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Category: energy

From theory to safety: New model predicts how combustion scenarios unfold

Researchers from Skoltech have published a paper in the journal Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena presenting an analysis of steady propagating combustion waves—from slow flames to supersonic detonation waves. The study relies on the authors’ mathematical model, which captures the key physical properties of complex combustion processes and yields accurate analytical and numerical solutions. The findings are important for understanding the physical mechanisms behind the transition from deflagration to detonation, as well as for developing safer engines, fuel combustion systems, and protection against unwanted explosions in industrial settings.

The scientists identified several main types of combustion waves. The most powerful is strong detonation —a supersonic shock wave that sharply compresses and heats the mixture, triggering a chemical reaction. This type of wave is highly stable. In weak detonations and weak deflagration waves, there is no abrupt shock front.

The chemical reaction only begins if the mixture has been preheated to a temperature where it can ignite. These regimes occur rarely, under specific conditions, and can easily break down or transition into another wave type.

Ion bombardment triggers a reliable quantum switch in tantalum disulfide crystals

When you toss a coin, you put it into a higher-energy state until it falls back down again. It can then end up in one of two possible states: heads or tails. No matter which state the coin was in before, after the toss both outcomes are equally likely. A team at TU Wien has analyzed a quantum system that also has two equivalent ground states. By supplying energy through ion bombardment, this state can be changed.

Remarkably, however, the system behaves very differently from a coin toss: it switches every single time. After ion impact, it reliably ends up in the opposite state. For the experiment, the ion-beam equipment of TU Wien was transported to DESY in Hamburg. The crystals studied were provided by Kiel University (CAU), which also participated in the experiments at DESY. The research is published in the journal Nano Letters.

Surprise solar eruptions on sun’s far side validate new forecasting method

Co-author Dr. Willie Soon, from the Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences (CERES), added, “Nature gave us the perfect test. These far-side discoveries essentially validated our method in real time, proving that the underlying patterns we identified are reliable and work everywhere on the sun’s surface.”

Solar superflares are the most powerful eruptions the sun can produce. A direct hit from one of these storms could cause widespread power outages, damage satellites, disrupt GPS navigation, interfere with radio communications, and create radiation hazards for astronauts and airline passengers at high altitudes.

A giant star is changing before our eyes and astronomers are watching in real time

For decades, astronomers have been watching WOH G64, an enormous heavyweight star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy visible with the naked eye from the Southern Hemisphere. This star is more than 1,500 times larger than the sun and emitting over 100,000 times more energy. For a long time, red supergiant WOH G64 looked like a star steadily reaching the end of its life, shedding material and swelling in size as it began to run out of fuel.

Astronomers didn’t think its final demise would happen anytime soon, because no one has ever seen a known red supergiant die. But in recent years, astronomers—including our team working with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT)—discovered that this star has started to change, growing dimmer than before and seemingly warmer. This has surprised scientists and suggests the star’s final stages of life may be more complicated, and perhaps unfold faster, than once thought.

Massive stars, more than about eight times the mass of the sun, produce so much energy, which we see as light, that they run out of fuel within millions of years, instead of the billions of years of the sun’s lifespan.

Groundbreaking 2D Nanomaterial Rolls Into a New Dimension

MXene nanoscrolls transform flat 2D materials into conductive 1D structures, unlocking advances in energy storage, sensing, wearables, and superconductivity. Nearly 15 years after identifying a versatile two-dimensional conductive nanomaterial known as MXene, researchers at Drexel University have

Impact-formed glass provides evidence of cosmic collision in Brazil about 6 million years ago

For the first time in Brazil, researchers have identified a field of tektites. These are natural glasses formed by the high-energy impact of extraterrestrial bodies against Earth’s surface. These structures, named geraisites in honor of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, where they were first discovered, constitute a new strewn field. This expands the incomplete record of impacts in South America.

The discovery was described in an article published in the journal Geology by a team led by Álvaro Penteado Crósta, a geologist and senior professor at the Institute of Geosciences at the State University of Campinas (IG-UNICAMP). Crósta collaborated with researchers from Brazil, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.

Until now, only five large tektite fields had been recognized on the planet: in Australasia, Central Europe, the Ivory Coast, North America, and Belize. The Brazilian field now joins this select group.

Quantum simulator reveals statistical localization that keeps most qubit states frozen

In the everyday world, governed by classical physics, the concept of equilibrium reigns. If you put a drop of ink into water, it will eventually evenly mix. If you put a glass of ice water on the kitchen table, it will eventually melt and become room temperature. That concept rooted in energy transport is known as thermalization, and it is easy to comprehend because we see it happen every day. But this is not always how things behave at the smallest scales of the universe.

In the quantum realm—at the atomic and sub-atomic scales—there can be a phenomenon called localization, in which equilibrium spreading does not occur, even with nothing obviously preventing it. Researchers at Duke University have observed this intriguing behavior using a quantum simulator for the first time. Also known as statistical localization, the research could help probe questions about unusual material properties or quantum memory.

The results appear in Nature Physics.

Cheaper green hydrogen? New catalyst design cuts energy losses in AEM electrolyzers

Producing clean hydrogen from water is often compared to storing renewable energy in chemical form, but improving the efficiency of that process remains a scientific challenge. Researchers at Tohoku University have now developed a catalyst design that helps hydrogen form more smoothly under alkaline conditions, a key step toward practical green hydrogen production.

The work is published in the journal ACS Catalysis.

Quantum States Stay Frozen in First Experimental Test of Statistical Localization

PRESS RELEASE — In the everyday world, governed by classical physics, the concept of equilibrium reigns. If you put a drop of ink into water, it will eventually evenly mix. If you put a glass of ice water on the kitchen table, it will eventually melt and become room temperature.

That concept rooted in energy transport is known as thermalization, and it is easy to comprehend because we see it happen every day. But this is not always how things behave at the smallest scales of the universe.

In the quantum realm—at the atomic and sub-atomic scales—there can be a phenomenon called localization, in which equilibrium spreading does not occur, even with nothing obviously preventing it. Researchers at Duke University have observed this intriguing behavior using a quantum simulator for the first time. Also known as statistical localization, the research could help probe questions about unusual material properties or quantum memory.

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