Final dance of unequal black hole partners
Solving the equations of general relativity for colliding black holes is no simple matter.
Astronomy
Nov 6, 2020
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Page 6 - News tagged with interferometers
Heaviest black hole merger is among three recent gravitational wave discoveries
Scientists observed what appears to be a bulked-up black hole tangling with a more ordinary one. The research team, which includes physicists from the University of Maryland, detected two black holes merging, but one of the ...
Astronomy
Sep 2, 2020
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Physicists introduce novel mechanism for electron optics in solid-​state systems
Electrons can interfere in the same manner as water, acoustical or light waves do. When exploited in solid-state materials, such effects promise novel functionality for electronic devices, in which elements such as interferometers, ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 14, 2020
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368
Tabletop quantum experiment could detect gravitational waves
Predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity, gravitational waves are ripples in space-time generated by certain movements of massive objects. They are important to study because they allow us to detect events in ...
Quantum Physics
Jul 1, 2020
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Quantum fluctuations can jiggle objects on the human scale
The universe, as seen through the lens of quantum mechanics, is a noisy, crackling space where particles blink constantly in and out of existence, creating a background of quantum noise whose effects are normally far too ...
Quantum Physics
Jul 1, 2020
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Either the heaviest-known neutron star or the lightest-known black hole: LIGO-Virgo finds mystery object in 'mass gap'
When the most massive stars die, they collapse under their own gravity and leave behind black holes; when stars that are a bit less massive die, they explode in a supernova and leave behind dense, dead remnants of stars called ...
Astronomy
Jun 23, 2020
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Long-distance fiber link poised to create powerful networks of optical clocks
An academic-industrial team in Japan has connected three laboratories in a 100-kilometer region with an optical telecommunications fiber network stable enough to remotely interrogate optical atomic clocks. This type of fiber ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 17, 2020
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150
A warm space station welcome for cool new hardware
Astronaut Christina Koch recently gave a warm welcome to a very cool arrival to the International Space Station: a new piece of hardware for the Cold Atom Lab, an experimental physics facility that chills atoms to almost ...
Space Exploration
Dec 18, 2019
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New technology improves gravitational wave detectors by cutting quantum noise
Physicists have successfully developed a new instrument that significantly reduces quantum-level noise that has thus far limited experiments' ability to spot gravitational waves. Collisions between massive black holes and ...
General Physics
Dec 12, 2019
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323
New instrument extends LIGO's reach
Just a year ago, the National Science Foundation-funded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO, was picking up whispers of gravitational waves every month or so. Now, a new addition to the system is ...
General Physics
Dec 5, 2019
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