There are many applications that need a meso-scale rotational actuator. These applications have been left by the wayside because of the lack of actuation at this scale. Sandia National Laboratories has many unique fabrication technologies that could be used to create an electromagnetic actuator at this scale. There are also many designs to be explored. In this internship exploration of the designs and fabrications technologies to find an inexpensive design that can be used for prototyping the electromagnetic rotational actuator.

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is conducting research and development to support the resurgence of nuclear power in the United States for both electrical power generation and production of process heat required for industrial processes such as the manufacture of hydrogen for use as a fuel in automobiles. The project is called the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project, which is based on a Generation IV reactor concept called the very high temperature reactor (VHTR). The VHTR will be of the prismatic or pebble bed type; the former is considered herein. The VHTR will use helium as the coolant at temperatures ranging from 250°C to perhaps 1000°C. While computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has not previously been used for the safety analysis of nuclear reactors in the United States, it is being considered for existing and future reactors. It is fully recognized that CFD simulation codes will have to be validated for flow physics reasonably close to actual fluid dynamic conditions expected in normal operational and accident situations. The “Standard Problem” is an experimental data set that represents an important physical phenomenon or phenomena, whose selection is based on a phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) for the reactor in …

Fact sheet describing NREL CSP Program capabilities in the area of advanced reflector and absorber materials: evaluating performance, determining degradation rates and lifetime, and developing new coatings.

Connection of electric storage technologies to smartgrids or microgrids will have substantial implications for building energy systems. In addition to potentially supplying ancillary services directly to the traditional centralized grid (or macrogrid), local storage will enable demand response. As an economically attractive option, mobile storage devices such as plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) are in direct competition with conventional stationary sources and storage at the building. In general, it is assumed that they can improve the financial as well as environmental attractiveness of renewable and fossil based on-site generation (e.g. PV, fuel cells, or microturbines operating with or without combined heat and power). Also, mobile storage can directly contribute to tariff driven demand response in commercial buildings. In order to examine the impact of mobile storage on building energy costs and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a microgrid/distributed-energy-resources (DER) adoption problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program with minimization of annual building energy costs applying CO2 taxes/CO2 pricing schemes. The problem is solved for a representative office building in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2020. By using employees' EVs for energy management, the office building can arbitrage its costs. But since the car battery lifetime is reduced, a business model …

We present scanning SQUID microscopy data on the superconductors Sr{sub 2}RuO{sub 4} (T{sub c} = 1.5 K) and PrOs{sub 4}Sb{sub 12} (T{sub c} = 1.8 K). In both of these materials, superconductivity-related time-reversal symmetry-breaking fields have been observed by muon spin rotation; our aim was to visualize the structure of these fields. However in neither Sr{sub 2}RuO{sub 4} nor PrOs{sub 4}Sb{sub 12} do we observe spontaneous superconductivity-related magnetization. In Sr{sub 2}RuO{sub 4}, many experimental results have been interpreted on the basis of a p{sub x} {+-} ip{sub y} superconducting order parameter. This order parameter is expected to give spontaneous magnetic induction at sample edges and order parameter domain walls. Supposing large domains, our data restrict domain wall and edge fields to no more than {approx}0.1% and {approx}0.2% of the expected magnitude, respectively. Alternatively, if the magnetization is of the expected order, the typical domain size is limited to {approx}30 nm for random domains, or {approx} 500 nm for periodic domains.

One of the options for future particle accelerators are photonic band gap (PBG) fiber accelerators. PBG fibers are specially designed optical fibers that use lasers to excite an electric field that is used to accelerate electrons. To improve PBG accelerators, the basic parameters of the fiber were tested to maximize defect size and acceleration. Using the program CUDOS, several accelerating modes were found that maximized these parameters for several wavelengths. The design of multiple defects, similar to having closely bound fibers, was studied to find possible coupling or the change of modes. The amount of coupling was found to be dependent on distance separated. For certain distances accelerating coupled modes were found and examined. In addition, several non-periodic fiber structures were examined using CUDOS. The non-periodic fibers produced several interesting results and promised more modes given time to study them in more detail.

We present a summary of recent results obtained from a scan of the 19-dimensional parameter space of the pMSSM and its implications for dark matter searches. We have generated a large set of points in parameter space (which we call 'models') for the 19-parameter CP-conserving pMSSM, where MFV has been assumed. We subjected these models to numerous experimental and theoretical constraints to obtain a set of {approx}68 K models which are consistent with existing data. We attempted to be somewhat conservative in our implementation of these constraints; in particular we only demanded that the relic density of the LSP not be greater than the measured value of {Omega}H{sup 2} for non-baryonic dark matter, rather than assuming that the LSP must account for the entire observed relic density. Examining the properties of the neutralinos in these models, we find that many are relatively pure gauge eigenstates with Higgsinos being the most common, followed by Winos. The relative prevalence of Higgsino and Wino LSPs leads many of our models to have a chargino as nLSP, often with a relatively small mass splitting between this nLSP and the LSP; this has important consequences in both collider and astroparticle phenomenology. We find that, in …

There is growing interest in the generation and characterization of femtosecond and subfemtosecond pulses from linac-based free-electron lasers (FELs). In this report, following the method of Ricci and Smith [Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 3, 032801 (2000)], we investigate the measurement of the longitudinal bunch profile of an ultrashort electron bunch produced by these FELs. We show that this method can be applied in a straightforward manner at x-ray FEL facilities such as the Linac Coherent Light Source by slightly adjusting the second bunch compressor followed by running the bunch on an rf zero-crossing phase of the final linac. We find that the linac wakefield strongly perturbs the measurement, and through analysis show that it can be compensated in a simple way. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this method and wakefield compensation through numerical simulations, including effects of coherent synchrotron radiation and longitudinal space charge. When used in conjunction with a high-resolution electron spectrometer, this method potentially reveals the temporal profile of the electron beam down to the femtosecond and subfemotsecond scale.

We present a measurement of the WW + WZ production cross section observed in a final state consisting of an identified electron or muon, two jets, and missing transverse energy. The measurement is carried out in a data sample corresponding to up to 4.6 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV collected by the CDF II detector. Matrix element calculations are used to separate the diboson signal from the large backgrounds. The WW + WZ cross section is measured to be 17.4 {+-} 3.3 pb, in agreement with standard model predictions. A fit to the dijet invariant mass spectrum yields a compatible cross section measurement.

The shadowing of cosmic ray primaries by the the moon and sun was observed by the MINOS far detector at a depth of 2070 mwe using 83.54 million cosmic ray muons accumulated over 1857.91 live-days. The shadow of the moon was detected at the 5.6 {sigma} level and the shadow of the sun at the 3.8 {sigma} level using a log-likelihood search in celestial coordinates. The moon shadow was used to quantify the absolute astrophysical pointing of the detector to be 0.17 {+-} 0.12{sup o}. Hints of Interplanetary Magnetic Field effects were observed in both the sun and moon shadow.

Massive stars influence their surroundings through radiation, winds, and supernova explosions far out of proportion to their small numbers. However, the physical processes that initiate and govern the birth of massive stars remain poorly understood. Two widely discussed models are monolithic collapse of molecular cloud cores and competitive accretion. To learn more about massive star formation, we perform simulations of the collapse of rotating, massive, cloud cores including radiative heating by both non-ionizing and ionizing radiation using the FLASH adaptive mesh refinement code. These simulations show fragmentation from gravitational instability in the enormously dense accretion flows required to build up massive stars. Secondary stars form rapidly in these flows and accrete mass that would have otherwise been consumed by the massive star in the center, in a process that we term fragmentation-induced starvation. This explains why massive stars are usually found as members of high-order stellar systems that themselves belong to large clusters containing stars of all masses. The radiative heating does not prevent fragmentation, but does lead to a higher Jeans mass, resulting in fewer and more massive stars than would form without the heating. This mechanism reproduces the observed relation between the total stellar mass in the cluster …

This research investigated four techniques that could be applicable for mapping of solids remaining in radioactive waste tanks at the Savannah River Site: stereo vision, LIDAR, flash LIDAR, and Structure from Motion (SfM). Stereo vision is the least appropriate technique for the solids mapping application. Although the equipment cost is low and repackaging would be fairly simple, the algorithms to create a 3D image from stereo vision would require significant further development and may not even be applicable since stereo vision works by finding disparity in feature point locations from the images taken by the cameras. When minimal variation in visual texture exists for an area of interest, it becomes difficult for the software to detect correspondences for that object. SfM appears to be appropriate for solids mapping in waste tanks. However, equipment development would be required for positioning and movement of the camera in the tank space to enable capturing a sequence of images of the scene. Since SfM requires the identification of distinctive features and associates those features to their corresponding instantiations in the other image frames, mockup testing would be required to determine the applicability of SfM technology for mapping of waste in tanks. There may be …

A new set of analytic formulae describes the transmission of soft X-ray (SXR) continuum radiation through a metallic foil for its application to fast electron temperature measurements in fusion plasmas. This novel approach shows good agreement with numerical calculations over a wide range of plasma temperatures in contrast with the solutions obtained when using a transmission approximated by a single-Heaviside function [S. von Goeler, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 20, 599, (1999)]. The new analytic formulae can improve the interpretation of the experimental results and thus contribute in obtaining fast teperature measurements in between intermittent Thomson Scattering data.

The LINAC Coherent Light Source (LCLS), an X-Ray free-electron laser(FEL) based on the self amplified spontaneous emission principle, has recently come on-line. For many users it is desirable to have an idea of the level of transverse coherence of the X-Ray beam produced. In this paper, we analyze the output of GENESIS simulations of electrons traveling through the FEL. We first test the validity of an approach that ignores the details of how the beam was produced, and instead, by assuming a Gaussian-Schell model of transverse coherence, predicts the level of transverse coherence simply through looking at the beam radius at several longitudinal slices. We then develop a Markov chain Monte Carlo approach to calculating the degree of transverse coherence, which offers a {approx}100-fold speedup compared to the brute-force algorithm previously in use. We find the beam highly coherent. Using a similar Markov chain Monte Carlo approach, we estimate the reasonability of assuming the beam to have a Gaussian-Schell model of transverse coherence, with inconclusive results.

We develop tools to engineer de Sitter vacua with semi-holographic duals, using elliptic fibrations and orientifolds to uplift Freund-Rubin compactifications with CFT duals. The dual brane construction is compact and constitutes a microscopic realization of the dS/dS correspondence, realizing d-dimensional de Sitter space as a warped compactification down to (d-1)-dimensional de Sitter gravity coupled to a pair of large-N matter sectors. This provides a parametric microscopic interpretation of the Gibbons-Hawking entropy. We illustrate these ideas with an explicit class of examples in three dimensions, and describe ongoing work on four-dimensional constructions. The Gibbons-Hawking entropy of the de Sitter horizon [1] invites a microscopic interpretation and a holographic formulation of inflating spacetimes. Much progress was made in the analogous problem in black hole physics using special black holes in string theory whose microstates could be reliably counted, such as those analyzed in [2,3]; this led to the AdS/CFT correspondence [4]. In contrast, a microscopic understanding of the entropy of de Sitter space is more difficult for several reasons including its potential dynamical connections to other backgrounds (metastability), the absence of a non-fluctuating timelike boundary, and the absence of supersymmetry. In this paper, we develop a class of de Sitter constructions in …

Design studies for the cooling channel of a Muon Collider call for straight and helical solenoids generating field well in excess of the critical fields of state of the art Low Temperature Superconductors (LTS) such as Nb{sub 3}Sn or NbTi. Therefore, High Temperature Superconductors (HTS) will need to be used for the manufacturing of all or certain sections of such magnets to be able to generate and withstand the field levels at the cryogenic temperatures required by the new machine. In this work, two major High Temperature Superconductors - Bi2212 round wires and YBCO coated conductor tapes - are investigated to understand how critical current density of such conductors scales as a function of external field and operating temperature. This is vital information to make conductor choices depending on the application and to proceed with the design of such magnets.

We review recent NLO QCD results for W, Z + 3-jet production at hadron colliders, computing using BlackHat and SHERPA, and including also some new results for Z + 3-jet production for the LHC at 7 TeV. We report new progress towards the NLO cross section for W + 4-jet production. In particular, we show that the virtual matrix elements produced by BlackHat are numerically stable. We also show that with an improved integrator and tree-level matrix elements from BlackHat, SHERPA produces well-behaved real-emission contributions. As an illustration, we present the real-emission contributions - including dipole-subtraction terms - to the p{sub T} distribution of the fourth jet, for a single subprocess with the maximum number of gluons.

Numerical optimization is a powerful method for identifying energy-efficient building designs. Automating the search process facilitates the evaluation of many more options than is possible with one-off parametric simulation runs. However, input data uncertainties and qualitative aspects of building design work against standard optimization formulations that return a single, so-called optimal design. This paper presents a method for harnessing a discrete optimization algorithm to obtain significantly different, economically viable building designs that satisfy an energy efficiency goal. The method is demonstrated using NREL's first-generation building analysis platform, Opt- E-Plus, and two example problems. We discuss the information content of the results, and the computational effort required by the algorithm.

PAGOSA is a computational fluid dynamics computer program developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for the study of high-speed compressible flow and high-rate material deformation. PAGOSA is a three-dimensional Eulerian finite difference code, solving problems with a wide variety of equations of state (EOSs), material strength, and explosive modeling options.

From approximately 1949 until 1970, the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) operated a grain storage facility on federally owned property approximately 0.25 mi northwest of Savannah, Missouri (Figure 1.1). During this time, commercial grain fumigants containing carbon tetrachloride were commonly used by the CCC/USDA and the private grain storage industry to preserve grain in their facilities. In November 1998, carbon tetrachloride was detected in a private well (Morgan) roughly 50 ft south of the former CCC/USDA facility, as a result of statewide screening of private wells near former CCC/USDA facilities, conducted in Missouri by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 1999). The 1998 and subsequent investigations by the EPA and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) confirmed the presence of carbon tetrachloride in the Morgan well, as well as in a second well (on property currently occupied by the Missouri Department of Transportation [MoDOT]) described as being approximately 400 ft east of the former CCC/USDA facility. The identified concentrations in these two wells were above the EPA maximum contaminant level (MCL) and the Missouri risk-based corrective action default target level (MRBCA DTL) values of 5.0 {micro}g/L for carbon tetrachloride in water used for domestic …

The MuCool Test Area (MTA) is an intense primary beam facility derived directly from the Fermilab Linac to test heat deposition and other technical concerns associated with the liquid hydrogen targets, gas-filled RF cavities, and other apparatus being developed to cool intense, large-emittance muon beams. In this study the results of Monte Carlo modeling of several beam loss scenarios are presented. The MTA facility was designed to test targets and other muon cooling apparatus using the intense Fermilab Linac beam. The requested intensity of the proton beam for the MTA is essentially full Linac capability, or 1.6 x 10{sup 13} protons per pulse and an energy of 400 MeV. Two modes of operation will be supported in the MuCOOL beamline: one mode for emittance measurements (and beamline studies) and a second mode for MTA experiments. Maximum beam intensity for these two modes is: 9.6 x 10{sup 15} protons/hr - 600 beam pulses/hour of full Linac beam pulse intensity (1.6 x 10{sup 13} protons/pulse) to the emittance beam absorber and 9.6 x 10{sup 14} protons/hour - 60 beam pulses/hour of full Linac beam pulse intensity to experiments in the MTA experimental hall. This extremely high intensity implies careful investigation into and …