arXiv subjects

A. Shukla

Publications and source records attributed to A. Shukla.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

$K^{*}(892)^0$ production and the time between freeze-outs in $^{40}$Ar+$^{45}$Sc collisions by NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS

The analysis of the production of strange $K^{*}(892)^0$ resonances allows us to better understand the temporal evolution of high-energy nucleus--nucleus collisions. In particular, the ratio of $K^{*}(892)^0$ to charged kaon yields is used to determine the time interval between chemical and kinetic freeze-outs. In this paper, the first measurements of $K^{*}(892)^0$ production in central $^{40}$Ar+$^{45}$Sc collisions at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron are reported. They were performed by NA61/SHINE at collision center-of-mass energies per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 8.8, 11.9, 16.8 GeV. The obtained $\langle K^{*}(892)^0 \rangle/\langle K^{+} \rangle $ and $\langle K^{*}(892)^0 \rangle/\langle K^{-} \rangle$ mean multiplicity ratios are compared with corresponding results in $p$+$p$ collisions, allowing for an estimate of the time interval between chemical and thermal freeze-outs in the $^{40}$Ar+$^{45}$Sc system. These are the first such results reported for $^{40}$Ar+$^{45}$Sc collisions.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2025

From X-rays to High-Energy Gamma-rays: A Comprehensive Multi-Wavelength Study of Early Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows

Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) generate powerful relativistic jets that inject a large amount of energy into their surrounding environment, producing blast waves that accelerate particles to high energies. The GRB afterglow radiation provides a powerful means to investigate the microphysics of relativistic shocks and to probe the medium surrounding the progenitor of the burst. In this study, we present a comprehensive multiwavelength analysis of 31 GRBs observed between 2008 and 2024 from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (X-ray Telescope and Burst Alert Telescope) and the Fermi Large Area Telescope, covering photon energies from 0.3 keV to 300 GeV. Our goal is to characterize the broadband spectral properties of GRB afterglows in soft X-rays, hard X-rays, and high-energy gamma rays. We investigate correlations between spectral shape and energy output across different parts of the spectrum. The observed emission is modeled using a forward shock scenario that includes both synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) radiation losses. The results favor an SSC-dominated radiation model in a wind-like medium, consistent with expectations for long-duration GRBs. Crucially, this work provides new benchmarks for the microphysical parameters governing the emission, particularly indicating a notably low magnetic energy fraction, which refines previous estimates. By modeling broadband data, this study offers one of the most detailed SSC analyses in a wind-like environment to date. Notably, our results naturally account for the comparable energy output observed in both the soft X-ray and TeV bands, consistent with the previously detected TeV-GRBs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Electronic structure and thermoelectric properties of CoTiSi half-Heusler alloy: Doping overtones

The quest for thermoelectric materials with high figures of merit is an ongoing and significant area of research. In this study, we investigate the thermoelectric properties of the CoTiSi half-Heusler alloy using density functional theory calculations implemented via the Wien2k package. Our approach begins with a thorough structural optimization to determine the equilibrium lattice parameter and the atomic positions of the constituent elements within the unit cell of CoTiSi. Following this, we analyze the thermal transport properties of the alloy under the constant relaxation time approximation, which allows us to gain insights into its thermoelectric performance. Our calculations reveal a substantial Seebeck voltage and thermopower, with notably higher values for P-type doping than N-type doping. This finding highlights the enhanced thermoelectric performance of P-type carriers in this material, providing a starting point for experimentalists to utilize this alloy for real device applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Axisymmetric Gyrokinetic Simulation of ASDEX-Upgrade Scrape-off Layer Using a Conservative Implicit BGK Collision Operator

Collisions play an important role in turbulence and transport of fusion plasmas. For kinetic simulations, as the collisionality increases in the domain of interest, the size of the time step to resolve the collisional physics can become overly restrictive in an explicit time integration scheme, leading to high computational cost. With the aim of overcoming such restriction, we have implemented an implicit Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) collision operator for use in the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) full-f gyrokinetic solver within the Gkeyll framework, which, when combined with Gkeyll's traditional explicit time integrator for collisionless advection, can significantly increase the time step in gyrokinetic simulations of highly collisional regimes. To ensure conservation of density, momentum, and energy, we utilize an iterative scheme to correct the discretized approximation to the equilibrium Maxwellian distribution to which the BGK collision operator relaxes. We have further generalized the BGK infrastructure, both the implicit scheme and the correction routine, to handle cross species collisions. This improved implicit and conservative BGK operator is benchmarked against the more accurate but more computationally expensive Lenard-Bernstein-Dougherty (LBD) operator which has been utilized in prior studies with Gkeyll. The implicit BGK operator enables 2D axisymmetric simulations of the ASDEX-Upgrade scrape-off layer to run 56 times faster to completion than the simulations with the LBD operator, because the BGK operator is more robust and converges at a lower resolution than is required by the LBD operator. Additionally, in this more collisional limit, we demonstrate that the results of our simulations utilizing the implicit BGK operator agreed well with simulations utilizing the more computationally expensive LBD operator.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2025

Direct Comparison of Gyrokinetic and Fluid Scrape-Off Layer Simulations

Typically, fluid simulations are used for tokamak divertor design. However, fluid models are only valid if the SOL is highly collisional, an assumption that is valid in many present day experiments but is questionable in the high-power scenarios envisioned for burning plasmas and fusion pilot plants. This paper reports on comparisons between fluid and kinetic simulations of the scrape off layer (SOL) for parameters and geometry representative of the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) fusion pilot plant. The SOLPS-ITER (fluid) and Gkeyll (gyrokinetic) codes are operated in a two-dimensional (2D) axisymmetric mode, which replaces turbulence with ad-hoc diffusivities. In kinetic simulations, we observe that the ions in the upstream SOL experience significant mirror trapping. This substantially increases the upstream temperature and has important implications for impurity dynamics. We show that the mirror force, which is excluded in SOLPS's form of fluid equations, enhances the electrostatic potential drop along the field line in the SOL. We also show that the assumption of equal main ion and impurity temperatures, which is made in commonly used fluid codes, is invalid. The combination of these effects results in superior confinement of impurities to the divertor region in kinetic simulations, consistent with our earlier predictions. This effect can be dramatic, reducing the midplane impurity density by orders of magnitude. These results indicate that in reactor-like regimes the tolerable downstream impurity densities may be higher than would be predicted by fluid simulations, allowing for higher radiated power while avoiding unacceptable core contamination. Our results highlight the importance of kinetic simulations for divertor design and optimization for fusion pilot plants.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2025

Space Charge Doping Induced Band Modulation in Mono- and Bi-layer Graphene: a nano-ARPES study

Controlled modulation of electronic band structure in two-dimensional (2D) materials via doping is crucial for devices fabrication. For instance doped graphene has been envisaged for various applications like sensors, super-capacitors, transistors, p-n junctions, photo-detectors, etc. Many different techniques have been developed to achieve desired doping in 2D materials, like chemical doping, electrostatic doping, substrate doping, etc. Here, we have combined space charge doping with space and angle resolved photoemission (nano-ARPES), in order to directly observe the Fermi level modulation on micron-sized flakes of monolayer and bilayer graphene. The doping level can be tuned in a controlled manner, which allows us to directly observe the Fermi level tuning. In our experiment we successfully doped the graphene with p- and n-type carriers (holes/electrons) which are directly observed through band shift in ARPES measurements. The observed band shift is $\sim$250 meV for bilayer and $\sim$500 meV for monolayer graphene. The results from our experiment promote the space charge doping technique and nano-ARPES into other materials such as 2D semiconductors and superconductors, in order to directly observe the physical phenomena such as band gap transition and phase transition as function of carrier doping.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Tracking solid oxide cell electrode microstructural evolution during annealing by scanning 3D X-ray diffraction microscopy

Ni particle coarsening is a primary degradation mechanism in Ni/YSZ solid oxide cells, limiting the lifespan of these devices. In this study, we demonstrate the use of Scanning 3D X-ray diffraction (S3DXRD) with an unprecedented spatial resolution of 100 nm, to monitor the microstructural evolution within the 3D volume of a solid oxide cell subjected to ex situ heat treatment. Unlike conventional tomography, S3DXRD combines crystallographic information with spatial maps, enabling precise identification of grain boundaries and the determination of local curvature changes in the Ni microstructure. Our study reveals that the Ni phase undergoes significant structural changes during annealing, driven by grain growth. This transformation is characterized by a reduction in local curvature, particularly in regions where grains disappear. We observe that the disappearing grains are the smallest grains in the size distribution and are often located near pores. As a result, the most notable reduction in local curvature occurs at the Ni-pore interface. The quantitative characterization of polycrystalline microstructural evolution in Ni/YSZ system provides new insights into the mechanisms of Ni particle coarsening in SOC devices, potentially guiding strategies to enhance the long-term stability of SOC devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

On the critical competition between singlet exciton decay and free charge generation in non-fullerene-based organic solar cells with low energetic offsets

In this era of non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) based organic solar cells, reducing voltage losses while maintaining high photocurrents is the holy grail of current research. Recent focus lies in understanding the manifold fundamental mechanisms in organic blends with minimal energy offsets - particularly the relationship between ionization energy offset ({\Delta}IE) and free charge generation. We quantitatively probe this relationship in multiple NFA-based blends by mixing Y5 and Y6 NFAs with PM6 of varying molecular weights, covering a 15% to 1% power conversion efficiency (PCE) range and a progression of {\Delta}IE. Spectroelectrochemistry reveals a critical {\Delta}IE of approximately 0.3 eV, below which the PCE sharply declines. Transient absorption spectroscopy consistently reveals that a smaller {\Delta}IE slows the dissociation of the NFA's local singlet exciton (LE) into free charges, albeit restorable by an electric field. Bias-dependent time delayed collection experiments quantify the free charge generation efficiency, while photoluminescence quantum efficiency measurements assess photocurrent loss from LE decay. Combined with transient photoluminescence experiments, we find that the decay of singlet excitons is the primary competition to free charge generation in low-offset NFA-based organic solar cells, with neither noticeable losses from charge-transfer (CT) decay nor evidence for LE-CT hybridization. Our experimental data align with Marcus theory calculations, supported by density functional theory simulations, for zero-field free charge generation and exciton decay efficiencies. We find that efficient photocurrent generation generally requires that the CT state is located below the LE, but that this restriction is lifted in systems with a small reorganization energy for charge transfer.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Grain boundary strain localization in CdTe solar cell revealed by Scanning 3D X-ray diffraction microscopy

Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) solar cell technology is a promising candidate to help boost green energy production. However, impurities and structural defects are major barriers to improving the solar power conversion efficiency. Grain boundaries often act as aggregation sites for impurities, resulting in strain localization in areas of high diffusion. In this study, we demonstrate the use of scanning 3D X-ray diffraction microscopy to non-destructively make 3D maps of the grains, their phase, orientation, and local strain within a CdTe solar cell absorber layer with a resolution of 100 nm. We quantify twin boundaries and suggest how they affect grain size and orientation distribution. Local strain analysis reveals that strain is primarily associated with high misorientation grain boundaries, whereas twin boundaries do not show high strain values. We also observe that high-strain grain boundaries form a continuous pathway connected to the CdS layer. Hence, this high-strain region is believed to be associated with the diffusion of sulfur from the CdS layer along grain boundaries. This hypothesis is supported by SEM EDS and X-ray fluorescence experiments. The method and analysis demonstrated in this work can be applied to different polycrystalline materials where the characterization of grain boundary properties is essential to understand the microstructural phenomena.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Distinct contiguous versus separated triplet-pair multiexcitons in an intramolecular singlet fission chromophore

We show from many-body quantum mechanical calculations that there occur structurally distinct triplet-pair eigenstates in the intramolecular singlet fission (iSF) compound pentacene-tetracene-pentacene. Triplet excitons occupy neigboring pentacene and tetracene monomers in the higher energy doubly degenerate triplet-triplet multiexcitons, and terminal pentacene chromophores in the lower energy multiexciton. The lowest energy multiexciton is reached by ultrafast triplet migration within the triplet-triplet manifold, a result with profound implication for the design of superior iSF compounds.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Predicting Missing Light Curves of Gamma-Ray Bursts with Bidirectional-LSTM: An Approach for Enhanced Analysis

Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are powerful transient events that emit a large output of gamma rays within a few seconds. Studying these short bursts is vital for cosmological research since they originate from sources observed at large redshifts. To effectively carry out these studies, it is crucial to establish a correlation between the observable features of GRBs while reducing their uncertainty. For these reasons, a comprehensive description of the general GRB light curve (LC) would be crucial for the studies. However, unevenly spaced observations and significant gaps in the LC, which are primarily unavoidable for various reasons, make it difficult to characterize GRBs. Therefore, the general classification of GRB LCs remains challenging. In this study, we present a novel approach to reconstruct gamma-ray burst (GRB) light curves using bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM). Experimental results show that the BiLSTM approach performs better than traditional methods and produces smoother and more convincing reconstructions for GRBs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

Flaring activity from magnetic reconnection in BL Lacertae

The evolution of the spectral energy distribution during flares constrains models of particle acceleration in blazar jets. The archetypical blazar BL Lac provided a unique opportunity to study spectral variations during an extended strong flaring episode from 2020-2021. During its brightest $γ$-ray state, the observed flux (0.1-300 GeV) reached up to $2.15\,\times\,10^{-5}\,\rm{ph\,cm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}$, with sub-hour scale variability. The synchrotron hump extended into the X-ray regime showing a minute-scale flare with an associated peak shift of inverse-Compton hump in gamma-rays. In shock acceleration models, a high Doppler factor value $>$100 is required to explain the observed rapid variability, change of state, and $γ$-ray peak shift. Assuming particle acceleration in mini-jets produced by magnetic reconnection during flares, on the other hand, alleviates the constraint on required bulk Doppler factor. In such jet-in-jet models, observed spectral shift to higher energies (towards TeV regime) and simultaneous rapid variability arises from the accidental alignment of a magnetic plasmoid with the direction of the line of sight. We infer a magnetic field of $\sim0.6\,\rm{G}$ in a reconnection region located at the edge of BLR ($\sim0.02\,\rm{pc}$). The scenario is further supported by log-normal flux distribution arising from merging of plasmoids in reconnection region.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

First-principle calculations on Li2CuSb: A novel material for lithium-ion batteries

We investigate the Li2CuSb full-Heusler alloy using the first-principles electronic structure calculations and propose the electrochemical lithiation in this alloy. Band structure calculations suggest the presence of metallic nature in this alloy contrary to half-metallic nature as predicted for most of the members of the full-Heusler alloy family. This alloy is found to be a promising anode material for high-capacity rechargeable batteries based on lithium-ion. We found a removal voltage of 2.48 V for lithium ions in the Li2CuSb/Cu cell, which is in good agreement with the experimentally obtained result for a similar kind of material Cu3Sb. During charge and discharge cycles of the Li2CuSb/Cu cell, the formation of a non-stoichiometric compound Li2-yCu1+xSb having a similar structure as Li2CuSb suggests a better performance as well as stabilitty of this cell.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Galactic and Extragalactic Sources of Very High Energy Gamma-rays

Very high energy γ-rays are one of the most important messengers of the non-thermal Universe. The major motivation of very high energy γ-ray astronomy is to find sources of high energy cosmic rays. Several astrophysical sources are known to accelerate cosmic rays to very high energies under extreme conditions. Very high energy γ-rays are produced at these astrophysical sites or near through interactions of cosmic rays in the surrounding medium close to the sources. Gamma-rays, being neutral, travel in a straight line and thus give us valuable information about the cosmic ray sources and their surroundings. Additionally, very high energy γ-ray astronomy can probe many fundamental physics questions. Ground-based γ-ray astronomy began its journey in 1989 when Whipple telescope detected TeV γ-rays from the Crab, a pulsar wind nebula in the Milky Way. In the last two decades, technological improvements have facilitated the development of the latest generation of very high energy detectors and telescopes which have delivered exciting new results. Until now over two hundred very high energy γ-ray sources, both galactic and extra-galactic has been detected. These observations have provided a deeper insight into a large number of important questions in high energy astrophysics and astroparticle physics. This review article is an attempt to enumerate the most important results in the exciting and rapidly developing field of very high energy γ-ray astronomy.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

A Learned Closure Method Applied to Phase Mixing in a Turbulent Gradient-Driven Gyrokinetic System in Simple Geometry

We present a new method for formulating closures that learn from kinetic simulation data. We apply this method to phase mixing in a simple gyrokinetic turbulent system - temperature gradient driven turbulence in an unsheared slab. The closure, called the learned multi-mode (LMM) closure, is constructed by, first, extracting an optimal basis from a nonlinear kinetic simulation using singular value decomposition (SVD). Subsequent nonlinear fluid simulations are projected onto this basis and the results are used to formulate the closure. We compare the closure with other closures schemes over a broad range of the relevant 2D parameter space (collisionality and gradient drive). We find that the turbulent kinetic system produces phase mixing rates much lower than the linear expectations, which the LMM closure is capable of capturing. We also compare radial heat fluxes. A Hammett-Perkins closure, generalized to include collisional effects, is quite successful throughout the parameter space, producing ~14% Root-Mean-Square (RMS) error. The LMM closure is also very effective: when trained at three (two) points (in a 35 point parameter grid), the LMM closure produces 9% (12%) RMS errors. The LMM procedure can be readily generalized to other closure problems.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2020

Supersymmetric Quantum Spherical Model: A Model for Hodge Theory

We discuss various symmetry properties of the N = 2 supersymmetric quantum spin model in one (0 + 1)-dimension of spacetime and provide their relevance in the realm of the mathematics of differential geometry. We show one-to-one mapping between the continuous symmetry transformations (and corresponding generators) and de Rham cohomological operators of differential geometry. One of the novel observations is the existence of discrete symmetry transformations which play a crucial role in providing the physical realization of the Hodge duality ($\star$) operation. Thus, the present model provides a toy model for the Hodge theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Cosmic-ray Antinuclei as Messengers of New Physics: Status and Outlook for the New Decade

The precise measurement of cosmic-ray antinuclei serves as an important means for identifying the nature of dark matter and other new astrophysical phenomena, and could be used with other cosmic-ray species to understand cosmic-ray production and propagation in the Galaxy. For instance, low-energy antideuterons would provide a "smoking gun" signature of dark matter annihilation or decay, essentially free of astrophysical background. Studies in recent years have emphasized that models for cosmic-ray antideuterons must be considered together with the abundant cosmic antiprotons and any potential observation of antihelium. Therefore, a second dedicated Antideuteron Workshop was organized at UCLA in March 2019, bringing together a community of theorists and experimentalists to review the status of current observations of cosmic-ray antinuclei, the theoretical work towards understanding these signatures, and the potential of upcoming measurements to illuminate ongoing controversies. This review aims to synthesize this recent work and present implications for the upcoming decade of antinuclei observations and searches. This includes discussion of a possible dark matter signature in the AMS-02 antiproton spectrum, the most recent limits from BESS Polar-II on the cosmic antideuteron flux, and reports of candidate antihelium events by AMS-02; recent collider and cosmic-ray measurements relevant for antinuclei production models; the state of cosmic-ray transport models in light of AMS-02 and Voyager data; and the prospects for upcoming experiments, such as GAPS. This provides a roadmap for progress on cosmic antinuclei signatures of dark matter in the coming years.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

VHE Gamma-ray Observation of Crab Nebula with HAGAR Telescope Array

HAGAR is a system of seven Non-imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes located at Hanle in the Ladakh region of the Indian Himalayas at an altitude of 4270 meters {\it amsl}. Since 2008, we have observed the Crab Nebula to assess the performance of the HAGAR telescopes. We describe the analysis technique for the estimation of $γ$-ray signal amidst cosmic ray background. The consolidated results spanning nine years of the Crab nebula observations show long term performance of the HAGAR telescopes. Based on about 219 hours of data, we report the detection of $γ$-rays from the Crab Nebula at a significance level of about 20$σ$, corresponding to a time averaged flux of (1.64$\pm$0.09) $\times10^{-10}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ sec$^{-1}$ above 230 GeV. Also, we perform a detailed study of possible systematic effects in our analysis method on data taken with the HAGAR telescopes.

astro-ph.HE↗