Generally, matter exists in three distinct forms: as a solid, a liquid or a gas. Past physics research, however, has unveiled other curious states of matter, one of which is supersolidity. In a supersolid state, particles are arranged into a rigid crystal and can...
Researchers at the University of Colorado have recently developed a new technique to measure mechanical motion using simultaneous electromechanical amplification and cooling processes. Their method, presented in a paper published in Physical Review Letters, allowed...
High-harmonic generation (HHG) is a nonlinear optical phenomenon through which high harmonics of an intense laser beam are generated in a target material, typically a gas. Physicists have been studying HHG in atomic gases for decades, but more recently a team of...
Researchers at the University of Southampton and the Korea Institute for Advanced Study have recently showed that supersymmetry is anomalous in N=1 superconformal quantum field theories (SCFTs) with an anomalous R symmetry. The anomaly described in their paper,...
A team of researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Heidelberg University have recently introduced functional 3-D hetero-microstructures based on Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) a polymer that responds to changes in temperature close to its...
Astrophysicists have been searching for dark matter for several decades, but these searches have so far yielded disappointing results. In a recent study, two researchers at Weizmann Institute of Science and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel have introduced...
In quantum electrodynamics, the choice of gauge (i.e. specific mathematical formalism used to regulate degrees of freedom) can greatly influence the form of light-matter interactions. Interestingly, however, the "gauge invariance" principle implies that all physical...
Helium and water are known to be abundant throughout the universe, particularly in giant planets such as Uranus and Neptune. Although helium is typically unreactive at common atmospheric conditions, past studies have found that it can sometimes react with other...
In current quantum field theory, causality is typically defined by the vanishing of field commutators for spacelike separations. Two researchers at the University of Massachusetts and Universidade Federal Rural in Rio de Janeiro have recently carried out a study...
Some species of Euglenids, a diversified family of aquatic unicellular organisms, can perform large-amplitude, elegantly coordinated body deformations. Although this behavior has been known for centuries, its function is still highly debated.