All articles tagged with #physics and chemistry
Physicists reveal a measurement-based feedback protocol that can steer a monitored quantum system’s evolution to mimic reversed time, effectively reshaping the arrow of time and enabling potential energy extraction in quantum devices; while not time travel, the approach could boost quantum batteries and algorithms, with plans to test on superconducting qubits.
Chinese researchers report the synthesis of a millimeter-sized, phase-pure hexagonal diamond by compressing graphite at 20 GPa and temperatures up to 1,900°C, with X-ray and atomic-scale imaging confirming a hexagonal crystal structure; the diamond is slightly harder and more oxidation-resistant than cubic diamonds, suggesting the long-sought material exists and could have practical uses, though the hardness gain is not the often-cited 50%.
A Queen’s University team demonstrated a light-based Ising machine built from standard telecom components that runs at room temperature and processes billions of operations per second to solve optimization tasks (like routing or protein folding) by guiding light pulses toward low-energy configurations; it’s practical for specific problems but not a general-purpose computer, with pilots planned with industry partners.
Physicists analyzing LHC data from CERN used Z bosons as markers to track quarks moving through quark-gluon plasma, confirming that this primordial soup behaves like a liquid and creates wake patterns as it’s disturbed, a finding that supports long-standing theories about the early universe and provides new ways to study the properties of this exotic fluid.