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Study Reveals Circumstances for Violent Death of White Dwarf Stars

A team of astronomers including Harvard's Robert Kirshner and Peter Challis has detected a flash of light from the companion to an exploding star. This is the first time astronomers have witnessed the impact of an exploding star on its neighbor. It provides the best evidence on the type of binary star system that leads to Type Ia supernovae.

23 Mar 2016

Astronomers Observe Most Luminous Galaxies Ever Seen in the Universe

Astronomers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst report that they have observed the most luminous galaxies ever seen in the Universe, objects so bright that established descriptors such as “ultra-” and “hyper-luminous” used to describe previously brightest known galaxies don’t even come close. Lead author and undergraduate Kevin Harrington says, “We’ve taken to calling them ‘outrageously luminous’ among ourselves, because there is no scientific term to apply.”

23 Mar 2016

Researchers Develop New Conceptual Framework to Determine a Star's Age

Researchers have developed a new conceptual framework for understanding how stars similar to our Sun evolve. Their framework helps explain how the rotation of stars, their emission of x-rays, and the intensity of their stellar winds vary with time. According to first author Eric Blackman, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, the work could also “ultimately help to determine the age of stars more precisely than is currently possible.”

23 Mar 2016

Breakthrough in Generating Single Photons as Carriers of Quantum Information in Security Systems

An international team of researchers has made a breakthrough in generating single photons – the single quanta of light particles – as carriers of quantum information in security systems. The findings are set to revolutionise cybersecurity, along with advancing quantum computing, which can search large databases exponentially faster. Work will be continued through the Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, which launches at the University of Sydney in April 2016.

23 Mar 2016

Physicists Need More Data to Better Understand Mysterious Bump

In December, the ATLAS and CMS experiments presented a sneak peek of the new data collected during the first few months of the Large Hadron Collider’s enormously energetic second run. Both experiments reported a small excess of photon pairs with a combined mass around 750 GeV. This small excess could be the first hint of a new massive particle that spits out two photons as it decays, or it might be a coincidental fluctuation that will disappear with more information.

22 Mar 2016

New Way to Detect Properties of Many-Particle Entanglement Independent of System Size

In quantum theory, interactions among particles create fascinating correlations known as entanglement that cannot be explained by any means known to the classical world. Entanglement is a consequence of the probabilistic rules of quantum mechanics and seems to permit a peculiar instantaneous connection between particles over long distances that defies the laws of our macroscopic world - a phenomenon that Einstein referred to as "spooky action at a distance."

22 Mar 2016

Highly Detailed Images Raise Planet Formation Research to New Level

Observations using the VLA radio telescope array in New Mexico show the innermost portion of a planetary birthplace around the young star HL Tauri in unprecedented detail. Clearly visible is a lump of dust with 3 to 8 times the mass of the Earth, which represents the ideal conditions for the formation of a planet: a planetary nursery with sufficient building material for a planet somewhere between the mass of our own Earth and that of Neptune. The presence of a lump points towards a solution for a fundamental problem of planet formation: how planets can form on the limited time scale available for such processes.

22 Mar 2016

Rearranged Double-Slit Experiment Helps Study Light-Matter Interaction

The double-slit experiment is regarded among physicists as one of the most elegant experiments of all time. According to Nobel Prize laureate Richard Feynman, it encapsulates the entire mystery of quantum physics. It impressively demonstrates the wave nature of light and the phenomenon of interference.

22 Mar 2016

New Observations of Tiny Galaxy Shed Light on Origin of Heavy Elements

The lightest few elements in the periodic table formed minutes after the Big Bang. Heavier chemical elements are created by stars, either from nuclear fusion in their interiors or in catastrophic explosions. However, scientists have disagreed for nearly 60 years about how the heaviest elements, such as gold and lead, are manufactured. New observations of a tiny galaxy discovered last year show that these heavy elements are likely left over from rare collisions between two neutron stars. The work is published by Nature.

22 Mar 2016

NASA's Kepler Space Telescope Captures Brilliant Flash of Exploding Star's Shock Wave

NASA's planet hunter, the Kepler space telescope, has captured the brilliant flash of an exploding star's shock wave--what astronomers call the "shock breakout" of a supernova--for the first time in visible light wavelengths.

22 Mar 2016

Astronomers Discover Fastest Ever Ultraviolet-Wavelength Winds from Quasar

The fastest winds ever seen at ultraviolet wavelengths have been discovered near a supermassive black hole by a research team that includes a Penn State University astronomer. "This new ultrafast wind surprised us when it appeared at ultraviolet wavelengths, indicating it is racing away from the ravenous black hole at unprecedented speeds -- almost like a bat out of Hell," said William Nielsen (Niel) Brandt, the Verne M. Willaman Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics and a professor of physics at Penn State, a member of the research team.

22 Mar 2016

Researchers Reveal Source of Galactic Cosmic Radiation with Petaelectronvolt Energies for First Time

A team of international researchers including members of the Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics (ECAP) at FAU has revealed a source of galactic cosmic radiation with petaelectronvolt energies for the first time: the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Their findings are based on a detailed analysis of the latest data from the telescopes in the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) in Namibia. Researchers have been mapping the centre of our galaxy in very-high-energy gamma rays using these telescopes – the most sensitive of their kind – for over 10 years. The results were published in the journal Nature on 16 March 2016.

22 Mar 2016

Breakthrough Results Help Improve Control of Light Filaments and Their Applications

Researchers at UPM have revealed the underlying order of chaos by observing very long and intense laser light beams and ionized matter in the so-called “light filaments”.

21 Mar 2016

Astronomers Discover New Star with Unprecedented Variation Period

The Lomonosov Moscow State University astronomers who created a global network of robotelescopes MASTER detected that a bright star TYC 2505-672-1 has actually faded significantly. That finding induced new questions: so, the scientists assume that TYC 2505-672-1 is actually a double star system, though a nature of its companion remains unknown.

21 Mar 2016

New Discovery Opens Possibility of Using Movement of Weyl Fermions in Future Electronics

The Weyl fermion, just discovered in the past year, moves through materials practically without resistance. Now researchers are showing how it could be put to use in electronic components.

18 Mar 2016

Quantum Science News

Study Reveals Circumstances for Violent Death of White Dwarf Stars

Astronomers Observe Most Luminous Galaxies Ever Seen in the Universe

Researchers Develop New Conceptual Framework to Determine a Star's Age

Breakthrough in Generating Single Photons as Carriers of Quantum Information in Security Systems

Physicists Need More Data to Better Understand Mysterious Bump

New Way to Detect Properties of Many-Particle Entanglement Independent of System Size

Highly Detailed Images Raise Planet Formation Research to New Level

Rearranged Double-Slit Experiment Helps Study Light-Matter Interaction

New Observations of Tiny Galaxy Shed Light on Origin of Heavy Elements

NASA's Kepler Space Telescope Captures Brilliant Flash of Exploding Star's Shock Wave

Astronomers Discover Fastest Ever Ultraviolet-Wavelength Winds from Quasar

Researchers Reveal Source of Galactic Cosmic Radiation with Petaelectronvolt Energies for First Time

Breakthrough Results Help Improve Control of Light Filaments and Their Applications

Astronomers Discover New Star with Unprecedented Variation Period

New Discovery Opens Possibility of Using Movement of Weyl Fermions in Future Electronics

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News Categories

ESA's Vigil: Monitoring Space Weather

Exploring Electronic Band Structure with ARPES and HREELS

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3ALMA Maps Magnetic Streamer Funneling Gas to Newborn Stars

4Unraveling the Enigma of High-Energy Particles in the Universe

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