School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh’s Post

Imagine catching extremely complex behavior with simple mathematics … John Sheil is still surprised that such a thing is possible, but it is 🙂: Hitting a tin droplet with a powerful laser results in an expanding, extremely hot and dense plasma. Collaborating with researchers from ASML in San Diego, John and members of the ARCNL source department reached a ‘conclusion’: the average charge state of the plasma turns out to always scale with their kinetic energy to the power 0.4. Fascinating science! More on this discovery on the ARCNL website: https://lnkd.in/ejzPzE7C VU Physics and Astronomy

RESEARCH IN Institut Lumière Matière / ATTOSECOND IONIZATION TIME-DELAYS IN 2D MOLECULES Vincent Loriot, Alexie Boyer, Saikat Nandi, Alexandre MARCINIAK, Clara Garcia, Yaowei Hu, and franck lépine  (Dynamo team), with colleagues from Madrid and Trieste published an article entitled "Attosecond metrology of the two-dimensional charge distribution in molecules" in the journal Nature Physics. This publication has been the subject of a CNRS Physique communication. Photo-ionization is one of the most fundamental phenomena in physics. Following the absorption of a photon having an energy beyond the ionization potential, an electron can be released from the molecule. However, the electron interacts with the parent ion during its exit excursion. This interaction leads to dynamics which can be interpreted as a delay in photoionization of typically a few tens of attoseconds (1 as = 10-18 s). When the size of the ionized molecule increases, we can expect this interaction to be longer, and therefore the delay in photoionization to be greater. The authors showed that this intuitive vision is no longer valid in the case of planar molecules, i.e. two-dimensional (2D). Systematic photoionization time delays were found experimentally by comparing 2D molecules (naphthalene, pyrene, and fluorene) to a 3D molecule of similar composition and size (adamantane). An analytical model based on the first orders of the development of the molecular potential allowed to understand the dominant role of the quadrupole term in this ionization dynamic. SE-DFT numerical simulations carried out by our collaborators are in agreement with the experimental measurements and the model. This article shows that attosecond metrology then allows access to the image of the hole at the first instant of molecular photoionization. read more : https://lnkd.in/gRfk7CMS

⚛️ Today’s #PhysicistFriday is Pruthvi Mehta, PhD, Editor at The Page Doctor. Dr. Mehta received her bachelors and masters in physics from Queen Mary University of London and her PhD in physics from the University of Liverpool. Since then, she has been a contributing columnist to PhysicsWorld published by the Institute of Physics, a script writer for Spin Up Science, and a patent scientist for EIP, before moving into her current editorial role at The Page Doctor. Her article "How to survive a physics PhD" may be particularly relevant for some in my network (https://lnkd.in/ghmye3iX). Read Pruthvi's own reflections on her career and those who came before her in the article linked below. --------------------------------------------------------------------------  When I speak with students and early-career STEM professionals, a common question I hear is "What can I do with a physics degree?" This ⇧ series of posts is intended to help answer that question - physicists are in every industry and pursue a wide range of careers. AIP data shows that the vast majority of physics degree holders end up in careers outside of physics research or teaching, so it's important to understand the wide range of #stemcareers available.

"New third class of magnetism could transform digital memory: Experiment bridges theory and real-life realization. A new class of magnetism called altermagnetism has been imaged for the first time in a new study. The findings could lead to the development of new magnetic memory devices with the potential to increase operation speeds of up to a thousand times. Altermagnetism is a distinct form of magnetic order where the tiny constituent magnetic building blocks align antiparallel to their neighbors but the structure hosting each one is rotated compared to its neighbors. Scientists from the University of Nottingham's School of Physics and Astronomy have shown that this new third class of magnetism exists and can be controlled in microscopic devices. The findings have been published in Nature."... Phys org Read & learn more

Scientists in the Netherlands created a simulated black hole in a lab to study black hole behavior. Here's a simple breakdown of what happened: 1. **Creating the Black Hole Analog**: Researchers used a chain of atoms arranged in a single file to mimic the event horizon of a black hole. The event horizon is the boundary around a black hole beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape. 2. **Hawking Radiation**: Stephen Hawking theorized that black holes emit radiation, now known as Hawking radiation, due to quantum effects near the event horizon. This radiation suggests that black holes can lose mass and eventually vanish. 3. **Simulation Findings**: When scientists created their black hole analog, they observed a surprising glow, which they identified as Hawking radiation. This was unexpected because, typically, no light should escape from a black hole. 4. **Significance of the Glow**: The glow was observed only when part of the atomic chain extended beyond the event horizon. This indicates that the entanglement of particles near the event horizon is necessary to produce Hawking radiation. 5. **Implications for Science**: This experiment helps bridge the gap between two major theories in physics: - **General Theory of Relativity**: Describes gravity and the behavior of objects in spacetime. - **Quantum Mechanics**: Describes the behavior of particles at the smallest scales using probability. 6. **Goal**: By understanding how these two theories interact through phenomena like Hawking radiation, scientists hope to develop a unified theory of quantum gravity, which could explain the behavior of the universe at both large and small scales. This lab-created black hole analog allows researchers to explore and test ideas that would be impossible to study directly with real black holes, bringing us closer to understanding the fundamental workings of the universe.

Thank you for the detailed information! The study you mentioned, "Novel method for identifying the heaviest QED atom," indeed presents a significant advancement in the field of particle physics. The discovery of tauonium, a bound state of a tauon and its antiparticle, would be a remarkable achievement, as it would be the heaviest atom with pure electromagnetic interactions known to science. The proposed method involves collecting data near the threshold of tauon pair production at an electron-positron collider. By analyzing events where charged particles are detected alongside missing energy attributed to undetected neutrinos, researchers can potentially observe tauonium with a significance exceeding 5σ¹. This level of significance is considered strong evidence in experimental physics. Moreover, the precision measurement of the tau lepton mass to 1 keV using the same data would be a groundbreaking improvement over current experiments. Such precision is crucial for testing the electroweak theory within the Standard Model and could provide insights into fundamental questions like lepton flavor universality¹. The Super Tau-Charm Facility (STCF) in China and the Super Charm-Tau Factory (SCTF) in Russia are proposed to be instrumental in achieving these objectives. Running these facilities near the tauon pair production threshold for one year could lead to the discovery of tauonium and enable the precise measurement of the tau lepton mass¹. For those interested in delving deeper into this topic, the study by Jing-Hang Fu and colleagues provides a comprehensive overview and can be found in the Science Bulletin¹. It's an exciting time for particle physics, with such discoveries on the horizon offering the potential to deepen our understanding of the universe at the most fundamental level. Source: Conversation with Bing, 5/11/2024 (1) [2305.00171] Novel method for identifying the heaviest QED atom - arXiv.org. https://lnkd.in/gsDciRke. (2) Novel method for identifying the heaviest QED atom - arXiv.org. https://lnkd.in/gZgcV7Wj. (3) [2305.00171] Novel method for identifying the heaviest QED atom - arXiv.org. https://lnkd.in/gSQ9tmNe. (4) Novel method for identifying the heaviest QED atom. https://lnkd.in/gwYww3Q8. (5) undefined. https://lnkd.in/gn3MM6_X. (6) undefined. https://lnkd.in/g5q2VSkj.

“Interferometry is a technique which uses the interference of superimposed waves to extract information.[1] Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber optics, engineering metrology, optical metrology, oceanography, seismology, spectroscopy (and its applications to chemistry), quantum mechanics, nuclear and particle physics, plasma physics, biomolecular interactions, surface profiling, microfluidics, mechanical stress/strain measurement, velocimetry, optometry, and making holograms.[2]: 1–2  Interferometers are devices that extract information from interference. They are widely used in science and industry for the measurement of microscopic displacements, refractive index changes and surface irregularities. In the case with most interferometers, light from a single source is split into two beams that travel in different optical paths, which are then combined again to produce interference; two incoherent sources can also be made to interfere under some circumstances.[3] The resulting interference fringes give information about the difference in optical path lengths. In analytical science, interferometers are used to measure lengths and the shape of optical components with nanometer precision; they are the highest-precision length measuring instruments in existence. In Fourier transform spectroscopy they are used to analyze light containing features of absorption or emission associated with a substance or mixture. An astronomical interferometer consists of two or more separate telescopes that combine their signals, offering a resolution equivalent to that of a telescope of diameter equal to the largest separation between its individual elements. “ https://lnkd.in/en8FNzaC

⚛️ It's #Physics Time: The Specific Heat Capacity of Solids - From Dulong-Petit to Debye ⚛️ 📜 Historical Review The concept of specific heat capacity, particularly in solids, has intrigued scientists for centuries. Early 19th-century physicists, Pierre Dulong and Alexis Petit, made a significant breakthrough with their law, proposing that the molar specific heat capacity of many solids is approximately constant at high temperatures. However, this classical approach couldn't explain the behavior of specific heat at low temperatures. It wasn't until the early 20th century, with the advent of quantum physics and the study of phonons (quantized lattice vibrations) that a more comprehensive understanding emerged. 🔍 Detailed Description Specific heat capacity is a measure of how much heat energy is required to raise the temperature of a substance. For solids, this property varies with temperature. At high temperatures, the Dulong-Petit law states that the molar specific heat capacity C approaches a constant value: C = const Classical physics predicted that this relation holds for all temperatures. However, as temperatures decrease, the behavior changes dramatically. Physics introduces phonons, the quanta of lattice vibrations, which significantly influence specific heat. At low temperatures, the specific heat capacity follows a power law dependent on the spatial dimension d of the material: C ~ T^d For a three-dimensional solid, this results in the famous Debye T^3 law. The derivations will be shown in the attached photo, providing a visual explanation. 🔧 Example Applications The study of specific heat capacity has numerous practical applications: 1️⃣ Material Science: Tailoring materials with specific thermal properties for electronics and aerospace. 2️⃣ Cryogenics: Designing systems to manage and utilize materials at extremely low temperatures. 3️⃣ Thermal Insulation: Developing better insulating materials for buildings and industrial processes. 4️⃣ Geophysics: Understanding the thermal properties of Earth's interior and planetary bodies. 🔮 Outlook Current research is delving into the specific heat capacities of novel materials like graphene and other two-dimensional materials, exploring how their unique properties could revolutionize technology. Moreover, the study of specific heat in extreme conditions, such as high pressures or in nanostructured materials, remains an exciting frontier with the potential for groundbreaking discoveries. 🔔 Conclusion The specific heat capacity of solids, from the Dulong-Petit law at high temperatures to the phonon-dominated behavior at low temperatures, is a fundamental concept with wide-ranging applications and ongoing research opportunities. Understanding these principles not only deepens our knowledge of material properties but also drives innovation in various scientific and industrial fields. #Physics #MaterialScience #Thermodynamics #QuantumMechanics #Innovation #ScienceForEveryone

**Breaking Light Speed: The Quantum Tunneling Enigma** **1. Quantum Tunneling Concept** - **Definition**: Quantum tunneling allows particles to bypass energy barriers they couldn't overcome in classical physics. - **New Method**: Physicists propose using atoms as clocks to measure the time particles take to tunnel. **2. Quantum Tunneling and Relativity** - **Challenge**: Previous measurements suggested particles tunneled faster than light, conflicting with Einstein’s theory. - **New Approach**: Researchers propose a more accurate way to measure tunneling time. **3. Wave-Particle Duality** - **Behavior**: Particles act both like waves and particles. - **Tunneling**: When hitting a barrier, part of the wave reflects back, and a small part tunnels through, creating a probability that the particle appears on the other side. **4. Reevaluating Tunneling Speed** - **Previous Observations**: Light particles seemed to travel faster when tunneling. - **Issue**: Measuring the highest point of the wave packet was not accurate. **5. New Approach to Measuring Tunneling Time** - **Einstein's Idea**: Use the particle itself as a clock. - **Method**: Compare the tunneling particle with a non-tunneling reference particle using laser pulses to detect interference and measure time differences. **6. Experiment Details** - **Clock Mechanism**: Use atom oscillations as a clock. The tunneling particle's clock shows a slight delay. - **Measurement Challenge**: Time difference is extremely short (around 10^-26 seconds). **7. Future Steps** - **Experimental Feasibility**: Can be done with current technology but requires precision. - **Collaboration**: Researchers are discussing this idea with experimental teams to conduct the experiment soon. **Reference** - Schach, P., & Giese, E. (2024). "A unified theory of tunneling times promoted by Ramsey clocks". *Science Advances*. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl6078 This summary simplifies the article by breaking it down into clear, easy-to-understand steps, explaining the key concepts and the new method proposed to measure quantum tunneling time accurately.

HEMANTH LINGAMGUNTA Combining the concepts of Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking, we can explore the potential to degenerate black holes using an artificial sun and particle colliders, alongside quantum computing and quantum mechanics. By applying Nikola Tesla's models, we can construct advanced machinery from adamantine metal through 3D printing. Utilizing machine learning and deep learning via AI, we may predict a revolutionary future in space technology. The black hole curve could potentially be destroyed by the Hawking effect through external heat generated by an artificial sun. In the quest to revolutionize space technology, we can draw inspiration from the groundbreaking ideas of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and Nikola Tesla. By integrating concepts from quantum mechanics, artificial suns, particle colliders, and advanced materials like adamantine metal through 3D printing, we can construct innovative machinery capable of addressing the mysteries of black holes. Utilizing quantum computing and machine learning, we can harness the Hawking effect to mitigate black hole curvature by applying external heat from artificial suns. This multidisciplinary approach not only pushes the boundaries of theoretical physics but also paves the way for practical applications in space exploration. As we stand on the brink of a new era in technology, the collaboration of these scientific principles could lead to unprecedented advancements in our understanding of the universe. #FutureOfSpace #QuantumComputing #AI #BlackHoleResearch #Innovation #SpaceTechnology #3DPrinting #MachineLearning #Oppenheimer #Einstein #Hawking #Tesla Citations: [1] J. Robert Oppenheimer - Wikipedia https://lnkd.in/gSEyMt2R [2] The Stephen Hawking I knew: Physicist unravelled mysteries of ... https://lnkd.in/gGAv-7S4 [3] How Oppenheimer Proved Einstein Wrong About Black Holes - Inverse https://lnkd.in/gCY52ACR [4] Hawking radiation - Wikipedia https://lnkd.in/giJ66hBu [5] Nikola Tesla and Chinese cosmology - Asia Times https://lnkd.in/ghCWuxx2 [6] Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Space Sector - Drishti IAS https://lnkd.in/gCSEfzzy [7] Growing Role of Data Science in Space Technology - Pickl.AI https://lnkd.in/gheDZFjc [8] Artificial Intelligence in Space Exploration - The AI dream https://lnkd.in/guhDWM3y [9] Famous Physicists: Theoretical, Nuclear & Their Contributions https://lnkd.in/g6umU4He