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Category: particle physics – Page 82

Researchers Push Boundaries of Quantum Simulation With Novel Photonic Chip

USTC researchers created a groundbreaking on-chip photonic simulator, leveraging thin-film lithium niobate chips to simplify quantum simulations of complex structures, achieving high-dimensional synthetic dimensions with reduced frequency demands.

A research team led by Prof. Chuanfeng Li from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has made a significant breakthrough in quantum photonics. The team successfully developed an on-chip photonic simulator capable of modeling arbitrary-range coupled frequency lattices with gauge potential. This achievement was detailed in a recent publication in Physical Review Letters.

<em>Physical Review Letters (PRL)</em> is a prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Physical Society. Launched in 1958, it is renowned for its swift publication of short reports on significant fundamental research in all fields of physics. PRL serves as a venue for researchers to quickly share groundbreaking and innovative findings that can potentially shift or enhance understanding in areas such as particle physics, quantum mechanics, relativity, and condensed matter physics. The journal is highly regarded in the scientific community for its rigorous peer review process and its focus on high-impact papers that often provide foundational insights within the field of physics.

Ultracold Matter Waves Reveal New Quantum Secrets

A groundbreaking study has revealed a new regime of cooperative radiative phenomena, addressing a 70-year-old puzzle in quantum optics.

By using arrays of synthetic atoms and ultracold matter waves, they uncovered previously unseen collective spontaneous emission effects. These findings not only advance our understanding of fundamental quantum behaviors but also hold promise for practical applications, such as enhancing long-distance quantum networks and improving technologies in quantum science.

Quantum Optical Phenomena

Particle that only has mass when moving in one direction observed for first time

For the first time, scientists have observed a collection of particles, also known as a quasiparticle, that’s massless when moving one direction but has mass in the other direction. The quasiparticle, called a semi-Dirac fermion, was first theorized 16 years ago, but was only recently spotted inside a crystal of semi-metal material called ZrSiS. The observation of the quasiparticle opens the door to future advances in a range of emerging technologies from batteries to sensors, according to the researchers.

The team, led by scientists at Penn State and Columbia University, recently published their discovery in the journal Physical Review X.

“This was totally unexpected,” said Yinming Shao, assistant professor of physics at Penn State and lead author on the paper. “We weren’t even looking for a semi-Dirac fermion when we started working with this material, but we were seeing signatures we didn’t understand—and it turns out we had made the first observation of these wild quasiparticles that sometimes move like they have mass and sometimes move like they have none.”

In Photos: Aurora Light-Up Skies Around The World As Northern Lights Surge

Did you see the Northern Lights this week? The new year arrived not only with fireworks, but with displays of aurora across the world at much more southerly latitudes than is normal.

Aurora were spotted as far south as Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Wales in the U.K and France, with spectacular displays in Alaska, Scandinavia and New Zealand, according to SpaceWeather.com.

The display aurora came in the wake of forecasts for northern and Midwest U.S. states after a flurry of solar flares from the sun’s surface in the last few days of 2024, most notably an X-class event on Dec. 29 that hurled two clouds of charged particles in Earth’s direction.

Revolutionizing Electronics: The 2D Twist That Defied Scientific Predictions

Scientists are exploring 2D materials — sheets just one atom thick — with unique and promising electronic properties.

When two of these sheets are layered at specific angles, they can exhibit remarkable behaviors, such as superconductivity. Antonija Grubišić-Čabo, a materials scientist at the University of Groningen, and her colleagues investigated one such “twisted” material and found that it behaved in ways that defied existing theoretical predictions.

2D Materials and Superconductivity.

Achieving bone regeneration and adhesion with harmless visible light

Oregon State University researchers have found luminescent nanocrystals with fast light-dark switching capabilities.

“The extraordinary switching and memory capabilities of these nanocrystals may one day become integral to optical computing – a way to rapidly process and store information using light particles, which travel faster than anything in the universe,” said Artiom Skripka, assistant professor in the OSU College of Science.

The race for faster, more efficient computing is on. And now, scientists have taken a significant leap forward with the discovery of a unique type of nanocrystal.

This has the potential to accelerate artificial intelligence and data processing speed, while also enhancing energy efficiency.

A quantum walk simulation of extra dimensions with warped geometry

We investigate the properties of a quantum walk which can simulate the behavior of a spin 1/2 particle in a model with an ordinary spatial dimension, and one extra dimension with warped geometry between two branes. Such a setup constitutes a \(1+1\) dimensional version of the Randall–Sundrum model, which plays an important role in high energy physics. In the continuum spacetime limit, the quantum walk reproduces the Dirac equation corresponding to the model, which allows to anticipate some of the properties that can be reproduced by the quantum walk. In particular, we observe that the probability distribution becomes, at large time steps, concentrated near the “low energy” brane, and can be approximated as the lowest eigenstate of the continuum Hamiltonian that is compatible with the symmetries of the model. In this way, we obtain a localization effect whose strength is controlled by a warp coefficient. In other words, here localization arises from the geometry of the model, at variance with the usual effect that is originated from random irregularities, as in Anderson localization. In summary, we establish an interesting correspondence between a high energy physics model and localization in quantum walks.

Anglés-Castillo, A., Pérez, A. A quantum walk simulation of extra dimensions with warped geometry. Sci Rep 12, 1926 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05673-2

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Groundbreaking revelations about the Higgs Boson unveiled

Over a decade after its discovery, the Higgs boson, often referred to as the “God particle,” continues to captivate physicists and deepen our understanding of the universe. Recent findings from the Max Planck Institute promise to unravel even more about this enigmatic particle, potentially opening doors to uncharted realms of particle physics.

The Higgs boson is a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics, responsible for answering one of the universe’s most fundamental questions: how do particles gain mass? This phenomenon hinges on the Higgs field, an invisible energy field that permeates the cosmos. To visualize this, imagine wading through a pool filled with water versus thick foam. While water might let you glide, the foam slows you down—this interaction mirrors how particles gain mass as they traverse the Higgs field. Without it, the building blocks of matter as we know them couldn’t exist.

Why Understanding Higgs Interactions Matters?

Fusion Mystery Unraveled: How Burning Plasmas Defy Conventional Physics

Advances in inertial confinement fusion and innovative modeling have brought nuclear fusion closer to reality, offering insights into high-energy-density physics and the early universe.

The pursuit of controlled nuclear fusion as a source of clean, abundant energy is moving closer to realization, thanks to advancements in inertial confinement fusion (ICF). This method involves igniting deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel by subjecting it to extreme temperatures and pressures during a precisely engineered implosion process.

In DT fusion, most of the released energy is carried by neutrons, which can be harnessed for electricity generation. Simultaneously, alpha particles remain trapped within the fuel, where they drive further fusion reactions. When the energy deposited by these alpha particles surpasses the energy input from the implosion, the plasma enters a self-sustaining “burning” phase. This significantly boosts energy output and density.