face_with_colon_three Year 2016
Researchers discovered an entirely unexpected atomic arrangement of Gold-144, a molecule-sized nanogold cluster whose structure had been theoretically predicted but never confirmed.
A quantum sensing experiment now has the potential to identify single gravitons — the particles that make up gravity — which was considered impossible until now. A team led by Stevens professor Igor Pikovski has recently proposed a method to detect individual gravitons, believed to be the quantum building blocks of gravity. They suggest that with advancements in quantum technology, this experiment could become a reality in the near future.
What secrets can Pluto’s moon, Charon, reveal about the formation and evolution of planetary bodies throughout the solar system? This is what a recent study published in Nature Communications hopes to address as an international team of researchers led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to conduct the first-time detection of hydrogen peroxide and carbon dioxide on Charon’s surface, which adds further intrigue to this mysterious moon, along with complementing previous discoveries of water ice, ammonia-bearing species, and organic materials, the last of which scientists hypothesize could explain Charon’s gray and red surface colors.
“The advanced observational capabilities of Webb enabled our team to explore the light scattered from Charon’s surface at longer wavelengths than what was previously possible, expanding our understanding of the complexity of this fascinating object,” said Dr. Ian Wong, who is a staff scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute and a co-author on the study.
Detecting hydrogen peroxide is significant since it forms from the broken-up oxygen and hydrogen atoms after water ice is exposed to cosmic rays, solar wind, or solar ultraviolet light. This indicates that the Sun’s activity influences surface processes so far away, with Charon being approximately 3.7 billion miles from the Sun. The researchers determined that Charon’s carbon dioxide serves as a light coating on Charon’s water-ice heavy surface. While the surface of Charon was studied in-depth from NASA’s New Horizons mission in 2015, these new findings provide greater understanding of the physics-based processes responsible for Charon’s unique surface features.
The group’s detector design exploits Cherenkov radiation, a phenomenon in which radiation is emitted when charged particles moving faster than light pass through a particular medium, akin to sonic booms when crossing the sound barrier. This is also responsible for nuclear reactors’ eerie blue glow and has been used to detect neutrinos in astrophysics laboratories.
The researchers proposed to assemble their device in northeast England and detect antineutrinos from reactors from all over the U.K. as well as in northern France.
One issue, however, is that antineutrinos from the upper atmosphere and space can muddle the signal, especially as very distant reactors yield exceedingly small signals—sometimes on the order of a single antineutrino per day.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have joined collaborators from around the world to build a prototype neutrino detector that has now captured its first neutrino interactions at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab).
On September 29, 1901 Enrico Fermi ForMemRS was born.
On May 11, 1974, National Accelerator Laboratory was given a new name: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The eponym honors famed Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, whose accomplishments in both theoretical and experimental physics place him among the greatest scientists of the 20th century.
Many visitors to Fermilab reasonably conclude from its name that Enrico Fermi worked at the laboratory, but he never did. In fact, he died in 1954, years before scientists even officially recommended the construction of a U.S. accelerator laboratory in 1963.
Physicists have detected a long-sought particle process that may suggest new forces and particles exist in the universe.
Once in a very great while, an ephemeral particle called a kaon arises and then quickly decays away into three other obscure entities. Whether or not this happens in a particular way has very little bearing on most of us, who will go about our lives without knowing either way. But to physicists who have been searching for this arcane process for decades, it matters a lot; finding out how often it happens could reveal hidden aspects of our universe.
Like atoms coming together to release their power, fusion researchers worldwide are joining forces to solve the world’s energy crisis. Harnessing the power of fusing plasma as a reliable energy source for the power grid is no easy task, requiring global contributions.
In 2020, the team reported evidence of this rare form of decay being detected by the experiment. Now, after far more collisions, including higher-energy collisions, the team reports a 5-sigma detection, meaning there is a 0.00006 percent chance that the detection is a statistical fluke.
“With this measurement, K+ → π+νṽ becomes the rarest decay established at discovery level – the famous 5 sigma,” Cristina Lazzeroni, Professor in Particle Physics at the University of Birmingham, said in a statement. “This difficult analysis is the result of excellent teamwork, and I am extremely proud of this new result.”
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