Physics

Jan 27th, 2025 - Researchers from Oakland University have made a significant breakthrough in the field of optical materials, unveiling the exceptional capabilities of Ba₃(ZnB₅O₁₀)PO₄ (BZBP). Although this transparent crystal closely resembles ordinary window glass, it exhibits extraordinary properties that set it apart from others. Already renowned for its exceptional qualities, such as excellent heat dissipation, minimal uneven expansion when exposed to temperature changes, and ... [Read More]

Jan 25th, 2025 - For the first time, researchers have measured the shape of an electron as it moves through a solid. This achievement could open a new way of looking at how electrons behave inside different materials. Their discovery highlights many effects that could be relevant to everything from quantum information science to electronics manufacturing. Those findings come from a team led by physicist Riccardo Comin , MIT's Class of 1947 Career Development Associate Professor of Physics and leader of the ... [Read More]

Jan 13th, 2025 - By & Theoretical physicists have proposed the existence of a new type of particle that doesn't fit into the conventional classifications of fermions and bosons. Their 'paraparticle', described in Nature on January 8, is not the first to be suggested, but the detailed mathematical model characterizing it could lead to experiments in which it is created using a quantum computer. The research also suggests that undiscovered elementary paraparticles might exist in nature. In a separate development ... [Read More]

Jan 9th, 2025 - For more than a century, scientists have been fascinated by the possibility that hidden, minuscule spatial dimensions could be influencing the physics of our familiar three-dimensional world. Despite decades of experimental searches, however, there has yet to be concrete evidence of these extra dimensions. Now, a recent study proposes a way to advance this search: using the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) to probe these hidden dimensions through neutrino behavior. Neutrinos ... [Read More]

Dec 29th, 2024 - The reference frames from which observers view quantum events can themselves have multiple possible locations at once—an insight with potentially major ramifications. The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine . Imagine standing on a railway platform watching a trolley go past. A girl on the trolley drops a bright red ball. To her, the ball falls straight down. But from the platform, you see the ball traverse an arc before hitting the trolley floor. The two of you ... [Read More]

Dec 26th, 2024 - One mile beneath a mountain in Italy, scientists at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory fill a particle detector with liquid xenon, hoping to observe evidence of dark matter . The idea is that, free from cosmic rays that interfere with these sorts of experiments aboveground, the lab will eventually detect invisible particles that do not interact with light by mapping how those particles collide with the xenon in the experiment — almost like a group of pool balls that shoots out in all ... [Read More]

Dec 19th, 2024 - The world's most massive science experiment has done it again, detecting hints of the heaviest antimatter particle ever found. This means the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator ever built, has given scientists a glimpse into conditions that existed when the universe was less than a second old. The antimatter particle is the partner of a massive matter particle called hyperhelium-4, and its discovery could help scientists tackle the mystery of why regular matter ... [Read More]

Dec 16th, 2024 - The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, in collaboration with the Australian National University, Canberra has demonstrated a novel way of steering a beam of relativistic electron pulses produced by an ultrahigh intensity, femtosecond laser. Their study is published in the journal Laser and Photonics Reviews . Beams of high energy electrons are crucial for fundamental science and myriad applications and technologies, such as imaging, semiconductor lithography, material science and ... [Read More]

Dec 16th, 2024 - From nearly indestructible metals, like tungsten , to delicate clouds in the sky, atoms make up everything around us. But do these atoms ever touch each other? As with most topics in atomic physics, the answer is more complicated than you might expect. Before we can answer this question, it's important to define what we mean by "touch," said Christopher Baird , an associate professor of physics at West Texas A&M University. "On the human scale, what we usually mean when we say that two objects ... [Read More]

Dec 13th, 2024 - A new study in demonstrates the levitation of a microparticle using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), having potential implications from biology to quantum computing. NMR is a spectroscopic technique commonly used to analyze various materials based on how the atomic nuclei respond to external magnetic fields. This provides information about the internal structure, dynamics, and environment of the material. One of the main challenges with NMR is using it on small objects to control the quantum ... [Read More]

Dec 9th, 2024 - Nuclear theorists at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory have successfully employed a new theoretical approach to calculate the Collins-Soper kernel, a quantity that describes how the distribution of quarks' transverse momentum inside a proton changes with the collision energy. The research is published in the journal Physical Review D . The new calculation precisely matches model-based reconstructions from particle collision data. It is particularly effective for ... [Read More]

Dec 7th, 2024 - Scientists have created the world's first mechanical qubit: a tiny, moving system that stores quantum information using vibrations instead of electric currents or light. Qubits are the fundamental units of quantum information . Unlike the bits you'd find in a classical computer, qubits can exist as 0, 1, or a superposition of both, thanks to the weird inner workings of quantum mechanics and entanglement . Traditionally, these are made from superconducting circuits, charged atoms (ions), or ... [Read More]

Nov 28th, 2024 - Quantum computing meets the timeless oscillation of time crystals in a breakthrough experiment. Researchers have managed to coax a quantum computer to pulse with a rhythm unlike any before—a rhythm that defies conventional physics. For the first time, scientists have transformed a quantum processor into a robust time crystal, a bizarre state of matter that ticks endlessly without external energy. This achievement, the work of physicists from China and the United States, could mark a ... [Read More]

Nov 25th, 2024 - The nature of dark matter has puzzled astronomers for 90 years since discovering that 85% of the universe's matter is invisible through our telescopes.  Currently, the most promising candidate for dark matter is the axion, a lightweight particle that scientists worldwide are fervently trying to detect. Astrophysicists at the University of California, Berkeley , now suggest that axions could be discovered within seconds of detecting gamma rays from a nearby supernova explosion .  If ... [Read More]

Nov 25th, 2024 - During his years in academia, Jeremy O'Brien says he had "precisely zero ambition to go into business". Yet today, the Australian physicist runs a private quantum-computing firm that venture-capital funders and governments have rushed to invest in — and which is making some of the field's boldest promises. In a whirlwind nine years since O'Brien founded PsiQuantum with three academic colleagues, the company has quietly raised more than US$1 billion and values itself at more than $3 ... [Read More]

Nov 19th, 2024 - New work provides a good view of where the field currently stands. In September, Microsoft . It demonstrated progress with quantum error correction, something that will be needed for the technology to move much beyond the interesting demo phase, using hardware from a quantum computing startup called Quantinuum. At the same time, however, the company also announced that it was forming a partnership with a different startup, Atom Computing, which uses a different technology to make qubits ... [Read More]