9 D Universe

The first scientific results from the new Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University have been unveiled by physicists in the US. Heather Crawford at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and colleagues have synthesized new neutron-rich isotopes of three different elements. Each nuclei is near the neutron drip [...]

The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads most easily when the indoor relative humidity falls outside a “sweet spot” between 40 and 60%, say researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. This finding, which is based on a comparison of meteorological data and population-level COVID-19 statistics, suggests [...]

In the high-octane world of high finance, bonds are not usually the most exciting assets. Safe, slow, dependable, they are supposed to be the sensible choice for investors seeking long-term financial security. Often issued by governments that want to raise money to fund major projects, the bonds will be bought [...]

Author(s): Allison GaspariniResearchers have demonstrated a noninvasive technique for measuring the energy evolution of an electron bunch inside a laser-plasma accelerator.[Physics 15, s170] Published Tue Dec 06, 2022 [...]

Major epidemics, including SARS, Zika and Ebola, and pandemics such as H1N1 and COVID-19 have gripped the world in the last two decades. As infectious disease outbreaks emerge with increasing regularity, the need to expand viral diagnostic and surveillance testing capacity to contain epidemics and prevent pandemics becomes progressively evident. [...]

Among 10 School of Science faculty selected for these positions receive additional support to pursue their research and develop their careers. The School of Science has announced that 10 of its faculty members have been appointed to named professorships. The faculty members selected for these positions receive additional support to pursue [...]

Vol. 66812. Atomic, molecular, and nuclear data LIDA: The Leiden Ice Database for Astrochemistry by W.R.M. Rocha, M.G. Rachid, B. Olsthoorn, et al. 2022, A&A, 668, A63 The Leiden Ice Database for Astrochemistry (LIDA) has provided infrared spectra of astrophysical ice analogs for over 20 years, and has been fully [...]

The School of Science has announced that 10 of its faculty members have been appointed to named professorships. The faculty members selected for these positions receive additional support to pursue their research and develop their careers. Camilla Cattania has been named a Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Professor in the [...]

Measurements by ESA's long-serving twin missions, Mars Express and Venus Express, have captured the dance between the intensity of high-energy cosmic rays and the influence of the sun's activity across our inner solar system. [...]

Since 2015, the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration have detected about 85 pairs of black holes crashing into each other. We now know that Einstein was right: gravitational waves are generated by these systems as they inspiral around each other, distorting space-time with their colossal masses as they go. We also know that [...]

Two meteorite impacts on the Martian surface have given scientists a better understanding of the interior structure of the Red Planet. The impacts happened in 2021 and an international team of researchers has shown that surface seismic waves detected on Mars were caused by the impacts. A second, related study, [...]

Author(s): Roberto C. ManciniResearchers have solved a long-standing puzzle surrounding iron emission lines, which are used to characterize laboratory and astrophysical plasmas.[Physics 15, 187] Published Mon Dec 05, 2022 [...]

Author(s): Katherine WrightA textbook theory for the freezing of water also explains the growth of a new phase in a more complicated phase transition of a different material.[Physics 15, 188] Published Mon Dec 05, 2022 [...]

Part showcase, part manifesto, Sonia Contera’s Nano Comes to Life makes the ambitious attempt to convey the wonder of recent advances in biology and nanoscience while at the same time also arguing for a new approach to biological and medical research. Contera – a biological physicist at the University of Oxford [...]

Are you one of those people who tracks all their activities with a smart watch to ensure that they are getting enough exercise. I am borderline obsessive in that way and cows might be next – if researchers at Southwest Jiaotong University in China have their way. Zutao Zhang and [...]

New Chinese research suggests that optical variability in emission-line galaxies (ELGs) is likely caused by star-formation activity rather than the activity of supermassive black holes. [...]

Vol. 6687. Stellar structure and evolution Structure and evolution of ultra-massive white dwarfs in general relativity by L. G. Althaus, M. Camisassa, S. Torres, et al. 2022, A&A, 668, A58 Ultra-massive white dwarfs (WDs) are a key for our understanding of type Ia supernovae, accretion-induced collapse, among other things. The authors [...]

Researchers at the Center for Theoretical Physics lead work on testing quantum gravity on a quantum processor. For the first time, researchers at MIT, Caltech, Harvard University, and elsewhere sent quantum information across a quantum system in what could be understood as traversing a wormhole. Though this experiment didn’t create a [...]

Author(s): Rachel BerkowitzErin Flowers develops laboratory courses for incarcerated men and women, an endeavor that she says is both challenging and rewarding.[Physics 15, 186] Published Thu Dec 01, 2022 [...]

The Ads/CFT duality conjecture suggests our universe is a hologram, enabling significant discoveries in the 25 years since it was first proposed https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-our-universe-a-hologram-physicists-debate-famous-idea-on-its-25th-anniversary/Netta Engelhardt, quantum field theory, black hole, Hawking radiation, entanglement entropy, quantum mechanics, event horizon, quantum extremal surfaces, spacetime The post Is Our Universe a Hologram? Physicists Debate Famous Idea [...]

The observations could illuminate how supermassive black holes feed and grow. Earlier this year, astronomers were keeping tabs on data from the Zwicky Transient Facility, an all-sky survey based at the Palomar Observatory in California, when they detected an extraordinary flash in a part of the sky where no such light [...]

Earlier this year, astronomers were keeping tabs on data from the Zwicky Transient Facility, an all-sky survey based at the Palomar Observatory in California, when they detected an extraordinary flash in a part of the sky where no such light had been observed the night before. From a rough calculation, [...]

Superconductivity, fractional charges and magnetic vortices are just some of the weird quantum phenomena lurking in materials like graphene when they get skewed https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25634150-600-the-exotic-quantum-effects-found-hiding-inside-ultra-thin-materials/Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, twisted graphene, superconductor, insulator, quasiparticles, The post The exotic quantum effects found hiding inside ultra-thin materials appeared first on MIT Physics. [...]

Author(s): Katie McCormickPhysics-education researchers have found that a rubric-based evaluation method is an easy and practical way to help fight inequities in the physics-graduate-admissions process.[Physics 15, s166] Published Wed Nov 30, 2022 [...]

Author(s): Katherine WrightResearchers demonstrate a loss-tolerant method for so-called quantum steering, a phenomenon that could give quantum communication networks complete security.[Physics 15, s168] Published Wed Nov 30, 2022 [...]