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To build a quantum computer, one needs to create and precisely control individual quantum memory units, called qubits, for information processing. Olivier Pfister, a professor of physics in the University of Virginia's College of Arts & Sciences, has just published findings in the journal Physical Review Letters demonstrating a breakthrough in the creation of massive numbers of entangled qubits, more precisely a multilevel variant thereof called Qmodes.

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Using a crystal ball to protect homeland security might seem far-fetched, but researchers at Wake Forest University and Fisk University have partnered to develop crystals that can be used to detect nuclear threats, radioactive material or chemical bombs more accurately and affordably.

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At an atomic scale, the tiniest bridge of gold -- that made of a single atom -- is actually the strongest, according to new research by engineers at the University at Buffalo’s Laboratory for Quantum Devices.

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Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) researchers have observed the onset of a quantum phase transition to a quantum ferromagnet using a nine ion crystal, in an atom-by-atom approach to quantum simulations of magnetism.

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At the smallest scales, magnetism may not work quite the way scientists expected, according to a paper by Rafał Oszwałdowski and Igor Žutić of the University at Buffalo and Andre Petukhov of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

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Astronomers are working with medical physicists and radiation oncologists to develop a potential new radiation treatment – one that is intended to be tougher on tumors, but gentler on healthy tissue.

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At its 159th session this week, the CERN Council congratulated CERN on the excellent performance of the LHC, and welcomed the news that formal confirmation has been received from the five countries applying for CERN Membership.

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Today at around 10:50 CEST, the amount of data accumulated by LHC experiments ATLAS and CMS clicked over from 0.999 to 1 inverse femtobarn, signalling an important milestone in the experiments’ quest for new physics.

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The international T2K collaboration announced today that they have observed an indication of a new type of neutrino transformation or oscillation from a muon neutrino to an electron neutrino. Evidence of this new type of neutrino oscillation may lead the way to new studies of a matter/ anti-matter asymmetry called charge-parity (CP) violation.

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A first of its kind combination of experiment and simulation at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is providing a close-up look at the molecule that complicates next-generation biofuels.

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The international T2K collaboration announced today that they have observed an indication of a new type of neutrino transformation or oscillation from a muon neutrino to an electron neutrino. Neutrinos come in three types, or “flavors”; electron, muon, and tau.

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Researchers at North Carolina State University have figured out how copper induces misfolding in the protein associated with Parkinson’s disease, leading to creation of the fibrillar plaques which characterize the disease.

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A century after the discovery of superfluids, scientists using a powerful supercomputer have devised a theoretical framework that explains the real-time behavior of superfluids.

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When the current financial crisis hit, the failure of traditional economic doctrines to provide any sort of early warning shocked not only financial experts worldwide, but also governments and the general public, and we all began to question the effectiveness and validity of those doctrines. A research team based in Israel decided to investigate what went awry, searching for order in an apparently random system.

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Blood viscosity can be reduced 20-30 percent by subjecting it to a small magnetic field, lowering potential damage to blood vessels and the risk of heart attack.

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A dark-matter experiment deep in the Soudan mine of Minnesota now has detected a seasonal signal variation similar to one an Italian experiment has been reporting for more than a decade.

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Neutron analysis of thermoelectric materials could spur the development of a broader range of products with the capability to transform heat to electricity.

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In a paper published online by the journal Nature Physics today, the ALPHA experiment at CERN[1] reports that it has succeeded in trapping antimatter atoms for over 16 minutes: long enough to begin to study their properties in detail. ALPHA is part of a broad programme at CERN’s antiproton decelerator (AD)[2] investigating the mysteries of one of nature’s most elusive substances.

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1) Researchers are working alongside state troopers to test and validate screening technologies that can automatically detect problems as a vehicle enters the weigh station; 2) High-resolution subsurface exploration could get a boost with innovative approaches that take advantage of the underlying dynamics of atomic force microscopy; 3) Climate models still provide useful information that should be considered by civil engineers and planners making decisions about infrastructure.

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Computer experiments reveal that, in principle, two identical small beads dropped into the same turbulent flow at precisely the same starting location will end up at different – and entirely random – destinations.

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The three LHC experiments that study lead ion collisions all presented their latest results today at the annual Quark Matter conference, held this year in Annecy, France. The results are based on analysis of data collected during the last two weeks of the 2010 LHC run, when the LHC switched from protons to lead-ions.

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Scientists present their design for Einstein Telescope – Europe’s next-generation detector that will ‘see’ the Universe in gravitational waves.

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Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee have for the first time successfully characterized the earliest structural formation of the disease type of the protein that causes Huntington’s disease.

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In a four-decade, Holy Grail-like quest to fully understand what it means to be in a “supersolid” state, physicists have found that supersolid isn’t always super solid. In other words, this exotic state of frozen helium appears to have liquid-like properties.

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An NC State researcher has helped create supercomputer simulations that demonstrate how carbon is produced in stars, proving an old theory correct.

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The latest news and discoveries from the science of sound will be featured at the 161st meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) held May 23-27, 2011, at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel in Seattle, Wash. During the meeting, the world's foremost experts in acoustics will present research spanning a diverse array of disciplines, including medicine, music, psychology, engineering, speech communication, noise control, and marine biology.

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A joint study by academics in Switzerland, Germany and at Boston University sheds new light on the formation of financial bubbles and crashes. The study reveals a general empirical law quantifying market behavior near bubbles and crashes.

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Today the University of Chicago’s Flash Center for Computational Science will release a major new version of supercomputer code, called FLASH 4-alpha. This is the first version of the FLASH code that has extensive capabilities for simulating high-energy density physics experiments.

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Organic chemists and materials scientists have long used microwaves to activate materials and break chemical bonds, but have not understood their special heating properties. Now an international research team has a new molecular-level probe to track how components in a mix absorb energy differently.

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Ultraviolet light can safely sterilize food, water and medical equipment by disrupting the DNA and other reproductive molecules in harmful bacteria. Traditionally, mercury lamps have supplied this UV light, however mercury release from power generation and lamp disposal have generated discussion of harmful environmental impact. A potentially energy efficient and non-toxic alternative is the light-emitting diode, or LED, which can be made to emit at almost any desired wavelength.

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Watching things disappear “is an amazing experience,” admits Joachim Fischer of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. But making items vanish is not the reason he creates invisibility cloaks. Rather, the magic-like tricks are attractive demonstrations of the fantastic capabilities that new optical theories and nanotechnology construction methods now enable.

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Gamma rays are the most energetic type of light wave and can penetrate through lead and other thick containers. A powerful new source of gamma rays will allow officials to search for hidden reactor fuel/nuclear bomb material.

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Invisibility appears to be the next possible advance in the use of Terahertz radiation in medicine, security, and communications. A research team from Northwestern and Oklahoma State universities claims to be first to cloak a three-dimensional object from view in a broad range of Terahertz frequency light, which lies between infrared and microwaves.

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Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have shown that the electronic properties of two layers of graphene vary on the nanometer scale.

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Magnetics researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) colored lots of eggs recently. Bunnies and children might find the eggs a bit small—in fact, too small to see without a microscope. But these "eggcentric" nanomagnets have another practical use, suggesting strategies for making future low-power computer memories.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method for manufacturing green-colored LEDs with greatly enhanced light output.

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Did the early universe have just one spatial dimension? That’s the mind-boggling concept at the heart of a theory that University at Buffalo physicist Dejan Stojkovic and colleagues proposed in 2010.

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Scientists have discovered an electrical current running between Saturn and its moon Enceladus that creates an observable emission on the ringed planet.

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A dramatic and surprising magnetic effect of light discovered by University of Michigan researchers could lead to solar power without traditional semiconductor-based solar cells.

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Scientists find that combustion of methane using two gold atoms at room temperature yields ethylene, while at lower temperatures it yields formaldehyde.

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Researchers here have created the first electronic circuit to merge traditional inorganic semiconductors with organic “spintronics” – devices that utilize the spin of electrons to read, write and manipulate data.

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Sonic booms, the science of making music, the impact of noise on people and animals, and bursts of sound-induced light are just some of the intriguing topics that will be presented at the 161st Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA).

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Companies looking to engineer an eco-friendly diesel fuel have more red lights in their path. According to Kansas State University researchers, making petroleum diesel completely green would not only bend the laws of physics, it would cost too much green.

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First observation of sub-atomic particles known as hb will provide better understanding of the universe.

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Physicists are detecting radioactivity arriving in Seattle from Japanese nuclear reactors damaged in a tsunami following a mammoth earthquake, but the levels are far below what would pose a threat to human health.

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Engineers have invented a new kind of nano-particle that shines in different colors to tag molecules in biomedical tests. These tiny plastic nano-particles are stuffed with even tinier bits of electronics called quantum dots.

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Structural studies of some of nature’s most efficient light-harvesting systems are lighting the way for new generations of biologically inspired solar cell devices.

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A "templated growth” technique for fabricating nanoribbons of epitaxial graphene has produced structures just 15 to 40 nanometers wide that conduct current with almost no resistance. These structures could address the challenge of connecting graphene devices made with conventional architectures.

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Einstein’s theory of relativity combines space and time into a unified notion. Twistor theory goes beyond this and examines paths taken by light and other particles without mass – in an attempt to understand our universe at a deeper level, including the foundations of quantum physics.

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An international research team led by scientists from the Boston University and the University of Illinois has developed a new way to measure the muon lifetime. This new measurement—the most precise determination of any subatomic particle lifetime yet devised—provides a high-accuracy value for a crucial parameter determining the strength of the weak nuclear force.