ScienceDaily_Quantum_Physics

Using newly developed imaging technology, chemists have confirmed years of theoretical assumptions about water molecules, the most abundant and one of the most frequently studied substances on Earth.

Scientists have discovered how adding trace amounts of water can tremendously speed up chemical reactions -— such as hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis —- in which hydrogen is one of the reactants, or starting materials.

Once again quantum physics gives us philosophical implications: physicists have shown how a small amount of randomness can be amplified without limit.

Physicists have made a breakthrough that improves understanding of matter-light interactions. Their research allows double ionization events to be observed at the time scale of attoseconds and shows that these ionization events occur earlier than thought -- a key factor to improve knowledge of correlated electron dynamics.

Theorists and experimenters have explored the unique properties of topological insulators, where electrons may flow on the surface without resistance, with spin orientations and directions intimately related. Recent research opens exciting prospects for practical new room-temperature spintronic devices that can exploit control of electron spin as well as charge.

A strong laser beam can remove an electron from an atom – a process which takes place almost instantly. This phenomenon could now be studied with a time resolution of less than ten attoseconds (ten billionths of a billionth of a second). Scientists succeeded in watching an atom being ionized and a free electron being “born”.  These measurements yield valuable information about the electrons in the atom, which up until now  hasn't been experimentally accessible, such as the time evolution of the electron’s quantum phase – the beat to which the quantum waves oscillate.

There's nothing worse than a shonky pool table with an unseen groove or bump that sends your shot off course: a new study has found that the same goes at the nano-scale, where the "billiard balls" are tiny electrons moving across a "table" made of the semiconductor gallium arsenide. Physicists have shown that in this game of "semiconductor billiards," small bumps have an unexpectedly large effect on the paths that electrons follow.

Physicists have just explained a puzzling water anomaly -- a deviation from the common form -- of water ice that has been largely neglected and never before explained.

Researchers have boosted the efficiency of a novel source of white light called quantum dots more than tenfold, making them of potential interest for commercial applications.

Chemists have solved a molecular mystery. The overwhelming majority of proteins and other functional molecules in our bodies display a striking molecular characteristic: They can exist in two distinct forms that are mirror images of each other, like your right hand and left hand. Surprisingly, each of our bodies prefers only one of these molecular forms.

Physicists have traced the double ionization of argon atoms on attosecond time scales. When an intense laser pulse interacts with an atom it generates agitation on the micro scale. The most likely outcome of this interaction is single ionization, where one electron is ejected from the atom. From time to time, however, two electrons can be removed from the atom, resulting in the more complex process of double ionization. The detailed course of this process on attosecond time scales (an attosecond is a billionth of a billionth of a second) has now been observed.

New insight into the behaviour of atomic nuclei may explain how gigantic star explosions, or supernovas, have formed the elements that are crucial to humankind.

Using a refined technique for trapping and manipulating nanoparticles, researchers have extended the trapped particles' useful life more than tenfold. This new approach, which one researcher likens to "attracting moths," promises to give experimenters the trapping time they need to build nanoscale structures and may open the way to working with nanoparticles inside biological cells without damaging the cells with intense laser light.

Researchers have developed a novel way of producing light pulses that are "superluminal" -- in some sense they travel faster than the speed of light. The new method could be used to improve the timing of communications signals and to investigate the propagation of quantum correlations.

A new solid-state device uses one beam of light to switch another beam of light from one direction to another. It uses one-fifth the power -- only 90 atto-joules -- than the previous all-optical switch.

Virginia Tech released the results of its 2012 rating for adult football helmets that is designed to assess a helmet’s ability to reduce the risk of concussion.A total of three helmets achieved a “5 star” mark, which is the highest rating awarded by the Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings™.

Scientists have successfully sent a highly accurate clock signal across the many hundreds of kilometers of countryside that separate two institutions.

Engineers have created nanoscale single crystals that can produce the red, green, or blue laser light needed in digital displays. The size determines color, but all the pyramid-shaped quantum dots are made the same way of the same elements. In experiments, light amplification required much less power than previous attempts at the technology. The team's prototypes are the first lasers of their kind.

In the future, optical fibers could connect all optical atomic clocks within Europe -- a milestone for various users of optical frequencies in research and industry.

Physicists have discovered a previously unknown particle composed of three quarks in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator. A new baryon could thus be detected for the first time at the LHC. The baryon known as Xi_b^* confirms fundamental assumptions of physics regarding the binding of quarks.

"Quantum critical points" (QCP) in exotic electronic materials can act much like polarizing "hot button issues" in an election. On either side of the QCP, electrons fall into line and behave as traditionally expected, but the new study finds traditional physical laws break down at the critical point itself.

Physicists have, for the first time, demonstrated in an experiment that the decision whether two particles were in an entangled or in a separable quantum state can be made even after these particles have been measured and may no longer exist.

An expert on statistical mechanics shows that the income distributions for the richest 3 percent and the poorer 97 percent conform to different physics principles.

Using lasers to excite just one atom from a cloud of ultra-cold rubidium gas, physicists have developed a new way to rapidly and efficiently create single photons for potential use in optical quantum information processing -- and in the study of dynamics and disorder in certain physical systems.

An eerie quantum force may one day help separate the surfaces in tiny machines for frictionless movement. More than half-a-century ago, the Dutch theoretical physicist Hendrik Casimir calculated that two mirrors placed facing each other in a vacuum would attract. The mysterious force arises from the energy of virtual particles flitting into and out of existence, as described by quantum theory. Now a scientist in Japan, has predicted that in certain circumstances a reversal in the direction of the so-called Casimir force would be enough to levitate an extremely thin plate.

Some rare cosmic rays pack an astonishing wallop, with energies prodigiously greater than particles in human-made accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider. Their sources are unknown, although scientists favor active galacti nuclei or gamma-ray bursts. If so, gamma-ray bursts should produce ultra-high-energy neutrinos, but scientists searching for these with IceCube, the giant neutrino telescope at the South Pole, have found exactly zero. The mystery deepens.

A new type of quantum bit called a "phase-slip qubit" has enabled the world's first-ever experimental demonstration of coherent quantum phase slip. The groundbreaking result sheds light on an elusive phenomenon whose existence -- a natural outcome of the theory of superconductivity -- has long been speculated, but never actually observed.

Although cosmic rays were discovered 100 years ago, their origin remains one of the most enduring mysteries in physics. Now, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a massive detector in Antarctica, is homing in on how the highest energy cosmic rays are produced.

Researchers have mathematically shown that particles charged in a magnetic field can escape into infinity without ever stopping. One of the conditions is that the field is generated by current loops situated on the same plane. At the moment this is a theoretical mathematical study, but researchers have recently demonstrated that, in certain conditions, magnetic fields can send particles to infinity.

Researchers in Australia have developed the fastest random number generator in the world by listening to the 'sounds of silence'. The researchers have tuned their very sensitive light detectors to listen to vacuum -- a region of space that is empty.

Scientists in the Netherlands have succeeded for the first time in detecting a Majorana particle. In the 1930s, Italian physicist Ettore Majorana deduced from quantum theory the possibility of the existence of a very special particle, a particle that is its own anti-particle: the Majorana fermion. That 'Majorana' would be right on the border between matter and anti-matter.

Scientists have created the first elementary quantum network based on interfaces between single atoms and photons. Whether it comes to phoning a friend or to using the internet -- our daily communication is based on sophisticated networks, with data being transferred at the speed of light between different nodes. It is a tremendous challenge to build corresponding networks for the exchange of quantum information.

Scientists have overcome a major hurdle facing quantum computing: How to protect quantum information from degradation by the environment while simultaneously performing computation in a solid-state quantum system.

Scientists have used light to help push electrons through a classically impenetrable barrier. While quantum tunneling is at the heart of the peculiar wave nature of particles, this is the first time that it has been controlled by light.

At 00:38 CEST this morning, the LHC shift crew declared ‘stable beams’ as two 4 TeV proton beams were brought into collision at the LHC’s four interaction points. This signals the start of physics data taking by the LHC experiments for 2012. The collision energy of 8 TeV is a new world record, and increases the machine’s discovery potential considerably.

A team of scientists has built a quantum computer in a diamond, the first of its kind to include protection against "decoherence" -- noise that prevents the computer from functioning properly.

Physicists have recently devised a new method for handling the effect of the interplay between vibrations and electrons on electronic transport. This study could have implications for quantum computers due to improvements in the transport of discrete amounts of information, known as qubits, that are encoded in electrons.

Scientists have looked for signals from dark matter by zeroing in on 10 small, faint galaxies that orbit our own. Although no signals have been detected, a novel analysis technique applied to two years of data from the observatory's Large Area Telescope has essentially eliminated these particle candidates for the first time.

Scientists have found a new quantum encryption method to foil even the most sophisticated hackers. Researchers have come up with a simple solution to the untrusted device problem. Their method is called "Measurement Device Independent QKD." The aim is to detect subtle changes that occur when quantum data is manipulated by a third party.

Graphene could become the next big thing in the quest for smaller, less power-hungry electronics. Physicists are making discoveries that may advance electronic circuit technology.

First spectroscopic results from BOSS give the most detailed look yet at the time when dark energy turned on some six billion light years ago, as the expansion of the universe was slipping from the grasp of matter's mutual gravitational attraction, and expansion began to accelerate.

Scientists generally believed that certain collective behavior appeared in fermions only when they moved in unison at very long wavelengths. Now, however, collective behavior has been discovered at short wavelengths in one Fermi system, helium-3.

Physicists have used ultra-fast laser pulses to identify the microscopic interactions that drive high-temperature superconductivity. The researchers were able to capture very fine grained data on the speed of the relaxation process and its influence on the properties of the superconducting system, showing that the high-critical temperature of these compounds can be accounted for by purely electronic (magnetic) processes.

Physicists have discovered patterns which underlie the properties of a new state of matter. In a new study, the scientists describe the emergence of "spontaneous coherence," "spin textures" and "phase singularities" when excitons -- the bound pairs of electrons and holes that determine the optical properties of semiconductors and enable them to function as novel optoelectronic devices -- are cooled to near absolute zero.

Using breakthrough techniques on some of the world's fastest supercomputers -- scientists have reported a landmark calculation of a kind of subatomic particle decay that's important to understanding matter/antimatter asymmetry. The research helps nail down the exact process of kaon decay, and is also inspiring the development of a new generation of supercomputers.

Scientists discover zero-sound mode oscillations in super-chilled helium. Scientists have carried out the first investigation of two-dimensional fermion liquids using neutron scattering, and discovered a new type of very short wave-length density wave. The team believe their discovery will interest researchers looking at electronic systems, since high-temperature superconductivity could result from this type of density fluctuation.

Powerful supercomputers have shed light on the behavior of key sub-atomic particles, in a development that could help explain why there is almost no anti-matter in our universe. Physicists have reported a landmark calculation of the decay of an elementary particle called a kaon, using breakthrough techniques on some of the world's fastest supercomputers. This revealed the first experimental evidence of a phenomenon known as charge-parity (CP) violation - a lack of symmetry between particles and their corresponding antiparticles that may explain why the Universe is made of matter, and not antimatter.

Quantum theory describes the world of atoms very precisely. Still, it defies our macroscopic conception of the everyday world due to its many anti-intuitive predictions. The wave-particle dualism probably is the best known example and means that matter may spread and interfere like waves. Now, scientists have recorded the interference process of individual molecules. "Seeing how the interference pattern develops with every light spot, molecule after molecule, and how a basic principle of quantum mechanics is visualized enhances our understanding of the atomic world," explains one of the researchers.

Researchers have announced breakthroughs in the development of tunneling field effect transistors, a semiconductor technology that takes advantage of the quirky behavior of electrons at the quantum level.

Physicists have discovered a new physical attraction that accelerates the process of developing even smaller and more powerful computer chips. They have found a previously unknown phenomenon in quantum plasmas. A negatively charged potential makes it possible to combine positively charged particles (ions) in atom-like structures within the plasma. In this way, current can be conducted much more quickly and efficiently than before, opening new perspectives for nanotechnology.

The quantum physics of massive particles has intrigued physicists for more than 80 years, since it predicts that even complex particles can exhibit wave-like behavior – in conflict with our everyday ideas of what is real or local.

Forces are not only associated with machines or muscles. You can also find them elsewhere, for instance between molecules. Theoretical chemists are familiar with that. However, they -- or rather their computers -- are not capable of calculating them with high accuracy and efficiency at the same time.

Researchers have met the grand challenge of producing magnetic fields in excess of 100 tesla while conducting six different experiments.

New research shows that it is possible to perfectly recover the original from the imperfect quantum copies. Scientists also propose a way that his could be done in practice.

An optical diode made with silicon technology can be used for quantum information. Researchers propose using ring resonators to construct a micro-optical diode. The technology is silicon-on-insulator, making it compatible with the CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) fabrication processes underlying today’s computer circuits.

Addressing a half-century-old question, engineers have conclusively determined how collective electron oscillations, called plasmons, behave in individual metal particles as small as just a few nanometers in diameter. This knowledge may open up new avenues in nanotechnology ranging from solar catalysis to biomedical therapeutics.

The alphabet of data processing could include more elements than the "0" and "1" in future. Scientists have achieved a new kind of bit with single electrons, called quantum bits, or qubits. With them, considerably more than two states can be defined. So far, quantum bits have only existed in relatively large vacuum chambers. The team has now generated them in semiconductors. They have put an effect in practice, which the physicist Prof. Dr. Andreas Wieck had already theoretically predicted 22 years ago. This represents another step along the path to quantum computing.

The behavior of some of the most elusive particles in the known universe can be simulated using three atoms in a lab, researchers say.

Einstein's theory of gravity and quantum physics are expected to merge at the Planck-scale of extremely high energies and on very short distances. Now scientists have proposed a new quantum experiment using Planck-mass mirrors.

Combining known factors in a new way, physicists have solved an intractable 50-year-old problem: How to simulate strongly interacting quantum systems to accurately predict their properties. It could lead to superconductor applications and solving high-energy physics and ultra-cold atoms problems.