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Category: particle physics – Page 12

Sliding droplets point to charging mechanism beyond mobile ions

Whether on a windowpane at home or during the industrial cleaning of computer chips: droplets sliding over solid surfaces become electrically charged. Yet the physical mechanism behind this charging remains a subject of debate. This charging is usually attributed to the exchange of charged particles (ions) at the interface between the droplet and the surface.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have now investigated two different types of liquids—so-called polar and nonpolar liquids—in both their liquid and frozen states. The researchers discovered that there is apparently at least one additional effect behind droplet charging. The findings are published in the journal Nature Physics.

When droplets glide across surfaces, they usually become positively charged and leave a negatively charged trail on the surface. This process is known as slide electrification. The resulting electric charges influence the movement of droplets on various surfaces. On a windowpane, for example, this contributes to droplets occasionally getting stuck. During the cleaning of computer chips in industrial manufacturing processes, this can even damage sensitive components. Therefore, understanding which fundamental processes contribute to droplet charging is of great interest.

Mobile trap transports 92 antiprotons by road and stores them for over a month in world first

In March 2026, scientists succeeded in transporting antiprotons by road for the first time in a purpose-built trap loaded on a truck. The BASE collaboration, which realized this experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva under the lead of Professor Dr Stefan Ulmer and Dr Christian Smorra from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), now presents its findings and experiences from this pioneering experiment in the journal Nature. Among other things, they report that it was possible to store antiprotons in a mobile transport vessel for more than a month for the first time ever.

Comparing protons—the positively charged components of an atomic nucleus—with antiprotons—their antimatter counterparts—is one of the most promising methods for seeking differences between matter and antimatter. Any identified difference in their mass or magnetic moment could point to the potential origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry that can be observed in the cosmos.

So-called ultra-high-vacuum Penning traps enable high-precision measurements of the protons and antiprotons confined in them. The BASE (Baryon Antibaryon Symmetry Experiment) research collaboration designed and now operates a trap of this kind—known as BASE-STEP—at CERN, or more precisely, the “Antimatter Factory” (AMF) there. The AMF is the only facility worldwide where low-energy antiprotons can be produced, stored and studied.

Circular Rydberg atoms set three records, staying stable for 11 milliseconds

Rydberg atoms are considered promising building blocks for quantum computers and their precursors, quantum simulators. Researchers at the 5th Institute of Physics of the University of Stuttgart have achieved record values for the lifetime, size, and storage time of circular Rydberg atoms, a special form of Rydberg atom in which electrons move in a stable circular orbit around the nucleus. The findings were published in Nature Communications.

Quantum simulators replicate quantum systems for research purposes and are the precursors to future quantum computers. “One major challenge in developing high-performance quantum simulators was that Rydberg atoms are highly sensitive and remain stable for only a short time. We overcame this challenge and increased the stability of the atoms by a factor of 20,” says Professor Dr. Tilman Pfau, head of the 5th Institute of Physics.

Rydberg atoms are important building blocks for neutral-atom quantum technologies, which use neutral (i.e., uncharged) atoms that can be trapped and controlled with laser light. They are several thousand times larger than ordinary atoms and can therefore interact with one another over unusually long distances of about 5 µm. Although this is only about one-tenth the thickness of a human hair, it is a huge distance in the tiny world of atoms.

Silver Nanocatalysts Have a Surprising Double Life

Tiny silver catalysts work differently when solid oxide cells generate electricity and when they produce hydrogen, revealing a potential route to more efficient clean energy systems.

Solid oxide cells can generate electricity or use electricity to split water and produce hydrogen. Silver nanocatalysts, tiny silver particles that speed up chemical reactions, can improve their performance in both modes. Researchers have now discovered for the first time that the particles’ main reaction site changes depending on which task the cell is performing.

The distinction lies at the air electrode, where the cells exchange oxygen with their surroundings. During electricity generation, silver primarily promotes oxygen reactions along the boundary where each particle meets the electrode. During hydrogen production, the silver particle’s own surface becomes the main reaction site.

Schrödinger’s blunder created the quantum measurement problem

Quantum mechanics is seen as challenging the idea that science provides objective descriptions of reality outside of our minds. The “measurement problem” seems to suggest that the act of observation creates the outcome that is observed. But physicist Antony Valentini, whose Beyond the Quantum was hailed by Lee Smolin as “the best book written this century” on quantum mechanics, argues that this picture rests on an enormous blunder by Erwin Schrödinger. After Louis de Broglie predicted the wave-like trajectories of particles, Schrödinger found the equation describing this. But whereas de Broglie envisaged particles riding on waves, Schrödinger kept the waves and threw away the particles. That single decision birthed the measurement problem—and it was completely unnecessary. Resurrect de Broglie’s original particle-based theory, Valentini argues, and we can dispel quantum mystery.

Antony Valentini will debate Sabine Hossenfelder and Philip Ball live at HowTheLightGetsIn Festival on September 19th, alongside hundreds of other debates, talks, music and comedy. Book your place now.

Reality and the quantum.

Metal Particles From Joint Replacements Can Reach Your Brain, Study Finds

Chronic hip, knee, or shoulder pain often requires total joint replacement. That relieves the pain and restores mobility, but does it introduce other health risks?

Researchers led by a team from the Rush University Medical Center in the US wanted to follow up on previous studies reporting how particles from artificial joints could leach into the body, and in particular whether these particles could reach the brain – and potentially contribute to cognitive decline or even dementia.

The team’s results, published in Acta Biomaterialia, suggest that these particles can indeed make their way to the brain, as a result of friction or corrosion in the joint.

A Strange Signal Keeps Turning Up in Earth’s Magnetic Field — And No One Knows What It Is Yet

Physicists have conducted a worldwide hunt for dark matter. Literally – they turned Earth itself into a giant detector.

Weirder still, the experiment picked up dozens of candidate signals that fit predictions for certain types of hypothetical particles that could make up dark matter.

Those signals still need verification, and there’s plenty of other things that they could be before they’re dark matter particles. But it’s a clever experiment with some tantalizing new clues to one of the most mind-bending cosmological puzzles.

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Ultracold cesium atoms reveal Bethe strings predicted nearly a century ago

In 1931, physicist Hans Bethe predicted that, in certain one-dimensional quantum systems, particles can bind together to form multi-particle states known as Bethe strings. Unlike ordinary molecules, which are held together by chemical bonds, Bethe strings arise purely from interactions between particles and exist only in one dimension. For decades, Bethe strings remained primarily a theoretical concept.

Now, almost a century after Bethe’s prediction, researchers from the University of Innsbruck, in collaboration with theory teams from the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Amsterdam and the Technical University of Munich, have created and observed these multi-particle bound states in an ultracold gas. Their findings are published in Nature Communications.

The experiment begins with a cloud of cesium atoms cooled to temperatures only a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero. The researchers then divide the cloud into several thousand narrow, one-dimensional tubes. Inside these tubes, the atoms can move essentially only along a single direction. The interactions between the atoms can be precisely controlled. By tuning the interactions between the atoms from repulsive to attractive, they can make the atoms bind together. Instead of simply collapsing, the atoms form bound states of different sizes, including larger clusters containing six or more particles.

Speedy electrons for brilliant laser light: Research paves the way for compact, inexpensive free-electron lasers

Extremely short, intense light flashes are in high demand to investigate atoms, molecules and new materials. Free-electron lasers (FELs) produce these flashes. But around the world, beam time available at large-scale user facilities is in short supply, and waiting times are long.

Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the Synchrotron SOLEIL near Paris have taken a crucial step along this path: For the first time, they managed to operate a laser-plasma FEL stably and reproducibly in the so-called high-gain regime—an operating state with particularly high amplification of the radiation generated.

The work is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.