Physics in the News

Friday, October 10, 2014

Nearby galaxy might explain what tore apart universe’s hydrogen

Ultraviolet light (orange) pours out of a galaxy in this image from NASA’s GALEX satellite. New Hubble observations reveal this galaxy might mimic the earliest galaxies in the universe. (Credit: NASA; ESA; R. Overzier/ON/MCT; T. Heckman/JH)
Ultraviolet light (orange) pours out of a galaxy in this image from NASA’s GALEX satellite. New Hubble observations reveal this galaxy might mimic the earliest galaxies in the universe. (Credit: NASA; ESA; R. Overzier/ON/MCT; T. Heckman/JH)
via sciencenews

A comet is about to come very close to Mars, and NASA is ready

An artist's concept shows comet Siding Spring (C/2013 A1) heading toward Mars. (Credit: NASA)
An artist’s concept shows comet Siding Spring (C/2013 A1) heading toward Mars. (Credit: NASA)
via latimes

Rare ‘baby rattle’ molecules reveal new quantum properties of H2O and H2

Protons tunnel across a series of hydrogen bonds between hydronium ions and water molecules. (Credit: Wiki)
Protons tunnel across a series of hydrogen bonds between hydronium ions and water molecules. (Credit: Wiki)
via sciencedaily

Rattlesnake repertoire boosts snake-like robot’s skills

 Researchers on Thursday said they conducted experiments to learn precisely how sidewinder rattlesnakes are able to climb sandy hills, then applied the reptiles' repertoire to an existing snake robot so it could do the same thing. Credit:  Chaohui Gong., Reuters/Chaohui Gong/Handout via Reuters)

Researchers on Thursday said they conducted experiments to learn precisely how sidewinder rattlesnakes are able to climb sandy hills, then applied the reptiles’ repertoire to an existing snake robot so it could do the same thing. (Credit: Chaohui Gong, Reuters/Chaohui Gong)
via reuters

Physics fundamentals confirmed: Testing Einstein’s time dilation, Quantum Electrodynamics

Results confirm the time dilation predicted for high velocities in the theory of relativity with an accuracy that has never before been achieved. Furthermore, the team provided the first direct proof of a spectral line in highly charged bismuth ions. (Credit: Technische Universität Darmstadt )
Results confirm the time dilation predicted for high velocities in the theory of relativity with an accuracy that has never before been achieved. Furthermore, the team provided the first direct proof of a spectral line in highly charged bismuth ions. (Credit: Technische Universität Darmstadt )
via scientificcomputing

Hubble sees influence of a jetstream on a hot, Jupiter-sized exoplanet

The Hubble Space Telescope has imaged light from a hot Jupiter called WASP-43b, detecting temperature differences between the planet's day and night sides. The results suggest that the planet has an eastward jet stream that redistributes some of the heat from its host star, but otherwise there's very little circulation of heat. (Credit: Hubble, Timmer)
The Hubble Space Telescope has imaged light from a hot Jupiter called WASP-43b, detecting temperature differences between the planet’s day and night sides. The results suggest that the planet has an eastward jet stream that redistributes some of the heat from its host star, but otherwise there’s very little circulation of heat. (Credit: Hubble, Timmer)
via nasa

A brief history of scientists hunting for time travelers

via gizmodo

Making sci-fi teleportation sound less bizarre

If you ever wanted to see a sci-fi plot that expertly applied advanced physical concepts so that with a bit of imagination teleporting a human was not as unbelievable as most of the teleportation scenarios we see in the movies, read this articel.  The above is a Cosmic Treadmill, as it appears in Flash #196. (Credit: Paul Winslade,  Hmmmjenia)
If you ever wanted to see a sci-fi plot that expertly applied advanced physical concepts so that with a bit of imagination teleporting a human was not as unbelievable as most of the teleportation scenarios we see in the movies, read this article. The above is a Cosmic Treadmill, as it appears in Flash #196. (Credit: Paul Winslade, Hmmmjenia)
via quantumfrontiers

Synopsis: Milky Way’s center stays in the dark (PDF)

Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess from Dark Matter Annihilation: Is There a Black Hole Spike? (Credit: NASA)
Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess from Dark Matter Annihilation: Is There a Black Hole Spike? (Credit: NASA)
via aps

New nature journal to highlight spaceflight research

A new  journal, Microgravity, is dedicated to publishing research that uses space exploration and research enabled by spaceflight. It will also publish research utilizing ground-based models of spaceflight. (Credit: NASA, Caspermeyer)
A new journal, Microgravity, is dedicated to publishing research that uses space exploration and research enabled by spaceflight. It will also publish research utilizing ground-based models of spaceflight. (Credit: NASA, Caspermeyer)
via asunews

Physics in the News

Monday, October 6, 2014

Princeton scientists observe elusive particle that behaves both like Matter and Antimatter discovered

via princeton

Turn your smart phone into a cosmic ray telescope

Professor Justin Vandenbroucke leads the development of the DECO app. (Credit: Jeff Miller/UW-Madison)
Professor Justin Vandenbroucke leads the development of the DECO app. (Credit: Jeff Miller/UW-Madison)
via wisc.edu

Physicists succeed in compressing quantum data for the first time

if we have a system of qubits all in the same state (with the same probability distributions), we have identical qubits, even though we might get different results upon measuring the individual qubits. Strangely enough, particles in the quantum world can be both identical and distinct at the same time.  (Credit: M. Byrne)
if we have a system of qubits all in the same state (with the same probability distributions), we have identical qubits, even though we might get different results upon measuring the individual qubits. Strangely enough, particles in the quantum world can be both identical and distinct at the same time. (Credit: M. Byrne)

via motherboard

Composite image shows two black holes orbiting each other

his composite X-ray/radio image of Abell 400 shows radio jets (pink), immersed in a vast cloud of multimillion degree X-ray emitting gas (blue) that pervades the cluster. The jets emanate from the vicinity of two supermassive black holes (bright spots in the image) in the galaxy. Chandra and radio data confirm that the unusual structure is due to the merger of two large galaxies, whose supermassive black holes are bound together by their mutual gravity. The swept-back appearance of the radio jets is produced by the rapid motion of the galaxy through the hot gas of the cluster, in much the same way that a motorcyclist's scarf is swept back while speeding down the road.Credit: X-Ray: NASA/CXC/D. Hudson, T.Reiprich et al. (AIfA); Radio: NRAO/VLA/ NRL
This composite X-ray/radio image of Abell 400 shows radio jets (pink), immersed in a vast cloud of multimillion degree X-ray emitting gas (blue) that pervades the cluster. The jets emanate from the vicinity of two supermassive black holes (bright spots in the image) in the galaxy. Chandra and radio data confirm that the unusual structure is due to the merger of two large galaxies, whose supermassive black holes are bound together by their mutual gravity. (Credit: X-Ray: NASA/CXC/D. Hudson, T.Reiprich et al. (AIfA); Radio: NRAO/VLA/ NRL)
via phys

NASA to put astronauts in deep sleep (therapeutic torpor) for Mars mission

via discovery

Jet activity at the neck of the Rosetta comet

rosettacomet
a region of jet activity can be seen at the neck of the comet. These jets, originating from several discrete locations, are a product of ices sublimating and gases escaping from inside the nucleus. (Credit: ESA, NASA)
via phys.org

Pluto the “Unexplored Planet” Is it a Planet? Could it have astrobiological potential?

via dailygalaxy

Rat brains enlisted in quest for spatial certainty

Researcher will mash together the visual recognition skills of humans and the spatial memory system of rats to enable robots to navigate in any environmental conditions. (Credit: The Australian)
Researcher will mash together the visual recognition skills of humans and the spatial memory system of rats to enable robots to navigate in any environmental conditions. (Credit: The Australian)
via theaustralian

Tiny fossil galaxies of first stars of the Universe found orbiting Milky Way

The image above shows a standard prediction for the dark matter distribution within about 1 million light years of the Milky Way galaxy, which is expected to be swarming with thousands of small dark matter clumps called `halos'. (Credit: Garrison, Kimmel, Bullock, UCI)
The image above shows a standard prediction for the dark matter distribution within about 1 million light years of the Milky Way galaxy, which is expected to be swarming with thousands of small dark matter clumps called `halos’. (Credit: Garrison, Kimmel, Bullock, UCI)
via dailygalaxy

Is the next supercollider a good investment?

cern-030308
There is no doubt in my mind that society invests its billions well if it invests in theoretical physics. Whether that investment should go into particle colliders though is a different question. I don’t have a good answer to that, and I don’t see that the question is seriously being discussed. (Credit: Hossenfelder)
via backreaction

Physics in the News

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Special relativity aces time trial

Few scientists doubt that Einstein was right. But the mathematics describing the time-dilation effect are “fundamental to all physical theories”, says Thomas Udem, a physicist at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany, who was not involved in the research. “It is of utmost importance to verify it with the best possible accuracy.”
Few scientists doubt that Einstein was right. But the mathematics describing the time-dilation effect are “fundamental to all physical theories”, says Thomas Udem, a physicist at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany, who was not involved in the research. “It is of utmost importance to verify it with the best possible accuracy.” (Credit: A. Witze, Martin Poole/Getty)
via nature

Is Martian soil actually good for farming?

A NASA rendering of farming in Martian greenhouses.

via vox

Einstein makes an appearance in superheavy chemistry

Graphic representation of a seaborgium hexacarbonyl molecule on the silicon dioxide covered detectors of a COMPACT detector array. (Credit: Alexander Yakushev (GSI) / Christoph E. Düllmann)
Graphic representation of a seaborgium hexacarbonyl molecule on the silicon dioxide covered detectors of a COMPACT detector array. (Credit: Alexander Yakushev (GSI) / Christoph E. Düllmann)
via newscientist

A nano-sized hydrogen generator

A transmission electron microscopic image of titanium dioxide plates resting on a near-invisible sheet of graphene. (Credit: Rozhkova et. al.)
A transmission electron microscopic image of titanium dioxide plates resting on a near-invisible sheet of graphene. (Credit: Rozhkova et. al.)
via anl.gov
There have been recent near misses – an explosion over Russia, a mysterious crater in Nicaragua. But what would we do in the event of an actual meteor strike?  A simulated meteor strike at a training facility in Texas. (Credit: Nick Ballon)
There have been recent near misses – an explosion over Russia, a mysterious crater in Nicaragua. But what would we do in the event of an actual meteor strike? A simulated meteor strike at a training facility in Texas. (Credit: Nick Ballon)
via theguardian

Astrophysicist sees positive signs science ‘is trendy’

via kearneyhub

Enormous black hole resides at core of tiny galaxy

ITTY BITTY LIVING SPACE  The tiny galaxy M60-UCD1 (circled in white) harbors a black hole with the mass of around 21 million suns. M60-UCD1 may be a remnant of a larger galaxy torn apart by the massive galaxy M60 (center), which is also pulling in a nearby spiral galaxy (upper right). (Credit: NASA, ESA)
ITTY BITTY LIVING SPACE The tiny galaxy M60-UCD1 (circled in white) harbors a black hole with the mass of around 21 million suns. M60-UCD1 may be a remnant of a larger galaxy torn apart by the massive galaxy M60 (center), which is also pulling in a nearby spiral galaxy (upper right). (Credit: NASA, ESA)
via sciencenews

‘Solid’ light could compute previously unsolvable problems about the behavior of matter

Scientists are a step closer to creating quantum computers after making light behave like crystal. At first, photons in the experiment flow easily between two superconducting sites, producing the large waves shown at left. After a time, the scientists cause the light to 'freeze,' trapping the photons in place. (Credit: Stanford)
The illustration shows how oscillating photons create an image of frozen light. At first, photons in the experiment flow easily between two superconducting sites, producing the large waves shown at left. After a time, the scientists cause the light to ‘freeze,’ trapping the photons in place. Fast oscillations on the right of the image are evidence of the new trapped behavior. (Credit: James Raftery et al.)
via princeton

Pakistan to join the CERN club

Pakistan is a signing ceremony away from becoming the associate member of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. Above photo is of  CERN Labs on the Swiss-French border.  (Credit: CERN)
Pakistan is a signing ceremony away from becoming the associate member of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. Above photo is CERN Labs on the Swiss-French border. (Credit: CERN)
via dawn

Quasicrystals and the Whimsy of Nature

The quasicrystals formed 4.5 billion years ago in a violent collision between two rocks, among the asteroids that coalesced into planets. The rock with the quasicrystals landed in Chukotka as a meteorite. “They’re part of the primal stuff that formed our solar system,” Dr. Steinhardt said. The above is A penteract (5-cube) pattern using 5D orthographic projection to 2D using Petrie polygon basis vectors overlaid on the diffractogram from an Icosahedral Ho-Mg-Zn quasicrystal. (Credit: NYTimes)
The quasicrystals formed 4.5 billion years ago in a violent collision between two rocks, among the asteroids that coalesced into planets. The rock with the quasicrystals landed in Chukotka as a meteorite. “They’re part of the primal stuff that formed our solar system,” Dr. Steinhardt said. The above is A penteract (5-cube) pattern using 5D orthographic projection to 2D using Petrie polygon basis vectors overlaid on the diffractogram from an Icosahedral Ho-Mg-Zn quasicrystal. (Credit: NYTimes)
via nytimes

Physics in the News

Monday, September 15, 2014

Why do particle physicists demand 99.9999% certainty before they believe a new discovery?

"I confess that in my early in my career as a physicist I was rather cynical about sophisticated statistical tools, being of the opinion that “if any of this makes a difference, just get more data”. That is, if you do enough experiments, the confidence level will be so high that the exact statistical treatment you use to evaluate it is irrelevant." (Credit: Michael Slezak)
“I confess that in my early in my career as a physicist I was rather cynical about sophisticated statistical tools, being of the opinion that “if any of this makes a difference, just get more data”. That is, if you do enough experiments, the confidence level will be so high that the exact statistical treatment you use to evaluate it is irrelevant.” (Credit: Jon Butterworth)
via theguardian

Curtain closing on Higgs boson photon soap opera

It was the daytime soap opera of particle physics. But the final episode of the first season ends in an anticlimax. The Higgs boson's decay into pairs of photons – the strongest yet most confusing clue to the particle's existence – is looking utterly normal after all. (Credit: D. Moir/Reurters, M. Slezak)
It was the daytime soap opera of particle physics. But the final episode of the first season ends in an anticlimax. The Higgs boson’s decay into pairs of photons – the strongest yet most confusing clue to the particle’s existence – is looking utterly normal after all. (Credit: D. Moir/Reurters, M. Slezak)
via newscientist

Three’s a charm: NIST detectors reveal entangled photon triplets

NIST chip containing a single-photon detector was made of superconducting nanowires. Four chips like this were used in the experiment that entangled three photons.  (Credit: Verma/NIST)
NIST chip containing a single-photon detector was made of superconducting nanowires. Four chips like this were used in the experiment that entangled three photons. (Credit: Verma/NIST)
via extremetech

How to turn the Moon into a giant cosmic ray detector

The new plan, proposed by researchers at the University of Southampton in England, is to eavesdrop on the faint nanosecond radio signals sent our way when cosmic rays hit edges of the Moon at a near-tangent. (Credit J. Hewitt, astrobiology.aob.rs)
The new plan, proposed by researchers at the University of Southampton in England, is to eavesdrop on the faint nanosecond radio signals sent our way when cosmic rays hit edges of the Moon at a near-tangent. (Credit J. Hewitt, astrobiology.aob.rs)
via extremetech

Are ‘ghost waves’ behind quantum strangeness?

"The key question is whether a real quantum dynamics, of the general form suggested by de Broglie and the walking drops, might underlie quantum statistics," Bush said. "While undoubtedly complex, it would replace the philosophical vagaries of quantum mechanics with a concrete dynamical theory," said  John Bush of MIT. (Credit: D. Harris/MIT, M. Byrne)
“The key question is whether a real quantum dynamics, of the general form suggested by de Broglie and the walking drops, might underlie quantum statistics,” Bush said. “While undoubtedly complex, it would replace the philosophical vagaries of quantum mechanics with a concrete dynamical theory,” said John Bush of MIT. (Credit: D. Harris/MIT, M. Byrne)
via motherboard

Comet probe finds elements of life

A composite photo of comet 67P/C-G showing gases escaping from the ‘neck’. The first jets of dust were detected spurting from the comet as Rosetta approached it in August but detailed photographs weren’t available until last week. (Credit: Emily Lakdawalla/ESA)
A composite photo of comet 67P/C-G showing gases escaping from the ‘neck’. The first jets of dust were detected spurting from the comet as Rosetta approached it in August but detailed photographs weren’t available until last week. (Credit: Emily Lakdawalla/ESA)
via forbes

Saturn is making and destroying mini-moons all the time

PIA18420
The spacecraft captured the views between July 20 and July 22, 2014, as it departed Titan following a flyby. Cassini tracked the system of clouds as it developed and dissipated over Ligeia Mare during this two-day period. Measurements of the cloud motions indicate wind speeds of around 7 to 10 miles per hour (3 to 4.5 meters per second). (Credit: NASA, Cassini)
via smithsonianmag

ULA aims for top-secret CLIO launch tomorrow

via americaspace

Where to grab space debris

via yumanewsnow

ESA’s Gaia observatory locates its first Supernova

Less than two months after it first began repeatedly scanning the sky, the ESA’s Gaia space observatory has discovered its first supernova – a powerful stellar explosion that had occurred in a distant galaxy located some 500 million light-years from Earth, the agency announced on Friday.  The above is an artist’s impression of a Type Ia supernova – the explosion of a white dwarf locked in a binary system with a companion star. (Credit: ESA/ATG medialab/C. Carreau, Bednar)
Less than two months after it first began repeatedly scanning the sky, the ESA’s Gaia space observatory has discovered its first supernova – a powerful stellar explosion that had occurred in a distant galaxy located some 500 million light-years from Earth, the agency announced on Friday. The above is an artist’s impression of a Type Ia supernova – the explosion of a white dwarf locked in a binary system with a companion star. (Credit: ESA/ATG medialab/C. Carreau, Bednar)
via redorbit

Phosphorus a promising semiconductor

Grain boundaries are rows of defects that disrupt the electronic properties of two-dimensional materials like graphene, but new theory by scientists at Rice University shows no such effects in atomically flat phosphorus. That may make the material ideal for nano-electronic applications. (Credit: Evgeni Penev/Rice University)
Grain boundaries are rows of defects that disrupt the electronic properties of two-dimensional materials, like graphene, but a new theory by scientists at Rice University shows no such effects in atomically flat phosphorus. That may make the material ideal for nano-electronic applications. (Credit: Evgeni Penev/Rice University)
via energy-daily

Curiosity rover reaches long-term goal: a massive Martian mountain

via theverge

Universe may be an illusion or hologram?

To find out if the universe is a hologram, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have powered up their exotic holographic inferometer, or Holometer. The results of the Fermilab E-990 experiment could indeed indicate that the nature of the universe is holographic. (Credit: Baskin, M. Freiberger)
To find out if the universe is a hologram, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have powered up their exotic holographic inferometer, or Holometer. The results of the Fermilab E-990 experiment could indeed indicate that the nature of the universe is holographic. (Credit: Baskin, M. Freiberger)
via guardianlv

Can we survive the end of the Universe?

The ultimate fate of the universe depends on the nature of dark matter and dark energy, about which we know almost nothing. (Credit: NASA)
The ultimate fate of the universe depends on the nature of dark matter and dark energy, about which we know almost nothing. (Credit: NASA)
via mysteriousuniverse

Physics in the News

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Discovery! First water ice clouds found beyond our Solar System

via space

Companion star hidden for 21 years in a supernova’s glare

This is an artist's impression of supernova 1993J, an exploding star in the galaxy M81 whose light reached us 21 years ago. The supernova originated in a double-star system where one member was a massive star that exploded after siphoning most of its hydrogen envelope to its companion star. After two decades, astronomers have at last identified the blue helium-burning companion star, seen at the center of the expanding nebula of debris from the supernova. The Hubble Space Telescope identified the ultraviolet glow of the surviving companion embedded in the fading glow of the supernova.
This is an artist’s impression of supernova 1993J, an exploding star in the galaxy M81 whose light reached us 21 years ago. The supernova originated in a double-star system where one member was a massive star that exploded after siphoning most of its hydrogen envelope to its companion star. After two decades, astronomers have at last identified the blue helium-burning companion star, seen at the center of the expanding nebula of debris from the supernova. The Hubble Space Telescope identified the ultraviolet glow of the surviving companion embedded in the fading glow of the supernova. (Credit: NASA)
via sciencedaily

Black Holes: Monsters of the Universe

The nearby galaxy Centaurus A as viewed at X-ray, radio, and optical wavelengths, showing jets powered by a massive black hole at the center of the galaxy. (Credit: NASA)
The nearby galaxy Centaurus A as viewed at X-ray, radio, and optical wavelengths, showing jets powered by a massive black hole at the center of the galaxy. (Credit: NASA)
via bigislandnow

Is there a smallest length?

via backreaction

Untethered soft robot that defies extreme conditions

via channeleye

Cryogenic on-chip quantum electron cooling leads towards computers that consume 10x less power

Researchers at UT Arlington have created the first electronic device that can cool electrons to -228 degrees Celsius (-375F), without any kind of external cooling. (Credit: S. Anthony)
Researchers at UT Arlington have created the first electronic device that can cool electrons to -228 degrees Celsius (-375F), without any kind of external cooling. (Credit: S. Anthony)
via extremetech

Purdue profs peer into final frontier

via wlfi

The search for extraterrestrial life is like hunting for pizza in a Dorm

"Our research strengthens the argument that methane and oxygen together, or methane and ozone together, are still strong signatures of life,” he said.That's because oxygen and methane abhor each other. An atmosphere heavy in one of these gases has to have its supplies of the other continually replenished, and the most reliable way that happens on Earth is through the mechanisms of life. (Credit: NASA, B. Richmond)
“Our research strengthens the argument that methane and oxygen together, or methane and ozone together, are still strong signatures of life. That’s because oxygen and methane abhor each other. An atmosphere heavy in one of these gases has to have its supplies of the other continually replenished, and the most reliable way that happens on Earth is through the mechanisms of life,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. (Credit: NASA, B. Richmond)
via motherboard

Astrophysics at the edge of the Earth

“When you get off the plane at the South Pole, there is a feeling like you’re out in the ocean,” says University of Chicago physicist John Carlstrom, the principal investigator for the South Pole Telescope team, who has logged 15 round trips to the South Pole over the past two decades. “It’s just a featureless horizon. The snow is so dry it feels like Styrofoam.” (Credit: J. Gallicchio, G. Roberts Jr.)
“When you get off the plane at the South Pole, there is a feeling like you’re out in the ocean,” says University of Chicago physicist John Carlstrom, the principal investigator for the South Pole Telescope team, who has logged 15 round trips to the South Pole over the past two decades. “It’s just a featureless horizon. The snow is so dry it feels like Styrofoam.” (Credit: J. Gallicchio, G. Roberts Jr.)
via symmetrymagazine

What makes a star starry? Is it me?

via npr