https://phys.org/physics-news/physics/ en-us The latest news on physics, materials, nanotech, science and technology. For the first time, researchers have determined the shape of the actinide nucleus of fermium-255 and measured its structure with high precision and resolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-laser-spectroscopy-reveal-hidden-nuclear.html General Physics Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:20:01 EDT news705325561 In Goethe's ballad "Erlkönig," immortalized in Schubert's fevered 1815 setting, a dying boy riding through the night sees a spectral king beckoning from the darkness. His father calms him: "Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif"—my son, it is only a wisp of fog. In the poem, the father's reassurance proves tragically wrong. In the quantum world, however, his words acquire an uncanny new meaning. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mirror-world-particles-wisps-fog.html General Physics Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:40:02 EDT news705324723 Measuring faint magnetic fields is useful in a number of areas, including mapping brain activity, monitoring hearts and probing fundamental physics. Typically, picking up such weak signals requires expensive or bulky equipment, such as liquid-helium cooling tanks or specially shielded rooms that block out Earth's magnetic field. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-magnet-ultrafaint-magnetic-fields.html General Physics Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:20:02 EDT news705322283 Using a detector filled with nearly 9 metric tons of liquid xenon, researchers have delivered some of the most sensitive dark matter results ever recorded. In the latest analysis from the XENON collaboration, working at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy, researchers carried out a "blind" test to avoid bias in measurements of the XENONnT detector, pushing the experiment's sensitivity to unprecedented levels. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-xenonnt-detector-narrows-dark.html General Physics Fri, 07 Aug 2026 11:20:01 EDT news705310263 At the International Conference on High Energy Physics in Brazil, the BESIII Collaboration report that, after 15 years of sustained research, it identified the dominant constituent of the X(2370) as a pseudoscalar glueball with spin-parity quantum numbers of 0⁻⁺. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-x2370-emerges-glueball-dominated-particle.html General Physics Thu, 06 Aug 2026 13:00:01 EDT news705231062 All chemistry starts with a push from electrons. In the early moments of a chemical reaction, it's the movement of electrons that initiates the breaking of old chemical bonds and forging of new ones, transforming one molecule into another. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-attosecond-ray-method-early-electron.html General Physics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:50:01 EDT news705166081 Dark matter's existence is all but certain—astronomers believe it makes up about a quarter of the universe's total energy content—yet its true identity has eluded us for decades. Two of the leading candidates for dark matter are the hypothetical particles ultralight axions and dark photons, which in the range studied here would be some 19 to 21 orders of magnitude lighter than the electron. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-earth-magnetic-field-axions-dark.html General Physics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 15:40:05 EDT news705153841 Researchers from the U.S. National Science Foundation National Solar Observatory (NSF NSO), the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, and the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) in the U.S. have made a discovery in solar physics. New images of the sun's surface taken with the world's largest solar telescope, the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, built and operated by the NSO in Hawaii, along with sophisticated computer simulations, reveal tiny plasma vortices that had never before been visible. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-vortices-sun-surface.html General Physics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 11:00:01 EDT news705066601 Even when the lights go out and nuclear reactors are turned off, the story inside the reactor core still has a great deal to tell. Radioactive, long-lived fission products continue to decay for months or even years, producing a faint flux of a specific type of particle known as antineutrinos. (Anti)neutrinos are the lightest and most elusive known particles in the universe, allowing them to escape unhindered from both the reactor and the surrounding shielding. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-antineutrinos-spent-nuclear-fuel-emissions.html General Physics Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:00:09 EDT news705051898 Using a combination of laser cooling techniques and strong magnetic fields, researchers at Colorado State University have for the first time created an ultracold neutral plasma with electrons cooled to temperatures measured to be within one degree Kelvin. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-boundaries-ultracold-neutral-plasmas.html General Physics Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:20:06 EDT news705061261 Researchers at Technical University of Darmstadt and the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research have succeeded for the first time in decelerating highly charged ions from the GSI accelerator to low energies and subsequently storing them in a Penning trap. They were also successful in performing the first electron cooling of highly charged ions in such a trap. The results have been published in Physical Review X (PRX). https://phys.org/news/2026-07-electron-cooling-highly-ions-penning.html General Physics Sat, 01 Aug 2026 15:20:01 EDT news704706690 How does the brain learn? Does it acquire new knowledge by creating new neural pathways or by strengthening existing connections? A new study from Bar-Ilan University offers evidence in favor of the latter, suggesting that learning is driven primarily by changes in the strength of existing neural connections rather than by expanding the brain's underlying architecture. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-stronger-neural-networks.html General Physics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:20:02 EDT news704633900 A new study in Nature Communications has established a link between the Riemann Hypothesis and dynamical phase transitions in engineered quantum systems, demonstrating the effect on a quantum processor. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-physicists-link-riemann-hypothesis-phase.html General Physics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:20:05 EDT news704628909 Where do gold, platinum and uranium come from? This question has fascinated astrophysicists and nuclear physicists for decades. A research team from Technische Universität Darmstadt has now taken an important step toward understanding the origin of heavy elements. Their findings are published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-neutron-star-collisions-forge-gold.html General Physics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:00:04 EDT news704626286 Scientists have discovered a previously unknown law of geometry that explains why some growing surfaces, whether in nature or in engineered materials, suddenly stop being able to stay smooth and instead form dimples and folds. Until now, researchers believed they understood the geometric rules behind these shape changes, but this study reveals a new kind of "geometric frustration" that arises even when all the known rules are satisfied. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wrinkles-suddenly-crumple.html General Physics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:20:01 EDT news704540741 For most theories in physics, the order of operations has little impact on the result. When setting a dial to a certain position, for example, it doesn't matter whether it's turned clockwise or counterclockwise—the result will always be the same. Yet for non-Abelian gauge theories, order does matter. These theories underpin the Standard Model, but to test their more subtle predictions, researchers have so far relied on enormous particle accelerators. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-complex-field-physics-tabletop-photonic.html General Physics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:20:04 EDT news704539586 Electronic motion sets the stage for virtually every light-induced process in nature, from the first step of a chemical reaction to the flow of charge in a solid. Yet these processes unfold so rapidly that they can be observed only with flashes of light lasting a few hundred attoseconds—billionths of a billionth of a second. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-attosecond-capture-electrons-motion.html General Physics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:40:06 EDT news704538601 A shape that captured worldwide attention for solving a decades-old mathematical puzzle has returned to the spotlight. While the shape's properties allowed it to solve previous puzzles, little is known about its other associated properties, creating opportunities for further discovery. These unexplored properties may also help solve new physics mysteries, such as how to twist light into striking chiral patterns. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-einstein-problem-reveals-unexpected-physics.html General Physics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 05:00:04 EDT news704452981 For decades, a theory in physics has postulated the existence of a mirror world whose interaction with our own reality is extremely feeble. The particles in this mirror universe are also thought to be candidates for dark matter. Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have now examined some 25 billion neutrons—thereby ruling out, with a very high degree of certainty, their disappearance into the mirror world. The research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ultracold-neutrons-dont-mirror-world.html General Physics Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:40:03 EDT news704457870 Physicists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), the Technical University of Darmstadt, Sapienza University in Rome and the University of Camerino (both in Italy) have calculated the fundamental laws of thermodynamics for a gas composed of spinning particles. In the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they demonstrate that the pressure of this gas is similar to that of a normal gas but at an elevated temperature. In addition, localized surface currents arise that can be used for targeted particle transport. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-thermodynamic-framework-pressure-edge-currents.html General Physics Mon, 27 Jul 2026 18:20:04 EDT news704383741 The laws of thermodynamics state that heat naturally flows from hotter systems or regions to colder systems or regions until a state of thermal equilibrium is reached. This simple principle underpins the operation of numerous technologies, ranging from refrigerators to power plants. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-simultaneously-refrigeration.html General Physics Sun, 26 Jul 2026 12:20:01 EDT news704017786 Researchers from the University of Amsterdam and the University of New South Wales have answered a question that has been around for decades: whether ions of the metal ytterbium can enter certain long-lived, nearly stable states and, if so, for how long. The measured long-lived states may find applications in quantum computers and atomic clocks. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ytterbium-states-sharpen-quantum-atomic.html General Physics Fri, 24 Jul 2026 17:20:02 EDT news704113673 A scientific team led by Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, has identified the origin of a mysterious excess of low-energy gamma rays emitted by the nucleus zinc-70. They found that the excess is caused by magnetic transitions within the nucleus. The study, "Magnetic Character of the Low-Energy Enhancement in 70Zn," published in Nature, sheds light on a long-standing puzzle in nuclear physics and has far-reaching implications for astrophysics. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-magnetic-clues-atomic-nuclei-elements.html General Physics Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:20:03 EDT news704109961 All four main LHC experiments have found new signs that oxygen and neon collisions may create the extreme state of matter that existed during the first microseconds after the Big Bang. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-oxygen-collisions-lhc-indications-extreme.html General Physics Fri, 24 Jul 2026 10:20:01 EDT news704103827 It's been said that a finely tuned ear knows the size and shape of a piano by merely listening to the instrument's notes. An international team of physicists has now devised an analogous approach to detect the universe's hidden particles at high energies—opening a potential pathway for discovering new laws of physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-physicists-universe-piano-hidden-particles.html General Physics Fri, 24 Jul 2026 09:00:04 EDT news704102341 Fusion at high temperatures powers the sun and, if harnessed, could provide a potential source of energy here on Earth. But controlling fusion reactions has other benefits. The process also generates subatomic particles called neutrons that are used in a range of applications spanning medicine, research and national security. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-materials-fusion-reaction.html General Physics Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:40:06 EDT news704037601 What if the Higgs boson found in 2012 is not alone but is the only sibling we have encountered so far? Scientists at CERN discovered the particle that year, and it was a major discovery because it explained how other particles acquire mass. For a long time, scientists thought this was the final piece of the puzzle. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-machine-narrows-additional-particles-higgs.html General Physics Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:50:01 EDT news704040661 Heavy polar molecules are some of the most sensitive tools physicists have for probing what lies beyond the Standard Model, the theory that describes the particles and forces we know about. But turning that sensitivity into precise, trustworthy measurements has long been held back by one stubborn problem: Stray electric and magnetic fields drown out the tiny signals researchers are actually looking for. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-molecular-clock-transitions-tune-noise.html General Physics Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:00:07 EDT news703934328 Reliably generating controlled miniature rotations has long been a challenge: Chemical propulsion systems wear out, and methods that use electric or magnetic fields require complex setups. A team from KIT's Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT) and the Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics (SINANO) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has now demonstrated that flow at a water surface alone is sufficient to rotate a floating object in a fixed direction. Their research is published in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-surface-vortices-tiny-rotors-electricity.html General Physics Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:00:01 EDT news703947421 Logically, you would think a sleek surface has optimal aerodynamics—but recent research at Tohoku University turns this fundamental principle on its head. Applying an irregular microscale surface texture reduced the aerodynamic drag of a test model. The innovation has potential applications in the design of fuel-efficient vehicles. The study is published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-microscale-roughness-breakthrough-defies-years.html General Physics Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:00:04 EDT news703935124