New Atlas

Physics Audio available

Schrödinger's Art: Spooky physics paints microscopic artworks on "quantum canvas"

Michael Irving May 20, 2019

Researchers have produced what may very well be the first pieces of art made using non-classical matter. The team has reproduced classic artworks like the Mona Lisa and Starry Night on a “quantum canvas” as small as a human hair, by projecting light onto Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs).

The Mona Lisa, imaged on a "quantum canvas" that's only as wide as a human hair

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New-and-improved LIGO may have detected a black hole eating a neutron star

Michael Irving May 2, 2019

We’re now getting new gravitational wave detections so often it almost doesn’t seem special anymore. Barely a month into a new observation run, the LIGO/Virgo collaboration has now reported five new events, including what may be the first ever detection of a black hole swallowing a neutron star.

An artist's rendition of two neutron stars colliding, which is believed to be responsible for one ...

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Scientists identify source of strange glow in the sky

Michael Irving April 29, 2019

It might be hard to believed that a phenomenon as eye-catching as aurora could go undocumented, but in 2016 a new type of sky light was discovered, and given the strange name of STEVE. Exactly how the phenomenon worked was unknown, but a new study has now found some answers.

STEVE is made up of a pinkish ribbon and green streaks sometimes described as a "picket ...

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Dark matter detector reveals material with longest half-life ever – 18 sextillion years

Michael Irving April 28, 2019

Although the many experiments searching for evidence of dark matter have yet to turn up any solid proof yet, they are making other amazing discoveries. The XENON1T experiment has now revealed the longest half-life ever seen in an element, which is far, far longer than the age of the universe.

The XENON1T experiment may not have found dark matter, but it has now revealed the element ...

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Astronomers finally find the first molecule ever formed in the universe

Michael Irving April 17, 2019

Astronomers have finally found the very first molecule to ever form in the universe. The helium hydride ion (HeH+) has long been a key theoretical part of how the chemistry of the cosmos kicked off. Now the first unambiguous evidence of the molecule in a planetary nebula has been found.

The planetary nebula NGC 7027, where astronomers found the first unambiguous detection of the helium hydride ...

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"Snowball chamber" would detect dark matter using supercooled water

Michael Irving April 15, 2019

Although dark matter makes up roughly 85 percent of all matter, it’s still never been directly detected. Now researchers from the State University of New York at Albany have developed a new dark matter detector using supercooled water.

Supercooled water could be used as a new type of dark matter detector

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More powerful than ever, LIGO fires back up to search for gravitational waves

Michael Irving April 4, 2019

In 2015, a century-old prediction by Einstein was finally proven correct, as gravitational waves were detected for the first time. Now, the facilities behind this discovery, LIGO, are back up and running after a year-long upgrade, with a few new tricks up their sleeves.

Scientists begin the process of upgrading the LIGO hardware for the third observing run, which kicked ...

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Missing in axion: Dark matter experiment rules out more candidate particles

Michael Irving March 31, 2019

Physicists have been hunting for dark matter for decades. Hypothetical particles called axions are a long-standing candidate, but a new experiment has now found that they don’t exist – at least within a certain mass range.

A new experiment has narrowed the search for dark matter particles, by eliminating a candidate known ...

Physics

Physicists measure quantum tunneling time to be near-instantaneous

Michael Irving March 18, 2019

If you throw a particle at a wall, there’s a chance that it will suddenly appear on the other side. This is thanks to a phenomenon known as quantum tunneling, and now a team of physicists has measured just how long that process takes.

Physicists have measured how long it takes particles to quantum tunnel through barriers, and found it ...

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CERN's proposed 100-km particle accelerator would run rings around the LHC

Darren Quick January 15, 2019

CERN, the European research organization responsible for operating the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), has released a report outlining a proposed particle accelerator that would be nearly four times as long and 10 times as powerful as its predecessor.

The proposed Future Circular Collider (FCC) would have a circumference of 100 km (62 mi), dwarfing ...