research physics

• Utility Menu

Apply   |   Contact Us   |   Carol Davis Fund   Anonymous Feedback to the Physics Chair

The Harvard Department of Physics and its collaborators are leaders in a broad spectrum of physics research, utilizing facilities and technologies that are continually being modified and improved with changing research interests and techniques. This provides students, postdoctoral fellows, and other research sholars with opportunities to work in first-class facilities at Harvard, both on individual investigator-led research projects and in scientific collaboration through a variety of research centers.

To learn more about research at our department, please explore the links at left.

• Faculty by Research Area
• Research Centers
• Research Scholar FAQs
• Useful Links for Research Scholars
• Scientific Ethics and Professional Integrity

Subscribe or renew today

Every print subscription comes with full digital access

Science News

Scientists propose a hunt for never-before-seen ‘tauonium’ atoms 

Made of heavy relatives of the electron, the exotic atoms could be used to test the theory of quantum electrodynamics.

Two real-world tests of quantum memories bring a quantum internet closer to reality

Here’s how ice may get so slippery 

Sign Up For the Latest from Science News

Headlines and summaries of the latest Science News articles, delivered to your inbox

Thank you for signing up!

There was a problem signing you up.

More Stories in Physics

The neutrino’s quantum fuzziness is beginning to come into focus

An experiment studying the neutrino’s “wave packet” sets a limit on the uncertainty of the subatomic particle’s position.

The universe may have a complex geometry — like a doughnut

Physicists haven’t yet ruled out the possibility that the universe has a complicated topology in which space loops back around on itself.

Scientists developed a sheet of gold that’s just one atom thick

Ultrathin goldene sheets could reduce the amount of gold needed for electronics and certain chemical reactions.

Newfound ‘altermagnets’ shatter the magnetic status quo 

The newly discovered type of magnetic material could improve existing tech, including making better and faster hard drives.

Separating science fact from fiction in Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’ 

Real science underpins much of the action in the show — along with a hefty dose of artistic liberty.

Physicists take a major step toward making a nuclear clock

By tweaking the energy of a thorium nucleus with a laser, scientists demonstrated a key step to building clocks based on the physics of atomic nuclei.

During a total solar eclipse, some colors really pop. Here’s why

As a solar eclipse approaches totality and our eyes adjust to dimming light, our color vision changes. It’s called the Purkinje effect.

A teeny device can measure subtle shifts in Earth’s gravitational field

No bigger than a grain of rice, the heart of the instrument is the latest entrant in the quest to build ever tinier gravity-measuring devices.

Timbre can affect what harmony is music to our ears

The acoustic qualities of instruments may have influenced variations in musical scales and preferred harmonies.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.

Not a subscriber? Become one now .

• June 2, 2024 | Scientists Unveil the True Origins of Welsh Dragons – New Fossil Evidence Changes History
• June 2, 2024 | Astrophysicists Detect Potential Collisional Dark Matter in “El Gordo”
• June 2, 2024 | Defying Gravity: Nanostrings That Mimic Quantum Effects at Room Temperature
• June 2, 2024 | Dissecting the Brain: New Molecular Insights Into PTSD and Depression
• June 2, 2024 | Carbon Capture “Miracle Material” Breakthrough: MOF-525 Can Capture and Convert CO2 Into Useful Chemicals

Physics News

Read interesting physics news and the latest physics research discoveries on SciTechDaily. Your premier source for the latest revelations, innovations, and research in the captivating world of physics includes recent breakthroughs from sources like Harvard , MIT , Los Alamos , Rice University , Princeton , and Lawrence Berkeley .

We bring you up-to-the-minute information on a wide array of topics, spanning from fundamental physics and quantum mechanics to fluid dynamics, particle physics, and beyond. Our expertly curated content explores the diverse aspects of the universe, unveiling the underlying principles that govern its behavior and uncovering the mysteries that continue to intrigue scientists and enthusiasts alike. Stay informed about groundbreaking discoveries, technological advancements, and theoretical breakthroughs that deepen our understanding of the cosmos and reshape our perspective on reality.

Popular physics news topics include Particle , Nuclear , and Quantum Physics , as well as Astrophysics , Biophysics , Heliophysics , Geophysics , and Quantum Computing .

Physics June 2, 2024

20-Year-Old Puzzle Solved: Physicists Reveal the “Three-Dimensional Vortex” of Zero-Dimensional Ferroelectrics

A KAIST-led research team has successfully demonstrated the internal three-dimensional polarization distribution in ferroelectric nanoparticles, paving the way for advanced memory devices capable of storing…

Inside the Proton Halo: Precision Measurements Unravel Nuclear Puzzles

“Counterintuitive” Findings: MIT Scientists Uncover Surprising Metal Behavior Under Extreme Conditions

Powering Next-Gen Electronics: Scientists Find High-Performance Alternative to Conventional Ferroelectrics

Exploring Uncharted Territory: Physicists Unveil Infinite Possibilities of Quantum States

Quantum Leap in Stabilizing Qubits Unlocks New Possibilities

Challenging Classical Physics: Surprising Properties of Elastic Turbulence Discovered

GaN-VCSELs Hit New Milestones: Japanese Researchers Achieve Unprecedented Resonance Control

The Quantum Twist: Unveiling the Proton’s Hidden Spin

Physics May 26, 2024

Cambridge Scientists Achieve Long-Sought Quantum State Stability in New 2D Material

Scientists at the Cavendish Laboratory have discovered spin coherence in Hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN) under normal conditions, offering new prospects for quantum technology applications. Cavendish…

Physics May 25, 2024

Magnetic Fingerprints: STAR Detects Currents in Deconfined Nuclear Matter

Data from heavy ion collisions provide new insights into the electromagnetic properties of quark-gluon plasma “deconfined” from protons and neutrons. Scientists have uncovered the first…

Quantum Leap: Atom Interference and a Breakthrough in Boson Sampling

Researchers demonstrated a new method of boson sampling using ultracold atoms, marking a significant advancement over previous techniques. Utilizing optical tweezers and advanced cooling, the…

Physics May 24, 2024

Molecular Magic: How Supercritical Fluids Blur the Lines of Matter

New research reveals the dual nature of supercritical fluids, transitioning from gas-like to liquid-like behavior, providing insights into fluid dynamics under extreme conditions. A study…

Physics May 23, 2024

Ultra-Thin Crystals Unlock New Possibilities in Electronics and Quantum Computing

Researchers at UC Irvine have developed an ultra-thin bismuth material designed for use in flexible technologies. In a study published in Nature Materials, scientists from…

A Quantum Leap in Alloy Research: Machine Learning Speeds Up Diffusion Studies by 100x

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have redefined diffusion in multicomponent alloys by breaking it down into separate elements they term “kinosons.” Employing machine…

Physics May 22, 2024

Science Made Simple: What Is Plasma?

What Is Plasma? Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter, alongside gases, liquids, and solids. While most people don’t think about plasma…

Deciphering Physics: How MIT Uses AI to Answer the Unanswerable

A new machine-learning framework from MIT and the University of Basel that can automatically classify phases of physical systems could help scientists investigate novel materials….

Physics May 21, 2024

Revolutionary Discovery: Scientists Prove Existence of New Type of Magnetism

The third branch of magnetism has been experimentally demonstrated in manganese telluride, opening up opportunities for new research directions. A recent study published in Nature…

• Diversity & Inclusion
• Community Values
• Visiting MIT Physics
• People Directory
• Faculty Awards
• History of MIT Physics
• Policies and Procedures
• Departmental Committees
• Academic Programs Team
• Finance Team
• Meet the Academic Programs Team
• Prospective Students
• Requirements
• Employment Opportunities
• Research Opportunities
• Graduate Admissions
• Doctoral Guidelines
• Financial Support
• Graduate Student Resources
• PhD in Physics, Statistics, and Data Science
• MIT LEAPS Program
• for Undergraduate Students
• for Graduate Students
• Mentoring Programs Info for Faculty
• Non-degree Programs
• Student Awards & Honors
• Astrophysics Observation, Instrumentation, and Experiment
• Astrophysics Theory
• Atomic Physics
• Condensed Matter Experiment
• Condensed Matter Theory
• High Energy and Particle Theory
• Nuclear Physics Experiment
• Particle Physics Experiment
• Quantum Gravity and Field Theory
• Quantum Information Science
• Strong Interactions and Nuclear Theory
• Center for Theoretical Physics
• Affiliated Labs & Centers
• Program Founder
• Competition
• Donor Profiles
• Patrons of Physics Fellows Society
• Giving Opportunties
• physics@mit Journal: Fall 2023 Edition
• Events Calendar
• Physics Colloquia
• Search for: Search

The Physics Department strives to be at the forefront of many areas where new physics can be found. Consequently, we work on problems where extreme conditions may reveal new behavior. We study the largest things in the universe: clusters of galaxies or even the entire universe itself. We study the smallest things in the universe: elementary particles or even the strings that may be the substructure of these particles. We study the hottest things in the universe: collisions of nuclei at relativistic velocities that make droplets of matter hotter than anything since the Big Bang. We study the coldest things in the universe: laser-cooled atoms so cold that their wave functions overlap resulting in a macroscopic collective state–the Bose-Einstein condensate. While we often study the simplest things, such as individual atoms, we study the most complicated things too: unusual materials like high temperature superconductors and those that are important in biology. By pushing the limits, we have the chance to observe new general principles and to test theories of the structure and behavior of matter and energy. The links at the left will lead you to overviews of the research done in the Physics Department, organized in four broad areas, as well as to the web pages of the faculty working in each area.

Research Overview

Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics

Experimental and Observational Astrophysics and Cosmology

Experimental Condensed Matter Physics

Experimental Particle Physics

Physics and Science Education Research

Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology

Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics

Physical Review Research

• Collections
• Editorial Team

Editorial: Coauthor! Coauthor!

May 21, 2024.

When determining the authorship list for your next paper, be generous yet disciplined.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Aps and astrobites announce partnership, october 25, 2023.

The American Physical Society (APS) is pleased to announce that it will begin sponsoring Astrobites , a daily astrophysical literature journal written by graduate students in astronomy. This mutually beneficial collaboration aims to enhance the dissemination of research, educational resources, and career insights in the field of astronomy and astrophysics.

50 Years of QCD

October 11, 2023.

A new Collection by the Physical Review journals celebrates the 50th anniversary of the discovery of asymptotic freedom in quantum chromodynamics (QCD)—the theoretical basis for the strong force of nature that binds quarks and gluons into hadrons.

PERSPECTIVE

Reversible to irreversible transitions in periodic driven many-body systems and future directions for classical and quantum systems.

Reversible to irreversible (R-IR) transitions have been found in a wide variety of both soft and hard matter periodically driven collectively interacting systems that, after a certain number of driving cycles, organize into either a reversible state where the particle trajectories repeat during every or every few cycles or into a chaotic motion state. An overview of R-IR transitions including recent advances in the field is followed by a discussion of how the general framework of R-IR transitions could be applied to a much broader class of nonequilibrium systems in which periodic driving occurs, including not only soft and hard condensed matter systems, but also astrophysics, biological systems, and social systems.

C. Reichhardt et al. Phys. Rev. Research 5 , 021001 (2023)

Direct observation of entangled electronic-nuclear wave packets

Using pulse shape spectroscopy, we demonstrate long-lived electronic coherences in molecules, and we are able to disentangle the electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom by performing momentum resolved covariance measurements of the fragment ions as we vary the phase between pump and probe pulses. These results pave the way for measuring coupled electron-nuclear dynamics in molecules and understanding the role that electronic coherences play in fundamental photophysical and photochemical processes.

Gönenç Moğol et al. Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022047 (2024)

Designing robust trajectories by lobe dynamics in low-dimensional Hamiltonian systems

The behavior of lobes, geometrical structures in Hamiltonian systems, is studied to design robust trajectories of spacecraft in the Earth-Moon system. This control framework connects start and goal orbits via a few chaotic orbits within appropriately selected lobes, which results in finding a short-time transfer in spacecraft dynamics.

Naoki Hiraiwa, Mai Bando, Isaia Nisoli, and Yuzuru Sato Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022046 (2024)

Morphological instability at topological defects in a three-dimensional vertex model for spherical epithelia

The mechanics of spherical epithelial sheets like cysts or intestinal organoids can be described by a three-dimensional vertex model. The vertex model is coarse grained to an elastic continuum theory of bent thin sheets. A morphological instability at topological defects is found in the vertex model and quantitatively explained through buckling within the continuum theory.

Oliver M. Drozdowski and Ulrich S. Schwarz Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022045 (2024)

Entropy production and thermodynamic inference for stochastic microswimmers

Microswimmers are driven by a nonequilibrium chemical cycle. Using a thermodynamically consistent model with full hydrodynamics, it is shown that external forces affect their motion not only by passively dragging them but also by influencing their active swimming through the same mechanochemical coupling that allows them to swim, suggesting a strategy for the experimental inference of the chemical forces that drive them.

Michalis Chatzittofi, Jaime Agudo-Canalejo, and Ramin Golestanian Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022044 (2024)

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Data-driven analysis of annual rain distributions.

A method for predicting annual rain distributions, based on combining monthly rain histograms from historical data, is introduced and applied to several locations in Israel. It is then argued (using tests of the method in a simple toy model) that the method gives reliable predictions not only for typical events but also for rare ones.

Yosef Ashkenazy and Naftali R. Smith Phys. Rev. Research 6 , 023187 (2024)

Universality of phenotypic distributions in bacteria

A study reveals that division time distributions in proliferating cells vary in shape across experiments, unlike the universally consistent cell size distributions. This variation is influenced by the robustness of the corresponding shape factors in model parameter space.

Kuheli Biswas and Naama Brenner Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022043 (2024)

Magnon-mediated topological superconductivity in a quantum wire

One-dimensional p -wave superconductors can reside in a topological phase and are predicted to host non-Abelian states at their ends. It is shown that attractive interactions mediated by magnons can induce intrinsic triplet superconductivity in an electronic chain in proximity to a spin spiral, and combined with the effects from coupling to the static spin spiral the magnon-mediated interaction stabilizes a topological superconducting phase.

Florinda Viñas Boström and Emil Viñas Boström Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022042 (2024)

Fano resonance in excitation spectroscopy and cooling of an optically trapped single atom

Cooling by electromagnetically induced transparency is experimentally demonstrated with an optically trapped single neutral atom. The Fano resonance feature is resolved in the fluorescence excitation spectra and the temperature profiles.

Chang Hoong Chow, Boon Long Ng, Vindhiya Prakash, and Christian Kurtsiefer Phys. Rev. Research 6 , 023154 (2024)

Realization of high-fidelity unitary operations on up to 64 frequency bins

Integrated linear optical networks encoded in frequency bins are realized in a dispersion-engineered nonlinear optical waveguide. The network is scalable and will serve as basis for quantum information technologies thanks to high fidelities, free reconfigurability, and full connectivity.

Syamsundar De et al. Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022040 (2024)

Quadratic acceleration of multistep probabilistic algorithms for state preparation

For quantum state preparation, a nonunitary operator that decays unwanted states contained in an initial state is probabilistically realized on a quantum computer. Combining quantum amplitude amplification with multistep probabilistic algorithms is proposed, leading to quadratic speedup and quantum advantages in quantum state preparation.

Hirofumi Nishi, Taichi Kosugi, Yusuke Nishiya, and Yu-ichiro Matsushita Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022041 (2024)

Broken seniority symmetry in the semimagic proton mid-shell nucleus Rh 95

In semimagic nuclei, a broken pair of nucleons generate a characteristic regular pattern in energy and transition rates for protons and neutrons residing in the same orbital of the open shell. Lifetime measurement in 45 95 Rh nucleus shows a deviation from this pattern in the g 9 / 2 orbital of the open proton shell.

B. Das et al. Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022038 (2024)

Single file motion of robot swarms

A robot swarm is used to simulate single-lane traffic, identifying three different states: free flow, intermittent, and totally congested. The stability and repeatability of these agents, which become a suitable model of programmable active-matter systems, is showcased.

Laciel Alonso-Llanes, Angel Garcimartín, and Iker Zuriguel Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022037 (2024)

Quantum work: Reconciling quantum mechanics and thermodynamics

The claim that no quantum work measurement satisfies standard physical principles has raised compatibility concerns between quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and the classical limit. A revised framework is presented for addressing the classical limit, and it is shown that work defined as a quantum observable aligns quantum work statistics with thermodynamic principles.

Thales A. B. Pinto Silva and David Gelbwaser-Klimovsky Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022036 (2024)

Effects of higher-order Casimir-Polder interactions on Rydberg atom spectroscopy

Higher-order Casimir-Polder interactions between highly excited Rydberg atoms and macroscopic surfaces are studied, providing calculations of a term that evolves with the inverse fifth power of the atom-surface distance. The effects of this higher-order term in Casimir-Polder thin-cell spectroscopy are also investigated.

B. Dutta et al. Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022035 (2024)

Quick charging of a quantum battery with superposed trajectories

How to quick charge a quantum battery by using superposition of trajectories is shown. The proposed charging protocols have been verified on IBMQ and IonQ quantum processors.

Po-Rong Lai et al. Phys. Rev. Research 6 , 023136 (2024)

Efficient survival strategy for zooplankton in turbulence

Zooplankton reduce their vulnerability to predation by evading high-strain areas. A robust strategy for how such microswimmers can navigate by sensing hydromechanical signals to steer clear of high-strain regions in turbulent environments has been identified.

N. Mousavi et al. Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022034 (2024)

Protection of correlation-induced phase instabilities by exceptional susceptibilities

At thermal equilibrium, generalized susceptibilities encoding the static physical response of Hermitian many-electron systems are shown to possess inherent non-Hermitian matrix symmetries, leading to the generic occurrence of exceptional points. In strongly correlated electron systems, such exceptional points are found to necessarily promote electronic charge instabilities that occur in the proximity of a Mott transition to a topologically robust phenomenon.

M. Reitner et al. Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022031 (2024)

Prospects for thermalization of microwave-shielded ultracold molecules

Understanding collisional thermalization among ultracold molecules is essential to achieving quantum degenerate gases with evaporative cooling. A theoretical technique for efficiently handling thermalization calculations with nonuniversal dipolar scattering is demonstrated, providing a widely applicable tool for exploring optimal evaporation protocols.

Reuben R. W. Wang and John L. Bohn Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022033 (2024)

Uncovering the multifractality of Lagrangian pair dispersion in shock-dominated turbulence

For strongly compressible shock-dominated turbulence, a heuristic theoretical framework, which shows that the statistics of pair dispersion of Lagrangian tracer particles is different from its counterpart for incompressible-fluid turbulence, is developed. The trapping of Lagrangian particles in shocks is responsible for this difference, as is shown by extensive direct numerical simulations of the randomly forced two-dimensional Burgers equation, which models shock-dominated turbulence.

Sadhitro De, Dhrubaditya Mitra, and Rahul Pandit Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022032 (2024)

Superfluid transition of a ferromagnetic Bose gas

The physics of superfluidity of spin-1 Bose gas shares many similarities with that of multicomponent superconductivity, and it has been suspected that a strongly ferromagnetic Bose gas (such as 7 Li) may realize the elusive high-order symmetry-breaking state proposed in superconductors. It is theoretically shown that the dilute Bose gas doesn’t exhibit such states, but the strong ferromagnetism does drive a joint first-order superfluid transition, contrary to a second-order one in the mean-field prediction.

Pye Ton How and Sungkit Yip Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022030 (2024)

Optical Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations in two-dimensional electron systems

Subterahertz transmittance of two-dimensional systems reveals the complexity of optical Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations featuring “universal” nodes at overtones of the cyclotron resonance as well as “tunable” nodes at positions sensitive to all parameters of the structure.

M. L. Savchenko et al. Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022027 (2024)

Non-Markovian gene expression

A prototypical two-state gene-expression model is investigated, where the activation process has a fat-tailed (nonexponential) waiting time distribution, resulting in nonstationary dynamics and emerging nonergodicity.

Ohad Vilk, Ralf Metzler, and Michael Assaf Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022026 (2024)

Correlation dimension of natural language in a statistical manifold

The complexity of human languages is explored through the lens of fractal geometry and large language models, uncovering a multifractal structure. A universal correlation dimension of approximately 6.5 is identified in literary texts written in four languages, a phenomenon that appears to stem from the presence of long memory in these texts.

Xin Du and Kumiko Tanaka-Ishii Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022028 (2024)

Chern mosaic and ideal flat bands in equal-twist trilayer graphene

In the helical twisted trilayer graphene with equal twist angles, a hexagonal mosaic pattern spanning the moiré-of-moiré length scale and featuring alternating ± 1 Chern numbers in each block is revealed.

Daniele Guerci, Yuncheng Mao, and Christophe Mora Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022025 (2024)

Active thermodynamic force driven mitochondrial alignment

How do mitochondria align at almost regular intervals in nerve axons? The mechanism is deciphered as the mitochondria employing the noise depending on the ATP, similar to the thermodynamic force.

Masashi K. Kajita, Yoshiyuki Konishi, and Tetsuhiro S. Hatakeyama Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022024 (2024)

Observation of quantum metric and non-Hermitian Berry curvature in a plasmonic lattice

The full quantum geometric tensor (QGT) is experimentally obtained for a plasmonic lattice. The quantum metric and the Berry curvature, related to the real and imaginary parts of the QGT, respectively, are found to be nonzero along the diagonals of the Brillouin zone, even for a trivial square lattice. While the quantum metric emerges from the interplay of polarization and the mode structure, the origin of the Berry curvature is purely non-Hermitian due to the system losses.

Javier Cuerda et al. Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022020 (2024)

Demonstrating quantum computation for quasiparticle band structures

The first-principles calculation of a quasiparticle band structure on actual quantum computers is demonstrated. This is achieved by hybrid quantum-classical algorithms in conjunction with qubit-reduction and error-mitigation techniques.

Takahiro Ohgoe et al. Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022022 (2024)

Hayden-Preskill recovery in Hamiltonian systems

Not all quantum chaos scrambles quantum information: While the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model does, typical chaotic spin chains do not.

Yoshifumi Nakata and Masaki Tezuka Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022021 (2024)

Supercurrent noise in a phase-biased superconductor-normal ring in thermal equilibrium

The supercurrent noise in the equilibrium state induced by thermal fluctuations of the phase-coherent Andreev bound states in a mesoscopic superconductor-normal ring is directly observed and the fluctuation-dissipation relation in such a system is experimentally confirmed.

Ziwei Dou et al. Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022023 (2024)

Epidemic criticality in temporal networks

The phenomenon of epidemic criticality in temporal networks is remarkably complex due to the competition between the network correlation effect (the persistence of links in the network) and the dynamic correlation effect (the tendency of infected nodes to group together).

Chao-Ran Cai, Yuan-Yuan Nie, and Petter Holme Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022017 (2024)

Active jamming at criticality

The onset of athermal jamming is argued to be a critical phenomenon describable by a mean-field theory in physical dimensions. By elucidating the scaling behavior of jammed systems subjected to active forces and thermal fluctuations in the vicinity of the jamming onset, it’s shown that the physics of active jamming remains mean-field-like in contrast with active systems in which anomalous scaling behavior is the norm.

Shalabh K. Anand, Chiu Fan Lee, and Thibault Bertrand Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022018 (2024)

Stacked tree construction for free-fermion projected entangled pair states

A direct construction for the projected entangled pair states representation of states that admit descriptions in terms of exponentially localized Wannier functions is proposed. The construction involves first obtaining a tree tensor network construction for subregions, then stacking the tree tensor networks, and finally compressing local tensors successively.

Yuman He, Kangle Li, Yanbai Zhang, and Hoi Chun Po Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022016 (2024)

Vertical velocity of a small sphere in a sheared granular bed

In a size-disperse granular shear flow, particles too small to be trapped in the absence of shear percolate more slowly with increasing shear rate because of their increased velocity fluctuations, while small particles large enough to be trapped at zero shear are mobilized with increasing shear rate but eventually reach a maximum percolation speed and then slow down because of velocity fluctuations

Song Gao (高颂), Julio M. Ottino, Richard M. Lueptow, and Paul B. Umbanhowar Phys. Rev. Research 6 , L022015 (2024)

APS Announces Outstanding Referees for 2024

APS has selected 156 Outstanding Referees for 2024 who have demonstrated exceptional work in the assessment of manuscripts published in the Physical Review journals. A full list of the Outstanding Referees is available online .

Editorial: Introducing Perspective Articles

April 18, 2022.

Three journals are excited to announce a new article type, “Perspectives,” to provide forward-looking views of cutting-edge science that has recently emerged or is enjoying renewed activity.

Current Issue

Vol. 6, Iss. 2 — April - June 2024

Previous Issues

• Vol. 6, Iss. 1 — January - March 2024
• Vol. 5, Iss. 4 — October - December 2023
• Vol. 5, Iss. 3 — July - September 2023
• Vol. 5, Iss. 2 — April - June 2023

Now open for Submissions!

Email alerts.

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Research

Announcements

APS has selected 156 Outstanding Referees for 2024 who have demonstrated exceptional work in the assessment of manuscripts published in the Physical Review journals. A full list of the Outstanding Referees is available online.

Offer includes Journal Access and waived article publication charges to Scientists in 100+ Lower and Middle Income Countries

More Announcements

Physical Review Research welcomes papers from the full spectrum of research topics of interest to the physics community. Research coverage in the journal comprises: fundamental and applied; theoretical and experimental, including technical and methodological advances; and interdisciplinary and newly emerging areas.

See the full scope

• Forgot your username/password?
• Create an account

Article Lookup

Paste a citation or doi, enter a citation.

share this!

October 19, 2021

Physicists announce results that boost evidence for new fundamental physics

by University of Cambridge

Results announced by the LHCb experiment at CERN have revealed further hints for phenomena that cannot be explained by our current theory of fundamental physics.

In March 2020, the same experiment released evidence of particles breaking one of the core principles of the Standard Model—our best theory of particles and forces—suggesting the possible existence of new fundamental particles and forces.

Now, further measurements by physicists at Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory have found similar effects, boosting the case for new physics.

The Standard Model describes all the known particles that make up the universe and the forces that they interact through. It has passed every experimental test to date, and yet physicists know it must be incomplete. It does not include the force of gravity, nor can it account for how matter was produced during the Big Bang, and contains no particle that could explain the mysterious dark matter that astronomy tells us is five times more abundant than the stuff that makes up the visible world around us.

As a result, physicists have long been hunting for signs of physics beyond the Standard Model that might help us to address some of these mysteries.

One of the best ways to search for new particles and forces is to study particles known as beauty quarks. These are exotic cousins of the up and down quarks that make up the nucleus of every atom.

Beauty quarks don't exist in large numbers in the world around as they are incredibly short-lived—surviving on average for just a trillionth of a second before transforming or decaying into other particles. However, billions of beauty quarks are produced every year by CERN's giant particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, which are recorded by a purpose-built detector called LHCb.

The way beauty quarks decay can be influenced by the existence of undiscovered forces or particles. In March, a team of physicists at LHCb released results showing evidence that beauty quarks were decaying into particles called muons less often than to their lighter cousins, electrons. This is impossible to explain in the Standard Model, which treats electrons and muons identically, apart from the fact that electrons are around 200 times lighter than muons. As a result, beauty quarks ought to decay into muons and electrons at equal rates. Instead, the physicists at LHCb found that the muon decay was only happening around 85% as often as the electron decay.

The difference between the LHCb result and the Standard Model was about three units of experimental error, or '3 sigma' as it is known in particle physics. This means there is only around a one in a thousand chance of the result being caused by a statistical fluke.

Assuming the result is correct, the most likely explanation is that a new force that pulls on electrons and muons with different strengths is interfering with how these beauty quarks decay. However, to be sure if the effect is real more data is needed to reduce the experimental error. Only when a result reaches the '5 sigma' threshold, when there is less than a one in a million chance of it being due to random chance, will particle physicists start to consider it a genuine discovery.

"The fact that we've seen the same effect as our colleagues did in March certainly boosts the chances that we might genuinely be on the brink of discovering something new," said Dr. Harry Cliff from the Cavendish Laboratory. "It's great to shed a little more light on the puzzle."

Today's result examined two new beauty quark decays from the same family of decays as used in the March result. The team found the same effect—the muon decays were only happening around 70% as often as the electron decays. This time the error is larger, meaning that the deviation is around '2 sigma', meaning there is just over a 2% chance of it being due to a statistical quirk of the data. While the result isn't conclusive on its own, it does add further support to a growing pile of evidence that there are new fundamental forces waiting to be discovered.

"The excitement at the Large Hadron Collider is growing just as the upgraded LHCb detector is about to be switched on and further data collected that will provide the necessary statistics to either claim or refute a major discovery," said Professor Val Gibson, also from the Cavendish Laboratory.

Provided by University of Cambridge

Explore further

Feedback to editors

How worms shaped Earth's biodiversity explosion

4 hours ago

Meet Neo Px: the super plant that attacks air pollution

5 hours ago

A Chinese spacecraft lands on the moon's far side to collect rocks in growing space rivalry with US

Saturday Citations: The sound of music, sneaky birds, better training for LLMs. Plus: Diversity improves research

Jun 1, 2024

Study investigates a massive 'spider' pulsar

Greener, more effective termite control: Natural compound attracts wood eaters

Shear genius: Researchers find way to scale up wonder material, which could do wonders for the Earth

New vestiges of the first life on Earth discovered in Saudi Arabia

May 31, 2024

Mussels downstream of wastewater treatment plant contain radium, study reports

A new way to see viruses in action: Super-resolution microscopy provides a nano-scale look

Relevant physicsforums posts, maxwell's equations.

3 hours ago

List of Verdet Constants?

Discussion about least squares method.

May 29, 2024

Does energy exist?

Calculating vacuum -- these numbers do not make sense.

May 25, 2024

Replacing the Measurement standards (SI units)

May 24, 2024

More from Other Physics Topics

Related Stories

New result from the LHCb experiment challenges leading theory in physics

Mar 23, 2021

Evidence of new physics at CERN? Why we're cautiously optimistic about our new findings

ATLAS experiment searches for 'charming' decay of the Higgs boson

Jun 9, 2021

New exotic matter particle, a tetraquark, discovered

Jul 29, 2021

LHCb finds new hints of possible deviations from the Standard Model

Apr 18, 2017

LHCb explores the beauty of lepton universality

Jan 20, 2020

Recommended for you

Study shows plant hydraulics create streaming electric potential in sync with biological clock

May 28, 2024

Theory and experiment combine to shine a new light on proton spin

New method can create aquatic levitation at much lower temperature, has implications for cooling nuclear reactors

How a world record 'squeeze' could offer comfort for dark matter hunters

May 23, 2024

Atomic-resolution imaging shows why ice is so slippery

Nuclear physicists make first precision measurements of radium monofluoride

May 22, 2024

Let us know if there is a problem with our content

Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form . For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines ).

Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request

Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.

Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.

E-mail the story

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.

Newsletter sign up

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

More information Privacy policy

Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience

We keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.

E-mail newsletter

• Collections

• APS Journals

Sign up to receive weekly email alerts from Physics Magazine .

• Contact Us!

Department of Physics

You are here, physics and yale science inititatives, other research links.

Graduate Theses Undergraduate Research in Physics Postgraduate Associates at Wright Lab Undergraduate Research at Wright Lab

• Our research
• Our research groups

Our research in action

• Research funding support
• Summer internships for undergraduates
• Undergraduates
• Postgraduates
• For business
• For schools
• For the public

Our researchers change the world: our understanding of it and how we live in it. We explore the fundamentals – how we got here and the secrets of the universe – as well as the practical from developing next-gen materials to pushing the frontiers of quantum and predicting the future for our planet. Find out more about our ground-breaking research… Explore our research by theme or by sub-department below or browse a complete A-Z listing of our research groups .

• Sub-departments

Accelerator physics

Astronomy and astrophysics

Biological physics

Climate physics

Exoplanets and planetary physics

Fields, strings, and quantum dynamics

Fundamental particles and interactions

Instrumentation

Lasers and high energy density science

Particle astrophysics & cosmology

Photovoltaics and nanoscience

Plasma physics

Quantum information and computation

Quantum materials

Quantum optics & ultra-cold matter

Astrophysics

Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics

Atomic and Laser Physics

Condensed Matter Physics

Particle Physics

Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics

Research A-Z

Browse a complete listing of our research groups: search by name or filter by theme or sub-department to find out more about the work we do

Our physicists are passionate about research – research that not only decodes the mysteries of the Universe but also unlocks new ways of seeing and doing things. Research that positively impacts on society and improves lives. 

Find out more about the different spin-out companies that have been founded on intellectual property from the Department of Physics, how innovation and entrepreneurship run through the department and how our research is transferred from 'lab to life'...

World class research facilities

Fellowship and funding support

We have a team of research facilitators, our in-house experts, that supports researchers with every step of the application process for research funding – from identifying opportunities to advising on content, checking compliancy and costing projects. The team also supports internal and external candidates with a range of fellowship applications.

• News & Comment
• Our facilities & services
• Current students
• Staff intranet

Physics at the Forefront of the Future

Physics research at bu.

Our faculty have ongoing research projects in molecular biophysics, computational physics, experimental condensed matter physics, theoretical quantum condensed matter physics, experimental particle physics, particle astrophysics, theoretical particle physics and cosmology, photonics, physics education, and statistical physics.

Please see below for more information about a specific research area.

Research Areas

Biological physics.

Computational Physics

Condensed Matter Experiment

Condensed Matter Theory

Experimental Medium Energy Physics

Experimental Particle Physics

Elementary Particle Theory

Statistical Physics

Support Facilities

Nevada Today

Andrei derevianko elected aaas fellow in the field of physics, from being recognized as university of nevada, reno outstanding researcher to sara louise hartman endowed professor, derevianko is adding another item to his impressive list of accolades.

Professor Andrei Derevianko has been at the University of Nevada, Reno since 2001. Photo credit: Mike Wolterbeek.

University of Nevada, Reno Physics Professor Andrei Derevianko was recently named a Fellow through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the biggest scientific societies and a publisher for the Science family of journals.

Derevianko, the only faculty member in the history of the University’s Department of Physics, was presented with this lifelong recognition due to his work in theoretical atomic physics. More specifically, he was honored for his work improving atomic clocks, parity-non-conservation and tests of fundamental physics.

Related Program

• Department of Physics

Professor Derevianko in the College of Science has made significant contributions to remarkable progress in the development of several classes of atomic clocks. In particular, his theoretically proposed ytterbium optical lattice clocks tick away in major metrology laboratories around the globe. These clocks are guaranteed neither to lose nor gain a fraction of a second over the age of the universe.

Derevianko has also theoretically demonstrated that modern timekeeping can be further improved with nuclear clocks, where a nucleus instead of atom is at the heart of the quantum oscillator. Much of his recent efforts are geared towards realizing this idea in the lab in collaboration with experimental groups.

Beyond inventing new atomic and nuclear clocks, Derevianko has also developed pioneering ideas in applications of atomic clocks in fundamental physics and cosmology, such as the search for dark matter with atomic clocks onboard GPS satellites.

Related Links

College of Science 2024 awards

• One step closer to defining dark matter, celebrate Dark Matter Day
• Hiding in plain sight: elusive dark matter may be detected with GPS

AAAS Fellows are a group of esteemed engineers, innovators and scientists who are chosen annually to be acknowledged for their scientific achievements, whether it’s in teaching, technology, research or another discipline. They can be nominated after being a member of AAAS for at least four consecutive years.

“As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the AAAS Fellows Program,   AAAS is proud to recognize the newly elected individuals. This year’s class embodies scientific excellence, fosters trust in science throughout the communities they serve, and leads the next generation of scientists while advancing scientific achievements,”   Sudip S. Parikh, AAAS chief executive officer and executive publisher of the  Science  family of journals said in a national news release. 

The association began creating fellowships in 1874 where W.E.B. Dubois, a major contributor to American Sociology, and Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to make it to space, became some of the many honorable Fellows over the years.

Some past University recipients include Lee Dyer from the Department of Biology and Ana de Bettencourt-Dias from the Department of Chemistry.

This year, 502 scientists and engineers joined the ranks of fellows. They are presented with a certificate and a blue and gold rosette, symbolizing the honor that AAAS bestows upon its members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or applications in service to society have distinguished them among their peers.

After receiving this fellowship, recipients are expected to continue aiming for a high standard of ethics and scientific integrity.

Research & Innovation

Visit Lake Tahoe on May 30 to learn about “The Promise of Chemical Ecology”

Neurodegenerative disease prevention, “blue zones” and environmental conservation to be discussed at the Hitchcock Center for Chemical Ecology keynote presentation

University recognizes Engineering researchers this spring

Ebrahamian, Pagilla and Tavakkoli acknowledged at Honor the Best May 14

2024 Research & Innovation Awards

Honoring faculty through awards and fellowships

Ur Next Route: Revolutionizing campus safety with innovation and inclusivity

Students combine innovative technology and collaborative efforts to create a safety app at the University of Nevada, Reno

Editor's Picks

AsPIre working group provides community, networking for Asian, Pacific Islander faculty and staff

University confers more than 3,000 degrees during spring commencement ceremonies

Father and son set to receive doctoral degrees May 17

Strong advisory board supports new Supply Chain and Transportation Management program in College of Business

United States Congressman Ro Khanna joins President Brian Sandoval for 'Discussions in Democracy'

Congressman Khanna joined the President in a conversation at the University of Nevada, Reno about voter education, exercising the vote and working across the aisle

Mackay School celebrates another year of excellence

The annual John W. Mackay Banquet took place on April 26

The College of Science student, faculty and staff awards include several University-wide awards and external awards

Sanford Center for Aging’s new vehicle expands transportation services

The transportation program keeps older adults mobile and engaged in the community

Publication 'The Atlantic' gifts complimentary access to University community

Following the ‘Democracy at a Crossroads’ event, students, faculty and staff can access the publication through the University Libraries

Reynolds School of Journalism looks back at the spring 2024 semester

Dean Yun recaps the highlights of the semester in the semester in review video

Co-chair of AsPIre Cydney Giroux discusses the group, why she finds it important and plans for the future

Lake Tahoe Wildfire Summit explores interdisciplinary solutions

University of Nevada, Reno researchers and scholars share their expertise and collaborate on potential wildfire management solutions

WashU theorists help advance nuclear physics research at DOE facility

Physicists Saori Pastore and Maria Piarulli in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis are part of an influential group of scientists shaping the theoretical framework behind exciting new experiments at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) , a $730 million U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science research facility.

After years of planning and construction, researchers are now using the one-of-a-kind FRIB to better understand nuclei, the collection of protons and neutrons found at the heart of atoms. Recently, scientists working at the FRIB made a groundbreaking observation of five never-before-seen isotopes , highlighting the facility’s cutting-edge capabilities and the potential for new discoveries in nuclear physics.

Nuclear theory — the kind of work that Pastore and Piarulli do at WashU — underpins much of the high-end research now taking place at the FRIB. This research has applications in medicine, national security and other industrial applications. 

Theory helps explain and predict the relationships between subatomic particles that are beginning to be observed in new experiments.

“The first experiments at the FRIB studied the beta-decay of highly unstable nuclei, like magnesium-38, produced from the breakup of calcium-48,” Piarulli said. The most stable isotope of magnesium-24 has equal numbers of neutrons and protons, but the highly unstable magnesium-38 has 14 more neutrons than protons, she noted. 

A related experimental effort run by WashU professors Robert Charity and Lee Sobotka , both in the Department of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences, focuses on nuclei with far more protons than neutrons.

“Watching how these exotic nuclei decay away — and measuring the products that are produced — provides information critical to understand how the atomic nucleus changes, from stability to the limits of its existence,” Piarulli said.

Pastore and Piarulli, both associate professors of physics and faculty fellows in WashU’s McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences , lead a research group that focuses on Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods for nuclear physics. Some of their recent work has included high-precision calculations of beta decays in elements with lighter nuclei — that is, those with an atomic number less than 10. “Our calculations provide valuable insights into the nuclear models used to describe these decays, and we can leverage this information to make meaningful extrapolations to larger systems,” Piarulli said.

Mark Alford and Willem Dickhoff , both professors of physics in Arts & Sciences, are theoreticians who also study nuclear systems. Through the combined efforts of its theoretical and experimental groups, WashU has been intimately involved in shaping the FRIB scientific mission.

For the past few years, Pastore and Piarulli have participated in the FRIB Theory Alliance , a coalition that brings together scientists from universities and national laboratories to share knowledge, expertise and resources to help advance nuclear physics work at the FRIB. 

The coalition has almost 300 members, including 120 faculty and more than 115 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows worldwide.

“We are developing and studying many exciting things related to the FRIB Theory Alliance, including development and optimization of nuclear theory using statistical methods, studies of electroweak properties, and calculations of the equation of state of strongly interacting matter with uncertainty quantification, to name a few,” said Pastore, associate chair of the Department of Physics and past director of the FRIB Theory Alliance executive board.

Through their affiliation to the FRIB Theory Alliance, Pastore and Piarulli have expanded their outreach nationally to help attract high-profile young scientists to careers in nuclear theory through the FRIB Theory Fellow Program. In 2022, they recruited Anna McCoy , a FRIB Theory Fellow, who will soon transition to her next position at Argonne National Laboratory as an assistant physicist. 

The FRIB Theory Alliance also provides great opportunities for graduate students like  Jason Bub ,  Graham Chambers-Wall  and  Garrett King  at Washington University and others.

These students have opportunities to connect with other researchers, fostering collaborations that could be beneficial for their future careers, Pastore said. 

“Working in a cutting-edge field can offer unique learning experiences for graduate students and the chance to develop advanced research skills,” she said. 

“Moving forward, we want to keep collaborating with experimentalists at FRIB,” Piarulli said. “We can produce more work along the lines of our study in Physical Review C . That project was a joint endeavor with experimentalists and researchers at Michigan State University, and the experimental results were consistent with our QMC calculations. 

“These calculations are of paramount importance, as they provide a deeper understanding of nuclear forces,” she said.

Comments and respectful dialogue are encouraged, but content will be moderated. Please, no personal attacks, obscenity or profanity, selling of commercial products, or endorsements of political candidates or positions. We reserve the right to remove any inappropriate comments. We also cannot address individual medical concerns or provide medical advice in this forum.

You Might Also Like

Latest from the Newsroom

Recent stories.

Family-friendly workplaces benefit employees, businesses

Drake appointed inaugural St. Louis Confluence Collaborative faculty director

Risk of death from COVID-19 lessens, but infection still can cause issues 3 years later

WashU Experts

DeFake tool protects voice recordings from cybercriminals

Tremor a reminder that East Coast, Midwest earthquake threat is real

NASPA chair, WashU vice chancellor on the future of student affairs

WashU in the News

Alito says he won’t recuse himself from election and Jan. 6 cases after flag controversies

The Delivery Business Shows Why Unions Are Struggling to Expand

Rivers of Lava on Venus Reveal a More Volcanically Active Planet

• Privacy Policy

Home » What is Physics – Definition, Types, Methods

What is Physics – Definition, Types, Methods

Table of Contents

Definition:

Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its motion, and behavior through space and time, and that studies the related entities of energy and force. It is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines, and its main goal is to understand how the universe behaves.

Physics is essential to our understanding of how the universe works. From subatomic particles to galaxies, physics helps us unlock the mysteries of our world and even those beyond it.

Through experiments and observation, physicists gain a deep understanding of the natural laws that govern our universe. This knowledge enables us to build everything from everyday technologies to life-saving medical treatments.

History of Physics

The history of physics is the study of how our understanding of the physical world has developed over time. It is a story that began with the ancient Greek philosophers and has continued to evolve ever since.

One of the earliest ideas in physics was that everything in the universe is made up of four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. This idea was first proposed by the philosopher Thales around 600 BCE. It would eventually be refined and expanded upon by other thinkers like Aristotle and Plato.

Over time, our understanding of the physical world continued to grow. In the 17th century, Isaac Newton formulated his laws of motion and gravity, which explained how objects move in our everyday world. In the 19th century, James Clerk Maxwell developed his theory of electromagnetism, which explains how electricity and magnetism are connected.

Today, modern physics has given us an understanding of the universe that is so advanced that it seems almost magical. This unit will explore some of the most fundamental concepts in science , from the workings of atoms to the existence of black holes.

Branches of Physics

• Physics is divided into the following branches:

Nuclear and Particle Physics

Condensed matter physics, atomic, molecular, and optical physics, astrophysics, applied physics.

Nuclear and particle physics is the study of the fundamental constituents of matter and energy and the interactions between them. It is a branch of physics that explores the very smallest particles in the universe and the forces that govern them.

Nuclear physics is the study of the nucleus of an atom, which is made up of protons and neutrons. This branch of physics also investigates how these particles interact with one another.

Particle physics , on the other hand, focuses on subatomic particles such as electrons, quarks, and photons. These particles are responsible for all known forces in nature.

Both nuclear and particle physics are essential to our understanding of the universe. They provide us with a way to probe its smallest components and learn about their behavior. Through this research , we have been able to develop technologies that have greatly improved our lives.

Condensed matter physics is the study of the physical properties of matter that occur in a condensed state. This includes both solids and liquids, as well as other states of matter that are intermediate between these two extremes. In a solid, the atoms are closely packed together and have little freedom to move. In a liquid, the atoms are more spaced out and can move around more freely.

Condensed matter physics investigates the behavior of these materials under a variety of conditions, such as high pressure and low temperature. It also studies how they interact with light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. By understanding the behavior of condensed matter, physicists can develop new materials with desired properties, such as superconductors that can carry electricity with no resistance.

Atomic, molecular, and optical physics (AMO) is the study of matter-matter and light-matter interactions. Atoms, molecules, electrons, and photons are the main objects of interest in AMO physics. The term “atomic physics” was first used by Ernest Rutherford in 1907.

Molecular physics deals with the behavior of molecules, which are composed of two or more atoms. In contrast to atomic physics, which studies atoms in isolation, molecular physics focuses on the interaction between atoms that forms molecules. Molecular physics is a relatively young field that emerged in the early 20th century with the development of new experimental techniques such as spectroscopy and microwave spectroscopy.

Optical physics is the study of the interaction between light and matter. Optical physicists use lasers and other light sources to study a wide range of phenomena, from quantum optics to cosmology.

Atomic physics is the study of the atom as a whole, including its structure and behavior. Molecular physics is the study of molecules, their interactions, and their structure. Optical physics is the study of how light interacts with matter.

Astrophysics is the scientific study of the universe and its contents. It deals with the physical and chemical properties of celestial bodies, including stars, planets, galaxies, and black holes. Astrophysics also encompasses cosmology, which is the study of the origin, evolution, and structure of the universe as a whole.

Applied physics is the study of how to use the principles of physics to solve real-world problems. It is a practical, hands-on approach to learning that can be used in a wide variety of fields, from engineering and medicine to business and finance.

Applied physicists use their knowledge of physics to solve problems in other disciplines. For example, they may develop new medical technologies or help design more efficient solar panels. They may also work on projects such as developing new materials or improving manufacturing processes.

Research Method

In physics research, the scientific method is used to investigate natural phenomena. This involves making observations, formulating hypotheses, testing predictions, and analyzing the results.

Observations are made using a variety of tools and techniques . These include telescopes, microscopes, and particle detectors. The data collected is then analyzed to look for patterns and trends.

Hypotheses are proposed to explain these patterns and trends. These hypotheses are then tested by making predictions about what should happen under certain conditions. These predictions are then experimentally verified or disproven.

The results of these experiments are used to refine or reject the hypotheses. This process is repeated until a consistent explanation for the data is found. A scientific method is an important tool for physics research because it helps ensure that the conclusions are based on evidence and not just speculation.

Purpose of Physics

The purpose of physics is to study the natural world and find out how it works. This includes everything from the smallest particles to the largest structures in the universe. Physics also helps us to understand the basic laws that govern our world and make predictions about how things will behave.

The scope of physics is extremely broad, and physicists often specialize in one particular area of research. Some common areas of study include mechanics (the study of motion), thermodynamics (the study of heat and energy), electromagnetism (the study of electricity and magnetism), and quantum mechanics (the study of subatomic particles).

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

You may also like

What is Art – Definition, Types, Examples

What is Anthropology – Definition and Overview

What is Literature – Definition, Types, Examples

Economist – Definition, Types, Work Area

Anthropologist – Definition, Types, Work Area

What is History – Definitions, Periods, Methods

On-chip GHz time crystals with semiconductor photonic devices pave way to new physics and optoelectronic applications

R esearchers have for the first time observed a time crystal on a microscale semiconductor chip oscillating at a rate of several billion times per second, unveiling exceptionally high non-linear dynamics in the GHz range.

The results of the experiment, published in Science , establish a firm connection between formerly uncorrelated areas of non-linear exciton-polariton dynamics and coherent optomechanics at GHz frequencies, say researchers from the Paul-Drude-Institute for Solid State Electronics (PDI) in Berlin, Germany, and the Argentina-based Centro Atómico Bariloche and Instituto Balseiro (CAB-IB).

The research was carried out using a high-quality semiconductor-based sample that acts as a trap for coherent light-matter condensates.

Designed and fabricated at PDI, the sample was created by stacking one-atom-thick layers of semiconductor materials under ultrahigh vacuum conditions, eventually forming a micron-sized "box" with the ability to trap millions of quantum particles. It was then transferred to CAB-IB for testing.

When the CAB-IB team directed a time-independent (i.e. continuous) laser at the sample, they observed that the particles it contained began to oscillate at GHz frequencies—a billion times per second.

This is the first time sustained oscillations in this range have been observed in a condensate sample on a semiconductor device.

The researchers also found that the oscillations could be fine-tuned by the laser's optical power, with the possibility to stabilize the free evolution of the frequency by engineered 20-GHz mechanical vibrations of the semiconductor atomic lattice.

In accordance with their theory, the researchers found that on further increasing the laser power, the particles vibrated at exactly half the frequency of the mechanical vibrations.

"This behavior can be interpreted as different manifestations of a time crystal," said Alexander Kuznetsov, a scientist at PDI.

"The demonstrated results add a new dimension to the physics of open many-body quantum systems, enabling frequencies several orders of magnitude higher than before and presenting new ways to control the emerging dynamics, which lead to the fascinating time crystals on a semiconductor platform."

What are time crystals?

Since Nobel-Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek first proposed his theory over a decade ago, researchers have been on the search for elusive "time crystals"—many-body systems composed of particles and quasiparticles like excitons, photons, and polaritons that, in their most stable quantum state, vary periodically in time.

Wilczek's theory centered around a puzzling question: Can the most stable state of a quantum system of many particles be periodic in time? That is, can it display temporal oscillations characterized by a beating with a well-defined rhythm?

It was quite rapidly shown that time crystal behavior cannot occur in isolated systems (systems which do not exchange energy with the surrounding environment). But far from closing the subject, this disturbing question motivated scientists to search for the conditions under which an open system (i.e., one that exchanges energy with the environment) may develop such time crystal behavior.

And while time crystals have now been observed on several occasions in systems driven out of equilibrium, much about them remains undetermined: their internal dynamics are largely beyond the current understanding of scientists, and their potential uses have remained in the realm of theory rather than practice.

"This work presents a paradigmatic shift in the approach to time crystals, by offering a possibility to extend such studies to arbitrary-large arrays (lattices) of localized time crystals to study their interactions and synchronization," said Alejandro Fainstein, the senior researcher and professor who led the CAB-IB team.

"Through it, we have been able to unveil peculiar behaviors of quantum materials. Because the materials involved are semiconductors compatible with integrated photonic devices, and the frequencies displayed are relevant for both classical and quantum information technologies, we envision additional stages in which we will try to control these behaviors for applications, including photon-to-radiofrequency conversion at the quantum level."

Potential applications

According to the research team, this experiment shows promise for using time crystals in integrated and microwave photonics.

"Due to the polariton-enhanced coupling between GHz phonons and near-infrared photons, the results have the potential for applications in (quantum) conversion between microwave and optical frequencies," said Paulo Ventura Santos, a senior scientist at PDI.

Semiconductor-based non-linear optoelectronic systems—devices that can convert light energy to electrical energy or vice versa—are drawing particular attention for their potential applications in on-chip photonics. But they are notoriously difficult to study due to the many-body complexes (such as time crystals) that determine their electronic and optical properties.

"A deeper understanding of well-defined regimes within these many-body systems, such as the ones the PDI/CAB-IB team helped to identify, can help elucidate these internal dynamics—and in turn help develop methods to control and harness such systems for applications," said Gonzalo Usaj, the theory leader from the CAB-IB team.

More information: I. Carraro-Haddad et al, Solid-state continuous time crystal in a polariton condensate with a built-in mechanical clock, Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adn7087

Provided by Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik

• Departments and Units
• Majors and Minors
• LSA Course Guide
• LSA Gateway

Search: {{$root.lsaSearchQuery.q}}, Page {{$root.page}}

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Climate Reporting
• Technical Services
• News and Events
• Portal/IntrAnet
• Undergraduates
• Alumni and Friends

• Undergraduate Research
• Transfer Credit Policies & Procedures
• Chemistry Graduation Ceremony
• Honors Overview
• Lab Class Resources
• Applying to Graduate School
• Accelerated Degree Program
• Industrial Recruiting
• Useful Links
• PhD Program
• Future Faculty GSI Program
• Teaching Resources
• Fields of Study
• Masters Program
• GSI Job Posting
• MCORE Program
• Graduate Student Resources
• Keep In Touch
• Donor Spotlight
• Annual Alumni Reception
• Newsletters
• Make An Impact
• Search News

Kerri Pratt receives 2024 national Brown Investigator award

• Archived News
• UM Chemistry Featured Elsewhere
• Kopelman Conference | Celebrating the Legacy of Dr. Raoul Kopelman

University of Michigan chemist Kerri Pratt was named to the 2024 class of Brown Investigators, the first class selected through the newly formed Brown Institute for Basic Sciences at Caltech. Pratt, a professor of chemistry and of earth and environmental sciences, will receive $2 million over five years to support her research.

The cohort comprises eight distinguished mid-career faculty working on fundamental challenges in the physical sciences, particularly those with potential long-term practical applications in chemistry and physics.

Pratt studies the chemical interactions between atmospheric trace gases, particles, clouds and snow in the Arctic, which is warming faster than elsewhere on Earth. She focuses as well on wintertime environments, which are highly understudied and often experience poor air quality, she says.

Pratt will focus her Brown Investigator project on the application of new state-of-the-art field-deployable mass spectrometers to discover and measure new chemical compounds in the atmosphere. With these instruments, they will conduct novel “lab-in-the-field” perturbation experiments to explain new chemical mechanisms in the troposphere.

“I was shocked and honored to receive the news from Ross Brown himself,” Pratt said. “I am so excited for my research group to investigate the fundamental details of chemical reactions in the atmosphere. We will use these experiments in the field to discern the details that tell us not just what, but also how and why.”

By comparison, Pratt says, most field measurements and funding are focused on measuring the amount of a chemical compound over time.

The Brown Institute was established in 2023 through a  $400-million gift  from entrepreneur, philanthropist and Caltech alumnus Ross M. Brown.

Caltech and Brown share a common purpose: advancing fundamental science discoveries with the potential to seed breakthroughs that benefit society.

“My hope is the support provided by the Brown Investigator Awards will help to spark and encourage the researchers’ creativity and enable them to pursue riskier innovative ideas that extend beyond their existing research efforts and align with new or developing passions,” Brown said. “By supporting mid-career faculty, we can provide funding at a time when they are poised and prepared to make profound contributions to their fields.”

--Morgan Sherburne, UM News

• Information For
• Prospective Students
• Current Students
• Faculty and Staff
• More about LSA
• How Do I Apply?
• LSA Magazine
• Student Resources
• Academic Advising
• Global Studies
• LSA Opportunity Hub
• Social Media
• Update Contact Info
• Privacy Statement
• Report Feedback

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts

Collection  04 March 2020

Top 100 in Physics

This collection highlights our most downloaded* physics papers published in 2019. Featuring authors from around the world, these papers feature valuable research from an international community.

* Data obtained from SN Insights which is based on Digital Science’s Dimensions.

Arrow of time and its reversal on the IBM quantum computer

• G. B. Lesovik
• I. A. Sadovskyy
• V. M. Vinokur

Room-temperature Operation of Low-voltage, Non-volatile, Compound-semiconductor Memory Cells

• Ofogh Tizno
• Andrew R. J. Marshall
• Manus Hayne

Emergent dynamics of neuromorphic nanowire networks

• Adrian Diaz-Alvarez
• Rintaro Higuchi
• Tomonobu Nakayama

Machine-learning guided discovery of a new thermoelectric material

• Yuma Iwasaki
• Ichiro Takeuchi
• Shinichi Yorozu

Beyond 30% Conversion Efficiency in Silicon Solar Cells: A Numerical Demonstration

• Sayak Bhattacharya
• Sajeev John

QAOA for Max-Cut requires hundreds of qubits for quantum speed-up

• G. G. Guerreschi
• A. Y. Matsuura

How Quantum Mechanics can consistently describe the use of itself

• Dustin Lazarovici
• Mario Hubert

Finding Hadamard Matrices by a Quantum Annealing Machine

• Andriyan Bayu Suksmono
• Yuichiro Minato

Enhanced Grüneisen Parameter in Supercooled Water

• Gabriel O. Gomes
• H. Eugene Stanley
• Mariano de Souza

Laser-wakefield accelerators for high-resolution X-ray imaging of complex microstructures

• A. E. Hussein
• N. Senabulya
• A. G. R. Thomas

QuEST and High Performance Simulation of Quantum Computers

• Tyson Jones
• Simon C. Benjamin

Improving solutions by embedding larger subproblems in a D-Wave quantum annealer

• Shuntaro Okada
• Masayuki Ohzeki
• Shinichiro Taguchi

Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Lanthanum and Strontium Doped Bismuth Ferrite: A First-Principles Study

• Ayana Ghosh
• Dennis P. Trujillo
• Jian-Xin Zhu

Quantum annealing for systems of polynomial equations

• Chia Cheng Chang
• Arjun Gambhir
• Shigetoshi Sota

High-temperature operation of a silicon qubit

• Takahiro Mori
• Satoshi Moriyama

Pore-scale characteristics of multiphase flow in heterogeneous porous media using the lattice Boltzmann method

• Sahar Bakhshian
• Seyyed A. Hosseini
• Nima Shokri

Linear and circular-polarization conversion in X-band using anisotropic metasurface

• M. Ismail Khan
• Zobaria Khalid
• Farooq A. Tahir

Observation of Skyrmions at Room Temperature in Co 2 FeAl Heusler Alloy Ultrathin Film Heterostructures

• Sajid Husain
• Naveen Sisodia
• Sujeet Chaudhary

Successively accelerated ionic wind with integrated dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma actuator for low-voltage operation

• Shintaro Sato
• Haruki Furukawa
• Naofumi Ohnishi

Bulk and surface recombination properties in thin film semiconductors with different surface treatments from time-resolved photoluminescence measurements

• Thomas P. Weiss
• Benjamin Bissig
• Ayodhya N. Tiwari

Probability estimation of a Carrington-like geomagnetic storm

• David Moriña
• Isabel Serra
• Álvaro Corral

Triggering The Birth of New Cycle’s Sunspots by Solar Tsunami

• Mausumi Dikpati
• Scott W. McIntosh
• Abhishek Srivastava

Performance comparison of III–V//Si and III–V//InGaAs multi-junction solar cells fabricated by the combination of mechanical stacking and wire bonding

• Yu-Cheng Kao
• Hao-Ming Chou
• Ray-Hua Horng

Electron-Phonon Coupling as the Source of 1/f Noise in Carbon Soot

Evidence for Crystalline Structure in Dynamically-Compressed Polyethylene up to 200 GPa

• N. J. Hartley

Engineering preferentially-aligned nitrogen-vacancy centre ensembles in CVD grown diamond

• Christian Osterkamp
• Martin Mangold
• Fedor Jelezko

The Young-Feynman controlled double-slit electron interference experiment

• Amir H. Tavabi
• Chris B. Boothroyd
• Giulio Pozzi

Control of Multiferroic properties in BiFeO 3 nanoparticles

• Diego Carranza-Celis
• Alexander Cardona-Rodríguez
• Juan Gabriel Ramírez

Visualization of unstained DNA nanostructures with advanced in-focus phase contrast TEM techniques

• Yoones Kabiri
• Raimond B. G. Ravelli
• Henny Zandbergen

Analog Coupled Oscillator Based Weighted Ising Machine

• Jeffrey Chou
• Suraj Bramhavar
• William Herzog

Revisiting the optical bandgap of semiconductors and the proposal of a unified methodology to its determination

• A. R. Zanatta

Field-free Magnetization Switching by Utilizing the Spin Hall Effect and Interlayer Exchange Coupling of Iridium

• Jian-Gang (Jimmy) Zhu

Growth of vanadium dioxide thin films on hexagonal boron nitride flakes as transferrable substrates

• Shingo Genchi
• Mahito Yamamoto
• Hidekazu Tanaka

On Behind the Physics of the Thermoelectricity of Topological Insulators

• Daniel Baldomir
• Daniel Faílde

Zero-reflection acoustic metamaterial with a negative refractive index

• Choon Mahn Park
• Sang Hun Lee

Switchable multifunctional terahertz metasurfaces employing vanadium dioxide

• Shiwei Tang

Entanglement in a 20-Qubit Superconducting Quantum Computer

• Gary J. Mooney
• Charles D. Hill
• Lloyd C. L. Hollenberg

Strong magnetoelectric coupling in mixed ferrimagnetic-multiferroic phases of a double perovskite

Training Optimization for Gate-Model Quantum Neural Networks

• Laszlo Gyongyosi
• Sandor Imre

High-throughput physical vapour deposition flexible thermoelectric generators

• Katrina A. Morgan
• Daniel W. Hewak

The Effect of Surface Roughness on the Contact Line and Splashing Dynamics of Impacting Droplets

• Miguel A. Quetzeri-Santiago
• Alfonso A. Castrejón-Pita
• J. Rafael Castrejón-Pita

Measurement-Device-Independent Twin-Field Quantum Key Distribution

• Hua-Lei Yin

Inkjet Printing of Super Yellow: Ink Formulation, Film Optimization, OLEDs Fabrication, and Transient Electroluminescence

• Marek Zdzislaw Szymański
• Jacek Ulański

Low-frequency perfect sound absorption achieved by a modulus-near-zero metamaterial

• Houyou Long
• Xiaojun Liu

Blueprint for nanoscale NMR

• Ilai Schwartz
• Joachim Rosskopf
• Martin B. Plenio

Realization of efficient quantum gates with a superconducting qubit-qutrit circuit

• T. Bækkegaard
• L. B. Kristensen
• N. T. Zinner

Circuit-Based Quantum Random Access Memory for Classical Data

• Daniel K. Park
• Francesco Petruccione
• June-Koo Kevin Rhee

Laser- synthesized TiN nanoparticles as promising plasmonic alternative for biomedical applications

• Anton A. Popov
• Gleb Tselikov
• Andrei V. Kabashin

Improvement of Terahertz Photoconductive Antenna using Optical Antenna Array of ZnO Nanorods

• Mohammad Bashirpour
• Matin Forouzmehr
• Mohammad Neshat

Wave attenuation and trapping in 3D printed cantilever-in-mass metamaterials with spatially correlated variability

• Danilo Beli
• Adriano T. Fabro
• José Roberto F. Arruda

Study of CuO Nanowire Growth on Different Copper Surfaces

• Gerhard Fritz-Popovski
• Florentyna Sosada-Ludwikowska
• Günther A. Maier

Second-order topological insulators and loop-nodal semimetals in Transition Metal Dichalcogenides XTe 2 (X = Mo, W)

• Motohiko Ezawa

Positive non-linear capacitance: the origin of the steep subthreshold-slope in ferroelectric FETs

• Md Nur K. Alam
• J. Van Houdt

Employing machine learning for theory validation and identification of experimental conditions in laser-plasma physics

• A. Gonoskov

Enhanced absorption in all-dielectric metasurfaces due to magnetic dipole excitation

• Pavel D. Terekhov
• Kseniia V. Baryshnikova
• Alina Karabchevsky

Origin of ferromagnetism in Cu-doped ZnO

• Budhi Singh
• Subhasis Ghosh

High-throughput Discovery of Topologically Non-trivial Materials using Spin-orbit Spillage

• Kamal Choudhary
• Kevin F. Garrity
• Francesca Tavazza

Frequency and Phase Characteristics of Candle Flame Oscillation

• Jinghua Xiao

Materials Selection and Mechanism of Non-linear Conduction in Chalcogenide Selector Devices

• Huanglong Li
• John Robertson

Enhanced room temperature ferromagnetism and green photoluminescence in Cu doped ZnO thin film synthesised by neutral beam sputtering

• D. C. Agarwal
• U. B. Singh
• D. K. Avasthi

Hybrid quantum linear equation algorithm and its experimental test on IBM Quantum Experience

• Yonghae Lee
• Soojoon Lee

Effect of sodium diffusion on the properties of CIGS solar absorbers prepared using elemental Se in a two-step process

• Selvaraj Venkataraj

Density of bulk trap states of hybrid lead halide perovskite single crystals: temperature modulated space-charge-limited-currents

• Jan Pospisil
• Oldrich Zmeskal
• Alexander Kovalenko

Spin-momentum locked spin manipulation in a two-dimensional Rashba system

• Makoto Kohda
• Takanori Okayasu
• Junsaku Nitta

Carrier Transport and Recombination Mechanism in Blue Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diode with Hosts Consisting of Cabazole- and Triazole-Moiety

• Tian-You Cheng
• Jiun-Haw Lee
• Chi-Feng Lin

Possible quantum critical behavior revealed by the critical current density of hole doped high- T c cuprates in comparison to heavy fermion superconductors

• S. H. Naqib
• R. S. Islam

Plasmofluidic Microlenses for Label-Free Optical Sorting of Exosomes

• Xiangchao Zhu
• Ahmet Cicek
• Ahmet Ali Yanik

Research on the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference with two independent sources

• Chen-Xi Liu

All semiconductor enhanced high-harmonic generation from a single nanostructured cone

• Dominik Franz
• Shatha Kaassamani
• Hamed Merdji

p -wave superconductivity in iron-based superconductors

• E. F. Talantsev

Lattice Discontinuities of 1T-TaS 2 across First Order Charge Density Wave Phase Transitions

• Dirk Dietzel
• André Schirmeisen

Weak localization and small anomalous Hall conductivity in ferromagnetic Weyl semimetal Co 2 TiGe

• Rajendra P. Dulal
• Bishnu R. Dahal
• John Philip

Dirac gap opening and Dirac-fermion-mediated magnetic coupling in antiferromagnetic Gd-doped topological insulators and their manipulation by synchrotron radiation

• A. M. Shikin
• D. A. Estyunin

Continuously Frequency-Tuneable Plasmonic Structures for Terahertz Bio-sensing and Spectroscopy

• Xiangying Deng
• Yukio Kawano

Silver nanowires with optimized silica coating as versatile plasmonic resonators

• Martin Rothe
• Yuhang Zhao
• Oliver Benson

Full-surface emission of graphene-based vertical-type organic light-emitting transistors with high on/off contrast ratios and enhanced efficiencies

• Byoungchoo Park
• Won Seok Lee

Fe-Sn nanocrystalline films for flexible magnetic sensors with high thermal stability

• K. Fujiwara
• A. Tsukazaki

Light-emitting diodes with surface gallium nitride p–n homojunction structure formed by selective area regrowth

• Ming-Lun Lee
• Shih-Sian Wang
• Jinn-Kong Sheu

How a ferromagnet drives an antiferromagnet in exchange biased CoO/Fe(110) bilayers

Efficient visible light modulation based on electrically tunable all dielectric metasurfaces embedded in thin-layer nematic liquid crystals

• Arseniy I. Kuznetsov

How to measure the local Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction in Skyrmion Thin-Film Multilayers

• Mirko Baćani
• Miguel A. Marioni
• Hans J. Hug

Simulation and design of folded perovskite x-ray detectors

• Henning Mescher
• Elias Hamann

High-Electrical-Conductivity Multilayer Graphene Formed by Layer Exchange with Controlled Thickness and Interlayer

• Hiromasa Murata
• Yoshiki Nakajima

Tunable Superconducting Cavity using Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Metamaterials

• David Shrekenhamer
• Jacob Alldredge

RGB Magnetophotonic Crystals for High-contrast Magnetooptical Spatial Light Modulators

• Soheila Kharratian
• Mehmet C. Onbaşlı

The actual electronic band structure of a rubrene single crystal

• Kazumoto Miwa
• Kazuyuki Sakamoto

Three-dimensional resonating metamaterials for low-frequency vibration attenuation

• D. Chronopoulos
• R. K. Leach

Ultra-high sensitive 1D porous silicon photonic crystal sensor based on the coupling of Tamm/Fano resonances in the mid-infrared region

• Ashour M. Ahmed
• Ahmed Mehaney

The Transition to Paschen’s Law for Microscale Gas Breakdown at Subatmospheric Pressure

• Amanda M. Loveless
• Guodong Meng
• Allen L. Garner

Ferroelectrics with a controlled oxygen-vacancy distribution by design

• Yuji Noguchi
• Hiroki Matsuo
• Masaru Miyayama

The paradoxes of the Late Hesperian Mars ocean

A universal constant for dark matter-baryon interplay

• Man Ho Chan

Superconducting Diamond on Silicon Nitride for Device Applications

• Henry A. Bland
• Evan L. H. Thomas
• Oliver A. Williams

Perovskite ferroelectric tuned by thermal strain

• O. Pacherova

Radiation Tolerance of Nanopore Sequencing Technology for Life Detection on Mars and Europa

• Mark A. Sutton
• Aaron S. Burton
• Sarah Stewart Johnson

Laser-driven shock compression of “synthetic planetary mixtures” of water, ethanol, and ammonia

• M. Guarguaglini
• J.-A. Hernandez

Detecting dynamic spatial correlation patterns with generalized wavelet coherence and non-stationary surrogate data

• Mario Chavez
• Bernard Cazelles

Bulk superconductivity in a four-layer-type Bi-based compound La 2 O 2 Bi 3 Ag 0.6 Sn 0.4 S 5.7 Se 0.3

• Rajveer Jha
• Yosuke Goto
• Yoshikazu Mizuguchi

All Nonmetal Resistive Random Access Memory

• Andrei Gismatulin
• Albert Chin

Improvements in structural and optical properties of wafer-scale hexagonal boron nitride film by post-growth annealing

• Seung Hee Lee
• Hokyeong Jeong
• Jong Kyu Kim

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies