News / Physics

Can a penalty kick simultaneously score a goal and miss? For very small objects, at least, this is possible: according to the predictions of quantum mechanics, microscopic objects can take different paths at the same time. The world of macroscopic objects follows other rules: the football always moves in a definite direction. But is this always correct? Physicists of the University of Bonn have constructed an experiment designed to possibly falsify this thesis. Their first experiment shows that Caesium atoms can indeed take two paths at the same time.

Ultracold atomic gases have been widely considered as ideal platforms for quantum simulation. Thanks to the clean environment and the highly tunable parameters in these systems, many interesting physical models can be simulated using cold atomic gases, and various novel many-body states have been prepared and probed experimentally. The recent experimental realization of synthetic gauge field in ultracold atomic gases has significantly extended the horizon of quantum simulation with cold atoms. As a special form of synthetic gauge field, synthetic spin-orbit coupling has attracted much attention recently.

In a new paper accepted by the journal Astroparticle Physics, Robert Ehrlich, a recently retired physicist from George Mason University, claims that the neutrino is very likely a tachyon or faster-than-light particle. There have been many such claims, the last being in 2011 when the "OPERA" experiment measured the speed of neutrinos and claimed they travelled a tiny amount faster than light. However, when their speed was measured again the original result was found to be in error – the result of a loose cable no less.

Electrons split into electrical charge and magnetic moment in a two-dimensional model, a study has shown for the first time. The discovery marks a new understanding in the discovery of exotic materials such as high-temperature superconductors.

Electron states in solids are responsible for many material properties, such as color and electrical conductivity. However, because of their confinement within the crystal, it is very difficult to study the quantum physical properties of the electrons in detail. Konstantin Bliokh and Franco Nori from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science, in collaboration with researchers in Austria, have now successfully measured free electron properties equivalent to those in solids for the first time using vortex electron beams formed by a transmission electron microscope.

A new theory of quantum mechanics was developed by Bill Poirier, a chemical physicist. The theory discusses parallel worlds' existence and the quantum effects observed in nature.

Physicists have discovered two never-before-seen baryonic particles. The finding is expected to have a major impact on the study of quark dynamics

Physicists may now be able to explain why the universe did not collapse immediately after the Big Bang. Studies of the Higgs particle -- discovered at CERN in 2012 and responsible for giving mass to all particles -- have suggested that the production of Higgs particles during the accelerating expansion of the very early universe (inflation) should have led to instability and collapse.

Are the fundamental constants really constant? Recent investigations have shown that one essential fundamental constant -- namely the mass ratio of protons to electrons -- can have changed only by a maximum of one part in a million over the age of our solar system (i.e. extrapolated over approx. 5 billion years). Previously, scientists deemed the possible changes to be twice as high. To obtain this result, physicists from PTB compared caesium and ytterbium atomic clocks with each other for 7 years.

For years physicists have been looking for the universe's elusive dark matter, but so far no one has seen any trace of it. Maybe we are looking in the wrong place? Now physicists propose a new technique to detect dark matter.

Physicists have discovered two never-before-seen baryonic particles. The finding is expected to have a major impact on the study of quark dynamics.

A trio of researches with Université Paris Diderot has found that viscoelastic fluids spontaneously form wings which in turn cause the formation of geometric shapes when the fluid is shot out of a jet at high speed. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, Henri Lhuissier, Baptiste Néel and Laurent Limat describe the attributes of the fluids as they were tested and observed in their lab.

Applying a thin film of metallic oxide significantly boosts the performance of solar panel cells—as recently demonstrated by Professor Federico Rosei and his team at the Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre at Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS). The researchers have developed a new class of materials comprising elements such as bismuth, iron, chromium, and oxygen. These "multiferroic" materials absorb solar radiation and possess unique electrical and magnetic properties. This makes them highly promising for solar technology, and also potentially useful in devices like electronic sensors and flash memory drives. The results of this research are discussed in an article published in Nature Photonics by researcher and lead author Riad Nechache

The characterization of individual components in an unknown crystalline powder mixture is a challenge that has eluded scientists for many years. Now, A*STAR researchers have for the first time invented a methodology to accurately determine the crystal structures present in such mixtures.

Instead of WIMPS or axions, dark matter may be made of macroscopic objects as small as a few ounces up to the size of a good asteroid, and probably as dense as a neutron star or the nucleus of an atom, researchers suggest.

The seemingly simple process of phase changes -- those transitions between states of matter -- is more complex than previously known. New work reveals the need to rethink one of science's building blocks and, with it, how some of the basic principles underlying the behavior of matter are taught in our classrooms.

Last year CERN announced the finding of a new elementary particle, the Higgs particle. But maybe it wasn't the Higgs particle, maybe it just looks like it. And maybe it is not alone.

Electrons are elementary particles -- indivisible, unbreakable. But new research suggests the electron's quantum state -- the electron wave function -- can be separated into many parts. That has some strange implications for the theory of quantum mechanics.

Physicists have made important discoveries regarding Bs meson particles -- something that may explain why the Universe contains more matter than antimatter.

The first potential indication of direct detection of dark matter -- something that has been a mystery in physics for over 30 years -- has been attained. Astronomers found what appears to be a signature of 'axions', predicted 'dark matter' particle candidates.

How can two clumps of matter pass through each other without sharing space? Physicists have documented a strange disappearing act by colliding Bose Einstein condensates that appear to keep their distance even as they pass through one another.

For almost 400 years, mercury gauges have prevailed as the most accurate way to measure pressure. Now, within weeks of seeing "first light," a novel pressure-sensing device has surpassed the performance of the best mercury-based techniques in resolution, speed, and range at a fraction of the size. The new instrument, called a fixed-length optical cavity (FLOC), works by detecting subtle changes in the wavelength of light passing through a cavity filled with nitrogen gas.

Researchers led by Dr. Sebastian Slama of Tübingen University's Institute of Physics have succeeded in directing the fluorescence of ultracold atoms into surface plasmons – light waves oscillating across a metal surface. Quantum physicists aim to create tiny systems in which things such as the interplay of light and matter may be observed at the level of individual photons. Such controlled systems hold the promise of applications such as transistors and switches depending on a single photon. The results have been published online in Nature Physics.

A unique magnet developed by the Florida State University-headquartered National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) and Germany's Helmholtz Centre Berlin (HZB) has reached a new world record for a neutron scattering magnet.

Electrons are elementary particles -- indivisible, unbreakable. But new research suggests the electron's quantum state -- the electron wave function -- can be separated into many parts. That has some strange implications for the theory of quantum mechanics.

For magnetic fusion energy to fuel future power plants, scientists must find ways to control the interactions that take place between the volatile edge of the plasma and the walls that surround it in fusion facilities. Such interactions can profoundly affect conditions at the superhot core of the plasma in ways that include kicking up impurities that cool down the core and halt fusion reactions.

—Schrödinger's famous thought experiment in which a cat hidden in a box can be both dead and alive at the same time demonstrates the concept of superposition on the macroscopic scale. However, the existence of such "cat states" (or simply "Cats") would be problematic in reality, as cat states not only go against common sense, but also pose problems for understanding gravity and spacetime.

Researchers have succeeded in simultaneously observing the reorganizations of atomic positions and electron distribution during the transformation of the “smart material” vanadium dioxide from a semiconductor into a metal – in a timeframe a trillion times faster than the blink of an eye

Physicists have made important discoveries regarding Bs meson particles -- something that may explain why the Universe contains more matter than antimatter.

Thermodiffusion, also called the Soret effect, is a mechanism by which an imposed temperature difference establishes a concentration difference within a mixture. Two studies now provide a better understanding of such effects.

An international team of scientists have become the first ever researchers to successfully reach temperatures below minus 272.15 degrees Celsius – only just above absolute zero – using magnetic molecules. The physicists and chemists are presenting their new investigation today in the scientific journal Nature Communications. It was developed by six scientists from Bielefeld University, the University of Manchester, and the Universidad de Zaragoza.

The American Physical Society (APS) and the American Institute of Physics (AIP) announced today, on behalf of the Heineman Foundation for Research, Educational, Charitable, and Scientific Purposes, that theoretical physicist Pierre Ramond, director of the Institute for Fundamental Theory at the University of Florida, has won the 2015 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics—one of the highest honors for scientific investigators in that field.

Nature has developed a wide variety of methods for guiding particular cells, enzymes, and molecules to specific structures inside the body: White blood cells can find their way to the site of an infection, while scar-forming cells migrate to the site of a wound. But finding ways of guiding artificial materials within the body has proven more difficult.

Standard quantum theory places no limit on particle size and current experiments use larger and larger particles, which exhibit wave-like behaviour. However, at these masses experiments begin to probe extensions to standard quantum mechanics, which describe the apparent quantum-to-classical transition.

How did life originate? And can scientists create life? These questions not only occupy the minds of scientists interested in the origin of life, but also researchers working with technology of the future. If we can create artificial living systems, we may not only understand the origin of life - we can also revolutionize the future of technology.

The Holy Grail of quantum cryptography – beyond delivering security that cannot be classically achieved – is guaranteeing unconditional security when the untrusted quantum devices are involved. While this goal has been studied since the early 1990s, a robust solution has proven elusive. Although Jonathan Barrett and his co-authors published2,3 a strong Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution (DIQKD) security guarantee in 2005, it focused on a weaker set of constraints than those imposed by quantum mechanics – specifically, the no-signaling property dictated by special relativity – which thereby yielded stronger results

Like dancers swirling on the dance floor with bystanders looking on, protons and neutrons that have briefly paired up in the nucleus have higher-average momentum, leaving less for non-paired nucleons. Using data from nuclear physics experiments carried out at the Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, researchers have now shown for the first time that this phenomenon exists in nuclei heavier than carbon, including aluminum, iron and lead.

Astrophysical jets are counted among our Universe's most spectacular phenomena: From the centers of black holes, quasars, or protostars, these rays of matter sometimes protrude several light years into space. Now, for the first time ever, an international team of researchers has successfully tested a new model that explains how magnetic fields form these emissions in young stars. Scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) were part of this research. Their findings have been published in the journal Science. The insights gleaned from this research may even apply to cancer therapy.

Energy loss in optical systems, such as lasers, is a chief hindrance to their performance and efficiency, and it occurs on an ongoing, frustrating basis.

Particle physicists have a hard time identifying all the elementary particles created in their particle accelerators. But now researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have designed a material that makes it much easier to distinguish the particles.

Cutting-edge paper by Professor George Fraser – who tragically died in March this year – and colleagues at the University of Leicester provides first potential indication of direct detection of Dark Matter – something that has been a mystery in physics for over 30 years.

The central mystery of quantum mechanics is that small chunks of matter sometimes seem to behave like particles, sometimes like waves. For most of the past century, the prevailing explanation of this conundrum has been what's called the "Copenhagen interpretation" -- which holds that, in some sense, a single particle really is a wave, smeared out across the universe, that collapses into a determinate location only when observed. But some founders of quantum physics -- notably Louis de Broglie -- championed an alternative interpretation, known as "pilot-wave theory," which posits that quantum particles are borne along on some type of wave. According to pilot-wave theory, the particles have definite trajectories, but because of the pilot wave's influence, they still exhibit wavelike statistics. Now a professor of applied mathematics believes that pilot-wave theory deserves a second look.

Although the concept of "steering" in quantum mechanics was proposed back in 1935, it is still not completely understood today. Steering refers to the ability of one system to nonlocally affect, or steer, another system's states through local measurements

Observing the quantum behavior of light is a big part of Alan Migdall's research at the Joint Quantum Institute. Many of his experiments depend on observing light in the form of photons—-the particle complement of light waves—-and sometimes only one photon at a time, using "smart" detectors that can count the number of individual photons in a pulse. Furthermore, to observe quantum effects, it is normally necessary to use a beam of coherent light, light for which knowing the phase or intensity for one part of the beam allows you to know things about distant parts of the same beam.

Finding the Higgs boson at CERN involved an exciting chain of events and sharing it with the wider public through the media was also a journey of discovery, Prof. Jon Butterworth told an audience at the IOP's London centre on 2 October.

In his lecture, "Smashing physics: inside the world's biggest experiment", Prof. Butterworth explained why a facility the size of CERN was needed to find the Higgs, what the Higgs is and how it was detected, as well as the implications of the results for further research.

The stability of an atomic nucleus strongly depends on the number of protons and neutrons it contains. Some nuclei can, in principle, live forever, whereas others last only a fraction of a second before decaying into different nuclei. Hiroshi Watanabe from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science and a long list of co-workers from Japan and around the world have now identified a long-lived metastable state in a neutron-rich nucleus that helps build a better picture of the forces that hold matter together

Yesterday I talked about the weirdness of neutrinos, specifically that there three types of neutrinos (known as flavors), and they can oscillate between different flavors due to the quantum fuzziness of their masses. If you go back and read that post, you'll find its a pretty bizarre model that seems to assume a great deal just to solve what is known as the solar neutrino problem. So how could we possibly know that such a model is correct?

The special theory of relativity of Albert Einstein and quantum electrodynamics, which was formulated by, among others, Richard Feynman, are two important fundaments of modern physics. In cooperation with colleagues from several international universities and institutes, the research group of Professor Wilfried Nörtershäuser (Institute for Nuclear Physics, TU Darmstadt) re-examined these theories in experiments at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research.

Scientists of the Planck collaboration, and in particular the Trieste team, have conducted a series of in-depth checks on the discovery recently publicized by the Antarctic Observatory, which announced last spring that it had detected some direct effects of gravitational waves on cosmic microwave background radiation, a potentially groundbreaking discovery in the field of cosmology. Analysis of the Planck satellite data demonstrates that the effect of contaminating sources, such as gases from our galaxy, cannot be ruled out. Read more at:

Atoms are made of electrons, protons and neutrons. Protons and neutrons are in turn made up of quarks. These are just some of the elementary particles that make up the foundation of modern particle physics. But how do we know about these particles when we can't see atoms directly, much less their constituents? One of the early methods was through a device known as a cloud chamber, and it is quite a clever invention.

The idea that the laws of physics and its fundamental constants do not depend on local circumstances is called the equivalence principle. This principle is a cornerstone to Einstein's theory of general relativity. To put the principle to the test, FOM physicists working at the LaserLaB at VU University Amsterdam determined whether one fundamental constant, the mass ratio between protons and electrons , depends on the strength of the gravitational field that the particles are in. Read more at:

The work took nearly four years to complete and it opens a fundamentally new direction in photonics – with far-reaching potential consequences for the control of photons in optical fiber channels. Read more at:

Within physics there are certain physical quantities that play a central role. These are things such as the mass of an electron, or the speed of light, or the universal constant of gravity. We aren't sure why these constants have the values they do, but their values uniquely determine the way our universe works. For example, if the mass of electrons were smaller, atoms would be smaller. If the gravitational constant were larger, you'd need less mass to create a black hole, and neutron stars might not exis Read more at:

Astrophysicists believe that about 80 percent of the substance of our universe is made up of mysterious "dark matter" that can't be perceived by human senses or scientific instruments.

The physical behavior of materials is strongly governed by the many electrons which can interact and move inside any solid. While an individual electron is a very simple object, carrying only mass, electric charge, and an internal rotation known as "spin", the collective behavior of many interacting electrons can be very complex, and understanding it is the key to understanding the properties of the material. Read more at:

A unique experiment at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory called the Holometer has started collecting data that will answer some mind-bending questions about our universe -- including whether we live in a hologram. Read more at: Follow us: @ArchaeoNewsNet on Twitter | groups/thearchaeologynewsnetwork/ on Facebook

The field of astrophysics has a stubborn problem and it's called lithium. The quantities of lithium predicted to have resulted from the Big Bang are not actually present in stars. But the calculations are correct – a fact which has now been confirmed for the first time in experiments conducted at the underground laboratory in the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy. As part of an international team, researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) studied how much lithium forms under Big Bang conditions. The results were published in Physical Review Letters. Read more at:

Researchers from the FOM Foundation and University of Groningen have found a way to preserve spin information for much longer than previously possible. They isolated the spin information from the influence of the outside world in a nanoscale graphene device, in which they can easily manipulate the information with electric fields Read more at:

New University of Adelaide Future Fellow Dr Martin White is starting a research project that has the potential to redirect the experiments of thousands of physicists around the world who are trying to identify the nature of dark matter. Read more at:

New measurements of atomic-scale magnetic behavior in iron-based superconductors by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Vanderbilt University are challenging conventional wisdom about superconductivity and magnetism. Read more at:

The tiny titans in question are bits of strontium monofluoride, dropped to 2.5 thousandths of a degree above absolute zero through a laser cooling and isolating process called magneto-optical trapping (MOT). Read more at:

Physicists have observed the first direct evidence of symmetry in the magnetic properties -- or nuclear 'spins' -- of atoms. The advance could spin off practical benefits such as the ability to simulate and better understand exotic materials such as superconductors.

New supercomputing calculations provide the first evidence that particles predicted by the theory of quark-gluon interactions but never before observed are being produced in heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.

The influence of the Higgs boson and its field (inset) on cosmological inflation could manifest in the observation of gravitational waves by the BICEP2 telescope (background). Credit: the BICEP2 Collaboration (background); © 2026 Fedor Bezrukov, RIKEN–BNL Research Center (inset) Read more at:

Researchers have made the first direct observations of free-electron Landau states -— a form of quantized states that electrons adopt when moving through a magnetic field- — and found that the internal rotational dynamics of quantum electrons, or how they move through the field, is surprisingly different from the classical model, and in line with recent quantum-mechanical predictions.

The Planck Telescope allowed physicists to draw the most detailed map of the first light emitted after the Big Bang. Some of its features do not entirely fit the standard cosmological theory, but scientists have discovered that these anomalies could be explained by how the data was processed.

Neutrinos, also known as ‘ghost particles’ because they barely interact with other particles or their surroundings, are massless particles according to the standard model of particle physics. However, there is a lot of evidence that their mass is in fact non-zero, but it remains unmeasured. In cosmology, neutrinos are suspected to make up a fraction —- small but important -— of the mysterious dark matter, which represents 90% of the mass of the galaxy. Modifying the standard cosmological model in order to include fairly massive neutrinos does not explain all the physical observations simultaneously.

When a two-body relation becomes a three-body relation, the behavior of the system changes and typically becomes more complex. While the basic physics of two interacting particles is well understood, the mathematical description of a three- or many-body system becomes increasingly difficult, such that calculating the dynamics can blast the capacities of even modern supercomputers. However, under certain conditions, the quantum mechanical three-body problem may have a universal scaling solution. The predictions of such a model have now been confirmed experimentally.

Protons and neutrons are the basic constituents of atomic nuclei. Are they distributed homogeneously, or perhaps in quartets consisting of two protons and two neutrons? Physicists have recently presented an idea how this issue may be investigated in future experiments.

The discovery of a split-second burst of radio waves by scientists using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico provides important new evidence of mysterious pulses that appear to come from deep in outer space. Exactly what may be causing such radio bursts represents a major new enigma for astrophysicists.

In quantum physics, momentum and position are an example of conjugate variables. This means they are connected by Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which says that both quantities cannot be simultaneously measured precisely. Recently, researchers have been developing novel techniques, such as 'weak measurement,' to measure both at the same time. Now physicists have shown that a technique called compressive sensing offers a way to measure both variables at the same time, without violating the Uncertainty Principle.

Nearly 100 years since Albert Einstein developed General Relativity, the theory has passed its toughest test yet in explaining the properties of observable Universe. The most precise measurements to date of the strength of gravitational interactions between distant galaxies show perfect consistency with General Relativity’s predictions.

If evidence of the Higgs boson revealed two years ago was the smoking gun, particle physicists have now found a few of the bullets. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has just published research that details evidence of the direct decay of the Higgs boson to fermions, among the particles anticipated by the Standard Model of physics. The finding fits what researchers expected to see amid the massive amount of data provided by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

For the first time, scientists from the CMS experiment on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN have succeeded in finding evidence for the direct decay of the Higgs boson into fermions. Previously, the Higgs particle could only be detected through its decay into bosons. As a group of elementary particles, fermions form the matter while bosons act as force carriers between fermions.

Following a thorough peer-review process, the researchers who previously announced the detection of B-mode polarization in a patch of the microwave sky have published their findings. Their research provides some evidence that the signals they have found may be the result of gravitational waves from the earliest moments of the universe's existence and thus might constitute the first observation of phenomena from the rapid expansion of the universe known as the inflationary period.

Einstein's theory of relativity envisions time as a spatial dimension, like height, width, and depth. But unlike those other dimensions, time seems to permit motion in only one direction: forward. This directional asymmetry -- the "arrow of time" -- is something of a conundrum for theoretical physics.

A change of models demystifies anomalous particle behavior at very low temperatures, supporting that the third law of thermodynamics cannot be violated. In theory, the laws of physics are absolute. However, when it comes to the laws of thermodynamics —- the science that studies how heat and temperature relate to energy -— there are times where they no longer seem to apply.

Today, we can measure the position of an object with unprecedented accuracy, but the uncertainty principle places fundamental limits on our ability to measure. Noise that results from of the quantum nature of the fields used to make measurements imposes what is called the 'standard quantum limit.' This background noise keeps us from knowing an object's exact location, but a recent study provides a solution for rerouting some of that noise away from the measurement.

Astrophysicists have measured the minute gravitational distortions in polarized radiation from the early universe and discovered that these ancient microwaves can provide an important cosmological test of Einstein's theory of general relativity.

Scientists have shown for the first time the maximum theoretical limit of energy needed to control the magnetization of a single atom. The fundamental work can have great implications for the future of magnetic research and technology.

Move over, Matrix - astronomers have done you one better. They have created the first realistic virtual universe using a computer simulation called 'Illustris.' Illustris can recreate 13 billion years of cosmic evolution in a cube 350 million light-years on a side with unprecedented resolution.

Scientists have discovered an indicator of when re-ionization of the primordial Universe began. The team used the Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) mounted on the Subaru Telescope to thoroughly study the visible wavelength spectrum of the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst, which is a violent explosion of a massive star. Direct measurement of the absorption features in the spectrum of the afterglow toward GRB 130606A, located at a great distance, revealed the proportion of neutral hydrogen gas absorbing the light in its vicinity. This finding provides the best estimate of the amount of such neutral gas in the early universe. The team's research means that scientists can now narrow down the time when the universe was beginning to re-ionize after its dark age.

The universe we can see is made up of thousands of millions of galaxies, each containing anywhere from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of billions of stars. Large numbers of galaxies are elliptical in shape, red and mostly made up of old stars. Another (more familiar) type is the spiral, where arms wind out in a blue thin disk from a central red bulge. On average stars in spiral galaxies tend to be much younger than those in ellipticals. Now a group of astronomers has found a (relatively) simple relationship between the color of a galaxy and the size of its bulge: the more massive the bulge, the redder the galaxy.

The recent discovery of the Higgs boson has confirmed theories about the origin of mass and, with it, offered the potential to explain other scientific mysteries. But, scientists are continually studying other, less-understood forces that may also shed light on matters not yet uncovered. Among these is quantum turbulence.

Scientists have made novel measurements of the structure of the universe when it was only about 3 billion years old, using quasars collected by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Results include the most precise measurement of expansion since galaxies formed. BOSS, the largest component of the third Sloan Digital Sky Survey, pioneered the use of quasars to chart universal expansion and the role of dark energy.

A new study of gamma-ray light from the center of our galaxy makes the strongest case to date that some of this emission may arise from dark matter, an unknown substance making up most of the material universe. Using publicly available data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, independent scientists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Chicago have developed new maps showing that the galactic center produces more high-energy gamma rays than can be explained by known sources and that this excess emission is consistent with some forms of dark matter.

Quintessence and phantom fields, two hypotheses formulated using data from satellites are among the many theories that try to explain the nature of dark energy. Now researchers suggest that both possibilities are only a mirage in the observations and it is the quantum vacuum which could be behind this energy that moves our universe. Cosmologists believe that some three quarters of the universe are made up of a mysterious dark energy which would explain its accelerated expansion. The truth is that they do not know what it could be, therefore they put forward possible solutions.

How do you grow a supermassive black hole that is a million to a billion times the mass of our sun? Astronomers do not know the answer, but a new study using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has turned up what might be the cosmic seeds from which a black hole will sprout. The results are helping scientists piece together the evolution of supermassive black holes -- powerful objects that dominate the hearts of all galaxies.

For astrophysicists neutron stars are extremely complex astronomical objects. Research has demonstrated that in certain respects these stars can instead be described very simply and that they show similarities with black holes.

Australian astronomers have combined all observations of supernovae ever made to determine that the strength of gravity has remained unchanged over the last nine billion years. Newton's gravitational constant, known as G, describes the attractive force between two objects, together with the separation between them and their masses. It has been previously suggested that G could have been slowly changing over the 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang. But researchers have now analyzed the light given off by 580 supernova explosions in the nearby and far Universe and have shown that the strength of gravity has not changed.

Nobody has seen them yet; particles that are smaller than the Higgs particle. However theories predict their existence, and now the most important of these theories have been critically tested. The result: The existence of the yet unseen particles is now more likely than ever.

Scientists working on the world's leading particle collider experiments have joined forces, combined their data and produced the first joint result from Fermilab's Tevatron and CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), past and current holders of the record for most powerful particle collider on Earth. Scientists from the four experiments involved -- ATLAS, CDF, CMS and DZero -- announced their joint findings on the mass of the top quark today at the Rencontres de Moriond international physics conference in Italy.

Almost 14 billion years ago, the universe we inhabit burst into existence in an extraordinary event that initiated the Big Bang. In the first fleeting fraction of a second, the universe expanded exponentially, stretching far beyond the view of our best telescopes. All this, of course, was just theory. Researchers now announce the first direct evidence for this cosmic inflation. Their data also represent the first images of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time. These waves have been described as the "first tremors of the Big Bang." Finally, the data confirm a deep connection between quantum mechanics and general relativity.

Sixty years after Alan Turing's death, researchers have provided the first experimental evidence that validates Turing's theory of chemical morphogenesis in cell-like structures. This research could impact not only the study of biological development, and how similar patterns form in nature, but materials science as well. Turing's model could help grow soft robots with certain patterns and shapes.

Dark matter, the mysterious substance estimated to make up approximately more than one-quarter of the mass of the universe, is crucial to the formation of galaxies, stars and even life but has so far eluded direct observation. At a recent UCLA symposium attended by 190 scientists from around the world, physicists presented several analyses that participants interpreted to imply the existence of a dark matter particle. The likely mass would be approximately 30 billion electron-volts, said the symposium's organizer.

A new study examines the nature of exchange interactions between identical particles, which only occur at the quantum level. Two-particle interference has been the focus of many studies, specifically in quantum optics with photons. However, interference between two massive, identical particles is not so well understood. Scientists have now uncovered a counterintuitive result whereby particles called bosons do not behave as expected-they are overlapping, and not interfering-due to the combination of interference and so-called exchange interaction. The latter is a quantum mechanical effect that alters their symmetry when identical particles are exchanged.

Astronauts floating weightlessly in the International Space Station may appear carefree, but years of research have shown that microgravity causes changes to the human body. Spaceflight also means exposure to more radiation. Together, microgravity and radiation exposure add up to pose serious health risks. But research is not only making space safer for astronauts, it's helping to improve health care for the Earth-bound as well.

Researchers on the two main Tevatron experiments, CDF and DZero, have discovered the final predicted way of producing top quarks. Scientists have observed one of the rarest methods of producing the elementary particle -- creating a single top quark through the weak nuclear force, in what is called the "s-channel."

Researchers have provided the first English translation and an analysis of one of Albert Einstein's little-known papers, "On the cosmological problem of the general theory of relativity." Published in 1931, it features a forgotten model of the universe, while refuting Einstein's own earlier static model of 1917. In this paper, Einstein introduces a cosmic model in which the universe undergoes an expansion followed by a contraction. This interpretation contrasts with the monotonically expanding universe of the widely known Einstein-de Sitter model of 1932.

Albert Einstein accepted the modern cosmological view that the universe is expanding long after many of his contemporaries. Until 1931, physicist Albert Einstein believed that the universe was static. An urban legend attributes this change of perspective to when American astronomer Edwin Hubble showed Einstein his observations of redshift in the light emitted by far away nebulae -- today known as galaxies. But the reality is more complex. The change in Einstein’s viewpoint, in fact, resulted from a tortuous thought process. Now researchers explain how Einstein changed his mind following many encounters with some of the most influential astrophysicists of his generation.

Scientists report that recent, independent measurements have validated one of the IBEX mission's signature findings -- a mysterious "ribbon" of energy and particles at the edge of our solar system that appears to be a directional "roadmap in the sky" of the local interstellar magnetic field.

Scientists have solved a major problem with the current standard model of cosmology identified by combining results from the Planck spacecraft and measurements of gravitational lensing in order to deduce the mass of ghostly sub-atomic particles called neutrinos.

Research on first data release from Gaia-ESO project suggests the Milky Way formed by expanding out from the center, and reveals new insights into the way our Galaxy was assembled.

By observing a high-speed component of a massive galaxy cluster, Caltech/JPL scientists and collaborators have detected for the first time in an individual object the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, a change in the cosmic microwave background caused by its interaction with massive moving objects.

Today the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Collaboration announced that BOSS has measured the scale of the universe to an accuracy of one percent. This and future measures at this precision are the key to determining the nature of dark energy.

Using the new capabilities of the upgraded Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), scientists have discovered previously-unseen binary companions to a pair of very young protostars. The discovery gives strong support for one of the competing explanations for how double-star systems form.

A recent paper by Stefano Liberati from SISSA is a systematic review of the methods devised by scientists since the 90s to test Einstein's laws of Special Relativity, up to the highest observable energies. These types of tests are important: deviations from Special Relativity could in fact indicate that space-time is not continuous but grainy.

South Pole Telescope scientists have detected for the first time a subtle distortion in the oldest light in the universe, which may help reveal secrets about the earliest moments in the universe's formation.

Maybe it happens tomorrow. Maybe in a billion years. Physicists have long predicted that the universe may one day collapse, and that everything in it will be compressed to a small hard ball. New calculations from physicists at the University of Southern Denmark now confirm this prediction -- and they also conclude that the risk of a collapse is even greater than previously thought.

A colloquium paper published in The European Physical Journal D looks into the alleged issues associated with quantum theory. Berthold-Georg Englert from the National University of Singapore reviews a selection of the potential problems of the theory.

World-leading scientists will push the boundaries of studies on how to deflect asteroids and manipulate space debris, as the University of Strathclyde gets set to transform international space research.

Researchers have identified some of the underlying physics that may explain how insects can so quickly recover from a stall in midflight -- unlike conventional fixed wing aircraft, where a stalled state often leads to a crash landing.

An international team of high-energy physicists says the discovery of an electrically charged subatomic particle called Zc(4020) is a sign that they have begun to unveil a whole new family of four-quark objects.

In a new study, Dartmouth researchers rule out a controversial theory that the accelerating expansion of the universe is an illusion.

Imagine you order a delivery of several glass vases in different colors. Each vase is sent as a separate parcel. What would you think of the courier if the parcels arrive apparently undamaged, yet when you open them, it turns out that all the red vases are intact and all the green ones are smashed to pieces? Physicists from the University of Warsaw and the Gdansk University of Technology have demonstrated that when quantum information is transmitted, nature can be as whimsical as this crazy delivery man.

Potential asteroid impact on Earth can have disastrous consequences. In order to prevent such collisions, earthbound space objects must be deflected. This can be accomplished using a space probe to impact the asteroid.

An international team of scientists has provided proof of a key feature of quantum physics -- Heisenberg's error-disturbance relation -- more than 80 years after it was first suggested.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2013 to François Englert of Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, and Peter W. Higgs of the University of Edinburgh, UK, "for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider."

Two million years ago a supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy erupted in an explosion so immensely powerful that it lit up a cloud 200,000 light years away, a team of researchers led by the University of Sydney has revealed. The finding is an exciting confirmation that black holes can 'flicker', moving from maximum power to switching off over, in cosmic terms, short periods of time.

Two researchers at UCL Computer Science and the University of Gdansk present a new method for determining the amount of entanglement -- a quantum phenomenon connecting two remote partners, and crucial for quantum technology -- within part of a one-dimensional quantum system.

The existence of the "Hubble Bubble" may explain, at least in part, the differing measurements for the expansion and therefore the age of the universe. That is the assumption of a team of physicists headed by Prof. Dr. Luca Amendola from the Institute for Theoretical Physics at Heidelberg University. In collaboration with colleagues from the Netherlands, the Heidelberg physicists developed a theoretical model that places the Milky Way inside of this type of cosmic bubble. The researchers believe the bubble can explain some of the deviations between previous measurements and the latest ones from the Planck satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA).

No one knows for sure, but it is not at all unlikely that the universe is constructed in a very different way than the usual theories and models of today predict. The most widely used model today cannot explain everything in the universe, and therefore there is a need to explore the parts of nature which the model cannot explain. This research field is called new physics, and it turns our understanding of the universe upside down. New research now makes the search for new physics easier.

An international team of researchers, led by physicists from Lund University, has confirmed the existence of what is considered a new element with atomic number 115. The experiment was conducted at the GSI research facility in Germany. The results confirm earlier measurements performed by research groups in Russia.

The international Daya Bay Collaboration has announced new results about the transformations of neutrinos -- elusive, ghostlike particles that carry invaluable clues about the makeup of the early universe. The latest findings include the collaboration's first data on how neutrino oscillation -- in which neutrinos mix and change into other "flavors," or types, as they travel -- varies with neutrino energy, allowing the measurement of a key difference in neutrino masses known as "mass splitting."

Just how stars and black holes in the Universe are able to form from rotating matter is one of the big questions of astrophysics. What we do know is that magnetic fields figure prominently into the picture.

Astronomers have explored cold dark matter in depth and proposes new answers about the formation of galaxies and the structure of the Universe. These predictions are being contrasted with fresh data provided by the Hubble space telescope. It is estimated that only a minute fraction of the matter in the Universe is baryonic matter, which forms stars, planets and living organisms. The rest, comprising over 80%, is dark matter and energy.

Scientists propose a link between string field theory and quantum mechanics that could open the door to using string field theory as the basis of all physics. Their calculations "could solve the mystery of where quantum mechanics comes from," said a co-author.