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Physicists crack the math connecting ultraslow quantum magnetism to ultrafast black-hole physics

A team led by University at Buffalo physicists has found a mathematical solution that shows how a frustrated quantum magnet can transition from ultraslow behavior to ultrafast, highly entangled behavior resembling that of a black hole.

Their solution connects spin glasses—states of matter in which atomic magnets point in disordered directions and become effectively frozen in place—to the fast, entangled states of matter described by the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model that’s been used to study black hole physics, quantum chaos and other exotic phenomena.

“We’ve essentially found the math that describes how matter can go from among the slowest states in quantum dynamics to among the fastest,” says Jamir Marino, Ph.D., assistant professor of physics in the UB College of Arts and Sciences and senior author of the team’s study, which was published Sept. 17 in Physical Review Letters.

From swarming bacteria to tissue cells, living matter defies classic physical models of motion

A new study led by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) reveals that living matter violates previously known physical principles of symmetry when cellular flows form and break down collective patterns. The research, published in Nature Physics, challenges conventional liquid-crystal physics by showing that moving single-celled bacteria and human respiratory cells spontaneously break mirror symmetry, moving in curved, irreversible spiral paths.

The collaborative study was led by Professors Avraham Be’er and Victor Yashunsky from BGU’s Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (Sede Boqer Campus) and Department of Physics, alongside Professor Gil Ariel from Bar-Ilan University and Professor D. J. G. Pearce from the University of Geneva.

Astronomers Just Caught a Giant Planet in the Act of Forming

Astronomers have confirmed the youngest known planet, a Jupiter-size baby world less than a million years old that formed far faster than expected.

Astronomers have confirmed the youngest known planet ever observed, a world less than 1 million years old that is still surrounded by the material from which it formed. Known as Elias 2–24 b, the young planet remains embedded in a swirling disk of gas and dust around its host star.

Its extreme youth is forcing researchers to reconsider how quickly large planets can take shape.

Two Dead Stars Are Racing Around Each Other Every 6.2 Minutes

A pair of white dwarfs race around each other every 374 seconds, creating a rhythmic X-ray beacon that could reveal powerful gravitational waves.

Every 6.2 minutes, two dead stars complete an entire orbit around each other.

The system, eRASSU J060839.5–704014, or eRASSU J0608, is so compact that material from one white dwarf appears to strike the other directly, producing a strong X-ray pulse on every orbit. Astronomers have now found that the orbit is also shrinking unusually fast, making the system a promising target for future gravitational wave observatories.

Stress Hormone Cortisol Rewires the Brain to Strengthen Emotional Memories

Cortisol strengthens emotional memories by reshaping how brain networks for emotion and memory work together.

Stress does not strengthen every memory equally. New research suggests that cortisol, a hormone released during stressful situations, changes brain activity in ways that strengthen memories of experiences a person finds emotionally intense.

Yale researchers found that cortisol affected two distinct brain networks, one associated with emotional intensity and another with memory formation. It also increased coordination between them, offering a more detailed explanation for how stress can strengthen emotional memories.

Human Brain is Two Organs Fused Together, Study Suggests

The scientists also successfully coaxed human pluripotent stem cells to become functional hindbrain motor neurons in the lab.

These lab-grown neurons displayed all the hallmarks of authentic hindbrain cells: they exhibited waves of electrical activity called action potentials and made proteins that identify the segments of the hindbrain that control facial and swallowing muscles.

“Previous attempts to make hindbrain neurons likely tried to coax forebrain and midbrain progenitors into hindbrain cells, which our study shows is not possible,” said Stanford University graduate student Rayyan Jokhai.

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