ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) has demonstrated the highest resolution yet with observations of an old star. The observations show that the star is surrounded by a ring-like structure of gas and that gas from the star is escaping to the surrounding space. Future observations with the newly demonstrated high resolution are expected to elucidate, not only the end of a star’s life, but also the beginning, when planets are still forming. ALMA is a radio interferometric array telescope, in…
New research uncovers surprises for soft robotic actuators. Cambridge engineers investigating the load-bearing capacity of conical shells, made from soft materials, have discovered performance-limiting weaknesses that could have implications for soft robotics – affecting the ability of morphing cones to perform fundamental mechanical tasks. In soft robotics, components are designed to be deformable, squishable and flexible, and often use soft elements, mechanisms, machines and actuators – devices that convert energy into mechanical force – as building blocks to perform mechanical…
For a magnet to stick to a fridge door, inside of it several physical effects need to work together perfectly. The magnetic moments of its electrons all point in the same direction, even if no external magnetic field forces them to do so. This happens because of the so-called exchange interaction, a combination of electrostatic repulsion between electrons and quantum mechanical effects of the electron spins, which, in turn, are responsible for the magnetic moments. This is common explanation for…
CALET instrument detects electrons arriving with more energy than ever recorded before. A new study using data from the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) instrument on the International Space Station has found evidence for nearby, young sources of cosmic ray electrons, contributing to a greater understanding of how the galaxy functions as a whole. The study included more than seven million data points representing particles arriving at CALET’s detector since 2015, and CALET’s ability to detect electrons at the highest energies…
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg, Germany, have shown that a previously demonstrated ability to turn on superconductivity with a laser beam can be integrated on a chip, opening up a route toward opto-electronic applications. Their work, now published in Nature Communications, also shows that the electrical response of photo-excited K₃C₆₀ is not linear, that is, the resistance of the sample depends on the applied current. This is a key…
HZDR team proposes improvements for an experiment designed to explore the limits of physics. Absolutely empty – that is how most of us envision the vacuum. Yet, in reality, it is filled with an energetic flickering: the quantum fluctuations. Experts are currently preparing a laser experiment intended to verify these vacuum fluctuations in a novel way, which could potentially provide clues to new laws in physics. A research team from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has developed a series of proposals…
Recently, a team led by Prof. WANG Mingtai from the Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has put forward an intriguing approach to enhance the efficiency of solar cells. Their focus on the potential antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3) as a photovoltaic absorber has led to a Parallel Planar Heterojunction (PPHJ) strategy for the preparation of highly efficient solar cells. Their findings have been published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. One of the…
Research team, including a UC Riverside astronomer, made discovery using the James Webb Space Telescope. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, an international team, including astronomer Alexander de la Vega of the University of California, Riverside, has discovered the most distant barred spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way that has been observed to date. Until now it was believed that barred spiral galaxies like the Milky Way could not be observed before the universe, estimated to be 13.8 billion years old,…
Lasers have become relatively commonplace in everyday life, but they have many uses outside of providing light shows at raves and scanning barcodes on groceries. Lasers are also of great importance in telecommunications and computing as well as biology, chemistry, and physics research. In those latter applications, lasers that can emit extremely short pulses—those on the order of one-trillionth of a second (one picosecond) or shorter—are especially useful. Using lasers operating on such small timescales, researchers can study physical and…
The striking image represents one of the most comprehensive views of the universe ever taken and reveals a vivid landscape of galaxies along with more than a dozen newfound, time-varying objects. Astronomers once again have combined the observational powers of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope to create one of the most detailed and colorful portraits of the cosmos, just in time for the holiday season. The new image, dubbed the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster by the research team that includes…
A method developed at the University of Duisburg-Essen makes it possible to read data from noisy signals: Theoretical physicists and their experimental colleagues have collaborated on this and published their findings in the current issue of the renowned journal “Physical Review Research”. The method they describe could also be significant for quantum computers. You know it from the car radio: the weaker the signal, the more disturbing the noise. This is even more true for laboratory measurements. Researchers from the…
The results open the door to exploring superconductivity and other exotic electronic states in three-dimensional materials. Electrons move through a conducting material like commuters at the height of Manhattan rush hour. The charged particles may jostle and bump against each other, but for the most part they’re unconcerned with other electrons as they hurtle forward, each with their own energy. But when a material’s electrons are trapped together, they can settle into the exact same energy state and start to…
Scientists using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope just made a breakthrough discovery in revealing how planets are made. By observing water vapor in protoplanetary disks, Webb confirmed a physical process involving the drifting of ice-coated solids from the outer regions of the disk into the rocky-planet zone. Theories have long proposed that icy pebbles forming in the cold, outer regions of protoplanetary disks — the same area where comets originate in our solar system — should be the fundamental seeds of…
Researchers at Auburn University have made a groundbreaking discovery that sheds light on how our brain cells manage to efficiently replace older proteins. This process is crucial for maintaining effective neural communication and ensuring optimal cognitive function. Published in the prestigious journal, Frontiers in Cell Development and Biology, the study titled, “Recently Recycled Synaptic Vesicles Use Multi-Cytoskeletal Transport and Differential Presynaptic Capture Probability to Establish a Retrograde Net Flux During ISVE in Central Neurons”, details how older proteins in brain…
Future missions will be able to find signatures of violating the parity-symmetry in the cosmic microwave background polarization more accurately after a pair of researchers has managed to take into account the gravitational lensing effect, reports a new study in Physical Review D, selected as an Editors’ Suggestion. How far does the universe extend? When and how did the universe begin? Cosmology has made progress in addressing these questions by providing observational evidence for theoretical models of the universe based…
New observations down to light-year scale of the gas flows around a supermassive black hole have successfully detected dense gas inflows and shown that only a small portion (about 3 percent) of the gas flowing towards the black hole is eaten by the black hole. The remainder is ejected and recycled back into the host galaxy. Not all of the matter which falls towards a black hole is absorbed, some of it is ejected as outflows. But the ratio of…
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