Science Highlights

Nuclear fusion reactions in stars consume carbon-12 to produce oxygen-16, and the resulting ratio of carbon to oxygen shapes a star’s evolution. Physicists have not been able to measure this ratio with precision using existing experimental methods. A new method shines gamma beams on an oxygen-16 target and captures images of the outgoing reaction products to obtain higher-quality data on this reaction.

Fusion reactors face a challenge called “core-edge integration,” which involves maintaining a plasma that is hot at the core but not too hot to damage reactor walls. New research finds that a previously identified operating regime called Super H-mode can leverage the use of impurities such as nitrogen to address this challenge. The research also indicates that Super-H mode can be scaled up to future fusion plants.

The nuclei that smash together to produce fusion energy in a reactor originate from ionized neutral particles. The edges of fusion devices have large numbers of neutrals available to gain or lose electrons to become ions. These neutrals influence several important features of the plasma, including the rate at which the plasma fuels a reactor. A new pinhole camera system called Lyman-alpha Measurement Apparatus (LLAMA) on the DIII-D tokamak helped researchers better understand these neutrals.

Researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered approach to analyzing X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. The X-ray Crystallography companion Agent (XCA) approach assembles a group of AIs that debate each other while analyzing live streaming X-ray data. Once the AIs cast their final votes, the XCA approach uses the vote tally to interpret what the most likely atomic structure is and to suggest how confident the researchers should be of the AI analysis. The AI analysis matches human effectiveness but takes just seconds.

Drizzle is an important factor in how clouds form and change and how water moves around the Earth. This is an extremely complex process, so scientists simplify it for climate models using parameterization. However, many models do not model drizzle formation with sufficient accuracy. This research used data collected in the field along with machine learning to create new methods to estimate drizzle formation. The results also reveal the importance of drizzle drop number concentration in drizzle formation.

Scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) developed a new computational technique that improves the effective resolution of neutron instruments by 500 percent. The solution comes at virtually no cost since it requires no additional hardware and uses open source software.

Industry produces acetone and isopropanol using processes that release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Researchers have now developed a new fermentation process that efficiently converts waste carbon oxide gases into acetone and isopropanol. This use of engineered bacteria advances progress on “carbon-negative” biomanufacturing for more sustainable industrial production and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Quantum computers are prone to errors that limit their usefulness in scientific research. While error correction would be the ideal solution, it is not yet feasible due to the number of qubits needed. New research shows the value of an error mitigation approach called noise estimation circuits for improving the reliability of quantum computer simulations.