Archive for the ‘particle physics’ category: Page 485
Nov 14, 2017
Moon, Mars, Asteroid and orbital colonzation and cities
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: economics, particle physics, space travel
He looked at the science and economics of a lunar colony.
Eighty-five percent of the rocks on the surface of the lunar highlands are anorthite, which contains aluminum as well as a massive supply of oxygen. Smelting aluminum in the quantities necessary to construct and maintain Artemis would produce so much excess oxygen—eight atoms for every two of aluminum—that they would be constantly venting it.
For every kilogram of payload, you need an additional 3.73 kilos of fuel. So a one-way ticket to the moon is calculated to eventually cost about $33,000.
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Nov 6, 2017
“Quark Fusion” Produces Eight Times More Energy Than Nuclear Fusion
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: nuclear energy, particle physics
Researchers, building on findings from work involving the Large Hadron Collider, have found a theoretical new form of energy: quark fusion.
Nov 3, 2017
Anomalous bottoms at Cern and the case for a new collider
Posted by Andreas Matt in category: particle physics
Particles known as “bottom mesons” are not decaying in the way the Standard Model of particle physics says they should, and it’s causing some excitement.
Nov 2, 2017
Hidden structure found inside the Great Pyramid of Giza
Posted by Dan Kummer in category: particle physics
The Great Pyramid of Giza has been shrouded in mystery for millennia, but now a long-held secret of its structure might be known thanks to particle physics.
A narrow void lying deep within the ancient Wonder of the World has been found by scientists using cosmic-ray based imaging.
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Oct 26, 2017
Reflecting light off satellite backs up Wheeler’s quantum theory thought experiment
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: particle physics, quantum physics, space
A team of researchers with Università degli Studi di Padova and the Matera Laser Ranging Observatory in Italy has conducted experiments that add credence to John Wheeler’s quantum theory thought experiment. In their paper published on the open access site Science Advances, the group describes their experiment and what they believe it showed.
The nature of light has proven to be one of the more difficult problems facing physicists. Nearly a century ago, experiments showed that light behaved like both a particle and a wave, but subsequent experiments seemed to show that light behaved differently depending on how it was tested, and weirdly, seemed to know how the researchers were testing it, changing its behavior as a result.
Back in the late 1970s, physicist Johan Wheeler tossed around a thought experiment in which he asked what would happen if tests allowed researchers to change parameters after a photon was fired, but before it had reached a sensor for testing—would it somehow alter its behavior mid-course? He also considered the possibilities as light from a distant quasar made its way through space, being lensed by gravity. Was it possible that the light could somehow choose to behave as a wave or a particle depending on what scientists here on Earth did in trying to measure it? In this new effort, the team in Italy set out to demonstrate the ideas that Wheeler had proposed—but instead of measuring light from a quasar, they measured light bounced from a satellite back to Earth.
Oct 26, 2017
Higgs boson uncovered by quantum algorithm on D-Wave machine
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: information science, particle physics, quantum physics, robotics/AI
Oct 22, 2017
Quantum Machine Goes in Search of the Higgs Boson
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics
D-Wave system shows quantum computers can learn to detect particle signatures in mountains of data, but doesn’t outpace conventional methods — yet.
- By Davide Castelvecchi, Nature on October 22, 2017
Oct 19, 2017
Liquid metal discovery ushers in new wave of chemistry and electronics
Posted by Saúl Morales Rodriguéz in categories: chemistry, computing, particle physics
Researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have used liquid metal to create two-dimensional materials no thicker than a few atoms that have never before been seen in nature.
The incredible breakthrough will not only revolutionise the way we do chemistry but could be applied to enhance data storage and make faster electronics. The “once-in-a-decade” discovery has been published in Science.
The researchers dissolve metals in liquid metal to create very thin oxide layers, which previously did not exist as layered structures and which are easily peeled away.
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Oct 17, 2017
Violation of the exponential decay law discovered in open quantum systems
Posted by Saúl Morales Rodriguéz in categories: particle physics, quantum physics
(Phys.org)—Ever since the early days of quantum mechanics, the decay dynamics of unstable quantum systems has been thought to follow an exponential decay law, just like the one used to describe radioactive decay and many other natural processes. The exponential law in the quantum domain was originally proposed by George Gamow and later developed by Eugene Wigner and Victor Weisskopf. According to this law, when given a sample of unstable atoms, the number of those that are likely to decay during a brief period of time is proportional to the number of atoms present.
In the years since then, however, physicists have found that deviations from the exponential law can occur in unstable quantum systems, but only in those that are isolated from the external environment. This is because isolated systems are free from environmental decoherence, which makes it possible for the quantum decay products to reconstruct themselves back into their initial, pre-decayed states. Consequently, the decay is initially slower than that predicted by the exponential law, and in the later stages, the decay often exhibits a power-law behavior. Researchers have previously shown that this nonexponential decay can be harnessed for quantum control.
Now in a new study, physicists have theoretically shown that quantum decay processes can deviate from the exponential decay law not only when the system is isolated, but even when it is in contact with the external environment. The results suggest that an unstable quantum system can decay and subsequently return to its original state, even in the presence of environmental decoherence.