Physics Awards: March 2025

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Researchers turned light into supersolid, for the first time

A groundbreaking achievement that advances our understanding of condensed matter physics.

Imagine a type of matter where particles are arranged in a neat crystal pattern but can flow without friction. This peculiar state is called a supersolid, requiring particles to share a common phase and self-organize to minimize their energy.

Although the concept of a supersolid has existed for over 50 years, experiments have only recently provided solid proof. Researchers mainly used ultracold atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) combined with electromagnetic fields to achieve this.

Scientists have turned light into a supersolid for the first time in a groundbreaking new study. This milestone is a significant leap forward in condensed matter physics.

Dimitrios Trypogeorgos from Italy’s National Research Council (CNR) expressed excitement, saying it’s incredible that they made light solid.

The idea came from earlier work by CNR scientist Danielle Sanvitto, who showed over a decade ago that light could act like a fluid. This idea was later expanded to create a quantum supersolid.

In their experiment, researchers used the semiconductor aluminum gallium arsenide and a laser instead of ultracold atoms. They shone the laser onto a small piece of the semiconductor with narrow ridges. Complex interactions between the light and the material created hybrid particles called polaritons. The ridge pattern controlled how these “quasiparticles” moved and their energies, forming a supersolid.

The researchers carefully measured the trapped and transformed light to prove it was both a solid and a fluid with no viscosity. This was challenging since no one had ever created and tested a supersolid made from light before.

They measured the density changes in the polaritonic state, showing a precise breaking of symmetry. They also had direct access to the wavefunction phase, which allowed them to measure the supersolid’s local coherence with high accuracy.

Authors noted, “We demonstrated evidence of an out-of-equilibrium supersolid state of matter emerging in a driven-dissipative polaritonic system that is a new and flexible platform for investigating the physics of supersolidity in condensed-matter systems.”

“We emphasize that this is a new mechanism for the creation of a supersolid, particularly of the driven-dissipative context of non-equilibrium polariton systems, and not simply a photonic analog of mechanisms demonstrated in atomic platforms.”

Website: International Conference on High Energy Physics and Computational Science.

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Friday, March 7, 2025

The Holy Grail of Physics: Superconductivity Without the Cold

A new study reveals that the laws of physics don’t prohibit room-temperature superconductors, rekindling hope for a technological revolution.

Researchers found that fundamental constants determine the upper limit of superconducting temperatures, and luckily, our Universe allows for conditions where this breakthrough might be possible.

The Holy Grail of Physics: Room-Temperature Superconductivity

A new study, published on March 3 in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, suggests that room-temperature superconductivity long considered the “holy grail” of condensed matter physics may indeed be possible within the fundamental laws of the universe.

Superconductors, materials that conduct electricity without resistance, have the potential to revolutionize energy transmission, medical imaging, and quantum computing. However, until now, they have only operated at extremely low temperatures, limiting their practical use. The search for a superconductor that functions at everyday temperatures has been one of the most challenging and sought-after goals in modern physics.

Fundamental Constants Set the Limits

In their latest research, Professor Kostya Trachenko of Queen Mary University of London and his colleagues have uncovered a fundamental connection between the maximum possible superconducting temperature (TC) and three universal constants: electron mass, electron charge, and the Planck constant. These constants govern key physical processes, from atomic stability to the formation of stars and essential elements like carbon. Their findings indicate that the theoretical upper limit for superconducting temperatures falls within a range of hundreds to a thousand Kelvin high enough to include room temperature.

The Dream of Superconductivity Lives On

“This discovery tells us that room-temperature superconductivity is not ruled out by fundamental constants,” said Professor Pickard of University of Cambridge, co-author of this study. “It gives hope to scientists: the dream is still alive.”

The results have already been independently confirmed in a separate study, adding weight to the team’s conclusions. But the implications go even further. By exploring how different values of these fundamental constants could alter the limits of superconductivity, the researchers have opened a fascinating window into the nature of our Universe.

What If the Universe Were Different?

Imagine a world where the fundamental constants are different and set the upper limit for TC at a mere millionth of a Kelvin. In such a Universe, superconductivity would be undetectable, and we would never have discovered it. Conversely, in a Universe where the limit is a million Kelvin, superconductors would be common – even in your electric kettle. “The wire would superconduct instead of heating up,” Professor Trachenko explains. “Boiling water for tea would be a very different challenge.”

It therefore appears that the very reason the community is busy chasing up a room-temperature superconductor is that our fundamental constants set the upper limit of TC in the range 100-1000 K (the range of planetary conditions) where our “room” temperature is.

A Call to Keep Exploring

This research not only advances our understanding of superconductivity but also highlights the delicate balance of the constants that make our Universe – and life within it – possible. For scientists and engineers, this work also provides a renewed sense of direction. “The fact that room-temperature superconductivity is theoretically possible, given our Universe’s constants, is encouraging,” Professors Trachenko and Pickard add. “It’s a call to keep exploring, experimenting, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.”

Website: International Conference on High Energy Physics and Computational Science.

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Scientists Just Made the Most Accurate Clock Even Better

UCLA physicists have developed a new thin film that uses far less of the rare thorium-229 while also being significantly less radioactive, making it a safer and more practical alternative for atomic clocks.

Atomic clocks using thorium-229 nuclei excited by laser beams could provide the most precise measurements of time and gravity ever recorded, potentially reshaping fundamental physics.
Traditional thorium-229-doped crystals are both rare and radioactive, limiting their practicality.
The newly developed thin film, made from a dry precursor of thorium-229, demonstrates the same nuclear excitation as the crystal but with significant advantages.
Its lower cost, reduced radioactivity, and smaller size make it easier to produce at scale, paving the way for smaller, more affordable, and highly portable atomic clocks.

Unlocking the Power of Thorium-229

This summer, UCLA physicists achieved a long-sought breakthrough: they successfully made the nucleus of a thorium-229 atom, embedded in a transparent crystal, absorb and emit photons just like an atom’s electrons do. This achievement confirms what scientists had speculated for decades. By using a laser to excite the nucleus, researchers could develop atomic clocks with unprecedented accuracy, leading to more precise measurements of time and gravity. Such advancements might even challenge some of the fundamental principles of physics.

However, there’s a challenge thorium-229-doped crystals are both rare and radioactive. To address this, a team of UCLA chemists and physicists, in a study published in Nature, developed thin films made from a thorium-229 precursor. These films use significantly less thorium-229 and emit radiation comparable to that of a banana, making them far safer and more practical.

Crucially, they demonstrated that these films still allow for the same laser-driven nuclear excitation required for a nuclear clock. With scalable production, these films could not only revolutionize atomic clocks but also enable new applications in quantum optics.

A Revolutionary Method for Thorium Thin Films

Instead of embedding a pure thorium atom in a fluorine-based crystal, the new method uses a dry nitrate parent material of thorium-229 dissolved in ultrapure water and pipetted into a crucible. The addition of hydrogen fluoride yields a few micrograms of thorium-229 precipitate that is separated from the water and heated until it evaporates and condenses unevenly on transparent sapphire and magnesium fluoride surfaces.

Light from a vacuum ultraviolet laser system was directed at the targets, where it excited the nuclear state as reported in earlier UCLA research, and the subsequent photons emitted by the nucleus were collected.

The Key to a More Stable Clock

“A key advantage to using a parent material thorium fluoride is that all the thorium nuclei are in the same local atomic environments and experience the same electric field at the nuclei,” said co-author and Charles W. Clifford Jr. professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and professor of materials science and engineering at UCLA, Anastassia Alexandrova. “This makes all thorium exhibit the same excitation energies, making for a stable and more accurate clock. In this way, the material is unique.”

Redefining Time with a Nuclear Oscillator

At the heart of every clock is an oscillator. The clock operates by defining time as how long it takes for the oscillator to undergo a certain number of oscillations. In a grandfather clock, a second may be defined as the time for the pendulum to go back and forth once; in the quartz oscillator of a wristwatch, it is typically about 32,0000 vibrations of the crystal.

In a thorium nuclear clock, a second is about 2,020,407,300,000,000 excitation and relaxation cycles of the nucleus. This higher tick rate can make the clock more precise, provided the tick rate is stable; if the tick rate changes, the clock will mismeasure time. The thin films described in this work provide a stable environment for the nucleus that is both easily constructed and has the potential to be harnessed to produce microfabricated devices. This could allow widespread use of nuclear clocks as it makes them cheaper and easier to produce.

The Path to a Smaller, More Accurate Clock

Existing atomic clocks based on electrons are room-sized contraptions with vacuum chambers to trap atoms and equipment associated with cooling. A thorium-based nuclear clock would be much smaller, more robust, more portable and more accurate.

Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe

Above and beyond commercial applications, the new nuclear spectroscopy could pull back the curtain on some of the universe’s biggest mysteries. Sensitive measurement of an atom’s nucleus opens up a new way to learn about its properties and interactions with energy and the environment. This, in turn, will let scientists test some of their most fundamental ideas about matter, energy and the laws of space and time.

Website: International Conference on High Energy Physics and Computational Science.

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Astronomers Trace Fast Radio Burst to a Distant, Deep-Space Galaxy

The burst's host galaxy is more than halfway across the observable universe and up to 100 times fainter than other host galaxies.

Astronomers have traced a fast radio burst (FRB) back to its origin, and what they've found is unlike any other FRB host previously discovered. The signal appears to have come from a tiny dwarf galaxy more than halfway across the observable universe, making it at least 46 billion light-years from Earth. This incredible distance and the galaxy's small but mighty stature bring researchers a little closer to understanding how fRBs come to fruition.

FRBs are brief but highly intense bursts of energy detected in radio-wave frequencies. Though short-lived, these electromagnetic eruptions are often powerful enough to outshine entire galaxies. This alone is strange enough to warrant investigation, but FRBs might also have something to teach astronomers about the evolution of the universe and the properties of the intergalactic medium, by which they're sometimes distorted as they travel. They also lead astronomers to "new" host galaxies, as FRB 20190208A has done.

An international team of astronomers first detected FRB 20190208A in February 2019. Using radio telescopes, the team observed the burst for just under 66 hours, then caught it again in February 2021 and August 2023. This meant FRB 20190208A was a repeating FRB, the likes of which were only discovered half a decade ago.

FRB 20190208A's persistent pops allowed the astronomers to track down its origin, and then use optical telescopes to scope out the area. At first, they struggled to find a galaxy from which the burst might have originated. Then, on closer examination, they found a "faint smudge" in deep space. The smudge was a small and faint dwarf galaxy, and while the team hasn't yet nailed down its exact distance from Earth, they estimate that it sits at least halfway across the observable universe. That would make the host galaxy 46 billion light-years from Earth at minimum, though that doesn't mean FRB 20190208A traveled for so long; accounting for the expansion of the universe, the astronomers think the burst traveled for some 7 billion years.

Though the exact cause of FRBs has been difficult to nab, scientists think they're formed by a type of neutron star called a magnetar, whose powerful magnetic field snaps in a sudden burst of energy. Strangely, repeating FRBs like FRB 20190208A seem to be more strongly associated with dwarf galaxies than with larger galaxies, suggesting that the former provide an optimal environment for magnetars and potentially other FRB sources that astronomers haven't yet tracked down.

"Finding repeating FRB sources in dwarf galaxies thus potentially links these repeating FRB sources with massive star progenitors," Danté Hewitt, a radio astronomer involved in the research, told ScienceAlert. "It's a little poetic. When the most massive stars die, they unleash some of the most energetic explosions in the universe; and then maybe, the remnants of those explosions continue to scream into the void, repeatedly producing FRBs."

Website: International Conference on High Energy Physics and Computational Science.

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Inside the Proton: The Most Intense Forces in the Universe, Revealed

Scientists have achieved an incredible feat mapping the forces inside a proton with extreme precision, uncovering the immense forces that hold quarks together.

Using lattice quantum chromodynamics, researchers have created what is likely the smallest force field map ever generated. Their findings reveal astonishingly powerful interactions, akin to the weight of 10 elephants squeezed into a space smaller than an atomic nucleus.

Mapping the Forces Inside a Proton

Scientists have successfully mapped the forces inside a proton, revealing in unprecedented detail how quarks the tiny particles within react when struck by high-energy photons.

The research, led by an international team including experts from the University of Adelaide, aims to deepen our understanding of the fundamental forces that shape the natural world.

Using Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics to Simulate Forces

“We have used a powerful computational technique called lattice quantum chromodynamics to map the forces acting inside a proton,” said Associate Professor Ross Young, Associate Head of Learning and Teaching, School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences, who is part of the team.

“This approach breaks down space and time into a fine grid, allowing us to simulate how the strong force the fundamental interaction that binds quarks into protons and neutrons varies across different regions inside the proton.”

Creating the Smallest-Ever Force Field Map

The team’s result is possibly the smallest-ever force field map of nature ever generated. They have published their findings in the journal Physical Review Letters.

University of Adelaide PhD student, Joshua Crawford’s calculations led the work together with the University of Adelaide team and international collaborators.

Revealing Immense Forces at Tiny Scales

“Our findings reveal that even at these minuscule scales, the forces involved are immense, reaching up to half a million Newtons, the equivalent of about 10 elephants, compressed within a space far smaller than an atomic nucleus,” said Joshua.

“These force maps provide a new way to understand the intricate internal dynamics of the proton, helping to explain why it behaves as it does in high-energy collisions, such as those at the Large Hadron Collider, and in experiments probing the fundamental structure of matter.”

The Role of the Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundreds of universities and laboratories across more than 100 countries. The LHC’s goal is to allow physicists to test the predictions of different theories of particle physics.

How Fundamental Research Advances Science

“Edison didn’t invent the light bulb by researching brighter candles he built on generations of scientists who studied how light interacts with matter,” said Associate Professor Young.

“In much the same way, modern research such as our recent work is revealing how the fundamental building blocks of matter behave when struck by light, deepening our understanding of nature at its most basic level.

Proton Research and Future Applications

“As researchers continue to unravel the proton’s inner structure, greater insight may help refine how we use protons in cutting-edge technologies.

“One prominent example is proton therapy, which uses high-energy protons to precisely target tumors while minimising damage to surrounding tissue.

Shaping the Future of Science and Medicine

“Just as early breakthroughs in understanding light paved the way for modern lasers and imaging, advancing our knowledge of proton structure could shape the next generation of applications in science and medicine.

“By making the invisible forces inside the proton visible for the first time, this study bridges the gap between theory and experiment just as earlier generations uncovered the secrets of light to transform the modern world.

Website: International Conference on High Energy Physics and Computational Science.

Saturday, March 1, 2025

Bubbles That Defy Physics: Scientists Uncover a Mind-Blowing New Phenomenon

Shaken bubbles move sideways in a surprising galloping motion, opening new possibilities for technology and science.

A team led by researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill has made an extraordinary discovery that is reshaping our understanding of bubbles and their movement. Imagine tiny air bubbles inside a liquid-filled container. When the container is shaken up and down, these bubbles exhibit an unexpected, rhythmic “galloping” motion bouncing like playful horses and moving horizontally, despite the vertical shaking. This counterintuitive phenomenon, revealed in a new study, has significant technological implications, from improving surface cleaning and heat transfer in microchips to advancing space applications.

These galloping bubbles are already drawing significant attention. Their impact on fluid dynamics was recently recognized with an award for their video entry at the latest Gallery of Fluid Motion, organized by the American Physical Society.

“Our research not only answers a fundamental scientific question but also inspires curiosity and exploration of the fascinating, unseen world of fluid motion,” said Pedro Sáenz, principal investigator and professor of applied mathematics at UNC-Chapel Hill. “After all, the smallest things can sometimes lead to the biggest changes.”

Future Innovations and Real-World Applications

Bubbles play a key role in a vast range of everyday processes, from the fizz in soft drinks to climate regulation and industrial applications such as cooling systems, water treatment, and chemical production.

Controlling bubble movement has long been a challenge across multiple fields, but this study introduces an entirely new method: leveraging a fluid instability to direct bubbles in precise ways.

One immediate application is in cooling systems for microchips. On Earth, buoyancy naturally removes bubbles from heated surfaces, preventing overheating. However, in microgravity environments such as space, there is no buoyancy, making bubble removal a major issue. This newly discovered method allows bubbles to be actively removed without relying on gravity, which can enable improved heat transfer in satellites and space-based electronics.

Another breakthrough is in surface cleaning. Proof-of-concept experiments show that ‘galloping bubbles’ can clean dusty surfaces by bouncing and zigzagging across them, like a tiny Roomba. The ability to manipulate bubble motion in this way could lead to innovations in industrial cleaning and biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery.

“The newly discovered self-propulsion mechanism allows bubbles to travel distances and gives them an unprecedented capacity to navigate intricate fluid networks,” said Saiful Tamim, joint first author and postdoctoral research assistant at UNC-Chapel Hill. “This could offer solutions to long-standing challenges in heat transfer, surface cleaning, and even inspire new soft robotic systems.”

A Leap Forward in Bubble Research

Bubbles have fascinated scientists for centuries. Leonardo da Vinci was among the first to document their erratic paths, describing how they spiral unpredictably rather than rising straight up. Until now, controlling bubble motion has remained a challenge, with available approaches being few and lacking versatility. This new research changes that perspective, demonstrating that bubbles can be guided along predictable paths using carefully tuned vibrations.

“It’s fascinating to see something as simple as a bubble reveal such complex and surprising behavior,” said Jian Hui Guan, joint first author and postdoctoral research assistant at UNC-Chapel Hill. “By harnessing a new method to move bubbles, we’ve unlocked possibilities for innovation in fields ranging from microfluidics to heat transfer.”

The discovery of galloping bubbles represents a significant leap forward in our understanding of bubble dynamics, with implications stretching across industries. As researchers continue to explore and refine this phenomenon, the world may soon see new technologies that harness the power of these tiny, acrobatic bubbles.