Astrophysicists reveal Largest-ever Suite of Universe Simulations

Astrophysicists reveal largest-ever suite of universe simulations
A snapshot measuring 10 billion light-years across of one of the AbacusSummit simulations. Credit: The AbacusSummit Team

Collectively clocking in at nearly 60 trillion particles, a newly released set of cosmological simulations is by far the biggest ever produced.

The simulation suite, dubbed AbacusSummit, will be instrumental in extracting secrets of the universe from upcoming surveys of the cosmos, its creators predict. They present AbacusSummit in several papers published October 25 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

AbacusSummit was produced by researchers at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) in New York City and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian...

Read More

Americans Vaccinated Against Coronavirus Have Lower Mortality Rates — Even From Non-Covid Causes

Maryland County Vaccinates Minority Communities
Nurses draw Covid-19 vaccine doses from a vial on March 25, 2021 in Bowie, Maryland.
 
GETTY IMAGES

People who are vaccinated against Covid-19 are less likely to die for any reason — including from non-coronavirus causes — than the unvaccinated, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Friday, which researchers framed as more proof of the vaccines’ safety despite stubborn levels of vaccine hesitancy.

KEY FACTS
Partially and fully vaccinated people died from non-coronavirus causes at a lower rate than their unvaccinated peers, according to the study, which looked at millions of patients at seven U.S. health organizations from December to July.

All three vaccines approved by U.S...

Read More

Controlling Light with a Material Three Atoms Thick

Controlling Light With a Material Three Atoms Thick

Thin structures made of black phosphorus can tune the properties of light, with implications for science and technology. Most of us control light all the time without even thinking about it, usually in mundane ways: we don a pair of sunglasses and put on sunscreen, and close — or open — our window blinds.

But the control of light can also come in high-tech forms. The screen of the computer, tablet, or phone on which you are reading this is one example. Another is telecommunications, which controls light to create signals that carry data along fiber-optic cables.

Scientists also use high-tech methods to control light in the laboratory, and now, thanks to a new breakthrough that uses a specialized material only three atoms thick, they can control light more precisely than ever bef...

Read More

Astronomers provide ‘Field Guide’ to Exoplanets known as Hot Jupiters

The turbulent atmosphere of a hot, gaseous planet known as HD 80606b is shown in this simulation based on data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The planet spends most of its time far away from its star, but every 111 days, it swings extremely close to the star, experiencing a massive burst of heat. NASA/JPL-CalTech

Hot Jupiters — giant gas planets that race around their host stars in extremely tight orbits — have become a little bit less mysterious thanks to a new study combining theoretical modeling with observations by the Hubble Space Telescope.

While previous studies mostly focused on individual worlds classified as “hot Jupiters” due to their superficial similarity to the gas giant in our own solar system, the new study is the first to look at a broader population of the st...

Read More