ASCI applications codes are key elements of the Department of Energy`s Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program (SSMP). They will provide the simulation capabilities needed to predict the performance, safety, reliability, and manufacturability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

In this paper we present the preliminary results of a model for the production of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) through the compressional heating of binary neutron stars near their last stable orbit prior to merger. Recent numerical studies of the general relativistic (GR) hydrodynamics in three spatial dimensions of close neutron star binaries (NSBs) have uncovered evidence for the compression and heating of the individual neutron stars (NSs) prior to merger. This effect will have significant effect on the production of gravitational waves, neutrinos and, ultimately, energetic photons. The study of the production of these photons in close NSBs and, in particular, its correspondence to observed GRBs is the subject of this paper. The gamma-rays arise as follows. Compressional heating causes the neutron stars to emit neutrino pairs which, in turn, annihilate to produce a hot electron-positron pair plasma. This pair- photon plasma expands rapidly until it becomes optically thin, at which point the photons are released. We show that this process can indeed satisfy three basic requirements of a model for cosmological gamma-ray bursts: 1) sufficient gamma-ray energy release (> 10{sup 51} ergs) to produce observed fluxes, 2) a time-scale of the primary burst duration consistent with that of a …

This one day Riken BNL Research Center workshop was organized to follow-up on the rapidly developing theoretical work on color super-conductivity, instanton dynamics, and possible signatures of parity violation in strong interactions that was stimulated by the talk of Frank Wilczek during the Riken BNL September Symposium. The workshop was held on November 11, 1997 at the center with over 30 participants. The program consisted of four talks on theory in the morning followed by two talks in the afternoon by experimentalists and open discussion. Krishna Rajagopal (MIT) first reviewed the status of the chiral condensate calculations at high baryon density within the instanton model and the percolation transition at moderate densities restoring chiral symmetry. Mark Alford (Princeton) then discussed the nature of the novel color super-conducting diquark condensates. The main result was that the largest gap on the order of 100 MeV was found for the 0{sup +} condensate, with only a tiny gap << MeV for the other possible 1{sup +}. Thomas Schaefer (INT) gave a complete overview of the instanton effects on correlators and showed independent calculations in collaboration with Shuryak (SUNY) and Velkovsky (BNL) confirming the updated results of the Wilczek group (Princeton, MIT). Yang Pang …

The purpose of the PEREGRINE program is to bring high-speed, high- accuracy, high-resolution Monte Carlo dose calculations to the desktop in the radiation therapy clinic. PEREGRINE is a three- dimensional Monte Carlo dose calculation system designed specifically for radiation therapy planning. It provides dose distributions from external beams of photons, electrons, neutrons, and protons as well as from brachytherapy sources. Each external radiation source particle passes through collimator jaws and beam modifiers such as blocks, compensators, and wedges that are used to customize the treatment to maximize the dose to the tumor. Absorbed dose is tallied in the patient or phantom as Monte Carlo simulation particles are followed through a Cartesian transport mesh that has been manually specified or determined from a CT scan of the patient. This paper describes PEREGRINE capabilities, results of benchmark comparisons, calculation times and performance, and the significance of Monte Carlo calculations for photon teletherapy. PEREGRINE results show excellent agreement with a comprehensive set of measurements for a wide variety of clinical photon beam geometries, on both homogeneous and heterogeneous test samples or phantoms. PEREGRINE is capable of calculating >350 million histories per hour for a standard clinical treatment plan. This results in a dose …

The High Energy Ring (HER) in Stanford Linear Accelerator Center`s PEP-II B-Factory employs two high field quality quadrupole magnets, labeled QF5, located in the Interaction Region (IR) symmetrically about the Interaction Point (IP), for final horizontal beam focusing. An asymmetric, septum, Collins quadrupole design is required for QF5 as a result of space constraints within the IR. Water cooled square hollow copper conductor is used in a two coil per pole configuration to develop the 61.7 kG/m and 82.2 kG/m gradients required for the HER 9 GeV and 12 GeV energy levels respectively. A 1.45 m long laminated iron core constructed in two halves with a 160 mm diameter aperture and pole tip shims shape the quadruple field. The QF5 field quality requirements include a multipole content of b{sub n}/b{sub 2} {le}1 {times} 10{sup -4} for n = 3-15 at a radius of 78.1 mm. The QF5 quadrupole mechanical and magnetic design and analysis are presented.

The objective of this emergent study was to follow the cognitive and creative processes demonstrated by five art student participants as they integrated a developing knowledge of big science, as practiced at the Department of Energy`s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, into a personal and idiosyncratic visual, graphical, or multimedia product. The non-scientist participants involved in this process attended design classes sponsored by the Laboratory at the Art Center College of Design in California. The learning experience itself, and how the students arrived at their product, were the focus of the class and the research. The study was emergent in that we found no applicable literature on the use of art to portray a cognitive understanding of science. This lack of literature led us to the foundation literature on creativity and to the corpus of literature on public understanding of science. We believe that this study contributes to the literature on science education, art education, cognitive change, and public understanding of science. 20 refs., 11 figs.

Demonstration of stability or control of a measurement process over time is often required for critical processes. Measurement control is monitored by calculating measurement errors for a collection of comparison standards over time and producing a Shewhart control chart. However, measurement errors inherently occur one-at-a-time and not in batches. Additionally there is often a non-deterministic drift in the mean measurement error. These facts make it challenging to develop warning and alarm limits for a control chart. Previous studies have suggested using the mean squared successive difference to estimate the variance of one-at-a-time data. This technique can also reduce or eliminate estimation bias due to a fluctuating mean. Application of a control charting methodology based on the mean squared successive difference is demonstrated using data from the nondestructive assay of nuclear materials, and the performance and potential limitations of the method are explored.

Silica aerogels were produced by a new process from Tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) with ammonia as base catalyst. the process involves pouring the liquid sol in a stainless steel mold and immediately heating it to supercritical conditions. Gelation and aging occurs during heating and reaction rates are high die to high average temperatures. the gel fills the container completely, which enables relatively fast venting of the supercritical fluid by providing a constraint for swelling and failure of the gel monolith. The whole process can be completed in 6 h or less. Longitudinal and shear moduli were measured in the dried aerogels by ultrasonic velocity measurements both as a function of chemical composition of the original sol and of position in the aerogel. It was found that the sound velocity exhibits marked maxima on the surface of the cylindrical specimens and specifically close to the ends, where the fluid left during venting. Specimens with high catalyst concentration and high water:TMOS ratio exhibited higher average moduli.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) regulate ductal morphogenesis, apoptosis, and neoplastic progression in mammary epithelial cells. To elucidate the direct effects of MMPs on mammary epithelium, we generated functionally normal cells expressing an inducible autoactivating stromelysin-1 (SL-1) transgene. Induction of SL-1 expression resulted in cleavage of E-cadherin, and triggered progressive phenotypic conversion characterized by disappearance of E-cadherin and catenins from cell-cell contacts, downregulation of cytokeratins, upregulation of vimentin, induction of keratinocyte growth factor expression and activation, and upregulation of endogenous MMPs. Cells expressing SL-1 were unable to undergo lactogenic differentiation and became invasive. Once initiated, this phenotypic conversion was essentially stable, and progressed even in the absence of continued SL-1 expression. These observations demonstrate that inappropriate expression of SL-1 initiates a cascade of events that may represent a coordinated program leading to loss of the differentiated epithelial phenotype and gain of some characteristics of tumor cells. Our data provide novel insights into how MMPs function in development and neoplastic conversion.

A sonoluminescing bubble has been modeled as a thermally conducting, partially ionized two-component plasma. The use of accurate equations-of-state, plasma physics, and radiation physics distinguishes our model from all previous models. The model provides an explanation of many features of single bubble sonoluminescence that have not been collectively accounted for in previous models, including the origin of the picosecond pulse widths and spectra. The calculated spectra for sonoluminescing nitrogen and argon bubbles suggest that a sonoluminescing air bubble probably contains only argon, in agreement with a recent theoretical analysis.

The magnetic excitations of an antiferromagnetic spin dimer system, (VO)HPO{sub 4}{center_dot}{1/2}H{sub 2}O, are examined using inelastic neutron scattering. A dispersionless mode is found, consistent with expectations for a dimer excitation. The intensity variation of the mode reveals a V{sup 4+} - V{sup 4+} dimer separation of 4.43{angstrom}, almost 50% larger than the originally expected length.

The microstructure of spontaneous lateral composition modulation along the [110] direction has been studied in (InAs){sub n}/(AlAs){sub m} short-period superlattices grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (001) InP. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy show that global strain ({var_epsilon}) in the superlattice reduces the degree of composition modulation, which disappears for the absolute value of {var_epsilon} > 0.7%. For tensile strains of {var_epsilon} {approx} +0.4%, they find that In-rich columns become regularly spaced and correlated with cusps in the growth surface. A similar correlation is seen in (InAs){sub n}/(GaAs){sub m} short-period superlattices between the enriched columns and the peaks and valleys of {l_brace}114{r_brace}{sub A} facets on the surface. The enriched columns in the (InAs){sub n}/(GaAs){sub m} layer (and the facets) extend for much longer distances ({approximately}0.2--0.4 {micro}m) in the [1{bar 1}0] direction than do the columns in the (InAs){sub n}/(AlAs){sub m} layer ({approximately} 56 nm).

This paper presents investigation of round beams for increasing the luminosity in colliders. The main idea of round beams is briefly discussed. Numerical simulations of round colliding beams for the Tevatron are much in favor of round beams, because they provide reduction of harmful impact of beam-beam forces on beam sizes particles diffusion and better stability with respect to errors and imperfections.

We show experimentally and theoretically that plasmas created by a sufficiently (1014 1015 2 short (<500 fs) intense W/cm ) laser pulse on the surface of dielectric material act as nearly perfect mirrors: reflecting p to 90% of the incident radiation with a wavefront quality equal to that of the initial solid surface.

Convergent geometry Rayleigh-Taylor experiments have been performed with a 122-point detonation initiation system on cylinders having sinusoidal perturbations on the outer surface ranging from mode-6 to mode-36. Experiments were performed with various perturbation mode numbers, perturbation amplitudes, and ring accelerations. Feedthrough perturbation growth on the inner surface was observed in several experiments, and in one experiment the feed through perturbation underwent a phase inversion. These experimental results were found to be in good agreement with linear, small-amplitude analysis of feedthrough growth in an incompressible, cylindrically convergent geometry.

Medical isotopes play an important role in the medical industry in both the United States and the world. Isotopes such as {sup 99}Tc, {sup 201}Tl, {sup 111}In, and {sup 123}I are utilized in diagnostic imaging studies, while others such as {sup 131}I and {sup 89}Sr are used as therapeutic agents. The particular medical isotope {sup 99m}Tc is used in 80% of all nuclear medical procedures in the United States. This isotope is produced from the decay of {sup 99}Mo, which has a 66 hour half-life. The importance of {sup 99m}Tc and the fact of its 6 hour half-life indicate the necessity to maintain a constant supply of {sup 99}Mo. The most prominent method for the production of significant quantities of {sup 99}Mo is by fission in highly-enriched uranium loaded targets. This paper describes the work performed at SNL for the production of {sup 99}Mo.

Underground spills of volatile hydrocarbons are often difficult to clean up, especially if the contaminants are present in or below the water table as a separate liquid-organic phase. Excavating and treating the contaminated soil may not be practical or even possible if the affected zone is relatively deep. Merely pumping groundwater has proven to be ineffective because huge amounts of water must be flushed through the contaminated area to clean it; even then the contaminants may not be completely removed. Due to the low solubility of most common contaminants, such pump and treat systems can be expected to take decades to centuries to actually clean a site. Today, many sites are required to pump and treat contaminated groundwater even though there is no expectation that the site will be cleaned. In these cases, the pumps simply control the spread of the contaminant, while requiring a continuous flow of money, paperwork, and management attention. Although pump and treat systems are relatively inexpensive to operate, they represent along term cost. Most importantly, they rarely remove enough contaminant to change the property`s status. Although a pump and treat system can offer compliance in a regulatory sense, it doesn`t solve the site`s liability problem. …

Experimental work with organic solvents at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has suggested that in situ thermal oxidation of these compounds via hydrous pyrolysis forms the basis for a whole new remediation method, called hydrous pyrolysis oxidation. Preliminary results of hydrothermal oxidation using both dissolved 0{sub 2} gas and mineral oxidants present naturally in soils (e.g., MnO{sub 2}) demonstrate that TCE, TCA, and even PCE can be rapidly and completely degraded to benign products at moderate conditions, easily achieved in thermal remediation. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHS) have an even larger thermodynamic driving force favoring oxidation, and they are also amenable to in situ destruction. Today, the principal treatment methods for chlorinated solvent- and PAH-contaminated soil are to remove it to landfills, or incinerate it on site. The most effective method for treating ground water, Dynamic Underground Stripping (Newmark et al., 1995), still involves removing the contaminant for destruction elsewhere. Hydrous pyrolysis/oxidation would eliminate the need for long-term use of expensive treatment facilities by converting all remaining contaminant to benign products (e.g., carbon dioxide, water, and chloride ion). The technique is expected to be applicable to dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLS) and dissolved organic components. Soil and ground water would be polished …

Recent simulations and experiments on Nova indicate that some level of smoothing may be required to suppress filamentation in plasmas on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), resulting in the addition of 1-D smoothing capability to the current baseline design. Control of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and filamentation is considered essential to the success of laser fusion because they affect the amount and location of laser energy delivered to the x-ray conversion region (hohlraum wall) for indirect drive and to the absorptive region for direct drive, Smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD)[1], reduces these instabilities by reducing nonuniformities in the focal irradiance when averaged over a finite time interval. We have installed SSD on Nova to produce beam smoothing on all 10 beam lines. A single dispersion grating is located in a position common to all 10 beam lines early in the preamplifier chain. This location limits the 1{omega} bandwidth to 2.2 {angstrom} with sufficient dispersion to displace the speckle field of each frequency component at the target plane by one half speckle diameter. Several beam lines were modified to allow orientation of the dispersion on each arm relative to the hohlraum wall. After conversion to the third harmonic the beam passes …

We recently demonstrated the production of over a petawatt of peak power in the Nova/Petawatt Laser Facility, generating > 600 J in {approximately} 440 fs. The Petawatt Laser Project was initiated to develop the capability to test the fast ignitor concept for inertial confinement fusion (ICF), and to provide a unique capability in high energy density physics. The laser was designed to produce near kJ pulses with a pulse duration adjustable between 0.5 and 20 ps. At the shortest pulse lengths, this laser is expected to surpass 10 21 W/cm 2 when focused later this year. Currently, this system is limited to 600 J pulses in a 46.3-cm beam. Expansion of the beam to 58 cm, with the installation of 94-cm gratings, will enable 1 kJ operation. Target experiments with petawatt pulses will be possible either integrated with Nova in the 10 beam target chamber or as a stand alone system in an independent, dedicated chamber. Focusing the beam onto a target will be accomplished using an on axis parabolic mirror. The design of a novel targeting system enabling the production of ultrahigh contrast pulses and an easily variable effective focal length is also described.