https://phys.org/physics-news/physics/ en-us The latest news on physics, materials, nanotech, science and technology. The possibility of controlling "forbidden" excitations of vibrations in molecules could form the basis of extremely accurate clocks, quantum bits and precise tests of the fundamental laws of physics. Researchers at the University of Basel have now identified and controlled such "forbidden" transitions in single isolated nitrogen molecules without destroying them. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-laser-reveal-forbidden-vibrations-molecules.html General Physics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 15:00:01 EST news713533922 An international collaboration of physicists has presented its first results in its search for hypothetical particles that could help to explain the vast disparity between the strength of gravity and the three fundamental forces described by the Standard Model. Following three years of data collection at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)'s FASER experiment, the FASER Collaboration found no evidence for these heavy, slow-moving "quirks." https://phys.org/news/2026-11-lhc-collaboration-result-quirks.html General Physics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 11:50:01 EST news713532498 Physicists at the ALPS II collaboration have reported the first results from the Any-Light-Particle-Search (ALPS) II experiment: the most sensitive instrument of its kind in the search for hypothetical "axions." Headed by Axel Lindner at the DESY Research Centre in Germany, the collaboration found no evidence for axions in this initial campaign, but its results offer valuable guidance for future runs: tightening the search for one of the most promising candidates for dark matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-world-sensitive-lab-based-axion.html General Physics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 08:40:01 EST news713447989 Tiny levitated magnets are able to avoid contact friction, making them useful for detecting extremely weak forces and magnetic fields and acting as ultralow-noise quantum sensors and precision measurement tools. Combining levitation with extreme cold further reduces unwanted motion that can make faint signals hard to detect. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-fastest-levitated-magnet-physicists-dark.html General Physics Mon, 09 Nov 2026 12:30:01 EST news713447973 For the first time, an international team of researchers from Germany, Thailand, India, China and the United States has created a three-component Hubbard system with tunable interactions in the laboratory. In doing so, the team used a quantum gas microscope to make the individual atoms visible. The study, published in Science, provides an important foundation for future quantum simulations of nuclear physics and materials science. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-quantum-gas-microscope-reveals-individual.html General Physics Fri, 06 Nov 2026 15:20:01 EST news713194141 Disorder can make sense, and understanding its logic can be genuinely useful. A study by a research group at the University of Trento shows how a minimal chemical difference can turn chaotic, disordered motion into a highly coordinated and reproducible structure. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-chaos-intelligent-soft-tiny-chemical.html General Physics Fri, 06 Nov 2026 09:20:01 EST news713177281 In the first fraction of a second following the Big Bang, matter existed as a trillion-degree plasma of quarks and gluons—subatomic particles that zinged around at close to the speed of light. This roiling soup lasted for just a few microseconds before the particles coalesced into more stable protons and neutrons. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-pinning-quark-gluon-plasma-universe.html General Physics Thu, 05 Nov 2026 18:10:01 EST news713122382 Physicists at CERN report that they've detected evidence of a rare meson particle decay (B⁰→ µ⁺µ⁻) that occurs when the meson's beauty quark annihilates with a down-type quark. The pair decays into a muon and antimuon, which are particles similar to electrons. Because evidence for this decay helps test theoretical predictions from the Standard Model, physicists have been waiting for it since 1984, when it was first theorized. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-years-physicists-evidence-ultrarare-particle.html General Physics Thu, 05 Nov 2026 12:30:02 EST news713103421 Newton's theory of gravity has described the tides accurately for centuries. But could a tiny trace of Einstein's general relativity also be hidden in them? In a new study, a mathematician at Freie Universität Berlin has outlined how a targeted approach could be used to search for effects of this nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-einstein-gravitational-newton-tides.html General Physics Thu, 05 Nov 2026 10:40:18 EST news713095623 Are the laws of physics truly the same everywhere in the universe? This fundamental principle, known as Lorentz invariance, lies at the heart of Einstein's theory of relativity. Yet some theories that seek to reconcile gravity with quantum physics suggest that it might not always hold. To investigate this possibility, researchers from the international KM3NeT collaboration analyzed 5,828 atmospheric neutrino candidate events detected by KM3NeT/ORCA, a neutrino telescope located deep in the Mediterranean Sea. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-einstein-laws-bottom-mediterranean-sea.html General Physics Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:08 EST news712852321 Physicists have found evidence of a particle decay so rare that it is expected to occur only around once in every 10 billion "beauty" particles. The result, from the upgraded LHCb experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), follows a search spanning more than 40 years and brings physicists closer to exploring the "Zeptoverse"—an unexplored world that exists at distances of a billionth of a trillionth of a meter, or a "zeptometer," where new particles and forces of nature may be hiding. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-physicists-closer-zeptoverse-year-particle.html General Physics Tue, 03 Nov 2026 10:40:30 EST news712921381 Stanford engineers and colleagues designed a chip that can take a muddled mixture of light from multiple lasers and output clean beams of light. It's the first time researchers have demonstrated a device that can take in mixed, or partially coherent, light and sort its photons into a clear set of separate beams. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-fingernail-sized-chip-untangles.html General Physics Tue, 03 Nov 2026 09:20:12 EST news712919281 Particle accelerators are expensive. Not just to build or to run, but also to predict the outcome of measurements obtained from them. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-tropical-shortcut-particle-collider.html General Physics Fri, 30 Oct 2026 15:40:01 EDT news712582502 Researchers have experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, that it is possible to obtain from an altermagnet a spin current that can transport magnetic information. This result is supported by the theoretical model of electron transport developed by the CFM group. Altermagnets are a new class of materials that, despite not exhibiting the net magnetization characteristic of conventional magnets, can generate this type of current. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-electrical-reveal-hidden-magnetic-altermagnets.html General Physics Thu, 29 Oct 2026 15:40:04 EDT news712497013 More than a century after Einstein first devised the equations that describe gravity, physicists are still finding new ways of interpreting them. Luca Comisso, an associate research scientist in Columbia University's departments of Astronomy and Physics and the Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, and Felipe A. Asenjo of Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile, recently found a new way of looking at Einstein's equations that reveals a striking analogy with "magnetic reconnection" in plasmas, which occurs when magnetic field lines break and reconnect, powering explosive phenomena such as solar flares. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-gravitational-fields-reconnect-einstein-equations.html General Physics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 11:00:12 EDT news712239782 Researchers at Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) have succeeded in controlling the magnetism in the nucleus of a single atom with radio waves. This came as a surprise: until now, physicists believed that this nuclear spin could not be manipulated directly. The discovery could open up new possibilities for storing and reading quantum information. The research is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-magnetic-core-atom.html General Physics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 10:20:08 EDT news712399742 When two objects touch and then separate, they can swap tiny amounts of electric charge, even if they are made from exactly the same material. This 'triboelectric effect' is the source of everyday static electricity, but it is still poorly understood in large samples of powder, where vast numbers of particles are constantly colliding with each other. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-levitated-particles-reveal-static.html General Physics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 08:00:09 EDT news712326851 Hula hooping may be literal child's play, but as it turns out, the physics behind the gym-class staple is so complicated that scientists have spent decades trying to understand how the hula hoop defies gravity. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-decoding-loopy-physics-hula-hooping.html General Physics Tue, 27 Oct 2026 19:40:05 EDT news712329901 In nonreciprocal active matter, agents act differently on each other, seemingly in violation of Newton's third law. This principle can result in various active matter traits, such as self-propulsion, molecular regulation and collective motion. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-identical-vesicles-behaviors-reveals-spontaneous.html General Physics Tue, 27 Oct 2026 19:00:09 EDT news712326001 Neutrinos are among the most abundant particles in the universe, but they are also among the most elusive. Nearly massless, they are produced by nuclear reactions in the sun, exploding stars, particle accelerators and even the decay of radioactive elements on Earth. They interact so weakly with ordinary matter that trillions pass through each person every second without leaving a trace. Studying these ghostly particles could help answer some of the biggest questions in physics, from the nature of dark matter to why matter exists at all. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-spine-machine-trail-ghost-particles.html General Physics Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:10:01 EDT news712330469 Some proteins that are linked to neurodegenerative diseases can form both liquid droplets and amyloid fibers. But how are these two states connected, and where do the fibers grow? Leiden physicists Liru Feng and Louise Jawerth have discovered a counter-intuitive mechanism. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-physicists-reveal-paradigm-fiber-growth.html General Physics Mon, 26 Oct 2026 11:40:06 EDT news712228441 The positron is the antimatter counterpart of the electron, identical in mass but carrying an equal and opposite electric charge. Like the electron, it also behaves like a tiny bar magnet, and according to a key prediction of the Standard Model of particle physics, its magnetic moment should be exactly equal and opposite to the electron's. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-positron-cyclotron-key-standard.html General Physics Sat, 24 Oct 2026 13:20:02 EDT news711890804 Glass can keep a drink safely contained, protect a smartphone screen, or serve as a foundation for electronic components. But when it comes to controlling heat, this familiar material still holds some scientific mysteries. Now, researchers have identified a key factor governing how efficiently heat travels through silicate glass, offering a new guideline for designing glass materials for next-generation electronic devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-glass-good-key.html General Physics Fri, 23 Oct 2026 10:20:25 EDT news711967502 Scientists from RMIT University and Riga Technical University in Latvia have shown that static charge left on surfaces can be controlled, which may have big benefits for companies needing to avoid the little zap in production of common household goods. The discovery could even one day help stop powders such as protein, chocolate malt powders and coffee from clumping. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-invisible-tweak-protein-clumpy.html General Physics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:40:16 EDT news711796202 For the first time, Northwestern University physicists have coaxed a single positron—the antimatter counterpart of an electron—into an exquisitely controlled quantum state. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-physicists-particle-antimatter-months.html General Physics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:00:10 EDT news711713041 New results from the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) provide strong evidence that smashing oxygen nuclei together at nearly the speed of light generates a quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a type of matter that existed just after the birth of the universe. The data, just published in Physical Review Letters, show that energetic jets of particles lose energy as they traverse the hot, dense matter left in the collision's wake. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-oxygen-collisions-evidence-jet-quenching.html General Physics Tue, 20 Oct 2026 17:20:01 EDT news711719881 Tiny atoms and molecules are constantly bombarding each other all around us. While we regularly measure the large-scale effects of these interactions, measuring the effect of each individual collision is far more difficult. But now, researchers have managed to measure how tiny gas particles affect a single silica particle in the lab. In their new study, published in Physical Review Letters, the team describes how they detected the momentum transfers of individual collisions of gas particles with a nanoparticle levitated in laser light. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-individual-atomic-collisions-lab-potentially.html General Physics Tue, 20 Oct 2026 13:10:01 EDT news711719258 For scientists, breakthroughs often stem from unexpected turns. A research team led by Oscar Dahlsten, an associate professor in the Department of Physics at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), set out to prove a theoretical limitation, only to discover a quantum solution. The finding breaks traditional physical constraints and introduces a strategy for harvesting energy from fluctuating sources. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-pathway-entropy-free-energy.html General Physics Tue, 20 Oct 2026 11:00:01 EDT news711706981 Scientists have unveiled a new theory on the birth of the cosmos, suggesting the early universe was shaped by an ancient particle that has been overlooked for decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-forgotten-particle-mystery-physicists.html General Physics Mon, 19 Oct 2026 19:10:02 EDT news711618181 Some quantum systems are so complex that even the most powerful supercomputers struggle to simulate their behavior. One solution is quantum simulation: building a controllable quantum system in the lab and tuning it to mimic the one researchers want to understand. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-monolithic-ion-quantum-simulations.html General Physics Sun, 18 Oct 2026 14:00:06 EDT news711191698