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Category: particle physics – Page 50

Breakthrough Gravity Explanation Is a Step Closer to ‘Theory of Everything’

A new way of explaining gravity could bring us a step closer to resolving the heretofore irresolvable differences it has with quantum mechanics.

Physicists Mikko Partanen and Jukka Tulkki at Aalto University in Finland have devised a new way of thinking about gravity that they say is compatible with the Standard Model of particle physics, the theory describing the other three fundamental forces in the Universe – strong, weak, and electromagnetic.

It’s not quite a theory of quantum gravity… but it could help us get there.

A nuclear fusion power plant prototype is already being built outside Boston. How long until unlimited clean energy is real?

In an unassuming industrial park 30 miles outside Boston, engineers are building a futuristic machine to replicate the energy of the stars. If all goes to plan, it could be the key to producing virtually unlimited, clean electricity in the United States in about a decade.

The donut-shaped machine Commonwealth Fusion Systems is assembling to generate this energy is simultaneously the hottest and coldest place in the entire solar system, according to the scientists who are building it.

It is inside that extreme environment in the so-called tokamak that they smash atoms together in 100-million-degree plasma. The nuclear fusion reaction is surrounded by a magnetic field more than 400,000 times more powerful than the Earth’s and chilled with cryogenic gases close to absolute zero.

Single-photon technology powers 11-mile quantum communications network between two campuses

Researchers at the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology recently connected their campuses with an experimental quantum communications network using two optical fibers. In a new paper published in Optica Quantum, scientists describe the Rochester Quantum Network (RoQNET), which uses single photons to transmit information about 11 miles along fiber-optic lines at room temperature using optical wavelengths.

Quantum communications networks have the potential to massively improve the security with which information is transmitted, making messages impossible to clone or intercept without detection. Quantum communication works with , or qubits, that can be physically created using atoms, superconductors, and even in defects in materials like diamond. However, photons—individual particles of light—are the best type of qubit for long distance quantum communications.

Photons are appealing for in part because they could theoretically be transmitted over existing fiber-optic telecommunications lines that already crisscross the globe. In the future, many types of qubits will likely be utilized because qubit sources, like or trapped ions, each have their own advantages for specific applications in or different types of quantum sensing.

A Glimpse at the Quantum Behavior of a Uniform Gas

An innovative way to image atoms in cold gases could provide deeper insights into the atoms’ quantum correlations.

The macroscopic properties of objects that we encounter in everyday life are ultimately determined by the behavior of these objects’ microscopic constituents. For instance, the way that atoms move is key to understanding the pressure of the gas in our tires or the flow of our morning coffee into a cup. However, equally important is how the positions of these particles are correlated—how the particles “dance” together. This dance has already been imaged in highly confined systems in which particles can move only between discrete sites [1]. Now three separate experimental groups, one from École Normale Supérieure in Paris and two from MIT, have imaged the positions of individual atoms in a cold, uniform gas, exposing the atoms’ quantum correlations [2– 4].

The fundamental quantum nature of particles leads to counterintuitive behavior in a collection of particles, even if there are no forces acting between them. Because quantum particles are indistinguishable, the probability of detecting one at a particular position is independent of which particle is observed. This feature implies that there are two classes of particle: bosons, which can change places without affecting the system’s quantum state; and fermions, which flip the sign of the state upon their exchange. The result is that photons and other bosons tend to bunch together, whereas electrons and other fermions tend to avoid each other.

Quantum effects in proteins: How tiny particles coordinate energy transfer inside cells

Protons are the basis of bioenergetics. The ability to move them through biological systems is essential for life. A new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows for the first time that proton transfer is directly influenced by the spin of electrons when measured in chiral biological environments such as proteins. In other words, proton movement in living systems is not purely chemical; it is also a quantum process involving electron spin and molecular chirality.

The quantum process directly affects the small movements of the biological environment that support . This discovery suggests that energy and information transfer in life is more controlled, selective, and potentially tunable than previously believed, bridging with biological chemistry and opening new doors for understanding life at its deepest level—and for designing technologies that can mimic or control biological processes.

The work, led by a team of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem collaborating with Prof. Ron Naaman from Weizmann Institute of Science and Prof. Nurit Ashkenasy from Ben Gurion University, reveals a surprising connection between the movement of electrons and protons in biological systems.

Shortcut in ‘magnetic bottles’ design offers an answer to a complex 70-year-old fusion challenge

Abundant, low-cost, clean energy—the envisioned result if scientists and engineers can successfully produce a reliable method of generating and sustaining fusion energy—has taken one step closer to reality, as a team of researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Type One Energy Group has solved a longstanding problem in the field.

One of the big challenges holding back has been the ability to contain inside fusion reactors. When high-energy alpha particles leak from a reactor, that prevents the plasma from getting hot and dense enough to sustain the fusion reaction. To prevent them from leaking, engineers design elaborate magnetic confinement systems, but there are often holes in the , and a tremendous amount of computational time is required to predict their locations and eliminate them.

In their paper published in Physical Review Letters, the research team describes having discovered a shortcut that can help engineers design leak-proof magnetic confinement systems 10 times as fast as the gold standard method, without sacrificing accuracy. While several other big challenges remain for all magnetic fusion designs, this advance addresses the biggest challenge that’s specific to a type of fusion reactor first proposed in the 1950s, called a stellarator.

New quantum theory of gravity brings long-sought ‘theory of everything’ a crucial step closer

At long last, a unified theory combining gravity with the other fundamental forces—electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces—is within reach. Bringing gravity into the fold has been the goal of generations of physicists, who have struggled to reconcile the incompatibility of two cornerstones of modern physics: quantum field theory and Einstein’s theory of gravity.

Researchers at Aalto University have developed a new quantum theory of which describes gravity in a way that’s compatible with the standard model of particle physics, opening the door to an improved understanding of how the universe began.

While the world of theoretical physics may seem remote from applicable tech, the findings are remarkable. Modern technology is built on such fundamental advances—for example, the GPS in your smartphone works thanks to Einstein’s theory of gravity.

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