https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Nature Physics Researchers from Rutgers, IBM and collaborating institutions have shown that a quantum computer can check what is happening inside it and respond while it is running, repeatedly resetting parts of the system to bring chaotic behavior under control. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-closer-quantum.html Quantum Physics Mon, 12 Oct 2026 11:20:22 EDT news711015962 Physicists in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford have used a hybrid quantum computer, made up of qubits and quantum oscillators, to observe the Aharonov–Bohm effect in a quantum simulation. The effect is a quantum phenomenon in which a particle can acquire a measurable phase by traveling around a magnetic flux, even though it never passes through a region where a magnetic field is present. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-hybrid-quantum-foundational-effect.html Quantum Physics Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:57:07 EDT news710834138 Many fascinating phases in quantum materials emerge when electrons, atoms and other microscopic components begin to act collectively. But these phases do not necessarily appear out of nowhere when a material crosses a transition temperature. Before long-range order develops, microscopic fluctuations can already be present. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ultrafast-core-spectroscopy-reveals-elusive.html Condensed Matter Fri, 09 Oct 2026 10:14:28 EDT news705922856 Quantum computers, computer systems that leverage the laws of quantum mechanics, store and process information using qubits (i.e., quantum bits). In many quantum computers, qubits are linked via entanglement, a quantum mechanical effect that connects particles in such a way that their shared state cannot be described as separate, independent states. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-superconducting-circuit-links-smaller-photon.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 09 Oct 2026 08:00:06 EDT news710499125 Collisions between particles at high energies can sometimes produce new particles and shed light on interactions between the fundamental constituents of matter. Simulating these collisions and their underlying processes could yield valuable insights into how matter behaves at extremely small scales. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-shortcut-particle-collisions-easier.html General Physics Wed, 07 Oct 2026 08:00:01 EDT news710065765 Many complex quantum systems rapidly lose the recognizable patterns of their initial states as their components interact. To describe patterns of regular and chaotic motion in specific systems, physicists can construct a mathematical map called an effective phase space. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scientists-uncover-recurrent-patterns-chaotic.html General Physics Mon, 05 Oct 2026 08:00:04 EDT news709981266 When light or sound bounces around inside an oddly shaped room, its reflections can quickly become difficult to predict. But new research led by scientists at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) shows that waves can behave very differently when they travel through a special class of materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-chaos-oddly-cavity.html General Physics Mon, 28 Sep 2026 05:00:03 EDT news709561441 Classical computers can temporarily store the information required to perform specific tasks in a short-term memory component known as RAM (random access memory). This component allows computer processors to retrieve information from a chosen location without searching through all stored data. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-random-access-quantum-memory-processor.html Quantum Physics Fri, 25 Sep 2026 08:00:01 EDT news709464005 Superconductors can carry electrical current without resistance, but only up to a maximum value known as the critical current. The critical current is a crucial figure of merit for applications, and materials science has long been focused on increasing this limit. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) have now shown that, in type-II superconductors, this conventional limit can be exceeded when the current is applied for only a few picoseconds. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-picosecond-pulses-superconductors-critical-current.html Superconductivity Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:00:01 EDT news709467061 A research team led by faculty at the Duke Quantum Center (DQC) has observed string-breaking dynamics related to particle-antiparticle formation on a quantum simulator, among the first such observations in quantum physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-quantum-device-simulates.html General Physics Wed, 23 Sep 2026 09:40:01 EDT news709372313 A new study led by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) reveals that living matter violates previously known physical principles of symmetry when cellular flows form and break down collective patterns. The research, published in Nature Physics, challenges conventional liquid-crystal physics by showing that moving single-celled bacteria and human respiratory cells spontaneously break mirror symmetry, moving in curved, irreversible spiral paths. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-swarming-bacteria-tissue-cells-defies.html General Physics Tue, 22 Sep 2026 17:40:05 EDT news709313101 Reliably verifying the location of a device connected to the internet or other networks is important for various real-world applications. For instance, it could be valuable for authorizing financial transactions, securing communications and controlling who can access specific databases or services. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-quantum-protocol-device-position-stations.html Quantum Physics Tue, 22 Sep 2026 09:40:03 EDT news709287636 The electronic properties of materials are typically determined by their structure under normal, undisturbed conditions, when they are in a state known as equilibrium. Intense light beams, however, can temporarily reshape a material's electronic band structure (i.e., the range of energy states available to electrons), potentially giving rise to new electronic behaviors. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-electrons-graphene-transient-topological-state.html Condensed Matter Sat, 19 Sep 2026 15:20:01 EDT news708945827 Perfection is overrated—at least when it comes to complex systems like the power grid, food webs and advanced materials. For decades, scientists generally assumed that networks function most reliably when their individual components are as similar as possible. But real-world networks are rarely uniform. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-finely-tuned-mess-disorder-networks.html Mathematics Thu, 17 Sep 2026 19:40:04 EDT news708874381 Whether on a windowpane at home or during the industrial cleaning of computer chips: droplets sliding over solid surfaces become electrically charged. Yet the physical mechanism behind this charging remains a subject of debate. This charging is usually attributed to the exchange of charged particles (ions) at the interface between the droplet and the surface. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-droplets-mechanism-mobile-ions.html Condensed Matter Wed, 16 Sep 2026 14:40:04 EDT news708779461 Does gravity act equally on all particles in the universe, or are there differences between ordinary and exotic matter? Physics professor Anna Soter and her team at ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen are investigating this question. "We have taken an important step toward carrying out an exciting experiment on this topic," says Soter. "We want to measure the gravitational interaction of the muon." https://phys.org/news/2026-09-particle-einstein-theory-gravity.html General Physics Tue, 15 Sep 2026 09:40:06 EDT news708683461 Some of the strangest weather in the solar system doesn't happen on Earth or even in Jupiter's Great Red Spot—it happens in the interiors of ice giants like Neptune and Uranus. Specifically, scientists have long believed that, at certain pressures and temperatures, it literally rains diamonds inside these planets. For the first time, scientists have mimicked the process they believe creates this phenomenon. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-diamond-secret-ice-giants.html Planetary Sciences Sat, 29 Aug 2026 20:30:04 EDT news707038082 Electrons, particles that carry a negative electric charge, typically move through materials. At low densities and temperatures, however, the electrical repulsion between them can overpower their tendency to move, prompting them to arrange themselves into ordered patterns known as Wigner crystals. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-reveals-internal-motion-electron-crystals.html Condensed Matter Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:03 EDT news706964413 Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a promising new way to protect fragile quantum information using nothing but mechanical vibrations—essentially extremely small sound waves. The breakthrough, which comes from the lab of Marko Lončar, Tiantsai Lin Professor of Electrical Engineering, paves a path toward compact, sound-based quantum networks on chips, as well as hybrid quantum systems that combine many different types of quantum bits, or qubits. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-duty-quantum.html Quantum Physics Tue, 25 Aug 2026 17:00:03 EDT news706882021 You may have once tried taking a close-up picture of a computer screen and noticed a wavy, rippling effect. This optical effect occurs whenever two fine, repeating grids overlap and slightly misalign, such as when the pixel grid of your camera's sensor overlaps with the pixel grid of the screen. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-degree-nanoscale-grid-energy-room.html Nanophysics Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:00:03 EDT news706792741 Superconductors are materials that carry electrical current with zero resistance below a specific critical temperature. In conventional superconductors, the transition to superconductivity generally occurs at very low temperatures. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-superconducting-gap-ultrathin-nickelate-defies.html Condensed Matter Sun, 23 Aug 2026 10:10:01 EDT news706441308 An electron is supposed to be indivisible. It carries one fundamental unit of electric charge, and every electron is exactly the same. But under extreme conditions, large numbers of electrons act together and give rise to new quantum objects called quasiparticles. These act as if they carry only a fraction of an electron's charge, making them one of the strangest phenomena in modern physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-graphene-device-fractional-electric-quantum.html Condensed Matter Mon, 17 Aug 2026 13:40:10 EDT news706185841 Diamond is more than a dazzling gem—the extremely hard form of carbon makes up the pellet that encases fuel for inertial confinement fusion, and scientists believe it rains down deep inside ice giant planets like Neptune and Uranus. In both cases, the material experiences enormous pressures. Until now, experiments and simulations have disagreed about how it actually behaves under those conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-diamond-triple-fusion-gain-secrets.html General Physics Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:40:05 EDT news705836281 Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with zero electrical resistance below specific temperatures. Most of these materials become superconducting at very low temperatures, but some also exhibit superconductivity at higher temperatures. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-sought-zhang-rice-singlet-visualized.html Superconductivity Wed, 12 Aug 2026 08:00:01 EDT news705663782 Researchers at the University of Basel and the Technical University of Munich have developed a new method to reveal the collective motion of electrons in one of the most elusive states of matter: the Wigner crystal. Using light, the physicists were able to uncover previously inaccessible properties of this fragile quantum state. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-optical-method-reveals-internal-dynamics.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:00:03 EDT news705591481 Skyrmions—essentially magnetic vortices—represent a promising approach in spintronics; in the future, they could serve as components in storage media or computers, potentially complementing established CMOS technologies. Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have now visualized the interaction of antiferromagnetic skyrmions for the first time and shown that antiferromagnetic skyrmions move reproducibly along straight trajectories aligned with the driving electric current. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-real-reveal-antiferromagnetic-skyrmions-line.html Condensed Matter Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:00:03 EDT news705581582 In a new Nature Physics study, researchers accelerated electrons to more than twice the energy predicted by the traditional dephasing limit for laser-plasma accelerators operating over the same distance. This was made possible by a specially engineered laser pulse called a flying focus, which counteracts a longstanding limitation known as "dephasing." https://phys.org/news/2026-08-flying-focus-laser-key-limitation.html Optics & Photonics Sat, 08 Aug 2026 15:40:03 EDT news705318688 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 A tall glass of ice water isn't just a thirst quencher; it's also an everyday example of coexisting phases. Water can exist simultaneously in both liquid and solid phases. As it turns out, this phase duality can also exist in more exotic quantum materials, in ways that are far more complicated to tease apart. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-physicists-material-electrons-reassemble-coexisting.html Condensed Matter Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:00:01 EDT news705315901 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