physics | Common News Update

Mar232021 by adminNo Comments

Machine challenges leading theory of physics

Science

CernPhysicists have uncovered a potential flaw in a theory that explains how the building blocks of the Universe behave.The Standard Model (SM) is the best theory we have to explain the fine-scale workings of the world around us. But we've known for some time that the SM is a stepping stone to a more complete understanding of the cosmos.Hints of unexpected behaviour by a sub-atomic particle called the beauty quark could expose cracks in the foundations of this decades-old theory.The findings emerged from data collected by researchers working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It's a giant machine built in a 27km-long circular tunnel underneath the French-Swiss border. It smashes together beams of proton particles to probe the limits of physics as we know it.The mystery behaviour by the be...

Oct62020 by adminNo Comments

Black hole breakthroughs win Nobel physics prize

Science

Three scientists have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for work to understand black holes.Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez were announced as this year's winners at a news conference in Stockholm.The winners will share the prize money of 10 million kronor (£864,200).Swedish industrialist and chemist Alfred Nobel founded the prizes in his will, written in 1895 - a year before his death.David Haviland, chair of the physics prize committee, said this year's award "celebrates one of the most exotic objects in the Universe".UK-born physicist Roger Penrose demonstrated that black holes were an inevitable consequence of Albert's Einstein's theory of general relativity.Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez provided the most convincing evidence ...

Oct82019 by adminNo Comments

Nobel physics prize: ‘Ground-breaking’ win for planets and Big Bang

Science

Media playback is unsupported on your device Three scientists have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for "ground-breaking" discoveries about the Universe.James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz were announced as this year's winners at a ceremony in Stockholm.Peebles was honoured for work on the evolution of the Universe, while Mayor and Queloz won for their discovery of a planet around a Sun-like star.The winners will share the prize money of nine million kronor (£738,000).Reacting to the news, Prof Queloz told BBC News: "It's unbelievable," adding: "Since the discovery 25 years ago, everyone kept telling me: 'It's a Nobel Prize discovery'. And I say: 'Oh yeah, yeah, maybe, whatever.'"But in the intervening years, he more-or-l...

Sep72019 by adminNo Comments

Study details the physics of proto-stellar disk formation

Science

Sept. 6 (UPI) -- In studying the movements of a trio of protostars in the Perseus molecular cloud, astronomers have gained new insights into the physical conditions that enable the formation of proto-stellar disks. The basic roadmap for the formation of stellar and planetary systems is well established. Over time, gas and dust in interstellar space coalesce. Eventually, the dense cloud of material collapses under its own gravity. A stellar core forms and, thanks to the conservation of angular momentum, a proto-stellar disk forms. After roughly 100,000 years or more, the star gets dense enough to ignite nuclear fusion. Shortly afterwards, planets form from the proto-stellar disk. But questions remain. The details of how angular momentum enables proto-stellar disk formation remains poorly ...

Oct22018 by adminNo Comments

First woman Physics Nobel winner in 55 years

Science

The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to a woman for the first time in 55 years.Donna Strickland, from Canada, is only the third woman winner of the award, along with Marie Curie, who won in 1903, and Maria Goeppert-Mayer, who was awarded the prize in 1963.Dr Strickland shares this year's prize with Arthur Ashkin, from the US, and Gerard Mourou, from France.It recognises their discoveries in the field of laser physics.Dr Ashkin developed a laser technique described as optical tweezers, which is used to study biological systems.Drs Mourou and Strickland paved the way for the shortest and most intense laser pulses ever created. They developed a technique called Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA). It has found uses in laser the...