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Global Array of Atomic Magnetometers may Help Answer Universe’s Dark Mysteries

Researchers from Canada, California, and Poland have devised a straightforward way to test an intriguing idea about the nature of dark energy and dark matter. A global array of atomic magnetometers – small laboratory devices that can sense minute changes in magnetic fields – could signal when Earth passes through fractures in space known as domain walls. These structures could be the answer to the universe’s darkest mysteries.

7 Jan 2013

Dynamic Computer Simulations of Molecular Systems Essential for Quantum Mechanics

Because modern computers have to depict the real world with digital representations of numbers instead of physical analogues, to simulate the continuous passage of time they have to digitize time into small slices. This kind of simulation is essential in disciplines from medical and biological research, to new materials, to fundamental considerations of quantum mechanics, and the fact that it inevitably introduces errors is an ongoing problem for scientists.

4 Jan 2013

AMS Honors Research on Algebra of Grand Unified Theories

John Baez, a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Riverside, and UC Riverside alumnus John Huerta will receive the 2013 Levi L. Conant Prize from the American Mathematical Society (AMS).

4 Jan 2013

Scientists Harness Spinmotive Force to Generate Electrical Current

Scientists are putting a new spin on their approach to generating electrical current by harnessing a recently identified electromotive force known as spinmotive force, which is related to the field of spintronics that addresses such challenges as improving data storage in computers.

4 Jan 2013

Scientists Measure Influence of Ambient Temperature on Strontium Atoms

PTB measures the influence of the ambient temperature on strontium atoms for the first time – measurement uncertainty reduced by one order of magnitude

3 Jan 2013

Monster Charged Particle Geysers Shoot Out of Milky Way Galaxy

"Monster" outflows of charged particles from the centre of our Galaxy, stretching more than halfway across the sky, have been detected and mapped with CSIRO's 64-m Parkes radio telescope. Corresponding to the "Fermi Bubbles" found in 2010, the outflows were detected by astronomers from Australia, the USA, Italy and The Netherlands. The finding is reported in today's issue of Nature.

3 Jan 2013

ALMA Telescope Reveals Key Stage in Birth of Giant Planets

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope have seen a key stage in the birth of giant planets for the first time. Vast streams of gas are flowing across a gap in the disc of material around a young star. These are the first direct observations of such streams, which are expected to be created by giant planets guzzling gas as they grow. The result is published on 2 January 2013 in the journal Nature.

3 Jan 2013

Mysterious Source of Incredible Energy Outflows from Centre of Galaxy

Enormous outflows of charged particles from the centre of our Galaxy, stretching more than halfway across the sky and moving at supersonic speeds, have been detected and mapped with CSIRO's 64-m Parkes radio telescope.

3 Jan 2013

Quantum Technology Helps Demonstrate 'Secure Bit Commitment' Technology

Many scenarios in business and communication require that two parties share information without either being sure if they can trust the other. Examples include secure auctions and identification at ATM machines. Exploiting the strange properties of the quantum world could be the answer to dealing with such distrust: researchers at the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) at the National University of Singapore have used the quantum properties of light to perform the world's first demonstration of a 'secure bit commitment' technology. The work is described in Nature Communications.

3 Jan 2013

Supermassive Black Hole at Quasar’s Center Emits Record-Setting X-Ray Jet

Our understanding of the early universe has taken a small step forward thanks to the discovery of a new record-setting X-ray, emitting jet. The research was a collaboration of astronomers led by Teddy Cheung Ph.D. ’04, and included Professor of Astrophysics John Wardle, Doug Gobeille Ph.D. ’10 and four other scientists. It was detected with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and observed with the Hubble Space Telescope and with the radio antennas of the Very Large Array in New Mexico.

3 Jan 2013