Lifeboat Foundation

How would atoms behave near a supermassive object? We know how atoms behave in extremely weak gravity like that at the Earth’s surface: They can be excited from a lower energy level to a higher one when an electron absorbs a photon or a nucleus absorbs a gamma ray, and so on. But what if the atom is in a strong gravitational field such as one near a supermassive, rotating black hole or rotating neutron star?

In the development of particle physics, researchers have introduced an innovative particle encoding mechanism that promises to improve how information in particle physics is digitally registered and analyzed. This new method, focusing on the quantum properties of constituent quarks, offers unprecedented scalability and precision. It paves the way for significant advancements in high-energy experiments and simulations.

And, if its in trees, guess where else it is, Crisis Yet? or nah.

It is well known that more and more plastic waste is ending up in soil and bodies of water. Researchers are particularly concerned about tiny micro-and nano-sized particles. It remains unclear how and to what extent they are able to enter living organisms—and what effect they may have on metabolism.

The authors provide the first anellovirus-like particle structure determined by CryoEM. The authors propose hypervariable regions on the spike domains extending from the particle surface contribute to the immune evasion properties of anelloviruses.

An international group of researchers has developed a novel approach that enhances the efficiency of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a key process in renewable energy technologies. By introducing rare earth single atoms into manganese oxide (MnO2), the group successfully modulated oxygen electronic states, leading to unprecedented improvements in OER performance.

We use the new simulation capabilities of the extended-magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code, M3D-C1, to investigate the nonlinear MHD properties of a reactor-scale quasisymmetric stellarator equilibrium. Our model captures the self-consistent evolution of the magnetic field, temperature, density, and flow profiles without imposing restrictions on the structure of the first. We include the effects of resistivity using a realistic temperature-dependent Spitzer model, along with a model for heat transport that captures the key physical characteristic, namely, strongly anisotropic diffusion in directions perpendicular and parallel to the magnetic field. We consider a quasi-axisymmetric, finite-pressure equilibrium that was optimized for self-consistent bootstrap current, quasi-symmetry, and energetic particle confinement. Our assessment finds that the equilibrium is highly unstable to interchange-like pressure-driven instabilities near the plasma edge. The initially unstable modes rapidly destabilize other modes in the direction of the N-fold rotational symmetry (toroidal, in this case). For this equilibrium, N = 2, meaning destabilization of a large number of even-numbered toroidal Fourier modes. Thus, field-periodicity is likely to be an important factor in the nonlinear MHD stability characteristics of optimized stellarators.

Researchers have linked supermassive black hole mergers with dark matter interactions, potentially solving a longstanding astronomical problem and offering new insights into dark matter’s nature and its role in the cosmos.

Researchers have found a link between some of the largest and smallest objects in the cosmos: supermassive black holes and dark matter particles.

Continue reading “Dark Matter Was the Key: Astrophysicists Solve Longstanding ‘Final Parsec Problem’” »

The tin-vacancy center in diamond has properties that could be useful for quantum networks.

In a new study, researchers show how this defect’s electron spin can be controlled — and coherence prolonged — using a superconducting microwave waveguide.

Even the most pristine diamonds can host defects arising from missing atoms (vacancies) or naturally occurring impurities. These defects possess atomlike properties such as charge and spin, which can be accessed optically or magnetically. Over the past few decades, researchers have studied various defects to understand and harness these properties. One in particular—the tin-vacancy center, in which a tin atom resides on an interstitial site with two neighboring vacancies—exhibits exceptionally useful optical and spin properties, making it highly relevant in the field of quantum communication. Here, we explore how the spin properties behave under different magnetic field directions.

Continue reading “Microwave Control of the Tin-Vacancy Spin Qubit in Diamond with a Superconducting Waveguide” »

A team led by Stevens professor Igor Pikovski has just outlined how to detect single gravitons, thought to be the quantum building blocks of gravity—and making that experiment real should be possible with quantum technology, they suggest, in the near future.