Physics in the News

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Asteroid defies laws of physics, baffles researchers

WISE thermal-infrared images of (29075) 1950 DA. The image scale is 2.75 arcsec per pixel for the W1, W2 and W3 bands and 5.53 arcsec per pixel for the W4 band. White pixels are ‘bad’ pixels that do not contain data. The object seen to the upper left of (29075) 1950 DA (red circle) (Credit: Rozitis, MacLennan & Emery) — WISE thermal-infrared images of (29075) 1950 DA. The image scale is 2.75 arcsec per pixel for the W1, W2 and W3 bands and 5.53 arcsec per pixel for the W4 band. White pixels are ‘bad’ pixels that do not contain data. The object seen in the red circle is (29075) 1950 DA. (Credit: Rozitis, MacLennan, Emery)

Hubble eyes galaxy as it gets a cosmic hair ruffling

From objects as small as Newton's apple to those as large as a galaxy, no physical body is free from the stern bonds of gravity, as evidenced in this stunning picture captured by the Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. (Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Luca Limatola) — From objects as small as Newton’s apple to those as large as a galaxy, no physical body is free from the stern bonds of gravity, as evidenced in this stunning picture captured by the Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. (Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Luca Limatola)

via phys

Novel project to develop tiny flat molecule tapes

Alissa Wiengarten, PhD student at the TUM Department of Physics, heats a porphine powder in a vacuum chamber. (Credit: Thorsten Naeser/Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics)

Quantum-Memory imprint discovered in light emission

Semiconductor quantum-dot microring laser emits light whose emission intensity exhibits oscillations due to quantum memory between excitation and light Emission. Pressestelle der Philipps-Universität Marburg/Fachgebiet Theoretische Halbleiterphysik — Semiconductor quantum-dot microring laser emits light whose emission intensity exhibits oscillations due to quantum memory between excitation and light Emission. (Credit: Philipps-Universität Marburg/Fachgebiet Theoretische Halbleiterphysik)

via innovations-report

Investigating soil moisture dynamics using cosmic-ray technology

Dr Rosolem with the cosmic-ray soil moisture sensor installed at the the Federal University of Santa Maria SulFlux site in Brazil — Dr Rosolem with the cosmic-ray soil moisture sensor installed at the the Federal University of Santa Maria SulFlux site in Brazil. (Credit: Univ Bristol)

Particle physicists measure the spin contribution of the proton’s antiquark

The STAR detector, used in the researchers' experiment, measures the energy and angle of the electron from the W boson decay produced in the proton collision. (Credit: STAR Collaboration) — The STAR detector, used in the researchers’ experiment, measures the energy and angle of the electron from the W boson decay produced in the proton collision. (Credit: STAR Collaboration)

via phys

Nanosilver gives electron microscopy a boost

Experimental arrangement. A tip is approached to a distance of micrometres from a grounded highly ordered pyrolytic graphene (HOPG) surface carrying Ag nanostructures (illustrated in the inset). Electrons are field-emitted from the tip when a negative tip voltage Vt of hundreds of volts is applied, and the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of the Ag nanostructures is excited by the field-emitted electrons under a strong electric field introduced by the tip–sample bias. The backscattered electrons are collected and analysed by the TEEA. (Credit: Nature Physics (2014) doi:10.1038/nphys3051)

via asianscientist

Supermassive black holes’ diets revealed: Crushed stars and X-rays

Because of that alacrity, and the fact that they had repeat observations at roughly a decade's detach, the Russian scientists were able to single out stars that dimmed by at least tenfold. They've been named 1RXS J114727.1 + 494302, 1RXS J130547.2 + 641252, and 1RXS J235424.5-102053. (Credit: Davies, NASA) — Because of that alacrity, and the fact that they had repeat observations at roughly a decade’s detach, the Russian scientists were able to single out stars that dimmed by at least tenfold. They’ve been named 1RXS J114727.1 + 494302, 1RXS J130547.2 + 641252, and 1RXS J235424.5-102053. (Credit: Davies, NASA)

Could Mystery Signal Detected Be Proof of Dark Matter?

Could a mystery signal that has been detected be proof of dark matter? While searching through the fundamental structures of various galaxy clusters, astrophysicists located at Harvard University found a bizarre discharge line they are having trouble in identifying. (Credit: Kimberly Ruble)

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