Computing Nuclei Properties at Lightning Speed
Nuclear physicists have developed a new method for quickly emulating the quantum properties of atomic nuclei. The emulator starts with a training stage that uses a small set of exact calculations, then generates 1 million predictions for the ground-state energy and charge radius of nuclei of oxygen-16. The process takes less than an hour on a personal computer.
Thermal chaos returns quantum system to its unknown past
Building up on their last year's breakthrough "time reversal" experiment, two researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and Argonne National Laboratory have published a new theoretical study in Communications Physics. While their previous paper dealt with a predefined quantum state, this time the physicists have devised a way to time-reverse the evolution of an object in an arbitrary, unknown state.
Researchers describe nanoparticles behavior in vivo
Nanoparticles are actively employed in medicine as contrast agents as well as for diagnosis and therapy of various diseases. However, the development of novel multifunctional nanoagents is impeded by the difficulty of monitoring their blood circulation. Researches from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of RAS, Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Prokhorov General Physics Institute of RAS, and Sirius University have developed a new noninvasive method of nanoparticle measurement in the bloodstream that boasts a high time resolution. This technique has revealed the basic parameters that affect particle lifetime in the bloodstream, which may potentially lead to discovery of new, more effective nanoagents to be used in biomedicine.
Shape-Shifting Selenium; Abrupt Change Found Between Selenium-70 and Selenium-72
Nuclear scientists recently found that the nucleus of the radioactive isotope selenium-72 has a football-like shape. This is similar to the stable, nonradioactive isotopes of selenium, but different from the disk-like shape of radioactive selenium-70 nuclei. This finding helps explain how the interaction between protons and neutrons in nuclei leads to collective behavior.
Aquatic robots can remove contaminant particles from water
Corals in the Ocean are made up of coral polyps, a small soft creature with a stem and tentacles, they are responsible for nourishing the corals, and aid the coral's survival by generating self-made currents through motion of their soft bodies.
Grasshopper jumping on Bloch sphere finds new quantum insights
New research at the University of Warwick has (pardon the pun) put a new spin on a mathematical analogy involving a jumping grasshopper and its ideal lawn shape. This work could help us understand the spin states of quantum-entangled particles.
Electric cooker an easy, efficient way to sanitize N95 masks, study finds
Owners of electric multicookers may be able to add another use to its list of functions, a new study suggests: sanitization of N95 respirator masks.
Natalie Roe Named Berkeley Lab's Associate Director for Physical Sciences
Natalie Roe, who joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) as a postdoctoral fellow in 1989 and has served as Physics Division director since 2012, has been named the Lab's Associate Laboratory Director (ALD) for the Physical Sciences Area. Her appointment was approved by the University of California. The announcement follows an international search.
UIC physicist earns innovation award from Microscopy Today
Groundbreaking approach in high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy has been judged to be one of the 10 best microscopy innovations in the 2020 Microscopy Today Innovation Award competition.
Fermilab scientist Laura Fields receives $2.5 million DOE award to study beams of shape-shifting ghost particles
Laura Fields has won an Early Career Research Award from the Department of Energy to help physicists better understand the composition of neutrino beams used by Fermilab experiments. Her work will help gather and validate results that could shed light on why the universe consists of something rather than nothing.
Incorporating Solar Harvesting Into the Side of Buildings Could Enhance Energy Sustainability
If builders could incorporate solar harvesting into the siding of a building, the amount of energy from the grid that a structure would need may significantly decrease. In research published recently in Renewable Energy, a team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, led by Diana-Andra Borca-Tasciuc, a professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering, demonstrated the potential of wedge-shaped luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). These efficient modular solar units could easily be hung on the side of a building.
Record EOS measurement pressures shed light on stellar evolution
Using the power of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's highest-energy laser system, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and an international team of collaborators have developed an experimental capability for measuring the basic properties of matter, such as the equation of state (EOS), at the highest pressures thus far achieved in a controlled laboratory experiment. The results are relevant to the conditions at the cores of giant planets, the interiors of brown dwarfs (failed stars), the carbon envelopes of white dwarf stars and many applied science programs at LLNL. According to the authors, the overlap with white dwarf envelopes is particularly significant - this new research enables experimental benchmarks of the basic properties of matter in this regime. The results should ultimately lead to improved models of white dwarfs, which represent the final stage of evolution for most stars in the universe.
Warwick Moto's electric superbike build racing ahead despite lockdown
A team of 25 students who formed Warwick Moto are designing, building and developing an electric superbike which was due to race this summer
Speaker Change: International Year of Sound Events Explore Acoustics from Steelpan Music to Oceanography
The Acoustical Society of America continues to host virtual events in August as part of the International Year of Sound. The ASA Student Council will host Virtual Student Summer Talks for science students to present their research on topics ranging from acoustical oceanography to speech communication and Andrew Morrison will discuss how the acoustical physics of the steelpan helps machine learning algorithms process large datasets. All events are open to the public, and admission is free.
NAU scientists partner in $26 million NSF initiative to establish new Center for Quantum Networks
In its first NSF Engineering Research Center collaboration, NAU will receive nearly $2 million in funding as a CQN contributing partner in the areas of research, education and workforce development.
New study shows how infrared lasers destroy harmful protein aggregates in Alzheimer's
A notable characteristic of several neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, is the formation of harmful plaques that contain aggregates--also known as fibrils--of amyloid proteins.
Lab-Created Shock Waves Mimic Supernova Particle Accelerators
When stars explode as supernovas, they produce shock waves in the plasma that blast cosmic rays into the universe at relativistic speeds. How exactly they do that remains a mystery. New experiments using powerful lasers have recreated a miniature version of these supernova shocks in the lab, where scientists can observe how they accelerate particles.
Scientists propose a novel method for controlling fusion reactions
Researchers at the DOE's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have developed a pulsed method for stabilizing magnetic islands that can cause disruptions in fusion plasmas.
Cementing the future
Researchers from Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon Source and Center for Nanoscale Materials are utilizing nano- and micro-scale imaging to better understand the chemical processes behind the formation of cement.
Nanostructures Modeled on Moth Eyes Effective for Anti-Icing
Researchers have been working for decades on improving the anti-icing performance of functional surfaces and work published in AIP Advances investigates a unique nanostructure, modeled on moth eyes, that has anti-icing properties. Moth eyes are of interest because they have a distinct ice-phobic and transparent surface. The researchers fabricated the moth eye nanostructure on a quartz substrate that was covered with a paraffin layer to isolate it from a cold and humid environment.
Droplet Spread from Humans Doesn't Always Follow Airflow
If aerosol transmission of COVID-19 is confirmed to be significant, as suspected, we will need to reconsider guidelines on social distancing, ventilation systems and shared spaces. Researchers in the U.K. believe a better understanding of different droplet behaviors and their different dispersion mechanisms is also needed. In Physics of Fluids, the group presents a model that demarcates differently sized droplets. This has implications for understanding the spread of airborne diseases, because the dispersion tests revealed the absence of intermediate-sized droplets.
The Problem with Microwaving Tea
Through convection, as the liquid toward the bottom of a container warms up, it becomes less dense and moves to the top, allowing a cooler section of the liquid to contact the heating source. This ultimately results in a uniform temperature throughout the container. Inside a microwave, however, the electric field acting as the heating source exists everywhere and the convection process does not occur. Researchers studied this nonuniform heating behavior and present a solution in AIP Advances.
X-Ray Scattering Facility for Extreme Biology Opens for Research
Life on Earth manages to exist in the Mariana Trench and deep below the ocean floor, where extreme conditions create large effects on the behavior of biological molecules. At the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, a facility dedicated to high-pressure biological X-ray scattering is available for use to explore those deep ocean molecules. Richard Gillilan will describe the main capabilities of BioSAXS and call for scientific use of the facility at the 70th Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association.
Can a quantum strategy help bring down the house?
In a paper published this week in the journal Physical Review A, the researchers lay out a theoretical scenario in which two players, playing cooperatively against the dealer, can better coordinate their strategies using a quantumly entangled pair of systems.
Physicists Find Misaligned Carbon Sheets Yield Unparalleled Properties
A material composed of two one-atom-thick layers of carbon has grabbed the attention of physicists worldwide for its intriguing -- and potentially exploitable -- conductive properties.