Researchers created solid light, and what we know about photons and their interactions with atoms is about to change. Now, they can bend light to their will.
Category: particle physics – Page 12
A new method to generate muons with ultra-short high-intensity lasers
Muons are elementary particles that resemble electrons, but they are heavier and decay very rapidly (i.e., in just a few microseconds). Studying muons can help to test and refine the standard of particle physics, while also potentially unveiling new phenomena or effects.
So far, the generation of muons in experimental settings has been primarily achieved using proton accelerators, which are large and expensive instruments. Muons can also originate from cosmic rays, rays of high-energy particles originating from outer space that can collide with atoms in the Earth’s atmosphere, producing muons and other secondary particles.
Researchers at the China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), Guangdong Laboratory, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and other institutes recently introduced a new method to produce muons in experimental settings, using an ultra-short high-intensity laser.
Observing one-dimensional anyons: Exotic quasiparticles in the coldest corners of the universe
Nature categorizes particles into two fundamental types: fermions and bosons. While matter-building particles such as quarks and electrons belong to the fermion family, bosons typically serve as force carriers—examples include photons, which mediate electromagnetic interactions, and gluons, which govern nuclear forces.
World Record Broken: New Material Revolutionizes Ion Conductivity
Solid-state batteries are seen as a game-changer for the future of energy storage. They can hold more power and are safer because they don’t rely on flammable materials like today’s lithium-ion batteries. Now, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and TUMint. Energy Research have made a major breakthrough that could bring this future closer.
They have created a new material made from lithium, antimony, and a small amount of scandium. This material allows lithium ions to move more than 30 percent faster than any known alternative. That means record-breaking conductivity, which could lead to faster charging and more efficient batteries.
Led by Professor Thomas F. Fässler, the team discovered that swapping some of the lithium atoms for scandium atoms changes the structure of the material. This creates specific gaps, so-called vacancies, in the crystal lattice of the conductor material. These gaps help the lithium ions to move more easily and faster, resulting in a new world record for ion conductivity.
Glaphene: 2D hybrid material integrates graphene and silica glass for next-generation electronics
Some of the most promising materials for future technologies come in layers just one atom thick, such as graphene, a sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, prized for its exceptional strength and conductivity. While hundreds of such materials exist, truly merging them into something new has remained a challenge. Most efforts simply stack these atom-thin sheets like a deck of cards, but the layers typically lack significant interaction between them.
An international team of researchers led by Rice University materials scientists has succeeded in creating a genuine 2D hybrid by chemically integrating two fundamentally different 2D materials—graphene and silica glass —into a single, stable compound called glaphene, according to a study published in Advanced Materials.
“The layers do not just rest on each other; electrons move and form new interactions and vibration states, giving rise to properties neither material has on its own,” said Sathvik Iyengar, a doctoral student at Rice and a first author on the study.
The generalization of statistical mechanics makes it possible to regularize the theory of critical phenomena
Statistical mechanics is one of the pillars of modern physics. Ludwig Boltzmann (1844–1906) and Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839–1903) were its primary formulators. They both worked to establish a bridge between macroscopic physics, which is described by thermodynamics, and microscopic physics, which is based on the behavior of atoms and molecules.
The Austrian physicist Boltzmann explained the second law of thermodynamics in statistical terms. He defined the entropy of a system based on the number of possible microstates it could assume.
Unlike Boltzmann, who focused more on the physics of gases and the distribution of particles in equilibrium, the American Gibbs developed a general mathematical formalism that could be extended to more complex systems. Together, their contributions formed the basis of a physics capable of modeling a wide variety of phenomena.
