Physicists are eyeing charged gravitinos—ultra-heavy, stable particles from supergravity theory—as possible Dark Matter candidates. Unlike axions or WIMPs, these particles carry electric charge but remain undetectable due to their scarcity. With detectors like JUNO and DUNE, researchers now have a chance to spot their unique signal, a breakthrough that could link particle physics with gravity.
Read moreA Hiroshima University team has designed a feasible way to detect the Unruh effect, where acceleration turns quantum vacuum fluctuations into observable particles. By using superconducting Josephson junctions, they can achieve extreme accelerations that create a detectable Unruh temperature. This produces measurable voltage jumps, providing a clear signal of the effect. The breakthrough could transform both fundamental physics and quantum technology.
Read moreScientists have discovered that ordinary ice is a flexoelectric material, capable of generating electricity when bent or unevenly deformed. At very low temperatures, it can even become ferroelectric, developing reversible electric polarization. This could help explain lightning formation in storms and inspire new technologies that use ice as an active material.
Read moreWhen two neutron stars collide, they unleash some of the most powerful forces in the universe, creating ripples in spacetime, showers of radiation, and even the building blocks of gold and platinum. Now, new simulations from Penn State and the University of Tennessee Knoxville reveal that elusive particles called neutrinos—able to shift between different “flavors”—play a crucial role in shaping what emerges from these cataclysmic events.
Read moreFaint hydrogen signals from the cosmic Dark Ages may soon help determine the mass of dark matter particles. Simulations suggest future Moon-based observatories could distinguish between warm and cold dark matter, providing long-sought answers about the invisible backbone of the Universe.
Read moreGiant ridges on the surface of landslides on Mars could have formed without ice, challenging their use by some as unequivocal evidence of past ice on the red planet, finds a new study using state-of-the-art satellite data.
Read moreResearchers have made good on their claim to quantum supremacy. Using 53 entangled quantum bits ('qubits'), their Sycamore computer has taken on — and solved — a problem considered intractable for classical computers.
Read moreFor the first time, a freshly made heavy element, strontium, has been detected in space, in the aftermath of a merger of two neutron stars. The detection confirms that the heavier elements in the Universe can form in neutron star mergers, providing a missing piece of the puzzle of chemical element formation.
Read moreSpin-polarizing scanning tunneling microscopy allowed researchers to detect an elusive atomic-scale magnetic signal in a Mott insulator, reports a team of scientists.
Read moreTo understand the fundamental nature of our universe, scientists would like to build particle colliders that accelerate electrons and their antimatter counterparts (positrons) to extreme energies (up to tera electron volts, or TeV). With conventional technology, however, this requires a machine that is enormously big and expensive (think 20 miles long). To shrink the size and cost of these machines, the acceleration of the particles — how much energy they gain in a given distance — must be increased.
Read more