Science

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Deeper understanding of quantum chaos may be the key to quantum computers

New research gives insight into a recent experiment that was able to manipulate an unprecedented number of atoms through a quantum simulator. This new theory could provide another step on the path to creating the elusive quantum computers.

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Quantum systems can exist in many possible states, here illustrated by groups of spins, each pointing along a certain direction. Thermalization occurs when a system evenly explores all allowed configurations. Instead, when a "quantum scar" forms (as shown in the figure), some configurations emerge as special. This feature allows scarred systems to sustain memory of the initial state despite thermalization.

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Exiled Asteroid Discovered in Outer Reaches of Solar System

ESO telescopes find first confirmed carbon-rich asteroid in Kuiper Belt

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An international team of astronomers has used ESO telescopes to investigate a relic of the primordial Solar System. The team found that the unusual Kuiper Belt Object 2004 EW95 is a carbon-rich asteroid, the first of its kind to be confirmed in the cold outer reaches of the Solar System. This curious object likely formed in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and has been flung billions of kilometres from its origin to its current home in the Kuiper Belt.

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Harvesting clean hydrogen fuel through artificial photosynthesis

A new, stable artificial photosynthesis device doubles the efficiency of harnessing sunlight to break apart both fresh and salt water, generating hydrogen that can then be used in fuel cells.

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The colorized electron microscope image shows the gallium nitride towers of the artificial photosynthesis device at 52.5k magnification. These nanostructures rip water molecules apart into hydrogen and oxygen to produce clean hydrogen fuel.

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A designer's toolkit for constructing complex nanoparticles

A team of chemists at Penn State has developed a designer's toolkit that lets them build various levels of complexity into nanoparticles using a simple, mix-and-match process. "Researchers in areas as diverse as medicine, energy, and electronics often design complex nanoscale particles that are predicted to have useful functions," said Raymond E. Schaak, DuPont Professor of Materials Chemistry at Penn State and the leader of the research team. "But making them in the laboratory is often the bottleneck. Our strategy can help to streamline this process.

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A new mix-and-match toolkit allows researchers to create a library of complex nanoparticles that could be used in medical, energy, and electronic applications. First-generation (G-1) spheres, rods, and plates transform into 47 increasingly sophisticated higher-generation (G-2, G-3, G-4) particles through sequences of chemical reactions. In the image, each color represents a distinct type of material, and electron microscope images are shown for several types of particles.

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What Uranus Cloud Tops Have in Common With Rotten Eggs

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Arriving at Uranus in 1986, Voyager 2 observed a bluish orb with extremely subtle features. A haze layer hid most of the planet's cloud features from view.

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Research gives new ray of hope for solar fuel

The quest to develop the 'Holy Grail' of affordable, viable and environmentally-friendly fuels using sunlight has taken an exciting new twist.

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Research gives new ray of hope for solar fuel

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Stellar Thief Is the Surviving Companion to a Supernova

n the fading afterglow of a supernova explosion, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have photographed the first image of a surviving companion to a supernova. This is the most compelling evidence that some supernovas originate in double-star systems. The companion to supernova 2001ig’s progenitor star was no innocent bystander to the explosion—it siphoned off almost all of the hydrogen from the doomed star’s stellar envelope. SN 2001ig is categorized as a Type IIb stripped-envelope supernova, which is a relatively rare type of supernova in which most, but not all, of the hydrogen is gone prior to the explosion. Perhaps as many as half of all stripped-envelope supernovas have companions—the other half lose their outer envelopes via stellar winds.

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Companion to a Supernova Is No Innocent Bystander

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The dispute about the origins of terahertz photoresponse in graphene results in a draw

Physicists at MIPT and their British and Russian colleagues revealed the mechanisms leading to photocurrent in graphene under terahertz radiation.The paper published in Applied Physics Letters not only puts a period to a long-lasting debate about the origins of direct current in graphene illuminated by high-frequency radiation but also sets the stage for the development of high-sensitivity terahertz detectors. Such detectors are highly demanded in medical diagnostics, wireless communications and security systems.

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Photoresponse in graphene.

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Watching nanomaterials form in 4D: Novel technology allows researchers to see dynamic reactions as they happen at the nanoscale

Technology takes multi-frame videos of nanoparticles as they form in space and time Being able to watch the particles form gives researchers insight into how nanoparticles self-assemble Knowing how the particles form could change how researchers approach materials design An automated robotic system sets up the experiments, making them highly reproducible

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Micelles form in a solution by undergoing polymer-induced self-assembly (PISA).

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Ancient Galaxy Megamergers

ALMA and APEX discover massive conglomerations of forming galaxies in early Universe

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The ALMA and APEX telescopes have peered deep into space — back to the time when the Universe was one tenth of its current age — and witnessed the beginnings of gargantuan cosmic pileups: the impending collisions of young, starburst galaxies. Astronomers thought that these events occurred around three billion years after the Big Bang, so they were surprised when the new observations revealed them happening when the Universe was only half that age! These ancient systems of galaxies are thought to be building the most massive structures in the known Universe: galaxy clusters.