European XFEL’s Post

Antimatter reaction Antimatter reactions involve the annihilation of antimatter and matter, resulting in the complete conversion of their mass into energy. When antimatter comes into contact with matter, they annihilate each other, releasing a tremendous amount of energy. This process is so energetic that it transforms the combined mass of matter and antimatter entirely into energy, creating a reaction that scientists describe as an "annihilation". The energy released from these reactions can lead to the production of new particles, such as neutrinos and various flavors of quarks, in addition to intense photons like gamma rays. Antimatter reactions have practical applications in medical imaging, like positron emission tomography (PET), and have been explored for potential uses in fuel and propulsion systems. #startrekdiscovery #antimatter #physics #science #space #quantumphysics #blackhole #astrophysics

An unexpected potential use of CERN's particle detectors. Researchers at Harvard University, University of Nevada and Pennsylvania State University have demonstrated that the tile calorimeter at the center of CERN's ATLAS and CMS detectors could detect the flux of high-energy supernova neutrinos. Furthermore, according to their calculations, they could also characterize the flavor of the neutrinos, and to discriminate between neutrinos and antineutrinos. The findings have been published in Physical Review Letters (8 February, 2024). https://lnkd.in/dETN8Zhb #physics #physicsnews #particlephysics #astronomy #astrophysics #neutrino #neutrinos #atlas #cms #cern #supernova #supernovae

Hunting the Super Proton Synchrotron's magnetic resonance. Researchers from CERN and the Goethe University in Frankfurt, have measured and quantified a magnetic resonance that diverts the course of the particles in CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron. They monitored the position of the particles for approximately 3000 beams and measured where they were centered, demonstrating that the experimental findings agree with what had both theory and simulations predicted. This discovery will allow the development of a theory to describe the motion of individual particles in the presence of this kind of resonance, in order to mitigate the beam degradation in the next updates. The findings have been published in Nature Physics (20 March, 2024). https://lnkd.in/djN4H_5c #physics #physicsnews #cern #sps #resonance #particlephysics

The strongest material in the universe isn’t graphene or spider silk or diamonds — it’s the crystalline crust of a dead star’s core... A Material Unlike Any Other Nearly all of the visible matter in our universe is in the form of plasma, which researchers excel at simulating with fluid dynamics models. Solid objects often require a different modeling treatment, since solids have a property that plasmas lack: material strength, or the ability to resist cracking or deformation. Material strength is a critical property for the crusts of neutron stars, which are made of ions arranged in a crystal lattice. Neutron star crust is the strongest material in the universe, and a teaspoon of this superlative matter would weigh 5 tons if brought to Earth’s surface. This immense strength means that neutron star crusts can’t be modeled with typical fluid dynamics models that don’t take material strength into account...."

Experiments at CERN and the Accelerator Laboratory in Jyväskylä, Finland, have revealed that the radius of an exotic nucleus, 26mAl, is much larger than previously thought. The work sheds light on the effects of the exotic nucleus on quarks – the elementary particles that make up protons, neutrons and other composite particles. #ExoticNucleus #Quarks #ParticlePhysics #AtomicNucleus Click the link below to discover more ⬇ https://bit.ly/47P3V9P

🚀#TitleStory Long-Term Optical Monitoring of Broad-Line AGNs (LoTerm AGN): Case Study of NGC 3516 | Article by Dragana Ilić, et al https://lnkd.in/gqJkZy4T #galaxies #nuclei #emissionlines #NGC3516 #physics This article belongs to the Special Issue: Spectral Line Shapes in Astrophysical and Laboratory Plasma 2023 https://lnkd.in/gckzX4Te #Abstract Properties of the broad line region (BLR) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are commonly used to estimate the mass of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) that powers an AGN. However, the understanding of the physics behind the BLR remains incomplete. The AGNs exhibit strong optical variability, observed in the change of the profiles and fluxes of broad emission lines. Utilizing this variability provides an opportunity to constrain the physics of the BLR, and understand the interplay of the BLR with SMBH and surrounding regions. Here, we present the long-term monitoring campaign of a sample of the known broad-line AGNs (identified as LoTerm AGN). The aim of this study is to show the importance of sustained and dedicated campaigns that continually collect spectroscopic data of the known AGNs over extended timescales, providing unique insight into the origin and structure of the BLR. LoTerm AGN is a collaborative network of seven moderate-size telescopes equipped for spectroscopy. We focus on the recent spectral data of the known changing-look AGN, NGC 3516. Specifically, we examine the broad hydrogen Balmer H𝛼 line observed in the period 2020–2023, demonstrating that this AGN remains active with the BLR signatures observed in the spectra. No significant change in the broad line profile of H𝛼 line is observed during this recent period.

📃Scientific paper: Acceleration and transport of relativistic electrons in the jets of the microquasar SS 433 Abstract: SS 433 is a microquasar, a stellar binary system with collimated relativistic jets. We observed SS 433 in gamma rays using the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), finding an energy-dependent shift in the apparent position of the gamma-ray emission of the parsec-scale jets. These observations trace the energetic electron population and indicate the gamma rays are produced by inverse-Compton scattering. Modelling of the energy-dependent gamma-ray morphology constrains the location of particle acceleration and requires an abrupt deceleration of the jet flow. We infer the presence of shocks on either side of the binary system at distances of 25 to 30 parsecs and conclude that self-collimation of the precessing jets forms the shocks, which then efficiently accelerate electrons. ;Comment: Submitted 20th Apr. 2023, published 25th January 2024 (accepted version) Continued on ES/IODE ➡️ https://etcse.fr/JuK ------- If you find this interesting, feel free to follow, comment and share. We need your help to enhance our visibility, so that our platform continues to serve you.

In search of quantum gravity. Researchers led by Cristian Panda from UC Berkeley, have improved the precision of lattice atom interferometers in order to find the quantum nature of gravity. These instruments use laser beams to make atoms levitate in a quantum superposition of two states, in which the difference of phase depends on the value of gravity. Deviations from the classical values of gravity would be experimental evidence of quantum gravity or other models trying to explain gravity. In their new experimental set ups, they were able to improve four times the precision of previous experiments, and could find no deviation from the Newtonian values. The team is now developing a new lattice atom interferometer that is expected to be 100 times more accurate than the current experiment, and thus hopefully sensitive enough to detect the quantum properties of gravity. The findings have been published in Nature (26 June, 2024). https://lnkd.in/djcpsDMG #physics #physicsnews #quantumphysics #gravity #latticeatominterferometer

A new approach for fabricating multilayer neutron mirrors has been developed by researchers in Sweden, using a device that is more reflective and polarizing to incoming neutron beams, especially at high scattering angles. #Physics #Neutrons https://bit.ly/4cMgCVE

Researchers from the Cavalleri Group at the MPSD, ETH Zürich and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research have developed a new experiment capable of monitoring the magnetic properties of #superconductors at very fast speeds. Characteristically, superconducting materials expel magnetic fields. Measuring this process has been challenging because the effect only persists for a few picoseconds (one trillionth of a second). The team managed to reconstruct the time evolution of the magnetic field surrounding the laser-irradiated YBa2Cu3O6+x sample with sub-picosecond resolution and unprecedented sensitivity. Its findings have been published in Nature / Nature Portfolio: https://lnkd.in/gmRb8ckC Authors: Sebastian Fava, Giovanni De Vecchi, Gregor Jotzu, Michele Buzzi, Thomas Gebert, Yiran Liu, Bernhard Keimer & Andrea Cavalleri #magnetism #superconductivity #optics #meissnereffect #physics #lightmatterinteraction #picosecond #science Image: Mid-infrared laser pulses coherently drive atomic modes in YBa2Cu3O6.48 and stabilize superconducting fluctuations at high temperature. This quantum coherence leads to the ultrafast expulsion of a static magnetic field. © Sebastian Fava, Jörg M. Harms