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Neutrinos are involved in a process named beta decay that involves a neutron converting into a proton emitting an electron and an antineutrino. There may also be an ultra-rare kind of beta decay that emits two electrons but no neutrinos, called neutrinoless-double beta decay (NLDBD). Researchers are using the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) to search for these rare NLDBD processes using different nuclei. Scientists have reported new tests using Tellurim-128 to look for NLDBD.

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A novel system uses the discovery that the actinide berkelium, when oxidized, does not form negatively charged ions in solutions of high nitric acid, as other actinides do. This means an anion exchange column can separate berkelium by absorbing other actinides with negatively charged ions. The new method is much faster than the previously used approach, and is easier, cleaner, and yields purer product.

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Protein-protein interactions are essential for life. Researchers used DeepMind’s AlphaFold 2 to develop a deep learning approach for predicting and modeling multi-protein interactions. The AF2Complex approach generates much more accurate structural models than previous methods for modeling a protein complex. As a proof of concept, the researchers used AF2Complex to virtually screen key proteins in E. coli, discovering unexpected protein-protein interactions.

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To understand quark-gluon plasma, theorists compare a sophisticated model to a large amount of experimental data. One of the parameters in this model is the size of the nucleons inside the two colliding lead nuclei. Low-energy experiments find a nucleon size of around 0.5 femtometers, while heavy ion experimental data have found a much larger nucleon size, of about 1 femtometers. A new analysis of heavy ion experimental data includes the experimentally measured reaction rate of lead-lead collisions to arrive at a nucleon size of 0.6 femtometers.

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A multi-institutional team of nuclear science researchers has published the results of the first experiment at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. The experiment involved colliding a beam of stable calcium-48 nuclei traveling at about 60 percent of the speed of light into a beryllium target to produce isotopes near the “drip line,” the spot where neutrons can no longer bind to a nucleus but instead drip off.

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Aerosols particles in the atmosphere are an important factor in the Earth’s climate, but researchers lack information on these aerosols’ molecular composition, especially for aerosols during the day and night above agricultural fields. In this research, scientists examined secondary organic aerosols over agricultural fields in the Southern Great Plains in Oklahoma. They found that the aerosols’ composition and structure differ from day to night and that some aerosols are ultimately from urban sources.

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Kirstin Alberi is Director of the Materials Science Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Her research into semiconductor materials shows that scientists can use light as a tool while depositing materials as a vapor and controlling the substrate’s temperature.

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Scientists analyzed data from collisions of heavy ions to determine the factors that most influence fluctuations in the flow of particles. The researchers found that conditions established just as the ions collide have the greatest impact on particle flow fluctuations. This will help physicists make more precise calculations of the properties of the quark-gluon plasma formed in these collisions and understand how the collision transforms nuclei from protons and neutrons into quark-gluon plasma.

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Researchers developed a novel approach that observes dissipative scattering reactions to investigate discrete energy levels in an excited exotic nucleus. These energy levels are the nucleus’ unique fingerprint. The researchers observed unusual excited levels in calcium-38. These levels appear to be due to the simultaneous excitation of several protons and neutrons.

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The dynamics and availability of soil nutrients affects the growth of plants and microbes and how ecosystems respond to changing environmental conditions. Researchers investigated climate impacts on peat nutrient availability as part of the large-scale Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE). The experiment found that above- and below-ground warming exponentially increased the availability of nutrients throughout below-ground peat layers. However, elevated carbon dioxide did not affect the availability of nutrients.

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Particles in the atmosphere such as black carbon affect global climate by absorbing and radiating light and heat. To calculate the effects of aerosols on climate, scientists rely on simulated aerosol fields, but these models represent mixtures of aerosol particles in simplified ways that can introduce errors. This study quantified the resulting errors in simulated aerosol optical properties, finding errors great enough to warrant more attention.

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Studying the electronic structure of actinide elements can help advance the future of nuclear materials. A new study of several plutonium hybrid materials found that the bonds between these elements were predominantly ionic but also involved covalent bonding associated with the 5f electron shell. This research contributes to the collective goal of resolving the f-electron challenge, the goal of the Department of Energy Office of Science’s Heavy Element Chemistry program.

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By colliding protons with heavier ions and tracking particles from these collisions, scientists can study the quarks and gluons that make up protons and neutrons. Recent results revealed a suppression of certain back-to-back pairs of particles that emerge from interactions of single quarks from the proton with single gluons in the heavier ion. The results suggest that gluons in heavy nuclei recombine, a step toward proving that gluons reach a postulated steady state called saturation, where gluon splitting and recombination balance.

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Nuclear physicists have found a new way to see inside nuclei by tracking interactions between particles of light and gluons. The method relies on harnessing a new type of quantum interference between two dissimilar particles. Tracking how these entangled particles emerge from the interactions lets scientists map out the arrangement of gluons. This approach is unusual for making use of entanglement between dissimilar particles—something rare in quantum studies.

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The interactions of the quarks and gluons that make up protons and neutrons are so strong that the structure of protons and neutrons is difficult to calculate from theory and must be instead measured experimentally. Neutrino experiments use targets that are nuclei made of many protons and neutrons bound together. This complicates interpreting those measurements to infer proton structure. By scattering neutrinos from the protons that are the nuclei of hydrogen atoms in the MINERvA detector, scientists have provided the first measurements of this structure with neutrinos using unbound protons.

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Atomic nuclei accelerated close to the speed of light become dense walls of gluons known as color glass condensate (CGC). Recent analysis shows that CGC shares features with black holes, enormous conglomerates of gravitons that exert gravitational force across the universe. Both gluons in CGC and gravitons in black holes are organized in the most efficient manner possible for each system’s energy and size.

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Under certain conditions, tokamaks can suffer a sudden loss of energy to the vessel walls. This is sometimes caused by a magnetohydrodynamic instability, or mode, coupling to the vacuum vessel. New research demonstrates that the rate of thermal energy loss is consistent with the growth of a particular instability, the resistive wall tearing mode. The results will aid in the operation of the ITER tokamak now under construction.

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Soils deeper than 20 centimeters may account for roughly half of the carbon that soils store overall. Warmer temperatures can stimulate microbial decomposition of this carbon. This study of five years of experimental warming found a significant reduction in the carbon stock stored in deep forest soils, confirming that climate change can increase the release of carbon from soil.

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Scientists previously believed that microorganisms could not use pyrite to grow in oxygen-free conditions. New research shows that certain single-celled microorganisms can dissolve pyrite in the absence of oxygen. These microorganisms mine iron and sulfur from the pyrite to build biocatalysts needed for growth. The results have potential applications in biotechnology.

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A new analysis supports the idea that photons colliding with heavy ions create a fluid of “strongly interacting” particles. The results indicate that photon-heavy ion collisions can create a strongly interacting fluid that responds to the initial collision geometry and that these collisions can form a quark-gluon plasma. These findings will help guide future experiments at the planned Electron-Ion Collider.

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Most studies on the effects of heavy metals on bacteria living in these environments have only focused on one metal at a time. In this study, researchers found that exposing bacteria to a mixture of metals caused their metabolism to change and led them to act as if they were starved for iron.

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Electrons in magnetic solids feel each other as an effective magnetic field that forces the electrons’ spins to align. If the arrangement of atoms is not fully symmetric, an additional magnetic force known as Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI) can emerge, forcing the spins to reorient and form whirling patterns called skyrmions. Researchers joined two different materials to enable skyrmion generation.

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Rachel Mandelbaum prepares to measure weak gravitational lensing, the tiny deflections of light from distant galaxies due to the gravitational influence of dark matter and visible matter that the light rays pass by on their way to Earth. Those measurements can help answer fundamental questions.

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Scientists used statistical tools, machine learning, and models run on supercomputers to explore nuclear force models. This allows scientists to make quantitative predictions about the structure of atomic nuclei and their interactions. Scientists used this approach to study the nucleus of lead-208 and predict its neutron skin. The results indicate the neutron skin is constrained by nucleon-nucleon scattering data.

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“Twisted” X-ray beams carrying orbital angular momentum hold great promise for imaging and probing materials at the nanoscale. Scientists have now developed and demonstrated a new technique that uses a special patterned array of engineered nanoscale magnets called an artificial spin ice to impart OAM to X-ray beams. The beams can be switched on and off using changes in temperature and magnetic fields.

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Atomic nuclei take a range of shapes, from spherical to football-like deformed. Spherical nuclei are often described by the motion of a small fraction of the protons and neutrons, while deformed nuclei tend to rotate as a collective whole. A third kind of motion, nuclear vibration, has been proposed since the 1950s. However, a new investigation of cadmium-106 nuclei found that these nuclei rotate, not vibrate, counter to scientists’ expectations.

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Moiré patterns can occur when scientists stack two-dimensional crystals with mismatched atomic spacings. Moiré superlattices display exotic physical properties that are absent in the layers that make up the patterns. Researchers have discovered a new property in the moiré superlattices formed in tungsten diselenide/tungsten disulfide crystals, in which the electrons “freeze” and form an ordered array.

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In the past several years, nuclear physics researchers have initiated a flurry of machine learning projects and published many papers on the subject. A new survey by 18 authors from 11 institutions summarizes this work to provide an educational resource and a roadmap for future endeavors in the field.

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At Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source and its Center for Nanoscale Materials, physicist Volker Rose’s team built a one-of-a-kind microscope. They developed techniques to combine the chemical sensitivity of synchrotron X-rays with the high spatial resolution of scanning tunneling microscopy.

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Instruments that measure subatomic particles in nuclear physics experiment generate enormous amounts of data. Nuclear physicists are turning to artificial intelligence and machine learning methods to process this torrent. Recent tests of two systems that use machine learning and artificial intelligence-based streaming readout found that these systems were able to perform real-time processing of raw experimental data.

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Characterizing plutonium is important to environmental studies, nuclear plant and materials safety, and studies of nucleosynthesis and neutron star mergers. Scientists therefore need ways to detect ultra-trace amounts of plutonium. Researchers have now used special lasers to study the fingerprints of plutonium’s photoionization. The technique allowed researchers to identify ultra-trace amounts of plutonium atoms at record levels of efficiency.

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The protons and neutrons that build the nucleus of the atom frequently pair up in fleeting partnerships called short-range correlations. These can form between a proton and a neutron, between two protons, or between two neutrons. Scientists recently discovered that in helium-3 and tritium, which have small, light nuclei, some types of correlations are less common than they are in larger, heavier nuclei.

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Most methods of editing bacterial genomes use plasmids to transfer DNA between bacterial cells, but this approach isn’t always efficient in mixed microbial communities. This research instead developed a new phage-based DNA delivery tool that leverages these viruses’ ability to inject DNA into host bacteria. The researchers also used this tool to edit individual genes inside a target host organism within a living microbial community.

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Recent experiments involving a tiny left-right asymmetry in electron scattering off lead-208 and calcium-48 indicate a disagreement between the experiments’ results and the predictions of global nuclear models. This result indicates a need to investigate limitations of current nuclear models or other sources of uncertainty. This has repercussions for scientists studying topics from neutron skins to nuclear symmetry energy to neutron star physics.

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The plasma in a fusion device can erode device walls, releasing particles in a process called sputtering. These particles can reduce a device’s performance and lifespan. In this study, researchers examined how the smoothness of device surfaces changes at small scales over time and how this affects erosion. This research will aid in the future design and operation of fusion power plants.

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Blends of hydrogen and methane are a promising alternative vehicle fuel that could help reduce carbon dioxide emissions. To make these fuels viable, researchers need to understand how they burn, especially in small, turbocharged internal combustion engines. In this study, researchers examined the impact of non-thermal chemical kinetics on “super-knock,” a combustion mechanism that can cause severe engine damage.

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Engineering professor Jamey Young at Vanderbilt University is developing new strategies for engineering the metabolism of cyanobacteria. He is working to create “green cell factories” for producing renewable fuel compounds.

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The Department of Energy Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase) recently released a suite of features and a protocol for performing sophisticated microbiome analysis that can accelerate research in microbial ecology. KBase helps researchers understand which organisms live in an environment and how they interact. The tool’s new features reduce the time required to process sequencing data and characterize genomes and help scientists collaboratively analyze genomics data and build research communities.