Physics posts
- December 18, 2012
- 04:00 PM
- 223 views
and now for something surprisingly simpler
by Greg Fish in weird things
Usually a new discovery in deep space tends to further complicate our picture of the universe, almost as if the cosmos says "oh yeah, you think you have a good idea of how this works?" and throws a monkey wrench into the works, or sometimes, the whole screaming, angry monkey. So when it comes to phenomena as complex and exciting as black holes, surely there can’t be any data that makes them easier to understand. [...]... Read more »
Nemmen, R., Georganopoulos, M., Guiriec, S., Meyer, E., Gehrels, N., & Sambruna, R. (2012) A Universal Scaling for the Energetics of Relativistic Jets from Black Hole Systems. Science, 338(6113), 1445-1448. DOI: 10.1126/science.1227416
- December 16, 2012
- 06:14 AM
- 181 views
Where does mass come from?
by Marco Frasca in The Gauge Connection
After CERN’s updates (well recounted here and here) producing no real news but just some concern about possible Higgs cloning, I would like to discuss here some mathematical facts about what one should expect about mass generation and why we should not be happy with these results, now coming out on a quarterly basis. The [...]... Read more »
M. Beneke, & P. Moch. (2012) On "dynamical mass" generation in Euclidean de Sitter space. arXiv. arXiv: 1212.3058v1
Marco Frasca. (2009) Exact solutions of classical scalar field equations. J.Nonlin.Math.Phys.18:291-297,2011. arXiv: 0907.4053v2
- December 14, 2012
- 09:39 PM
- 137 views
Stretchable energy storage device for flexible and stretchable electronics
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Researchers have developed rechargeable and stretchable energy storage device, also known as supercapacitor, for the flexible and stretchable electronics.
This research has been done by the researchers from the University of Delaware and published online in the journal Nano Letters.
“Advances in soft and stretchable substrates and elastomeric materials have given rise to an entirely new field,” Bingqing Wei, a mechanical engineering professor at UD, said in a statement.
&ldq........ Read more »
Li, X., Gu, T., & Wei, B. (2012) Dynamic and Galvanic Stability of Stretchable Supercapacitors. Nano Letters, 12(12), 6366-6371. DOI: 10.1021/nl303631e
- December 14, 2012
- 04:07 AM
- 200 views
Nasa is developping graphene based sensors
by Jean-Christophe Lavocat in Graphenea ~ News about Graphene
The famous US aerospace and aeronautics agency NASA is currently developing sensors based on graphene. The main leader of the initiative, Mahmooda Sultana, joined NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt two years ago. She had since then won research and development fundings to install graphene production facilities.... Read more »
Li, Mary; Sultana, Mahmooda; Hess, Larry. (2012) Graphene Transparent Conductive Electrodes for Next- Generation Microshutter Arrays . NASA Tech Briefs, May 2012. info:other/20120009225
- December 14, 2012
- 12:08 AM
- 175 views
Seven Galaxies have been found that came into being a little after the birth of Universe
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
NASA's Earth orbiting Hubble Space Telescope has helped the scientists to observe the galaxies that are more than 13 billion years old.
This research has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
With the help of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have found seven previously unknown galaxies that were formed a little after the birth of the universe. These are found in the redshift range of 8.6 to 11.9. Redshift refers to the change in the spectrum........ Read more »
Richard S Ellis, Ross J McLure, James S Dunlop, Brant E Robertson, Yoshiaki Ono, Matthew A Schenker, Anton Koekemoer, Rebecca A A Bowler, Masami Ouchi, Alexander B Rogers.... (2012) The Abundance of Star-Forming Galaxies in the Redshift Range 8.5 to 12: New Results from the 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field Campaign. Submitted to Astrophys. J. Lett. on Nov. 7, 2012. . arXiv: 1211.6804v1
- December 11, 2012
- 09:35 PM
- 207 views
Charging cars from the roads with the steels belts in the tires of the car
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Researchers have presented the concept of wireless energy transfer from the road through the steel belts in the tires to the electric car.
This study has been done by researchers at Toyohashi University of Technology (Japan) and has been published online in the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Workshop Series on Innovative Wireless Power Transmission.
Researchers have showed that the energy can be transmitted to the steel belts inside the tires by using electrodes or metal plates hid........ Read more »
Suzuki, Y. ; Sugiura, T. ; Sakai, N. ; Hanazawa, M. ; Ohira, T. (2012) Dielectric coupling from electrified roadway to steel-belt tires characterized for miniature model car running demonstration. EEE MTT-S International Microwave Workshop Series on Innovative Wireless Power Transmission. info:/
- December 11, 2012
- 07:53 PM
- 210 views
Samarium hexaboride
by Joerg Heber in All That Matters
There is a lot of buzz in the physics community about a new topological insulator: samarium hexaboride, SmB6. The reason why any major discovery about topological insulators seems to be big news is that these materials have some unique electrical characteristics that make them not only very interesting from a fundamental point of view but [...]... Read more »
Steven Wolgast, Cagliyan Kurdak, Kai Sun, J. W. Allen, Dae-Jeong Kim, & Zachary Fisk. (2012) Discovery of the First Topological Kondo Insulator: Samarium Hexaboride. -. arXiv: 1211.5104v2
Xiaohang Zhang, N. P. Butch, P. Syers, S. Ziemak, Richard L. Greene, & J. Paglione. (2012) Hybridization, Correlation, and In-Gap States in the Kondo Insulator SmB6. -. arXiv: 1211.5532v1
J. Botimer, D. J. Kim, S. Thomas, T. Grant, Z. Fisk, & Jing Xia. (2012) Robust Surface Hall Effect and Nonlocal Transport in SmB6: Indication for an Ideal Topological Insulator. -. arXiv: 1211.6769v1
- December 9, 2012
- 08:32 AM
- 307 views
Earliest stars were formed when the age of the Universe was…
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Recently, scientists from MIT published a research paper in the journal Nature in which they showed their work of “Extremely metal-poor gas at a redshift of 7”. They utilized infrared spectrometer, which they placed onto the Magellan Telescope, a massive ground-based telescope in Chile. They calculated the elements and based on the observations about the heavy elements they believe that the earliest stars might have been formed 750 million years after the formation of Universe.
&l........ Read more »
Visbal, E., Barkana, R., Fialkov, A., Tseliakhovich, D., & Hirata, C. (2012) The signature of the first stars in atomic hydrogen at redshift 20. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature11177
Pletsch, H., Guillemot, L., Fehrmann, H., Allen, B., Kramer, M., Aulbert, C., Ackermann, M., Ajello, M., de Angelis, A., Atwood, W.... (2012) Binary Millisecond Pulsar Discovery via Gamma-Ray Pulsations. Science, 338(6112), 1314-1317. DOI: 10.1126/science.1229054
Ackermann, M., Ajello, M., Allafort, A., Schady, P., Baldini, L., Ballet, J., Barbiellini, G., Bastieri, D., Bellazzini, R., Blandford, R.... (2012) The Imprint of the Extragalactic Background Light in the Gamma-Ray Spectra of Blazars. Science, 338(6111), 1190-1192. DOI: 10.1126/science.1227160
Simcoe, R., Sullivan, P., Cooksey, K., Kao, M., Matejek, M., & Burgasser, A. (2012) Extremely metal-poor gas at a redshift of 7. Nature, 492(7427), 79-82. DOI: 10.1038/nature11612
- December 6, 2012
- 05:00 PM
- 193 views
A bandgap semiconductor nanostructure made entirely from graphene
by Jean-Christophe Lavocat in Graphenea ~ News about Graphene
In 2005, when Andre Geim and Philip Kim separately worked on graphene's electrons and showed that the material was showing a zero-bandgap, this came as a very curious feature that people would probably use. This zero-bandgap property makes that graphene is not a real semi-conductor and could not be used directly by the industry. Many successful attempts were made to create a band gap in graphene, by using doped graphene, nanoribbons or by using an electric field between a bi-layered graphen........ Read more »
Hicks, J., Tejeda, A., Taleb-Ibrahimi, A., Nevius, M., Wang, F., Shepperd, K., Palmer, J., Bertran, F., Le Fèvre, P., Kunc, J.... (2012) A wide-bandgap metal–semiconductor–metal nanostructure made entirely from graphene. Nature Physics. DOI: 10.1038/nphys2487
- December 6, 2012
- 12:12 PM
- 287 views
Star formation started after 750 million years of the formation of Universe; Research
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Scientists have found that very first stars came into being after about 750 million years of the Universe’s life.
This research has been published online in the journal Nature.
In this study, researchers analyzed most distant known quasar with the help of infrared spectrometer, which they placed onto the Magellan Telescope, a massive ground-based telescope in Chile. This quasar is about 13 billion light-years from Earth and helped to study the universe in its infancy. Researchers fou........ Read more »
Simcoe, R., Sullivan, P., Cooksey, K., Kao, M., Matejek, M., & Burgasser, A. (2012) Extremely metal-poor gas at a redshift of 7. Nature, 492(7427), 79-82. DOI: 10.1038/nature11612
- December 6, 2012
- 09:24 AM
- 176 views
Dielectrics conducted electricity and broke conventional thinking; Research
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Scientists have successfully used laser pulses through dielectrics to achieve 10,000 times faster working of transistors than the conventional transistors.
Researches presenting this have been done by Georgia State University professor and international researchers, and published online in the journal Nature.
This research is really interesting because it showed that the substance which was not used for a certain purpose have suddenly broken all the records of that purpose.
Technologica........ Read more »
Schiffrin, A., Paasch-Colberg, T., Karpowicz, N., Apalkov, V., Gerster, D., Mühlbrandt, S., Korbman, M., Reichert, J., Schultze, M., Holzner, S.... (2012) Optical-field-induced current in dielectrics. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature11567
Schultze, M., Bothschafter, E., Sommer, A., Holzner, S., Schweinberger, W., Fiess, M., Hofstetter, M., Kienberger, R., Apalkov, V., Yakovlev, V.... (2012) Controlling dielectrics with the electric field of light. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature11720
- December 5, 2012
- 04:21 AM
- 172 views
There's something about ivy
by John Ankers in Too Many Live Wires
‘Tis the season to be jolly: A time when geese are getting fat and red-nosed reindeers are given their first big break. At Christmas, your halls may be decked with holly but it’s ivy that grows over everything else. But have you ever wondered how ivy is able to climb up walls? ... Read more »
Burris, J., Lenaghan, S., Zhang, M., & Stewart, C. (2012) Nanoparticle biofabrication using English ivy (Hedera helix). Journal of Nanobiotechnology, 10(1), 41. DOI: 10.1186/1477-3155-10-41
- December 4, 2012
- 12:07 PM
- 381 views
Can a car engine be built out of a single particle?
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
As physicists work on miniaturizing devices, they will eventually run into the ultimate limit: the atom. A fundamental question in this area is whether it’s even possible to scale down a macroscale engine such as a car engine to the single-particle level, while retaining the same working principles. In a new study, a team of physicists has proposed a scheme to build a heat engine that consists of a single trapped ion that can perform a quantum version of the Otto cycle, the basis of the co........ Read more »
Lisa Zyga. (2012) Can a car engine be built out of a single particle?. Physical Review Letters. info:/
- November 30, 2012
- 06:30 PM
- 408 views
As Supersymmetry Fails Tests, Physicists Seek New Ideas
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
So far, no hints of “new physics” beyond the Standard Model — the accepted set of equations describing the known elementary particles — have shown up in experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, operated by the European research laboratory CERN outside Geneva, or anywhere else. (The recently discovered Higgs boson was predicted by the Standard Model.) The latest round of proton-smashing experiments, presented last week at the Hadron Collider Physics conference in Kyoto, J........ Read more »
Natalie Wolchover. (2012) As Supersymmetry Fails Tests, Physicists Seek New Ideas. Simons Foundation. info:/
- November 30, 2012
- 05:18 PM
- 260 views
Parasite Philosophy: Just Keep Swimming!
by Stephanie Swift in mmmbitesizescience
Lots of microorganisms can survive in remarkably difficult conditions – bacteria can bloom in hot springs at 80°C, archaea live around hydrothermal vents reaching a toasty 113°C, while viruses can survive in the Arctic sea ice. For human pathogens, only … Continue reading →... Read more »
Heddergott N, Krüger T, Babu SB, Wei A, Stellamanns E, Uppaluri S, Pfohl T, Stark H, & Engstler M. (2012) Trypanosome motion represents an adaptation to the crowded environment of the vertebrate bloodstream. PLoS pathogens, 8(11). PMID: 23166495
- November 29, 2012
- 08:47 AM
- 318 views
Lead-proton collisions yield surprising results
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
Collisions between protons and lead ions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have produced surprising behavior in some of the particles created by the collisions. The new observation suggests the collisions may have produced a new type of matter known as color-glass condensate.... Read more »
Anne Trafton. (2012) Lead-proton collisions yield surprising results. MIT News Office. info:/
- November 28, 2012
- 03:49 PM
- 350 views
Graphite experiment shines new light on giant planets, white dwarfs and laser-driven fusion
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
An international team led by researchers from the University of Warwick and Oxford University is now dealing with unexpected results of an experiment with strongly heated graphite (up to 17,000 degrees Kelvin). The findings may pose a new problem for physicists working in laser-driven nuclear fusion and may also lead astrophysicists to revise our understanding of the life cycle of giant planets and stars.... Read more »
Warwick University. (2012) Graphite experiment shines new light on giant planets, white dwarfs and laser-driven fusion. Warwick University press releases. info:/
- November 26, 2012
- 10:25 AM
- 182 views
How to Sort Circulating Tumor Cells Part IV: Electrokinetic Separation
by pratt_ed in CTC Engineer
Most CTC sorting devices target some observed cancer cell phenotype that was determined from studying tumor tissue directly, or from using immortalized cancer cell lines. This means that active sorting techniques, like size-based selection and immunocapture, require some level of a priori knowledge about CTCs before you can engineer a device to capture them. Microscopic characterization is one CTC identification method that circumvents this problem, fixing (killing) the cells, and then using ima........ Read more »
Pratt Erica D., Huang Chao, Hawkins Benjamin G., Gleghorn Jason P., & Kirby Brian J. (2011) Rare cell capture in microfluidic devices. Chemical Engineering Science, 66(7), 1508-1522. DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2010.09.012
- November 21, 2012
- 12:58 PM
- 320 views
Math Shows Penguins Only Care about Themselves
by Elizabeth Preston in Inkfish
Don't let the adorable mini-orchestra-conductor look fool you: penguins aren't that nice. When emperor penguins huddle together during Antarctic storms, they act like they're all in it together. But a new mathematical model shows just how the clusters of birds keep warm, accounting for everything from their geometry to the speed of the wind. Concern for one's fellow bird, it turns out, isn't a factor.
Regardless of your motivations, huddling together in a group is a great way to wait out a f........ Read more »
Waters, A., Blanchette, F., & Kim, A. (2012) Modeling Huddling Penguins. PLoS ONE, 7(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050277
- November 20, 2012
- 05:34 AM
- 317 views
A first paper on square root of a Brownian motion and quantum mechanics gets published!
by Marco Frasca in The Gauge Connection
Following my series of posts on the link between the square root of a stochastic process and quantum mechanics (see here, here, here, here, here), that I proved to exist both theoretically and experimentally, I am pleased to let you know that the first paper of my collaboration with Alfonso Farina and Matteo Sedehi was [...]... Read more »
Marco Frasca. (2012) Quantum mechanics is the square root of a stochastic process. arXiv. arXiv: 1201.5091v2
Farina, A., Giompapa, S., Graziano, A., Liburdi, A., Ravanelli, M., & Zirilli, F. (2011) Tartaglia-Pascal’s triangle: a historical perspective with applications. Signal, Image and Video Processing. DOI: 10.1007/s11760-011-0228-6
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