https://phys.org/physics-news/physics en-us The latest news on physics, materials, nanotech, science and technology. Disc golf is booming, with record numbers of players turning up each year to partake in the disc-throwing sport. It is also whizzing and whistling. In fact, the sound a disc makes while soaring through the air toward its target is full of information about how fast the disc is flying and how quickly it spins. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-physics-din-flying-discs.html General Physics Sun, 03 Dec 2023 23:40:01 EST news620650035 Twenty-five feet below ground, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory scientist Spencer Gessner opens a large metal picnic basket. This is not your typical picnic basket filled with cheese, bread and fruit—it contains screws, bolts, steel tubing, and many other parts and pieces that carry particles to nearly the speed of light. The components are arranged precisely to do an important job: help feed bunches of fast-moving electrons into the stuff that the sun is made of: plasma. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-particle-cold-plasma-large-picnic.html General Physics Plasma Physics Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:28:02 EST news620666873 If you mix cornstarch and water in the right proportions, you get something that seems not-quite-liquid but also not-quite-solid. Oobleck flows and settles like a liquid when untouched but stiffens when you try to pick it up or stir it with a spoon. The properties of oobleck and other non-Newtonian fluids—including Silly Putty, quicksand, paint, and yogurt—change under stress or pressure, and scientists have long struggled to prove exactly why. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-oobleck-like-fluids-contributes-smart-material.html General Physics Soft Matter Fri, 01 Dec 2023 12:06:37 EST news620654793 Friction is hard to predict and control, especially since surfaces that come in contact are rarely perfectly flat. New experiments demonstrate that the amount of friction between two silicon surfaces, even at large scales, is determined by the forming and rupturing of microscopic chemical bonds between them. This makes it possible to control the amount of friction using surface chemistry techniques. This research has been published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-friction-small-large-scales.html General Physics Condensed Matter Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:14:32 EST news620640870 The world's biggest experimental nuclear fusion reactor in operation was inaugurated in Japan on Friday, a technology in its infancy but billed by some as the answer to humanity's future energy needs. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-japanese-experimental-nuclear-fusion-reactor.html General Physics Plasma Physics Fri, 01 Dec 2023 02:41:20 EST news620620871 Liquid-crystal (LC) phase modulators are widely used in optical systems because of their advantages of low power consumption, lightweight, flexible bandwidth adjustment, and non-mechanical movements. However, most LC phase modulators are polarization-sensitive, meaning that they affect the light phase differently depending on its polarization. This can limit their performance and functionality in some applications. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-approach-polarization-independent-lc-phase-modulation.html General Physics Optics & Photonics Thu, 30 Nov 2023 17:05:02 EST news620586301 Long before the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment takes its first measurements in an effort to expand our understanding of the universe, a prototype for one of the experiment's detectors is blazing new trails in neutrino detection technology. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-prototype-dune-detector-technology-neutrinos.html General Physics Thu, 30 Nov 2023 15:04:12 EST news620579047 Long before researchers discovered the electron and its role in generating electrical current, they knew about electricity and were exploring its potential. One thing they learned early on was that metals were great conductors of both electricity and heat. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-law-quirky-quantum-materials.html General Physics Quantum Physics Thu, 30 Nov 2023 14:00:02 EST news620568352 An international team of researchers including Prof. Badri Krishnan at Radboud University has verified an important property of black holes known as the no-hair theorem using gravitational wave observations. Their research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-gravitational-binary-black-hole-merger.html General Physics Thu, 30 Nov 2023 10:27:35 EST news620562452 A trio of experimental physicists and applied mathematicians at New York University has found evidence that Egypt's Great Sphinx of Giza may have originated as a natural formation. For their study, published in the journal Physical Review Fluids, Samuel Boury, Scott Weady and Leif Ristroph, looked into natural erosion processes and tested the idea that the Sphinx got its start naturally via strong winds. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-nature-great-sphinx-giza.html General Physics Soft Matter Thu, 30 Nov 2023 10:00:01 EST news620560710 From precise inkjet printing to clear vision through spectacle lenses—the influence of droplets and their movement shapes numerous areas of our daily lives. While droplets should remain precisely in place on inkjet prints, it is desirable that they move quickly across the surface of spectacle lenses. Research into wetting processes, therefore, plays a crucial role in further improving technological applications. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-electricity-effects-droplets.html General Physics Soft Matter Wed, 29 Nov 2023 11:40:02 EST news620480401 Scientists have developed a new way to study the shapes of atomic nuclei and their internal building blocks. The method relies on modeling the production of certain particles from high-energy collisions of electrons with nuclear targets. Such collisions will take place at the future Electron Ion Collider (EIC). The findings are published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-theoretical-future-electron-ion-collider.html General Physics Quantum Physics Wed, 29 Nov 2023 10:27:29 EST news620476047 In the search for new particles and forces in nature, physicists are on the hunt for behaviors within atoms and molecules that are forbidden by the tried-and-true Standard Model of particle physics. Any deviations from this model could indicate what physicists affectionately refer to as "new physics." https://phys.org/news/2023-11-scientists-method-deviations-standard-physics.html General Physics Quantum Physics Wed, 29 Nov 2023 10:26:53 EST news620476011 Scientists from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), along with their collaborators, have recently discovered a molecular-type structure in the ground state of atomic nuclei. The study was published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-physicists-molecule-like-nuclear-ground-state.html General Physics Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:23:02 EST news620389381 Experiments at CERN and the Accelerator Laboratory in Jyväskylä, Finland, have revealed that the radius of an exotic nucleus of aluminum, 26mAl, is much larger than previously thought. The result, described in a paper just published in Physical Review Letters, sheds light on the effects of the weak force on quarks—the elementary particles that make up protons, neutrons and other composite particles. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-exotic-atomic-nucleus-world-quarks.html General Physics Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:10:05 EST news620388601 High-energy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider are capable of producing a quark-gluon plasma. But are heavy atomic nuclei really necessary for its formation? And above all: how are secondary particles later born from this plasma? Further clues in the search for answers to these questions are provided by the latest analysis of collisions between protons and protons or ions, observed in the LHCb experiment. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-lhcb-nuances-particle-birth.html General Physics Quantum Physics Tue, 28 Nov 2023 09:37:20 EST news620386637 Physicists from the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) have been conducting research on the matter constituting the atomic nucleus utilizing the world's three most powerful particle accelerators. Their focus has been on mapping the "primordial soup" that filled the universe in the first millionth of a second following its inception. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-world-powerful-particle-reveal-space-time.html General Physics Mon, 27 Nov 2023 15:32:29 EST news620321543 New research from North Carolina State University and Michigan State University opens a new avenue for modeling low-energy nuclear reactions, which are key to the formation of elements within stars. The research lays the groundwork for calculating how nucleons interact when the particles are electrically charged. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-particles-physicists-simulate-element-creation.html General Physics Mon, 27 Nov 2023 14:29:03 EST news620317741 A study has been published in Nuclear Science and Techniques, by researchers led by Prof. Hua Zheng from Shaanxi Normal University, heralding a significant breakthrough in high-energy particle physics. This study sheds new light on the behavior of particles in high-energy collisions, an area of research integral to deepening our understanding of the universe's origins. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-unveils-insights-asymmetric-particle-collisions.html General Physics Mon, 27 Nov 2023 11:12:02 EST news620305921 A combined team of materials scientists and engineers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Yale University, has shown via lab experiment, how water-filled channels crisscrossing multi-crystal ice can lead to fractures in materials such as cement and asphalt. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the group describes the experiments they conducted with transparent objects, water and silicone, to show how liquid channels in ice can lead to fractures in porous materials. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-water-filled-channels-crisscrossing-multi-crystal-ice.html General Physics Soft Matter Mon, 27 Nov 2023 10:10:01 EST news620301543 In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, scientists explore how small water jets can create stable periodic oscillations on a solid disk, uncovering a connection between these movements and the waves they generate and providing insights into the dynamic interplay of fluid behavior. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-stillness-scientists-oscillations-circular-hydraulic.html General Physics Soft Matter Fri, 24 Nov 2023 09:00:02 EST news619696513 Human chromosomes are long polymer chains that store genetic information. The nucleus of each cell contains the entire human genome (DNA) encoded on 46 chromosomes with a total length of about 2 meters. To fit into the microscopic cell nucleus and at the same time provide constant access to genetic information, chromosomes are folded in the nucleus in a special, predetermined way. DNA folding is an urgent task at the intersection of polymer physics and systems biology. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-physicists-chromosome-reveal-loops-affect.html General Physics Soft Matter Wed, 22 Nov 2023 11:18:19 EST news619874297 Teams at the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory recently celebrated the completion of a major upgrade to the world's first hard X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL), the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the US Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-instruments-advantage-slac-x-ray-laser.html General Physics Optics & Photonics Tue, 21 Nov 2023 14:31:22 EST news619799479 Biological materials are made of individual components, including tiny motors that convert fuel into motion. This creates patterns of movement, and the material shapes itself with coherent flows by constant consumption of energy. Such continuously driven materials are called active matter. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-code-mechanics-tissues-cells-dimensions.html General Physics Soft Matter Mon, 20 Nov 2023 10:48:12 EST news619699688 In a new study of reactor physics published in the journal Nuclear Science and Techniques, researchers from Sichuan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, have introduced two innovative neural networks to address the longstanding challenges associated with K-eigenvalue problems in neutron diffusion theory. These problems, which are fundamental in the nuclear engineering realm, are pivotal for the simulation and analysis of nuclear reactors. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-reactor-physics-advanced-neural-networks.html General Physics Thu, 16 Nov 2023 14:06:03 EST news619365961 Lead-208 has an intriguing nucleus. It is neutron rich, containing 82 protons and 126 neutrons. One of its more interesting properties is its structure: its center is composed of both protons and neutrons, but at its edge, there is a diffuse shell of mostly neutrons. Scientists call this the neutron "skin." https://phys.org/news/2023-11-heavy-ion-collisions-lhc-scientists-thickness.html General Physics Wed, 15 Nov 2023 11:58:04 EST news619271881 The idea that protons and neutrons were composed of even smaller particles, with non-integral electric charges, was proposed in 1963/64 by Andre Petermann, George Zweig and Murray Gell-Mann, who dubbed them "quarks." It was not until the mid-1970s, however, that the quark model became widely accepted. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-quark-personal-perspective.html General Physics Quantum Physics Wed, 15 Nov 2023 11:02:35 EST news619268553 A little like humans, the nuclei of atoms tend to shrink as they lose weight. But atomic nuclei are complex quantum systems formed from neutrons and protons that are themselves composite particles made of quarks. As such, their usually spherical or nearly spherical shapes do not always simply shrink as particles are removed from their interior. In fact, exotic, neutron-deficient mercury and bismuth nuclei have been seen to alternate dramatically from football (soccer) shapes to rugby ball shapes as single neutrons are removed from the nucleus. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-cern-shifting-gold-nuclei.html General Physics Wed, 15 Nov 2023 10:52:36 EST news619267954 Black holes are regions in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape them, not even light. These fascinating regions have been the focus of countless studies, yet some of the physics underlying their formation is not yet fully understood. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-puzzles-gravitational-collapse.html General Physics Wed, 15 Nov 2023 09:28:16 EST news619262889 The risk of hearing loss does not come just from loud machinery or other obvious noise. It can also affect people in public environments like theaters and concert halls. Absorbing this excess sound to make public environments safer for hearing and using the unwanted sound waves to create electricity is the aim of a paper, entitled "Piezoelectric system on harnessing sound energy in closed environment," published in Physics of Fluids. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-safer-spaces.html General Physics Soft Matter Tue, 14 Nov 2023 11:00:01 EST news619178346