We report a new measurement of the t{bar t} production cross section in p{bar p} collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV using events with one charged lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse energy, and jets. Using 425 pb{sup -1} of data collected using the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, and enhancing the t{bar t} content of the sample by tagging b jets with a secondary vertex tagging algorithm, the t{bar t} production cross section is measured to be: {sigma}{sub p{bar p} {yields} t{bar t}+X} = 6.6 {+-} 0.9(stat + syst) {+-} 0.4(lum) pb. This cross section is the most precise D0 measurement to date for t{bar t} production and is in good agreement with standard model expectations.

A search for the pair production of scalar top quarks, {bar t}, has been performed in 360 pb{sup -1} of data from p{bar p} collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV, collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The {bar t} decay mode considered is {bar t} {yields} c{bar {chi}}{sub 1}{sup 0}, where {bar {chi}}{sub 1}{sup 0} is the lightest supersymmetric particle. The topology analyzed therefore consists of a pair of acoplanar heavy-flavor jets with missing transverse energy. The data show good agreement with the standard model expectation, and a 95% C.L. exclusion domain in the (m{sub {tilde t}}, m{sub {tilde {chi}}{sub 1}{sup 0}}) plane has been determined, extending the domain excluded by previous experiments.

We present the first observation of exclusive e{sup +}e{sup -} production in hadron-hadron collisions, using p{bar p} collision data at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV taken by the Run II Collider Detector at Fermilab, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 532 pb{sup -1}. We require the absence of any particle signatures in the detector except for an electron and a positron candidate, each with transverse energy E{sub T} > 5 GeV and pseudorapidity |{eta}| < 2. With these criteria, 16 events are observed compared to a background expectation of 1.9 {+-} 0.3 events. These events are consistent in cross section and properties with the QED process p{bar p} {yields} p + e{sup +}e{sup -} + {bar p} through two-photon exchange. The measured cross section is 1.6{sub -0.3}{sup +0.5}(stat) {+-} 0.3(syst) pb. This agrees with the theoretical prediction of 1.71 {+-} 0.01 pb.

The authors present the results of a search for W{prime} boson decaying to electron-neutrino pairs in p{bar p} collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV, using a data sample corresponding to 205 pb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity collected by the CDF II detector at Fermilab. They observe no evidence for this decay mode and set limits on the production cross section times branching fraction, assuming the neutrinos from W{prime} boson decays to be light. If they assume the manifest left-right symmetric model, they exclude a W{prime} boson with mass less than 788 GeV/c{sup 2} at the 95% confidence level.

We report on the serendipitous discovery of the brightest Lyman Break Galaxy (LBG) currently known, a galaxy at z = 2.73 that is being strongly lensed by the z = 0.38 Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) SDSS J002240.91+143110.4. The arc of this gravitational lens system, which we have dubbed the ''8 o'clock arc'' due to its time of discovery, was initially identified in the imaging data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 (SDSS DR4); followup observations on the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) 3.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory confirmed the lensing nature of this system and led to the identification of the arc's spectrum as that of an LBG. The arc has a spectrum and a redshift remarkably similar to those of the previous record-holder for brightest LBG (MS 1512-cB58, a.k.a ''cB58''), but, with an estimated total magnitude of (g,r,i) = (20.0,19.2,19.0) and surface brightness of ({mu}{sub g}, {mu}{sub r}, {mu}{sub i}) = (23.3, 22.5, 22.3) mag arcsec{sup -2}, the 8 o'clock arc is thrice as bright. The 8 o'clock arc, which consists of three lensed images of the LBG, is 162{sup o}(9.6'') long and has a length-to-width ratio of 6:1. A fourth image of the LBG--a counter-image--can …

Atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) of tin oxide is a very important manufacturing technique used in the production of low-emissivity glass. It is also the primary method used to provide wear-resistant coatings on glass containers. The complexity of these systems, which involve chemical reactions in both the gas phase and on the deposition surface, as well as complex fluid dynamics, makes process optimization and design of new coating reactors a very difficult task. In 2001 the U.S. Dept. of Energy Industrial Technologies Program Glass Industry of the Future Team funded a project to address the need for more accurate data concerning the tin oxide APCVD process. This report presents a case study of on-line APCVD using organometallic precursors, which are the primary reactants used in industrial coating processes. Research staff at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, CA, and the PPG Industries Glass Technology Center in Pittsburgh, PA collaborated to produce this work. In this report, we describe a detailed investigation of the factors controlling the growth of tin oxide films. The report begins with a discussion of the basic elements of the deposition chemistry, including gas-phase thermochemistry of tin species and mechanisms of chemical reactions involved in the decomposition …

The Fermilab proton source is capable of providing 8 GeV protons for both the future long-baseline neutrino program (NuMI), and for a new program of low energy muon experiments. In particular, if the 8 GeV protons are rebunched and then slowly extracted into an external beamline, the resulting proton beam would be suitable for a muon-to-electron conversion experiment designed to improve on the existing sensitivity by three orders of magnitude. We describe a scheme for the required beam manipulations. The scheme uses the Accumulator for momentum stacking, and the Debuncher for bunching and slow extraction. This would permit simultaneous operation of the muon program with the future NuMI program, delivering 10{sup 20} protons per year at 8 GeV for the muon program at the cost of a modest ({approx}10%) reduction in the protons available to the neutrino program.

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We present synthesis, characterization and testing results of our applied research project, which focuses on the effects of surface and skeletal modification of zeolites for significant enhancements in current hydrocarbon (HC) separations. Zeolites are commonly used by the chemical and petroleum industries as catalysts and ion-exchangers. They have high potential for separations owing to their unique pore structures and adsorption properties and their thermal, mechanical and chemical properties. Because of zeolites separation properties, low cost, and robustness in industrial process, they are natural choice for use as industrial adsorbents. This is a multidisciplinary effort to research, design, develop, engineer, and test new and improved materials for the separation of branched vs. linear organic molecules found in commercially important HC streams via adsorption based separations. The focus of this project was the surface and framework modification of the commercially available zeolites, while tuning the adsorption properties and the selectivities of the bulk and membrane separations. In particular, we are interested with our partners at Goodyear Chemical, on how to apply the modified zeolites to feedstock isoprene purification. For the characterization and the property measurements of the new and improved materials powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Residual Gas Analyzer-Mass Spectroscopy (RGA-MS), Electron Microscopy …

This thesis presents a search for physics beyond the standard model of elementary particles in events containing three or more charged leptons in the final state. The search is based on an R-parity violating supersymmetric model that assumes supersymmetric particles are pair produced at hadron colliders and the R-parity violating coupling is small enough so that these particles ''cascade'' decay into the lightest supersymmetric particle. The lightest supersymmetric particle may only decay into two charged leptons (electrons or muons) plus a neutrino through a lepton number violating interaction. Proton-antiproton collision events produced with {radical} s= 1.96 TeV are collected between March 2002 and August 2004 with an integrated luminosity of 346 pb{sup -1}. R-parity violating supersymmetry is sought for in two data samples, one with exactly three leptons and one with four or more leptons. The trilepton sample has a modest background primarily from Drell-Yan events where an additional lepton is a result of photon conversions or jet misidentification while the four or more lepton sample has an extremely low background. In the three lepton samples 6 events are observed while in the four or more lepton sample zero events are observed. These results are consistent with the standard model …

Laser Engineered Net Shaping{trademark} (LENS{reg_sign}) is a layer additive manufacturing process that creates fully dense metal components using a laser, metal powder, and a computer solid model. This process has previously been utilized in research settings to create metal components and new material alloys. The ''Qualification of LENS for the Repair and Modification of Metal NWC Components'' project team has completed a Technology Investment project to investigate the use of LENS for repair of high rigor components. The team submitted components from four NWC sites for repair or modification using the LENS process. These components were then evaluated for their compatibility to high rigor weapons applications. The repairs included hole filling, replacement of weld lips, addition of step joints, and repair of surface flaws and gouges. The parts were evaluated for mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, weldability, and hydrogen compatibility. This document is a record of the LENS processing of each of these component types and includes process parameters, build strategies, and lessons learned. Through this project, the LENS process was shown to successfully repair or modify metal NWC components.

The LENS Qualification team had the goal of performing a process qualification for the Laser Engineered Net Shaping{trademark}(LENS{reg_sign}) process. Process Qualification requires that a part be selected for process demonstration. The AY1E0125 D-Bottle Bracket from the W80-3 was selected for this work. The repeatability of the LENS process was baselined to determine process parameters. Six D-Bottle brackets were deposited using LENS, machined to final dimensions, and tested in comparison to conventionally processed brackets. The tests, taken from ES1E0003, included a mass analysis and structural dynamic testing including free-free and assembly-level modal tests, and Haversine shock tests. The LENS brackets performed with very similar characteristics to the conventionally processed brackets. Based on the results of the testing, it was concluded that the performance of the brackets made them eligible for parallel path testing in subsystem level tests. The testing results and process rigor qualified the LENS process as detailed in EER200638525A.

Active transport systems provide essential functions in terms of cell physiology and metastasis. These systems, however, are also co-opted by invading viruses, enabling directed transport of the virus to and from the cell's nucleus (i.e., the site of virus replication). Based on this concept, fundamentally new approaches for interrogating and manipulating the inner workings of living cells may be achievable by co-opting Nature's active transport systems as an in vivo biomolecular tool. The overall goal of this project was to investigate the ability to engineer kinesin-based transport systems for in vivo applications, specifically the collection of effector proteins (e.g., transcriptional regulators) within single cells. In the first part of this project, a chimeric fusion protein consisting of kinesin and a single chain variable fragment (scFv) of an antibody was successfully produced through a recombinant expression system. The kinesin-scFv retained both catalytic and antigenic functionality, enabling selective capture and transport of target antigens. The incorporation of a rabbit IgG-specific scFv into the kinesin established a generalized system for functionalizing kinesin with a wide range of target-selective antibodies raised in rabbits. The second objective was to develop methods of isolating the intact microtubule network from live cells as a platform for evaluating …

To reduce costs and hazardous wastes associated with the production of lead-based active ceramic components, an injection molding process is being investigated to replace the current machining process. Here, lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic particles are suspended in a thermoplastic resin and are injected into a mold and allowed to cool. The part is then bisque fired and sintered to complete the densification process. To help design this new process we use a finite element model to describe the injection molding of the ceramic paste. Flow solutions are obtained using a coupled, finite-element based, Newton-Raphson numerical method based on the GOMA/ARIA suite of Sandia flow solvers. The evolution of the free surface is solved with an advanced level set algorithm. This approach incorporates novel methods for representing surface tension and wetting forces that affect the evolution of the free surface. Thermal, rheological, and wetting properties of the PZT paste are measured for use as input to the model. The viscosity of the PZT is highly dependent both on temperature and shear rate. One challenge in modeling the injection process is coming up with appropriate constitutive equations that capture relevant phenomenology without being too computationally complex. For this reason we model …

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The nature of the cosmic dark matter is unknown. The most compelling hypothesis is that dark matter consists of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the 100 GeV mass range. Such particles would annihilate in the galactic halo, producing high-energy gamma rays which might be detectable in gamma ray telescopes such as the GLAST satellite. We investigate the ability of GLAST to distinguish between the WIMP annihilation spectrum and the spectrum of known astrophysical source classes. Focusing on the emission from the galactic satellite halos predicted by the cold dark matter model, we find that the WIMP gamma-ray spectrum is unique; the separation from known source classes can be done in a convincing way. We discuss the follow-up of possible WIMP sources with Imaging Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescopes. Finally we discuss the impact that Large Hadron Collider data might have on the study of galactic dark matter.

This report describes the evaluation results for new Orion VII buses at NYCT with CNG propulsion and new hybrid propulsion.

Microfluidic devices have been proposed for 'Lab-on-a-Chip' applications for nearly a decade. Despite the unquestionable promise of these devices to allow rapid, sensitive and portable biochemical analysis, few practical devices exist. It is often difficult to adapt current laboratory techniques to the microscale because bench-top methods use discrete liquid volumes, while most current microfluidic devices employ streams of liquid confined in a branching network of micron-scale channels. The goal of this research was to use two phase liquid flows, creating discrete packets of liquid. Once divided into discrete packets, the packets can be moved controllably within the microchannels without loss of material. Each packet is equivalent to a minute test tube, holding a fraction from a separation or an aliquot to be reacted. We report on the fabrication of glass and PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) devices that create and store packets.

The long range strategic goal of the Department of Energy's Building Technologies (DOE/BT) Program is to create, by 2020, technologies and design approaches that enable the construction of net-zero energy homes at low incremental cost (DOE/BT 2005). A net zero energy home (NZEH) is a residential building with greatly reduced needs for energy through efficiency gains, with the balance of energy needs supplied by renewable technologies. While initially focused on new construction, these technologies and design approaches are intended to have application to buildings constructed before 2020 as well resulting in substantial reduction in energy use for all building types and ages. DOE/BT's Emerging Technologies (ET) team is working to support this strategic goal by identifying and developing advanced heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, and water heating (HVAC/WH) technology options applicable to NZEHs. Although the energy efficiency of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment has increased substantially in recent years, new approaches are needed to continue this trend. Dramatic efficiency improvements are necessary to enable progress toward the NZEH goals, and will require a radical rethinking of opportunities to improve system performance. The large reductions in HVAC energy consumption necessary to support the NZEH goals require a systems-oriented analysis approach that characterizes …

In this late-start Tier I Seniors Council sponsored LDRD, we have designed, simulated, microfabricated, packaged, and tested ion traps to extend the current quantum simulation capabilities of macro-ion traps to tens of ions in one and two dimensions in monolithically microfabricated micrometer-scaled MEMS-based ion traps. Such traps are being microfabricated and packaged at Sandia's MESA facility in a unique tungsten MEMS process that has already made arrays of millions of micron-sized cylindrical ion traps for mass spectroscopy applications. We define and discuss the motivation for quantum simulation using the trapping of ions, show the results of efforts in designing, simulating, and microfabricating W based MEMS ion traps at Sandia's MESA facility, and describe is some detail our development of a custom based ion trap chip packaging technology that enables the implementation of these devices in quantum physics experiments.

This paper explores the effects of wind farm power fluctuations on the power network. A dynamic simulation of a wind farm is performed and the spatial distribution of the wind turbines is considered.

Voluntary consumer decisions to purchase electricity supplied by renewable energy sources represent a powerful market support mechanism for renewable energy development. Beginning in the early 1990s, a small number of U.S. utilities began offering ''green power'' options to their customers. Since then, these products have become more prevalent, both from traditional utilities and from marketers operating in states that have introduced competition into their retail electricity markets. Today, more than half of all U.S. consumers have an option to purchase some type of green power product from a retail electricity provider. Currently, more than 600 utilities, or about 20% of utilities nationally, offer green power programs to customers. These programs allow customers to purchase some portion of their power supply as renewable energy--almost always at a higher price--or to contribute funds for the utility to invest in renewable energy development. The term ''green pricing'' is typically used to refer to these utility programs offered in regulated or noncompetitive electricity markets. This report documents green power marketing activities and trends in the United States.

This Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) Plan addresses the actions necessary for the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 553: Areas 19, 20 Mud Pits and Cellars, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada. It has been developed in accordance with the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order'' (FFACO) (1996) that was agreed to by the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Defense. A SAFER may be performed when the following criteria are met: (1) Conceptual corrective actions are clearly identified (although some degree of investigation may be necessary to select a specific corrective action before completion of the Corrective Action Investigation [CAI]); (2) Uncertainty of the nature, extent, and corrective action must be limited to an acceptable level of risk; (3) The SAFER Plan includes decision points and criteria for making data quality objective (DQO) decisions. The purpose of the investigation will be to document and verify the adequacy of existing information; to affirm the decision for clean closure, closure in place, or no further action; and to provide sufficient data to implement the corrective action. The actual corrective action selected will be based on characterization activities implemented under this SAFER Plan. …

We measured ecosystem/atmospheric carbon exchange through a range of methods covering a range of scales. We measured carbon (C) pool and flux for a number of previously poorly quantified ecosystems, developed measurement and modeling methods, and applied these to substantially increase the accuracy and reduce uncertainty in ecosystem/atmospheric C exchange at a range of scales. It appears most upland forests are weak to strong carbon sinks, and status depends largely on disturbance history and age. Net flux from wetland ecosystems appears to be from weak sinks to moderate sources of C to the atmosphere. We found limited evidence for a positive feedback of warming/drying to increased ecosystem C emissions. We further developed multi-source integration and modeling methods, including multiple towers, to scale estimates to landscapes and larger regions.