Quantum Physics News

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Two Candidate Black Holes in Distant Galaxy Locked in an Intricate Dance

Entangled by gravity and destined to merge, two candidate black holes in a distant galaxy appear to be locked in an intricate dance. Researchers using data from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have come up with the most compelling confirmation yet for the existence of these merging black holes and have found new details about their odd, cyclical light signal.

18 Sep 2015

Converging Supermassive Black Holes Could Collide Sooner Than Expected

Earlier this year, astronomers discovered what appeared to be a pair of supermassive black holes circling toward a collision so powerful it would send a burst of gravitational waves surging through the fabric of space-time itself.

18 Sep 2015

A Flight Simulator of Quantum Physics

Topical research experiments are often too expensive or too complex to be rebuilt and incorporated in teaching. How can one, nevertheless, make modern science accessible to the public? This challenge was tackled in the research group Quantum Nanophysics led by Markus Arndt at the University of Vienna. For the first time, two research laboratories were created as complete, photorealistic computer simulations allowing university and high-school students as well as the general public to virtually access unique instruments. "One could describe it as a flight simulator of quantum physics", says Mathias Tomandl who designed and implemented the essential elements of the simulation in the course of his PhD studies.

18 Sep 2015

Best View of Exoplanet Moving in Orbit around Distant Star

A team of astronomers has given us our best view yet of an exoplanet moving in its orbit around a distant star. A series of images captured between November 2013 to April 2015 shows the exoplanet â Pic b as it moves through 1 ½ years of its 22-year orbital period.

16 Sep 2015

CQT Announces Launch of 2015 Quantum Shorts Competition

The Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) at the National University of Singapore announces the launch of the 2015 Quantum Shorts competition. The contest encourages readers to create quantum-themed "flash fiction": a short story of no more than 1000 words that is inspired by quantum physics.

16 Sep 2015

Mott Insulators Could Enable Faster Computers

An international group of physicists, including Aleksandr Golubov, head of the MIPT Laboratory of Topological Quantum Phenomena in Superconductor Systems, recently presented results of experiments testing a new phenomenon in the journal Science. The results may assist scientists in the creation of an essentially new kind of electronics - Mott transition, or the transition of an insulator to a conductor.

16 Sep 2015

Young Red Dwarf Stars Could Give Rare Glimpse of Slow-Motion Planet Formation

An accidental find of a collection of young red dwarf stars close to our solar system could give us a rare glimpse of slow-motion planet formation.

16 Sep 2015

Researchers Link Concept of Spin Transport to Magnetization Dynamics

Physicists at the University of Groningen, together with colleagues from Utrecht and Brest, have discovered a new principle governing how information is sent between electronic circuits. This could also help generate electricity more efficiently from temperature differences. The results were published on 14 September in the journal Nature Physics.

16 Sep 2015

Rice Space Institute Wins NSF Award to Investigate Magnetic Interactions Between Stars and Their Planets

Members of the Rice Space Institute’s Laboratory for Space and Astrophysical Plasmas have won a $1 million National Science Foundation (NSF) award to investigate the magnetic interactions between stars and their planets.

15 Sep 2015

New Quantum Mechanical Model Helps Identify Onset of Intermolecular Bonds in Supercritical Water

One of the first things taught in school science classes is that there are three states of matter - solids, liquids and gases. Bizarrely, however, at high pressures and temperatures there is a critical point above which the distinction between a liquid and a gas is lost and a single 'supercritical fluid' is formed.

15 Sep 2015