For the first time, scientists have seen the small ripples that result from black holes’ motion, which are gently stretching and squeezing everything in the universe.
They revealed that they could “hear” low-frequency gravitational waves, which are produced by massive objects colliding and moving around in space and causing changes in the universe’s fabric.
“This is a really nice way of incorporating something you know about your physical system deep inside your machine-learning scheme. It goes far beyond just performing feature engineering on your data samples or simple inductive biases,” Schäfer says.
This generative classifier can determine what phase the system is in given some parameter, like temperature or pressure. And because the researchers directly approximate the probability distributions underlying measurements from the physical system, the classifier has system knowledge.
This enables their method to perform better than other machine-learning techniques. And because it can work automatically without the need for extensive training, their approach significantly enhances the computational efficiency of identifying phase transitions.
Despite its promising characteristics in condensed matter physics, the triply-degenerate semimetal PtBi2 has been largely unexplored in practical applications, particularly in semiconductor technology. The main difficulties include a lack of empirical data on the integration of PtBi2 with existing semiconductor components and the need for innovative approaches to leverage its unique properties, such as high stability and mobility, within the constraints of current electronic manufacturing processes.
Gravitational waves can be lensed by massive galaxies so that they repeat, like an echo. Scientists are now readying to snare their first one and explore the cosmic secrets it holds.
The theoretical physics and paradoxes of time travel often brush up against multiverse theory and the idea of alternate universes.
Physicists haven’t yet ruled out the possibility that the universe has a complicated topology in which space loops back around on itself.
Models for how heavy elements are produced within stars have become more accurate thanks to measurements by RIKEN nuclear physicists of the probabilities that 20 neutron-rich nuclei will shed neutrons.
Stars generate energy by fusing the nuclei of light elements—first hydrogen nuclei and then progressively heavier nuclei, as the hydrogen and other lighter elements are sequentially consumed. But this process can only produce the first 26 elements up to iron.
Another process, known as rapid neutron capture, is thought to produce nuclei that are heavier than iron. As its name suggests, this process involves nuclei becoming larger by rapidly snatching up stray neutrons. It requires extremely high densities of neutrons and is thus thought to occur mainly during events such as mergers of neutron stars and supernova explosions.
A team of physicists from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the Advanced Propulsion Laboratory at Applied Physics, in New York, has developed a model that shows it might be possible to create a subluminal warp drive.
MIT physicists and colleagues have created a five-lane superhighway for electrons that could allow ultra-efficient electronics and more. The work, reported in the May 9 issue of Science, is one of several important discoveries by the same team over the last year involving a material that is essentially a unique form of pencil lead.
