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Archive for the ‘particle physics’ category: Page 353

Feb 16, 2021

The Universe’s 7 biggest mysteries (and why they’re unsolved)

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

In the last decade, we’ve taken photos of a black holes, peered into the heart of atoms and looked back at the birth of the Universe. And yet, there are yawning gaps in our understanding of the Universe and the laws that govern it. These are the mysteries that will be troubling physicists and astronomers over the next decade and beyond.


Dark matter, the nature of time, aliens and supermassive black holes: these seven things will be puzzling astronomers for years to come.

Feb 15, 2021

Scientists Use Lithium To Control Heat In Nuclear Fusion Reactors

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, particle physics

Researchers unlocked the electronic properties of graphene by folding the material like origami paper.


Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have created a plan using liquid lithium to control the extreme heat that could strike the exhaust system inside tokamak fusion reactors.

Continue reading “Scientists Use Lithium To Control Heat In Nuclear Fusion Reactors” »

Feb 15, 2021

A Magnetic Twist to Graphene Could Offer a Dramatic Increase in Processing Speeds Compared to Electronics

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

Electrons in materials have a property known as ‘spin’, which is responsible for a variety of properties, the most well-known of which is magnetism. Permanent magnets, like the ones used for refrigerator doors, have all the spins in their electrons aligned in the same direction. Scientists refer to this behavior as ferromagnetism, and the research field of trying to manipulate spin as spintronics.

Down in the quantum world, spins can arrange in more exotic ways, giving rise to frustrated states and entangled magnets. Interestingly, a property similar to spin, known as “the valley,” appears in graphene materials. This unique feature has given rise to the field of valleytronics, which aims to exploit the valley property for emergent physics and information processing, very much like spintronics relies on pure spin physics.

Feb 12, 2021

Swirlonic Super Particles: Physicists Baffled by a Novel State of Matter

Posted by in category: particle physics

A novel state of matter has been discovered by physicists at the University of Leicester.

In recent years, active, self-propelled particles have received growing interest amongst the scientific community. Examples of active particles and their systems are numerous and very diverse, ranging from bacterium films to flocks of birds or human crowds. These systems can demonstrate unusual behavior, which is challenging to understand or model.

To this end, large-scale models of active particles were being scrutinized by experts at Leicester, in order to understand basic principles underlying active particle dynamics and apply them in a scenario of an evacuation strategy for customers in crowded place. Unexpectedly, the ‘super-particles’ milling in a circular motion were stumbled upon by Leicester’s physicists who subsequently coined the phenomenon as “swirlonic.”

Feb 12, 2021

Scientists find first evidence of rare Higgs boson decay

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

This work provides evidence for something scientists predicted long ago.


Scientists have spotted the first evidence of a rare Higgs boson decay, expanding our understanding of the strange quantum universe.

Feb 11, 2021

Researchers gather numerical evidence of quantum chaos in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics, quantum physics

Over the past few years, many physicists worldwide have conducted research investigating chaos in quantum systems composed of strongly interacting particles, also known as many-body chaos. The study of many-body chaos has broadened the current understanding of quantum thermalization (i.e., the process through which quantum particles reach thermal equilibrium by interacting with one another) and revealed surprising connections between microscopic physics and the dynamics of black holes.

Feb 11, 2021

A Previously Unseen Chemical Reaction Has Been Detected on Mars

Posted by in categories: chemistry, particle physics, space

The giant Martian sandstorm of 2018 wasn’t just a wild ride — it also gave us a previously undetected gas in the planet’s atmosphere. For the first time, the ExoMars orbiter sampled traces of hydrogen chloride, composed of a hydrogen and a chlorine atom.

This gas presents Mars scientists with a new mystery to solve: how it got there.

“We’ve discovered hydrogen chloride for the first time on Mars,” said physicist Kevin Olsen of the University of Oxford in the UK.

Feb 10, 2021

The Plasma Compression Fusion Device—Enabling Nuclear Fusion Ignition

Posted by in categories: engineering, military, nuclear energy, particle physics

The plasma compression fusion device (PCFD) generates the energy gain by plasma compression-induced nuclear fusion. This concept has the capability of maximizing the product of plasma pressure and energy confinement time to maximize the energy gain, and thus give rise to fusion ignition conditions. The preferred embodiment of this original concept uses a hollow cross-duct configuration of circular cross section in which the concentrated magnetic energy flux from two pairs of opposing curved-headed counter-spinning conical structures (possibly made from an alloy of tungsten with high capacitance) whose outer surfaces are electrically charged compresses a gaseous mixture of fusion fuel into a plasma, heated to extreme temperatures and pressures. The generated high-intensity electromagnetic (EM) radiation heats the plasma and the produced magnetic fields confine it in between the counter-spinning conical structures, named the dynamic fusors (four of them-smoothly curved apex sections opposing each other in pairs). The dynamic fusors can be assemblies of electrified grids and toroidal magnetic coils, arranged within a conical structure whose outer surface is electrically charged. The cross-duct inner surface surrounding the plasma core region is also electrically charged and vibrated in an accelerated mode to minimize the flux of plasma particles (including neutrals) from impacting the PCFD surfaces and initiating a plasma quench. The fusion fuel (preferably deuterium gas) is introduced into the plasma core through the counterspinning conical structures, namely, injected through orifices in the dynamic fusor heads. There is envisioned another even more compact version of this concept, which uses accelerated vibration in a linear-duct configuration (using two counterspinning dynamic fusors only) and would best be suited for fusion power generation on aircraft, or main battle tanks. The concept uses controlled motion of electrically charged matter through accelerated vibration and/or accelerated spin subjected to smooth, yet rapid acceleration transients, to generate extremely high-energy/high-intensity EM radiation (fields of high-energy photons) which not only confines the plasma but also greatly compresses itso as to produce a high power density plasma burn, leading to ignition. The PCFD concept can produce power in the gigawatt to terawatt range (and higher) with input power in the kilowatt to megawatt range and can possibly lead to ignition (selfsustained) plasma burn. Several important practical engineering and operational issues with operating a device such as the PCFD are discussed.

Feb 10, 2021

ATLAS finds evidence of a rare Higgs boson decay

Posted by in category: particle physics

Since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, scientists in the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have been hard at work characterizing its properties and hunting down the diverse ways in which this ephemeral particle can decay. From the copious but experimentally challenging decay to b-quarks, to the exquisitely rare but low-background decay into four leptons, each offers a different avenue to study the properties of this new particle. Now, ATLAS has found first evidence of the Higgs boson decaying to two leptons (either an electron or a muon pair with opposite charge) and a photon. Known as “Dalitz decay,” this is one of the rarest Higgs boson decays yet seen at the LHC.

Feb 9, 2021

A warped scalar portal to fermionic dark matter

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

We argue that extensions of the SM with a warped extra dimension, together with a new $${\mathbb {Z}}_2$$ Z 2-odd scalar singlet, provide a natural explanation not only for the hierarchy problem but also for the nature of fermion bulk masses and the observed dark matter relic abundance. In particular, the Kaluza-Klein excitations of the new scalar particle, which is required to naturally obtain fermion bulk masses through Yukawa-like interactions, can be the leading portal to any fermion propagating into the bulk of the extra dimension and playing the role of dark matter. Moreover, such scalar excitations will necessarily mix with the Higgs boson, leading to modifications of the Higgs couplings and branching ratios, and allowing the Higgs to mediate the coannihilation of the fermionic dark matter.