Living organisms, ecosystems and the planet Earth are, from a physics point of view, examples of extraordinarily large and complex systems that are not in thermal equilibrium. To physically describe non-equilibrium systems, ...
For the rational design of new material compounds, it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying their synthesis. Analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance and spectroscopy are usually employed to ...
Laser-induced electrochemical deposition of metals on metals relies possibly on thermal and defect generation effects. When semiconductor substrates are chosen, locally photogenerated electrons can reduce metal ions resulting ...
Research in fundamental science has revealed the existence of quark-gluon plasma (QGP)—a newly identified state of matter—as the constituent of the early universe. Known to have existed a microsecond after the Big Bang, the ...
RIKEN physicists have fabricated a nanoscale "heat engine" that uses a property of electrons known as spin as the effective working medium. It is promising for exploring the development of spintronic heat engines capable ...
The Kibble-Zurek (KZ) mechanism, confirmed experimentally only for equilibrium phase transitions, is also applicable for non-equilibrium phase transitions, as is now shown by Tokyo Tech researchers in a new study. The KZ ...
Wildfires, floods, pollution, and overfishing are among the many disruptions that can change the balance of ecosystems, sometimes endangering the future of entire species. But evaluating these ecosystems to determine which ...
Inside cells, molecular droplets form defined compartments for chemical reactions. Not only sticky interactions between molecules, but also dynamic reactions can form such droplets, as was found by researchers from the Max ...
An expression for the maximum speed at which changes in macroscopic systems can occur has been derived by a theoretical physicist at RIKEN. This will deepen our understanding of quantum phenomena in systems that are not in ...
The development of high-speed strobe-flash photography in the 1960s by the late MIT professor Harold "Doc" Edgerton allowed us to visualize events too fast for the eye—a bullet piercing an apple, or a droplet hitting a pool ...
