Plasma photonic spatiotemporal synchronization of relativistic electron and laser beams
Not Available
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERACTIONS”
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Neutrons and Fundamental Symmetries
The research supported by this project addressed fundamental open physics questions via experiments with subatomic particles. In particular, neutrons constitute an especially ideal “laboratory” for fundamental physics tests, as their sensitivities to the four known forces of nature permit a broad range of tests of the so-called “Standard Model”, our current best physics model for the interactions of subatomic particles. Although the Standard Model has been a triumphant success for physics, it does not provide satisfactory answers to some of the most fundamental open questions in physics, such as: are there additional forces of nature beyond the gravitational, electromagnetic, weak nuclear, and strong nuclear forces?, or why does our universe consist of more matter than anti-matter? This project also contributed significantly to the training of the next generation of scientists, of considerable value to the public. Young scientists, ranging from undergraduate students to graduate students to post-doctoral researchers, made significant contributions to the work carried out under this project.
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
Prospects for a breakthrough in field-dependent 'propulsion'
If sufficient justification exists to start the development of a field physics laboratory, attention might well be given to the development of two advanced types of field-independent propulsion systems. These are gravimagnetic systems and field resonance systems. The first are multipurpose propulsion systems employing the 'gravitational' effects of coherent electromagnetic energy configurations. The second are deep-space propulsion systems which artificially generate an energy pattern that matches precisely, or resonates with, a virtual pattern associated with a distant space-time point. A new model of space-time/field interactions is used in the present paper to describe the potential characteristics of electromagnetic/gravitational field interactions and the performance capabilities of these two propulsion systems.
Holt, A. C.↗
Direct time integration of Maxwell's equations in two-dimensional dielectric waveguides for propagation and scattering of femtosecond electromagnetic solitons
We present what are to our knowledge first-time calculations from vector nonlinear Maxwell's equations of femtosecond soliton propagation and scattering, including carrier waves, in two-dimensional dielectric waveguides. The time integration efficiently implements linear and nonlinear convolutions for the electric polarization, and the nonlinear convolution accounts for two quantum effects, the Kerr and Raman interactions. By retaining the optical carrier, the new method solves for fundamental quantities - optical electric and magnetic fields in space and time - rather than a nonphysical envelope function. It has the potential to provide an unprecedented two- and three-dimensional modeling capability for millimeter-scale integrated-optical circuits with submicrometer engineered inhomogeneities.
Joseph, Rose M.↗
The Role of Instabilities in Plasmaspheric Heating, Flux Tube Refilling, and the Development of Spatial Structures
Plasma instabilities appear to play an important role in plasmasphere dynamics. Direct interactions between the plasmasphere and other plasma populations lead to energy transfer and heating, to equatorial trapping, and to changes in ionospheric outflow. Super-thermal electron and ring current populations are the dominant sources of energy for these processes. Flute (Interchange), electromagnetic lower-hybrid drift, and E x B drift instabilities can also play important roles in the distribution of thermal, plasmaspheric plasma. As our attention has returned to the remaining plasmaspheric mysteries, it has become clear that the details of plasmaspause formation and erosion and the development of localized, dense thermal plasma structures are almost completely unexplained. Radially sharp density depletions and generalized density loss are seen inside the plasmapause. Narrow and extended regions of enhanced thermal plasma density is found throughout the magnetosphere, even after extended periods of quite geomagnetic conditions. Sharp gradients are often seen on the westward edge of density enhancements, while eastward boundaries are often highly structured.
Gallagher, D. L.↗
Effect of H{sup +} implantation on the optical properties of semi-insulating GaAs crystals in the IR spectral region
The optical properties of semi-insulating GaAs crystals subjected to multienergy hydrogen-ion implantation and treatment in a high-frequency electromagnetic field are studied in the infrared spectral region. It is established that such combined treatment provides a means for substantially increasing the transmittance of GaAs crystals to values characteristic of crystals of high optical quality. On the basis of analysis of the infrared transmittance and reflectance data, Raman spectroscopy data, and atomic-force microscopy data on the surface morphology of the crystals, a physical model is proposed to interpret the effects experimentally observed in the crystals. The model takes into account the interaction of radiation defects with the initial structural defects in the crystals as well as the effect of compensation of defect centers by hydrogen during high-frequency treatment.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Characteristics of Ferromagnetic Flux Focusing Lens in the Development of Surface/Subsurface Flaw Detector
Electromagnetic NDE techniques have in the past steered away from the use of ferromagnetic materials. Although their high permeabilities lead to increased field levels, the properties of ferrous elements in the presence of alternating magnetic fields are difficult to determine. In addition, their use leads to losses which can be minimized through the use of low conductivity ferrites. In fact, the eddy current probes which do incorporate ferromagnetic materials have focused on these losses and the shielding which can be obtained by surrounding a probe with a high permeability, conducting material. Eddy current probes enclosed in conducting and magnetic shields have been used to prevent the generated fields from interacting with materials in the vicinity of the probe, such as when testing near material boundaries. A recent invention has used ferromagnetic shielding to magnetically separate individual concentric eddy current probes in order to eliminate cross-talk between the probes so that simultaneous detection of different types of flaws at different depths can be achieved. In contrast to the previous uses of ferromagnetic materials purely as magnetic shields, an electromagnetic flaw detector recently developed at NASA Langley Research Center takes advantage of the flux focusing properties of a ferromagnetic mild steel in order to produce a simple, effective device for the non-destructive evaluation of conducting materials. The Flux Focusing Eddy Current Probe has been shown to accurately measure material thickness and fatigue damage. The straight forward flaw response of the probe makes the device ideal for rapid inspection of large structures, and has lead to its incorporation in a computer controlled search routine to locate fatigue crack tips and monitor experimental fatigue crack growth experiments.
Wincheski, Buzz↗
The Search for Electromagnetic Alteration of 235m U Decay
Electromagnetic modification of the 235m U isomer has been tested by placing the decaying system in a number of different environments. The isomer decays by internal conversion, which involves the electromagnetic transfer of energy from the nucleus to an atomic electron, and it is expected that this process can be altered by changing the photon density of states available to the nucleus. The two approaches pursued during this work included direct detection of the electron produced by the isomer decay using a micro-channel plate detector, and detection of the scintillation light produced when the electron interacted with various scintillators. With direct electron detection, variations in the isomer population were observed before and after covering the isomer, but this effect is attributed to systematic errors associated with the implantation and covering process. With the scintillator approach, scintillation light from the decay of the isomer was measured for the first time, and the decay half-life was directly identified while the isomer was embedded in a bulk material. No modification was observed, which leads to the conclusion that internal conversion of 235m U does not depend on the index of refraction of the surrounding environment in the way that spontaneous photon emission of an atomic system does. This result excludes many of the interesting applications of electromagnetic alteration of nuclear decay.
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
PLASMA EFFECTS ON FAST PAIR BEAMS IN COSMIC VOIDS
The interaction of TeV gamma rays from distant blazars with the extragalactic background light produces relativistic electron-positron pair beams by the photon- photon annihilation process. The created pair beam distribution is unstable to linear two-stream instabilities of both electrostatic and electromagnetic nature in the unmagnetized intergalactic medium (IGM). The maximum electrostatic growth rate occurs at angles of 39.{sup 0}2 with respect to the pair beam direction, and is more than three orders of magnitude greater than the maximum Weibel growth rate, indicating that the linear oblique electrostatic instability operates much faster than the Weibel instability. The dissipation of the generated electrostatic turbulence is different for intense and weak gamma-ray blazars. For intense blazars, the normalized number of generated pairs n {sub 22} = n{sub b} /[10{sup -22} cm{sup -3}] exceeds the critical density n{sub c} (T) = 4.8 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -3} T {sub 4} for given normalized IGM temperature T {sub 4} = T/[10{sup 4} K] necessary for the onset of the modulation instability, so that all free kinetic pair energy is dissipated in heating the IGM in cosmic voids. For weak blazars, half of the initial energy density of the beam particles is transferred to the electrostatic and electromagnetic fluctuations on timescales smaller than the inverse Compton energy loss timescale of the pairs. In both cases, this prevents the development of a full electromagnetic pair cascade as in vacuum. For weak blazars, the superluminal electrostatic fluctuations are dissipated by the inverse Compton scattering into transverse electromagnetic waves by the relaxed relativistic pair particles to optical frequencies, implying the occurrence of optical electrostatic bremsstrahlung pair halos from weak blazars with spectral flux densities below 50 {mu}Jy.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Centrality determination in heavy-ion collisions with the LHCb detector
The centrality of heavy-ion collisions is directly related to the created medium in these interactions. A procedure to determine the centrality of collisions with the LHCb detector is implemented for lead-lead collisions at √ s NN = 5 TeV and lead-neon fixed-target collisions at √ s NN = 69 GeV. The energy deposits in the electromagnetic calorimeter are used to determine and define the centrality classes. The correspondence between the number of participants and the centrality for the lead-lead collisions is in good agreement with the correspondence found in other experiments, and the centrality measurements for the lead-neon collisions presented here are performed for the first time in fixed-target collisions at the LHC.
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
Generation mechanism of whistler waves produced by electron beam injection in space
Electromagnetic particle simulations are used to determine the generation mechanism of the whistler waves observed in connection with the artificial injection of electron beams in the ionosphere. The production of the waves is shown to be closely connected with the beam-plasma interaction, which leads to the formation of a current structure which acts like an antenna and emits the whistler waves in a coherent manner. This process, in contrast to a mechanism involving amplification of radiation by a whistler mode plasma instability within the beam, allows the whistlers to be generated even though the beam width is less than one wavelength.
Pritchett, P. L.↗
Effect of interparticle fields and radiation reaction on beam dynamics
The dynamics of relativistic particles in an intense electromagnetic field can be described by the Landau-Lifshitz (LL) equation, where the radiation reaction (RR) is accounted for via a self-force, and interparticle fields are often neglected as an approximation. However, the inclusion of interparticle fields is necessary to ensure energy-momentum conservation, particularly during coherent emission. Here we present (i) an analytical proof showing that the energy-momentum conservation law of the Hamilton-Rohrlich-Dirac action, which is divergence free and describes a generic system of interacting charges, respects causality and provides physically sensible results; (ii) a simple generalization of the LL equation for many particles evaluated as a function of the total field, i.e., the sum of the external and interparticle fields. By performing first-principles numerical simulations of a neutral, relativistic bunch of electrons and positrons (e − /e + ) colliding with a laser pulse, this theory is shown to satisfy energy-momentum conservation when interparticle fields and RR are simultaneously taken into account; and (iii) the combined effect of interparticle fields and RR primarily affects the tail of the particle energy distribution. Additionally, our first-principles simulations show that the effect of interparticle fields on beam energy loss becomes smaller when most of the radiated energy is incoherent.
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
Modeling rf sheath formation in turbulent tokamak boundary plasma
During ICRF antenna operation, complex interactions between turbulent density profiles, nonlinear RF sheaths, and RF-induced convective transport are observed to alter plasma density in the tokamak edge [D’Ippolito et al., Nucl. Fusion 38, 1543 (1998)]. In this work, we explore the physics of such interactions via numerical modeling, using a nonlinear EM/plasma/sheath code (VSim) and profiles obtained from a fluid plasma turbulence code (Hermes) in a 3D slab domain containing biased side-wall limiters. RF-rectified sheath formation on antenna and limiter surfaces is observed as electromagnetic waves launched by the antenna are refracted through the turbulent density profile. On transport timescales, such sheath potentials have been shown to influence both the mean species density and its RMS fluctuation spectrum [Smithe et al., these proceedings]. On the faster RF timescales, we demonstrate that the converse is also true – regions of high plasma density near material surfaces give rise to the highest sheath potential amplitudes. When density is turbulent and spatially nonuniform, localized regions of high sheath potential (hotspots) may develop where high-density filaments intersect material surfaces. Such hotspots are of particular concern as sources of impurity sputtering, and we explore their behavior in response to changes both to the local plasma density and to antenna operating parameters and structure. Related results exploring the role of Faraday shields and/or enclosing structures in suppressing high sheath potentials for other devices (e.g. SPARC) will also be shown.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Fermi-LAT Observation of Supernova Remnant S147
We present an analysis of gamma-ray data obtained with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in the region around SNR S147 (G180.0-1.7). A spatially extended gamma-ray source detected in an energy range of 0.2-10 GeV is found to coincide with SNR S147. We confirm its spatial extension at >5{sigma} confidence level. The gamma-ray flux is (3.8 {+-} 0.6) x 10{sup -8} photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, corresponding to a luminosity of 1.3 x 10{sup 34} (d/1.3 kpc){sup 2} erg s{sup -1} in this energy range. The gamma-ray emission exhibits a possible spatial correlation with prominent H{alpha} filaments of S147. There is no indication that the gamma-ray emission comes from the associated pulsar PSR J0538+2817. The gamma-ray spectrum integrated over the remnant is likely dominated by the decay of neutral {pi} mesons produced through the proton-proton collisions in the filaments. Reacceleration of pre-existing CRs and subsequent adiabatic compression in the filaments is sufficient to provide the required energy density of high-energy protons.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Improved measurements of the Dalitz decays η / η ′ → γ e + e −
Based on a data sample of 10 billion J / ψ events collected with the BESIII detector, improved measurements of the Dalitz decays η / η ′ → γ e + e − are performed, where the η and η ′ are produced through the radiative decays J / ψ → γ η / η ′ . The branching fractions of η → γ e + e − and η ′ → γ e + e − are measured to be ( 7.07 ± 0.05 ± 0.23 ) × 10 − 3 and ( 4.83 ± 0.07 ± 0.14 ) × 10 − 4 , respectively. Within the single-pole model, the parameter of electromagnetic transition form factor for η → γ e + e − is determined to be Λ η = ( 0.749 ± 0.027 ± 0.007 ) GeV / c 2 . Within the multipole model, we extract the electromagnetic transition form factors for η ′ → γ e + e − to be Λ η ′ = ( 0.802 ± 0.007 ± 0.008 ) GeV / c 2 and γ η ′ = ( 0.113 ± 0.010 ± 0.002 ) GeV / c 2 . The results are consistent with both theoretical predictions and previous measurements. The characteristic sizes of the interaction regions for the η and η ′ are calculated to be ( 0.645 ± 0.023 ± 0.007 ) fm and ( 0.596 ± 0.005 ± 0.006 ) fm , respectively. In addition, we search for the dark photon in η / η ′ → γ e + e − , and the upper limits of the branching fractions as a function of the dark photon are given at 90% confidence level. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
Dark Population Transfer Mechanism for Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
We present a mechanism for producing a cosmologically significant relic density of one or more sterile neutrinos. This scheme invokes two steps: First, a population of “heavy” sterile neutrinos is created by scattering-induced decoherence of active neutrinos. Second, this population is transferred, via sterile neutrino self-interaction-mediated scatterings and decays, to one or more lighter mass (∼10 keV to ∼1 GeV) sterile neutrinos that are far more weakly (or not at all) mixed with active species and could constitute dark matter. Dark matter produced this way can evade current electromagnetic and structure-based bounds, but may nevertheless be probed by future observations.
Dark matter↗
Three-dimensional imaging of proton in basis light-front quantization
Here, we employ an effective Hamiltonian that includes the transverse and longitudinal confinement and the one-gluon exchange interaction with fixed coupling constant. By solving the eigenvalue equation in basis light-front quantization (BLFQ), we generate the light-front wavefunctions (LFWFs) for the nucleon in the valence quark Fock space. Fitting the model parameters, we obtain high quality descriptions of electromagnetic form factors and radius for proton while the results deviate somewhat from experimental data for neutron.
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
Real-time time-dependent density functional theory in Quantum Espresso and related codes
A set of subroutines that interact with an existing computer program, Quantum Espresso (QE), that takes a set of electronic orbitals from QE and propagates them forward in time in response to a number of perturbations. These perturbations include the motion of ions and a wide spectrum of applied electromagnetic fields (e.g., static magnetic fields, slowly-varying electric fields, x-rays, etc.). From the time evolution of the electronic orbitals comes time-varying values of physical observables like the electronic charge and current densities and atomic forces. These are further post-processed to yield properties of interest like stopping powers, conductivities, and the dynamic structure factor. The electronic orbitals are described in a plane wave basis and the equations of motion are carried out using a unitary or approximately unitary time propagation algorithm. Related work will include subroutines for interfacing this capability, as well as others that already exist within QE, with a fork of QE that is more extensible and modular.SAND2019-12611 M Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.
Baczewski, Andrew↗