Beyond boundaries: Exploring exotic nuclear landscapes and their cosmic implications

Researchers at Peking University in China have successfully observed the elusive 02+ state of 8He, revealing a novel cluster structure with two strongly correlated neutron pairs. This finding provides insights into exotic nuclear structures and their potential implications for understanding neutron stars. The findings are published in Physical Review Letters.

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Successful test paves the way for magnet production at CERN

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) needs specific types of magnets to tightly control the beams of particles at its collision points. Called final-focusing quadrupoles, these magnets are installed in the LHC's interaction regions around the experiments. For the high-luminosity upgrade of the LHC (HL-LHC), the final-focusing magnets at ATLAS and CMS will need replacing. Tests at CERN have now confirmed that the quadrupole magnets newly designed to replace them will work.

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A logical magic state with fidelity beyond distillation threshold realized on superconducting quantum processor

Quantum computers have the potential to outperform conventional computers on some tasks, including complex optimization problems. However, quantum computers are also vulnerable to noise, which can lead to computational errors.

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Ordering of neutrino masses may be revealed by measuring those produced in Earth's atmosphere

A group of physicists, three with Harvard University's Department of Physics and Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, and the fourth with the University of Liverpool, has found evidence suggesting that additional measurements of neutrinos generated in Earth's atmosphere could be used to reveal how the three types of neutrino masses are ordered.

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The strangest coincidence in physics: The AdS/CFT correspondence

Attempts to turn string theory into a workable theory of nature have led to the potential conclusion that our universe is a hologram—that what we perceive as three spatial dimensions is actually composed of only two. The greatest realization of this hologram-led program is a proposal that goes by the awkward and clunky name of the AdS/CFT correspondence, first proposed by string theorist Juan Maldacena in the late 1990s.

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Clarified at last: The physics of popping champagne

When you uncork a bottle of champagne, complex supersonic phenomena occur. Scientists at TU Wien have now been able to calculate exactly what happens for the first time.

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Why string theory requires extra dimensions

String theory found its origins in an attempt to understand the nascent experiments revealing the strong nuclear force. Eventually another theory, one based on particles called quarks and force carriers called gluons, would supplant it, but in the deep mathematical bones of the young string theory physicists would find curious structures, half-glimpsed ghosts, that would point to something more. Something deeper.

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How do quark-gluon-plasma fireballs explode into hadrons?

Quark gluon plasma (QGP) is an exciting state of matter that scientists create in a laboratory by colliding two heavy nuclei. These collisions produce a QGP fireball. The fireball expands and cools following the laws of hydrodynamics, which govern how fluids behave in various conditions. Eventually, subatomic particles (protons, pions, and other hadrons, or particles made up of two or more quarks) emerge and are observed and counted by detectors surrounding the collision.

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What have the stars done for humankind?

Professor Roberto Trotta from Imperial College London's Department of Physics is a theoretical physicist by training and astrophysicist by trade. His work explores how statistics and machine learning can help us turn complex datasets from telescopes on Earth and in space into real-life understanding.

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Why paint does not dry slower in a humid environment

A team of physicists at The University of Edinburgh working with an infection and immunity specialist with the university's Roslin Institute has, via experimentation, validated a theory to explain why paint dries at the same rate regardless of humidity levels. The study is published in Physical Review Letters.

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AI models predict decay modes and half-lives of superheavy nuclei with unprecedented accuracy

In a study published in the journal of Nuclear Science and Techniques, researchers from Sun Yat-sen University have achieved a significant breakthrough in understanding the decay processes of superheavy nuclei. Their pioneering study, employing a random forest machine learning algorithm, offers novel insights into the decay modes and half-lives of elements beyond oganesson (element 118).

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Mapping the relations between Manhattan Project scientists using network science

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret program that culminated in the development of the first atomic bombs during World War 2. This covert and controversial research endeavor involved many gifted and reputable scientists, including physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

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Snowflake accelerations mysteriously follow a predictable pattern

A winter wonderland calls to mind piles of fluffy, glistening snow. But to reach the ground, snowflakes are swept into the turbulent atmosphere, swirling through the air instead of plummeting directly to the ground.

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Scientists are recommending IceCube should be eight times bigger

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, operated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M), located at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, is one of the most ambitious neutrino observatories in the world. Behind this observatory is the IceCube Collaboration, an international group of 300 physicists from 59 institutions in 14 countries.

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Two possible ways to use black holes as energy source in the distant future

A pair of astrophysicists at Tianjin University, in China, has proposed ways that humans in the distant future might use black holes as an energy source. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review D, Zhan-Feng Mai and Run-Qiu Yang outline two possible scenarios in which energy could potentially be harvested from primordial black holes.

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Electronic pathways may enhance collective atomic vibrations' magnetism

Materials with enhanced thermal conductivity are critical for the development of advanced devices to support applications in communications, clean energy and aerospace. But in order to engineer materials with this property, scientists need to understand how phonons, or quantum units of the vibration of atoms, behave in a particular substance.

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New ALICE measurements shed light on the dynamics of charm and beauty particles in quark-gluon plasma

When two lead ions collide at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), they produce an extremely hot and dense state of matter in which quarks and gluons are not confined inside composite particles called hadrons. This fireball of particles—known as quark–gluon plasma and believed to have filled the universe in the first few millionths of a second after the Big Bang—expands and cools down rapidly. The quarks and gluons then transform back into hadrons, which fly out of the collision zone towards particle detectors.

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Q&A: Bringing virtual reality to nuclear and particle physics

Virtual reality, or VR, is not just for fun-filled video games and other visual entertainment. This technology, involving a computer-generated environment with objects that seem real, has found many scientific and educational applications as well.

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Newly developed material gulps down hydrogen, spits it out, protects fusion reactor walls

University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers have used a spray coating technology to produce a new workhorse material that can withstand the harsh conditions inside a fusion reactor.

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Lighting a fire using friction requires an understanding of physics principles—there are ways to make the process easier

Humans have been making fire using friction for thousands of years, with evidence of its use found in archaeological records across different cultures worldwide.

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Extending the uncertainty principle by using an unbounded operator

A study published in the journal Physical Review Letters by researchers in Japan solves a long-standing problem in quantum physics by redefining the uncertainty principle.

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A strategy to realize the efficient resonant absorption of guided water waves

The absorption of water waves is the process through which water waves lose their energy, thus reducing their impact on shores or other solid structures surrounding them. Enabling this absorption process in real-world settings could help protect coasts and structures from damage caused by waves during extreme weather conditions.

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Q&A: Understanding coordination mechanisms in decentralized systems

Did you know that when a group of robots or bacteria moves in a space where there are several free objects, they deflect these objects so they can pass? An international research team managed to show that the trail left by this movement contributes to the formation of groups, functioning as an effective communication mechanism between them, in a study now published in Nature Communications.

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Making precision calculations at the cusp of the high-luminosity LHC era

There are many open questions about the Standard Model of particle physics (SM), which is currently the best description we have of the world of particle physics. Experimental and theoretical physicists vie with each other in a healthy competition to scrutinize the SM and identify parts of it that require further explanation, beyond the model's well-known shortcomings, such as neutrino masses.

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Advisory panel issues field-defining recommendations for US government investments in particle physics research

A new Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) report has been released by the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) to the High Energy Physics program of the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation's Division of Physics, which outlines particle physicists' recommendations for research priorities in a field whose projects—such as building new accelerator facilities—can take years or decades, contributions from thousands of scientists, and billions of dollars.

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Searching for axions with the ATLAS detector

The research group of Professor Matthias Schott of the PRISMA+ Cluster of Excellence at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has posted the results of an extensive series of measurements at the ATLAS detector of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to the arXiv preprint server. The data were recorded during the second runtime of the LHC between 2015 and 2018.

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AI algorithm keeps a mile-long particle accelerator healthy

Particle accelerators are among the most intricate scientific instruments ever devised. With millions of sensors and thousands of subsystems at risk of failure, these accelerators' human operators must continuously monitor performance and comb through a sea of sensors to identify problems. That's the situation at the Linac Coherent Light Source, a Department of Energy user facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

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Ancient stars made extraordinarily heavy elements, researchers find

How heavy can an element be? An international team of researchers has found that ancient stars were capable of producing elements with atomic masses greater than 260, heavier than any element on the periodic table found naturally on Earth. The finding deepens our understanding of element formation in stars.

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Not all jets radiate equally in quark-gluon plasma, study finds

Studying nuclear matter under extreme conditions allows scientists to better understand how the universe might have looked right after its creation. Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider achieve the conditions for recreating mini-Big Bangs in the lab by colliding nuclei at speeds close to that of light. These collisions create temperatures about one million times hotter than the sun's center.

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A novel microscope operates on the quantum state of single electrons

Physicists at the University of Regensburg have found a way to manipulate the quantum state of individual electrons using a microscope with atomic resolution. The results of the study have now been published in the journal Nature.

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Grinding coffee with a splash of water reduces static electricity and makes more consistent and intense espresso: Study

The fracturing and friction of coffee beans during grinding generates electricity that causes coffee particles to clump together and stick to the grinder. Researchers report Dec. 6 in the journal Matter that coffee beans with higher internal moisture produce less static electricity, which means less coffee is wasted and there is less mess to clean up.

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Singing in the rain: Why the bundengan sounds better wet

A bundengan wears many hats—and is one too. This portable shelter woven from bamboo has protected Indonesian duck herders from the sun and rain for centuries. Able to comfortably balance on the wearer's head, a bundengan is equipped with a visor that curves around the side to meet at a long back. A more surprising, but no less practical, feature is the collection of strings and bamboo bars added in to produce music. Duck herders fill the hours spent tending to ducks sitting underneath their outfitted shelter, playing their shield as an instrument.

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Picking up good vibrations: The surprising physics of the didgeridoo

Australia's most iconic sound is almost certainly the didgeridoo. The long wooden tube-shaped instrument is famous for its unique droning music and has played a significant role in Australian Aboriginal culture for thousands of years. Despite the instrument's simple design, the playing technique can be highly complex.

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SPAGINS: A novel approach to predicting nuclear fragmentation in gamma-induced spallation

In a study published in Nuclear Science and Techniques, researchers from Henan Normal University report a significant advancement in nuclear physics. The study showcases the effectiveness of the SPAGINS model, a novel approach to accurately predicting fragment production in gamma-induced nuclear spallation reactions.

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ALICE records about 12 billion heavy-ion collisions

After a five-year pause, on the evening of 26 September, lead ions collided at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at an unprecedented high energy of 5.36 TeV per pair of nucleons (protons or neutrons) and a collision rate six times higher than before.

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New theory claims to unite Einstein's gravity with quantum mechanics

A radical theory that consistently unifies gravity and quantum mechanics while preserving Einstein's classical concept of spacetime has been announced in two papers published simultaneously by UCL (University College London) physicists.

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Teaching physics from the din of flying discs

Disc golf is booming, with record numbers of players turning up each year to partake in the disc-throwing sport. It is also whizzing and whistling. In fact, the sound a disc makes while soaring through the air toward its target is full of information about how fast the disc is flying and how quickly it spins.

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Shrinking particle accelerators with cold plasma and a large picnic basket

Twenty-five feet below ground, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory scientist Spencer Gessner opens a large metal picnic basket. This is not your typical picnic basket filled with cheese, bread and fruit—it contains screws, bolts, steel tubing, and many other parts and pieces that carry particles to nearly the speed of light. The components are arranged precisely to do an important job: help feed bunches of fast-moving electrons into the stuff that the sun is made of: plasma.

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New understanding of 'oobleck-like' fluids contributes to smart material design

If you mix cornstarch and water in the right proportions, you get something that seems not-quite-liquid but also not-quite-solid. Oobleck flows and settles like a liquid when untouched but stiffens when you try to pick it up or stir it with a spoon. The properties of oobleck and other non-Newtonian fluids—including Silly Putty, quicksand, paint, and yogurt—change under stress or pressure, and scientists have long struggled to prove exactly why.

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Control over friction, from small to large scales

Friction is hard to predict and control, especially since surfaces that come in contact are rarely perfectly flat. New experiments demonstrate that the amount of friction between two silicon surfaces, even at large scales, is determined by the forming and rupturing of microscopic chemical bonds between them. This makes it possible to control the amount of friction using surface chemistry techniques. This research has been published in Physical Review Letters.

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Japanese experimental nuclear fusion reactor inaugurated

The world's biggest experimental nuclear fusion reactor in operation was inaugurated in Japan on Friday, a technology in its infancy but billed by some as the answer to humanity's future energy needs.

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