Obtaining a burning plasma is a critical step towards self-sustaining fusion energy
. A burning plasma is one in which the fusion reactions themselves are the primary source of heating in the plasma, ...which is necessary to sustain and propagate the burn, enabling high energy gain. After decades of fusion research, here we achieve a burning-plasma state in the laboratory. These experiments were conducted at the US National Ignition Facility, a laser facility delivering up to 1.9 megajoules of energy in pulses with peak powers up to 500 terawatts. We use the lasers to generate X-rays in a radiation cavity to indirectly drive a fuel-containing capsule via the X-ray ablation pressure, which results in the implosion process compressing and heating the fuel via mechanical work. The burning-plasma state was created using a strategy to increase the spatial scale of the capsule
through two different implosion concepts
. These experiments show fusion self-heating in excess of the mechanical work injected into the implosions, satisfying several burning-plasma metrics
. Additionally, we describe a subset of experiments that appear to have crossed the static self-heating boundary, where fusion heating surpasses the energy losses from radiation and conduction. These results provide an opportunity to study α-particle-dominated plasmas and burning-plasma physics in the laboratory.
Edge localized modes (ELMs) in high-confinement mode plasmas were completely suppressed in KSTAR by applying n=1 nonaxisymmetric magnetic perturbations. Initially, the ELMs were intensified with a ...reduction of frequency, but completely suppressed later. The electron density had an initial 10% decrease followed by a gradual increase as ELMs were suppressed. Interesting phenomena such as a saturated evolution of edge T(e) and broadband changes of magnetic fluctuations were observed, suggesting the change of edge transport by the applied magnetic perturbations.
The field of dark matter detection is a highly visible and highly competitive one. In this paper, we propose recommendations for presenting dark matter direct detection results particularly suited ...for weak-scale dark matter searches, although we believe the spirit of the recommendations can apply more broadly to searches for other dark matter candidates, such as very light dark matter or axions. To translate experimental data into a final published result, direct detection collaborations must make a series of choices in their analysis, ranging from how to model astrophysical parameters to how to make statistical inferences based on observed data. While many collaborations follow a standard set of recommendations in some areas, for example the expected flux of dark matter particles (to a large degree based on a paper from Lewin and Smith in 1995), in other areas, particularly in statistical inference, they have taken different approaches, often from result to result by the same collaboration. We set out a number of recommendations on how to apply the now commonly used Profile Likelihood Ratio method to direct detection data. In addition, updated recommendations for the Standard Halo Model astrophysical parameters and relevant neutrino fluxes are provided. The authors of this note include members of the DAMIC, DarkSide, DARWIN, DEAP, LZ, NEWS-G, PandaX, PICO, SBC, SENSEI, SuperCDMS, and XENON collaborations, and these collaborations provided input to the recommendations laid out here. Wide-spread adoption of these recommendations will make it easier to compare and combine future dark matter results.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
In a burning plasma state
1–7
, alpha particles from deuterium–tritium fusion reactions redeposit their energy and are the dominant source of heating. This state has recently been achieved ...at the US National Ignition Facility
8
using indirect-drive inertial-confinement fusion. Our experiments use a laser-generated radiation-filled cavity (a hohlraum) to spherically implode capsules containing deuterium and tritium fuel in a central hot spot where the fusion reactions occur. We have developed more efficient hohlraums to implode larger fusion targets compared with previous experiments
9,10
. This delivered more energy to the hot spot, whereas other parameters were optimized to maintain the high pressures required for inertial-confinement fusion. We also report improvements in implosion symmetry control by moving energy between the laser beams
11–16
and designing advanced hohlraum geometry
17
that allows for these larger implosions to be driven at the present laser energy and power capability of the National Ignition Facility. These design changes resulted in fusion powers of 1.5 petawatts, greater than the input power of the laser, and 170 kJ of fusion energy
18,19
. Radiation hydrodynamics simulations
20,21
show energy deposition by alpha particles as the dominant term in the hot-spot energy balance, indicative of a burning plasma state.
We present X-ray and radio observations of the Fast Blue Optical Transient CRTS-CSS161010 J045834−081803 (CSS161010 hereafter) at t = 69-531 days. CSS161010 shows luminous X-ray (Lx ∼ 5 × 1039 erg ...s−1) and radio (L ∼ 1029 erg s−1 Hz−1) emission. The radio emission peaked at ∼100 days post-transient explosion and rapidly decayed. We interpret these observations in the context of synchrotron emission from an expanding blast wave. CSS161010 launched a mildly relativistic outflow with velocity Γβc ≥ 0.55c at ∼100 days. This is faster than the non-relativistic AT 2018cow (Γβc ∼ 0.1c) and closer to ZTF18abvkwla (Γβc ≥ 0.3c at 63 days). The inferred initial kinetic energy of CSS161010 (Ek 1051 erg) is comparable to that of long gamma-ray bursts, but the ejecta mass that is coupled to the mildly relativistic outflow is significantly larger ( ). This is consistent with the lack of observed γ-rays. The luminous X-rays were produced by a different emission component to the synchrotron radio emission. CSS161010 is located at ∼150 Mpc in a dwarf galaxy with stellar mass M* ∼ 107 M and specific star formation rate sSFR ∼ 0.3 Gyr−1. This mass is among the lowest inferred for host galaxies of explosive transients from massive stars. Our observations of CSS161010 are consistent with an engine-driven aspherical explosion from a rare evolutionary path of a H-rich stellar progenitor, but we cannot rule out a stellar tidal disruption event on a centrally located intermediate-mass black hole. Regardless of the physical mechanism, CSS161010 establishes the existence of a new class of rare (rate < 0.4% of the local core-collapse supernova rate) H-rich transients that can launch mildly relativistic outflows.
We present results from an analysis of all data taken by the bicep2/Keck CMB polarization experiments up to and including the 2015 observing season. This includes the first Keck Array observations at ...220 GHz and additional observations at 95 and 150 GHz. The Q and U maps reach depths of 5.2, 2.9, and 26 μK_{CMB} arcmin at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, respectively, over an effective area of ≈400 square degrees. The 220 GHz maps achieve a signal to noise on polarized dust emission approximately equal to that of Planck at 353 GHz. We take auto and cross spectra between these maps and publicly available WMAP and Planck maps at frequencies from 23 to 353 GHz. We evaluate the joint likelihood of the spectra versus a multicomponent model of lensed-ΛCDM+r+dust+synchrotron+noise. The foreground model has seven parameters, and we impose priors on some of these using external information from Planck and WMAP derived from larger regions of sky. The model is shown to be an adequate description of the data at the current noise levels. The likelihood analysis yields the constraint r_{0.05}<0.07 at 95% confidence, which tightens to r_{0.05}<0.06 in conjunction with Planck temperature measurements and other data. The lensing signal is detected at 8.8σ significance. Running a maximum likelihood search on simulations we obtain unbiased results and find that σ(r)=0.020. These are the strongest constraints to date on primordial gravitational waves.
Traditionally, most drugs have been discovered using phenotypic or target‐based screens. Subsequently, their indications are often expanded on the basis of clinical observations, providing additional ...benefit to patients. This review highlights computational techniques for systematic analysis of transcriptomics (Connectivity Map, CMap), side effects, and genetics (genome‐wide association study, GWAS) data to generate new hypotheses for additional indications. We also discuss data domains such as electronic health records (EHRs) and phenotypic screening that we consider promising for novel computational repositioning methods.
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2013); 93 4, 335–341. doi:10.1038/clpt.2013.1
We study the pattern formation of a chiral nematic liquid crystal under a wetting transition. In the isotropic-liquid crystal transition, a surface-enhanced effect happens and a thin liquid crystal ...layer forms at the substrates of the cell. In this confined system, chirality, elastic anisotropy, surface anchoring, and wetting strength interplay. A striped pattern is formed due to the chiral nature of the material and the tilted anchoring at the isotropic boundary. As the wetting layer grows from cooling the sample, first the stripes rotate through a process where dislocation defects are formed. As the wetting layer grows further, the periodicity of the stripe structure changes, and finally a splitting of the stripes occurs. Because of the unique properties of this system, new insights about pitch-thickness ratio, interface anchoring, and elastic anisotropy effect are found. Since the anchoring at the isotropic boundary is weak, the critical ratio between the thickness of the wetting layer and the helical pitch is different from that reported in the literature. We also discover that the elastic anisotropy and elastic constant ratios play a critical role in stripe formation. Because of the similarity with biological fibrous composites (twisted plywood), our system may be used as a synthetic version to mimic the naturally occurring one. We carry out a simulation study to explain the experimental results.
We describe here a comprehensive study on the effect of cellular structure and melt pool boundary (MPB) condition on the mechanical properties, deformation and failure behavior of AlSi10Mg alloy ...processed by selective laser melting (SLM). The morphology of melt pool (MP) on the load bearing face of tensile samples was significantly different with build directions. It resulted in different mechanical properties of the samples with different build directions. Furthermore, the microstructure analysis revealed that the MP in the SLM AlSi10Mg alloy mainly consisted of columnar α-Al grains which were made of ultra-fine elongated cellular structure. Electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis revealed that the long axis of cellular structure and columnar grains were parallel to < 100 >, which resulted in < 100 > fiber texture in SLM AlSi10Mg alloy. However, Schmid factor calculation demonstrated that the anisotropy of mechanical properties of the SLM AlSi10Mg alloy built with different direction was mainly dependent on the distribution of MPB on the load bearing face, and not texture. The defects including pores, residual stress and heat affected zone (HAZ) located at MPB made it the weakest part in the SLM AlSi10Mg. The sample built along horizontal direction exhibited good combination of strength and plasticity and is attributed to the lowest fraction of MPBs that withstand load during tensile. MPB had strong influence on the mechanical properties and failure behavior of SLM AlSi10Mg built with different directions.
We demonstrate that the pulsed-time structure and high-peak ion intensity provided by the laser-ablation process can be directly combined with the high resolution, high efficiency, and low background ...offered by collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy. This simple, versatile, and powerful method offers new and unique opportunities for high-precision studies of atomic and molecular structures, impacting fundamental and applied physics research. We show that even for ion beams possessing a relatively large energy spread, high-resolution hyperfine-structure measurements can be achieved by correcting the observed line shapes with the time-of-flight information of the resonantly ionized ions. This approach offers exceptional advantages for performing precision measurements on beams with large energy spreads and allows measurements of atomic parameters of previously inaccessible electronic states. The potential of this experimental method in multidisciplinary research is illustrated by performing, for the first time, hyperfine-structure measurements of selected states in the naturally occurring isotopes of indium,In113,115. Ab initio atomic-physics calculations have been performed to highlight the importance of our findings in the development of state-of-the-art atomic many-body methods, nuclear structure, and fundamental-physics studies.
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