Science Highlights

One of the methods scientists use to study quantum many-body systems is the ab initio approach, but some ab initio methods run into severe computational problems when using realistic interactions. This study introduces wavefunction matching and uses it to perform lattice simulations with realistic interactions. This allows scientists to make calculations that were once impossible.

Researchers have developed a way to consistently produce 17-4 PH stainless steel using additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. The rapid change in temperatures that occur in these materials after they are heated by the lasers in 3D printers make it difficult to achieve the toughness needed for 17-4 PH steel. This research used bright X-ray beams to observe those fast changes in real time, then altered the chemical composition to compensate for them.

Researchers at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams reached a new milestone in isotope studies, accelerating a high-power beam of uranium ions to a record 10.4 kilowatts of continuous beam power to a target. The beam enabled scientists to produce and identify three new isotopes, gallium-88, arsenic-93, and selenium-96.

Researchers studied stress effects in novel “superalloys” made from two 3D-printed high-strength, high-heat resistant metals. The study found that heat treatments reduce stress created in the materials during manufacturing. It also found that stresses are more likely to be caused by certain manufacturing parameters than they are by the metal’s chemical composition.

The original FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) principles defined best practices to maximize the reuse of datasets. Researchers have now adapted these principles for scientific datasets and research software. This work demonstrates how to combine FAIR datasets and FAIR AI models to quickly characterize materials at Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon Source and how to link the Advanced Photon Source with the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility.

Researchers looking for materials that conduct electrons with near-zero resistance at normal operating temperature have found a promising candidate. The material, a layered "sandwich" of bismuth telluride and manganese bismuth telluride structure, exhibits the quantum anomalous Hall effect. In this effect, electrons with their spins all aligned in the same direction can travel along the edges of a material with almost no resistance.

Combining two techniques, analytical chemists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory became the first to detect fluorine and different isotopes of uranium in a single particle at the same time. Because fluorine is essential for converting uranium into a form suitable for enrichment, spotting both elements together may help inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency determine the intended use of a nuclear material.

A new stellar process, the intermediate “i" process, has been proposed to explain new astronomical observations on nucleosynthesis. Scientists recently reported on the measurement of a nuclear reaction that affects the production of lanthanum in the i process. The measurement will help to improve scientific understanding of nucleosynthesis.