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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 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Optimizing Geant4 Hadronic Models

Geant4, the leading detector simulation toolkit used in high energy physics, employs a set of physics models to simulate interactions of particles with matter across a wide range of energies. These models, especially the hadronic ones, rely largely on directly measured cross-sections and inclusive characteristics, and use physically motivated parameters. However, they generally aim to cover a broad range of possible simulation tasks and may not always be optimized for a particular process or a given material. The Geant4 collaboration recently made many parameters of the models accessible via a configuration interface. This opens a possibility to fit simulated distributions to the thin target experimental datasets and extract optimal values of the model parameters and the associated uncertainties. Such efforts are currently undertaken by the Geant4 collaboration with the goal of offering alternative sets of model parameters, also known as "tunes", for certain applications. The effort should subsequently lead to more accurate estimates of the systematic errors in physics measurements given the detector simulation role in performing the physics measurements. Results of the study are presented to illustrate how Geant4 model parameters can be optimized through applying fitting techniques, to improve the agreement between the Geant4 and the experimental data.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Binary neutron star mergers as a probe of quark-hadron crossover equations of state

It is anticipated that the gravitational radiation detected in future gravitational wave (GW) detectors from binary neutron star (NS) mergers can probe the high-density equation of state (EOS). In this work, we perform the first simulations of binary NS mergers which adopt various parametrizations of the quark-hadron crossover (QHC) EOS. These are constructed from combinations of a hadronic EOS ($n_b$<2 $n_0$) and a quark-matter EOS ($n_b$>5 $n_0$), where $n_b$ and $n_0$ are the baryon number density and the nuclear saturation density, respectively. At the crossover densities (2 $n_0$ < $n_b$ < 5 $n_0$) the QHC EOSs continuously soften, while remaining stiffer than hadronic and first-order phase transition EOSs, achieving the stiffness of strongly correlated quark matter. This enhanced stiffness leads to significantly longer lifetimes of the postmerger NS than that for a pure hadronic EOS. We find a dual nature of these EOSs such that their maximum chirp GW frequencies $f_{\text{max}}$ fall into the category of a soft EOS while the dominant peak frequencies ($f_{\text{peak}}$) of the postmerger stage fall in between that of a soft and stiff hadronic EOS. An observation of this kind of dual nature in the characteristic GW frequencies will provide crucial evidence for the existence of strongly interacting quark matter at the crossover densities for QCD.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Dark matter from a conformal Dark Sector

We consider theories in which a dark sector is described by a Conformal Field Theory (CFT) over a broad range of energy scales. A coupling of the dark sector to the Standard Model breaks conformal invariance. While weak at high energies, the breaking grows in the infrared, and at a certain energy scale the theory enters a confined (hadronic) phase. One of the hadronic excitations can play the role of dark matter. We study a “Conformal Freeze-In” cosmological scenario, in which the dark sector is populated through its interactions with the SM at temperatures when it is conformal. In this scenario, the dark matter relic density is determined by the CFT data, such as the dimension of the CFT operator coupled to the Standard Model. We show that this simple and highly predictive model of dark matter is phenomenologically viable. The observed relic density is reproduced for a variety of SM operators (“portals”) coupled to the CFT, and the resulting models are consistent with observational constraints. The mass of the COFI dark matter candidate is predicted to be in the keV-MeV range.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quarkyonic mean field theory

We discuss mean field theory of quarkyonic matter at zero temperature. We treat the nucleons with contact interactions in mean field approximation, discussing both vector and scalar mean field interactions. We treat the quarks without mean field vector interactions, but allow mass terms to be generated consistently from a scalar mean field consistent with the additive quark model for quark masses. Quarkyonic matter is composed of a shell of nucleons that under-occupy the total available phase space associated with the underlying quark degrees of freedom. Here, the fully occupied Fermi sphere beneath this shell of nucleons at high densities is thought of as quarks, but when this fully occupied distribution of states first appears, although the phase space is filled, the matter is at low density. For the transition between this low density and high density saturated matter, we advocate a dual description of the fully filled Fermi sea in terms of hadrons, and make a phenomenological hypothesis for the equation of state of this matter. We then proceed to an example where the mean field interactions are all vector and only associated with the nucleons, ignoring the effects of mass change associated with the scalar interactions. Except for the effects of Pauli blocking, the nucleons and quarks do not interact. To get a reasonable transition to quarkyonic matter the interaction of the quarks among themselves are assumed to be nonperturbative, and a simple phenomenological relation between quark Fermi energy and density is introduced.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Dark matter from anomaly cancellation at the LHC

We discuss a class of theories that predict a fermionic dark matter candidate from gauge anomaly cancellation. As an explicit example, we study the predictions in theories where the global symmetry associated with baryon number is promoted to a local gauge symmetry. In this context, the symmetry-breaking scale has to be below the multi-TeV scale in order to be in agreement with the cosmological constraints on the dark matter relic density. The new physical “Cucuyo” Higgs boson in the theory has very interesting properties, decaying mainly into two photons in the low mass region, and mainly into dark matter in the intermediate mass region. We study the most important signatures at the Large Hadron Collider, evaluating the experimental bounds. We discuss the correlation between the dark matter relic density, direct detection, and collider constraints. We find that these theories are still viable and are susceptible to being probed in current, and future high-luminosity, running. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Butterworth, Jon (ORCID:0000000259055394)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Coupled Boltzmann transport equations of heavy quarks and quarkonia in quark-gluon plasma

We develop a framework of coupled transport equations for open heavy flavor and quarkonium states, in order to describe their transport inside the quark-gluon plasma. Our framework is capable of studying simultaneously both open and hidden heavy flavor observables in heavy-ion collision experiments and can account for both, uncorrelated and correlated recombination. Our recombination implementation depends on real-time open heavy quark and antiquark distributions. We carry out consistency tests to show how the interplay among open heavy flavor transport, quarkonium dissociation and recombination drives the system to equilibrium. We then apply our framework to study bottomonium production in heavy-ion collisions. We include Υ(1S), Υ(2S), Υ(3S), χb (1P) and χb (2P) in the framework and take feed-down contributions during the hadronic gas stage into account. Cold nuclear matter effects are included by using nuclear parton distribution functions for the initial primordial heavy flavor production. A calibrated 2 + 1 dimensional viscous hydrodynamics is used to describe the bulk QCD medium. We calculate both the nuclear modification factor R AA of all bottomonia states and the azimuthal angular anisotropy coefficient v 2 of the Υ(1S) state and find that our results agree reasonably with experimental measurements. Our calculations indicate that correlated cross-talk recombination is an important production mechanism of bottomonium in current heavy-ion experiments. The importance of correlated recombination can be tested experimentally by measuring the ratio of R AA ( χb (1P)) and R AA (Υ(2S)).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Bayesian inference of nuclear symmetry energy from measured and imagined neutron skin thickness in Sn 116 , 118 , 120 , 122 , 124 , 130 , 132 , Pb 208 , and Ca 48

The neutron skin thickness Δr np in heavy nuclei has been known as one of the most sensitive terrestrial probes of the nuclear symmetry energy E sym (ρ) around $\frac{2}{3}$ of the saturation density ρ 0 of nuclear matter. Existing neutron skin data mostly from hadronic observables suffer from large uncertainties and their extraction from experiments are often strongly model dependent. While waiting eagerly for the promised model-independent and high-precision neutron skin data for 208 Pb and 48 Ca from the parity-violating electron scattering experiments (PREX-II and CREX at JLab as well as MREX at MESA), within the Bayesian statistical framework using the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock model we infer the posterior probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the slope parameter L of the nuclear symmetry energy at ρ 0 from imagined Δr np ( 208 Pb)=0.15, 0.20, and 0.30 fm with a 1σ error bar of 0.02, 0.04, and 0.06 fm, respectively, as well as Δr np ( 48 Ca)=0.12, 0.15, and 0.25 fm, with different 1σ error bar of 0.01 and 0.02 fm, respectively. The results are compared with the PDFs of L inferred using the same approach from the available Δr np data for 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 130, 132 Sn from hadronic probes. They are also compared with results from a recent Bayesian analysis of the radius and tidal deformability data of canonical neutron stars from GW170817 and NICER. The neutron skin data for Sn isotopes gives L = 45.5 $^{+ 26.5}_{-21.6}$ MeV surrounding its mean value or L = 53 . 4 $^{+ 18.6}_{ -29.5}$ MeV surrounding its maximum a posteriori value, respectively, with the latter smaller than but consistent with the L = 66 $^{+ 12}_{-20}$ MeV from the neutron star data within their 68% confidence intervals. We found that Δr np = 0.17 –0.18 fm in 208 Pb with an error bar of about 0.02 fm leads to a PDF of L compatible with that from analyzing the Sn data. To provide additionally useful information on L extracted from the Δr np of Sn isotopes, the experimental error bar of Δr np in 208 Pb should be at least smaller than 0.06 fm aimed by some current experiments. In addition, the Δr np ( 48 Ca) needs to be larger than 0.15 fm but smaller than 0.25 fm to be compatible with the Sn and/or neutron star results. To further improve our current knowledge about L and distinguish its PDFs in the examples considered, even higher precisions leading to significantly less than ±20 MeV error bars for L at 68% confidence level are necessary.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Exotic Hadrons: A Subatomic Bestiary

Particle physicists study unfamiliar forms of matter – matter that hasn’t commonly existed in the cosmos since fractions of a second after the universe began. It has allowed scientists to dive down into an ever-decreasing set of size scales, from molecules, to atoms, to protons and neutrons, and even to quarks. The world of quarks can be a confusing one, but over the past couple decades, it has gotten even more complicated. Using powerful particle accelerators researchers have begun to create and study a truly new form of matter, one in which quarks are combined in unusual ways and one which will teach us some interesting new things about the strong nuclear force.

Lincoln, Don [Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000205997407)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Revealing the structure of light pseudoscalar mesons at the electron–ion collider

The questions of how the bulk of the Universe's visible mass emerges and how it is manifest in the existence and properties of hadrons are profound, and probe the heart of strongly interacting matter. Paradoxically, the lightest pseudoscalar mesons appear to be key to a further understanding of the emergent mass and structure mechanisms. These mesons, namely, the pion and kaon, are the Nambu-Goldstone boson modes of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Unravelling their partonic structure and the interplay between emergent and Higgs-boson mass mechanisms is a common goal of three interdependent approaches - continuum QCD phenomenology, lattice-regularised QCD, and the global analysis of parton distributions - linked to experimental measurements of hadron structure. Experimentally, the anticipated electron-ion collider will enable a revolution in our ability to study pion and kaon structures, accessed by scattering from the 'meson cloud' of the proton through the Sullivan process. With the goal of enabling a suite of measurements that can address these questions, we examine key reactions that identify the critical detector-system requirements needed to map tagged pion and kaon cross-sections over a wide range of kinematics. The excellent prospects for extracting pion structural, functional, and form-factor data are outlined, and similar prospects for kaon structures are discussed in the context of a worldwide programme. Finally, the successful completion of the programme outlined herein will deliver deep, far-reaching insights into the emergence of pions and kaons, their properties, and their role as QCD's Goldstone boson modes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Final Technical Report for U.S.-Japan Hadronic Physics Exchange Program for Studies of Hadron Structure and QCD

Nuclear physics explores the fundamental properties of matter -- how protons and neutrons emerge as quantum systems of elementary particles, how they form the atomic nuclei, and how they give rise to the wide variety of phenomena and applications at biological, technical, and astronomical scales. It is a global scientific effort centered around large-scale experimental user facilities (particle accelerators and detectors), advanced theoretical methods and concepts, and computational techniques and resources. Exchange of knowledge and ideas, scientific collaboration, and workforce development on a global scale are essential for the future of the field. The nuclear physics program envisaged in the 2023 DOE/NSF NSAC Long-Range Plan and pursued at the U.S. National Labs has strong synergies with programs at other facilities worldwide and will realize significant benefits from international collaboration. Nuclear physics is also recognized for promoting international cooperation in the broadest sense through joint construction and operation of experimental equipment, personal contacts between scientists, and education and training. The U.S.-Japan Hadronic Physics Exchange Program (USJPHE) supported collaborative scientific research in hadronic physics and quantum chromodynamics. USJHPE focused on subject areas related to the programs at current and future experimental facilities in the U.S.\ and Japan and supported both experimental and theoretical studies. USJHPE particularly aimed to realize synergies between the hadronic physics programs at Jefferson Lab 12 GeV and J-PARC resulting from the complementarity of electromagnetic and hadronic probes in the multi-GeV energy range. Subject areas of common interest included the quark-gluon structure of hadrons and nuclei, meson and baryon spectroscopy, strangeness and hypernuclear physics, and other related topics. USJHPE also supported research in hadronic physics and nuclear-physics-enabled tests of fundamental symmetries related to the programs at Brookhaven National Lab, Fermilab, KEK, Spring-8, and university-based facilities in the U.S. and Japan. USJHPE especially promoted collaboration between the U.S. and Japanese nuclear physics communities in developing the physics program and instrumentation for the future Electron-Ion Collider. USJHPE was intended to provide travel grants to U.S.-based scientists (primary institutional affiliation with a U.S.\ university, national laboratory, or other research center) to visit Japanese institutions and conduct collaborative research there. The program supported senior researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and students. Continuing the setup of the preceding grant period, J-PARC served as the Japanese “hub” for U.S. physicists for short- and long-term visits, and JLab served as the corresponding U.S. “hub”. The program was officially managed through the U. of Connecticut in Storrs, CT. Support for Japanese physicists visiting the U.S. was provided through funds from Japanese funding agencies. The USJHPE program promoted the scientific exchange and the collaborative spirit in hadronic physics between the two countries.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Large sound speed in dense matter and the deformability of neutron stars

The historic first detection of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration has set a limit on the gravitational deformability of neutron stars. In contrast, radio observations of PSR J0740 + 6620 find a very massive neutron star. Tension between the small deformability and the large maximum mass may suggest that the pressure rises rapidly with density and thus the speed of sound in dense matter is likely a large fraction of the speed of light. Herein, we use these observations and simple constant sound-speed model equations of state to set a lower bound on the maximum speed of sound in neutron stars. If the tidal deformability of a 1.4$_\odot$ neutron star is less than 600, as is suggested by subsequent analyses of GW170817, we find that the sound speed in the cores of neutron stars is likely larger than the conformal limit of $c/\sqrt{3}$. Implications of this for our understanding of both hadronic and quark-gluon descriptions of dense matter are discussed.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Search for new phenomena with top quark pairs in final states with one lepton, jets, and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for new phenomena with top quark pairs in final states with one isolated electron or muon, multiple jets, and large missing transverse momentum is performed. Signal regions are designed to search for two-, three-, and four-body decays of the directly pair-produced supersymmetric partner of the top quark (stop). Additional signal regions are designed specifically to search for spin-0 mediators that are produced in association with a pair of top quarks and decay into a pair of dark-matter particles. The search is performed using the Large Hadron Collider proton-proton collision dataset at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector from 2015 to 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb –1 . No significant excess above the Standard Model background is observed, and limits at 95% confidence level are set in the stop-neutralino mass plane and as a function of the mediator mass or the dark-matter particle mass. Stops are excluded up to 1200 GeV (710 GeV) in the two-body (three-body) decay scenario. In the four-body scenario stops up to 640 GeV are excluded for a stop-neutralino mass difference of 60 GeV. Scalar and pseudoscalar dark-matter mediators are excluded up to 200 GeV when the coupling strengths of the mediator to Standard Model and dark-matter particles are both equal to one and when the mass of the dark-matter particle is 1 GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

The forward physics facility: Physics opportunities and conceptual design

The Forward Physics Facility (FPF) is a proposed extension of the HL-LHC program designed to exploit the unique scientific opportunities offered by the intense flux of high energy neutrinos, and possibly new particles, in the far-forward direction. Located in a well-shielded cavern 627 m downstream of one of the LHC interaction points, the facility will support a broad and ambitious physics program that significantly expands the discovery potential of the HL-LHC. Equipped with four complementary detectors -- FLArE, FASER$ν$2, FASER2, and FORMOSA -- the FPF will enable breakthrough measurements that will advance our understanding of neutrino physics, quantum chromodynamics, and astroparticle physics, and will search for dark matter and other new particles. With this Letter of Intent, we propose the construction of the FPF cavern and the construction, integration, and installation of its experiments. We summarize the physics case, the facility design, the layout and components of the detectors, as well as the envisioned collaboration structure, cost estimate, and implementation timeline.

Astroparticle physics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Insights into the emergence of mass from studies of pion and kaon structure

There are two mass generating mechanisms in the standard model of particle physics (SM). One is related to the Higgs boson and fairly well understood. The other is embedded in quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the SM’s strong interaction piece; and although responsible for emergence of the roughly 1 GeV mass scale that characterises the proton and hence all observable matter, the source and impacts of this emergent hadronic mass (EHM) remain puzzling. As bound states seeded by a valence-quark and -antiquark, pseudoscalar mesons present a simpler problem in quantum field theory than that associated with the nucleon. Consequently, there is a large array of robust predictions for pion and kaon properties whose empirical validation will provide a clear window onto many effects of both mass generating mechanisms and the constructive interference between them. This has now become significant because new-era experimental facilities, in operation, construction, or planning, are capable of conducting such tests and thereby contributing greatly to resolving the puzzles of EHM. These aspects of experiment, phenomenology, and theory, along with contemporary successes and challenges, are reviewed herein. In addition to providing an overview of the experimental status, we focus on recent progress made using continuum Schwinger function methods and lattice-regularised QCD. Further, advances made using other theoretical tools are also sketched. Our primary goal is to highlight the potential gains that can accrue from a coherent effort aimed at finally reaching an understanding of the character and structure of Nature’s Nambu–Goldstone modes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Is Physics in Crisis? The Mystery of the W Boson

The standard model of particle physics is the most successful theory describing the behavior of matter and energy in the subatomic realm. However, success doesn’t mean it is perfect, and a recent measurement of the mass of a particle called the W boson is puzzling, as it disagrees with theoretical predictions and earlier precise measurements. If this measurement and prediction are both correct, the standard model will have to be modified or replaced, potentially overturning half a century of accepted physics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Universal relations for neutron star 𝑓-mode and 𝑔-mode oscillations

Among the various oscillation modes of neutron stars, 𝑓- and 𝑔- modes are the most likely to be ultimately observed in binary neutron star mergers due to their relatively large coupling and shared frequencies with tidal excitations. The 𝑓-mode frequency and damping time are known to correlate in normal neutron stars with their compactness, and previous fits to hadronic stars are extended and shown to be valid for an extremely broad sampling of equations of state using a piecewise polytropic parametrization scheme for hadrons and a constant sound-speed parametrization for quark matter. Separate fits applicable to quark (self-bound) stars are improved. Much more significant correlations exist with tidal deformability, and therefore with moment of inertia and quadrupole moment. It is conclusively demonstrated that these correlations are the same for all types of stars, whether hadronic, hybrid, or pure quark, and its accuracy is quantified. A novel 1-node branch of the 𝑓-mode that occurs in low-mass hybrid stars in a narrow mass range just beyond the critical mass necessary for a phase transition to appear is identified. This 1-node branch shows the largest, but still small, deviations from the universal correlation for any configuration. It is characterized by a nonmonotonic relation between neutron star mass and 𝑓-mode frequency, in contrast to the behavior otherwise observed in normal, quark and hybrid stars. The 𝑔-mode only exists in matter with a nonbarotropic equation of state involving temperature, chemical potential or composition (such as being out of beta equilibrium), or a phase transition in barotropic matter. Here, the 𝑔-mode therefore could serve as a probe for studying phase transitions in hybrid stars. In contrast with the 𝑓-mode, 𝑔-mode frequencies do not correlate well with tidal deformability, but depend strongly on properties of the transition (the density and the magnitude of the discontinuity) at the transition. Imposing causality and maximum mass constraints, a fit involving neutron star and phase transition properties is found and the 𝑔-mode frequency is determined to have an upper bound of about 1.25 kHz. However, if the sound speed 𝑐𝑠 in the inner core at densities above the phase transition density is restricted to 𝑐$^{2}_{𝑠}$ ≤1/3, 𝑔-mode frequencies can only reach about 0.8 kHz, which are significantly lower than 𝑓-mode frequencies (1.3–2.8 kHz). 𝑔-mode gravitational wave damping times are found to be extremely long, >10 4 s (102 s) in the inner core with 𝑐$^{2}_{𝑠}$ ≤1/3 (1), in comparison with 𝑓-mode damping times (0.1–1 s).

Composition of astronomical objects↗