Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Coherent Captain Mills: The Search For Sterile Neutrinos, Ashley Elliott, Jeramy Gordon, Jonah Greenwood, Rachel Lake, Ryder Moreno, Emily Strawn, Kate Walker

Discovery Day - Prescott

The observation of neutrino oscillations confirms that the active neutrinos (νe, νμ, ντ) are comprised of three mass eigenstates with Δm2 values between 10-3 to 10-5 eV2 . However, a persistent phenomenon has been observed at LSND, MiniBooNE and other shortbaseline experiments (SBE) where Δm2 ~ 1eV2 and is not compatible with the current mixing between mass eigenstates. However, a 4th neutrino, a sterile neutrino (νs) that doesn’t participate in weak interactions could explain the phenomena observed as SBE’s. An experiment has been constructed at TA-53 at Los Alamos National Laboratory to investigate this large Δm2 ~ 1eV2 and determine …

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Based Heat Exchanger On The Martian, Sarah Guinn

Discovery Day - Prescott

The use of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) in power cycles has been fairly new in the last decade. Due to this, there is a lack in research for both terrestrial and extraterrestrial applications. The purpose of this project is to utilize sCO2 as a working fluid and design and optimize a Brayton Cycle based heat exchanger on the Martian surface. Due to the lack of water on Mars, this research will provide a stronger analysis of planetary based drycooling processes in low atmospheric pressure and colder temperatures. We have been conducting an in-depth analysis of the heat exchanger by modeling …

Gravitational Wave Calibration Error For Supernovae Core Collapse, Brad Ratto

Discovery Day - Prescott

The existence of gravitational waves reveals yet another method in which information is transmitted across the cosmos, bringing with it further insight into the inner workings of our universe. In order to detect such phenomena, we use ground based Laser Interferometers to measure the microscopic deformations in space-time and explore a new frontier in gravitational astronomy. However, such instrumentation also induces distortions in the gravitational waves henceforth diminishing the ability to extract accurate physical information. Moreover, the ability to extract a coherent signal amongst the noise remains an issue that requires constant improvement. The aim of this study is to …

Studies Of Oval Tube And Fin Heat Exchangers, Phillip Nielsen

Discovery Day - Prescott

Heating Ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) is a system which changes the temperature of the surroundings for the purposes of cooling or heating. This system requires energy to maintain a temperature difference from the outside temperature. This is important since minimized power is one of the requirements for the system to achieve a better efficiency. Optimizing the flow over the evaporator coils is one way to increase the cooling efficiency. This will reduce the power required to have a sustainable system. Optimizing the flow to increase the energy transfer between the fins and the incoming air could result in a greater …

Reverse Osmosis; Addressing Freshwater Shortage With Sustainable Desalination, Jessica Savage

Sustainability Conference

Water security is an imperative part of high-functioning societies. Currently, large populations of the globe live in water-impoverished or water-stressed areas. With climate change and growing global populations, projections show more people being impacted by issues of water shortage.

One solution to water security is the implementation of desalination, specifically with reverse osmosis systems. This presentation walks through the history, capabilities, future work, and explanations on how reverse osmosis systems work. With continued research on improving desalination, communities in both developed and developing nations around the world can work towards total water security.

Recovering From Industrial Overshoot: Thermal Removal Of Atmospheric Co2, Ted Von Hippel, Sandra Boetcher, Matthew Traum, Farshid Azadian Ph.D., William Mackunis

Sustainability Conference

Humanity will soon overshoot a safe level of atmospheric CO2, if it hasn't done so already. Countries, industries, and the global economy need to dramatically and quickly alter their behavior and technology to avoid this dangerous overshoot, yet this appears unlikely. Direct Air Capture of CO2 represents an insurance policy for society - a way of removing excess atmospheric CO2. I will present an approach to this problem based on thermal physics that cools cubic kilometers of air to extract CO2 as it sublimates. I propose a combination of an efficient heat exchanger, radiative cooling, and refrigeration, all at industrial …