Using magnetic and electric fields to emulate black hole and stellar accretion disks

A team of researchers at the Sorbonne University of Paris reports a new way to emulate black hole and stellar accretion disks. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the group describes using magnetic and electric fields to create a rotating disk made of liquid metal to emulate the behavior of material surrounding black holes and stars, which leads to the development of accretion disks.

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Shape of coronavirus affects its transmission, study finds

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, images of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, have been seared in our minds. But the way we picture the virus, typically as a sphere with spikes, is not strictly accurate. Microscope images of infected tissues have revealed that coronavirus particles are actually ellipsoidal, displaying a wide variety of squashed and elongated shapes.

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Preparing for a more powerful particle accelerator

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is back in action after a three-year scheduled technical shutdown period. Experts circulated beam in the powerful particle accelerator at the end of April, and Run 3 physics started in early July at the highest collision energy ever achieved.

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Brain bubbles: Researchers describe the dynamics of cavitation in soft porous material

A tiny bubble popping within a liquid seems more fanciful than traumatic. But millions of popping vapor bubbles can cause significant damage to rigid structures like boat propellers or bridge supports. Can you imagine the damage such bubbles could do to soft human tissues like the brain? During head impacts and concussions, vapor bubbles form and violently collapse, creating damage to human tissue. Purdue University fluid mechanics researchers are now one step closer to understanding these phenomena.

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Strength of results consistency and agreement for overtone line intensities across labs examined

Researchers from the Institute of Physics at the Nicolaus Copernicus University participated in research into the intensities of the overtone lines. Teams from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the U.S. and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Germany also conducted their measurements. Theoretical calculations were carried out by a group from the University College London.

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Low-cost disease diagnosis by mapping heart sounds

Aortic valve stenosis occurs when the aortic valve narrows, constricting blood flow from the heart through the artery and to the entire body. In severe cases, it can lead to heart failure. Identifying the condition can be difficult in remote areas because it requires sophisticated technology, and diagnoses at early stages are challenging to obtain.

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Physicists uncover new dynamical framework for turbulence

Turbulence plays a key role in our daily lives, making for bumpy plane rides, affecting weather and climate, limiting the fuel efficiency of the cars we drive, and impacting clean energy technologies. Yet, scientists and engineers have puzzled at ways to predict and alter turbulent fluid flows, and it has long remained one of the most challenging problems in science and engineering.

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Probing high-energy neutrinos associated with a blazar

Studying a high-energy neutrino that was observed by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole and that is believed to be intergalactic in origin has yielded some intriguing "new physics" beyond the Standard Model

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Chaotic circuit exhibits unprecedented equilibrium properties

Mathematical derivations have unveiled a chaotic, memristor-based circuit in which different oscillating phases can co-exist along six possible lines.

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Physics meets biology: How bacteria synchronize to build complex structures

Bacteria collaborate and coordinate collectively as they form a shared structure called a biofilm, such as the dental plaque on our teeth or the microbiome associated with our gut. This self-organization in multiple complex layers—despite variations of cellular properties at individual level—requires that the living systems share common, yet precise time, which has now been uncovered by physicists from the University of Luxembourg.

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Extended tests with levitated force sensor fail to find evidence of fifth force

A team of researchers from Nanjing University, working with two colleagues from the University of Science and Technology of China, has conducted new tests of the chameleon theory and report a failure to find any evidence of a fifth force. They have published their paper in the journal Nature Physics.

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Using math proofs, experiments and simulations to show how a material wrinkles when flattened

A team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Syracuse University and the University of Pennsylvania, has developed a means for showing how a certain piece of material wrinkles after it has been flattened. In their paper published in the journal Nature Physics, the group describes experiments they conducted with tiny pieces of plastic.

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Black hole-inspired thermal trapping with graded heat-conduction metadevices

Jiping Huang's group (Department of physics, Fudan University) and Cheng-Wei Qiu's group (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore) collaborated to complete this study published in National Science Review. They found a new mechanism to generate asymmetric temperature profiles without dynamic modulation. Specifically, graded thermal conductivities could induce the imitated advection in pure and passive conduction, which has a similar temperature field effect to the realistic advection. With the imitated advection, heat could spontaneously converge to the center like black holes.

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Our atom-moving laser sculpts matter into weird new shapes—new research

Getting atoms to do what you want isn't easy—but it's at the heart of a lot of groundbreaking research in physics.

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Measuring currents in the heart at millimeter resolution with a diamond quantum sensor

Heart problems, such as tachycardia and fibrillation, arise mainly from imperfections in the way electric currents propagate through the heart. Unfortunately, it is difficult for doctors to study these imperfections since measuring these currents involves highly invasive procedures and exposure to X-ray radiation.

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Researchers unfold elegant equations to explain the enigma of expanding origami

Most materials—from rubber bands to steel beams—thin out as they are stretched, but engineers can use origami's interlocking ridges and precise folds to reverse this tendency and build devices that grow wider as they are pulled apart.

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Scientists fine-tune 'tweezers of sound' for contactless manipulation of objects

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have successfully enhanced technology to lift small particles using sound waves. Their "acoustic tweezers" could lift things from reflective surfaces without physical contact, but stability remained an issue. Now, using an adaptive algorithm to fine-tune how the tweezers are controlled, they have drastically improved how stably the particles can be lifted. With further miniaturization, this technology could be deployed in a vast range of environments, including space.

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Sandcastle engineering: A geotechnical engineer explains how water, air and sand create solid structures

If you want to understand why some sandcastles are tall and have intricate structures while others are nearly shapeless lumps of sand, it helps to have a background in geotechnical engineering.

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Scientists are unraveling the mystery of the arrow of time

The flow of time from the past to the future is a central feature of how we experience the world. But precisely how this phenomenon, known as the arrow of time, arises from the microscopic interactions among particles and cells is a mystery—one that researchers at the CUNY Graduate Center Initiative for the Theoretical Sciences (ITS) are helping to unravel with the publication of a new paper in the journal Physical Review Letters. The findings could have important implications in a variety of disciplines, including physics, neuroscience, and biology.

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Experts go all in when CEBAF is in trouble

For decades, physicists and researchers from around the globe have flocked to the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility to unlock the subatomic mysteries of how the universe works.

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Scientists identify liquid-like atoms in densely packed solid glasses

Metallic glass is an important advanced alloy, holding promise for broad engineering applications. It appears as a solid form in many aspects, with beautiful metal appearance, exceeding elasticity, high strength, and a densely packed atomic structure.

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New evidence that water separates into two different liquids at low temperatures

A new kind of "phase transition" in water was first proposed 30 years ago in a study by researchers from Boston University. Because the transition has been predicted to occur at supercooled conditions, however, confirming its existence has been a challenge. That's because at these low temperatures, water really does not want to be a liquid, instead it wants to rapidly become ice. Because of its hidden status, much is still unknown about this liquid-liquid phase transition, unlike the everyday examples of phase transitions in water between a solid or vapor phase and a liquid phase.

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How do we know that time exists?

The alarm goes off in the morning. You catch your morning train to the office. You take a lunch break. You catch your evening train back. You go for an hour's run. Eat dinner. Go to bed. Repeat. Birthdays are celebrated, deaths commemorated. New countries are born, empires rise and fall. The whole of human existence is bound to the passing of time.

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Complex patterns: Building a bridge from the large to the small

For many processes important for life such as cell division, cell migration, and the development of organs, the spatially and temporally correct formation of biological patterns is essential. To understand these processes, the principal task consists not in explaining how patterns form out of a homogeneous initial condition, but in explaining how simple patterns change into increasingly complex ones. Illuminating the mechanisms of this complex self-organization on various spatial and temporal scales is a key challenge for science.

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Team investigates collective actuation of an elastic network of 'mini-robots'

The physics of collective motion has been well-studied for the last thirty years. Until now, scientists have focused on the study of "fluid" movements, such as those of flocks of birds or schools of fish. Now, using an ingenious experimental device, researchers from the Gulliver laboratory (ESPCI Paris-PSL / CNRS) have revealed the possibility of collective movements in elastic solid structures. Their work sheds light on the mechanism and parameters that control this so-called "collective actuation." This work is published in the journal Nature Physics.

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Turning to the laws of physics to study how cells move

Scientists have long been concerned with trying to understand how cells move, for example in pursuit of new ways to control the spread of cancer. The field of biology continues to illuminate the infinitely complex processes by which collections of cells communicate, adapt, and organize along biochemical pathways.

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New model describes puffs, slugs and the role of randomness in transitional turbulence

Mention the word "turbulence" and you might conjure up images of bumpy flights, stormy weather, and choppy ocean or river currents. For many, turbulence is a fact of daily life, yet it is also one of the most poorly understood physical phenomena. In particular, the point at which a fluid's motion transitions from smooth and predictable flow (known as "laminar") to random and unpredictable (known as "turbulence")—the so-called laminar-turbulent transition—continues to puzzle scientists since Osborne Reynolds first experimentally studied it in pipes in 1883.

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A fluid interaction inspires a breakthrough in fluid dynamics

It's a little-known fact that tiny particles like blood cells drift sideways when moving past a rough surface, but this quirk has drawn much attention from researchers solving industrial problems.

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Big splash: Scientists present a new model for predicting droplet splashing behavior on solid surfaces

The study of liquid droplets and their behavior upon impingement is of major importance in many fields, including agriculture, engineering, and medicine. Droplet behavior prediction has use in spray painting and pesticide sprays, inkjet technology for printing, and aerosol generation during rainfall. A deeper understanding of this phenomenon is, therefore, imperative not only for advancing our knowledge of fluid physics but also technology.

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Capturing high pressures in diamond capsules

Preservation of the high-pressure states of materials at ambient conditions is a long-sought-after goal for fundamental research and practical applications.

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Analysis of air flows emitted by performers from the MET highlight COVID-19 risks

A combined team of researchers from Princeton University and the University of Montpellier analyzed the COVID-19 infection risk for singers and musicians performing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The paper is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

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Wobbling droplets in space confirm late professor's theory

At a time when astronomers around the world are reveling in new views of the distant cosmos, an experiment on the International Space Station has given Cornell researchers fresh insight into something a little closer to home: water.

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Do wind instruments disperse COVID aerosol droplets?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many live musical events and festivals were postponed and even canceled to protect musicians and audience members. When they started performing again, many groups resorted to performing with remote or limited crowds. They also adapted their repertoire to promote pieces featuring strings and made significant changes in the number of musicians and their positions in the auditorium.

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A simple way of sculpting matter into complex shapes

A new method for shaping matter into complex shapes, with the use of 'twisted' light, has been demonstrated in research at the University of Strathclyde.

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Matter at extreme conditions of very high temperature and pressure turns out to be remarkably simple and universal

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London have made two discoveries about the behavior of "supercritical matter"—matter at the critical point where the differences between liquids and gases seemingly disappear.

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A step towards quantum gravity

In Einstein's theory of general relativity, gravity arises when a massive object distorts the fabric of spacetime the way a ball sinks into a piece of stretched cloth. Solving Einstein's equations by using quantities that apply across all space and time coordinates could enable physicists to eventually find their "white whale": a quantum theory of gravity.

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China claims new world record for strongest steady magnetic field

On August 12, the hybrid magnet of the Steady High Magnetic Field Facility (SHMFF) in Hefei, China, produced a steady field of 45.22 tesla (T), the highest steady magnetic field by a working magnet in the world.

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A new method boosts wind farms' energy output, without new equipment

Virtually all wind turbines, which produce more than 5 percent of the world's electricity, are controlled as if they were individual, free-standing units. In fact, the vast majority are part of larger wind farm installations involving dozens or even hundreds of turbines, whose wakes can affect each other.

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Ultracold atoms dressed by light simulate gauge theories

Our modern understanding of the physical world is based on gauge theories: mathematical models from theoretical physics that describe the interactions between elementary particles (such as electrons or quarks) and explain quantum mechanically three of the fundamental forces of nature: the electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces. The fourth fundamental force, gravity, is described by Einstein's theory of general relativity, which, while not yet understood in the quantum regime, is also a gauge theory. Gauge theories can also be used to explain the exotic quantum behavior of electrons in certain materials or the error correction codes that future quantum computers will need to work reliably, and are the workhorse of modern physics.

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In simulation of how water freezes, artificial intelligence breaks the ice

A team based at Princeton University has accurately simulated the initial steps of ice formation by applying artificial intelligence (AI) to solving equations that govern the quantum behavior of individual atoms and molecules.

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Graphite changes to hexagonal diamond in picoseconds

The graphite-diamond phase transition is of particular interest for fundamental reasons and a wide range of applications.

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Robotic motion in curved space defies standard laws of physics

When humans, animals, and machines move throughout the world, they always push against something, whether it's the ground, air, or water. Until recently, physicists believed this to be a constant, following the law of conservation momentum. Now, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have proven the opposite—when bodies exist in curved spaces, it turns out that they can in fact move without pushing against something.

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Do 'bouncing universes' have a beginning?

In trying to understand the nature of the cosmos, some theorists propose that the universe expands and contracts in endless cycles.

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Putting a new spin on the football spiral

Only a handful of researchers have studied why an American football flies in such a unique trajectory, rifling through the air with remarkable precision, but also swerving, wobbling, and even tumbling as it barrels downfield. Now, ballistics experts at Stevens Institute of Technology have, for the first time, applied their understanding of artillery shells to explain this unique movement, creating the most precise model to date of the flight of a spiraling football.

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In search of universal laws of diffusion with resetting

The manner in which animals penetrate a neighborhood searching for food shows similarities to the movements of liquid particles in plant capillaries or gas molecules near an absorbing wall. These phenomena—and many others in nature—can be thought of as processes called anomalous diffusion with resetting. Recent research suggests that they have properties of a very universal nature.

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Optimizing SWAP networks for quantum computing

A research partnership at the Advanced Quantum Testbed (AQT) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Chicago-based Super.tech (acquired by ColdQuanta in May 2022) demonstrated how to optimize the execution of the ZZ SWAP network protocol, important to quantum computing. The team also introduced a new technique for quantum error mitigation that will improve the network protocol's implementation in quantum processors. The experimental data was published this July in Physical Review Research, adding more pathways in the near term to implement quantum algorithms using gate-based quantum computing.

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Unlocking the recipe for designer magnetic particles for next generation computing technologies

Traditional computing is increasingly being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to achieve pattern recognition capabilities across many domains, including healthcare, manufacturing and personal computing. The increasing complexity of "neural networks" required for AI capabilities causes an exponential rise in energy consumption. In the face of ever-shrinking energy budgets, there is a growing need for data processing at the collection point, known as the edge, especially for real-time applications.

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Testing shows photoemission orbital tomography can detect sigma orbitals

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Germany and Austria reports that it is possible to use photoemission orbital tomography to detect σ orbitals. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes modifying one aspect of photoemission orbital tomography to make σ orbitals visible.

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Even scientists can't keep up with all the newly discovered particles. Our new naming scheme could help

Physicists at Cern have discovered a plethora of new exotic particles being created in the collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider over the past few years. So many have been found in fact, that our collaboration (LHCb), which has discovered 59 out of 66 recent particles, has come up with a new naming scheme to help us impose some order on the growing particle zoo

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Using a supercomputer to find the best way to mix two fluids

A pair of researchers, one with the Max Planck Institute of Brain Research, the other with Imperial College, has found more efficient ways to mix two fluids using simulations run on a supercomputer. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Fluids, Maximilian Eggl and Peter Schmid describe the factors they took into account in creating their simulations and the strategies they found that worked the best.

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New materials research sees transformations at an atomic level

When manufacturing techniques turn metals, ceramics or composites into a technologically useful form, understanding the mechanism of the phase transformation process is essential to shape the behavior of those high-performance materials. Seeing those transformations in real time is difficult, however.

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When particles move: A deep dive into the relationship between cohesion and erosion

Landslides are one striking example of erosion. When the bonds that hold particles of dirt and rock together are overwhelmed by a force—often in the form of water—sufficient to pull the rock and soil apart, that same force breaks the bonds with other rock and soil that hold them in place. Another type of erosion involves using a small air jet to remove dust from a surface. When the force of the turbulent air is strong enough to break the bonds that hold the individual dust particles, or grains, together and cause them to stick to the surface, that's erosion, too.

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The strength of the strong force

Much ado was made about the Higgs boson when this elusive particle was discovered in 2012. Though it was touted as giving ordinary matter mass, interactions with the Higgs field only generate about 1 percent of ordinary mass. The other 99 percent comes from phenomena associated with the strong force, the fundamental force that binds smaller particles called quarks into larger particles called protons and neutrons that comprise the nucleus of the atoms of ordinary matter.

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Automating neutron experiments with AI

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are developing a first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence device for neutron scattering called Hyperspectral Computed Tomography, or HyperCT. The fully automated, AI-driven platform can rotate a sample in almost any direction, eliminating the need for human intervention and significantly reducing lengthy experiment times.

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Improving measurements of the kilogram

Until 2018, the SI unit of mass, the kilogram, was defined as the mass of a real object: the International Prototype Kilogram, kept in a secure facility in the outskirts of Paris. On November 16, 2018, the kilogram was given a new, internationally-accepted definition, based on three defining constants: the speed of light, the Planck constant, and the hyperfine transition frequency of cesium. One of the methods to measure a mass based on the new definition is a device named the Kibble balance.

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Scientists reveal distribution of dark matter around galaxies 12 billion years ago

A collaboration led by scientists at Nagoya University in Japan has investigated the nature of dark matter surrounding galaxies seen as they were 12 billion years ago, billions of years further back in time than ever before. Their findings, published in Physical Review Letters, offer the tantalizing possibility that the fundamental rules of cosmology may differ when examining the early history of our universe.

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