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Cold fronts in nearby galaxy group may redistribute metals, Chandra and GMRT data reveal

Astronomers from South Africa and India have analyzed archival data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) regarding a nearby small galaxy group known as IC 1262. Results of the new study, presented April 14 on the preprint server arXiv, provide more insights into metal enrichment of IC 1,262, which could help us better understand the nature of this group.

IC 1,262 is a rich galaxy group located at a redshift of 0.032, named after its brightest cluster galaxy (BCG). It exhibits complex substructures in its hot gas that include ripples, prominent sharp discontinuities (cold fronts) extending in both the east and west directions, a large-scale radio jet, recurrent active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, and X-ray cavities filled with radio emission.

Recently, a group of astronomers led by Satish Shripati Sonkamble of the North-West University in South Africa has explored the IC 1,262 group in detail, focusing on metal transport via radio jet, sloshing cold fronts, and shock front. In general, it is assumed that cold fronts, gas sloshing, and AGN activity are responsible for metal enrichment in the intracluster medium (ICM) and intragroup medium (IGrM).

Excuse me, is that solar panel pointing in the right direction?

On a bright morning, graduate student Jeremy Klotz and professor Shree Nayar walked through upper Manhattan with a tall tripod and a camera that takes 360-degree images. Their route took them to bike docking stations, which use solar energy to power their kiosks, docking mechanisms, wireless communication, and even E-bike recharging in recent installations. At each docking station, the researchers raised the camera above the panel, snapped a spherical picture, and sent it to Klotz’s laptop.

Seconds later, the team’s computer vision program told them something remarkable: how much energy that panel would generate in a year—and how much it could generate if it were pointed at the optimal angle.

As it turns out, the solar panels powering the bike docking stations—and likely many solar panels across New York City and other urban destinations—may be leaving significant energy untapped simply because they are not at their best orientation.

Laser-plasma ‘mirror’ unlocks a new path to extreme light intensities

An international team of physicists has achieved a significant advance in laser science, demonstrating for the first time a practical route to dramatically boosting the intensity of high-power laser light.

The results, published in Nature, could unlock the route towards creating the most intense light ever produced in a laboratory, opening the door to experiments that probe the fundamental laws of physics by directly interacting light with the quantum vacuum.

The work was led by Professor Peter Norreys and Dr. Robin Timmis at the University of Oxford, working in close collaboration with Professor Brendan Dromey and Dr. Mark Yeung at Queen’s University Belfast, and scientists from the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Central Laser Facility (CLF).

Quantum simulations that bypass resolution limits offer insights into high-temperature superconductivity

A new method developed at LMU overcomes fundamental resolution limits and may provide insights into high-temperature superconductivity. Physicist Dr. Sebastian Paeckel has developed a method that can be used to calculate spectral functions of complex quantum systems much more precisely than was possible previously. His approach reconstructs precise energy spectra without requiring lengthy calculations.

This reveals previously hidden details, as Paeckel reports in the journal Physical Review Letters. He conducts research at the Faculty of Physics at LMU and at the Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST).

Do decoherence, gravity, dark matter and dark energy all originate from quantum corrections?

Only about 5% of the universe is composed of normal matter that we can directly observe, while the remaining 95% is widely believed to consist of dark matter and dark energy. Paradoxically, however, the nature of these dark components remains unknown. Is this due to limitations in our observational capabilities, or does it reflect a more fundamental incompleteness in the classical laws of physics that have long underpinned our understanding of the universe?

In a recent study published in the International Journal of Modern Physics D, I proposed that dark matter and dark energy may not correspond to physically existing substances, but could instead emerge as effective phenomena arising from the quantum nature of gravity.

Elusive tularemia proteins reveal possible treatment target in rare tick-borne disease

Tularemia is a rare but highly infectious disease caused by Francisella tularensis, a bacterium that can evade immune defenses. Symptoms of infection can include fever, swollen lymph nodes, and—in some cases—pneumonia. What makes the pathogen especially concerning is how little it takes to cause infection—fewer than 10 bacterial cells can be enough. Scientists at Arizona State University have taken a key step toward understanding how this bacterium survives inside the human body. For the first time, the team has isolated and studied a set of proteins that play a central role in infection, revealing a potential weakness that could eventually be targeted with new treatments. The study is published in the journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)–Biomembranes.

The proteins sit within the bacterium’s inner membrane and appear to work together, forming small assemblies that help it persist inside host cells. Until now, researchers had been unable to produce and stabilize these proteins in the lab, leaving a critical part of the pathogen’s biology unexplored. By developing a method to extract and analyze them, the team has opened the door to more detailed structural studies and eventually, new ways to disrupt the infection process.

The work builds on earlier studies of individual proteins, but advances the research by capturing a group of proteins that function together as a system—one that is essential for infection but had remained inaccessible.

Soundwaves settle debate about elusive quantum particle

It was a head-spinning discovery. In 2018, researchers in Japan claimed to find concrete evidence of an elusive particle, a Majorana fermion, in a quantum spin liquid called ruthenium trichloride. Majoranas are highly sought-after by quantum materials scientists because when a pair are localized, or trapped, they can securely encode information and form a stable qubit—the building block of quantum computing.

Some researchers heralded the finding and used it to launch their own studies, while others believed the breakthrough—which was made by measuring what’s called the thermal Hall effect—was actually a mirage caused by defects in the material sample.

Cornell researchers have now waded into the debate and their findings, published in Nature, show both camps were wrong. By measuring the movement of sound waves rather than the flow of heat, the team discovered the thermal Hall effect was caused by rotating lattice vibrations called chiral phonons.

Light-powered propulsion expands space exploration possibilities

Reaching the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, would take hundreds of thousands of years using current rocket propulsion technology. Researchers in the J. Mike Walker ‘66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University have demonstrated a new approach to light-driven motion, showing that lasers can be used to lift and steer objects in multiple directions without physical contact. This breakthrough may one day enable travel to Alpha Centauri within roughly 20 years.

Dr. Shoufeng Lan, assistant professor and director of the Lab for Advanced Nanophotonics, and his team published the work, “Optical propulsion and levitation of metajets,” in Newton. The study introduces micron-scale devices, termed “metajets,” that generate controlled motion when illuminated by laser light.

These metajets are composed of metasurfaces —ultrathin materials engineered with tiny patterns that enable scientists to control how light behaves, much like shaping a lens, but on a much smaller and more precise scale. By carefully designing these structures, the research team controlled how light transfers momentum to an object, enabling it to move.

Why does life prefer one ‘hand’ over the other? New study points to electron spin

A team of scientists has identified a new physical mechanism that could help explain one of the most persistent mysteries in science: why life consistently uses one “handed” version of its molecules and not the other. In a new study led by Prof. Yossi Paltiel of the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at Hebrew University and Prof. Ron Naaman of the Weizmann Institute, researchers show that electron spin, a fundamental quantum property, can cause mirror-image molecules to behave differently during dynamic processes, even though they are otherwise identical. The work appears in Science Advances.

Many molecules essential to life come in two mirror-image forms, known as enantiomers. Chemically, these forms are nearly indistinguishable. Yet in living systems, only one version is typically used: amino acids are almost exclusively one type, while sugars follow the opposite pattern.

This phenomenon, known as homochirality, has puzzled scientists for more than a century. Existing explanations have struggled to account for why one specific version was selected globally.

ATLAS sets record limits on Higgs boson’s self-interaction

One of the biggest open questions in particle physics today is how the Higgs boson interacts with itself. This “self-coupling” could help explain the evolution of the early universe and the mechanism that gives mass to elementary particles. To try to shed light on this fundamental interaction, the ATLAS Collaboration has recently studied one of the “golden” decay channels of a pair of Higgs bosons, where one Higgs boson decays into two photons and the other into a pair of bottom quarks.

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