Quantum Physics News

RSS

New Book Discusses Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics

Most books about fundamental quantum mechanics use results in the theory of Hilbert space operators without proving them, while most books about Hilbert space operators do not treat quantum mechanics. In addition, they often use fairly advanced results from other branches of mathematics assuming the reader to be already familiar with them, but this is seldom true.

24 Feb 2015

Refurbished, Higher-Energy Large Hadron Collider to Crack Open More Mysteries of the Universe

In March, when researchers flip the switch to the world’s largest, most powerful particle accelerator, scientists from all over the world will be watching. Physicists expect the refurbished, higher-energy Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will build on the 2012 discovery of the Higgs particle and crack open even more mysteries of the universe.

23 Feb 2015

Winds from Supermassive Black Holes Blow Outward in all Directions

Widespread Winds and Feedback from Supermassive Black Holes
Astronomers have discovered that the winds from supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies blow outward in all directions, a suspected phenomenon that had been difficult to prove before now.

23 Feb 2015

Sun's Magnetic Field Plays a Critical Role in Large-Scale Shape of the Heliosphere

As the sun skims through the galaxy, it flings out charged particles in a stream of plasma called the solar wind, and the solar wind creates a bubble extending far outside the solar system known as the heliosphere. For decades, scientists have visualized the heliosphere as shaped like a comet, with a very long tail extending thousands of times as far as the distance from the Earth to the sun.

23 Feb 2015

First Direct Evidence for Supply of Lithium from Stellar Objects

A team of astronomers from National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Osaka Kyoiku University, Nagoya University, and Kyoto Sangyo University observed Nova Delphini 2013 (Figure 1, 3) which occurred on August 14, 2013. Using the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS) to observe this object, they discovered that the outburst is producing a large amount of lithium (Li).

20 Feb 2015

Dark Photons' May Not Be Linked to 'G-2' Anomaly

Scientists searching for signs of elusive “dark photons” as an explanation for an anomaly in a groundbreaking physics experiment have nearly ruled out their role. Though the postulated particles could still exist as carriers of a force affecting dark matter, it is increasingly unlikely these particles from the “dark sector” can explain the discrepancy scientists have seen between a precision measurement of the behavior of muons (cousins of more familiar electrons) and calculations based on the reigning theory of particle interactions.

20 Feb 2015

High-Speed Winds Connect Supermassive Black Hole and Nurturing Galaxy

By looking at the speed of ambient gas spewing out from a well-known quasar, astronomers are gaining insight into how black holes and their host galaxies might have evolved at the same time.

20 Feb 2015

Physicists Report First-Ever Observations of Higgs Mode in Superconducting Materials

The Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the Higgs boson - the "God particle" believed responsible for all the mass in the universe - took place in 2012 at CERN's Large Hadron Collider, an underground facility where accelerated sub-atomic particles zip around the circumference of a 27-kilometer (16.9-mile) ring-shaped tunnel. But what goes around comes around: more than 50 years ago, the first hint of Higgs was inspired by the study of superconductors - a special class of metals that, when cooled to very low temperatures, allow electrons to move without resistance.

20 Feb 2015

Physicist Proposes New Model of Atomic Nuclei

A new model describing atomic nuclei, proposed by a physicist from the University of Warsaw Faculty of Physics, more accurately predicts the properties of various exotic isotopes that are created in supernova explosions or inside nuclear reactors.

20 Feb 2015

Extraordinary Exoplanet May Be Slowly Boiling Away Under Intense Heat of its Sun

Exciting new research by astronomers at The Open University (OU) and the Universities of Warwick and Sheffield has opened up the chance to find out what distant planets are made of. The team of astronomers have made observations which can help reveal the chemical makeup of a small rocky world orbiting a distant star about 1500 light years away from Earth, increasing our understanding of how planets, including ours, were formed.

20 Feb 2015