Articles by Sam Jarman
Phys.org / Cutting a photon in two creates an infinite swarm of particles
By definition, elementary particles can't be broken into smaller pieces. But in a new theoretical study published in Physical Review Letters, Johannes Skaar and colleagues have revealed what would happen if you tried anyway ...
Phys.org / Quantum light gives a 20-fold boost to ultrafast laser processes
Nonlinear interactions between light and matter are at the heart of some of the most powerful tools in modern optics, but pushing these processes to their limits has long been hampered by a fundamental constraint: the stronger ...
Tech Xplore / 3D silicon circuits bring denser computer chips closer to reality
By stacking transistors on top of one another, rather than laying them side by side on a flat chip, many electronic engineers are hopeful that vast amounts of computing power could be packed into tiny spaces, all while cutting ...
Phys.org / Ripples in fire-ant collectives suggest motions are driven by neighbor alignments
Researchers in Spain have discovered that in collectives of moving fire ants, rippling "waves" of density and activity are likely triggered by local regions where ants collectively travel in the same direction as their neighbors.
Phys.org / Rare observations reveal an X9 solar flare before it erupts
Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation from the sun's surface, which can wreak havoc on Earth's power grids, damage orbiting satellites, and pose serious radiation risks to astronauts. Yet despite decades of study, ...
Phys.org / Memory-preserving transistors could bypass the Boltzmann limit
Researchers have created a new theoretical framework that shows how memory-preserving "memtransistors" could overcome the intrinsic limits in efficiency faced by conventional semiconductor transistors, imposed by the laws ...
Phys.org / 'Butterfly' molecule spotted at last, completing a 20-year quantum zoo hunt
For two decades, physicists have predicted the existence of a remarkable family of exotic molecules: giant atoms bound to ordinary atoms, with an electron so distant from its nucleus that it sculpts the pair into bizarre ...
Phys.org / Extreme 8.5-minute orbit reveals white dwarf being torn apart by its binary companion
A team of U.S. astronomers has observed a binary pair of white dwarfs where one star is actively devouring material from the other. Led by Emma Chickles at MIT, the researchers revealed one of the clearest views yet of how ...
Phys.org / Molecule-in-a-crystal system could boost quantum computing via chemically engineered qubits
Within a crystal's atomic structure, tiny atomic-scale flaws will naturally occur where electrons can become trapped. These defects have emerged as one of the leading platforms for quantum information processing. Through ...
Phys.org / Tritium-infused graphene could sharpen the hunt for neutrino mass
While neutrinos are some of the most abundant particles in the universe, they remain among the least understood. One of the biggest puzzles is their mass: although experiments have shown that neutrinos must have some mass, ...
Phys.org / Consistency check casts doubt on evolving dark energy
Cosmologists have long struggled to determine whether the universe's accelerating expansion is being driven by a simple cosmological constant, or whether dark energy's influence is evolving over time. In a new analysis published ...
Phys.org / Neutrino flavor flips could be key to triggering supernovae
Despite being so elusive, neutrinos are produced in abundance in some of the most violent events in the universe. One of their strangest properties is that they can spontaneously switch between three types, or "flavors": ...
Science X / Perseverance rover uncovers the role of water in Mars's mineral past
NASA's Perseverance rover has spent more than three and a half years exploring Mars's Jezero Crater, building up a remarkable catalog of mineral discoveries.
Phys.org / Mostly empty foam overturns assumptions of electron beam stopping
When physicists fire beams of fast electrons at materials, they often need to know exactly how much energy those electrons will lose as they travel through. Through new research published in Physical Review Letters, a team ...
Phys.org / Resilient quantum sensor monitors Earth's magnetic field from space for 10 months
From navigation to solar weather forecasting, many different areas of research require space-based sensors to measure Earth's magnetic field as accurately as possible at any given moment. So far, however, existing sensors ...