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Category: particle physics – Page 5

Noise Proofing Molecules for New-Physics Searches

Certain molecules can be placed into states that are less sensitive to external noise, offering researchers a quiet system for probing fundamental physics.

Molecules are like tiny sandboxes for exploring fundamental physics. Within the molecular environment, bound electrons and nucleons can be exposed to exceptionally strong fields, inducing effects that can’t easily be observed elsewhere. By measuring transitions within these molecules, researchers can look for small deviations from theory, which could be signs of new physics beyond the standard model of particle physics. However, molecules are very sensitive to external fields, causing “noise” that can hide the small internally induced deviations. Yuiki Takahashi and colleagues at Caltech have come up with a potential solution, which counterintuitively uses external fields to make molecules immune to external fields [1]. By exposing small triatomic molecules to carefully tuned electromagnetic fields, the researchers have placed the molecules into special states where their sensitivity to noise is reduced by a factor of several hundred.

The Large Hadron Collider is being upgraded so that it can unlock the secrets of the Higgs boson

Deep beneath the French-Swiss border, the world’s largest scientific instrument has fallen silent. After years of smashing protons together at nearly the speed of light, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has stopped operations and entered a long shutdown.

While no particle collisions are taking place at the LHC, thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians are dismantling parts of the machine, installing new technologies and preparing one of the most ambitious upgrades ever attempted in experimental physics.

When it switches on again, around 2030, it will become the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), capable of delivering roughly seven times more data than the collider that discovered the Higgs boson.

How quantum circuits based on neutral atoms could find and fix errors

Quantum computers, devices that process information by leveraging the laws of quantum mechanics, have been found to outperform classical computers in some advanced tasks. Instead of storing information in the form of classical binary bits (i.e., 0 or 1), quantum computers rely on quantum bits (i.e., qubits), which can also exist in combinations of 0 and 1 states.

Despite their potential, quantum computers are known to be highly prone to errors. This is because qubits are very sensitive to heat, magnetic fields and other changes in their surroundings, which can disrupt the delicate quantum states they rely on to store and process data.

Researchers at Princeton University recently introduced a new approach for developing quantum computers that make fewer errors and whose errors are easier to detect and correct.

Schrödinger’s anthill: Quantum entanglement found in a crystal large enough to hold

Scientists have uncovered surprisingly strong quantum entanglement inside a hand-sized crystal, revealing that even macroscopic materials can behave in profoundly quantum ways. A centimeter-sized crystal has revealed clear signs of quantum entanglement, showing that large, everyday objects can display surprisingly deep quantum behavior. The discovery could help solve the mystery of strange metals while opening new possibilities for ultra-precise quantum sensors and other advanced technologies.

Quantum phenomena are usually associated with extremely small objects such as individual atoms, molecules, or photons that must be carefully isolated from their surroundings. But can those same strange quantum effects also exist in objects large enough to see and hold?

Researchers at TU Wien have now provided compelling evidence that they can. By studying a centimeter-sized crystal made from a type of material known as a strange metal, the team detected a high degree of quantum entanglement, one of the most remarkable features of quantum physics. They accomplished this using a technique from quantum information science called quantum Fisher information.

Layered crystal embeds atom-thin iron selenide can improve waste heat conversion

Developing thermoelectric materials that efficiently convert waste heat into electricity remains challenging because high electrical performance and low thermal conductivity are difficult to achieve simultaneously. Researchers at Science Tokyo developed a layered crystal, TlFe1.6 Se2, that embeds atomically thin iron selenide (FeSe) layers within a bulk material. The crystal combines a high thermoelectric power factor with exceptionally low thermal conductivity, demonstrating a promising strategy for designing next-generation materials for waste heat energy recovery.

Thermoelectric technology, which converts waste heat from factories, automobiles and power plants into electricity, is expected to play an important role in building a carbon-neutral society. In thermoelectric power generation, electricity is produced using a temperature difference across a material.

To achieve high power generation performance, materials must efficiently convert heat into electrical power while maintaining the temperature difference that drives power generation. However, these two requirements are generally difficult to satisfy simultaneously. Establishing new material design strategies that combine high thermoelectric performance with low thermal conductivity has therefore been a major challenge.

Scientists built a camera that can track invisible particles in 3D

Unlike an ordinary camera, which mainly records the intensity of incoming light, a light field camera also captures information about the direction from which the light arrived. This allows it to recover depth and reconstruct a scene in three dimensions.

The technology relies on a micro-lens array (MLA) placed between the camera’s main lens and imaging sensor. Each microscopic lens acts like a tiny camera, recording the same scene from a slightly different angle. When the information from all of these lenses is combined, the system can reconstruct a light field, which describes the intensity, position, and direction of the incoming light.

Quantum teleportation could reduce photon loss in long-distance communications

Quantum technologies, which leverage the principles of quantum mechanics, have been found to outperform their classical counterparts on specific tasks. Among other things, past studies have highlighted the potential of quantum systems that can enable long-distance communication, using photons (i.e., particles of light) to carry quantum information.

Despite their promise, quantum communication systems are often prone to photon loss, the scattering, absorption or disappearance of traveling photons. This photon loss becomes increasingly pronounced as transmission distances increase.

One proposed approach for reducing photon loss relies on a process known as quantum teleportation. This process entails the transfer of a quantum state from one particle to another without moving the particle to a different location, via a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement.

Cold radioactive molecules prepped and readied for physics discoveries

For the first time, researchers have developed a way to create chilled molecules containing the radioactive element radium. The resulting laboratory concoctions, generated in part through steps similar to those used to make candy, are poised to help researchers solve one of the biggest mysteries of our universe: How did matter in the early universe come to dominate over its antimatter counterpart?

Early in the universe, matter and antimatter were created in equal proportions. The negative electron, for example, has an antimatter twin called the positron, which is positively charged. An electron and positron can be created from energy in perfect pairs, yet when the two meet, they annihilate each other back into pure energy. Just what happened to all the antimatter remains one of the biggest mysteries in physics. Some kind of difference, or asymmetry, between matter and antimatter must exist to explain why matter was favored during the creation of our universe.

A few years ago, researchers led by Nick Hutzler, professor of physics at Caltech, began investigating radium molecules as a probe for studying this mystery. Their goal is to use lasers to look for subtle changes in the radium molecules that would indicate new particles and forces behind the matter/antimatter mystery. Radium is ideal for these experiments because its nucleus is shaped like a pear.

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