Lifeboat Foundation

The newfound black hole, an intense, light-trapping abyss which has been named Gaia BH3, lurks just 1,926 light-years from Earth in the Aquila constellation. (That makes it the second closest black hole to Earth after Gaia BH1, which resides at 1,500 light-years away and is three times lighter than Gaia BH3.) The so-called “sleeping giant” — so named because unlike its ilk, the dormant black hole doesn’t appear to be shredding its companion star to pieces — birthed out of the imminent collapse of a once-massive star. It is the first direct link between a black hole and a progenitor star that was deprived of metals heavier than hydrogen and helium, according to the new study published in April in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The discovery confirms a leading theory of stellar evolution that posits high-mass black holes are remnants of stars that are low on metals. Such metal-poor stars have damped mass-eroding winds compared to their metal-rich counterparts, and thus have more material available to form heavier black holes. Astronomers normally time announcements of science discoveries at the same time as data release, in this case no sooner than early 2026, but “you cannot hide this kind of discovery from the community for two years,” says Panuzzo. “It is a unique case of publication based on the preliminary data because the data is exceptional and also something that’s very interesting for the community.”

“We employed this configuration for the first time to characterize the signal field emerging from a resonantly excited plasmonic sample,” says Francesca Calegari, lead scientist at DESY, physics Professor at Universität Hamburg and a spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence “CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter.”

The difference of the reconstructed pulse with plasmon interaction to the reference pulse allowed the scientists to trace the emergence of the plasmon and its fast decay which they confirmed by electrodynamic model calculations.

“Our approach can be used to characterize arbitrary plasmonic samples in ambient conditions and in the far-field,” adds CUI scientist Prof. Holger Lange. Additionally, the precise characterization of the laser field emerging from nanoplasmonic materials could constitute a new tool to optimize the design of phase-shaping devices for ultrashort laser pulses.

With pulses of sound through tiny speakers, Cornell physics researchers have clarified the basic nature of a new superconductor.

Astronomy Magazine — Project Lyra is the cover feature!

A big thank you to Maciej Rebisz for the images and the entire Project Lyra team for the research work!

Continue reading “Project Lyra — Exploring Interstellar Objects” »

NYU Abu Dhabi researchers have unveiled a novel 2D material improving optical modulation for advanced systems and communications.

Responding to the increasing demand for efficient, tunable optical materials capable of precise light modulation to create greater bandwidth in communication networks and advanced optical systems, a team of researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi’s Photonics Research Lab (PRL) has developed a novel, two-dimensional (2D) material capable of manipulating light with exceptional precision and minimal loss.

Tunable optical materials (TOMs) are revolutionizing modern optoelectronics, electronic devices that detect, generate, and control light. In integrated photonics circuits, precise control over the optical properties of materials is crucial for unlocking groundbreaking and diverse applications in light manipulation. Two-dimensional materials like Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) and graphene exhibit remarkable optical responses to external stimuli. However, achieving distinctive modulation across a short-wave infrared (SWIR) region while maintaining precise phase control at low signal loss within a compact footprint has been a persistent challenge.

In the early 20th century, the development of a catalyst for ammonia synthesis by the Haber-Bosch method took more than 10,000 experiments before it was successful. The development of new materials is a time-consuming and costly process from design to commercialization.

While we usually think of disorder as a bad thing, a team of materials science researchers led by Rohan Mishra, from Washington University in St. Louis, and Jayakanth Ravichandran, from the University of Southern California, have revealed that—when it comes to certain crystals—a little structural disorder might have big impacts on useful optical properties.

An X-ray burst (XRB) is a violent explosion that occurs on the surface of a neutron star as it absorbs material from a companion star. During this absorption, increasing temperatures and densities on the surface of the neutron star ignite a cascade of thermonuclear reactions.

Engineers at Princeton and North Carolina State University have combined ancient paper-folding and modern materials science to create a soft robot that bends and twists through mazes with ease.