Link between quantum physics and game theory found

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(Phys.org) —A deep link between two seemingly unconnected areas of modern science has been discovered by researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Geneva.



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Accidental nanoparticle discovery could hail revolution in manufacturing

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A nanoparticle shaped like a spiky ball, with magnetic properties, has been uncovered in a new method of synthesizing carbon nanotubes by physicists.

via Science Daily

Physicists find enhanced fluctuations in nanomagnets

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NYU physicists have discovered that nanomagnets—a billionth of a meter in size—with a preferred up or down magnetization are sensitive to heating or cooling, more than expected.



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Iron in the sun: A greenhouse gas for X-ray radiation

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(Phys.org) —Scientists from the Heidelberg Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in cooperation with DESY (Hamburg) at the synchrotron PETRA III have investigated for the first time X-ray absorption of highly charged iron ions. A transportable ion trap developed at MPIK was used for generation and storage of the ions. The high-precision measurements provide important new insight into the role of highly charged ions in astrophysical plasmas, e. g. for radiation transport inside stars.



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Coldest brown dwarfs blur lines between stars and planets

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(Phys.org) —Astronomers are constantly on the hunt for ever-colder star-like bodies, and two years ago a new class of such objects was discovered by researchers using NASA's WISE space telescope. However, until now no one has known exactly how cool their surfaces really are - some evidence suggested they could be room temperature.



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Neutron stars in the computer cloud

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The combined computing power of 200,000 private PCs helps astronomers take an inventory of the Milky Way. The Einstein@Home project connects home and office PCs of volunteers from around the world to a global supercomputer. Using this computer cloud, an international team lead by scientists from the Max Planck Institutes for Gravitational Physics and for Radio Astronomy analysed archival data from the CSIRO Parkes radio telescope in Australia. Using new search methods, the global computer network discovered 24 pulsars – extraordinary stellar remnants with extreme physical properties. These can be used as testbeds for Einstein's general theory of relativity and could help to complete our picture of the pulsar population.



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Powerful jets blowing material out of galaxy: Process limits growth of central black hole and rate of star formation

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Astronomers using a worldwide network of radio telescopes have found strong evidence that a powerful jet of material propelled to nearly light speed by a galaxy's central black hole is blowing massive amounts of gas out of the galaxy. This process, they said, is limiting the growth of the black hole and the rate of star formation in the galaxy, and thus is a key to understanding how galaxies develop.



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Ultra-thin saw wire made of carbon for precision work

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You can’t saw without producing sawdust – and that can be expensive if, for example, the “dust” comes from wafer manufacturing in the photovoltaic and semiconductor industries, where relatively high kerf loss has been accepted as an unavoidable, if highly regrettable, fact of life. But now scientists have developed a saw wire that is set to effect dramatic reductions in kerf loss: in place of diamond-impregnated steel wires, the researchers use ultra-thin and extremely stable threads made of carbon nanotubes coated with diamond.

via Science Daily

Researchers at Toshiba design quantum network for secure communications

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(Phys.org) —A team of researchers at Toshiba Corporation has developed technology that allows up to 64 users to participate in a quantum key distribution (QKD) network with another single user. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the team describes how they built their network and how it might be used.



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Large Isaac Newton Print in High Resolution

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space

Large Isaac Newton Print in High Resolution

High Resolution.
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New approach enhances quantum-based secure communication

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University of Calgary scientists have overcome an 'Achilles' heel' of quantum-based secure communication systems, using a new approach that works in the real world to safeguard secrets.



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Measuring progress in nanotech design: Team uses laser spectroscopy to size-up band offset

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Engineers working in the nanoscale will have a new tool at their disposal thanks to an international group of researchers led by Drexel University's College of Engineering. This innovative procedure could alleviate the persistent challenge of measuring key features of electron behavior while designing the ever-shrinking components that allow cell phones, laptops and tablets to get increasingly thinner and more energy efficient.



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Danish experiment suggests unexpected magic by cosmic rays in cloud formation

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According to the theory, small clusters of molecules in the atmosphere have difficulty growing large enough to act as "cloud condensation nuclei" on which water droplets can gather to make our familiar low-altitude clouds. The SKY2 experiment shows that the growth of clusters is much more vigorous, provided ionizing rays—gamma rays in the experiment or cosmic rays in the atmosphere—are present to work their chemical magic. Details of the experiment appear in the latest issue of Physics Letters A.



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Bizarre alignment of planetary nebulae

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Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESO's New Technology Telescope to explore more than 100 planetary nebulae in the central bulge of our galaxy. They have found that butterfly-shaped members of this cosmic family tend to be mysteriously aligned—a surprising result given their different histories and varied properties.



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Hubble bubble may explain different measurements of expansion rate of the universe

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The observable universe has been expanding since the Big Bang. It still is, causing galaxies in our Milky Way to recede. The actual speed of this expansion is known as the Hubble constant. Due to its importance in calculating basic properties of the universe, such as its age, modern cosmology is tasked with determining the value of the constant. There are two conventional methods used, although their results are not congruent, according to researchers. Experts may now be able to explain the different measurements of the expansion of the universe.

via Science Daily

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Local nanoscale electrical measurements for graphene

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Research from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Royal Holloway, University of London, and Linköping University, Sweden, has taken an important step towards standardising important electrical parameters of graphene such as surface potential and work function. The nascent graphene industry requires these standardised measurements so that the properties of graphene are understood well enough for it to be widely used in commercial electronic devices.



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Blue light observations indicate water-rich atmosphere of a super-earth

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(Phys.org) —A Japanese research team of astronomers and planetary scientists has used Subaru Telescope's two optical cameras, Suprime-Cam and the Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS), with a blue transmission filter to observe planetary transits of super-Earth GJ 1214 b (Gilese 1214 b) (Figure 1). The team investigated whether this planet has an atmosphere rich in water or hydrogen. The Subaru observations show that the sky of this planet does not show a strong Rayleigh scattering feature, which a cloudless hydrogen-dominated atmosphere would predict. When combined with the findings of previous observations in other colors, this new observational result implies that GJ 1214 b is likely to have a water-rich atmosphere.



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Milky Way's biggest star may have had a different beginning

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The current theory of star formation has a problem: it cannot make big stars.



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Researchers discover breakthrough technique that could make electronics smaller and better

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An international group of researchers from the University of Minnesota, Argonne National Laboratory and Seoul National University have discovered a groundbreaking technique in manufacturing nanostructures that has the potential to make electrical and optical devices smaller and better than ever before. A surprising low-tech tool of Scotch Magic tape ended up being one of the keys to the discovery.



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New computer model will help design flexible touchscreens

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Electronic devices with touchscreens are ubiquitous, and one key piece of technology makes them possible: transparent conductors. However, the cost and the physical limitations of the material these conductors are usually made of are hampering progress toward flexible touchscreen devices.



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Researchers propose a new system for quantum simulation

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Researchers from the universities in Mainz, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Ulm have proposed a new platform for quantum simulation. In a theoretical paper recently published in Physical Review Letters, they show that a combined system of ultracold trapped ions and fermionic atoms could be used to emulate solid state physics. This system may outperform possibilities of existing platforms as a number of phenomena found in solid state systems are naturally included, such as the fermionic statistics of the electrons and the electron-sound wave interactions.



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NuSTAR delivers the X-ray goods

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(Phys.org) —NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, is giving the wider astronomical community a first look at its unique X-ray images of the cosmos. The first batch of data from the black-hole hunting telescope was publicly available on Aug. 29, via NASA's High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center, or HEASARC.



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Quantum steps towards the Big Bang

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(Phys.org) —Present-day physics cannot describe what happened in the Big Bang. Quantum theory and the theory of relativity fail in this almost infinitely dense and hot primal state of the universe. Only an all-encompassing theory of quantum gravity which unifies these two fundamental pillars of physics could provide an insight into how the universe began. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) in Golm/Potsdam and the Perimeter Institute in Canada have made an important discovery along this route. According to their theory, space consists of tiny "building blocks". Taking this as their starting point, the scientists arrive at one of the most fundamental equations of cosmology, the Friedmann equation, which describes the universe. This shows that quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity really can be unified.



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The Drake Equation revisited: An interview with Sara Seager

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Planet hunters keep finding distant worlds that bear a resemblance to Earth. Some of the thousands of exoplanet candidates discovered to date have similar sizes or temperatures. Others possess rocky surfaces and support atmospheres. But no world has yet provided an unambiguous sign of the characteristic that still sets our pale blue dot apart: the presence of life.



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The world's first interferometric image at 500 GHz with ALMA Band 8 receivers

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ALMA opens another window to the universe in the 500 GHz frequency band. Astronomers successfully synthesized the distribution of atomic carbon around a planetary nebula NGC 6302 in test observations with the ALMA Band 8 receiver, developed by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). This is the first 500 GHz band astronomical image captured by a radio interferometer with unprecedentedly high resolution.



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Scientists manage to study the physics that connect the classical the quantum world

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How does a classical temperature form in the quantum world? An experiment at the Vienna University of Technology has directly observed the emergence and the spreading of a temperature in a quantum system. Remarkably, the quantum properties are lost, even though the quantum system is completely isolated and not connected to the outside world. The experimental results are being published in this week's issue of Nature Physics.



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Writing the history of the 'Cosmic Dark Ages'

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For millions of years after the Big Bang, there were no stars, or even galaxies to contain stars. During these "Cosmic Dark Ages," neutral hydrogen gas dominated the universe. When clouds of primordial hydrogen gas started to collapse from gravity, they became stars. The infant stars' nuclear reactions emitted ultraviolet radiation, stripping the surrounding hydrogen atoms of their lone electrons, making them ionized.



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Brown dwarf companion stars

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(Phys.org) —Astronomers trying to understand how the Sun and Earth formed, and why they have their characteristic properties, have made progress on a closely related problem: the nature of the lowest mass stars, so-called "brown dwarfs." These stars have masses of less than about 8% of the Sun's mass. They are basically failed normal stars, and lack a sufficient force of gravitational contraction to heat up their interiors to the roughly ten million kelvin temperatures needed for hydrogen burning (hydrogen burning fuels the Sun). Not surprisingly they are extremely faint and hard to detect, and as a consequence our understand of their evolution and interior properties is incomplete. Theorists predict that there could be as many brown dwarf stars as there are normal stars.



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Hubble bubble may explain different measurements of expansion rate of the universe

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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). The results of their research were published in the journal Physical Review Letters.



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Breakthrough in sensing at the nanoscale

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Researchers have made a breakthrough discovery in identifying the world's most sensitive nanoparticle and measuring it from a distance using light. These super-bright, photostable and background-free nanocrystals enable a new approach to highly advanced sensing technologies using optical fibres.



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Light on twenty-year-old electron mystery

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Groningen scientists have found an explanation for a mystery that has been puzzling the physics community since 1995. In the scientific journal Nature on Thursday 28 August (Advance Online Publication), they explain why electrons pass through very tiny wires (known as quantum point contacts) less smoothly than expected. The observations of the group led by Prof. C.H. van der Wal of the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials of the University of Groningen will affect electronics on a nanoscale: "Our thinking about this has been too naïve so far."



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New component in the quantum electronics toolbox

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The coherence of quantum systems is the foundation upon which hardware for future information technologies is based. Quantum information is carried by units called quantum bits, or qubits. They can be used to secure electronic communications – and they enable very fast searches of databases. But qubits are also very unstable. Professors József Fortágh, Dieter Kölle and Reinhold Kleiner of Tübingen's Institute of Physics have developed a new electronic component which will help to deal with this problem. The researchers' long-term goal is to process, transfer and store superposition states such as the overlapping of the binary digits zero and one. The initial results of their work are to be published in the journal Nature Communications on 29 August 2013.



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New sensor for SERS Raman spectroscopy almost as sensitive as a dog's nose

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Using carbon nanotubes, a research team led by Professor Hyung Gyu Park in collaboration with Dr. Tiziana Bond has developed a sensor that greatly amplifies the sensitivity of commonly used but typically weak vibrational spectroscopic methods, such as Raman spectroscopy. This type of sensor makes it possible to detect molecules present in the tiniest of concentrations.



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Quantum measurement carries information even when the measurement outcome is unread

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(Phys.org) —Some tasks that are impossible in classical systems can be realized in quantum systems. This fact is exemplified by a new protocol that highlights an important difference between classical and quantum measurements. In classical mechanics, performing a measurement without reading the measurement outcome does not carry any information and is therefore equivalent to not performing the measurement at all. But in the new protocol, a quantum measurement that is performed but not read can carry information because the information can be encoded in the choice of the type of measurement that was performed.



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Quantum computing: Manipulating a single nuclear spin qubit of a laser cooled atom

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It is advantageous to implement a quantum bit (qubit) with a single nuclear spin because the nuclear spin is robust against any stray magnetic fields. This robustness can be attributed to the small magnitude of the magnetic moment of the nuclear spin compared with that of the electronic spin.



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Physics team suggests possible way to make quantum cryptography available in handheld machines

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(Phys.org) —A team of physicists at Bristol University in the U.K. has proposed a possible way to allow for quantum cryptography between a large station and a small hand held device. They describe such a technique in a paper they have uploaded to the preprint server arXiv.



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Hubble sees a cosmic caterpillar

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(Phys.org) —This light-year-long knot of interstellar gas and dust resembles a caterpillar on its way to a feast. But the meat of the story is not only what this cosmic caterpillar eats for lunch, but also what's eating it. Harsh winds from extremely bright stars are blasting ultraviolet radiation at this "wanna-be" star and sculpting the gas and dust into its long shape.



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New grayscale technique opens a third dimension for nanoscale lithography

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Engineers at the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) have developed a new technique for fabricating high aspect ratio three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures over large device areas using a combination of electron beam (e-beam) lithography, photolithography, and resist spray coating. While it has long been possible to make complicated 3D structures with many mask layers or expensive grayscale masks, the new technique enables researchers to etch trenches and other high aspect ratio structures with nanometer scale features without using masks and in only two process stages.



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'Trojan' asteroids in far reaches of solar system more common than previously thought

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University of British Columbia astronomers have discovered the first Trojan asteroid sharing the orbit of Uranus, and believe 2011 QF99 is part of a larger-than-expected population of transient objects temporarily trapped by the gravitational pull of the Solar System's giant planets.



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Astronomers discover why supermassive black holes consume less material than expected

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Using NASA's super-sensitive Chandra X-ray space telescope, a team of astronomers led by Q. Daniel Wang at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has solved a long-standing mystery about why most super massive black holes (SMBH) at the centers of galaxies have such a low accretion rate—that is, they swallow very little of the cosmic gases available and instead act as if they are on a severe diet.



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Physicist disentangles 'Schrodinger's cat' debate

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Physicist Art Hobson has offered a solution, within the framework of standard quantum physics, to the long-running debate about the nature of quantum measurement.



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New nanomaterial increases yield of solar cells

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Researchers from the FOM Foundation, Delft University of Technology, Toyota Motor Europe and the University of California have developed a nanostructure with which they can make solar cells highly efficient. The researchers published their findings on 23 August 2013 in the online edition of Nature Communications.



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Plastic products could easily become electronic with first moldable all-carbon circuits

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(Phys.org) —There has been a great deal of research lately on flexible electronics, but so far these devices (which are mostly made of carbon) still use metal electrodes and oxide insulators, and these rigid materials limit device flexibility. Some polymers and ionic liquids have been introduced as flexible alternatives, but have poor performance in terms of high operating voltages and low operating speeds, respectively.



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Physicist proves impossibility of quantum time crystals

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(Phys.org) —Is it possible that a moving object could have zero energy? The common sense answer is no, since motion itself is kinetic energy, but this answer has been challenged recently by the concept of quantum time crystals. First proposed in 2012 by the Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek at MIT, quantum time crystals are theoretical systems that exhibit periodic oscillations in their ground state, i.e., their state of lowest possible energy.



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Researchers get around bad gap problem with graphene by using negative differential resistance

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(Phys.org) —A team of researchers at the University of California has come up with a way to use graphene in a transistor without sacrificing speed. In a paper they've uploaded to the preprint server arXiv, the team describes how they took advantage of a property of graphene known as negative differential resistance to coax transistor-like properties out of graphene without causing it to behave as a semiconductor.



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Two become one with the 3-D NanoChemiscope

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The 3D NanoChemiscope is a miracle of state-of-the-art analysis technology. As a further development of well-known microscopic and mass spectroscopic methods, it maps the physical and chemical surfaces of materials down to the atomic level. This instrument, which is unique in the world, not only delivers high-definition images; it also knows what it is "seeing".



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Teleportation just got easier—but not for you, unfortunately

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Thanks to two studies published in Nature last Thursday, the chance of successful teleportation has considerably increased. Which is a good thing, right?



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Researchers discover quantum algorithm that could improve stealth fighter design

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(Phys.org) —Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) have devised a quantum algorithm for solving big linear systems of equations. Furthermore, they say the algorithm could be used to calculate complex measurements such as radar cross sections, an ability integral to the development of radar stealth technology, among many other applications. Their research is reported in the June 18 issue of Physical Review Letters.



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Carina Nebula in Argo Navis constellation Square Sticker

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space

Carina Nebula in Argo Navis constellation Square Sticker

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Hubble's view of the Carina Nebula shows star birth in a new level of detail. The fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. In the process, these stars are shredding the surrounding material that is the last vestige of the giant cloud from which the stars were born. The immense nebula is an estimated 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina the Keel (of the old southern constellation Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts, from Greek mythology).
The original image is a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of ionized hydrogen. Colour information was added with data taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.

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Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope; colour data from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile
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Astronomy Business Card

Here's a great product from Zazzle featuring an astronomy case. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!

I like this one and had to share. A really special design from Buddhan,
another talented artist from the Zazzle community!

Astronomy Business Card

Astronomy - Designed by Norman Reutter

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The Cosmic Web Poster

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space

The Cosmic Web Poster

The shape and dynamics of the largest structures in the Universe
Click to customize with size, paper type etc.
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