Quantum Physics News

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New Spinning Method to Measure Electron's Roundness

JILA researchers have developed a method of spinning electric and magnetic fields around trapped molecular ions to measure whether the ions' tiny electrons are truly round—research with major implications for future scientific understanding of the universe.

6 Dec 2013

Scientists Observe Quantum Gimbal

Swirling, persistent vortices can be created in superfluid helium. Generally no atoms sit at the eye of these miniature hurricanes.

6 Dec 2013

Scientists Believe that Jupiter’s Moon Europa Could Sustain Life

In a finding of relevance to the search for life in our solar system, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Geophysics and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research have shown that the subsurface ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa may have deep currents and circulation patterns with heat and energy transfers capable of sustaining biological life.

5 Dec 2013

Collision of Two Protons Yields Higgs Boson that Decays to Tau Leptons

At a CERN seminar November 26th, Aliaksandr (Sasha) Pranko of the Physics Division at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) presented key direct evidence that the “Higgs-like” particle discovered at CERN last year does what a Higgs is supposed to do: it couples not only to other bosons but to fermions as well. Pranko is a member of Berkeley Lab’s contingent of the ATLAS Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider.

5 Dec 2013

NASA’s Twin Spacecraft Unravel Mysteries of Earth's Radiation Belts

Just over a year since launch, NASA's Van Allen Probes mission continues to unravel longstanding mysteries of Earth's high-energy radiation belts that encircle our planet and pose hazards to orbiting satellites and astronauts.

5 Dec 2013

Astronomers Glimpse Magnetic Fields at the Heart of Gamma-ray Bursts

A new study using observations from a novel instrument provides the best look to date at magnetic fields at the heart of gamma-ray bursts, the most energetic explosions in the universe. An international team of astronomers from Britain, Slovenia and Italy has glimpsed the infrastructure of a burst's high-speed jet.

5 Dec 2013