Lifeboat Foundation

Since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, scientists in the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have been hard at work characterizing its properties and hunting down the diverse ways in which this ephemeral particle can decay. From the copious but experimentally challenging decay to b-quarks, to the exquisitely rare but low-background decay into four leptons, each offers a different avenue to study the properties of this new particle. Now, ATLAS has found first evidence of the Higgs boson decaying to two leptons (either an electron or a muon pair with opposite charge) and a photon. Known as “Dalitz decay,” this is one of the rarest Higgs boson decays yet seen at the LHC.

We argue that extensions of the SM with a warped extra dimension, together with a new $${\mathbb {Z}}_2$$ Z 2-odd scalar singlet, provide a natural explanation not only for the hierarchy problem but also for the nature of fermion bulk masses and the observed dark matter relic abundance. In particular, the Kaluza-Klein excitations of the new scalar particle, which is required to naturally obtain fermion bulk masses through Yukawa-like interactions, can be the leading portal to any fermion propagating into the bulk of the extra dimension and playing the role of dark matter. Moreover, such scalar excitations will necessarily mix with the Higgs boson, leading to modifications of the Higgs couplings and branching ratios, and allowing the Higgs to mediate the coannihilation of the fermionic dark matter.

Circa 2013 o.o

Quantum entanglement, one of the odder aspects of quantum theory, links the properties of particles even when they are separated by large distances. When a property of one of a pair of entangled particles is measured, the other “immediately” settles down into a state compatible with that measurement. So how fast is “immediately”? According to research by Prof. Juan Yin and colleagues at the University of Science and Technology of China in Shanghai, the lower limit to the speed associated with entanglement dynamics – or “spooky action at a distance” – is at least 10000 times faster than light.

Despite playing a vital role in the development of quantum theory, Einstein felt philosophically at odds with its description of how the universe works. His famous quote that “God does not play dice” hints at his level of discomfort with the role of probability in quantum theory. He believed there exists another level of reality in which all of physics would be deterministic, and that quantum mechanics would turn out to be a description that emerges from the workings of that level – rather like a traffic jam emerges from the independent motions of a large number of cars.

Continue reading “Quantum ‘spooky action at a distance’ travels at least 10,000 times faster than light” »

Long-time trapping of a single electron could allow the particle to be used as an efficient quantum bit.

An intelligent material that learns by physically changing itself, similar to how the human brain works, could be the foundation of a completely new generation of computers. Radboud physicists working toward this so-called “quantum brain” have made an important step. They have demonstrated that they can pattern and interconnect a network of single atoms, and mimic the autonomous behavior of neurons and synapses in a brain. They report their discovery in Nature Nanotechnology.

Considering the growing global demand for computing capacity, more and more data centers are necessary, all of which leave an ever-expanding energy footprint. “It is clear that we have to find new strategies to store and process information in an energy efficient way,” says project leader Alexander Khajetoorians, Professor of Scanning Probe Microscopy at Radboud University.

“This requires not only improvements to technology, but also fundamental research in game changing approaches. Our new idea of building a ‘quantum brain’ based on the quantum properties of materials could be the basis for a future solution for applications in artificial intelligence.”

A new technique has taken the first images of muon particle beams. Nagoya University scientists designed the imaging technique with colleagues in Osaka University and KEK, Japan and describe it in the journal Scientific Reports. They plan to use it to assess the quality of these beams, which are being used more and more in advanced imaging applications.

Each year, billions of tons of goods are transported globally using cargo containers. Currently, there are concerns that this immense volume of traffic could be exploited to transport illicit nuclear materials, with little chance of detection. One promising approach to combating this issue is to measure how goods interact with charged particles named muons—which form naturally as cosmic rays interact with Earth’s atmosphere. Studies worldwide have now explored how this technique, named “muon tomography,” can be achieved through a variety of detection technologies and reconstruction algorithms. In this article of EPJ Plus, a team headed by Francesco Riggi at the University of Catania, Italy, build on these results to develop a full-scale muon tomograph prototype.

Stochastic orbital dynamics of individually coupled Co atoms on black phosphorus enables the realization of a Boltzmann machine capable of self-adaption.

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Continue reading “Is Quantum Tunneling the Key to Life and existence of the Universe?” »