Recent Comments

    Category Physics

    New Portal to Unveil the Dark Sector of the Universe

    March 23, 2017, Categories  Physics, Astronomy/Space

    Portals can allow the exploration of the dark sector with the Standard Model particles Portals mix or connect the dark sector particles with the Standard Model particles. Through the portals it is possible to explore the dark sector particles using the Standard Model particles. The portals play a basic and critical role in the study of the dark sector particles both theoretically and experimentally. Credit: Image courtesy of Institute for Basic Science

    Portals can allow the exploration of the dark sector with the Standard Model particles Portals mix or connect the dark sector particles with the Standard Model particles. Through the portals it is possible to explore the dark sector particles using the Standard Model particles. The portals play a basic and critical role in the study of the dark sector particles both theoretically and experimentally. Credit: Image courtesy of Institute for Basic Science

    Once upon a time, the Universe was just a hot soup of particles. In those days, together with visible particles, other particles to us hidden or dark might have formed. Billions of years later scientists catalogued 17 types of visible particles, with the most recent one being the Higgs boson, creating the ‘Standard Model’...

    Read More

    Transparent Silver: Tarnish-Proof Films for Flexible Displays, Touch Screens

    March 22, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    University of Michigan researchers have created a transparent silver film that could be used in touchscreens, flexible displays and other advanced applications. L. Jay Guo, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, holds up a piece of the material. Image credit: Joseph Xu/Michigan Engineering.

    University of Michigan researchers have created a transparent silver film that could be used in touchscreens, flexible displays and other advanced applications. L. Jay Guo, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, holds up a piece of the material. Image credit: Joseph Xu/Michigan Engineering.

    The thinnest, smoothest layer of silver that can survive air exposure has been laid down at the University of Michigan, and it could change the way touchscreens and flat or flexible displays are made. It could also help improve computing power, affecting both the transfer of information within a silicon chip and the patterning of the chip itself through metamaterial superlenses.

    By combining silver with a little bit of aluminum, they found that it was possible to produce exceptionally...

    Read More

    When Helium behaves like a Black Hole

    March 22, 2017, Categories  Physics, Astronomy/Space

    Scientists have discovered that a sphere of cold helium atoms (in green) -- interacting with a surrounding larger container of the same kind of atoms (in blue) -- follows a bizarre rule of physics, called an entanglement area law, also observed in black holes. This discovery points to a "deeper reality," says University of Vermont physicist Adrian Del Maestro and may be a step toward using superfluid helium as the fuel of a new generation of ultra-fast quantum computers. Credit: Adrian Del Maestro/Nature Physics

    Scientists have discovered that a sphere of cold helium atoms (in green) — interacting with a surrounding larger container of the same kind of atoms (in blue) — follows a bizarre rule of physics, called an entanglement area law, also observed in black holes. This discovery points to a “deeper reality,” says University of Vermont physicist Adrian Del Maestro and may be a step toward using superfluid helium as the fuel of a new generation of ultra-fast quantum computers. Credit: Adrian Del Maestro/Nature Physics

    A team has discovered that a law controlling the bizarre behavior of black holes out in space – is also true for cold helium atoms that can be studied in laboratories. “It’s called an entanglement area law,” says Adrian Del Maestro, a physicist at the University of Vermont...

    Read More

    ‘Flying Saucer’ Quantum Dots hold secret to Brighter, better Lasers

    March 21, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    This computer-generated model shows the spherical core of the quantum dot nanoparticle (in red) along with the ‘flying saucer’ shape of the outer shell (in yellow). The tension in the core induced by the shell affects the electronic states and lowers the energy threshold required to trigger the laser. Credit: Alex Voznyy

    This computer-generated model shows the spherical core of the quantum dot nanoparticle (in red) along with the ‘flying saucer’ shape of the outer shell (in yellow). The tension in the core induced by the shell affects the electronic states and lowers the energy threshold required to trigger the laser. Credit: Alex Voznyy

    Research team ‘squashes’ the shape of nanoparticles, enabling inexpensive lasers that continuously emit light in a customized rainbow of colors. Fresh insights into living cells, brighter video projectors and more accurate medical tests are just 3 of the innovations that could result from a new way of fabricating lasers...

    Read More