Physics in the News

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

New qubit design provides parity bit for Schrödinger cat states

The device combines a superconducting microwave resonator to trap the photons and a circuit quantum electrodynamic qubit that's linked to the resonator.(Credit: Schoelkopf Lab, Yale) — The device combines a superconducting microwave resonator to trap the photons and a circuit quantum electrodynamic qubit that’s linked to the resonator.(Credit: Schoelkopf Lab, Yale)

via arstechnica

The world’s first photonic router

This image depicts from left to right Serge Rosenblum, Yulia Lovsky, Orel Bechler and Itay Shomroni. At the center of the photonic router is a single atom that routes photons in different directions. (Credit: Weizmann Institute of Science)

Two anomalies worth noticing

The results obtained by the CMS Collaboration showing that six different channels all give a non-zero value for the decay rate of Higgs boson into pairs of tau and muon. (Credit: Pauline Gagnon) — The results obtained by the CMS Collaboration showing that six different channels all give a non-zero value for the decay rate of Higgs boson into pairs of tau and muon.
(Credit: Pauline Gagnon)

via quantumdiaries

Ukraine to turn Chernobyl into ‘biosphere radiologic reserve’

The damaged 4th unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and a memorial sign “Heroes, Professionals – those who protected the world from nuclear disaster” in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (Credit: RIA Novosti)

Smallest Swiss cross—made of 20 single atoms

20 bromine atoms positioned on a sodium chloride surface using the tip of an atomic force microscope at room temperature, creating a Swiss cross with the size of 5.6nm. The structure is stable at room temperature and was achieved by exchanging chlorine with bromine atoms. (Credit: Department of Physics, University of Basel)

Consider the ‘Anticrystal’

Materials can be described as being on a spectrum from a perfectly ordered crystal to a perfectly disordered anticrystal. (Credit: Liu, Goodrich, Nagel)

A Critical Test of Quantum Criticality

a) An example of the classical phase transition in a ferromagnet. Thermal fluctuations causing the random reorientation of the constituent spins grow with temperature. They compete with the tendency of the local magnetic fields to align the spins. As a result, the net magnetization in the ordered state continuously decreases with temperature (orange line) and drops to zero at a critical temperature Tc, surrounded by a narrow critical region (dashed rectangle). (b) A generic example of the quantum phase transition. Quantum fluctuations controlled by the nonthermal parameter g lead to a similar phase transition at a critical value gc, the so called quantum critical point, already at zero temperature, T=0. Their interplay with thermal fluctuations opens up a progressively broader, V-shaped quantum critical region extending much above the zero temperature (dashed lines).

via physics.aps

Online Isaac Newton manuscripts workshop

India's Zetatrek citizen science initiative is online workshop starting on 19th July, where science and math hobbyists from all over the world are invited to study the original manuscripts of Sir Isaac Newton. — India’s Zetatrek citizen science initiative is online workshop starting on 19th July, where science and math hobbyists from all over the world are invited to study the original manuscripts of Sir Isaac Newton.

Physics in the News

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Orb2 launches today at 12:52p ET.(LIVE STREAM)

via spacecoastdaily

What happened to the light? 80% of Universe’s light “missing”(VIDEO)

via libertariannews

Growth of structure tells us how normal and dark matter scatter

The colored curves describe different velocity dependencies of the scattering strength; it is scaling as v to the nth power. The horizontal axis, k, is a measure of how separated two points in space might be; larger k corresponds to smaller physical separation. The vertical axis (technically known as a “power spectrum”) describes how correlated two points separated by a scale 1/k are; higher number mean more correlation. The one point with error bars shows that most of the models the authors consider are not very favored by the data. (Credit: C. Dvorkin, K. Blum, and M. Kamionkowski)

Venus Express rises again

After a month surfing in and out of the atmosphere of Venus down to just 130 km from the planet’s surface, ESA’s Venus Express is about to embark on a 15 day climb up to the lofty heights of 460 km. (Credit: ESA – C. Carreau)

via esa

Privately funded solar spacecraft to launch in 2016

An illustration of The Planetary Society's LightSail spacecraft. (Credit: SpaceX) — An illustration of The Planetary Society’s LightSail spacecraft. (Credit: Plenary Society)

via msn

Early Universe explorer looks for answers

Chao-Lin Kuo, who helped design the BICEP2 experiment, isn’t bothered by criticism that cosmic dust may account for his results. He just wants to know the truth. (Credit: Chao-Lin Kuo)

via scientificamerican

The 1% of scientific publishing

(Credit: sciencemag.org)

Ask Ethan #45: How deep does the Multiverse go?

This illustration depicts a main membrane out of which individual universes arise; they then expand in size through time. (Credit: Moonrunner Design)

via scienceblogs

Physics in the News

Friday, July 11, 2014

Fireball as Russian space junk ‘belly flops’ to Earth above Australia

Steven Wright saw the fireball Thursday, July 10 (Credit: Steven Wright)

via cnn

Uncertainty gives scientists new confidence in search for novel materials

This image shows the results of calculations aimed at determining which of six chemical elements would make the best catalyst for promoting an ammonia synthesis reaction. Based on thousands of these calculations, which yielded a range of results (colored dots) that reveal the uncertainty involved, researchers estimated an 80 percent chance that ruthenium (Ru, in red) will be a better catalyst than iron (Fe, in orange.) (Credit: Andrew Medford and Aleksandra Vojvodic/SUNCAT, Callie Cullum)

Astronomers discover two objects in the mysterious Milky Way halo

ULAS J0015+01 at the center of the photo. (Credit: NASA)

19th century math tactic gets a makeover—and yields answers up to 200 times faster

ohns Hopkins graduate student Xiang Yang, at right, teamed up with Rajat Mittal, a professor of mechanical engineering, to revamp a "useless" 169-year-old math strategy, making it work up to 200 times faster. (Credit: Will Kirk/JHU) — Johns Hopkins graduate student Xiang Yang, at right, teamed up with Rajat Mittal, a professor of mechanical engineering, to revamp a “useless” 169-year-old math strategy, making it work up to 200 times faster. (Credit: Will Kirk/JHU)

Artificial spacetime experiment could show tantalizing effects of gravitational waves(VIDEO)

Physics in the News

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Comet Pan-STARRS Makes Stunning ‘Galactic Flyby'(VIDEO)

NASA 3D prints a model of light-year-long Eta Carinae nebula

A new shape model of the Homunculus Nebula reveals protrusions, trenches, holes and irregularities in its molecular hydrogen emission. The protrusions appear near a dust skirt seen at the nebula's center in visible light (inset) but not found in this study, so they constitute different structures. (Credit: NASA Goddard, ESA, Hubble SM4 ERO Team) — A new shape model of the Homunculus Nebula reveals protrusions, trenches, holes and irregularities in its molecular hydrogen emission. The protrusions appear near a dust skirt seen at the nebula’s center in visible light (inset) but not found in this study, so they constitute different structures. (Credit: NASA Goddard, ESA, Hubble SM4 ERO Team)

via astronomy.com

Bid to ‘reboot’ aging NASA satellite is scuttled as fuel system fails

Engineers failed to resolve fuel system problems on NASA's retired ISEE-3 satellite Wednesday. An artist's rendition shows the spacecraft during a close lunar pass. (Credit: NASA) — Engineers failed to resolve fuel system problems on NASA’s retired ISEE-3 satellite Wednesday. An artist’s rendition shows the spacecraft during a close lunar pass. (Credit: NASA)

MESSENGER and STEREO measurements open window into high-energy processes on the Sun

A solar flare erupted on the far side of the sun on June 4, 2011, and sent solar neutrons out into space. Solar neutrons don't make it to all the way to Earth, but NASA's MESSENGER, orbiting Mercury, found strong evidence for the neutrons, offering a new technique to study these giant explosions. (Credit: NASA/STEREO/Helioviewer) — A solar flare erupted on the far side of the sun on June 4, 2011, and sent solar neutrons out into space. Solar neutrons don’t make it to all the way to Earth, but NASA’s MESSENGER, orbiting Mercury, found strong evidence for the neutrons, offering a new technique to study these giant explosions. (Credit: NASA/STEREO/Helioviewer)

via nasa

Space Probe Might Lack Nitrogen to Push It Home

The International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center before its launch. (Credit NASA)

Saturn Probe Ready for Its “Grand Finale”

Cassini will end its historic mission with 22 breathtaking loops passing through the gap between Saturn and its innermost ring. (Credit: NASA)

via scientificamerican

Singing Solar Shockwave Confirms Voyager Is In Interstellar Space

This artist’s concept shows the Voyager 1 spacecraft entering the space between stars. Interstellar space is dominated by plasma, ionized gas (illustrated here as brownish haze), that was thrown off by giant stars millions of years ago. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Astronomers invite worldwide public to help name exoplanets and their stars

Artist’s impression of a distant exoplanet – planet beyond our solar system – orbiting its star. (Credit: IAU)

Universe’s missing photons baffle scientists

There's just not enough of them to account for interstellar light, say researchers. (Credit: NASA/ESA — There’s just not enough of them to account for interstellar light, say researchers. (Credit: NASA/ESA)

via cnet

Physics in the News

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

The Theory of Supersymmetry, Visualized by CERN’s Artist-in-Residence(VIDEO)

via motherboard

NASA finds quietest place in the UK to test Mars mission equipment

Artist’s impression of the InSight Mars lander. The SEIS will be deployed onto the surface using a robot arm, where it will then record signals from marsquakes and meteorite impacts in order to probe the planet’s interior. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

In Less Than a Decade Your Computer Could Be Just One Atom Wide(VIDEO)

via motherboard

Upgrading the Large Hadron Collider

The CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment aims to discover new particles and study their properties. (Credit: NASA)