physics-and-chemistry16.11 min read
Lab Recreates Superionic Ice, Shedding Light on Ice Giants’ Cores
1 month ago•Source: Gizmodo
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17.09 min•1 month ago
Photon’s TikTok Through Einstein’s Rules: Axions and Tiny Lorentz Violations May Explain a 300 TeV Travel</title>
Physicists propose GRB 221009A’s extreme 300 TeV photons survived a two‑billion‑light‑year trip by briefly converting into axion‑like particles, with a tiny Lorentz‑invariance violation enabling a “fast lane.” A predicted one‑hour gap between lower‑energy photons and the 300 TeV burst matched an independent Chinese observation, offering empirical support and a potential probe of quantum gravity.
17.06 min•1 month ago
Whale Calls Debunk a Physics Paradox: It’s All About Wave Interference
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Physicists Propose Stable Bose-Fermi Droplets as a New Quantum State
Gizmodo•1 month ago
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Ten Thousand Colloids Temporarily Break Newton’s Third Law in an Electric Field
gizmodo.com•2 months ago
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Silicon-Rich Multicomponent Alloy Found in Hiroshima Blast Debris
A Science Advances study reports the discovery of a previously unknown, silicon-rich multicomponent alloy formed inside microscopic grains called ‘hiroshimaites’ created by the Hiroshima atomic blast. The highly ordered tiny crystal demonstrates that extreme, rapid quenching from nuclear detonations can forge new crystalline materials, potentially encoding diagnostic information about the device, environment, and detonation conditions, with implications for nuclear forensics and materials science.
The Quantum Split: A Theorized Truncated Photon Reveals an Infinite Photon State
A University of Oslo team theorizes that by using a fast optical shutter to create a left/right superposition, a photon can be effectively “cut” into a highly nonclassical state that, in principle, contains photons with numbers extending to infinity. The result isn’t two photons or a photon plus vacuum; instead, removing the shutter pulls photons from the vacuum, forming a sharp edge with a transition region. Local measurements on either side would resemble a single-photon state and vacuum respectively, even though the underlying state is much more complex. The study is purely theoretical but highlights surprising aspects of quantum field theory and wave–particle duality, and could in principle be tested experimentally.
AI-Fueled Breakthrough Clears Decades-Old Jamming Mystery
Physicists Parisi and Zamponi credit Claude, an AI model, with sparking a simple idea that, despite initial errors, guided a clean proof that two parameters in the jamming (granular) model sum to one. The researchers refined Claude’s premise and published their result in the Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment, illustrating AI’s potential to surface patterns and literature while underscoring that human verification remains essential.
Lugworm Poop Maps Gravity-Driven Elastic Coiling, Science Confirms Emoji Shape
Physicists show lugworms defy gravity with upward-defecating poop whose shape follows elastic rope-coiling physics, explaining why the poop emoji’s cone form emerges from gravity and suggesting biology leverages basic physical laws rather than requiring special biological design.
Physicists Unveil a New Family of Schrödinger's Cat States in a Single Ion
Physicists developed a method to create and control quantum superpositions in the motion of a trapped strontium ion, turning the ion's internal spin into a tool to sculpt cat-like quantum states with distinctive interference patterns, expanding the Schrödinger cat family and offering new capabilities for quantum computing, simulations, and sensing.
Gold’s Surface Hexagon: The Atomic Trick Behind Its Lasting Shine
Researchers used computer simulations to show gold’s surface atoms rearrange into hexagonal patterns that dramatically suppress oxidation (by about a billion to a trillion), explaining its long-lasting shine and suggesting new ways to optimize gold-catalyzed reactions.
One of Physics’ Biggest Surveys Finds Almost No Consensus
APS’s large survey of about 1,660 participants—ranging from researchers to science enthusiasts—reveals widespread disagreement on core physics questions, from the Big Bang to quantum gravity. The Big Bang is widely seen as a hot, dense state (68%), not necessarily the absolute beginning (25%). Quantum interpretations are not universally accepted: Copenhagen leads at around 36%, with many opting for other theories or 'no opinion.' About half agree on cosmic inflation, while dark energy and ΛCDM show no clear majority, with evolving dark energy edging ahead slightly. Only a minority subscribe to specific quantum gravity views, with string theory leading among them. The results underscore that physics frontiers remain active and data and theory must advance to resolve these debates.
New Silicon-Calcium-Iron Clathrate Discovered in Trinity Test Glass
Physicists analyzing red trinitite from the Trinity test have identified a previously unknown silicon-calcium-iron clathrate, a nanoscale crystal structure formed by vaporized tower metals; confirmed with single-crystal X-ray diffraction and nanoscale imaging, this new phase could advance understanding of clathrates used in batteries, solar cells, and quantum devices, and provides a rare extreme-condition crystal for modeling.
Ultra-Cold Device Creates Predictable Phonons for Quantum Communications
A cryogenic device generates tunable, predictable phonons (quantized sound) by driving electrons through a 2D crystal, offering a new route for quantum communications—particularly where light struggles, like the deep ocean—though it requires ultracold temperatures to work.
Texas A&M Opens World's Largest Lab for Controlled Explosions
Texas A&M has launched the Detonation Research Test Facility (DRTF), the world’s largest lab devoted to controlled explosions, featuring a 150-meter methane–air detonation tube with advanced sensors and lasers to study high-speed reactive flows, ignition, and transitions from deflagration to detonation and quenching; the research aims to advance safety, propulsion, and fundamental science across engineering and astrophysics, with Mach-5 detonations achievable in under five seconds and the project rooted in concerns from the mining community about natural gas explosions after a 2021 approval and commissioning.