Category Physics

Time evolution of the contour surfaces of the lapse α and the shift vector βi for the head-on collision of two puncture black holes of equal mass M=1 at times t=0,5,7,8,10M and t=15M, from top left to bottom right. Phys. Rev. D 97, 084053, 2018; doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.97.084053

Scientists develop simulation code for new generation of supercomputers. What happens when two black holes merge, or when stars collide with a black hole? This has now been simulated using a novel numerical method. The simulation code ‘ExaHyPE’ is designed in such a way that it will be able to calculate gravitational waves on the future generation of ‘exascale’ supercomputers.

The challenge in simulating black holes lies in the necessity of solving the complex Einstein system of equations...

This is a close-up of the MOMA instrument. Credit: NASA

An international team of scientists has created a tiny chemistry lab for a rover that will drill beneath the Martian surface looking for signs of past or present life. The toaster oven-sized lab, called the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer or MOMA, is a key instrument on the ExoMars Rover, a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, with a significant contribution to MOMA from NASA. It will be launched toward the Red Planet in July 2020...

Purdue researchers Wenzhuo Wu and Peide Ye recently discovered tellurene, a two-dimensional material they manufactured in a solution, that has what it takes to make high-speed electronics faster. Credit: Purdue University image/Vincent Walter

Discovery could have big impact on semiconductor industry. A new experimental discovery, led by researchers at the University of Minnesota, demonstrates that the chemical element ruthenium (Ru) is the fourth single element to have unique magnetic properties at room temperature. The discovery could be used to improve sensors, devices in the computer memory and logic industry, or other devices using magnetic materials.

The use of ferromagnetism, or the basic mechanism by which certain materials (such as iron) form permanent magnets or are attracted to m...

Image of the di-Omega, by Keiko Murano

Based on complex simulations of quantum chromodynamics performed using the K computer, one of the most powerful computers in the world, the HAL QCD Collaboration, made up of scientists from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-based Science and the RIKEN Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS) program, together with colleagues from a number of universities, have predicted a new type of “dibaryon” – a particle that contains 6 quarks instead of the usual three. Studying how these elements form could help scientists understand the interactions among elementary particles in extreme environments eg the interiors of neutron stars or the early universe moments after the Big Bang.

Particles known as “baryons” – principally protons...