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Category: particle physics – Page 209

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Brian Greene Confront the Edge of our Understanding

How do particles get mass? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice discover squarks, sneutrinos, the Higgs boson, and whether dark matter has a particle with theoretical physicist Brian Greene.

Go to https://ground.news/startalk to stay fully informed on Space and Science news. Save 40% off through my link for unlimited access to the Vantage plan this month.

Can we finally get to the bottom of what happens when a quark falls into a black hole? Learn about the ultraviolet catastrophe, the start of quantum physics, and Max Planck quantizing packets of energy. We also discuss how Einstein won the Nobel prize for the discovery for which he is least famous.

We take a deep dive into the Higgs boson. Who’s Higgs? What’s a boson? Find out about how the Higgs field creates mass, the different quantum particles, and how quarks create protons and neutrons. Brian breaks down the theory of supersymmetry: does every particle have a counterpart? Learn about squarks, sneutrinos, and whether supersymmetry can give an answer to what dark matter is.

Is the fabric of spacetime woven by tiny wormholes? Discover the Casimir force, quantum fluctuations, and why you need so many dimensions in a string theory universe. We discuss whether the cosmological constant is, in fact, constant. Plus, find out about the biggest mismatch between theory and experiment in physics.

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A new frontier in understanding electron dynamics: Imaging with attosecond short X-ray flashes

Attosecond science, honored with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics, is transforming our understanding of how electrons move in atoms, molecules, and solids. An attosecond—equivalent to a billionth of a billionth of a second—enables “slow-motion” visualization of natural processes occurring at extraordinary speeds.

However, until now, most attosecond experiments have been limited to spectroscopic measurements due to the constraints of attosecond light pulse sources.

Using the powerful X-ray Free Electron Laser (FEL) at SLAC National Laboratory in California, the Hamburg team studied how interact with nanoparticles. They uncovered a previously unexplored phenomenon: transient ion resonances that enhance image brightness.

Unlocking the Dark Universe With a Mysterious Fifth Force

Researchers hypothesize a fifth force of nature that could explain the intricate relationship between dark matter and dark energy, suggesting a revolutionary expansion of the Standard Model of physics.

Could a new, fifth force of nature help answer some of the biggest mysteries about dark matter and dark energy? Scientists are actively exploring the possibility.

The Standard Model of physics is widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements in modern science. It describes the universe’s four known forces — gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces — as well as a diverse array of fundamental particles and their interactions. By many measures, it stands as one of the most successful scientific theories in history.

Einstein’s Theory Faces Its Heaviest Challenge Yet — and It Still Holds Up

Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider tested whether top quarks, the most massive known elementary particles, comply with Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Despite theories suggesting potential deviations at high energies, the experiments confirmed that Lorentz symmetry remains intact, offering no evidence of variation in particle behavior due to the experiment’s orientation or the time of day.

Lorentz Symmetry and Relativity.

A single-shot trick can boost the signal strength of tin-based qubits

However, until now, “measuring this qubit’s spin was like trying to pick up a very, very weak light signal, like trying to squint at some dim light to determine whether the qubit was spin-up or spin-down,” Eric Rosenthal, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, said.

This is where a new study from Rosenthal and his team can make a big difference. They have figured out a way to measure the spin of tin-based qubits with 87 percent accuracy, enhancing the strength of signals from these qubits to a great extent.

A tin vacancy qubit is formed when two carbon atoms in a diamond are replaced by a single tin atom. This tin center has exceptional optical properties as it emits photons in the telecom wavelength range, which is highly suitable for quantum communication applications.

Clocking nature’s heaviest elementary particle: CMS tests whether top quarks play by Einstein’s rules

In the first study of its kind at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the CMS collaboration has tested whether top quarks adhere to Einstein’s special theory of relativity. The research is published in the journal Physics Letters B.

Along with , Einstein’s special theory of relativity serves as the basis of the Standard Model of particle physics. At its heart is a concept called Lorentz symmetry: experimental results are independent of the orientation or the speed of the experiment with which they are taken.

Special relativity has stood the test of time. However, some theories, including particular models of string theory, predict that, at very high energies, special relativity will no longer work and experimental observations will depend on the orientation of the experiment in space-time.

Engineering the first semimetallic Weyl quantum crystal

An international team of researchers led by the Strong Correlation Quantum Transport Laboratory of the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) has demonstrated, in a world’s first, an ideal Weyl semimetal, marking a breakthrough in a decade-old problem of quantum materials.

Weyl fermions arise as collective quantum excitations of electrons in crystals. They are predicted to show exotic electromagnetic properties, attracting intense worldwide interest.

However, despite the careful study of thousands of crystals, most Weyl materials to date exhibit electrical conduction governed overwhelmingly by undesired, trivial electrons, obscuring the Weyl fermions. At last, researchers have synthesized a material hosting a single pair of Weyl fermions and no irrelevant electronic states.

New technique to detect dark matter uses atomic clocks and lasers

A team of international researchers has developed an innovative approach to uncover the secrets of dark matter. In a collaboration between the University of Queensland, Australia, and Germany’s metrology institute (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, PTB), the team used data from atomic clocks and cavity-stabilized lasers located far apart in space and time to search for forms of dark matter that would have been invisible in previous searches.

This technique will allow the researchers to detect signals from dark matter models that interact universally with all atoms, an achievement that has eluded traditional experiments.

The team analyzed data from a European network of ultra-stable lasers connected by fiber (previously reported in a 2022 article), and from the aboard GPS satellites. By comparing across vast distances, the analysis became sensitive to subtle effects of oscillating dark matter fields that would otherwise cancel out in conventional setups.

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