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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

The Mu2e Digitizer ReAdout Controller (DiRAC): characterization and radiation hardness

The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab will search for the neutrino-less coherent conversion of a muon into an electron in the field of a nucleus. Mu2e detectors comprise a straw tracker, an electromagnetic calorimeter and a veto for cosmic rays. The calorimeter employs 1348 Cesium Iodide crystals readout by silicon photo-multipliers and fast front-end, and digitization electronics. The digitization board is named DiRAC (Digitizer ReAdout Controller) and 140 cards are needed for the readout of the full calorimeter. The DiRACs are hosted in crates located on the external surface of calorimeter disks, inside the detector solenoid cryostat and must sustain very high radiation and magnetic field so it was necessary to fully qualify it. Several version of prototypes were validated for operation in a high-vacuum (10−4 Torr) and under a 1T magnetic field. An extensive radiation hardness qualification campaign, carried out with photons, 14 MeV neutron beams, and 200 MeV protons, certified the DiRAC design to sustain doses up to 12 Krad, neutron fluences up to ∼ 1011 1 MeV neq/cm2, and very low occurrences of single-event effects. The qualification campaigns and quality assurance procedures will be reviewed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fast spark-detection system for GEM detectors

The sPHENIX experiment is currently under commissioning at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL). The Time Projection Chamber (TPC) serves as a tracking detector for the experiment. The sPHENIX TPC uses a stack of four Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) as a gain stage in a reduced ion back-flow configuration. To mitigate the damaging effects of sparks in the GEMs, an online spark monitoring system was created. Once the system detects a spark in a GEM stack, the voltages across the GEMs in that stack can be lowered to prevent further sparking without affecting the gain and efficiency of the other modules. Spark signals are coupled out of the GEM stack by a pick-off capacitor attached to the bottom of the bottom GEM. Custom PCBs convert the oscillatory spark signal into a mono-polar pulse that is then digitized. The software then saves the waveform in a server and uses experimentally derived thresholds to determine how to react. As a result, the system has so far proven to be effective at improving the stability of the TPC and preventing damaging events while collecting cosmic ray data.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Rapidity dependence of antideuteron coalescence in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with ALICE

The production yields of antideuterons and antiprotons are measured in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, as a function of transverse momentum ( p T ) and rapidity ( y ), for the first time rapidity-differentially up to | y | = 0.7. The measured spectra are used to study the p T and rapidity dependence of the coalescence parameter B 2 , which quantifies the coalescence probability of antideuterons. The p T and rapidity dependence of the obtained B 2 is extrapolated for p T > 1.7 GeV/ c and | y | = 0.7 using the phenomenological antideuteron production model implemented in Pythia 8.3 as well as a baryon coalescence afterburner model based on EPOS 3. Such measurements are of interest to the astrophysics community, since they can be used for the calculation of the flux of antinuclei from cosmic rays, in combination with coalescence models.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Non-destructive evaluation and machine learning methods for inspection of spent nuclear fuel canisters: A state-of-the-art review

Nuclear energy is among the cleanest and most efficient energy sources currently available. The operation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) produces large amounts of high-level radioactive waste known as spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Currently, large amounts of SNF is stored in dry cask storage systems (DCSSs) for extended interim storage until a permanent disposal solution becomes available. During the extended interim storage, the DCSS, particularly the SNF canisters, may degrade and abnormal conditions may occur. Therefore, non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and machine learning (ML) approaches are necessary for inspection of SNF canisters. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of literature by summarizing recent progress made on the applications of NDE and ML for inspection of SNF canisters. Sixteen NDE methods are examined and compared: visual inspection, ultrasonic guided waves (UGWs), laser-based approaches, acoustic emission (AE), eddy current testing (ECT), non-invasive acoustic sensing, dynamic modal testing, cosmic ray muons tomography, neutron imaging, gamma rays detection, fiber optical sensors, through-wall communications, X-ray computed tomography (CT), vibrothermography, monoenergetic photon sources, and surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors. The technology readiness level (TRL) for each method is assessed and compared. Recent publications on ML-enhanced visual inspection, AE, non-invasive acoustic sensing, dynamic modal testing, and neutron imaging for SNF canisters are summarized and future research needs are identified. In conclusion, this review article provides a convenient reference on the state-of-the-art applications of NDE and ML methods for inspection of SNF canisters.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

Collisionless conduction in a high-beta plasma: a collision operator for whistler turbulence

The regulation of electron heat transport in high-β, weakly collisional, magnetized plasma is investigated. A temperature gradient oriented along a mean magnetic field can induce a kinetic heat-flux-driven whistler instability (HWI), which back-reacts on the transport by scattering electrons and impeding their flow. Previous analytical and numerical studies have shown that the heat flux for the saturated HWI scales as β$^{-1}_{e}$. These numerical studies, however, had limited scale separation and consequently large fluctuation amplitudes, which calls into question their relevance at astrophysical scales. To this end, we perform a series of particle-in-cell simulations of the HWI across a range of β$_e$ and temperature-gradient length scales under two different physical set-ups. The saturated heat flux in all of our simulations follows the expected β$^{-1}_{e}$ scaling, supporting the robustness of the result. We also use our simulation results to develop and implement several methods to construct an effective collision operator for whistler turbulence. The results point to an issue with the standard quasi-linear explanation of HWI saturation, which is analogous to the well-known 90° scattering problem in the cosmic-ray community. Despite this limitation, the methods developed here can serve as a blueprint for future work seeking to characterize the effective collisionality caused by kinetic instabilities.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Constraining Erosion Rates and Landscape Evolution With In Situ 10 Be and 26 Al Cosmogenic Nuclides at Table Mountain, Antarctica

Abstract This study investigates surface weathering and sediment preservation at Table Mountain, a high‐elevation, hyperarid, polar landscape in the Transantarctic Mountains. We report cosmogenic nuclide concentrations ( 10 Be and 26 Al) in quartz from bedrock surfaces, erratic boulder lag, and cobbles embedded within Sirius Group sediments to quantify erosion rates. In situ 10 Be and 26 Al depth profiles from a 2.95 m permafrost core in the Sirius Group further constrain surface erosion rates and elucidate landscape stability. Measured 10 Be and 26 Al concentrations from two sandstone bedrock surfaces adjacent to Sirius Group sediments give erosion rates of 0.18–0.28 m/Myr. An erratic sandstone boulder within the lag above the Sirius Group yields erosion rates of ∼0.42 ± 0.03 m/Myr, whereas two cobbles embedded within the Sirius Group yield higher rates of 0.81–1.12 m/Myr. Depth profiles of in situ 10 Be and 26 Al indicate no vertical mixing of Sirius Group permafrost since deposition. Depth profile models are best explained by erosion rates of 0.53 +0.13 / −0.12 m/Myr, and an exposure age of 0.78 +0.06 / −0.08 Ma. We view the model “age” to represent the ∼0.8‐million‐year time‐scale for surface lowering equivalent to one attenuation length of cosmic ray production to achieve steady‐state conditions. Continual exhumation of embedded clasts from within the Sirius Group results in an accumulation of clasts forming the observed erosional lag deposit covering the landscape. Our erosion rates of the Sirius Group surface based on in situ 10 Be and 26 Al depth profiles are an order‐of‐magnitude larger than those based on meteoric 10 Be infiltration and further clarification is required.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of correlated charge noise in superconducting qubits at an underground facility

The charge environment of superconducting qubits may be studied through the introduction of controlled, quantified amounts of ionizing radiation. We measure space- and time-correlated charge jumps on a four-qubit device, operating 107 meters below the Earth’s surface in a low-radiation, cryogenic facility designed for the characterization of low-threshold particle detectors. The rock overburden of this facility reduces the cosmic ray muon flux by over 99% compared to laboratories at sea level. Combined with 4π coverage of a movable lead shield, this facility enables quantifiable control over the flux of ionizing radiation on the qubit device. Long-time-series charge tomography measurements on these weakly charge-sensitive qubits capture discontinuous jumps in the induced charge on the qubit islands, corresponding to the interaction of ionizing radiation with the qubit substrate. The rate of these charge jumps scales with the flux of ionizing radiation on the qubit package, as characterized by a series of independent measurements on another energy-resolving detector operating simultaneously in the same cryostat with the qubits. Using lead shielding, we achieve a minimum charge jump rate of $0.19^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$ mHz, almost an order of magnitude lower than that measured in surface tests, but a factor of roughly seven higher than expected based on reduction of ambient gammas alone. We operate four qubits for over 22 consecutive hours with zero correlated charge jumps at length scales above three millimeters.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Observation of deuteron and antideuteron formation from resonance-decay nucleons

High-energy hadronic collisions generate environments characterized by temperatures above 100 MeV (refs.), about 100,000 times hotter than the centre of the Sun. At present, it is therefore unclear how light (anti)nuclei with mass number A of a few units, such as the deuteron, 3 He or 4 He, each bound by only a few MeV, can emerge from these collisions. Here, the ALICE Collaboration reports that deuteron–pion momentum correlations in proton–proton (pp) collisions provide model-independent evidence that about 90% of the observed (anti)deuterons are produced in nuclear reactions following the decay of short-lived resonances, such as the Δ(1232). These findings, obtained by the ALICE Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider, resolve a gap in our understanding of nucleosynthesis in ultrarelativistic hadronic collisions. Apart from offering insights on how (anti)nuclei are formed in hadronic collisions, the results can be used in the modelling of the production of light and heavy nuclei in cosmic rays and dark-matter decays.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Effect of magnetic field inclination on black hole jet power and particle acceleration

Rotating black holes are known to launch relativistic jets and accelerate particles if they accrete a magnetized plasma. It remains unclear, however, how the global magnetic field orientation affects the jet powering efficiency. We propose the first kinetic study of a collisionless plasma around a Kerr black hole embedded in a magnetic field that is inclined with respect to the black hole spin axis. Using three-dimensional general relativistic particle-in-cell simulations, we show that while oblique magnetic field configurations significantly reduce the jet power, particle acceleration still remains highly efficient. This suggests that black holes producing a weak jet might still be bright sources of nonthermal radiation and cosmic rays.

acceleration of particles↗
DOE OSTI2024

Progress of the laser ion source upgrade (LION2) for RHIC and NSRL program at Brookhaven National Laboratory

At Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), the LION2 ion source is being constructed to replace an existing laser ion ablation ion source (LIS) at the EBIS facility, which provides heavy ion beams of multiple ion species for the operation of NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) and Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The LION1 ion source currently provides singly charged ions of Li, B, C, O, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Fe, Cu, Zr, Nb, Ag, Tb, Ta, W, Au, Bi, and Th with a rapid-species-change capability. An electron beam ion source, Extended-EBIS captures, confines, and ionizes the ions to high charge state, suitable for injection and acceleration by an RFQ accelerator. Typically, single pulses of the LIS ion species for NSRL are changed sequentially during Galactic Cosmic Ray experiments, while multiple pulses of a given ion beam are provided quasi-simultaneously for RHIC. LION2 will have the same capability of the rapid-species-change with improved beam performance and reliability. LION2 is being constructed in a remote assembly location and is expected to finish in December 2023. The removal of LION1 and installation of LION2 is planned during the December 2023 or summer 2024 shutdown.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Status and perspectives of the ICARUS experiment at the Fermilab Short Baseline Neutrino program

In this study, the ICARUS collaboration has employed the 760 t T600 detector in a successful three-year physics run at the underground LNGS laboratory, performing a sensitive search for LSND-like anomalous ν e appearance in the CERN Neutrino to Gran Sasso beam, which contributed to the constraints on the allowed neutrino oscillation parameters to a narrow region around Δm 2 ~ 1 eV 2 . After a significant overhaul at CERN, the T600 detector has been installed at Fermilab. In 2020 the cryogenic commissioning began with detector cool down, liquid Argon filling and recirculation. ICARUS then started its operation collecting the first neutrino events from the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) and the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beam off-axis, which were used to test the ICARUS event selection, reconstruction and analysis algorithms. ICARUS successfully completed its commissioning phase in June 2022, moving then to data taking for neutrino oscillation physics, aiming at first to either confirm or refute the claim by Neutrino-4 short-baseline reactor. ICARUS will also jointly search for evidence of sterile neutrinos together with the Short-Baseline Near Detector, within the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino program experiment, and will perform measurements of neutrino cross sections with both beams and several Beyond Standard Model searches with the NuMI beam. In this paper, the main technical achievements of the ICARUS detector subsystems (Time Projection Chambers, Light Detection System, Cosmic Ray Tagger, Trigger and Data Acquisition) obtained with both BNB and NuMI neutrino beams during the commissioning phase, will be presented in terms of the overall detector performance and capability to select and reconstruct neutrino events.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Abatement of ionizing radiation for superconducting quantum devices

Ionizing radiation has been shown to reduce the performance of superconducting quantum circuits. In this report, we evaluate the expected contributions of different sources of ambient radioactivity for typical superconducting qubit experiment platforms. Our assessment of radioactivity inside a typical cryostat highlights the importance of selecting appropriate materials for the experiment components nearest to qubit devices, such as packaging and electrical interconnects. We present a shallow underground facility (30-meter water equivalent) to reduce the flux of cosmic rays and a lead shielded cryostat to abate the naturally occurring radiogenic gamma-ray flux in the laboratory environment. We predict that superconducting qubit devices operated in this facility could experience a reduced rate of correlated multi-qubit errors by a factor of approximately 20 relative to the rate in a typical above-ground, unshielded facility. Finally, we outline overall design improvements that would be required to further reduce the residual ionizing radiation rate, down to the limit of current generation direct detection dark matter experiments.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Calibration and simulation of ionization signal and electronics noise in the ICARUS liquid argon time projection chamber

The ICARUS liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detector has been taking physics data since 2022 as part of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program. This paper details the equalization of the response to charge in the ICARUS time projection chamber (TPC), as well as data-driven tuning of the simulation of ionization charge signals and electronics noise. The equalization procedure removes non-uniformities in the ICARUS TPC response to charge in space and time. This work leverages the copious number of cosmic ray muons available to ICARUS at the surface. The ionization signal shape simulation applies a novel procedure that tunes the simulation to match what is measured in data. The end result of the equalization procedure and simulation tuning allows for a comparison of charge measurements in ICARUS between Monte Carlo simulation and data, showing good performance with minimal residual bias between the two.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

Muon tracking in a LiquidO opaque scintillator detector

LiquidO is an innovative radiation detector concept. The core idea is to exploit stochastic light confinement in a highly scattering medium to self-segment the detector volume. In this paper, we demonstrate event-by-event muon tracking in a LiquidO opaque scintillator detector prototype. The detector consists of a 30 mm cubic scintillator volume instrumented with 64 wavelength-shifting fibres arranged in an 8 × 8 grid with a 3.2 mm pitch and read out by silicon photomultipliers. A wax-based opaque scintillator with a scattering length of approximately 0.5 mm is used. The tracking performance of this LiquidO detector is characterised with cosmic-ray muons and the position resolution is demonstrated to be 450 μm per row of fibres. These results highlight the potential of LiquidO opaque scintillator detectors to achieve fine spatial resolution, enabling precise particle tracking and imaging.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Interplay between the non-resonant streaming instability and self-generated pressure anisotropies

The non-thermal particles escaping from collision-less shocks into the surrounding medium can trigger a non-resonant streaming instability that converts parts of their drift kinetic energy into large amplitude magnetic field perturbations, and promote the confinement and acceleration of high energy cosmic rays. We present simulations of the instability using an hybrid-Particle-in-Cell approach including Monte Carlo collisions, and demonstrate that the development of the non-resonant mode is associated with important ion pressure anisotropies in the background plasma. Depending on the initial conditions, the anisotropies may act on the instability by lowering its growth and trigger secondary micro-instabilities. Introducing collisions with neutrals yield a strong reduction of the magnetic field amplification as predicted by linear fluid theory. In contrast, Coulomb collisions in fully ionized plasmas are found to mitigate the self-generated pressure anisotropies and promote the growth of the magnetic field.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Analytical noise bias correction for precise weak lensing shear inference

Noise bias is a significant source of systematic error in weak gravitational lensing measurements that must be corrected to satisfy the stringent standards of modern imaging surveys in the era of precision cosmology. This paper reviews the analytical noise bias correction method and provides analytical derivations demonstrating that we can recover shear to its second order using the ‘renoising’ noise bias correction approach introduced by METACALIBRATION. We implement this analytical noise bias correction within the AnaCal shear estimation framework and propose several enhancements to the noise bias correction algorithm. We evaluate the improved AnaCal using simulations designed to replicate Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) imaging data. These simulations feature semi-realistic galaxies and stars, complete with representative distributions of magnitudes and Galactic spatial density. We conduct tests under various observational challenges, including cosmic rays, defective CCD columns, bright star saturation, bleed trails, and spatially variable point spread functions. Our results indicate a multiplicative bias in weak lensing shear recovery of less than a few tenths of a per cent, meeting LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration requirements without requiring calibration from external image simulations. Additionally, our algorithm achieves rapid processing, handling one galaxy in less than a millisecond.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Pulse Shape Discrimination in JSNS 2

JSNS 2 (J-PARC Sterile Neutrino Search at J-PARC Spallation Neutron Source) is an experiment that is searching for sterile neutrinos via the observation of $\overline{ν}$ μ → $\overline{ν}$ e appearance oscillations using neutrinos from muon decay-at-rest. For this search, rejecting cosmic-ray-induced neutron events by Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) is essential because the JSNS2 detector is located above ground, on the third floor of the building. We have achieved 94.95% ± 0.15% rejection of neutron events while keeping 92.82% ± 1.77% of signal, electron-like events using a data-driven likelihood method. This article will report the PSD technique using the full fiducial volume of the JSNS2 detector.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of directional muon beams generated at the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator

We present the detection of directional muon beams produced using a PW laser facility at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The muon source is a multi-GeV electron beam generated in a laser-plasma accelerator interacting with a high- converter target. The GeV photons resulting from the interaction are converted into a high-flux, directional muon beam via pair production. By employing scintillators to capture delayed events, we were able to identify the produced muons and characterize the source. Using theoretical knowledge of the muon production process combined with simulations that are in excellent agreement with the experiments, we demonstrate that laser-plasma accelerators have the capability of generating electron beams with characteristics suitable to produce GeV-scale muons that offer unique advantages with respect to the cosmic background. Laser-plasma-accelerator-based muon sources can therefore enhance muon imaging applications thanks to their compactness, directionality, and high yields, which reduce the exposure time by orders of magnitude compared to cosmic ray muons. Using the eant4-based simulation code we developed to gain insight into the experimental results, we can design future experiments and applications based on LPA-generated muons.

Terzani, Davide↗