Stellar explosion in Earth's proximity

When the brightness of the star Betelgeuse dropped dramatically a few months ago, some observers suspected an impending supernova—a stellar explosion that could also cause damage on Earth. While Betelgeuse has returned to normal, physicists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have found evidence of a supernova that exploded near the Earth around 2.5 million years ago.

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Achieving invisibility: Cross-wavelength invisibility integrated with invisibility tactics

Invisibility is a superior self-protection strategy of long-standing interest in academia and industry, although the concept is thus far most popularly encountered in science fiction. In a new report on Science Advances, Su Xu and colleagues in engineering, nanotechnology, nanobionics and quantum information in China were inspired by the natural ecological relationship between transparent oceanic animals and their predators that employ a cross-wavelength detection strategy. The scientists proposed a new concept of cross-wavelength invisibility that integrated a variety of invisibility tactics. They presented a Boolean metamaterial design strategy to balance divergent material requirements across cross-scale wavelengths. As proof of concept, they simultaneously demonstrated longwave cloaking and shortwave transparency using a nanoimprinting technique. The work extended stealth techniques from individual strategies of invisibility targeting a single-wavelength spectrum to integrated invisibility targeting cross-wavelength applications. These experiments will pave the way to develop cross-wavelength integrated metadevices.

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Breaking new ground in the search for dark matter

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is renowned for the hunt for and discovery of the Higgs boson, but in the 10 years since the machine collided protons at an energy higher than previously achieved at a particle accelerator, researchers have been using it to try to hunt down an equally exciting particle: the hypothetical particle that may make up an invisible form of matter called dark matter, which is five times more prevalent than ordinary matter and without which there would be no universe as we know it. The LHC dark-matter searches have so far come up empty handed, as have non-collider searches, but the incredible work and skill put by the LHC researchers into finding it has led them to narrow down many of the regions where the particle may lie hidden—necessary milestones on the path to a discovery.

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First observation of nutation in magnetic materials

Much of the 'memory' of the world and all our digital activities are based on media, hard disks, where the information is encoded thanks to magnetism, by orienting the spin of electrons in one direction or the other.

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The magnetization dynamics of rare-earth metals and the role of ultrafast magnon generation

Rare-earth magnetism is dominated by localized 4f electrons, relative to inner transition metals (that are mostly comprised of lanthanides) and cannot be directly excited through an optical laser pulse. As a result, ultrafast demagnetization of rare-earth metals involves a distinct process in contrast to other elements of the periodic table. During demagnetization of rare-earth metals, researchers involve the excitation of magnons—a quasiparticle, viewed as a quantized spin wave. In a new report now published on Science Advances, B. Frietsch and a team of multidisciplinary scientists in physics, astronomy, mathematics and supercomputing in Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic, disentangled the ultrafast dynamics of 5d6s and 4f valence band magnetic moments in terbium (Tb) metal using time-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Based on the results of demagnetization, they established the coupling of 4f spins to the lattice structure through orbital momentum to provide an essential mechanism driving the dynamics of magnetization in technical materials with strong magnetic anisotropy.

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Evolution of pine needles helps trees cope with rainfall impact

If you have ever hiked in the woods and been surrounded by the sight and smell of pine trees, you may have taken a closer look at pine needles and wondered how their shape, material properties, and surface wettability are all influenced by rainfall.

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Stepwise inversion method to profile near-borehole formation velocities

The radial heterogeneity of near-wellbore formation, usually manifested as the variations of formation wave velocities in radial position, is encountered in petroleum exploration and production. Mapping radial variations of formation velocities is significant in identifying invaded zones and determining rock properties, which are valuable for engineering measures.

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Understanding ghost particle interactions

Scientists often refer to the neutrino as the "ghost particle." Neutrinos were one of the most abundant particles at the origin of the universe and remain so today. Fusion reactions in the sun produce vast armies of them, which pour down on the Earth every day. Trillions pass through our bodies every second, then fly through the Earth as though it were not there.

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Research reveals how wounds heal in 'waves'

Many cells in our bodies are on the move and somehow seem to 'know' where to go. But how do they learn the location of their destination? This question is key to understanding phenomena such as the renewal of cells in our body, the migration of cancer cells, and especially how wounds heal. Edouard Hannezo and his group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) in collaboration with Tsuyoshi Hirashima and his student at Kyoto University propose a new model of information transfer in which cells utilize long-distance traveling waves in a self-organized manner to close a wound. This study was recently published in the journal Nature Physics.

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Helium, a little atom for big physics

Helium atom precision measurements and calculations have a history of nearly a century. In the 1960s, theorists discovered that the fine-structure split (23P0-23P2) of the 23P energy level of helium is the best atomic system for measuring the fine structure constant α (approximately 1/137), which is the key parameter in the Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) theory. QED is the basic theory describing the quantum properties of electromagnetic interactions. It covers almost all physical systems from microscopic particles to macroscopic solids, and is currently the most accurate theory in physics. Such a measurement of α from precision spectroscopy of helium, compared with values determined from totally different methods, presents a perfect test of the consistency of physics. After 50 years of hard work, theorists have develoed different approaches to calculate the QED correction of helium to the 7th power series of α.

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Quieter wind beneath the wings

Efficiently simulating the noise generated by wings and propellers promises to accelerate the development of quieter aircraft and turbines.

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Plasmonic enhancement of stability and brightness in organic light-emitting devices

Scientists investigate free electrons and the resonant interactions of electromagnetic waves in the field of plasmonics. However, the discipline still remains to be extended to large-scale commercial applications due to the loss-associated with plasmonic materials. While organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) are incorporated into mass-scale commercial products due to properties such as good color saturation, versatile form factor and low-power consumption, their efficacy and stability remain to be optimized. During its function, OLEDs accumulate localized build-up of slow-decaying, triplet excitons and charges, which gradually reduce the brightness of the device in an "aging" process, which can then cause a burn-in effect on the display. As a result, it is important to improve the performance of the OLED technology.

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Antiferromagnet lattice arrangements influence phase transitions

Antiferromagnets contain orderly lattices of atoms and molecules, whose magnetic moments are always pointed in exactly opposite directions to those of their neighbors. These materials are driven to transition to other, more disorderly quantum states of matter, or 'phases,' by the quantum fluctuations of their atoms and molecules—but so far, the precise nature of this process hasn't been fully explored. Through new research published in EPJ B, Yoshihiro Nishiyama at Okayama University in Japan has found that the nature of the boundary at which this transition occurs depends on the geometry of an antiferromagnet's lattice arrangement.

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Physicists develop a method to improve gravitational wave detector sensitivity

Gravitational wave detectors have opened a new window to the universe by measuring the ripples in spacetime produced by colliding black holes and neutron stars, but they are ultimately limited by quantum fluctuations induced by light reflecting off of mirrors. LSU Ph.D. physics alumnus Jonathan Cripe and his team of LSU researchers have conducted a new experiment with scientists from Caltech and Thorlabs to explore a way to cancel this quantum backaction and improve detector sensitivity.

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The use of graph neural networks to discover particles

Machine learning algorithms can beat the world's hardest video games in minutes and solve complex equations faster than the collective efforts of generations of physicists. But the conventional algorithms still struggle to pick out stop signs on a busy street.

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Provably exact artificial intelligence for nuclear and particle physics

The Standard Model of particle physics describes all the known elementary particles and three of the four fundamental forces governing the universe; everything except gravity. These three forces—electromagnetic, strong, and weak—govern how particles are formed, how they interact, and how the particles decay.

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The realization of active microscale Marangoni surfers

Marangoni surfers are small particles that self-propel while straddling a fluid-fluid interface in a way similar to that in which a surfer moves on the surface of a wave. In recent years, self-propelling particles have become the focus of numerous physics studies, as they could serve as a model to study the motion of active Brownian objects with a broad range of velocities and interactions.

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Scientists achieve higher precision weak force measurement between protons, neutrons

Through a one-of-a-kind experiment at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, nuclear physicists have precisely measured the weak interaction between protons and neutrons. The result quantifies the weak force theory as predicted by the Standard Model of Particle Physics.

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A self-erasing chip for security and anti-counterfeit tech

Self-erasing chips developed at the University of Michigan could help stop counterfeit electronics or provide alerts if sensitive shipments are tampered with.

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Bridging the gap between the magnetic and electronic properties of topological insulators

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology shed light on the relationship between the magnetic properties of topological insulators and their electronic band structure. Their experimental results offer new insights into recent debates regarding the evolution of the band structure with temperature in these materials, which exhibit unusual quantum phenomena and are envisioned to be crucial in next-generation electronics, spintronics, and quantum computers.

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Young physicist 'squares the numbers' on time travel

Paradox-free time travel is theoretically possible, according to the mathematical modeling of a prodigious University of Queensland undergraduate student.

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The return of the spin echo

A research team from Garching and Vienna discovered a remarkable echo effect that offers exciting new possibilities for working with quantum information.

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Gravity causes homogeneity of the universe

Gravity can accelerate the homogenization of space-time as the universe evolves. This insight is based on theoretical studies of the physicist David Fajman of the University of Vienna. The mathematical methods developed within the research project allow to investigate fundamental open questions of cosmology such as why the universe today appears so homogeneous. The results have been published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

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SLAC invention could make particle accelerators 10 times smaller

Particle accelerators generate high-energy beams of electrons, protons and ions for a wide range of applications, including particle colliders that shed light on nature's subatomic components, X-ray lasers that film atoms and molecules during chemical reactions and medical devices for treating cancer.

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Researchers develop method to create colloidal diamonds

The colloidal diamond has been a dream of researchers since the 1990s. These structures—stable, self-assembled formations of miniscule materials—have the potential to make light waves as useful as electrons in computing, and hold promise for a host of other applications. But while the idea of colloidal diamonds was developed decades ago, no one was able to reliably produce the structures. Until now.

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Scientists develop forecasting technique that could help advance quest for fusion energy

Bringing the power of the sun to Earth requires sound theory, good engineering, and a little finesse. The process entails trapping charged, ultra-hot gas known as plasma so its particles can fuse and release enormous amounts of energy. The most widely used facilities for this process are doughnut-shaped tokamaks that hold plasma in place with strong magnets that are precisely shaped and positioned. But errors in the shaping or placement of these magnets can lead to poor confinement and loss of plasma, shutting down fusion reactions.

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Collaboration makes crystal-clear study of radiation reaction

Place a charged particle in an electromagnetic field and the particle will accelerate and give off radiation. Typically, the emitted radiation has little effect on the particle's motion. However, if the acceleration is extremely large, as is the case for high-energy electrons or positrons in strong electromagnetic fields, the emitted radiation will drastically slow down the particle. The effect, known as radiation reaction, has been recognized since the beginning of the twentieth century, and is relevant in several branches of physics, from accelerator physics to astrophysics. But until now it has been difficult to pin down the maths that best describes the phenomenon. In a paper recently published in Physical Review D, the NA63 collaboration reports a high-precision study of the phenomenon that shows that an equation proposed long ago does the job remarkably well.

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Controlling ultra-strong light-matter coupling at room temperature

Physicists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, together with colleagues in Russia and Poland, have managed to achieve ultra-strong coupling between light and matter at room temperature. The discovery is of importance for fundamental research and might pave the way for advances in light sources, nanomachinery and quantum technology.

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Squeezed light makes Virgo's mirrors jitter

Quantum mechanics does not only describe how the world works on its smallest scales, but also affects the motion of macroscopic objects. An international research team, including four scientists from the MPI for Gravitational Physics (Albert-Einstein-Institut/AEI) and Leibniz University in Hannover, Germany, has shown how they can influence the motion of mirrors, each weighing more than 40 kg, in the Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detector trough the deliberate use of quantum mechanics. At the core of their experiment published today in Physcial Review Letters is a squeezed-light source, developed and built at the AEI in Hanover, which generates specially tuned laser radiation and improves the detector's measurement sensitivity during observing runs.

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A new strategy to implement a high-fidelity mixed-species entangling gate

In recent years, research teams worldwide have been trying to create trapped ion quantum computers, which have so far proved to be among the most promising systems for practical quantum computing implementations. In these computers, trapped ions serve as quantum bits that are entangled in order to perform advanced computations.

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Physicists develop printable organic transistors

Scientists at the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Dresden have come a step closer to the vision of a broad application of flexible, printable electronics. The team around Dr. Hans Kleemann has succeeded for the first time in developing powerful vertical organic transistors with two independent control electrodes. The results have recently been published in the renowned online journal Nature Communications.

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Spin Hall effect in Weyl semimetal for energy-efficient information technology

The discovery of topological Weyl semimetals in 2017 has revealed opportunities to realize several extraordinary physical phenomena in condensed matter physics. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have demonstrated the direct electrical detection of a large spin Hall effect in this topological quantum material. Weyl semimetal takes advantage of its strong spin-orbit coupling and novel topological spin-polarized electronic states in its band structure. These experimental findings can pave the way for the utilization of spin-orbit induced phenomena in developing next-generation of faster and energy-efficient information technology and have been published in the scientific journal Physical Review Research.

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New facility tests future neutrino detector systems with 'beautiful' results

The international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, or DUNE, hosted by Fermilab, will be huge. In fact, with more than 1,000 collaborators from over 30 countries and five continents, it's the largest international science project ever hosted in the U.S.

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Self-induced ultrafast demagnetization limits amount of light diffracted from magnetic samples at soft x-ray energies

Free electron X-ray lasers deliver intense, ultrashort pulses of X-rays, which can be used to image nanometer-scale objects in a single shot. When the X-ray wavelength is tuned to an electronic resonance, magnetization patterns can be made visible. When using increasingly intense pulses, however, the magnetization image fades away. The mechanism responsible for this loss in resonant magnetic scattering intensity has now been clarified.

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Why there is no speed limit in the superfluid universe

Physicists from Lancaster University have established why objects moving through superfluid helium-3 lack a speed limit in a continuation of earlier Lancaster research.

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Hot Stuff: Unusual thermal diode rectifies heat in both directions

You can feel it on your laptop and mobile phone. It's behind your refrigerator and office copy machine. While heat is desirable for appliances like a coffee maker, it can jeopardize the reliability and safety of electronic systems in other devices, causing premature failure at best and explosions at worst.

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Resonant tunneling diode oscillators for terahertz-wave detection

A semiconductor device that is promising for both generating and detecting terahertz radiation has been demonstrated by physicists at RIKEN. This may aid the development of high-performance integrated solutions for terahertz imaging and sensing applications as well as for high-speed, next-generation wireless communications systems.

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Lighting the way to infrared detection

EPFL physicists propose a new path to detect infrared radiation with outstanding sensitivity, allowing detection of signals as low as that of a single quantum of light.

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The observation of Bloch ferromagnetism in composite fermions

Composite fermions are exotic quasi-particles found in interacting 2-D fermion systems at relatively large perpendicular magnetic fields. These quasi-particles, which are composed of an electron and two magnetic flux quanta, have often been used to describe a physical phenomenon known as the fractional quantum Hall effect.

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New calculation refines comparison of matter with antimatter

An international collaboration of theoretical physicists—including scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and the RIKEN-BNL Research Center (RBRC)—has published a new calculation relevant to the search for an explanation of the predominance of matter over antimatter in our universe. The collaboration, known as RBC-UKQCD, also includes scientists from CERN (the European particle physics laboratory), Columbia University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Edinburgh, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Regensburg, and the University of Southampton. They describe their result in a paper to be published in the journal Physical Review D and has been highlighted as an "editor's suggestion."

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Supercooled water is a stable liquid, scientists show for the first time

Supercooled water is really two liquids in one. That's the conclusion reached by a research team at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory after making the first-ever measurements of liquid water at temperatures much colder than its typical freezing point.

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Scientists reveal the power behind the curtain—with neutrons

In a potential step forward for imaging technology, scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Sandia National Laboratories have developed a way to use neutrons to detect electric fields in spaces that are unreachable by conventional probes.

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Researchers develop the world's smallest ultrasound detector

Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed the world's smallest ultrasound detector. It is based on miniaturized photonic circuits on top of a silicon chip. With a size 100 times smaller than an average human hair, the new detector can visualize features that are much smaller than previously possible, leading to what is known as super-resolution imaging.

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Researchers 3-D print tiny multicolor microstructures

Researchers have developed an automated 3-D printing method that can produce multicolor 3-D microstructures using different materials. The new method could be used to make a variety of optical components including optical sensors and light-driven actuators as well as multimaterial structures for applications such as soft robotics and medical applications.

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Molecular 'dances' determine how liquids take up heat

Scientists have uncovered a link between the microscopic movements of particles in a liquid and its ability to absorb heat.

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Liquid water at 170 degrees Celsius: X-ray laser reveals anomalous dynamics at ultra-fast heating

Using the X-ray laser European XFEL, a research team has investigated how water heats up under extreme conditions. In the process, the scientists were able to observe water that remained liquid even at temperatures of more than 170 degrees Celsius. The investigation revealed an anomalous dynamic behavior of water under these conditions. The results of the study, which are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), are of fundamental importance for the planning and analysis of investigations of sensitive samples using X-ray lasers.

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A new way to search for dark matter reveals hidden materials properties

New research from Chalmers, together with ETH Zürich, Switzerland, suggests a promising way to detect elusive dark matter particles through previously unexplored atomic responses occurring in the detector material.

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Liquid carbon characterized using a free electron laser

From common soot to precious diamonds, carbon is familiar in many guises, but there have been little more than glimpses of carbon in the liquid form. Researchers at the FERMI Free Electron Laser (FEL) source have now not only generated a liquid carbon sample, but have characterized its structure, tracking the ultrafast rearrangements of electron bonding and atomic coordinates that take place as their carbon samples melt. "As far as I know, that is the fastest structural transition in condensed matter," says Emiliano Principi, principal investigator on the project.

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Theoretically, two layers are better than one for solar-cell efficiency

Solar cells have come a long way, but inexpensive, thin film solar cells are still far behind more expensive, crystalline solar cells in efficiency. Now, a team of researchers suggests that using two thin films of different materials may be the way to go to create affordable, thin film cells with about 34% efficiency.

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Human white blood cells use molecular paddles to swim

Human white blood cells, known as leukocytes, swim using a newly described mechanism called molecular paddling, researchers report in the September 15th issue of Biophysical Journal. This microswimming mechanism could explain how both immune cells and cancer cells migrate in various fluid-filled niches in the body, for good or for harm.

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New neutron source in Canada would spur innovation, medical treatments

Technological progress owes much to our scientific understanding of the materials we use to build the world around us, from longer-lasting cell-phone batteries to new medicines.

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Shining a light on disordered and fractal systems

A University of Tsukuba research team uses terahertz-frequency light to probe the unusual behavior of disordered systems to discover that the anonymously large vibrations in lysozyme can be explained by its glassy and fractal nature

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Infinite chains of hydrogen atoms have surprising properties, including a metallic phase

An infinite chain of hydrogen atoms is just about the simplest bulk material imaginable—a never-ending single-file line of protons surrounded by electrons. Yet a new computational study combining four cutting-edge methods finds that the modest material boasts fantastic and surprising quantum properties.

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Big answers from tiny particles

A team of scientists led by Kanazawa University proposed a new mathematical framework to understand the properties of the fundamental particles called neutrinos. This work may help cosmologists make progress on the apparent paradox of the existence of matter in the Universe.

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Physicists discover new magnetoelectric effect

Electricity and magnetism are closely related: Power lines generate a magnetic field, rotating magnets in a generator produce electricity. However, the phenomenon is much more complicated: electrical and magnetic properties of certain materials are also coupled with each other. Electrical properties of some crystals can be influenced by magnetic fields—and vice versa. In this case one speaks of a "magnetoelectric effect." It plays an important technological role, for example in certain types of sensors or in the search for new concepts of data storage.

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Attosecond pulses reveal electronic ripples in molecules

In the first experiment to take advantage of a new technology for producing powerful attosecond X-ray laser pulses, a research team led by scientists from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University showed they can create electronic ripples in molecules through a process called "impulsive Raman scattering."

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Nonlinear polyatomic molecule, CaOCH3 laser-cooled to ~700 mK

A team of researchers at Harvard University has developed a way to cool nonlinear polyatomic molecules to extremely cold temperatures. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their method and possible uses for it. Eric Hudson with the University of California, Los Angeles, has published a Perspective piece in the same issue describing the decades-long history of work involved in attempting to cool complex molecules, and also outlines the work by the team in California.

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Researcher creates an ultra-simple inexpensive method to fabricate optical fiber

A novel process to fabricate special optical fiber that is far simpler, faster and cheaper than the conventional method has been developed by Cristiano Cordeiro, a researcher and professor at the University of Campinas's Physics Institute (IFGW-Unicamp) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Cordeiro created the innovation during a research internship at the University of Adelaide in Australia, supported by a scholarship from São Paulo Research Foundation—FAPESP and by a partnership with his host, Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem. An article signed by them and a third collaborator is published in Scientific Reports.

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Test of wave function collapse suggests gravity is not the answer

A team of researchers from Germany, Italy and Hungary has tested a theory that suggests gravity is the force behind quantum collapse and has found no evidence to support it. In their paper published in the journal Nature Physics, the researchers describe underground experiments they conducted to test the impact of gravity on wave functions and what their work showed them. Myungshik Kim, with Imperial College London has published a News & Views piece in the same issue, outlining the work by the team and the implications of their results.

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Sound waves replace human hands in petri dish experiments

Mechanical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a set of prototypes for manipulating particles and cells in a Petri dish using sound waves. The devices, known in the scientific community as "acoustic tweezers," are the first foray into making these types of tools, which have thus far been relegated to laboratories with specific equipment and expertise, available for use in a wide array of settings.

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Physicists explain mysterious dark matter deficiency in galaxy pair

A new theory about the nature of dark matter helps explain why a pair of galaxies about 65 million light-years from Earth contains very little of the mysterious matter, according to a study led by a physicist at the University of California, Riverside.

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A Janus emitter for passive heat release from enclosures

It is presently challenging to efficiently cool enclosed spaces such as stationary automobiles that trap heat via the greenhouse effect. In a new report in Science Advances, Se-Yeon Heo and a team of scientists in materials science, engineering and nanoarchitectonics in Japan and the Republic of Korea, presented a Janus emitter (JET) for surface cooling. They used a silver (Ag)-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer on a micropatterned quartz substrate and the material allowed them to cool the space even when the JET was attached within an enclosure. As a result, the JET (Janus emitter) could passively mitigate the greenhouse effect in enclosures and offer surface cooling performance comparable to conventional radiative coolers.

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Magnetic whirls crystallize in two dimensions

In a collaboration between experimental physicists and theoretical physicists in the framework of the Dynamics and Topology (TopDyn) excellence project, a system of many small magnetic whirls could be engineered to form a regularly ordered state. Such a transition from a disordered to an ordered phase is analogous to the well-known crystallization, which, however, occurs here in two dimensions. For the research work at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), experimental physicists around Professor Mathias Kläui cooperated with a group of theoretical physicists around Dr. Peter Virnau. The results have been published recently in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. The TopDyn research center is funded by the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

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New computational model stands to make nuclear magnetic resonance an even more powerful tool for researchers

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have developed a new computational model that has opened up the potential to make one of their most powerful research tools even more so.

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New microfluidic device minimizes loss of high value samples

A major collaborative effort that has been developing over the last three years between ASU and European scientists, has resulted in a significant technical advance in X-ray crystallographic sample strategies.

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Betrayal or cooperation? Analytical investigation of behavior drivers

When looking at humanity from a macroscopic perspective, there are numerous examples of people cooperating to form societies, countries, religions, and other groupings.

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Kondo physics in antiferromagnetic Weyl semimetal films

Emerging quantum materials can be defined by topology and strong electron correlations, although their applications in experimental systems are relatively limited. Weyl semimetals incorporating magnetism offer a unique and fertile platform to explore emerging phenomena in developing topological matter and topological spintronics. The triangular antiferromagnet Mn3Sn exhibits many exotic physical properties as an antiferromagnetic (AFM) Weyl semimetal (WSM), including an attractively large spontaneous Hall effect.

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How do stone forests get their spikes? New research offers pointed answer

Stone forests—pointed rock formations resembling trees that populate regions of China, Madagascar, and many other locations worldwide—are as majestic as they are mysterious, created by uncertain forces that give them their shape.

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How to have a blast like a black hole

Researchers from the Institute of Laser Engineering at Osaka University have successfully used short, but extremely powerful laser blasts to generate magnetic field reconnection inside a plasma. This work may lead to a more complete theory of X-ray emission from astronomical objects like black holes.

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Inertial confinement fusion implosions have significant 3-D asymmetries

Data correlating two factors that lead to implosion asymmetries have brought Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists a step closer to understanding the gap between simulations and performance of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF).

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The mystery of the neutron lifetime

Nine seconds. An eternity in some scientific experiments; an unimaginably small amount in the grand scheme of the universe. And just long enough to confound nuclear physicists studying the lifetime of the neutron.

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Vortex top hats emerge in superfluids

,An Australian-led study has provided new insight into the behavior of rotating superfluids.

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Opto-thermoelectric microswimmers

In a recent report, Xiaolei Peng and a team of scientists in materials science and engineering at the University of Texas, U.S., and the Tsinghua University, China, developed opto-thermoelectric microswimmers bioinspired by the motion behaviors of Escherichia coli (E. coli). They engineered the microswimmers using dielectric gold Janus particles driven by a self-sustained electric field arising from the optothermal response of the particles. When they illuminated the constructs with a laser beam, the Janus particles showed an optically generated temperature gradient along the particle surfaces, forming an opto-thermoelectrical field to propel themselves along.

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'Floppy' atomic dynamics help turn heat into electricity

Materials scientists at Duke University have uncovered an atomic mechanism that makes certain thermoelectric materials incredibly efficient near high-temperature phase transitions. The information will help fill critical knowledge gaps in the computational modeling of such materials, potentially allowing researchers to discover new and better options for technologies that rely on transforming heat into electricity.

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Looking skin deep at the growth of neutron stars

In atomic nuclei, protons and neutrons share energy and momentum in tight quarters. But exactly how they share the energy that keeps them bound within the nucleus—and even where they are within the nucleus—remain key puzzles for nuclear physicists.

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How to imitate natural spring-loaded snapping movement without losing energy

Venus flytraps do it, trap-jaw ants do it, and now materials scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst can do it, too—they discovered a way of efficiently converting elastic energy in a spring to kinetic energy for high-acceleration, extreme velocity movements as nature does it.

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To make a better sensor, just add noise

Adding noise to enhance a weak signal is a sensing phenomenon common in the animal world but unusual in manmade sensors. Now Penn State researchers have added a small amount of background noise to enhance very weak signals in a light source too dim to sense.

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The ALICE TPC is upgraded

"One more centimeter," said the chief technician, while operating the hydraulic jack system on 14 August. The 5-m-diameter, 5-m-long cylindrical detector gently slid into the parking position, 56 meters below the ground in the ALICE cavern at LHC Point 2, where it will stand for some time. This operation culminates the many-years-long upgrade of ALICE's Time Projection Chamber (TPC), the large tracking device of the LHC's heavy-ion specialist.

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LHC creates matter from light

The Large Hadron Collider plays with Albert Einstein's famous equation, E = mc2, to transform matter into energy and then back into different forms of matter. But on rare occasions, it can skip the first step and collide pure energy—in the form of electromagnetic waves.

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Floating a boat on the underside of a liquid

A team of researchers from Institut Langevin and Sorbonne Université has shown that it is possible to float boats on both the top and underside of a suspended fluid. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes experiments they conducted with levitating fluids and what they learned from them. Vladislav Sorokin and Iliya Blekhman with the Russian Academy of Science have published a News & Views piece in the same journal issue outlining the work by the team in France.

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Zooming in on dark matter

Cosmologists have zoomed in on the smallest clumps of dark matter in a virtual universe—which could help us to find the real thing in space.

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Scientists find new way to measure important beam property

For a wide variety of high-powered scientific instruments, from free-electron lasers to wakefield accelerators to electron microscopes, generating a bright electron beam that has specific properties represents one of the most significant challenges. These instruments can be used for investigating the atomic level properties of matter or for accelerating particles to high energies.

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A small number of self-organizing autonomous vehicles significantly increases traffic flow

With the addition of just a small number of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on the road, traffic flow can become faster, greener, and safer in the near future, a new study suggests.

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Decorating windows for optimal sound transmission

Glass windows typically offer some amount of soundproofing, sometimes unintentionally. In general, ventilation is required to achieve large sound transmission.

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Face shields, masks with valves ineffective against COVID-19 spread: study

If the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines aren't enough to convince you that face shields alone shouldn't be used to stop the spread of COVID-19, then maybe a new visualization study will.

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Giant leap for molecular measurements

Spectroscopy is an important tool of observation in many areas of science and industry. Infrared spectroscopy is especially important in the world of chemistry, where it is used to analyze and identify molecules. The current state-of-the-art method can make approximately 1 million observations per second. UTokyo researchers have greatly surpassed this figure with a new method about 100 times faster.

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Why different measurements of material properties sometimes give different results

It is very hard to take a photo of a hummingbird flapping its wings 50 times per second. The exposure time has to be much shorter than the characteristic time scale of the wing beat, otherwise you will only see a colorful blur. A similar problem is encountered in solid-state physics, where the aim is to determine the magnetic properties of a material. The magnetic moment at a certain location can change very quickly. Therefore, researchers require measuring methods that are fast enough to resolve these fluctuations. With this basic idea in mind, scientists at TU Wien (Vienna), in collaboration with research groups from Würzburg (Germany), has now succeeded in solving a puzzle of solid-state physics.

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Researchers investigate applications of magnetic sensors in the automotive and medical sectors

In his Christian Doppler Laboratory, Dieter Süss and his partners from the field of practice investigate the possible applications of magnetic sensors in the automotive and medical sector. Süss's technology achieved its first successes in ABS systems of vehicles and in magnetic resonance imaging.

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