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Category: particle physics – Page 47

New Technique Sheds Light on Chemistry at the Bottom of the Periodic Table

The periodic table is one of the triumphs of science. Even before certain elements had been discovered, this chart could successfully predict their masses, densities, how they would link up with other elements, and a host of other properties.

But at the bottom of the periodic table, where massive atoms are practically bursting at the seams with protons, its predictive power might start to break down. Experiments to study the chemistry of the heaviest elements — especially the superheavy elements, which have more than 103 protons — have long been a challenge. Despite using specialized facilities, researchers have been unable to definitively identify the molecular species they produce in experiments. This uncertainty has hindered progress in the field, since scientists have had to rely on educated guesses rather than precise knowledge of the chemistry being observed.

Now, researchers have used the 88-Inch Cyclotron at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to develop a new technique to make and directly detect molecules containing heavy and superheavy elements. In a study published today in the journal Nature, a team of researchers from Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley, and The University of Alabama used the method to create molecules containing nobelium, element 102. It is the first time scientists have directly measured a molecule containing an element greater than 99.

Scientists create gold hydride by combining gold and hydrogen under extreme conditions

Serendipitously and for the first time, an international research team led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory formed solid binary gold hydride, a compound made exclusively of gold and hydrogen atoms.

The researchers were studying how long it takes hydrocarbons, compounds made of carbon and hydrogen, to form diamonds under extremely high pressure and heat.

In their experiments at the European XFEL (X-ray Free-Electron Laser) in Germany, the team studied the effect of those extreme conditions in hydrocarbon samples with an embedded gold foil, which was meant to absorb the X-rays and heat the weakly absorbing hydrocarbons. To their surprise, they not only saw the formation of diamonds, but also discovered the formation of gold .

Heavy fermions entangled: Quantum computing’s new frontier?

A joint research team from Japan has observed “heavy fermions,” electrons with dramatically enhanced mass, exhibiting quantum entanglement governed by the Planckian time – the fundamental unit of time in quantum mechanics. This discovery opens up exciting possibilities for harnessing this phenomenon in solid-state materials to develop a new type of quantum computer.

Theories on dark matter’s origins point to ‘mirror world’ and universe’s edge

Two recent studies by Professor Stefano Profumo at the University of California, Santa Cruz, propose theories that attempt to answer one of the most fundamental open questions in modern physics: What is the particle nature of dark matter?

Science has produced overwhelming evidence that the mysterious substance, which accounts for 80% of all matter in the universe, exists. Dark matter’s presence explains what binds galaxies together and makes them rotate. Findings such as the large-scale structure of the universe and measurements of the cosmic microwave background also prove that something as-yet undetermined permeates all that darkness.

What remains unknown are the origins of dark matter, and hence, what are its particle properties? Those weighty questions primarily fall to theoretical physicists like Profumo. And in two recent papers, he approaches those questions from different directions, but both centered on the idea that dark matter might have emerged naturally from conditions in the very early universe—rather than dark matter being an exotic new particle that interacts with ordinary matter in some detectable way.

Scientists produce quantum entanglement-like results without entangled particles in new experiment

In the everyday world that humans experience, objects behave in a predictable way, explained by classical physics. One of the important aspects of classical physics is that nothing travels faster than the speed of light. Even information is subject to this rule. However, in the 1930s, scientists discovered that very small particles abide by some very different rules. One of the more mind-boggling behaviors exhibited by these particles was quantum entanglement—which Albert Einstein termed “spooky action at a distance.”

In , two particles can become entangled—meaning their properties are correlated with each other and measuring these properties will always give you opposite results (i.e., if one is oriented up, the other must be down). The strange part is that you still get correlated measurements instantaneously, even if these particles are very far away from each other.

If information cannot travel faster than the speed of light, then there should not be a way for one particle to immediately know the state of the other. This “spooky” quantum property is referred to as “nonlocality”—exhibiting effects that should not be possible at large distances in classical mechanics.

New measurement of free neutron lifetime achieves world-record precision

Incorporated into every aspect of everyday life, the neutron is a fundamental particle of nature. Now, a research collaboration led by Los Alamos National Laboratory has improved the precision of free neutron lifetime measurements. The team’s results highlight the success of the UCNTau experiment’s design and previews the effectiveness of new techniques and approaches that the team is incorporating into the next generation of the experiment.

“The precise lifetime of free neutrons is at the center of still-contested physics questions,” said Steven Clayton, physicist at Los Alamos. “Understanding the neutron lifetime can be used to test the nature of the weak force, one of the fundamental forces of the universe, and can also help search for physics beyond the Standard Model.

Our results here validate the UCNtau experimental approach and point the way toward design improvements that will further enhance our understanding of the physics involved.

Packed particles power up: Physicists discover particles that accelerate when crowded

What if particles don’t slow down in a crowd, but move faster? Physicists from Leiden worked together and discovered a new state of matter, where particles pass on energy through collisions and create more movement when packed closely together.

We all know crowds of people, or cars in a traffic jam—when it gets too crowded, all you can do is stand still. Until now, scientists have mainly studied cases of large groups just like this, which slow down when they get too close to each other.

But what if the opposite happens? What if could start moving more when packed together? That question hadn’t been studied much—until now. Physicists Marine Le Blay, Joshua Saldi and Alexandre Morin from Leiden University do research in the field of active matter physics—they observe and analyze the collective behaviors that emerge when large groups of particles are packed together.

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