$^2$. The cross sections were obtained in narrow $Q^{2}$ bins (0.05 GeV$^{2}$) with the smallest statistical uncertainties achieved in double-pion electroproduction experiments to date. The results were found to be in agreement with previously available data where they overlap. A preliminary interpretation of the extracted cross sections, which was based on a phenomenological meson-baryon reaction model, revealed substantial relative contributions from nucleon resonances. The data offer promising prospects to improve knowledge on the $Q^{2}$ evolution of the electrocouplings of most resonances with masses up to $\sim$1.8~GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Strongly resonating bosons in hot nuclei

When two heavy ions near the Fermi energy collide, a warm and low-density region can form in which fragments appear. This region is mainly dominated by proton (p) and alpha (α) particles. In such an environment, the α particles interact with each other and, especially through strong resonances, form complex systems such as 8 Be and 12 C. Our experiments show that 70(64) Zn( 64 Ni) + 70(64) Zn( 64 Ni) reactions at E/A = 35 MeV/nucleon levels of 8Be appear around relative energies E ij = 0.092 MeV, 3.03 MeV as well as above 10 and 100 MeV. We propose a different method to derive the correlation function based on the relative transverse energy distribution to minimize the experimental uncertainties. For the 3α systems, multiresonance processes give rise to excited levels of 12 C. For instance, the Hoyle state at 7.654 MeV excitation energy shows a decay component through the ground state of 8 Be and also components where two different α couples are at relative energies consistent with the ground state of 8 Be at the same time.

6 ≤ A ≤ 19↗