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At least 163 records · Page 9

Extended Modeling of DOE Sealed Canisters with Updated Chemistry Models

Road-ready and final disposition packaging configurations for the advanced test reactor (ATR) fuel currently specifies storage within helium backfilled DOE sealed standard canisters. The aluminum cladding of the ATR fuel contains an oxyhydroxide layer of boehmite/bayerite that generates hydrogen when subjected to irradiation. Understanding the effect of this hydrogen buildup over time to important for long term storage considerations. Previous modeling efforts have built a coupled CFD-chemical model to simulate the temperature gas phase concentrations within the DOE sealed standard canisters. These models have coupled the temperature conditions to both the gas phase radiolysis chemistry and the surface chemistry associated with the oxyhydroxide layer. The previous iteration of the model utilized constant G-values for the hydrogen generation a 50-year period. This new iteration of the model utilizes new experimental data to update the hydrogen generation rate, as well as increase the simulated time to a 200-year period. Given the half-life assumed for the primary Cs-137 isotope responsible for gamma radiation in the ATR spent fuel, the 200-year period decreases the decay heat and dose rate of the spent fuel by a factor of 100, which combined with the updated chemistry substantially decreases new hydrogen generation. Continued experimental work has identified trends for aluminum surrogate samples with oxyhydroxide layers for tests done at higher dose rates. At low initial doses a fast generation rate of hydrogen occurs which starts to roll over to a lower generation as the total dose applied increase. A small-scale chemical model was built to replicate as mini-canister surrogate system at SRNL as well as for the smaller capsule tests performed at INL. A variety of chemical models to capture this effect were tested, and a back reaction of H radical absorbing onto the surface, or inhibition of the reaction by significant H 2 cover gas were both able to fit both the mini-canister and the small capsule test data. Both kinetic fits were used to generate data from the new 200-year simulation. As additional experiments continue, the kinetic fits may be adjusted to adapt to new data. However, updated data shows that hydrogen atmosphere has little effect on actual generation data, so the model was reverted to use a star-stepped G-value for low-dose and high-dose regions. For the undried fuel case, the three models differ significantly with an end concentration of 1% for back reaction, 4.2% for inhibition, and 13.1% for constant G-value for the nominal scenario. For the dried fuel case, the nominal cases showed end concentrations of 0.23% for back reaction, 1.9% for inhibition, and 4.2% for const G-value for the nominal scenario. For the constant G-value case that is less conservative than the other two, the pressure for undried fuel increases to 1.94 atm over 200 years for the nominal case and 2.11 atm for the high decay heat case. The total hydrogen concentration after 200 years is 4.92% for the low decay heat case and 27.4% for the high decay heat case for undried fuel and is 1.4% and 9.6% for low and high decay heat fuel for the dried fuel case. If small amount of residual air is present, the potential for nitric acid formation of 595, 1568, and 2816 ppm for the lower, nominal, and upper fuel decay heat can occur. At long-term timeframes no significant shift in major species present occurs, so no appreciable amount of oxygen is present in the system. The continued rate of hydrogen generation in the canister occurs at an increase of 0.04% by mole over the final 10 years. Increasing the model range out to 1000 years continues to drop the hydrogen generation rate through decreasing dose rate.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Blanco DECam Bulge Survey (BDBS). VII. Multiple Populations in Globular Clusters of the Galactic Bulge

We present photometric evidence for multiple stellar populations (MPs) in 14 globular clusters (GCs) toward the southern Galactic bulge. The photometric data come as part of the Blanco DECam Bulge Survey, which is a deep, wide-field near-UV-near-IR (ugrizY) survey of the southern Galactic bulge. Here, we present the first systematic study of bulge GC multiple populations with deep photometry including the u band, which is a crucial indicator of the abundance of CNO-bearing molecules in stellar atmospheres. We identify cluster members using Gaia EDR3 proper motion measurements, and then isolate red giant branch stars using r versus u - r color–magnitude diagrams. We find evidence suggesting all 14 clusters host at least two populations, and NGC 6441, NGC 6626, and NGC 6656 appear to have at least three populations. Many of these clusters are not part of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) surveys nor do they have comprehensive spectroscopic analyses so we are presenting the first evidence of MPs in several clusters. Not only do we find a strong anticorrelation between the fraction of first-generation stars and cluster absolute V magnitude, but the correlation coefficient and cluster-to-cluster scatter are similar to the results obtained from HST. Our ground-based data extend to much larger radial distances than similar HST observations, enabling a reliable estimate of the global fraction of first-generation stars in each cluster. This study demonstrates that ground-based u-band photometry as provided by DECam will prove powerful in the study of multiple populations in resolved GCs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Reducing Ground-based Astrometric Errors with Gaia and Gaussian Processes

Stochastic field distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence are a fundamental limitation to the astrometric accuracy of ground-based imaging. This distortion field is measurable at the locations of stars with accurate positions provided by the Gaia DR2 catalog; we develop the use of Gaussian process regression (GPR) to interpolate the distortion field to arbitrary locations in each exposure. We introduce an extension to standard GPR techniques that exploits the knowledge that the 2D distortion field is curl-free. Applied to several hundred 90 s exposures from the Dark Energy Survey as a test bed, we find that the GPR correction reduces the variance of the turbulent astrometric distortions ≈12× , on average, with better performance in denser regions of the Gaia catalog. The rms per-coordinate distortion in the riz bands is typically ≈7 mas before any correction and ≈2 mas after application of the GPR model. The GPR astrometric corrections are validated by the observation that their use reduces, from 10 to 5 mas rms, the residuals to an orbit fit to riz-band observations over 5 yr of the r = 18.5 trans-Neptunian object Eris. We also propose a GPR method, not yet implemented, for simultaneously estimating the turbulence fields and the 5D stellar solutions in a stack of overlapping exposures, which should yield further turbulence reductions in future deep surveys.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

JWST Noise Floor. I. Random Error Sources in JWST NIRCam Time Series

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) transmission and emission spectra will provide invaluable glimpses of transiting exoplanet atmospheres, including possible biosignatures. This promising science from JWST, however, will require exquisite precision and understanding of systematic errors that can impact the time series of planets crossing in front of and behind their host stars. Here, we provide estimates of the random noise sources affecting JWST Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) time-series data on the integration-to-integration level. We find that 1/f noise can limit the precision of grism time series for two groups (230–1000 ppm depending on the extraction method and extraction parameters), but will average down like the square root of N frames/reads. The current NIRCam grism time-series mode is especially affected by 1/f noise because its GRISMR dispersion direction is parallel to the detector fast-read direction, but could be alleviated in the GRISMC direction. Care should be taken to include as many frames as possible per visit to reduce this 1/f noise source: thus, we recommend the smallest detector subarray sizes one can tolerate, four output channels, and readout modes that minimize the number of skipped frames (RAPID or BRIGHT2). We also describe a covariance-weighting scheme that can significantly lower the contributions from 1/f noise as compared to sum extraction. We evaluate the noise introduced by pre-amplifier offsets, random telegraph noise, and high dark current resistor capacitor (RC) pixels and find that these are correctable below 10 ppm once background subtraction and pixel masking are performed. We explore systematic error sources in a companion paper.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Carbon- and Oxygen-rich stars in MaStar: identification and classification

ABSTRACT Carbon- and Oxygen-rich stars populating the Thermally Pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch (TP-AGB) phase of stellar evolution are relevant contributors to the spectra of ∼1 Gyr old populations. Atmosphere models for these types are uncertain, due to complex molecules and mass-loss effects. Empirical spectra are then crucial, but samples are small due to the short (∼3 Myr) TP-AGB lifetime. Here we exploit the vastness of the MaNGA Stellar library MaStar (∼60 000 spectra) to identify C and O-rich type stars. We define an optical colour selection with cuts of (g − r) > 2 and (g − i) < 1.55(g − r) − 0.07, calibrated with known C- and O-rich spectra. This identifies C- and O-rich stars along clean, separated sequences. An analogue selection is found in V, R, I bands. Our equation identifies C-rich and O-rich spectra with predictive performance metric F1-scores of 0.72 and 0.74 (over 1), respectively. We finally identify 41 C- and 87 O-rich type AGB stars in MaStar, 5 and 49 of which do not have a SIMBAD counterpart. We also detect a sample of non-AGB, dwarf C-stars. We further design a fitting procedure to classify the spectra into broad spectral types, by using as fitting templates empirical C- and O-rich spectra. We find remarkably good fits for the majority of candidates and categorize them into C- and O-rich bins following existing classifications, which correlate to effective temperature. Our selection models can be applied to large photometric surveys (e.g. Euclid, Rubin). The classified spectra will facilitate future evolutionary population synthesis models.

Hill, Lewis (ORCID:0000000180528080)↗

Hunt for Starspots in HARPS Spectra of G and K Stars

We present a method for detecting starspots on cool stars using the cross-correlation function (CCF) of high-resolution molecular spectral templates applied to archival high-resolution spectra of G and K stars observed with the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS)/HARPS-N. We report nondetections of starspots on the Sun even when the Sun was spotted, the solar twin 18 Scorpii, and the very spotted Sun-like star HAT-P-11, suggesting that Sun-like starspot distributions will be invisible to the CCF technique, and should not produce molecular absorption signals that might be confused for signatures of exoplanet atmospheres. We detect strong TiO absorption in the T Tauri K-dwarfs LkCa 4 and AA Tau, consistent with significant coverage by cool regions. We show that despite the nondetections, the technique is sensitive to relatively small spot coverages on M dwarfs and large starspot areas on Sun-like stars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A catalogue of white dwarfs in Gaia EDR3

ABSTRACT We present a catalogue of white dwarf candidates selected from Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3). We applied several selection criteria in absolute magnitude, colour, and Gaia quality flags to remove objects with unreliable measurements while preserving most stars compatible with the white dwarf locus in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. We then used a sample of over 30 000 spectroscopically confirmed white dwarfs and contaminants from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to map the distribution of these objects in the Gaia absolute magnitude–colour space. Finally, we adopt the same method presented in our previous work on Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) to calculate a probability of being a white dwarf (PWD) for ≃1.3 million sources that passed our quality selection. The PWD values can be used to select a sample of ${\simeq} 359\,000$ high-confidence white dwarf candidates. We calculated stellar parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity, and mass) for all these stars by fitting Gaia astrometry and photometry with synthetic pure-H, pure-He, and mixed H–He atmospheric models. We estimate an upper limit of 93 per cent for the overall completeness of our catalogue for white dwarfs with G ≤ 20 mag and effective temperature (Teff) > 7000 K, at high Galactic latitudes (|b| > 20°). Alongside the main catalogue we include a reduced proper motion extension containing ${\simeq} 10\,200$ white dwarf candidates with unreliable parallax measurements that could, however, be identified on the basis of their proper motion. We also performed a cross-match of our catalogues with SDSS Data Release 16 (DR16) spectroscopy and provide spectral classification based on visual inspection for all resulting matches.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

On the inconsistency of [C/Fe] abundances and the fractions of carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars among various stellar surveys

Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars are a unique resource for Galactic archaeology because they probe the properties of the First Stars, early chemical evolution, and binary interactions at very low metallicity. Comparing the fractions and properties of CEMP stars in different Galactic environments can provide us with unique insights into the formation and evolution of the Milky Way halo and its building blocks. In this work, we investigate whether directly comparing fractions of CEMP stars from different literature samples of very metal-poor [Fe/H] < -2.0 stars is valid. We compiled published CEMP fractions and samples of Galactic halo stars from the past 25 years, and find that they are not all consistent with each other. Focusing on giant stars, we find significant differences between various surveys when comparing their trends of [Fe/H] versus [C/Fe] and their distributions of CEMP stars. To test the role of the analysis pipelines for low-resolution spectroscopic samples, we re-analysed giant stars from various surveys with the sspp and ferre pipelines. We found systematic differences in [C/Fe] of ~0.1-0.4 dex, partly independent of degeneracies with the stellar atmospheric parameters. These systematics are likely due to the different pipeline approaches, different assumptions in the employed synthetic grids, and/or the comparison of different evolutionary phases. We conclude that current biases in (the analysis of) very metal-poor samples limit the conclusions one can draw from comparing different surveys. We provide some recommendations and suggestions that will hopefully aid the community to unlock the full potential of CEMP stars for Galactic archaeology.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Flare Statistics for Young Stars from a Convolutional Neural Network Analysis of TESS Data

All-sky photometric time-series missions have allowed for the monitoring of thousands of young (t age < 800 Myr) stars in order to understand the evolution of stellar activity. In this work, we developed a convolutional neural network (CNN), stella, specifically trained to find flares in Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) short-cadence data. We applied the network to 3200 young stars in order to evaluate flare rates as a function of age and spectral type. The CNN takes a few seconds to identify flares on a single light curve. We also measured rotation periods for 1500 of our targets and find that flares of all amplitudes are present across all spot phases, suggesting high spot coverage across the entire surface. Additionally, flare rates and amplitudes decrease for stars t age > 50 Myr across all temperatures T eff ≥ 4000 K, while stars from 2300 ≤ T eff < 4000 K show no evolution across 800 Myr. Stars of T eff ≤ 4000 K also show higher flare rates and amplitudes across all ages. We investigate the effects of high flare rates on photoevaporative atmospheric mass loss for young planets. In the presence of flares, planets lose 4%–7% more atmosphere over the first 1 Gyr. stella is an open-source Python toolkit hosted on GitHub and PyPI.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Asteroseismological analysis of the polluted ZZ Ceti star G 29 – 38 with TESS

G29 – 38 (TIC 422526868) is one of the brightest (V = 13.1) and closest (d = 17.51 pc) pulsating white dwarfs with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere (DAV/ZZ Ceti class). It was observed by the TESS spacecraft in sectors 42 and 56. The atmosphere of G 29 – 38 is polluted by heavy elements that are expected to sink out of visible layers on short time-scales. Here, the photometric TESS data set spans ~51 d in total, and from this, we identified 56 significant pulsation frequencies, that include rotational frequency multiplets. In addition, we identified 30 combination frequencies in each sector. The oscillation frequencies that we found are associated with g-mode pulsations, with periods spanning from ~ 260 to ~ 1400 s. We identified rotational frequency triplets with a mean separation δν ℓ = 1 of 4.67 μHz and a quintuplet with a mean separation δν ℓ = 2 of 6.67 μHz, from which we estimated a rotation period of about 1.35 ± 0.1 d. We determined a constant period spacing of 41.20 s for ℓ = 1 modes and 22.58 s for ℓ = 2 modes. We performed period-to-period fit analyses and found an asteroseismological model with M * /M ⊙ = 0.632 ± 0.03, K, and log g = 8.048 ± 0.005 (with a hydrogen envelope mass of M H ~ 5.6 × 10 –5 M * ), in good agreement with the values derived from spectroscopy. We obtained an asteroseismic distance of 17.54 pc, which is in excellent agreement with that provided by Gaia (17.51 pc).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

High-resolution Spectra of Earth-like Planets Orbiting Red Giant Host Stars

In the near future we will have ground- and space-based telescopes that are designed to observe and characterize Earth-like planets. While attention is focused on exoplanets orbiting main-sequence stars, more than 150 exoplanets have already been detected orbiting red giants, opening the intriguing question of what rocky worlds orbiting in the habitable zone (HZ) of red giants would be like and how to characterize them. We present a high-resolution spectral database of reflection and emission spectra for nominal Earth-like planets orbiting in the red giant HZ from the visible to infrared (0.4–20 μm) for planets orbiting at the Earth-equivalent distance. We also show the change of such planetary spectra through the evolution of their red giant hosts. While the luminosity of the host increases the contrast ratio between star and planet, the increased orbital distance of the HZ for red giant hosts relaxes the light suppression requirements close to the star, which could make such planets interesting targets to characterize and search for signs of life, if new coronagraph designs with higher suppression at larger orbital separations could be developed. We assess the feasibility of characterizing atmospheric features including biosignatures for such planets with the proposed mission concept Large UV/Optical/IR Surveyor (LUVOIR).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

G objects and primordial black holes

We suggest that "G objects" recently discovered in the Galactic Center may be clouds of gas bound by the gravitational field of stellar-mass black holes produced in the interactions of sublunar primordial black holes with neutron stars. If dark matter is composed of primordial black holes with masses (10 –16 –10 –10 )M ⊙ , these black holes can be captured by neutron stars in the Galactic Center, where the dark matter density is high. After the capture, the neutron star is consumed by the black hole, resulting in a population of (1–2)M ⊙ black holes. Furthermore, these stellar-mass black holes, accompanied by gaseous atmospheres, can account for the observed properties of the G objects, including their resilience to tidal disruption by the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Center while also producing emission consistent with inferred luminosities.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Moderate-resolution K-band Spectroscopy of Substellar Companion κ Andromedae b

We present moderate-resolution (R ∼ 4000) K-band spectra of the “super-Jupiter,” κ Andromedae b. The data were taken with the OSIRIS integral field spectrograph at Keck Observatory. The spectra reveal resolved molecular lines from H{sub 2}O and CO, and are compared to a custom PHOENIX atmosphere model grid appropriate for young planetary-mass objects. We fit the data using a Markov chain Monte Carlo forward-modeling method. Using a combination of our moderate-resolution spectrum and low-resolution, broadband data from the literature, we derive an effective temperature of T {sub eff} = 1950–2150 K, a surface gravity of logg=3.5--4.5, and a metallicity of [M/H] = −0.2–0.0. These values are consistent with previous estimates from atmospheric modeling and the currently favored young age of the system (<50 Myr). We derive a C/O ratio of 0.70{sub −0.24}{sup +0.09} for the source, broadly consistent with the solar C/O ratio. This, coupled with the slightly subsolar metallicity, implies a composition consistent with that of the host star, and is suggestive of formation by a rapid process. The subsolar metallicity of κ Andromedae b is also consistent with predictions of formation via gravitational instability. Further constraints on formation of the companion will require measurement of the C/O ratio of κ Andromedae A. We also measure the radial velocity of κ Andromedae b for the first time, with a value of −1.4 ± 0.9 km s{sup −1} relative to the host star. We find that the derived radial velocity is consistent with the estimated high eccentricity of κ Andromedae b.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

JWST Noise Floor. II. Systematic Error Sources in JWST NIRCam Time Series

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) holds great promise for characterizing atmospheres of transiting exoplanets, potentially providing insights into Earth-sized planets within the habitable zones of M-dwarf host stars if photon-limited performance can be achieved. Here, we discuss the systematic error sources that are expected to be present in grism time-series observations with the NIRCam instrument. We find that pointing jitter and high-gain antenna moves in addition to the detectors’ subpixel crosshatch patterns will produce relatively small variations (less than 6 parts per million, ppm). The time-dependent aperture losses due to thermal instabilities in the optics can also be kept to below 2 ppm. To achieve these low noise values, it is important to employ a sufficiently large (more than 11) extraction aperture. Persistence due to charge-trapping will have a minor (less than 3 ppm) effect on the time series 20 minutes into an exposure and is expected to play a much smaller role than it does for the Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 detectors. We expect detector temperature fluctuations to contribute less than 3 ppm. In total, our estimated noise floor from known systematic error sources is only 9 ppm per visit. We urge caution, however, because unknown systematic error sources could be present in flight and will only be measurable on astrophysical sources such as quiescent stars. We find that reciprocity failure may introduce a perennial instrument offset at the 40 ppm level, so corrections may be needed when a multi-instrument multi-observatory spectrum is stitched together over wide wavelength ranges.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Prompt Detection of Fast Optical Bursts with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Abstract The transient optical sky has remained largely unexplored on very short timescales. While there have been some experiments searching for optical transients from minutes to years, none have had the capability to distinguish millisecond fast optical bursts (FOBs). Such very fast transients could be the optical counterparts of fast radio bursts, the prompt emission from γ -ray bursts, or other previously unknown phenomena. Here, we investigate a novel approach to the serendipitous detection of FOBs, which relies on searching for anomalous spatial images. In particular, due to their short duration, the seeing-distorted images of FOBs should look characteristically different than those of steady sources in a standard optical exposure of finite duration. We apply this idea to simulated observations with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, produced by tracing individual photons through a turbulent atmosphere, and down through the optics and camera of the Rubin telescope. We compare these simulated images to steady-source star simulations in 15 s integrations, the nominal Rubin exposure time. We report the classification accuracy results of a neural network classifier for distinguishing FOBs from steady sources. From this classifier, we derive constraints in duration–intensity parameter space for unambiguously identifying FOBs in Rubin observations. We conclude with estimates of the total number of detections of FOB counterparts to FRBs expected during the 10 yr Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

An Aromatic Universe–A Physical Chemistry Perspective

This Perspective presents recent advances in our knowledge of the fundamental elementary mechanisms involved in the low- and high-temperature molecular mass growth processes to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in combustion systems and in extraterrestrial environments (hydrocarbon-rich atmospheres of planets and their moons, cold molecular clouds, circumstellar envelopes). Molecular beam studies combined with electronic structure calculations extracted five key elementary mechanisms: Hydrogen Abstraction – Acetylene Addition, Hydrogen Abstraction – Vinylacetylene Addition, Phenyl Addition – DehydroCyclization, Radical-Radical Reactions, and Methylidyne Addition – Cyclization – Aromatization. Furthermore, these studies, summarized here, provide compelling evidence that key classes of aromatic molecules can be synthesized in extreme environments covering low temperatures in molecular clouds (10 K) and hydrocarbon-rich atmospheres of planets and their moons (35–150 K) to high temperature environments like circumstellar envelopes of carbon rich Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars stars and combustion systems at temperatures above 1,400 K thus shedding light on the aromatic universe we live in.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

White dwarf and subdwarf stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 16

ABSTRACT White dwarfs are the end state of the evolution of more than 97 per cent of all stars, and therefore carry information on the structure and evolution of the Galaxy through their luminosity function and initial-to-final mass relation. Examining the new spectra of all white or blue stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 16, we report the spectral classification of 2410 stars, down to our identification cut-off of signal-to-noise ratio equal to three. We newly identify 1404 DAs, 189 DZs, 103 DCs, 12 DBs, and nine CVs. The remaining objects are a mix of carbon or L stars (dC/L), narrow-lined hydrogen-dominated stars (sdA), dwarf F stars, and P Cyg objects. As white dwarf stars were not targeted by SDSS DR16, the number of new discoveries is much smaller than in previous releases. We also report atmospheric parameters and masses for a subset consisting of 555 new DAs, 10 new DBs, and 85 DZs for spectra with signal-to-noise ratio larger than 10.

Kepler, S. O. (ORCID:0000000274705703)↗