Category Archives: Quantum Physics
IBM Unveils New Series of Utility-Scale Quantum Processors – The Fast Mode
At the annual IBM Quantum Summit in New York, IBM debuted 'IBM Quantum Heron,' the first in a new series of utility-scale quantum processors with an architecture engineered over the past four years to deliver IBM's highest performance metrics and lowest error rates of any IBM Quantum processor to date.
IBM also unveiled IBM Quantum System Two, the company's first modular quantum computer and cornerstone of IBM's quantum-centric supercomputing architecture. The first IBM Quantum System Two, located in Yorktown Heights, New York, has begun operations with three IBM Heron processors and supporting control electronics.
With this critical foundation now in place, along with other breakthroughs in quantum hardware, theory, and software, the company is extending its IBM Quantum Development Roadmap to 2033 with new targets to significantly advance the quality of gate operations.
As demonstrated by IBM earlier this year on a 127-qubit 'IBM Quantum Eagle' processor, IBM Quantum systems can now serve as a scientific tool to explore utility-scale classes of problems in chemistry, physics, and materials beyond brute force classical simulation of quantum mechanics.
IBM is also detailing plans for a new generation of its software stack, within which Qiskit 1.0 will be a pivot point defined by stability and speed. Additionally, and with the goal of democratizing quantum computing development, IBM is announcing Qiskit Patterns.
Dario Gil, IBM SVP and Director of Research
We are firmly within the era in which quantum computers are being used as a tool to explore new frontiers of science. As we continue to advance how quantum systems can scale and deliver value through modular architectures, we will further increase the quality of a utility-scale quantum technology stack and put it into the hands of our users and partners who will push the boundaries of more complex problems.
Jay Gambetta, Vice President and IBM Fellow at IBM
Generative AI and quantum computing are both reaching an inflection point, presenting us with the opportunity to use the trusted foundation model framework of watsonx to simplify how quantum algorithms can be built for utility-scale exploration. This is a significant step towards broadening how quantum computing can be accessed and put in the hands of users as an instrument for scientific exploration.
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IBM Unveils New Series of Utility-Scale Quantum Processors - The Fast Mode
Superconducting nanowires detect single protein ions – Phys.org
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An international research team led by quantum physicist Markus Arndt (University of Vienna) has achieved a breakthrough in the detection of protein ions: Due to their high energy sensitivity, superconducting nanowire detectors achieve almost 100% quantum efficiency and exceed the detection efficiency of conventional ion detectors at low energies by a factor of up to a 1,000.
In contrast to conventional detectors, they can also distinguish macromolecules by their impact energy. This allows for more sensitive detection of proteins and it provides additional information in mass spectrometry. The results of this study were recently published in the journal Science Advances.
The detection, identification, and analysis of macromolecules is interesting in many areas of life sciences, including protein research, diagnostics, and analytics. Mass spectrometry is often used as a detection systema method that typically separates charged particles (ions) according to their mass-to-charge ratio and measures the intensity of the signals generated by a detector. This provides information about the relative abundance of the different types of ions and therefore the composition of the sample.
However, conventional detectors have only been able to achieve high detection efficiency and spatial resolution for particles with high-impact energya limitation that has now been overcome by an international team of researchers using superconducting nanowire detectors.
In the current study, a European consortium coordinated by the University of Vienna, with partners in Delft (Single Quantum), Lausanne (EPFL), Almere (MSVision) and Basel (University), demonstrates for the first time the use of superconducting nanowires as excellent detectors for protein beams in so-called quadrupole mass spectrometry. Ions from the sample to be analyzed are fed into a quadrupole mass spectrometer where they are filtered.
"If we now use superconducting nanowires instead of conventional detectors, we can even identify particles that hit the detector with low kinetic energy," explains project leader Markus Arndt from the Quantum Nanophysics Group at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna. This is made possible by a special material property (superconductivity) of the nanowire detectors.
The key to this detection method is that nanowires enter a superconducting state at very low temperatures, in which they lose their electrical resistance and allow lossless current flow. Excitation of the superconducting nanowires by incoming ions causes a return to the normal conducting state (quantum transition). The change in the electrical properties of the nanowires during this transition is interpreted as a detection signal.
"With the nanowire detectors we use," says first author Marcel Strau, "we exploit the quantum transition from the superconducting to the normal conducting state and can thus outperform conventional ion detectors by up to three orders of magnitude."
Indeed, nanowire detectors have a remarkable quantum yield at exceptionally low impact energiesand redefine the possibilities of conventional detectors: "In addition, a mass spectrometer adapted with such a quantum sensor can not only distinguish molecules according to their mass to charge state, but also classify them according to their kinetic energy. This improves the detection and offers the possibility for have better spatial resolution," says Marcel Strau.
Nanowire detectors can find new applications in mass spectrometry, molecular spectroscopy, molecular deflectometry, or quantum interferometry of molecules, where high efficiency and good resolution are required, especially at low impact energy.
More information: Marcel Strau et al, Highly sensitive single-molecule detection of macromolecule ion beams, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj2801
Journal information: Science Advances
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Superconducting nanowires detect single protein ions - Phys.org
Researchers Discover a Breakthrough in Protein Ion Detection – AZoNano
A multinational research team at the University of Vienna, under the direction of quantum physicist Markus Arndt, has made significant progress in the identification of protein ions.At low energies, superconducting nanowire detectors outperform conventional ion detectors in terms of detection efficiency by a ratio of up to 1,000 due to their high energy sensitivity, which allows for about 100% quantum efficiency.
Unlike traditional detectors, they are also capable of differentiating macromolecules based on their impact energy. This gives mass spectrometry extra information and enables more sensitive protein identification. The journal Science Advancespublished the studys findings.
Protein research, diagnostics, and analytics are just a few of the life sciences fields that find macromolecules' detection, identification, and analysis intriguing. Mass spectrometry is a widely used detection device that examines the strength of signals produced by a detector and often divides charged particles (ions) based on their mass-to-charge ratio.
This details the relative abundance of the various ion types and the samples composition. Superconducting nanowire detectors have allowed an international team of researchers to overcome the constraint that traditional detectors could only achieve high detection efficiency and spatial resolution for particles with high-impact energy.
A European consortium led by the University of Vienna and including partners from Delft (Single Quantum), Lausanne (EPFL), Almere (MSVision), and Basel (University) indicates for the first time the potential of superconducting nanowires as superior detectors for protein beams in quadrupole mass spectrometry. A quadrupole mass spectrometer receives the ions from the sample to be examined and filters them.
If we now use superconducting nanowires instead of conventional detectors, we can even identify particles that hit the detector with low kinetic energy.
Markus Arndt, Project Leader, Quantum Nanophysics Group, Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna
Superconductivity, a unique material feature of the nanowire detectors, makes this feasible.
The secret to this detecting technique is that at extremely low temperatures, nanowires transition into a superconducting state where they lose their electrical resistance and permit lossless current flow.
A quantum transition occurs when incoming ions excite the superconducting nanowires, resulting in a return to the normal conducting state. During this transition, the nanowires altered electrical characteristics are interpreted as a detecting signal.
With the nanowire detectors we use we exploit the quantum transition from the superconducting to the normal conducting state and can thus outperform conventional ion detectors by up to three orders of magnitude.
Marcel Strau, Study First Author and Project Staff, University of Vienna
In fact, nanowire detectors redefine the capabilities of conventional detectors and offer an amazing quantum yield at remarkably low impact energies.
In addition, a mass spectrometer adapted with such a quantum sensor can not only distinguish molecules according to their mass to charge state, but also classify them according to their kinetic energy. This improves the detection and offers the possibility for have better spatial resolution, Strau added.
In fields requiring high efficiency and strong resolution, particularly at low impact energy, such as mass spectrometry, molecular spectroscopy, molecular deflectometry, or quantum interferometry of molecules, nanowire detectors can find new uses.
Superconducting nanowire detector research is headed by Single Quantum, ultracold electronics is provided by experts from EPFL-Lausanne, mass spectrometry is specialized by MSVISION, and chemical synthesis and protein functionalization are handled by University of Basel experts. The University of Vienna unites all the elements with its proficiency in superconductivity, molecular beams, and quantum optics.
The SuperMaMa project (860713), which aims to investigate superconducting detectors for mass spectrometry and molecular analysis, provided funding for the study. Funding for the study of the modified proteins was provided by the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation (10771).
Strauss, M, et. al. (2023) Highly sensitive single-molecule detection of macromolecule ion beams. Science Advances. doi:10.1126/sciadv.adj2801.
Source: http://www.univie.ac.at/
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Researchers Discover a Breakthrough in Protein Ion Detection - AZoNano
Magnetic Revolution: Diamonds and Rust Rewrite Physics Textbooks – SciTechDaily
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered magnetic monopoles in hematite, a material akin to rust, using diamond quantum sensing. This groundbreaking observation of emergent monopoles, which behave like isolated magnetic charges, could revolutionize computing technology by enabling faster and more environmentally friendly applications.
Cambridge researchers have identified magnetic monopoles in hematite, suggesting new possibilities for advanced, eco-friendly computing technologies. This first-time observation of emergent monopoles in a natural magnet could unlock new avenues in quantum material research.
Researchers have discovered magnetic monopoles isolated magnetic charges in a material closely related to rust, a result that could be used to power greener and faster computing technologies.
Researchers led by the University of Cambridge used a technique known as diamond quantum sensing to observe swirling textures and faint magnetic signals on the surface of hematite, a type of iron oxide.
The researchers observed that magnetic monopoles in hematite emerge through the collective behavior of many spins (the angular momentum of a particle). These monopoles glide across the swirling textures on the surface of the hematite, like tiny hockey pucks of magnetic charge. This is the first time that naturally occurring emergent monopoles have been observed experimentally.
The research has also shown the direct connection between the previously hidden swirling textures and the magnetic charges of materials like hematite, as if there is a secret code linking them together. The results, which could be useful in enabling next-generation logic and memory applications, are reported today (December 5) in the journal Nature Materials.
According to the equations of James Clerk Maxwell, a giant of Cambridge physics, magnetic objects, whether a fridge magnet or the Earth itself, must always exist as a pair of magnetic poles that cannot be isolated.
The magnets we use every day have two poles: north and south, said Professor Mete Atatre, who led the research. In the 19th century, it was hypothesized that monopoles could exist. But in one of his foundational equations for the study of electromagnetism, James Clerk Maxwell disagreed.
Atatre is Head of Cambridges Cavendish Laboratory, a position once held by Maxwell himself. If monopoles did exist, and we were able to isolate them, it would be like finding a missing puzzle piece that was assumed to be lost, he said.
About 15 years ago, scientists suggested how monopoles could exist in a magnetic material. This theoretical result relied on the extreme separation of north and south poles so that locally each pole appeared isolated in an exotic material called spin ice.
However, there is an alternative strategy to find monopoles, involving the concept of emergence. The idea of emergence is the combination of many physical entities can give rise to properties that are either more than or different to the sum of their parts.
Working with colleagues from the University of Oxford and the National University of Singapore, the Cambridge researchers used emergence to uncover monopoles spread over two-dimensional space, gliding across the swirling textures on the surface of a magnetic material.
The swirling topological textures are found in two main types of materials: ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. Of the two, antiferromagnets are more stable than ferromagnets, but they are more difficult to study, as they dont have a strong magnetic signature.
To study the behavior of antiferromagnets, Atatre and his colleagues use an imaging technique known as diamond quantum magnetometry. This technique uses a single spin the inherent angular momentum of an electron in a diamond needle to precisely measure the magnetic field on the surface of a material, without affecting its behavior.
For the current study, the researchers used the technique to look at hematite, an antiferromagnetic iron oxide material. To their surprise, they found hidden patterns of magnetic charges within hematite, including monopoles, dipoles, and quadrupoles.
Monopoles had been predicted theoretically, but this is the first time weve actually seen a two-dimensional monopole in a naturally occurring magnet, said co-author Professor Paolo Radaelli, from the University of Oxford.
These monopoles are a collective state of many spins that twirl around a singularity rather than a single fixed particle, so they emerge through many-body interactions. The result is a tiny, localized stable particle with diverging magnetic field coming out of it, said co-first author Dr. Hariom Jani, from the University of Oxford.
Weve shown how diamond quantum magnetometry could be used to unravel the mysterious behavior of magnetism in two-dimensional quantum materials, which could open up new fields of study in this area, said co-first author Dr. Anthony Tan, from the Cavendish Laboratory. The challenge has always been direct imaging of these textures in antiferromagnets due to their weaker magnetic pull, but now were able to do so, with a nice combination of diamonds and rust.
The study not only highlights the potential of diamond quantum magnetometry but also underscores its capacity to uncover and investigate hidden magnetic phenomena in quantum materials. If controlled, these swirling textures dressed in magnetic charges could power super-fast and energy-efficient computer memory logic.
Reference: Revealing emergent magnetic charge in an antiferromagnet with diamond quantum magnetometry by Anthony K. C. Tan, Hariom Jani, Michael Hgen, Lucio Stefan, Claudio Castelnovo, Daniel Braund, Alexandra Geim, Annika Mechnich, Matthew S. G. Feuer, Helena S. Knowles, Ariando Ariando, Paolo G. Radaelli and Mete Atatre, 5 December 2023, Nature Materials.DOI: 10.1038/s41563-023-01737-4
The research was supported in part by the Royal Society, the Sir Henry Royce Institute, the European Union, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
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Magnetic Revolution: Diamonds and Rust Rewrite Physics Textbooks - SciTechDaily
IBM Debuts Next-Generation Quantum Processor & IBM Quantum System Two, Extends Roadmap to Advance Era of … – IBM Newsroom
-University of Tokyo, Argonne National Laboratory, Fundacion Ikerbasque, Qedma, Algorithmiq, University of Washington, University of Cologne, Harvard University, UC Berkeley, Q-CTRL demonstrate new research to explore power of utility-scale quantum computing
-IBM Quantum Heron is released as IBMs most performant quantum processor in the world, with newly built architecture offering up to five-fold improvement in error reduction over IBM Quantum Eagle
-IBM Quantum System Two begins operation with three IBM Heron processors, designed to bring quantum-centric supercomputing to reality
-Expansion of IBM Quantum Development Roadmap for next ten years prioritizes improvements in gate operations to scale with quality towards advanced error-corrected systems
-Qiskit 1.0 announced, the worlds most widely used open-source quantum programming software, with new features to help computational scientists execute quantum circuits with ease and speed
-IBM showcases generative AI models engineered to automate quantum code development with watsonx and optimize quantum circuits
Dec 4, 2023
At IBM Quantum Summit 2023, IBM Quantum System Two was debuted as the companys first modular quantum computer and cornerstone of IBMs quantum-centric supercomputing architecture. (Credit: Ryan Lavine for IBM)
NEW YORK, Dec. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, at the annual IBM Quantum Summit in New York, IBM (NYSE: IBM) debuted 'IBM Quantum Heron,' the first in a new series of utility-scale quantum processors with an architecture engineered over the past four years to deliver IBM's highest performance metrics and lowest error rates of any IBM Quantum processor to date.
IBM also unveiled IBM Quantum System Two, the company's first modular quantum computer and cornerstone of IBM's quantum-centric supercomputing architecture. The first IBM Quantum System Two, located in Yorktown Heights, New York, has begun operations with three IBM Heron processors and supporting control electronics.
At IBM Quantum Summit 2023, IBM Quantum Heron was released as IBMs best performing quantum processor to date, with newly built architecture offering up to five-fold improvement in error reduction. (Credit: Ryan Lavine for IBM)
With this critical foundation now in place, along with other breakthroughs in quantum hardware, theory, and software, the company is extending its IBM Quantum Development Roadmap to 2033 with new targets to significantly advance the quality of gate operations. Doing so would increase the size of quantum circuits able to be run and help to realize the full potential of quantum computing at scale.
"We are firmly within the era in which quantum computers are being used as a tool to explore new frontiers of science," said Dario Gil, IBM SVP and Director of Research. "As we continue to advance how quantum systems can scale and deliver value through modular architectures, we will further increase the quality of a utility-scale quantum technology stack and put it into the hands of our users and partners who will push the boundaries of more complex problems."
As demonstrated by IBM earlier this year on a 127-qubit 'IBM Quantum Eagle' processor, IBM Quantum systems can now serve as a scientific tool to explore utility-scale classes of problems in chemistry, physics, and materials beyond brute force classical simulation of quantum mechanics.
Since that demonstration, leading researchers, scientists, and engineers from organizations including the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Tokyo, the University of Washington, the University of Cologne, Harvard University, Qedma, Algorithmiq, UC Berkeley, Q-CTRL, Fundacion Ikerbasque, Donostia International Physics Center, and the University of the Basque Country, as well as IBM, have expanded demonstrations of utility-scale quantum computing to confirm its value in exploring uncharted computational territory.
This includes experiments already running on the new IBM Quantum Heron 133-qubit processor, which IBM is making available for users today via the cloud. IBM Heron is the first in IBM's new class of performant processors with significantly improved error rates, offering a five-times improvement over the previous best records set by IBM Eagle. Additional IBM Heron processors will join IBM's industry-leading, utility-scale fleet of systems over the course of the next year.
IBM Quantum System Two and Extended IBM Quantum Development Roadmap
IBM Quantum System Two is the foundation of IBM's next generation quantum computing system architecture. It combines scalable cryogenic infrastructure and classical runtime servers with modular qubit control electronics. The new system is a building block for IBM's vision of quantum-centric supercomputing. This architecture combines quantum communication and computation, assisted by classical computing resources, and leverages a middleware layer to appropriately integrate quantum and classical workflows.
As part of the newly expanded ten-year IBM Quantum Development Roadmap, IBM plans for this system to also house IBM's future generations of quantum processors. Also, as part of this roadmap, these future processors are intended to gradually improve the quality of operations they can run to significantly extend the complexity and size of workloads they are capable of handling.
At IBM Quantum Summit 2023, the company extended the IBM Quantum Development Roadmap to 2033, and has established an IBM Quantum Innovation Roadmap through 2029. (Credit: IBM)
Qiskit and Generative AI to Increase Ease of Quantum Software Programming
Today, IBM is also detailing plans for a new generation of its software stack, within which Qiskit 1.0 will be a pivot point defined by stability and speed. Additionally, and with the goal of democratizing quantum computing development, IBM is announcing Qiskit Patterns.
Qiskit Patterns will serve as a mechanism to allow quantum developers to more easily create code. It is based in a collection of tools to simply map classical problems, optimize them to quantum circuits using Qiskit, executing those circuits using Qiskit Runtime, and then postprocess the results. With Qiskit Patterns, combined with Quantum Serverless, users will be able to build, deploy, and execute workflows integrating classical and quantum computation in different environments, such as cloud or on-prem scenarios. All of these tools will provide building blocks for users to build and run quantum algorithms more easily.
Additionally, IBM is pioneering the use of generative AI for quantum code programming through watsonx, IBM's enterprise AI platform. IBM will integrate generative AI available through watsonx to help automate the development of quantum code for Qiskit. This will be achieved through the finetuning of the IBM Granite model series.
"Generative AI and quantum computing are both reaching an inflection point, presenting us with the opportunity to use the trusted foundation model framework of watsonx to simplify how quantum algorithms can be built for utility-scale exploration," said Jay Gambetta, Vice President and IBM Fellow at IBM. "This is a significant step towards broadening how quantum computing can be accessed and put in the hands of users as an instrument for scientific exploration."
With advanced hardware across IBM's global fleet of 100+ qubit systems, as well as easy-to-use software that IBM is debuting in Qiskit, users and computational scientists can now obtain reliable results from quantum systems as they map increasingly larger and more complex problems to quantum circuits.
About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.
Visit http://www.ibm.com for more information.
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The Science Quiz | What should we make of quantum mechanics? – The Hindu
Questions:
1. Name this interpretation of quantum mechanics thats one of the oldest as well as influential. Theres no definite statement of this interpretation but it has its roots in the ideas of Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. Its most popular feature is information that becomes available about a system when a measurement is made on it.
2. In the many-worlds interpretation, a quantum measurement of a system can have one of many outcomes and that all of them are realised in separate universes. Name the American physicist who proposed it in 1957.
3. _____ is a form of quantum Bayesianism, which holds that quantum theory is a tool to help with decision-making, rather than as a theory that directly describes reality. Fill in the blank.
4. A more well-developed version of the pilot wave theory is named for the two physicists who developed it, Louis de Broglie and X. At the time X introduced his ideas on this theory, many didnt take him seriously, partly because of his Communist affiliations. Name X.
5. Name the interpretation of quantum mechanics designed to help piece together a quantum theory of the universe, a.k.a. quantum cosmology. This way assigns probabilities to the possible histories of any system.
Visual:
Name this Austrian, and later Irish, physicist whose equation informs various interpretations, and was later understood to have been a paedophile.
Answers:
1. Copenhagen interpretation
2. Hugh Everett
3. QBism
4. David Bohm
5. Consistent histories
Visual: Erwin Schrdinger
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The Science Quiz | What should we make of quantum mechanics? - The Hindu
Dark Matter’s Role in the Cosmic Enigma – AZoQuantum
Scientists are investigating the potential production of Dark Matter particles within a stream of standard model particles.
Image Credit: University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg.
The presence of Dark Matter remains a longstanding enigma in the universe, constituting approximately a quarter of its composition. Despite its significant share, Dark Matter exhibits minimal interaction with ordinary matter.
The confirmation of Dark Matters existence stems from various astrophysical and cosmological observations, including recent captivating images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.
But as of now, there have been no reported experimental observations of Dark Matter. The question of Dark Matters existence has engaged high-energy and astrophysicists worldwide for decades.
This is the reason we do research in basic science, probing the deepest mysteries of the universe. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is the largest experiment ever built, and particle collisions creating big-bang like condition can be exploited to look for hints of dark matter.
Deepak Kar, Professor, School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand
Kar and Sukanya Sinha, his former Ph.D. student, currently serving as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Manchester, have innovatively spearheaded a novel approach to detecting Dark Matter while working on the ATLAS experiment at CERN.
Their groundbreaking research has been published in the journal Physics Letters B.
There have been plethora of collider searches for Dark Matter over the past few decades so far have focused on weakly interacting massive particles, termed WIMPs. WIMPS is one class of particles that are hypothesized to explain Dark Matter as they do not absorb or emit light and dont interact strongly with other particles.
Deepak Kar, Professor, School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand
Kar added, However, as no evidence of WIMPS has been found so far, we realized that the search for Dark Matter needed a paradigm shift. What we were wondering, was whether Dark Matter particles actually are produced inside a jet of standard model particles, said Kar.
This exploration led to identifying a previously unexamined detector signature called semi-visible jets. In high-energy proton collisions, the outcome often involves the creation of a concentrated spray of particles, referred to as jets, resulting from the decay of ordinary quarks or gluons.
Semi-visible jets represent a novel scenario wherein hypothetical dark quarks partially decay into Standard-Model quarks (known particles) and partially into stable dark hadrons (the invisible fraction).
As these semi-visible jets are produced in pairs, typically accompanied by additional Standard-Model jets, the detector registers an imbalance of energy or missing energy when the jets are not perfectly balanced.
The direction of the missing energy is frequently aligned with one of the semi-visible jets. The search for semi-visible jets poses a significant challenge, as this event signature can also occur due to inaccurately measured jets in the detector.
Kar and Sinhas innovative approach to investigating dark matter opens up new avenues for exploring its presence by focusing on the distinctive characteristics of semi-visible jets.
Even though my Ph.D. thesis does not contain a discovery of Dark Matter, it sets the first and rather stringent upper bounds on this production mode, and already inspiring further studies.
Sukanya Sinha, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Manchester
The ATLAS Collaboration (2023) Search for non-resonant production of semi-visible jets using Run 2 data in ATLAS. Physics Letters B. doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2023.138324.
Source: https://www.wits.ac.za/
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The Most Powerful Cosmic Ray Since the Oh-My-God Particle … – Slashdot
Scientists have detected the most powerful cosmic ray seen in more than three decades. But the exact origin of this turbocharged particle from outer space remains a mystery, with some suggesting that it could have been generated by unknown physics. From a report: The puzzling cosmic ray had an estimated energy of 240 exa-electron volts (EeV; 10^18 volts), making it comparable to the most powerful cosmic ray ever detected, aptly named the Oh-My-God particle, which measured at around 320 EeV when it was discovered in 1991. The findings were published today in Science.
"It's amazing because you have to think of what could produce such high energy," says Clancy James, an astronomer at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. A cosmic ray, despite its name, is actually a high-energy subatomic particle -- often a proton -- that zips through space at close to the speed of light. In their ultra-high energy form, cosmic rays have energy levels that exceed one EeV, which is around one million times greater than those reached by the most powerful human-made particle accelerators. Cosmic rays with energies of more than 100 EeV are rarely spotted -- fewer than one of these particles arrive on each square kilometre of Earth each century.
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The Most Powerful Cosmic Ray Since the Oh-My-God Particle ... - Slashdot
Juggling Atom-Chilling Physics and Immunity Mysteries on the … – SciTechDaily
The suns first rays burst through the Earths atmosphere in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 264 miles above the Pacific Ocean northwest of New Zealand. Credit: NASA
Ultra-cold space physics and immunity research were the top science objectives aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, November 27. The seven-member Expedition 70 crew is also stepping up its cargo operations this week while continuing to maintain lab systems.
The coldest place in the universe may just be the orbital outposts Cold Atom Lab, a quantum research device that chills atoms to near absolute zero, lower than the average temperature of space. NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli configured components and installed hardware for a controller test of the facility that provides unique observations of atomic wave functions seen at extremely low temperatures not possible on Earth.
This view of Earth shows the White Nile River leading to the Nile River and winding through the African nation of Sudan. The dark spot at top left, is the Jebel Al Dair National Park containing a variety of mountains in the southern portion of Sudan. Credit: NASA
Moghbeli also assisted Commander Andreas Mogensen inside the Columbus laboratory module setting up the Kubik incubator first thing Monday morning. Next, Mogensen from ESA (European Space Agency) collected and processed his blood and saliva samples for the Immunity Assay biology study that is exploring cellular immunity in space. Afterward, he placed a set of samples inside a science freezer and placed another set inside Kubik for later analysis.
Astronauts Loral OHara and Satoshi Furukawa focused mainly on maintenance throughout Monday. OHara spent the afternoon inspecting the COLBERT treadmill in the Tranquility module. She photographed and cleaned components, checked pin alignment and treadmill slats, and greased axles. Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) worked in the Kibo laboratory module servicing gear that cools and rejects heat from equipment to ensure a safe operating environment aboard the space station.
The vibrant city lights of Tokyo were pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 261 miles above. Credit: NASA
Furukawa later partnered with Mogensen and Moghbeli loading cargo inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the Harmony modules forward port. The Dragon cargo spacecraft arrived on November 11 carrying about 6,500 pounds of gear including advanced science hardware to study laser communications and atmospheric gravity waves. Dragon is due to return to Earth in mid-December packed with hardware and completed science experiments for retrieval and analysis.
The Roscosmos Progress 84 resupply ship will end its mission when it departs on Wednesday after six months docked to the Poisk module. Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub packed trash and discarded gear inside the departing Progress that will reenter the atmosphere above the South Pacific Ocean for a fiery, but safe disposal. It will be replaced when the Progress 86, packed with nearly 5,600 pounds of cargo, launches at 4:25 a.m. EDT on Friday and automatically docks to Poisk at 6:14 a.m. on Sunday.
Veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko started his day pointing a specialized camera toward Earth to gain atmospheric and climatic data. Next, he studied how fluid systems are affected by spaceflight conditions such as electrical and magnetic fields. First-time space flyer Konstantin Borisov began Monday servicing a variety of life support and communications gear. During the afternoon, he collected air samples throughout the stations Roscosmos modules for chemical analysis.
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Juggling Atom-Chilling Physics and Immunity Mysteries on the ... - SciTechDaily
The formation of an excitonic Mott insulator state in a moir superlattice – Phys.org
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When a negatively charged electron and a positively charged hole in a pair remain bound together following excitation by light, they produce states known as excitons. These states can influence the optical properties of materials, in turn enabling their use for developing various technologies.
A team of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Imperial College London, University of California Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University, and other institutes worldwide have been studying the formation of excitons for years now, while also trying to identify new promising materials for optoelectronic applications.
In a paper, published in Nature Physics, they present evidence of a so-called excitonic Mott insulator state in a WSe2/WS2 based moir superlattice (i.e., a periodic interference pattern arising from overlaying two atomic layers with a slightly different periodicity).
"In our previous work, we have shown that electron and electron correlation interaction is strong in this WSe2/WS2 moir superlattice," Sufei Shi, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told Phys.org.
"We suspect that the exciton-electron and exciton-exciton interaction is also strong. We can potentially utilize this strong exciton correlation to realize new quantum states of excitons, which are bosons and would be different from fermions (electrons)."
Shi and his colleagues have been studying moir superlattices for a while, due to their unique structure that makes them desirable for manipulating excitons. These structures are made up of two or more atomically thin crystals stacked on top of each other, but at a characteristically twisted angle producing what is known as "lattice mismatch."
In their previous research, the researchers showed that the interaction between electrons were particularly strong in a moir superlattice based on WSe2 and WS2 crystals. In their new paper, they set out to further examine this same structure and explore its potential as a platform to realize quantum states of excitons.
"In our experiment, we mostly used optical spectroscopy techniques, particularly photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy," Shi explained. "The emitted photon energy of interlayer exciton as a function of the doping (electrons or holes added to the moir superlattice) and excitation power (controlling the average number of exciton density) reveals the strong electron-exciton repulsion and exciton-exciton repulsion."
The experiments carried out by Shi and his colleagues gathered evidence that an exciton-driven Mott insulator state emerges in the WSe2/WS2 structure, specifically when one interlayer exciton occupies a cell in a cell of the moir superlattice. This state could have interesting implications for the study and development of quantum systems.
"The most notable achievement of our study is the formation of an excitonic Mott insulator state, which is a prediction of the bosonic Hubbard model," Shi said. "This shows that the exciton correlation is indeed strong in the moir superlattice, and we can use that to construct quantum states arising from many-body Hamiltonian of bosons."
The recent study by this team of researchers further validates previous findings, highlighting the potential of this WS2/WSe2 moir superlattice for studying and engineering new correlated states. The excitonic Mott insulator state it unveiled could be reproduced and further examined in future research, while also informing other works utilizing the same experimental platform.
"In our next studies, we want to explore the valley-spin, a new quantum degree of freedom, of this excitonic Mott insulator state," Shi added. "We also want to use our new understanding to construct new quantum state and perform quantum simulations based on excitons or exciton-electron mixture."
More information: Zhen Lian et al, Valley-polarized excitonic Mott insulator in WS2/WSe2 moir superlattice, Nature Physics (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-023-02266-2.
Journal information: Nature Physics
2023 Science X Network
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The formation of an excitonic Mott insulator state in a moir superlattice - Phys.org