Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: particle physics – Page 288

Researchers capture first atomic-scale images depicting early stages of particle accelerator film formation

New research from a team of scientists at the Cornell University Center for Bright Beams has made significant strides in developing new techniques to guide the growth of materials used in next-generation particle accelerators.

The study, published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C, reveals the potential for greater control over the growth of superconducting Nb3Sn films, which could significantly reduce the cost and size of cryogenic infrastructure required for .

Superconducting accelerator facilities, such as those used for X-ray free-electron laser radiation, rely on niobium superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities to generate high-energy beams. However, the associated cryogenic infrastructure, energy consumption, and operating costs of niobium SRF cavities limit access to this technology.

Physicists Simulated a Black Hole in The Lab, And Then It Started to Glow

A synthetic analog of a black hole could tell us a thing or two about an elusive radiation theoretically emitted by the real thing.

Using a chain of atoms in single-file to simulate the event horizon of a black hole, a team of physicists observed the equivalent of what we call Hawking radiation – particles born from disturbances in the quantum fluctuations caused by the black hole’s break in spacetime.

This, they say, could help resolve the tension between two currently irreconcilable frameworks for describing the Universe: the general theory of relativity, which describes the behavior of gravity as a continuous field known as spacetime; and quantum mechanics, which describes the behavior of discrete particles using the mathematics of probability.

Light waves squeezed through ‘slits in time’

A celebrated experiment in 1,801 showed that light passing through two thin slits interferes with itself, forming a characteristic striped pattern on the wall behind. Now, physicists have shown that a similar effect can arise with two slits in time rather than space: a single mirror that rapidly turns on and off causes interference in a laser pulse, making it change colour.

The result is reported on 3 April in Nature Phys ics1. It adds a new twist to the classic double-slit experiment performed by physicist Thomas Young, which demonstrated the wavelike aspect of light, but also — in its many later reincarnations — that quantum objects ranging from photons to molecules have a dual nature of both particle and wave.

The rapid switching of the mirror — possibly taking just 1 femtosecond (one-quadrillionth of a second) — shows that certain materials can change their optical properties much faster than previously thought possible, says Andrea Alù, a physicist at the City University of New York. This could open new paths for building devices that handle information using light rather than electronic impulses.

Mind-Controlled Robots: New Graphene Sensors Are Turning Science Fiction Into Reality

Researchers have designed a 3D-patterned, graphene.

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a single layer of atoms in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice in which one atom forms each vertex. It is the basic structural element of other allotropes of carbon, including graphite, charcoal, carbon nanotubes, and fullerenes. In proportion to its thickness, it is about 100 times stronger than the strongest steel.

Do Earth-like exoplanets have magnetic fields? Far-off radio signal is promising sign

Earth’s magnetic field does more than keep everyone’s compass needles pointed in the same direction. It also helps preserve Earth’s sliver of life-sustaining atmosphere by deflecting high energy particles and plasma regularly blasted out of the sun. Researchers have now identified a prospective Earth-sized planet in another solar system as a prime candidate for also having a magnetic field—YZ Ceti b, a rocky planet orbiting a star about 12 light-years away from Earth.

Researchers Sebastian Pineda and Jackie Villadsen observed a repeating emanating from the star YZ Ceti using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, a radio telescope operated by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Research by Pineda and Villadsen to understand the interactions between distant stars and their orbiting planets is supported by NSF. Their research was published today (April 3) in the journal Nature Astronomy.

“The search for potentially habitable or life-bearing worlds in other solar systems depends in part on being able to determine if rocky, Earth-like exoplanets actually have magnetic fields,” says NSF’s Joe Pesce, program director for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. “This research shows not only that this particular rocky exoplanet likely has a magnetic field but provides a promising method to find more.”

Recreating the double-slit experiment that proved the wave nature of light in time, instead of space

Imperial physicists have recreated the famous double-slit experiment, which showed light behaving as particles and a wave, in time rather than space.

The experiment relies on that can change their in fractions of a second, which could be used in new technologies or to explore fundamental questions in physics.

The original , performed in 1,801 by Thomas Young at the Royal Institution, showed that light acts as a wave. Further experiments, however, showed that light actually behaves as both a wave and as particles—revealing its .