Menu

Blog

Page 2979

Apr 21, 2023

The DarkSide experiment extends its search to dark matter–nucleon interactions

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

The DarkSide experiment is an ambitious research effort aimed at detecting dark matter particle interactions in liquid argon using a dual-phase physics detector located at the underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory. These interactions could be observed by minimizing background signals, and this could be possible thanks to the remarkable discrimination power of the scintillation pulse of liquefied argon in the DarkSide-50 detector, which can separate nuclear recoil events associated with these interactions from more than 100 million electronic recoil events linked to radioactive background.

The large team of researchers involved in the DarkSide experiment has recently been using the detector to search for lighter particles. The results of a new search for dark matter–nucleon interactions, published in Physical Review Letters, allowed them to set new constraints for sub-GeV/c2 dark matter.

“The DarkSide-50 experiment was designed as a test for the use of from underground sources, naturally depleted in the radioactive 39 Ar, for very large scale dark matter searches,” Cristiano Galbiati a Researcher at Princeton University and the Gran Sasso Science Institute, told Phys.org. “It is remarkable to see how a group of young researchers within the collaboration was able to exploit the apparatus to extract the best limit for dark matter searches that were not part of the original scope of the experiment. If anything, the ingenuity and resolve of this group should be credited for this important result.”

Apr 21, 2023

Heaviest Schrödinger cat achieved by putting a small crystal into a superposition of two oscillation states

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

Even if you are not a quantum physicist, you will most likely have heard of Schrödinger’s famous cat. Erwin Schrödinger came up with the feline that can be alive and dead at the same time in a thought experiment in 1935. The obvious contradiction—after all, in everyday life we only ever see cats that are either alive or dead—has prompted scientists to try to realize analogous situations in the laboratory. So far, they have managed to do so using, for instance, atoms or molecules in quantum mechanical superposition states of being in two places at the same time.

At ETH, a team of researchers led by Yiwen Chu, professor at the Laboratory for Solid State Physics, has now created a substantially heavier Schrödinger cat by putting a small crystal into a of two oscillation states. Their results, which have been published this week in the journal Science, could lead to more robust quantum bits and shed light on the mystery of why quantum superpositions are not observed in the macroscopic world.

In Schrödinger’s original , a cat is locked up inside a metal box together with a radioactive substance, a Geiger counter and a flask of poison. In a certain time-frame—an hour, say—an atom in the substance may or may not decay through a quantum mechanical process with a certain probability, and the decay products might cause the Geiger counter to go off and trigger a mechanism that smashes the flask containing the poison, which would eventually kill the cat.

Apr 21, 2023

Chandra X-ray Observatory identifies new stellar danger to planets

Posted by in categories: cosmology, existential risks

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes have identified a new threat to life on planets like Earth: a phase during which intense X-rays from exploded stars can affect planets over 100 light-years away. This result, as outlined in our latest press release, has implication for the study of exoplanets and their habitability.

This newly found threat comes from a supernova’s blast wave striking dense gas surrounding the exploded star, as depicted in the upper right of our artist’s impression. When this impact occurs it can produce a large dose of X-rays that reaches an Earth-like planet (shown in the lower left, illuminated by its host star out of view to the right) months to years after the explosion and may last for decades. Such intense exposure may trigger an extinction event on the planet.

A new study reporting this threat is based on X-ray observations of 31 and their aftermath—mostly from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Swift and NuSTAR missions, and ESA’s XMM-Newton—show that planets can be subjected to lethal doses of located as much as about 160 light-years away. Four of the supernovae in the study (SN 1979C, SN 1987A, SN 2010jl, and SN 1994I) are shown in composite images containing Chandra data in the supplemental image.

Apr 21, 2023

Ways AI can help you be more productive at home

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

People are outsourcing home-based tasks like meal prep and bedtime stories to artificial intelligence, too.

Apr 21, 2023

A New AI for Generating Realistic 3D Humans From Text Prompts

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Synthesis AI, a startup that specializes in synthetic data technologies, announced that they have developed a new technology for digital human creation, which enables one to create highly realistic 3D digital humans from text prompts using generative AI and VFX pipelines.

The technology showcased by Synthesis AI allows users to input specific text descriptions such as age, gender, ethnicity, hairstyle, and clothing to generate a 3D model that matches the specifications. Users can also edit the 3D model by changing text prompts or using sliders to adjust features like facial expressions and lighting.

Apr 21, 2023

Coalescing minds brain uploading and group mind scenario

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again!

Apr 20, 2023

Scientists discover way to potentially slow down ageing in humans

Posted by in categories: biological, life extension

At last, a new study has found the answers to “basic biology questions” that could help explain what drives ageing and what can we do to reverse it.

Apr 20, 2023

Comb jellies’ unique fused neurons challenge evolution ideas

Posted by in categories: evolution, neuroscience

Fused neurons suggest ctenophores’ nervous system evolved independently of that in other animals.

Apr 20, 2023

The singularity a philosophical analysis by David Chalmers

Posted by in category: singularity

Shared with Dropbox.

Apr 20, 2023

Is deep learning a necessary ingredient for artificial intelligence?

Posted by in categories: information science, robotics/AI, transportation

The earliest artificial neural network, the Perceptron, was introduced approximately 65 years ago and consisted of just one layer. However, to address solutions for more complex classification tasks, more advanced neural network architectures consisting of numerous feedforward (consecutive) layers were later introduced. This is the essential component of the current implementation of deep learning algorithms. It improves the performance of analytical and physical tasks without human intervention, and lies behind everyday automation products such as the emerging technologies for self-driving cars and autonomous chat bots.

The key question driving new research published today in Scientific Reports is whether efficient learning of non-trivial classification tasks can be achieved using brain-inspired shallow feedforward networks, while potentially requiring less .

Continue reading “Is deep learning a necessary ingredient for artificial intelligence?” »