Physics

Sep 12th, 2025 - Electrons in a magnetic field can display striking behaviors, from the formation of discrete energy levels to the quantum Hall effect. These discoveries have shaped our understanding of quantum materials and topological phases of matter. Light, however, is made of neutral particles and does not naturally respond to magnetic fields in the same way. This has limited the ability of researchers to reproduce such effects in optical systems, particularly at the high frequencies used in modern ... [Read More]

Sep 12th, 2025 - The concept of quantum entanglement is emblematic of the gap between classical and quantum physics. Referring to a situation in which it is impossible to describe the physics of each photon separately, this key characteristic of quantum mechanics defies the classical expectation that each particle should have a reality of its own, which gravely concerned Einstein. Understanding the potential of this concept is essential for the realization of powerful new quantum technologies. Developing such ... [Read More]

Sep 10th, 2025 - Researchers have developed a breakthrough technology that solves a fundamental limit in electronics. This new technology, dubbed an "optoexcitonic switch," could lead to a new class of electronics — ranging from phones and PCs to data centers and quantum computers that can operate at without generating waste heat. The new switch works like a conventional electronic switch, which uses an electrical charge to control the flow of electrons in a system. Switches direct the flow of energy or ... [Read More]

Sep 10th, 2025 - Observations of gravitational waves produced by 2 black holes colliding and merging have allowed scientists to confirm fundamental predictions made by Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking about the nature of the universe. "This is the clearest view yet of the nature of black holes," says astrophysicist Maximiliano Isi, who co-led the analysis published in the Physical Review Letters . Cataclysmic cosmological events, such as the merging of 2 black holes, distort the fabric of the universe. This ... [Read More]

Sep 5th, 2025 - By Mary Martialay, Purdue University Share A new calculation shows how five atoms interact in the Efimov effect. It marks a major leap in quantum physics. Matter behaves weirdly at the quantum scale, one of the strangest examples being the Efimov effect. In this state, three or more atoms can bind together through attractive forces even when excited to higher energy levels, yet the same forces are too weak to hold just two atoms. Researchers at Purdue University have now carried out the ... [Read More]

Sep 1st, 2025 - By CERN Share CMS employed machine learning to probe rare Higgs decays into charm quarks. The search produced the most stringent limits so far. The Higgs boson, first observed at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012, is a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics. Through its interactions, it gives fundamental particles such as quarks their mass. Interactions between the Higgs boson and the heaviest "third-generation" quarks—the top and bottom quarks—have already been ... [Read More]

Aug 29th, 2025 - By University of Innsbruck Share Scientists have discovered a clever new way to control the light emitted by quantum dots — tiny crystals that can release individual photons. The advance could lead to faster, cheaper, and more practical quantum technologies, from ultra-secure communication systems to experiments that explore the strange foundations of quantum physics. The Challenge of Single-Photon Sources Quantum dots are tiny semiconductor structures capable of releasing single photons ... [Read More]

Aug 28th, 2025 - By Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe Share Scientists uncovered universal laws of entanglement in any dimension. The results strengthen links between particle physics, quantum theory, and gravity. A group of theoretical physicists has shown that quantum entanglement obeys universal principles in every dimension by applying thermal effective theory. Their findings were recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters , where the paper was selected as an ... [Read More]

Aug 25th, 2025 - By University of Sydney Physicists at the University of Sydney have achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing by creating a universal logic gate inside a single atom . Using a powerful error-correcting system known as the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) code — often called the "Rosetta Stone" of quantum computing — they managed to entangle vibrations of a trapped ion. This achievement drastically reduces the number of physical qubits needed, tackling one of the biggest hurdles in ... [Read More]

Aug 21st, 2025 - A team of researchers has discovered how a little-known type of symmetry in quantum materials, called nonsymmorphic symmetry, governs the way these materials interact with intense laser light. The work is in Physical Review Applied as a Letter. The findings reveal surprising effects—including the suppression of even-order response and striking polarization-dependent responses—that could enable the design of next-generation lightwave-based electronics and quantum devices . When ... [Read More]

Aug 20th, 2025 - Whether in solar cells or in the human eye, whenever certain molecules absorb light, the electrons within them shift from their ground state into a higher-energy, excited state. This results in the transport of energy and charge, leading to charge separation and eventually to the generation of electricity. An international team of scientists led by Dr. Antonietta De Sio and Prof. Dr. Christoph Lienau from the Ultrafast Nano-Optics research group at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, has now ... [Read More]

Aug 17th, 2025 - , Phys.org Topological quantum systems are physical systems exhibiting properties that depend on the overall connectivity of their underlying lattice, as opposed to local interactions and their microscopic structure. Predicting the evolution of these systems over time and their long-range quantum correlations is often challenging, as their behavior is not defined by magnetization or other parameters linked to local interactions. Researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale ... [Read More]

Aug 16th, 2025 - New experiments focused on understanding the enigmatic neutrino may offer insights. Everything we see around us, from the ground beneath our feet to the most remote galaxies, is made of matter. For scientists, that has long posed a problem: According to physicists' best current theories, matter and its counterpart, antimatter, ought to have been created in equal amounts at the time of the Big Bang. But antimatter is vanishingly rare in the universe. So what happened? Physicists don't know the ... [Read More]

Aug 16th, 2025 - , Phys.org Topological spin textures, spatially organized patterns linked to the intrinsic angular momentum of particles, have proved to be highly advantageous for the development of spintronics and quantum technologies. One of the most studied among these textures are skyrmionic textures, which are two-dimensional and stable patterns of spin orientation. Recently, the study of skyrmionic textures has gained significant attention in the field of optics and photonics, revealing novel physical ... [Read More]

Aug 16th, 2025 - Artificial intelligence software is designing novel experimental protocols that improve upon the work of human physicists, although the humans are still "doing a lot of baby-sitting." The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine . There are precision measurements, and then there's the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. In each of LIGO's twin gravitational wave detectors (one in Hanford, Washington, and the other in Livingston, Louisiana), laser beams bounce ... [Read More]

Aug 6th, 2025 - What is dark matter? Physicists have been trying to answer this question since the first observations of distant galaxies suggested that only a fifth of all the "stuff" in the universe is the visible matter with which we interact every day. The other 80% is the enigmatic dark matter which has so far eluded direct observation. Dark matter's existence would account for the gravitational forces behind how galaxies bind together and rotate. There are hundreds of experiments around the world trying ... [Read More]