Full coherent control of wave transport and localization is a long-sought goal in wave physics research, which encompasses many different areas from solid-state to matter-wave physics and photonics. One among the most important and fascinating coherent transport effects is Bloch oscillation (BO), which refers to the periodic oscillatory motion of electrons in solids under a direct current (DC)-driving electric field.
Researchers have been delving into the concept of warp drives, theoretically allowing spaceships to surpass the speed of light, using principles from Einstein’s General Relativity.
Physicists have been exploring the theoretical possibility of spaceships driven by compressing the four-dimensional spacetime for decades. Although this so-called “warp drive” originates from the realm of science fiction, it is based on concrete descriptions in general relativity. A new study takes things a step further – simulating the gravitational waves such a drive might emit if it broke down.
In 2021, a team led by MIT physicists reported creating a new ultrathin ferroelectric material, or one where positive and negative charges separate into different layers. At the time, they noted the material’s potential for applications in computer memory and much more. Now the same core team and colleagues—including two from the lab next door—have built a transistor with that material and shown that its properties are so useful that it could change the world of electronics.
Although the team’s results are based on a single transistor in the lab, “in several aspects its properties already meet or exceed industry standards” for the ferroelectric transistors produced today, says Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, who led the work with professor of physics Raymond Ashoori. Both are also affiliated with the Materials Research Laboratory.
“In my lab we primarily do fundamental physics. This is one of the first, and perhaps most dramatic, examples of how very basic science has led to something that could have a major impact on applications,” Jarillo-Herrero says.
Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan. The idea of Dyson Spheres was a radical proposal by the physicist Freeman Dyson, an enormous shell of material enveloping a star. Dyson’s idea may be over half a century old, but interest in looking for such objects has only grown in the decades since. But how would such structures work? Are they physically even possible? And what might someone use them for? Today, we dive into the physics of Dyson spheres. Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas. Special thanks to Jason Wright for fact checking. → Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support → Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-wor… Check out our podcast: / @coolworldspodcast THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O’Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan & H. Schiff. REFERENCES ► Wright, J. 2020, “Dyson Spheres”, Serbian Astronomical Journal, 200, 1: https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.16734 ► Dyson, F. 1960, “Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation”, Science, 131, 1667: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/196… ► Dyson, F. 1960, Science, 132,250 ► NASA IRB JWST Report 2018: https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploa… ► Papagiannis, M. D. 1985, “SETI — a look into the future.”, The search for extraterrestrial life: recent development, 543: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/198… ► Scoggins, M. & Kipping, D. 2023, “Lazarus stars: numerical investigations of stellar evolution with star-lifting as a life extension strategy”, MNRAS, 523, 3251: https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.02338 MUSIC Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…) or with permission from the artist. 0:34 Tamuz Dekel — Quiet Pull 3:05 We Dream of Eden — Discovery 4:23 Hill — World of Wonder [https://open.spotify.com/track/7kYX7G… ] 6:28 Chris Zabriskie — Music from Neptune Flux 4 8:59 Hill — Arctic Warmth 11:54 Hill — Northern Borders 15:13 Hill — Fragile 17:45 Indive — Trace Correction CHAPTERS 0:00 Prologue 0:39 Inception 3:11 Incogni 4:27 Mechanical Stability 8:31 Gravitational Stability 11:08 Stellar Feedback 13:42 Computational Limits 16:23 Rings and Swarms 17:45 Outro and Credits #DysonSphere #Astronomy #CoolWorlds
Weather and climate experts are divided on whether AI or more traditional methods are most effective. In this new model, Google’s researchers bet on both.
Dr. Asela Abeya, of SUNY Poly faculty in the Department of Mathematics and Physics, has collaborated with peers at the University at Buffalo and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on a research paper titled “On Maxwell-Bloch systems with inhomogeneous broadening and one-sided nonzero background,” which has been published in Communications in Mathematical Physics.
How do giant planets form and is this process slow or fast based on the amount of available dust used to build those planets? This is what a recent study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as a team of researchers from Germany investigated how sub-micron-sized dust kicks off the planetary formation process within a protoplanetary disc. This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of planets throughout our solar system and exoplanetary systems, as well.
For the study, the researchers developed first-of-its-kind model to involve all constituents responsible for the physical processes that from planets. Focusing on sub-micron-sized dust, they included factors such as pebble accumulation, planetary gas buildup, planetary migration, and dust buildup, among others. In the end, they found that ring-shaped disturbances in the protoplanetary disk, which they refer to as substructures, can result in multiple gas giants’ formation in rapid sequence.
Dr. Til Birnstiel, who is a professor of theoretical astrophysics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and a co-author on the study, said: “When a planet gets large enough to influence the gas disk, this leads to renewed dust enrichment farther out in the disk. In the process, the planet drives the dust – like a sheepdog chasing its herd – into the area outside its own orbit.”