Cosmology – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Feb 16
2016

A black hole on a chip made of a metal that behaves like water

In a new paper published in Science, researchers at the Harvard and Raytheon BBN Technology have observed, for the first time, electrons in a metal behaving like a fluid (credit: Peter Allen/Harvard SEAS)

A radical discovery by researchers at Harvard and Raytheon BBN Technology about graphene’s hidden properties could lead to a model system to explore exotic phenomena like black holes and high-energy plasmas, as well as novel thermoelectric devices.

In a paper published Feb. 11 in Science, the researchers document their discovery of electrons in graphene behaving like a fluid. To make this observation, the team improved methods to create ultra-clean graphene and developed a new way to measure its thermal conductivity.

Feb 13
2016

Into a black hole

Turn off the lights and maximize this image, you can thank me later.

See more GIFs! Create and share your own GIFs, amazing moments and funny reactions with Gfycat.

Feb 12
2016

We’ve finally found gravitational waves, so can we time travel?

Physicists working with a powerful observatory on Earth announced Thursday that they have finally detected ripples in space and time created by two colliding black holes, confirming a prediction made by Albert Einstein 100 years ago.

These ripples in the fabric of space-time, called gravitational waves, were created by the merger of two massive black holes 1.3 billion years ago. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) on Earth detected them on Sept. 14, 2015, and scientists evaluated their findings and put them through the peer review process before publicly disclosing the landmark discovery today.

Feb 11
2016

Holy Shit! Scientists Have Confirmed the Existence of Gravitational Waves

Since Albert Einstein first predicted their existence a century ago, physicists have been on the hunt for gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of spacetime. That hunt is now over. Gravitational waves exist, and we’ve found them.

That’s according to researchers at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), who have been holed up for weeks, working round-the-clock to confirm that the very first direct detection of gravitational waves is the real deal. False signals have been detected before, and even though the rumors first reported by Gizmodo have been flying for a month, the LIGO team wanted to be absolutely certain before making an official announcement.

That announcement has just come. Gravitational waves were observed on September 14th, 2015, at 5:51 am ET by both of the LIGO detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. The source? A supermassive black hole collision that took place 1.3 billion years ago. When it occurred, about three times the mass of the sun was converted to energy in a fraction of a second.

Feb 10
2016

Black Holes Could Be Gateways After All

Physicists can now simulate the interiors of black holes using high-powered computers–and it looks like science fiction authors were right: black holes could be portals for space travel.

Feb 7
2016

“Quantum Hell” –The Universe Before the Big Bang (Week’s Most Popular)

Welcome to Quantum Hell.

Martin Bojowald, a professor of phycics at Penn State University, presents his fascinating ideas about “Loop Quantum Cosmology” in Once Before Time: A Whole Story of the Universe. “Will we ever,” Bojowald asks, “with a precision that meets scientific standards, see the shape of the universe before the big bang? The answer to such questions remains open. We have a multitude of indications and mathematical models for what might have happened. A diverse set of results within quantum gravity has revealed different phenomena important for revealing what happened at the big bang. But for a reliable extrapolation, parameters would be required with a precision far out of reach of current measurement accuracy.

Feb 1
2016

Is dark matter subatomic particles, a superfluid, or both?

The superfluid Universe.

Quantum effects are not just subatomic: they can be expressed across galaxies, and solve the puzzle of dark matter.

Jan 31
2016

New Kind of Dark Matter Could Form ‘Dark Atoms’

Physicists have proposed a new kind of dark matter that might consist of dark protons and dark electrons that could form dark atoms, and build up dark matter disks around galaxies.

Jan 28
2016

Astronomers generate image equivalent to telescope 63,000 miles wide

The cosmos came into sharper focus this week with astronomers releasing the highest resolution astronomical image yet. The product of 15 earthbound radio telescopes and a Russian satellite, the image of a black hole in a galaxy 900 millions light years away is detailed enough to show the equivalent of a US 50-cent piece on the Moon.

According to Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), which is leading the project, the image is the product of six European radio telescopes, the nine dishes of the US National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), and the Spektr-R satellite of the RadioAstron mission.

The data from these were combined by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn using a technique called interferometry, which is a way of turning a number of optical or radio telescopes distributed across an area into one gigantic telescope. It does this by combining the images from these telescopes so they interfere with one another. By analyzing the amplitude and phase of the interference patterns, scientists can generate a new image of much higher resolution.

Jan 27
2016

The Death of General Relativity Lurks in a Black Hole’s Shadow

Scientists are compiling a picture of the shadow of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and it could reveal general relatively breaking down.