http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/matter_energy/quantum_physics/ News on quantum physics. Read current research on everything from quantum mechanics to quantum dots. Was Albert Einstein right? en-us Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:05:01 EDT Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/matter_energy/quantum_physics/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903134202.htm MIT researchers may have found a way to overcome a key barrier to the advent of super-fast quantum computers, which could be powerful tools for applications such as code breaking. Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903134202.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904220342.htm A new report provides the most comprehensive evidence available to confirm that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)'s switch-on, due on Wednesday next week, poses no threat to mankind. Nature's own cosmic rays regularly produce more powerful particle collisions than those planned within the LHC, which will enable nature's laws to be studied in controlled experiments. Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904220342.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903172201.htm Physicists of the DZero experiment at the US Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have discovered a new particle made of three quarks, the Omega-sub-b. The particle contains two strange quarks and a bottom quark. It is an exotic relative of the much more common proton and weighs about six times the proton mass. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903172201.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903112026.htm How did the universe come to be? What is it made of? What is mass? Can science prove that there are other dimensions? We may have answers soon. On September 10, 2008, the new CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is scheduled to turn on. The first high-energy collisions are expected to take place in October 2008. Scientists are calling it the largest experiment in the world. It’s taken about 6,000 researchers, $8 billion and ten years to build. Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903112026.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903093433.htm The hunt for the Higgs boson, the most highly sought-after particle in physics, received a boost this month with two new results from the Tevatron particle collider at Fermilab in Illinois. Scientists working on the DZero particle detector experiment have for the first time successfully observed pairs of Z bosons at the Tevatron. Pair production of these force carrying particles is extremely rare and difficult to detect, and researchers say that having observed them represents a big step towards observing the Higgs boson itself. Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903093433.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080827163814.htm Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators have uncovered the first experimental evidence for why the transition temperature of high-temperature superconductors cannot simply be elevated by increasing the electrons' binding energy. The research demonstrates how, as electron-pair binding energy increases, the electrons' tendency to get caught in a quantum mechanical "traffic jam" overwhelms the interactions needed for the material to act as a superconductor -- a freely flowing fluid of electron pairs. Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080827163814.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080826121607.htm CERN has announced the success of the second and final test of the Large Hadron Collider's beam synchronization systems. The test will allow the LHC operations team to inject the first beam into the LHC. Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080826121607.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080820162956.htm The fastest quantum computer bit that exploits the main advantage of the qubit over the conventional bit has been demonstrated. The scientists used lasers to create an initialized quantum state of this solid-state qubit at rates of about a gigahertz, or a billion times per second. They can also use lasers to achieve fundamental steps toward programming it. Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080820162956.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080819170439.htm Researchers from NIST and the Joint Quantum Institute have reported a new way to fine-tune the light coming from quantum dots by manipulating them with pairs of lasers. Their technique could significantly improve quantum dots as a source of pairs of entangled photons for applications in quantum information technologies. Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080819170439.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080819160155.htm Scientists have theorized a way to increase the speed of pulses of light that bound across chains of tiny metal particles to past the speed of light by altering the particle shape. Application of this theory would use nanosized metal chains as building blocks for novel optoelectronic and optical devices. Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080819160155.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080820163243.htm The field of particle physics is poised to enter unknown territory with the startup of a massive new accelerator -- the Large Hadron Collider -- in Europe this summer. On Sept. 10, LHC scientists will attempt to send the first beam of protons speeding around the accelerator. Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080820163243.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080820162856.htm The semiconductor silicon and the ferromagnet iron are the basis for much of mankind's technology, used in everything from computers to electric motors. Scientists now report that they have combined these elements with a small amount of another common metal, manganese, to create a new material which is neither a magnet nor an ordinary semiconductor. Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080820162856.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080819160059.htm In the quest to better understand one of nature's most "ghostly" elementary particles -- the neutrino -- scientists at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory are spreading their expertise from the mines of Canada to the mountains of China. Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080819160059.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080818082702.htm Materials such as milk, paper, white paint and tissue are opaque because they scatter light, not because they absorb it. But no matter how great the scattering, light is always able to get through the material in question. At least, according to the theory. Researchers have now confirmed this with experiments. By shaping the waveform of light, they have succeeded in finding the predicted 'open channels' in material along which the light is able to move. Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080818082702.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080817223534.htm Physicists successfully controlled an electrical current using the "spin" within electrons -- a step toward building an organic "spin transistor": A plastic semiconductor switch for future ultrafast computers and electronics. The study also suggests it will be more difficult than thought to make highly efficient light-emitting diodes using organic materials. The findings hint such LEDs would convert no more than 25 percent of electricity into light rather than heat. Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080817223534.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080813122943.htm Physicists have published a new theory that explains some of the complex electronic and magnetic properties of iron "pnictides." In a series of startling discoveries this spring, pnictides were shown to superconduct at high temperatures. The new theory, which appears in Physical Review Letters, explains some of the similarities and differences between pnictides and cuprates, high-temperature superconductors that have been studied for more than 20 years. Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080813122943.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080808091557.htm Researchers report that nano-designed transistors for the large area display and sensor application field benefit hugely from quantum size effects. The unexpected superior switching performance (low leakage current, and steep sub-threshold slope) shown experimentally and analysed theoretically, demonstrate hitherto unexplored routes for improvements for transistors based on disordered silicon films. By making the conduction channel in these disordered transistors very thin, the team has shown this technology will enable the design of low power memory for large area electronics based on a low-cost industry standard material processing route. Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080808091557.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080807130915.htm The first attempt to circulate a beam in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be made on 10 September. This news comes as the cool down phase of commissioning CERN's new particle accelerator reaches a successful conclusion. The LHC is the world's most powerful particle accelerator, producing beams seven times more energetic than any previous machine, and around 30 times more intense when it reaches design performance, probably by 2010st attempt to circulate a beam in the Large Hadron Collider will be made on Sept. 10. Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080807130915.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806140211.htm Scientists are shedding light on an important, unsolved physics problem: the relationship between chaos theory -- which is based on 300-year-old Newtonian physics -- and the modern theory of quantum mechanics. The study demonstrated a fundamental new property -- what appears to be chaotic behavior in a quantum system -- in the magnetic "spins" within the nuclei or centers of atoms of frozen xenon. Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806140211.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806140128.htm In 2006, two physics and astronomy professors spelled out how to exploit a quantum quirk to accomplish a feat long thought impossible, and now a research team has tested the theory, proving it correct. Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806140128.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806140118.htm Physicists have demonstrated a powerful new technique that reveals hidden properties of ultracold atomic gases. To develop the new technique, the scientists borrowed an idea used for nearly a century in the study of materials: photoemission spectroscopy. Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806140118.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080725093454.htm Current technology enables the building of electrical circuits similar to those we use at home but reduced thousands of times in size to a micrometric scale of thousandths of a millimeter. When these circuits are built of superconductor materials and at near-absolute zero cryogenic temperatures, the world of everyday physics is left behind and the amazing world of quantum physics is entered. In this circuit the behavior is something like an artificial atom (i.e. like the so-called quantum bits ("qubits") of quantum computers) and the concepts of quantum optics, quantum information and condensed matter are mixed. Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080725093454.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806154712.htm Complex computer encryption codes could be solved and new drug design developed significantly faster because of new research. The reality of a workable quantum computer is one step closer. Researchers have shown for the first time that it is possible to make these computers in silicon rather than a vacuum, which has been the focus of previous research. Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806154712.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731173129.htm The Viterbi Algorithm, the elegant 41-year-old logical tool for rapidly eliminating dead end possibilities in reception of digital data, has a new application to go alongside its ubiquitous daily use in cell phone communications, bioinformatics, speech recognition and many other areas of information technology. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731173129.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080805150812.htm Researchers have recently reached what they are calling a milestone in experimental quantum mechanics. They have used a superconducting electronic circuit known as a Josephson phase qubit to controllably pump microwave photons, one at a time, into a superconducting microwave resonator. Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080805150812.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804111646.htm The CDF and DZero collaborations at the US Department of Energy's Fermilab are advancing the quest for the long-sought Higgs boson. Their latest results indicate that researchers have for the first time excluded, with 95 percent probability, a mass for the Higgs of 170 GeV. This value lies in the possible mass range for the particle established by earlier experiments. The result demonstrates that the Tevatron experiments are sensitive to potential Higgs signals. Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804111646.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080801152141.htm If someone is charged up, the color of their face might change, but they don't immediately pull off one of their arms, only to reattach it as a third leg. With some molecules, however, the situation is quite different - for example, in a gold cluster with seven atoms. In a charged state, the atoms arrange themselves differently than when they are uncharged. Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080801152141.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080801074157.htm Judged by the astonishing increase in journal papers written by scientists in China, there can be little doubt that China is finding its place as one of the world's scientific power houses. Michael Banks, Physics World's news editor, quantifies this surge in scientific output from China and asks whether quality matches quantity in August's Physics World. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080801074157.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080730140841.htm Scientists have announced the observation of pairs of Z bosons, force-carrying particles produced in proton-antiproton collisions at the Tevatron, the world's highest-energy particle accelerator. The properties of the ZZ diboson make its discovery an essential prelude to finding or excluding the Higgs boson at the Tevatron. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080730140841.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731140233.htm An important advance in understanding how the electrons in some materials become superconducting has been made by researchers from UC Davis, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and UC Irvine. Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731140233.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731073553.htm Scientists have been fascinated by the concept of absolute zero, the temperature at which everything comes to a complete stop. But physics tells us otherwise: absolute zero cannot be reached but only approached, and the closer you get, the more interesting phenomena you find. Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731073553.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080729133423.htm Medical physicists at the University of Virginia have created a novel way to kill tumor cells using nanoparticles and light. The technique, devised by Wensha Yang, an instructor in radiation oncology at the University of Virginia, and colleagues Ke Sheng, Paul W. Read, James M. Larner, and Brian P. Helmke, employs quantum dots. Quantum dots are semiconductor nanostructures, 25 billionths of a meter in diameter, which can confine electrons in three dimensions and emit light when exposed to ultraviolet radiation. Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080729133423.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080725152314.htm A team of researchers has observed electrons moving through a crystal of bismuth metal behaving like light. The discovery may enable powerful new electronic devices that exploit the principles of quantum mechanics to compute and communicate. Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080725152314.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080724143900.htm In science fiction stories it is either the inexhaustible energy source of the future or a superweapon of galactic magnitude: antimatter. In fact, antimatter can neither be found naturally in any abundance on Earth nor in space, is extremely complex to produce and thus difficult to study. In order to track down the origin of matter and antimatter in the universe, scientists are measuring the power of the electrical dipole moment of neutrons, which represents a measure for the different physical properties of matter and antimatter. Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080724143900.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080724150342.htm Scientists have succeeded in precisely measuring atomic spacings down to a few picometers using new methods in ultrahigh-resolution electron microscopy. This makes it possible to find out decisive parameters determining the physical properties of materials directly on an atomic level in a microscope. Progress in research in the area of physics is very frequently connected to an increase in the accuracy of measurements, which help researchers to track natural phenomena. Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080724150342.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080720223712.htm Experimental physicists have described how circularly polarized light can be used to measure events in the attosecond range. A measurement of this kind could perhaps soon give an experimental answer to the question of whether a measurable tunneling time of electrons as a result of the tunneling effect really exists -- one of the big unsolved riddles of physics. Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080720223712.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080714111413.htm Cymbals don't clash of their own accord -- in our world, anyway. But the quantum world is bizarrely different. Two metal plates, placed almost infinitesimally close together, spontaneously attract each other. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080714111413.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080703160751.htm Acoustic waves play many everyday roles -- from communication between people to ultrasound imaging. Now the highest frequency acoustic waves in materials, with nearly atomic-scale wavelengths, promise to be useful probes of nanostructures such as LED lights. Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080703160751.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080704154809.htm Construction of the first underwater neutrino telescope has just been completed. Since early June, the last two detection lines of Antares have been probing the bottom of the Mediterranean for neutrinos of cosmic origin. There are now 12 detection lines aimed at observing these elementary particles, which provide insight into the most violent phenomena in the Universe. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080704154809.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080703140721.htm Researchers have confirmed a long-held prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, via observations of a binary-pulsar star system. Eclipses in a unique system of two dead stars, called pulsars, has shown that one of the pair is 'wobbling' in space - just like a spinning top. The effect, called precession, is precisely as predicted by Albert Einstein and is thus a new and exciting confirmation of his theory. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080703140721.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080702103327.htm Researchers have found that quantum dot nanoparticles can penetrate the skin if there is an abrasion, providing insight into potential workplace concerns for healthcare workers or individuals involved in the manufacturing of quantum dots or doing research on potential biomedical applications of the tiny nanoparticles. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080702103327.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080701142504.htm More than a century ago, at the dawn of modern quantum mechanics, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Neils Bohr predicted so-called "quantum jumps." More recently, it has been possible to observe similar jumps in individual molecules. Experimentally, these quantum jumps translate to discrete interruptions of the continuous emission from single molecules, revealing a phenomenon known as florescent intermittency or "blinking." Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080701142504.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080630173921.htm Nearly a century after Danish physicist Niels Bohr offered his planet-like model of the hydrogen atom, physicists have created giant, millimeter-sized atoms that resemble it more closely than any other experimental realization yet achieved. The scientists used lasers and electric fields to coax potassium atoms into a precise configuration with one point-like, "localized" electron orbiting far from the nucleus. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080630173921.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080627175348.htm Particle colliders creating black holes that could devour the Earth. Sounds like a great Hollywood script. But, according to UC Santa Barbara Physics Professor Steve Giddings, it's pure fiction. Giddings has co-authored a paper documenting his study of the safety of microscopic black holes that might possibly be produced by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is nearing completion in Europe. Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080627175348.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080627163255.htm The odd behavior of a molecule in an experimental silicon computer chip has led to a discovery that opens the door to quantum computing in semiconductors. Researchers describe how they have created a new, hybrid molecule in which its quantum state can be intentionally manipulated -- a required step in the building of quantum computers. Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080627163255.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080623175355.htm Fluorescent nanoparticles, called quantum dots, are dramatically better than existing methods for delivering a gene-silencing tool into cells. The quantum-dot chaperones help impede the cell's production of a given protein. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080623175355.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080625092700.htm Scientists have come an important step closer to the quantum computer. "Our results give us, for the first time, the possibility to understand the interaction between just two electrons placed next to each other in a carbon nanotube. A groundbreaking discovery, which is fundamental for the creation of a quantum mechanical bit, a so-called quantum bit -- the cornerstone of a quantum computer," explains Henrik Jørgensen, who is one of the many researchers competing on an international level to be the first to make a quantum bit in a carbon nanotube. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080625092700.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080623133533.htm Researchers have developed a technique that controls the number of electrons on the surface of high-temperature superconductors, a procedure considered impossible for the past two decades. Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080623133533.htm