nuclear physics – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 The First Nuclear Clock Will Test if Fundamental Constants Change https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-first-nuclear-clock-will-test-if-fundamental-constants-change-20240904/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-first-nuclear-clock-will-test-if-fundamental-constants-change-20240904/#respond Wed, 04 Sep 2024 15:02:43 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140311 The post The First Nuclear Clock Will Test if Fundamental Constants Change first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> At 11:30 one night in May 2024, a graduate student, Chuankun Zhang, saw a signal that physicists have sought for 50 years. As a peak rose from the static on his monitor at the research institute JILA in Boulder, Colorado, Zhang dropped a screenshot in a group chat with his three lab mates. One by one they hopped out of bed and trickled in. After several sanity checks to make sure that what they...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-first-nuclear-clock-will-test-if-fundamental-constants-change-20240904/feed/ 0 What Could Explain the Gallium Anomaly? https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-could-explain-the-gallium-anomaly-20240712/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-could-explain-the-gallium-anomaly-20240712/#respond Fri, 12 Jul 2024 13:30:54 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=139070 The post What Could Explain the Gallium Anomaly? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Deep in the Caucasus Mountains, on the border between Russia and Georgia, an unusual experiment is taking place. In an underground lab shielded by a mountain of rock, highly radioactive material sits inside a vat of liquid gallium, blasting out particles called neutrinos that break the gallium down into atoms of germanium. The goal is to resolve a little-known mystery of physics: the gallium...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-could-explain-the-gallium-anomaly-20240712/feed/ 0 Swirling Forces, Crushing Pressures Measured in the Proton https://www.quantamagazine.org/swirling-forces-crushing-pressures-measured-in-the-proton-20240314/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/swirling-forces-crushing-pressures-measured-in-the-proton-20240314/#respond Thu, 14 Mar 2024 14:03:46 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=136249 The post Swirling Forces, Crushing Pressures Measured in the Proton first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Physicists have begun to explore the proton as if it were a subatomic planet. Cutaway maps display newfound details of the particle’s interior. The proton’s core features pressures more intense than in any other known form of matter. Halfway to the surface, clashing vortices of force push against each other. And the “planet” as a whole is smaller than previous experiments had suggested.

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/swirling-forces-crushing-pressures-measured-in-the-proton-20240314/feed/ 0 A New Experiment Casts Doubt on the Leading Theory of the Nucleus https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-experiment-casts-doubt-on-the-leading-theory-of-the-nucleus-20230612/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-experiment-casts-doubt-on-the-leading-theory-of-the-nucleus-20230612/#respond Mon, 12 Jun 2023 14:00:10 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=126732 The post A New Experiment Casts Doubt on the Leading Theory of the Nucleus first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> A new measurement of the strong nuclear force, which binds protons and neutrons together, confirms previous hints of an uncomfortable truth: We still don’t have a solid theoretical grasp of even the simplest nuclear systems. To test the strong nuclear force, physicists turned to the helium-4 nucleus, which has two protons and two neutrons. When helium nuclei are excited, they grow like an...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-experiment-casts-doubt-on-the-leading-theory-of-the-nucleus-20230612/feed/ 0 How Our Reality May Be a Sum of All Possible Realities https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-our-reality-may-be-a-sum-of-all-possible-realities-20230206/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-our-reality-may-be-a-sum-of-all-possible-realities-20230206/#respond Mon, 06 Feb 2023 15:00:05 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=122851 The post How Our Reality May Be a Sum of All Possible Realities first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> The most powerful formula in physics starts with a slender S, the symbol for a sort of sum known as an integral. Further along comes a second S, representing a quantity known as action. Together, these twin S’s form the essence of an equation that is arguably the most effective diviner of the future yet devised. The oracular formula is known as the Feynman path integral. As far as physicists can...

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