Flyby of a star explains dynamics of the solar system beyond Neptune. When we think of our solar system, we usually assume that it ends at the outermost known planet, Neptune. „However, several thousand celestial bodies are known to move beyond the orbit of Neptune,“ explains Susanne Pfalzner, astrophysicist at Forschungszentrum Jülich. It is even suspected that there are tens of thousands of objects with a diameter of more than 100 kilometres. „Surprisingly, many of these so-called trans-Neptunian objects move…
Physicists at the University of Southampton have tested and proven a 50 year old theory for the first time using electro-magnetic waves. They have shown that the energy of waves can be increased by bouncing ‘twisted waves’ – those with angular momentum – off of an object which is rotating in a specific way. This is known as the ‘Zel’dovich effect’, named after Soviet physicist Yakov Zel’dovich who developed a theory based on this idea in the 1970s. Until now,…
Physicists at the University of Bonn and the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU) have created a one-dimensional gas out of light. This has enabled them to test theoretical predictions about the transition into this exotic state of matter for the first time. The method used in the experiment by the researchers could be used for examining quantum effects. The results have been published in the journal “Nature Physics.” Imagine you are standing at a swimming pool and come up with the…
… for millimeter wave satellite communications. With increasing data rates in mobile communications, the need for more powerful high-frequency electronics is growing. This is particularly true for satellite-based global communication networks, which must function reliably and securely in all weather conditions and at any location. In the ESA Magellan project, researchers at Fraunhofer IAF, together with UMS and TESAT, are therefore developing novel efficient GaN transistors and high-power amplifiers for LEO and GEO communication satellites with high throughput by 2027….
Researchers at the Department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics (IAP), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and collaborators have designed a new supercapacitor that can be charged by shining light on it. Such supercapacitors can be used in various devices, including streetlights and self-powered electronic devices such as sensors. Capacitors are electrostatic devices that store energy as charges on two metal plates called electrodes. Supercapacitors are upgraded versions of capacitors – they exploit electrochemical phenomena to store more energy, explains Abha Misra,…
Physicists capture images of ultracold atoms flowing freely, without friction, in an exotic “edge state.” Typically, electrons are free agents that can move through most metals in any direction. When they encounter an obstacle, the charged particles experience friction and scatter randomly like colliding billiard balls. But in certain exotic materials, electrons can appear to flow with single-minded purpose. In these materials, electrons may become locked to the material’s edge and flow in one direction, like ants marching single-file along a…
Scientists have made a significant leap in developing lasers that use sound waves instead of light. These “phonon lasers” hold promise for advancements in medical imaging, deep-sea exploration, and other areas. The new technique involves a tiny electronic nudge that dramatically enhances the power and precision of the sound waves produced by the laser. This paves the way for future devices that could utilize sound for a broader range of applications. Previously, phonon lasers made from small objects suffered from…
Spin-off company offers a tiny solution for a big problem. The first sign of spoilage in many food products is the formation of free radicals, which reduces the shelf-life and the overall quality of the food. Until now, the detection of these molecules has been very costly for the food companies. Researchers at HZB and the University of Stuttgart have developed a portable, small and inexpensive ‘EPR on a chip’ sensor that can detect free radicals even at very low…
MPI-M researchers and their partner institutions are currently performing atmospheric measurements over the equatorial Atlantic with eight coordinated measurement campaigns. They want to find out what controls the structure of the tropical rain belt, how it will change in the future and what this means for weather patterns. A variety of state-of-the-art research platforms are being used for the measurements – from ships to satellites. An international research team, including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M), is…
Atomic clocks have been used for decades – but now, even greater precision has become possible: TU Wien (Vienna) and JILA/NIST are presenting the w For many years, scientists all around the world have been working towards this goal, now suddenly things are happening very fast: it was only in April that a team led by Prof Thorsten Schumm (TU Wien, Vienna) announced a major success. For the first time, an atomic nucleus had been switched from one state to…
Spin-off company offers a tiny solution for a big problem. The first sign of spoilage in many food products is the formation of free radicals, which reduces the shelf-life and the overall quality of the food. Until now, the detection of these molecules has been very costly for the food companies. Researchers at HZB and the University of Stuttgart have developed a portable, small and inexpensive ‘EPR on a chip’ sensor that can detect free radicals even at very low…
As a new degree of freedom, the orbital angular momentum of electromagnetic waves exceeds the traditional frequency, phase, and amplitude, and is expected to promote the infinite expansion of channel capacity. Recently, a team of research professor Chao-Hai Du from Peking University and Professor Xiaofei Zang’s research group from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology have carried out in-depth cooperation. Based on the research foundation of both sides in the field of terahertz and metasurface, a new method…
The shoebox-sized BurstCube satellite has observed its first gamma-ray burst, the most powerful kind of explosion in the universe, according to a recent analysis of observations collected over the last several months. “We’re excited to collect science data,” said Sean Semper, BurstCube’s lead engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s an important milestone for the team and for the many early career engineers and scientists that have been part of the mission.” The event, called GRB 240629A, occurred…
Thousands of light particles can merge into a type of “super photon” under certain conditions. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now been able to use “tiny nano molds” to influence the design of this so-called Bose-Einstein condensate. This enables them to shape the speck of light into a simple lattice structure consisting of four points of light arranged in quadratic form. Such structures could potentially be used in the future to make the exchange of information between multiple…
Using MeerKAT data, an international team including astronomers from MPIfR (Bonn, Germany) has compiled the largest catalog of radio sources from any MeerKAT survey to date. With this catalog, they were able to make a measurement of the cosmic radio dipole, a cosmological effect that arises from the Earth’s motion through the Universe, and provides an important test of our theories of cosmology at the largest scales. The new measurement demonstrates the value of the sensitive MeerKAT data, and shows…
Around 4 billion years ago, an asteroid hit the Jupiter moon Ganymede. Now, a Kobe University researcher realized that the Solar System’s biggest moon’s axis has shifted as a result of the impact, which confirmed that the asteroid was around 20 times larger than the one that ended the age of the dinosaurs on Earth, and caused one of the biggest impacts with clear traces in the Solar System. Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System, bigger even than the…
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