Bookmarks (16)

Two teams have made photons act as if time were simultaneously flowing in two directions. The experiments demonstrate a way to potentially boost the performance of quantum devices. The post How Quantum Physicists ‘Flipped Time’ (and How They Didn’t) first appeared on Quanta Magazine

In three-dimensional space, the surface of a black hole must be a sphere. But a new result shows that in higher dimensions, an infinite number of configurations are possible. The post Mathematicians Find an Infinity of Possible Black Hole Shapes first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Reports that the James Webb Space Telescope killed the reigning cosmological model turn out to have been exaggerated. But astronomers still have much to learn from distant galaxies glimpsed by Webb. The post Standard Model of Cosmology Survives a Telescope’s Surprising Finds first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A new radiation-based mechanism adds to the ways that amino acids could have been made in space and brought to the young Earth. The post Inside Ancient Asteroids, Gamma Rays Made Building Blocks of Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The buckminsterfullerene revolution never came, but some researchers are eagerly exploring the properties of newfound carbon crystals known as fullertubes. The post ‘Fullertubes’ Join the Family of Carbon Crystals first appeared on Quanta Magazine

By using fluids to model inaccessible realms of the cosmos, Silke Weinfurtner is “looking for a deeper truth beyond one system.” But what can such experiments teach us? The post She Turns Fluids Into ‘Black Holes’ and ‘Inflating Universes’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Two new studies suggest that certain tetrahedral arrangements of galaxies outnumber their mirror images, potentially reflecting details of the universe’s birth. But confirmation is needed. The post Asymmetry Detected in the Distribution of Galaxies first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Maintenance of the software that’s used for the hardest physics calculations rests almost entirely with a retiree. The situation reveals the problematic incentive structure of academia. The post Crucial Computer Program for Particle Physics at Risk of Obsolescence first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The unprecedented experiment explores the possibility that space-time somehow emerges from quantum information. The post Physicists Create a Wormhole Using a Quantum Computer first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Two physicists have calculated that the universe has a higher entropy — and is therefore more likely — than alternative possible universes. The post Why This Universe? A New Calculation Suggests Our Cosmos Is Typical. first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Albert Einstein’s ideas about space-time aren’t exactly intuitive, and they aren’t exactly Einstein’s, either. The post How to Think About Relativity first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A growing catalog of huge but dim galaxies such as Dragonfly 44 is forcing astronomers to invent new theories of galactic evolution. The post The Enduring Mystery of the Dragonfly 44 Galaxy first appeared on Quanta Magazine

For Lisa Kaltenegger and her generation of exoplanet astronomers, decades of planning have set the stage for an epochal detection. The post A Dream of Discovering Alien Life Finds New Hope first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT — “brightest of all time” — appears to have produced a high-energy particle that shouldn’t exist. For some, dark matter provides the explanation. The post Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Physical-collapse theories have long offered a natural solution to the central mystery of the quantum world. But a series of increasingly precise experiments are making them untenable. The post Experiments Spell Doom for Decades-Old Explanation of Quantum Weirdness first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The positively charged particle at the heart of the atom is an object of unspeakable complexity, one that changes its appearance depending on how it is probed. We’ve attempted to connect the proton’s many faces to form the most complete picture yet. The post Inside the Proton, the ‘Most Complicated Thing You Could Possibly Imagine’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine