David Newman et al. Performance of a quantum heat engine at strong reservoir coupling, Physical Review E (2017). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.95.032139 

Research from The University of Manchester has thrown new light on the use of miniaturised ‘heat engines’ that could one day help power nanoscale machines like quantum computers. Heat engines are devices that turn thermal energy into a useful form known as ‘work’ which can provide power – like any other engine. Dr Ahsan Nazir wanted to see how heat engines performed at the quantum level. Heat engines at this scale could help power the miniaturised nanoscale machines of the future, such as components of quantum computers.

Dr Nazir’s research showed that heat engines were inclined to lose performance at the quantum scale due to the way such devi...

Qingdi Wang et al, How the huge energy of quantum vacuum gravitates to drive the slow accelerating expansion of the Universe, Physical Review D (2017). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.95.103504

UBC physicists may have solved one of nature’s great puzzles: what causes the accelerating expansion of our universe? PhD student Qingdi Wang has tackled this question in a new study that tries to resolve a major incompatibility issue between two of the most successful theories that explain how our universe works: quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The study suggests that if we zoomed in-way in-on the universe, we would realize it’s made up of constantly fluctuating space and time.

“Space-time is not as static as it appears, it’s constantly moving,” said Wang...

An artist’s rendering of an X-ray pulsar. Credit: NASA

European astronomers have found that an Xray pulsar designated AX J1910.7+0917 has the slowest spin period among other objects in this class. the new findings in a paper published May 4 on arXiv.org. X-ray pulsars (also known as accretion-powered pulsars) are sources displaying strict periodic variations in Xray intensity, consisting of a magnetized neutron star in orbit with a normal stellar companion. In these binary systems, the Xray emission is powered by the release of gravitational potential energy as material is accreted from a massive companion. Xray pulsars are among the most luminous objects in the X-ray sky.

AX J1910...

External stimulus causing excitement such as laughter by a joke augments the amygdala activity. In narcolepsy patient (left) lacking orexin neurons, activities of the amygdala become excessive, causing cataplexy. In healthy person (right), orexin neurons augment the activities of serotonin neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus, which reduce activities of the amygdala due to increased release of serotonin in the amygdala, which in turn inhibits cataplexy. Credit: Kanazawa University

The brain is equipped with sleep mechanism and wakefulness mechanism, which are regulated to be on or off in an adequate manner. It is orexin*1 that is important in regulating this switch...