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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 19 records

A Second Moment Method for k -Eigenvalue Acceleration with Continuous Diffusion and Discontinuous Transport Discretizations

The second moment method is a linear acceleration technique that couples the transport equation to a diffusion equation with transport-dependent additive closures. The resulting low-order diffusion equation can be discretized independent of the transport discretization, unlike diffusion synthetic acceleration, and is symmetric positive definite, unlike quasidiffusion. While this method has been shown to be comparable to quasidiffusion in iterative performance for fixed source and time-dependent problems, it is largely unexplored as an eigenvalue problem acceleration scheme due to the belief that the resulting inhomogeneous source makes the problem ill posed. Recently, a preliminary feasibility study was performed on the second moment method for eigenvalue problems. The results suggested comparable performance to quasidiffusion and more robust performance than diffusion synthetic acceleration. This work extends the initial study to more realistic reactor problems using state-of-the-art discretization techniques. Finally, the results in this paper show that the second moment method is more computationally efficient than its alternatives on complex reactor problems with unstructured meshes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

First-principles electronic structure in second-moment calculation of mode frequencies: Failure of quasiharmonic approximation in silicon

Using first-principles electronic structure calculations (local density approximation), we present second-moment calculations of the temperature dependence of the vibrational normal mode frequencies in Si up to 1500 K . The method is based on simple ensemble averages of displacements and forces and is easy to implement. These efficient calculations incorporate all interactions nonperturbatively, implicitly including all high order force constants, in contrast to typical perturbative approaches. Also in this work, we propose and apply to our classical calculations an estimated quantum correction that could be used for classical approaches other than the moments method. We compare our results to available experiments, including recent inelastic neutron scattering data and conclude that the second-moment gives the frequency shift to within a factor of 2 in contrast to quasiharmonic approaches that fail by an order of magnitude to predict the anharmonic shift. Noting the relative simplicity and speed of the calculations, we conclude that the second-moment approximation reasonably accounts for anharmonicity in a system that has been very closely studied experimentally and may reliably be applied in an exploratory way to more complex systems. Finally, we suggest that further improvement on the results could be obtained by incorporating the fourth moment, which can be implemented with little additional cost.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Consistent Second Moment Methods with Scalable Linear Solvers for Radiation Transport

Second moment methods (SMMs) are developed that are consistent with the discontinuous Galerkin spatial discretization of the discrete ordinates (or S\(_N\)) transport equations. The low-order (LO) diffusion system of equations is discretized with fully consistent P\(_1\), local discontinuous Galerkin (LDG), and interior penalty (IP) methods. A discrete residual approach is used to derive SMM correction terms that make each of the LO systems consistent with the high-order discretization. We show that the consistent methods are more accurate and have better solution quality than independently discretized LO systems, that they preserve the diffusion limit, and that the LDG and IP consistent SMMs can be scalably solved in parallel on a challenging, multimaterial benchmark problem.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A hybrid Monte Carlo-deterministic second moment method with efficient variance reduction

In this work, we present a hybrid method that combines Monte Carlo with deterministic finite element methods to solve a linear Boltzmann transport equation. Our hybrid method runs orders of magnitude faster than Monte Carlo, without sacrificing accuracy, for a proxy problem from radiative transfer that contains both optically-thick and optically-thin material. We believe that this is the first demonstration of a hybrid Second Moment Method in more than one spatial dimension, the first to consider more than one material, and the first to use variance reduction. Our variance reduction approach arises from an asymptotic analysis in which we show that the magnitude of the scattering source grows without bound. We transform the problem to compute the deviation of the radiation intensity from isotropy. The magnitude of the source in the transformed problem is bounded, and the quality of the hybrid method solution is dramatically improved by a substantial reduction in the variance.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Application of Neutron Multiplicity Counting Experiments to Optimal Cross-Section Adjustments

This paper presents the first application of model calibration to neutron multiplicity counting (NMC) experiments for cross-section optimization that is informed by adjoint-based sensitivity analysis (SA) and first-order uncertainty quantification (UQ). We summarize previous work on SA applied to NMC and describe notable modifications and additions. We give the procedure for first-order UQ and Bayesian-inference-based parameter estimation (PE). We then discuss model calibration applied to NMC of a 4.5-kg sphere of weapons-grade, alpha-phase plutonium metal (the BeRP ball) with the nPod neutron multiplicity counter. For the BeRP ball in bare and polyethylene-reflected configurations, we discuss the sensitivity of the first- and second-moment detector responses (i.e., first and second moments of the NMC distribution, respectively) to the cross sections. We describe the sources of uncertainty in the measured and simulated responses. Specifically, uncertainty in the measured responses is due to both random and systematic sources. Uncertainty in the simulated responses is due to the cross-section covariances. We describe in detail the adjustment to the cross sections and cross-section covariances due to the optimization. Due to the contribution of systematic uncertainties to the measured response uncertainties, the adjustment to the cross sections is similar in trend but larger in magnitude compared to that recommended by previous work. We compare the measured responses to responses simulated with nominal and optimized cross sections, demonstrating that the best-estimate cross sections produce simulations of NMC experiments that are more accurate with reduced uncertainty.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Imaging systems and related methods including radar imaging with moving arrays or moving targets

Imaging systems, including radio frequency, microwave and millimeter-wave arrangements, and related methods are described. According to one aspect, an imaging system includes an antenna array, a position capture system configured to generate position information indicative of locations of one of the antenna array and the target at the first and second moments in time, and wherein the one of the antenna array and the target move between the first and second moments in time, a transceiver configured to control the antenna array to emit electromagnetic energy towards the target and to generate an output that is indicative of the received electromagnetic energy, a data acquisition system configured to generate radar data, processing circuitry configured to process the position information and the radar data to generate image data regarding the target, and an interface configured to use the image data to generate visual images regarding the target.

Sheen, David M.↗

Imaging systems and related methods including radar imaging with moving arrays or moving targets

Imaging systems, including radio frequency, microwave and millimeter-wave arrangements, and related methods are described. According to one aspect, an imaging system includes an antenna array, a position capture system configured to generate position information indicative of locations of one of the antenna array and the target at the first and second moments in time, and wherein the one of the antenna array and the target move between the first and second moments in time, a transceiver configured to control the antenna array to emit electromagnetic energy towards the target and to generate an output that is indicative of the received electromagnetic energy, a data acquisition system configured to generate radar data, processing circuitry configured to process the position information and the radar data to generate image data regarding the target, and an interface configured to use the image data to generate visual images regarding the target.

Sheen, David M.↗

Reference data, predictors, and probability grids for forest degradation classes in three sites in the Brazilian Amazon

Forest degradation by fires and selective logging is widespread in the Amazon region. We implemented a gradient boosted classification modeling framework to classify intact, logged, and burned forests at three Amazonian sites: Feliz Natal Municipality and Xingu Indigenous Territory in Mato Grosso State, and Saracá-Taquera National Forest in Pará State. We used forest degradation history from Landsat time-series as reference data and textural metrics derived from PlanetScope images as predictors. Textural metrics were computed using the Gray-Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM) textural technique. Included in the attached zip file are ten files: - a shapefile containing the reference data (fire and selective logging polygons and year of event) for each site; - a multiband tif file containing the 8 GLCM metrics used as predictors (Mean, Variance, Homogeneity, Contrast, Dissimilarity, Entropy, Angular Second Moment, Correlation) at the original PlanetScope resolution (3.125m) for each site; - a multiband tif file containing the 72 aggregated GLCM metrics used as predictors (Mean, Variance, Homogeneity, Contrast, Dissimilarity, Entropy, Angular Second Moment, and Correlation aggregated using the mean, first quartile, third quartile, maximum, median, minimum, root mean square, standard deviation, and skewness statistics) at 562m resolution for each site; - a multiband tif file containing the 3 probability grids for either intact, logged, or burned forests at the aggregation resolution (562m) for each site.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Impact of point spread function higher moments error on weak gravitational lensing

ABSTRACT Weak gravitational lensing is one of the most powerful tools for cosmology, while subject to challenges in quantifying subtle systematic biases. The point spread function (PSF) can cause biases in weak lensing shear inference when the PSF model does not match the true PSF that is convolved with the galaxy light profile. Although the effect of PSF size and shape errors – i.e. errors in second moments – is well studied, weak lensing systematics associated with errors in higher moments of the PSF model require further investigation. The goal of our study is to estimate their potential impact for LSST weak lensing analysis. We go beyond second moments of the PSF by using image simulations to relate multiplicative bias in shear to errors in the higher moments of the PSF model. We find that the current level of errors in higher moments of the PSF model in data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam survey can induce a ∼0.05 per cent shear bias, making this effect unimportant for ongoing surveys but relevant at the precision of upcoming surveys such as LSST.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Velocity Dispersion σ aper Aperture Corrections as a Function of Galaxy Properties from Integral-field Stellar Kinematics of 10,000 MaNGA Galaxies

Abstract The second moment of the stellar velocity within the effective radius, denoted by σ e 2 , is a crucial quantity in galaxy studies, as it provides insight into galaxy properties and their mass distributions. However, large spectroscopic surveys typically do not measure σ e directly, instead providing σ aper , the second moment of the stellar velocity within a fixed fiber aperture. In this paper, we derive an empirical aperture correction formula, given by σ aper / σ e = ( R aper / R e ) α , using spatially resolved stellar kinematics extracted from approximately 10,000 Sloan Digital Sky Survey–Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory integral field unit observations. Our analysis reveals a strong dependence of α on the r -band absolute magnitude M r , g – i color, and Sérsic index n Ser , where α values are lower for brighter, redder galaxies with higher Sérsic indices. Our results demonstrate that the aperture correction derived from previous literature on early-type galaxies cannot be applied to predict the aperture corrections for galaxies with intermediate Sérsic indices. We provide a lookup table of α values for different galaxy types, with parameters in the ranges of −18 > M r > −24, 0.4 < g – i < 1.6, and 0 < n Ser < 8. A Python script is provided to obtain the correction factors from the lookup table.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Hadronization dynamics from the spectral representation of the gauge invariant quark propagator

We study the Dirac decomposition of the gauge invariant quark propagator, whose imaginary part describes the hadronization of a quark as this interacts with the vacuum, and relate each of its coefficients to a specific sum rule for the chiral-odd and chiral-even quark spectral functions. Working at first in light-like axial gauge, we obtain a new sum rule for the spectral function associated to the gauge fixing vector, and show that its second moment is in fact equal to zero. Then, we demonstrate that the first moment of the chiral-odd quark spectral function is equal in any gauge to the so-called inclusive jet mass, which is related to the mass of the particles produced in the hadronization of a quark. Finally, we present a gauge-dependent formula that connects the second moment of the chiral-even quark spectral function to invariant mass generation and final state rescattering in the hadronization of a quark.

Costa, Caroline S. R.↗