Most physics analysis jobs involve multiple selection steps on the input data. These selection steps are called ''cuts'' or ''queries''. A common strategy to implement these queries is to read all input data from files and then process the queries in memory. In many applications the number of variables used to define these queries is a relative small portion of the overall data set therefore reading all variables into memory takes unnecessarily long time. In this paper we describe an integration effort that can significantly reduce this unnecessary reading by using an efficient compressed bitmap index technology. The primary advantage of this index is that it can process arbitrary combinations of queries very efficiently, while most other indexing technologies suffer from the ''curse of dimensionality'' as the number of queries increases. By integrating this index technology with the ROOT analysis framework, the end-users can benefit from the added efficiency without having to modify their analysis programs. Our performance results show that for multi-dimensional queries, bitmap indices outperform the traditional analysis method up to a factor of 10.

The possibility of Cherenkov-like gluon bremsstrahlung in dense matter is studied. We point out that the occurrence of Cherenkov radiation in dense matter is sensitive to the presence of partonic bound states. This is illustrated by a calculation of the dispersion relation of a massless particle in a simple model in which it couples to two different massive resonance states. We further argue that detailed spectroscopy of jet correlations can directly probe the index of refraction of this matter, which in turn will provide information about the mass scale of these partonic bound states.

Within the framework of the constituent quark model, it isshown that the single hadron fragmentation function of a parton can beexpressed as a convolution of shower diquark or triquark distributionfunction and quark recombination probability, if the interference betweenamplitudes of quark recombination with different momenta is neglected.Therecombination probability is determined by the hadron's wavefunction inthe constituent quark model. The shower diquark or triquark distributionfunctions of a fragmenting jet are defined in terms of overlappingmatrices of constituent quarks and parton field operators. They aresimilar in form to dihadron or trihadron fragmentation functions in termsof parton operator and hadron states. Extending the formalism to thefield theory at finite temperature, we automatically derive contributionsto the effective single hadron fragmentation function from therecombination of shower and thermal constituent quarks. Suchcontributions involve single or diquark distribution functions which inturn can be related to diquark or triquark distribution functions via sumrules. We also derive QCD evolution equations for quark distributionfunctions that in turn determine the evolution of the effective jetfragmentation functions in a thermal medium.

A distributed memory message-passing parallel implementation of a finite-volume discretization of the primitive equations in the Community Atmosphere Model 3.0 is presented. These three-dimensional equations can be decoupled into a set of two-dimensional equations by the introduction of a floating vertical coordinate, resulting in considerable potential parallelism. Subsequent analysis of the data dependencies --in particular those arising from the polar singularity of the latitude-longitude coordinate system--suggests that two separate domain decompositions should be employed, each tailored for a different part of the model. The implementation requires that data be periodically redistributed between these two decompositions. Furthermore, data from nearest neighbors are kept in halo regions, which are updated between iterations. These data movements are optimized through one-sided communication primitives and multithreading. The resulting algorithm is shown to scale to very large machine configurations, even for relatively coarse resolutions.

Gluon bremsstrahlung induced by multiple parton scattering in a finite dense medium has a unique angular distribution with respect to the initial parton direction. A dead-cone structure with an opening angle; theta2{sub 0}; approx 2(1-z)/(zLE) for gluons with fractional energy z arises from the Landau-Pomeran chuck-Migdal (LPM) interference. In a medium where the gluon's dielectric constant is; epsilon>1, the LPM interference pattern is shown to become Cherenkov-like with an increased opening angle determined by the dielectric constant$/cos2/theta{sub c}=z+(1-z)//epsilon$. For a large dielectric constant/epsilon; gg 1+2/z2LE, the corresponding total radiative parton energy loss is about twice that from normal gluon bremsstrahlung. Implications of this Cherenkov-like gluon bremsstrahlung to the jet correlation pattern in high-energy heavy-ion collisions is discussed.

We describe improvements to the Cheetah thermochemical-kinetics code's equilibrium solver to enable it to find a wider range of thermodynamic states. Cheetah supports a wide range of elements, condensed detonation products, and gas phase reactions. Therefore, Cheetah can be applied to a wide range of shock problems involving both energetic and non-energetic materials. An improve equation of state is also introduced. New experimental validations of Cheetah's equation of state methodology have been performed, including both reacted and unreacted Hugoniots.

Enhanced electron trapping using plasma density down ramps as a method for improving the performance of laser injection schemes is proposed and analyzed. A decrease in density implies an increase in plasma wavelength, which can shift a relativistic electron from the defocusing to the focusing region of the accelerating wakefield, and a decrease in wake phase velocity, which lowers the trapping threshold. The specific method of two-pulse colliding pulse injector was examined using a three-dimensional test particle tracking code. A density down-ramp with a change of density on the order of tens of percent over distances greater than the plasma wavelength led to an enhancement of charge by two orders in magnitude or more, up to the limits imposed by beam loading. The accelerated bunches are ultrashort (fraction of the plasma wavelength, e.g., {approx}5 fs), high charge (>20 pC at modest injection laser intensity 10{sup 17} W/cm{sup 2}), with a relative energy spread of a few percent at a mean energy of {approx}25 MeV, and a normalized root-mean square emittance on the order 0.5 mm mrad.

In the past thirty years, the use of scientific computing has become pervasive in all disciplines: collection and interpretation of most experimental data is carried out using computers, and physical models in computable form, with various degrees of complexity and sophistication, are utilized in all fields of science. However, full prediction of physical and chemical phenomena based on the basic laws of Nature, using computer simulations, is a revolution still in the making, and it involves some formidable theoretical and computational challenges. We illustrate the progress and successes obtained in recent years in predicting fundamental properties of materials in condensed phases and at the nanoscale, using ab-initio, quantum simulations. We also discuss open issues related to the validation of the approximate, first principles theories used in large scale simulations, and the resulting complex interplay between computation and experiment. Finally, we describe some applications, with focus on nanostructures and liquids, both at ambient and under extreme conditions.

In laser beam alignment in addition to detecting position, one must also determine the rotation of the beam. This is essential when a commissioning new laser beam for National Ignition Facility located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. When the beam is square, the positions of the corners with respect to one another provides an estimate of the rotation of the beam. This work demonstrates corner detection in the presence or absence of a second order non-uniform illumination caused by a spatial mask. The Hough transform coupled with illumination dependent pre-processing is used to determine the corner points. We show examples from simulated and real NIF images.

A new direct constrained optimization algorithm forminimizing the Kohn-Sham (KS) total energy functional is presented inthis paper. The key ingredients of this algorithm involve projecting thetotal energy functional into a sequences of subspaces of small dimensionsand seeking the minimizer of total energy functional within eachsubspace. The minimizer of a subspace energy functional not only providesa search direction along which the KS total energy functional decreasesbut also gives an optimal "step-length" to move along this searchdirection. A numerical example is provided to demonstrate that this newdirect constrained optimization algorithm can be more efficient than theself-consistent field (SCF) iteration.

Measurements made in a laser heated diamond-anvil cell are reported that extend the melting curve of Xe to 80 GPa and 3350 K. The steep lowering of the melting slope (dT/dP) that occurs near 17 GPa and 2750 K results from the hybridization of the p-like valence and d-like conduction states with the formation of clusters in the liquid having Icosahedral Short-Range Order (ISRO).

The Long Trace Profiler (LTP), is well-suited for the measurement of the axial figure of cylindrical mirrors that usually have a long radius of curvature in the axial direction but have a short radius of curvature in the sagittal direction. The sagittal curvature causes the probe beam to diverge in the transverse direction without coming to a focus on the detector, resulting in a very weak signal. It is useful to place a cylinder lens into the optical system above the mirror under test to refocus the sagittal divergence and increase the signal level. A positive cylinder lens can be placed at two positions above the surface: the Cat's Eye reflection position and the Wavefront-Matching position. The Cat's Eye position, is very tolerant to mirror misalignment, which is not good if absolute axial radius of curvature is to be measured. Lateral positioning and rotational misalignments of lens and the mirror combine to produce unusual profile results. This paper looks at various alignment issues with measurements and by raytrace simulations to determine the best strategy to minimize radius of curvature errors in the measurement of cylindrical aspheres.