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At least 1,171 records · Page 65

Modeling with Liapunov functions.

Behavior of high-order linear control systems analyzed using liapunov second method, by finding low-order model with closely approximate response behavior of high order linear control systems analyzed, using Liapunov second method, by finding low order model with closely approximate response

LIAPUNOV FUNCTION↗

Large-scale calculations of 𝛽-decay rates and implications for 𝑟-process nucleosynthesis

Nuclear 𝛽 decay is a key element of the astrophysical rapid neutron capture process (𝑟 process). In this work, we present state-of-the-art global 𝛽-decay calculations based on the quantified relativistic nuclear energy density functional theory and the deformed proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation. Our analysis considers contributions from allowed and first-forbidden transitions. We used two point-coupling functionals with carefully calibrated time-odd terms and isoscalar pairing strength. The new calculations display consistent results for both employed functionals, especially near the neutron drip line, suggesting slower 𝛽 decays past the 𝑁=126 neutron shell closure than in commonly used 𝛽-decay models. The new rates, along with the existing rates based on the recent nonrelativistic global calculations, are found to slow down the synthesis of heavy elements in the 𝑟 process and significantly reduce the contribution of neutron-induced fission.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

A Preconditioning Method for Shape Optimization Governed by the Euler Equations

We consider a classical aerodynamic shape optimization problem subject to the compressible Euler flow equations. The gradient of the cost functional with respect to the shape variables is derived with the adjoint method at the continuous level. The Hessian (second order derivative of the cost functional with respect to the shape variables) is approximated also at the continuous level, as first introduced by Arian and Ta'asan (1996). The approximation of the Hessian is used to approximate the Newton step which is essential to accelerate the numerical solution of the optimization problem. The design space is discretized in the maximum dimension, i.e., the location of each point on the intersection of the computational mesh with the airfoil is taken to be an independent design variable. We give numerical examples for 86 design variables in two different flow speeds and achieve an order of magnitude reduction in the cost functional at a computational effort of a full solution of the analysis partial differential equation (PDE).

Arian, Eyal↗

Spatiotemporal processing of linear acceleration: primary afferent and central vestibular neuron responses

Spatiotemporal convergence and two-dimensional (2-D) neural tuning have been proposed as a major neural mechanism in the signal processing of linear acceleration. To examine this hypothesis, we studied the firing properties of primary otolith afferents and central otolith neurons that respond exclusively to horizontal linear accelerations of the head (0.16-10 Hz) in alert rhesus monkeys. Unlike primary afferents, the majority of central otolith neurons exhibited 2-D spatial tuning to linear acceleration. As a result, central otolith dynamics vary as a function of movement direction. During movement along the maximum sensitivity direction, the dynamics of all central otolith neurons differed significantly from those observed for the primary afferent population. Specifically at low frequencies (</=0.5 Hz), the firing rate of the majority of central otolith neurons peaked in phase with linear velocity, in contrast to primary afferents that peaked in phase with linear acceleration. At least three different groups of central response dynamics were described according to the properties observed for motion along the maximum sensitivity direction. "High-pass" neurons exhibited increasing gains and phase values as a function of frequency. "Flat" neurons were characterized by relatively flat gains and constant phase lags (approximately 20-55 degrees ). A few neurons ("low-pass") were characterized by decreasing gain and phase as a function of frequency. The response dynamics of central otolith neurons suggest that the approximately 90 degrees phase lags observed at low frequencies are not the result of a neural integration but rather the effect of nonminimum phase behavior, which could arise at least partly through spatiotemporal convergence. Neither afferent nor central otolith neurons discriminated between gravitational and inertial components of linear acceleration. Thus response sensitivity was indistinguishable during 0.5-Hz pitch oscillations and fore-aft movements. The fact that otolith-only central neurons with "high-pass" filter properties exhibit semicircular canal-like dynamics during head tilts might have important consequences for the conclusions of previous studies of sensory convergence and sensorimotor transformations in central vestibular neurons.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗

Geodesic synchrotron radiation

This paper presents the results and methods of computing the high-frequency radiation emitted by freely falling particles moving in circular geodesic orbits in a spherically symmetric gravitational field. The high-frequency radiation, to which the methods of this paper apply, is the principal part of radiated energy only in the case of a particle moving in a highly relativistic, and therefore unstable, circular geodesic. The geodesic synchrotron radiation emitted in this case shows excitation of high-frequency harmonics and a narrow angular distribution. A Green's-function solution of the scalar wave equation is obtained using WKB methods. For application to relativistic circular orbits, a parabolic WKB approximation is required and yields solutions in terms of parabolic cylinder functions.

Breuer, R. A.↗

Development of local hybrid density functionals to treat self-interaction error and many-electron effects

The goal of this project was to improve density functional theory (DFT) for systems where conventional semilocal approximations are limited by self-interaction error (SIE) and by near-degeneracy or strong many-electron effects. While DFT remains the only broadly practical first-principles framework for large-scale materials simulations, its predictive accuracy is often challenged in situations involving stretched bonds, charge transfer, transition-metal chemistry, magnetic couplings, band gaps, and correlated electronic states. This project addressed these limitations by developing physically grounded and numerically robust exchange–correlation functionals that retain the efficiency of modern DFT while extending its predictive scope.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Automated workflow for non-empirical Wannier-localized optimal tuning of range-separated hybrid functionals

Here, we introduce an automated workflow for generating non-empirical Wannier-localized optimally-tuned screened range-separated hybrid (WOT-SRSH) functionals. WOT-SRSH functionals have been shown to yield highly accurate fundamental band gaps, band structures, and optical spectra for bulk and 2D semiconductors and insulators. Our workflow automatically and efficiently determines the WOT-SRSH functional parameters for a given crystal structure and composition, approximately enforcing the correct screened long-range Coulomb interaction and an ionization potential ansatz. In contrast to previous manual tuning approaches, our tuning procedure relies on a new search algorithm that only requires a few hybrid functional calculations with minimal user input. We demonstrate our workflow on 23 previously studied semiconductors and insulators, reporting the same high level of accuracy. By automating the tuning process and improving its computational efficiency, the approach outlined here enables applications of the WOT-SRSH functional to compute spectroscopic and optoelectronic properties for a wide range of materials.

Gant, Stephen E. [University of California, Berkel↗

Blocking Losses With a Photon Counter

It was not known how to assess accurately losses in a communications link due to photodetector blocking, a phenomenon wherein a detector is rendered inactive for a short time after the detection of a photon. When used to detect a communications signal, blocking leads to losses relative to an ideal detector, which may be measured as a reduction in the communications rate for a given received signal power, or an increase in the signal power required to support the same communications rate. This work involved characterizing blocking losses for single detectors and arrays of detectors. Blocking may be mitigated by spreading the signal intensity over an array of detectors, reducing the count rate on any one detector. A simple approximation was made to the blocking loss as a function of the probability that a detector is unblocked at a given time, essentially treating the blocking probability as a scaling of the detection efficiency. An exact statistical characterization was derived for a single detector, and an approximation for multiple detectors. This allowed derivation of several accurate approximations to the loss. Methods were also derived to account for a rise time in recovery, and non-uniform illumination due to diffraction and atmospheric distortion of the phase front. It was assumed that the communications signal is intensity modulated and received by an array of photon-counting photodetectors. For the purpose of this analysis, it was assumed that the detectors are ideal, in that they produce a signal that allows one to reproduce the arrival times of electrons, produced either as photoelectrons or from dark noise, exactly. For single detectors, the performance of the maximum-likelihood (ML) receiver in blocking is illustrated, as well as a maximum-count (MC) receiver, that, when receiving a pulse-position-modulated (PPM) signal, selects the symbol corresponding to the slot with the largest electron count. Whereas the MC receiver saturates at high count rates, the ML receiver may not. The loss in capacity, symbol-error-rate (SER), and count-rate were numerically computed. It was shown that the capacity and symbol-error-rate losses track, whereas the count-rate loss does not generally reflect the SER or capacity loss, as the slot-statistics at the detector output are no longer Poisson. It is also shown that the MC receiver loss may be accurately predicted for dead times on the order of a slot.

Moision, Burce E.↗

Unified control/structure design and modeling research

To demonstrate the applicability of the control theory for distributed systems to large flexible space structures, research was focused on a model of a space antenna which consists of a rigid hub, flexible ribs, and a mesh reflecting surface. The space antenna model used is discussed along with the finite element approximation of the distributed model. The basic control problem is to design an optimal or near-optimal compensator to suppress the linear vibrations and rigid-body displacements of the structure. The application of an infinite dimensional Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control theory to flexible structure is discussed. Two basic approaches for robustness enhancement were investigated: loop transfer recovery and sensitivity optimization. A third approach synthesized from elements of these two basic approaches is currently under development. The control driven finite element approximation of flexible structures is discussed. Three sets of finite element basic vectors for computing functional control gains are compared. The possibility of constructing a finite element scheme to approximate the infinite dimensional Hamiltonian system directly, instead of indirectly is discussed.

Mingori, D. L.↗

Electron-Hydrogen Elastic Scattering

Scattering by single-electron systems is always of interest because the wave function of the target is known exactly. Various approximations have been employed to take into account distortion produced in the target. Among them are the method of polarized orbitals and the close coupling approximation. Recently, e-H and e-He+ S-wave scattering in the elastic region has been studied using the Feshbach projection operator formalism. In this approach, the usual Hartree-Fock and exchange potentials are augmented by an optical potential and the resulting phase shifts have rigorous lower bounds. Now this method is being applied to the e-H P-wave scattering in the elastic region. The number of terms in the Hylleraas-type wave function for the 1,3 P phase shifts is 84 and the resulting phase shifts (preliminary) are given. The results have been given up to five digits because to that accuracy they are rigorous lower bounds. They are in general agreement with the variational (VAR) results of Armstead, and those obtained from the intermediate energy R-matrix method (RM) of Scholz et al., and the finite element method (FEM) of Botero and Shertzer. The later two methods do not provide any bounds on phase shifts.

Bhatia, A. K.↗

Weighted-mean scheme for solving incompressible viscous flow

The problem of how a boundary layer responds to the motion of a convexed vortex on a porous wall was investigated. The wall velocity is approximately given by Darcy's law. The vorticity-stream function approach was adopted for solving Navier-Stokes equations of two dimensional incompressible viscous flows. The weighted-mean scheme was used for constructing finite difference approximations of spatial derivatives. Several test problems were solved and numerical results demonstrate clearly the accuracy, stability, and efficiency of the scheme. The weighted mean scheme then can be applied to the vortical flow problem.

Huynh, Q. Q.↗

Deciphering the small-angle scattering of polydisperse hard spheres using deep learning

We introduce a deep learning approach for analyzing the scattering function of the polydisperse hard sphere system. We use a variational autoencoder-based neural network to learn the bidirectional mapping between the scattering function and the system parameters, including the volume fraction and polydispersity. Such that the trained model serves both as a generator that produces a scattering function from the system parameters and an inferrer that extracts system parameters from the scattering function. We first generate a scattering dataset by carrying out molecular dynamics simulations of the polydisperse hard spheres modeled by the truncated-shifted Lennard-Jones model, then analyze the scattering function dataset using singular value decomposition to confirm the feasibility of dimensional compression. Then, we split the dataset into training and testing sets and train our neural network on the training set only. Our generator model produces a scattering function with significantly higher accuracy compared to the traditional Percus–Yevick approximation and β correction, and the inferrer model can extract the volume fraction and polydispersity with much higher accuracy than traditional model functions.

Ding, Lijie [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000227454606)↗

Rigorous Justification of the Localized Approximation to the Beam-Shape Coefficients in Generalized Lorenz-Mie Theory: On-Axis Beams - Part 1

Generalized Lorenz-Mie theory describes electromagnetic scattering of an arbitrary light beam by a spherical particle. The computationally most expensive feature of the theory is the evaluation of the beam-shape coefficients, which give the decomposition of the incident light beam into partial waves. The so-called localized approximation to these coefficients for a focused Gaussian beam is an analytical function whose use greatly simplifies Gaussian-beam scattering calculations. A mathematical justification and physical interpretation of the localized approximation is presented for on-axis beams.

Lock, James A.↗

Causality of the nonequilibrium correlation functions.

It is shown that the correct lowest-order two-particle correlation function solution to the Bogoliubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon hierarchy is given via a Green's function whose Fourier transform satisfies the analyticity requirements for causality. The Bogoliubov adiabatic approximation is shown to imply a solution which is acausal. Extension to the s-particle correlation function is discussed.

Murphy, F. X.↗

Electromagnetic wave scattering in a two-layer anisotropic random medium

For electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering in an anisotropic random medium, the Dyson equation for the mean field and the Bethe-Salpeter equation for the correlation or the covariance of the field were derived. With the random permittivity expressed in a general anisotropic form, the bilocal and the nonlinear approximations are employed to solve the Dyson equation, and the ladder approximation to solve the Bethe-Salpeter equation. The mean dyadic Green's function for a two-layer anisotropic random medium with arbitrary three-dimensional correlation functions has been investigated with the zeroth-order solutions to the Dyson equation under the nonlinear approximation. The effective propagation constants are calculated for the four characteristic waves associated with the coherent vector fields, propagating in an anisotropic random-medium layer, which are the ordinary and extraordinary waves with upward- and downward-propagating vectors.

Lee, J. K.↗

Analytical-numerical methods of calculations of energy and three-dimensional particle distributions in electromagnetic cascades

Analytical and numerical methods of calculation of the energy and three dimensional EPS characteristics are reported. The angular and lateral functions of electrons in EPS have been obtained by the Landau and small angle approximations A and B and compared with earlier data. A numerical method of solution of cascade equations for the EPS distribution function moments has been constructed. Considering the equilibrium rms angle as an example, errors appearing when approximating the elementary process cross sections by their asymptotic expressions are analyzed.

Ivanenko, I. P.↗

A new flux conserving Newton's method scheme for the two-dimensional, steady Navier-Stokes equations

A new numerical method is developed for the solution of the two-dimensional, steady Navier-Stokes equations. The method that is presented differs in significant ways from the established numerical methods for solving the Navier-Stokes equations. The major differences are described. First, the focus of the present method is on satisfying flux conservation in an integral formulation, rather than on simulating conservation laws in their differential form. Second, the present approach provides a unified treatment of the dependent variables and their unknown derivatives. All are treated as unknowns together to be solved for through simulating local and global flux conservation. Third, fluxes are balanced at cell interfaces without the use of interpolation or flux limiters. Fourth, flux conservation is achieved through the use of discrete regions known as conservation elements and solution elements. These elements are not the same as the standard control volumes used in the finite volume method. Fifth, the discrete approximation obtained on each solution element is a functional solution of both the integral and differential form of the Navier-Stokes equations. Finally, the method that is presented is a highly localized approach in which the coupling to nearby cells is only in one direction for each spatial coordinate, and involves only the immediately adjacent cells. A general third-order formulation for the steady, compressible Navier-Stokes equations is presented, and then a Newton's method scheme is developed for the solution of incompressible, low Reynolds number channel flow. It is shown that the Jacobian matrix is nearly block diagonal if the nonlinear system of discrete equations is arranged approximately and a proper pivoting strategy is used. Numerical results are presented for Reynolds numbers of 100, 1000, and 2000. Finally, it is shown that the present scheme can resolve the developing channel flow boundary layer using as few as six to ten cells per channel width, depending on the Reynolds number.

Scott, James R.↗

Auto covariance computer

A laser velocimeter covariance processor which calculates the auto covariance and cross covariance functions for a turbulent flow field based on Poisson sampled measurements in time from a laser velocimeter is described. The device will process a block of data that is up to 4096 data points in length and return a 512 point covariance function with 48-bit resolution along with a 512 point histogram of the interarrival times which is used to normalize the covariance function. The device is designed to interface and be controlled by a minicomputer from which the data is received and the results returned. A typical 4096 point computation takes approximately 1.5 seconds to receive the data, compute the covariance function, and return the results to the computer.

Hepner, T. E.↗