https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. 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 A new study published in Nature Physics reports the first direct experimental evidence of a Floquet topological state, a novel light-induced phase of matter that, until now, has existed only on paper and in simulations. Topological insulators can conduct electricity along their surface while remaining insulating throughout their bulk. Physicists have spent years developing Floquet engineering, a technique that uses intense, rapidly oscillating light fields to temporarily reshape a material's electronic structure. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-physicists-capture-evidence-floquet-topological.html Condensed Matter Mon, 27 Jul 2026 08:00:01 EDT news704113591 Underpinning much of modern technology, from smartphones to scanning tunneling microscopes to particle colliders, is Fermi's Golden Rule. Named for 20th-century Italian American physicist Enrico Fermi (but actually discovered by British physicist Paul Dirac), the rule is a formula that connects what can be measured in an experiment—such as how fast atoms "jump" between energy states—to the microscopic properties of a quantum mechanical system. The formula is taught in every undergraduate quantum physics class. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ingredients-blueprint-fermi-golden.html Quantum Physics Thu, 09 Jul 2026 08:20:03 EDT news702802093 Two-dimensional (2D) materials, which are significantly thinner than a single sheet of paper, have long drawn attention for their exceptional performance. However, they have faced a critical limitation: Their performance degrades significantly when multiple layers are stacked. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-stacking-2d-conductor-layer-bulk.html Nanophysics Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:50:02 EDT news700151762 The search for next-generation electronic materials often starts with studying the Fermi surface, which serves as a map of a material's electronic structure. Its shape varies with crystal structure, composition, and electronic band arrangement, directly impacting properties such as carrier density, magnetic behavior, and spin polarization. This makes it a crucial tool for understanding and engineering new materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-machine-faster-reliable-analysis-fermi.html Condensed Matter Mon, 27 Apr 2026 16:20:01 EDT news696512162 Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies—tiny satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way—have long been seen as cosmic fossils. Now, a new study published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society uses an unprecedented set of simulations to show just how powerfully these faint systems can reflect the conditions of the early universe and tell us why some galaxies grew and others did not. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-milky-cousins-clues-infant-universe.html Astronomy Thu, 23 Apr 2026 19:00:03 EDT news696167281 The cosmological constant is the mathematical description of the energy that drives the ever-accelerating expansion of the cosmos. It's also the source of one of the most enduring and confounding problems in modern physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mathematical-universe-cosmological-constant-problem.html General Physics Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:40:01 EDT news695907962 The most realistic picture yet of how galaxies formed and then evolved from the beginning of time has been revealed in a suite of new and unique audiovisual simulations. These data, accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, show that the standard cosmological model can successfully explain the observed growth of galaxies, from the first billion years after the Big Bang to the present day, when key physics is included. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-galaxies-evolve-dawn-universe.html Astronomy Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:20:06 EDT news695301782 A Majorana fermion is a particle that would be identical to its antiparticle. Such an object has not yet been found. However, certain solid materials exhibit analogous behavior as if Majorana fermions were present through collective excitations of the system called quasiparticles. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-poor-majoranas-quantum-probes.html Condensed Matter Sat, 11 Apr 2026 08:00:04 EDT news695029562 A team of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has identified a rare, switchable quantum property in a new type of nickel sulfide material. The discovery could have applications in high-speed transistors, adaptive sensors and other devices that require a material's electronic structure to be controlled on the fly. The research is published in the journal Matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-dont-material-transition-quantum-states.html Condensed Matter Wed, 25 Mar 2026 11:00:04 EDT news693650162 The best candidate for next-generation magnetic devices—technology that can power, store, sense or transport information—may be, counterintuitively, antiferromagnets. Today, the most widely used magnetic materials are ferromagnets, which exhibit permanent magnetization and therefore strongly attract each other. Their opposite, called antiferromagnetic materials, exhibit no net magnetization at all. Despite a net zero magnetic field, they offer appealing properties that would solve the challenges of current magnetic technologies, like stray magnetic field generation or slow operation. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-liquid-crystal-phase-antiferromagnets-electrically.html Condensed Matter Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:20:01 EST news691760161 Quantum mechanics and relativity are the two pillars of modern physics. However, for over a century, their treatment of space and time has remained fundamentally disconnected. Relativity unifies space and time into a single fabric called spacetime, describing it seamlessly. In contrast, traditional quantum theory employs different languages: quantum states (density matrix) for spatial systems and quantum channels for temporal evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-framework-space-quantum.html Quantum Physics Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:22:04 EST news686913611 Highspeed Internet, autonomous driving, the Internet of Things: data streams are proliferating at enormous speed. But classic radio technology is reaching its limits: the higher the data rate, the faster the signals need to be transmitted. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-terahertz-dirac-materials-enable-efficient.html Condensed Matter Thu, 04 Dec 2025 10:56:17 EST news684068161 For experimental physicists, the latest measurement of the muon is the best of times. For theorists there's still work to do. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-experimental-result-muon-theorists.html General Physics Fri, 21 Nov 2025 10:00:48 EST news682941588 Electricity powers our lives, including our cars, phones, computers, and more, through the movement of electrons within a circuit. While we can't see these electrons, electric currents moving through a conductor flow like water through a pipe to produce electricity. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-quantum-pinball-state-electrons-insulating.html Condensed Matter Thu, 06 Nov 2025 14:40:02 EST news681662267 Scientists at the University of Glasgow have harnessed a powerful supercomputer, normally used by astronomers and physicists to study the universe, to develop a new machine learning model which can help translate the language of proteins. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-supercomputer-ai-intricate-language-biomolecules.html Biotechnology Mon, 27 Oct 2025 14:19:05 EDT news680793541 An international team of researchers led by the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) has shed light on a decades-long debate about why galaxies spin faster than expected—and whether this behavior is caused by invisible dark matter or by a collapse of gravity on cosmic scales. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-dwarf-galaxies-scales-favor-dark.html Astronomy Mon, 27 Oct 2025 12:48:16 EDT news680788091 For the first time, by studying quantum correlations between triplets of secondary particles created during high-energy collisions in the LHC accelerator, it has been possible to observe their coherent production. This achievement confirms the validity of the core-halo model, currently used to describe one of the most important physical processes: hadronization, during which individual quarks combine to form the main components of matter in the universe. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-triplets-born-proton-collisions.html General Physics Thu, 16 Oct 2025 14:50:04 EDT news679844512 When you shine a flashlight into a glass of water, the beam bends. That simple observation, familiar since ancient times, hides one of the oldest puzzles in physics: what really happens to the momentum of light when it enters a medium? https://phys.org/news/2025-09-century-puzzle-momentum.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 24 Sep 2025 07:40:01 EDT news677852829 In a new Nature study, researchers at the University of Manchester have achieved unprecedented electronic quality in graphene by developing a proximity screening technique that places conducting gates just one nanometer away from the carbon lattice. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-proximity-screening-graphene-electronic-quality.html Nanophysics Tue, 16 Sep 2025 07:30:01 EDT news677151225 For centuries, astronomers have puzzled over the origins of one of the universe's oldest and densest stellar systems, known as globular clusters. Now, a University of Surrey-led study published in Nature has finally solved the mystery using detailed simulations—while also uncovering a new class of object that could already be in our own galaxy. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-simulations-centuries-cosmic-mystery-class.html Astronomy Wed, 10 Sep 2025 11:00:01 EDT news676632568 In a breakthrough for next-generation technologies, scientists have learned how to precisely control the behavior of tiny waves of light and electrons, paving the way for faster communications and quantum devices. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-terahertz-faster-electronics.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 08 Sep 2025 13:20:04 EDT news676555462 For several decades, a central puzzle in quantum physics has remained unsolved: Could electrons behave like a perfect, frictionless fluid with electrical properties described by a universal quantum number? https://phys.org/news/2025-09-graphene-reveals-electrons-frictionless-fluid.html Nanophysics Mon, 01 Sep 2025 12:53:13 EDT news675949986 A giant anomalous Hall effect (AHE) has been observed in a nonmagnetic material for the first time, as reported by researchers from Japan. This surprising result was achieved using high-quality Cd3As2 thin films, a Dirac semimetal, under an in-plane magnetic field. By modulating the material's band structure, the team isolated the AHE and traced its origin to orbital magnetization rather than spin, challenging long-held assumptions in condensed matter physics. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-physicists-elusive-hall-effect.html Condensed Matter Thu, 28 Aug 2025 14:14:03 EDT news675609241 RIKEN physicists have created the first thin films featuring a special combination of electrical and topological properties. This demonstration could help to realize new forms of electronics that are highly energy efficient. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-physicists-thin-topological-insulators-ferroelectric.html Condensed Matter Wed, 27 Aug 2025 10:53:39 EDT news675510815 A new Durham University study has found that a giant impact may not be responsible for the formation of Jupiter's remarkable "dilute" core, challenging a theory about the planet's history. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-counters-idea-jupiter-mysterious-core.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 21 Aug 2025 20:00:01 EDT news674984882 A team of researchers has discovered how a little-known type of symmetry in quantum materials, called nonsymmorphic symmetry, governs the way these materials interact with intense laser light. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-hidden-symmetries-ways-quantum-materials.html Condensed Matter Thu, 21 Aug 2025 16:31:03 EDT news675012661 Quantum mechanics has a reputation that precedes it. Virtually everyone who has bumped up against the quantum realm, whether in a physics class, in the lab, or in popular science writing, is left thinking something like, "Now, that is really weird." For some, this translates to weird and wonderful. For others it is more like weird and disturbing. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-electron-magnetic-moment-state-values.html Quantum Physics Wed, 09 Jul 2025 09:20:39 EDT news671271633 Angular momentum is a fundamental quantity in physics that describes the rotational motion of objects. In quantum physics, it encompasses both the intrinsic spin of particles and their orbital motion around a point. These properties are essential for understanding a wide range of systems, from atoms and molecules to complex materials and high-energy particle interactions. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-strong-magnetic-fields-flip-angular.html Condensed Matter Wed, 02 Jul 2025 10:08:03 EDT news670669681 The candidate pool for engineered materials that can help enable tomorrow's cutting-edge optical technologies—such as lasers, detectors and imaging devices—is much deeper than previously believed. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-pathways-previously-thought-optical-topological.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 24 Jun 2025 15:55:04 EDT news669999301