Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social

6 days ago

A 2018 experiment suggested that low-energy muon neutrinos quantum-mechanically flip into electron neutrinos more frequently than predicted, possibly because of new flavors of neutrinos. Now a follow-up experiment with a different design excludes that explanation.

Latest Data Rule Out a Leading Explanation of a Neutrino Anomaly

The MicroBooNE experiment’s five-year dataset has shown that an unpredicted neutrino-flavor oscillation is not the cause of anomalous results obtained by its predecessor.

Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social

7 days ago

Researchers have observed electrons changing places in a chemical reaction on the timescale of the electrons’ movement: a few hundred femtoseconds. The findings provide an intuitive view of how electron dynamics influence chemical reactions.

Watching Electron Dynamics Shape Chemical Reactions

Scientists have used ultrashort x-ray pulses to directly observe the motion of electrons driving a chemical reaction.

Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social

7 days ago

Putative dark matter particles with masses below around 1 MeV are not ruled out by astronomical observations, but they are difficult to detect directly. Researchers have now explored this mass range with a new device, a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector.

New Device for Detecting Lightweight Dark Matter

Superconducting sensors can detect single low-energy photons. Researchers have now used this capability in a dark matter experiment.

Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social

9 days ago

A particle's de Broglie wavelength is inversely proportional to its mass: The bigger a particle is, the smaller its wave-function. Researchers have trapped and cooled a silica nanoparticle and measured the width of its wave-function to be just 73 picometers.

Unleashing the Quantumness of a Nanoparticle

Researchers have expanded the quantum wave function of a levitated nanosphere, a step toward future tests of quantum physics.

Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social

10 days ago

Researchers have predicted that bound pairs of tiny vortices—skyrmions—in coupled ferromagnetic layers can mimic active-matter systems. The behavior might encourage nonconventional and bioinspired computing devices based on manipulating skyrmions.

Skyrmions as Active Matter

Pairs of skyrmions—tiny whirlpools that emerge in some magnetic materials—might be able to self-propel, a behavior reminiscent of that of active-matter systems such as motile bacteria.

Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social

13 days ago

Researchers have shown how to dispense with barrier gates—a type of electrode that was thought to be needed to connect every neighboring pair of quantum dot qubits. The approach could increase the numbers of qubits on a chip.

Reducing the Number of Wires on a Quantum Chip

Experiments show that one of the standard electrode types for semiconductor-based quantum processors isn’t needed.

Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social

14 days ago

Researchers asked AI to solve the questions from last year's German Physics Olympiad. The AI did better than the average student. Should we now embrace AI as a cornerstone of future physics learning and teaching?

Olympiad-Level AI Performance Is Here—What Now?

As large language models improve, the real challenge is not how to shield education from AI, but how to embrace AI as a cornerstone of future physics learning and teaching.

Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social

15 days ago

Magnetic topological insulators carry surface currents that are expected to flow without dissipation, a boon for energy-efficient devices. Now researchers have found that, contrary to expectations, the currents remain even after quantized conductivity breaks down.

Magnetic Topological Insulators Have an Edgy Side

Edge currents are observed in a magnetic topological insulator even when conventional theory says that they should not.

Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social

15 days ago

Researchers have used AI to help move thousands of trapped, cold atoms into any arrangement in just 60 milliseconds. To demonstrate that ability, they created an animation of Schrödinger’s cat.

Physics Magazine @physicsmagazine.bsky.social

16 days ago

Researchers have uncovered evidence that at room temperature and a pressure of 12–18 gigapascals, solid oxygen harbors a fluctuating state in which electron spins are entangled—a state known in other contexts as a quantum spin liquid.

Crushing Oxygen into a Spin Liquid

New evidence supports the idea that solid oxygen switches under pressure to an exotic entangled state.