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Particle Physics: New Discoveries

Mythopoeika

Mythopoeika

I am a meat popsicle
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Inside a starship, watching puny humans from afar
https://www.livescience.com/63692-standard-model-broken-supersymmetry-new-physics.html

Bizarre Particles Keep Flying Out of Antarctica's Ice, and They Might Shatter Modern Physics

There's something mysterious coming up from the frozen ground in Antarctica, and it could break physics as we know it.

Physicists don't know what it is exactly. But they do know it's some sort of cosmic ray — a high-energy particle that's blasted its way through space, into the Earth, and back out again. But the particles physicists know about — the collection of particles that make up what scientists call the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics — shouldn't be able to do that. Sure, there are low-energy neutrinos that can pierce through miles upon miles of rock unaffected. But high-energy neutrinos, as well as other high-energy particles, have "large cross-sections." That means that they'll almost always crash into something soon after zipping into the Earth and never make it out the other side.
Click to expand...

More of the article at link.
 
Schrodinger's Zebra said:
Hmm... cool. I've only read some of the article so far (one of those ones I have to read in bits so I can take it all in properly) but I love anything described as "shouldn't be able to do that" :) Anything that defies what we think we know is just so fascinating.
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I've shown that to our own particle physicist, we'll see what he thinks!
 
escargot said:
*WE* have our own particle physicist!
That means *YOU* too.

It's my son Escet. He was a post-doc at CERN and we were there when the Higgs boson particle discovery was announced.

I may have mentioned this in passing... ;)

Also that Escet was the top Higgs analyst. :D

It's all on the threads about CERN/the LHC.
Click to expand...

Ask him if the OP story means that the neutrinos are mutating, just like in that documentary I saw - the one with John Cusack... 2012, I think it was called...
 
escargot said:
*WE* have our own particle physicist!
That means *YOU* too. It's my son Escet. He was a post-doc at CERN and we were there when the Higgs boson particle discovery was announced. I may have mentioned this in passing... ;) Also that Escet was the top Higgs analyst. :D
It's all on the threads about CERN/the LHC.
Click to expand...

Pah! Some snails with tits have all the luck! Color me green w/NV.:pop:
 
New quasi-particle discovered: Introducing the Pi-ton

Source: phys.org / Vienna University of Technology
Date: 4 February, 2020

In physics, there are very different types of particles: Elementary particles are the fundamental building blocks of matter. Other particles, such as atoms, are bound states consisting of several smaller constituents. And then there are so-called "quasi-particles"—excitations in a system that consists of many particles, which in many ways behave just like a particle themselves.

Such a quasiparticle has now been discovered in computer simulations at TU Wien (Vienna) and named pi-ton. It consists of two electrons and two holes. The new particle is presented in the journal Physical Review Letters, the article also describes how the pi-ton can be detected experimentally.

A hole is almost a particle

"The simplest quasi-particle is a hole," explains Prof. Karsten Held from the Institute for Solid State Physics at TU Wien. "Let us imagine, for example, that many atoms are arranged in a regular pattern in a crystal and that there is a moving electron at each atom. Only at one particular atom the electron is missing—this is called a hole." Now an electron can move up from the neighboring atom. The original hole is closed, a new hole opens.

Instead of describing the motion of constantly moving electrons, it is easier to study the motion of the hole. If the electrons move to the right, the hole moves to the left—and this movement follows certain physical rules, just like the movement of an ordinary particle. However, unlike an electron, which can also be observed outside the crystal, the hole only exists in conjunction with the other particles. In this case we speak of a "quasi-particle."

https://phys-org.cdn.ampproject.org...s.org/news/2020-02-quasi-particle-pi-ton.html
 
In a Huge First, Physicists Have Captured Individual Atoms And Watched Them Merge

Source: sciencealert.com
Date: 21 February, 2020

To understand how atoms unite to turn into molecules, we need to catch them in action. But to do that, physicists must force atoms to pause long enough for their exchanges to be recorded. That's no easy task, and one physicists from the University of Otago have only just recently achieved.

[...]

Working out the mathematics of how just two atoms meet to build a molecule is hard enough. Taking into account the actions of any more can be a nightmare.

[...]

"With development, this technique could provide a way to build and control single molecules of particular chemicals."

Further experiments will help to refine those models to better explain how groups of atoms operate together to meet and bond under various conditions.

In a world of ever-shrinking tech, it's not hard to imagine a need for processes where microscopic circuits and advanced medications are built atom-by-atom, one union at a time.

[...]

https://www-sciencealert-com.cdn.am...3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s
 
Comfortably Numb said:
New quasi-particle discovered: Introducing the Pi-ton

Source: phys.org / Vienna University of Technology
Date: 4 February, 2020

In physics, there are very different types of particles: Elementary particles are the fundamental building blocks of matter. Other particles, such as atoms, are bound states consisting of several smaller constituents. And then there are so-called "quasi-particles"—excitations in a system that consists of many particles, which in many ways behave just like a particle themselves.

Such a quasiparticle has now been discovered in computer simulations at TU Wien (Vienna) and named pi-ton. It consists of two electrons and two holes. The new particle is presented in the journal Physical Review Letters, the article also describes how the pi-ton can be detected experimentally.

A hole is almost a particle

"The simplest quasi-particle is a hole," explains Prof. Karsten Held from the Institute for Solid State Physics at TU Wien. "Let us imagine, for example, that many atoms are arranged in a regular pattern in a crystal and that there is a moving electron at each atom. Only at one particular atom the electron is missing—this is called a hole." Now an electron can move up from the neighboring atom. The original hole is closed, a new hole opens.

Instead of describing the motion of constantly moving electrons, it is easier to study the motion of the hole. If the electrons move to the right, the hole moves to the left—and this movement follows certain physical rules, just like the movement of an ordinary particle. However, unlike an electron, which can also be observed outside the crystal, the hole only exists in conjunction with the other particles. In this case we speak of a "quasi-particle."

https://phys-org.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/phys.org/news/2020-02-quasi-particle-pi-ton.amp?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE=#referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s&ampshare=https://phys.org/news/2020-02-quasi-particle-pi-ton.html
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This is the basis of all transistor operation.

AKA 'The Hole Theory'.

And may you have many sleepless nights trying to get your head around it.
 
INT21 said:
This is the basis of all transistor operation.

AKA 'The Hole Theory'.

And may you have many sleepless nights trying to get your head around it.
Click to expand...
On this... maybe be interested in a question just about to be posted on the, 'What is the Meaning of Life' thread. Would welcome your input. :)
 
Looking forward to it.

INT21
 
INT21 said:
AKA 'The Hole Theory'.

And may you have many sleepless nights trying to get your head around it.
Click to expand...
Am I alone here, in still watching videos and incumbent explanation of the, 'double-slit experiment'?

Summary from Wikipedia:

'In modern physics, the double-slit experiment is a demonstration that light and matter can display characteristics of both classically defined waves and particles; moreover, it displays the fundamentally probabilistic nature of quantum mechanical phenomena'.

I believe one solution might just be found down the Troll's Head... :)
 
Comfortably Numb said:
Am I alone here, in still watching videos and incumbent explanation of the, 'double-slit experiment'?

Summary from Wikipedia:

'In modern physics, the double-slit experiment is a demonstration that light and matter can display characteristics of both classically defined waves and particles; moreover, it displays the fundamentally probabilistic nature of quantum mechanical phenomena'.

I believe one solution might just be found down the Troll's Head... :)
Click to expand...

I have always had a problem with the Double Slit experiment. In fact I even asked our good friend the snail to pass on an enquirey; Ah, but sadly...

It is a very practical problem. But perhaps so practical that there is no reasonable explanation for it.

INT21.
 
INT21 said:
I have always had a problem with the Double Slit experiment. In fact I even asked our good friend the snail to pass on an enquirey; Ah, but sadly... It is a very practical problem. But perhaps so practical that there is no reasonable explanation for it. INT21.
Click to expand...
BTW the double slit experiment doesn't worry about how many slits they employ, the result is the same sort of wave-length diffusion pattern. I always wondered if there is a natural limit to the diffusion, and there is.
 
INT21 said:
This is the basis of all transistor operation.

AKA 'The Hole Theory'.

And may you have many sleepless nights trying to get your head around it.
Click to expand...
Never bought it. A hole moving in one direction is still a net movement of electrons moving in the other...
 
Quantum diffusion of heavy defects defies Arrhenius’ law

Source: physicsworld.com
21 February, 2020

“Massively heavy” atoms can move quantum mechanically within a crystalline material at cryogenic temperatures. This result, from researchers in Japan, France and the UK, contradicts the generally-held notion that only hydrogen or helium atoms are light enough to migrate through materials in this way. The study, which was performed on defect clusters containing around 100 atoms of tungsten (atomic mass 184), represents a step forward in our understanding of the low-temperature dynamics of defects and could lead to new applications in materials science and engineering.

A perfect crystal is a purely theoretical concept. Real-world crystals contain defects that can severely degrade the mechanical properties of the materials in which they occur. Understanding the way these defects diffuse and interact is therefore important for a wide range of processes in materials science and metallurgy, including alloying, precipitation and phase transformations.

Defects are bound to so-called static trapping centres (often atoms of impurities within the crystal), and thus need to “de-trap” before they can travel. For elements heavier than hydrogen or helium, de-trapping is thought to occur by thermal activation, and defect diffusion rates typically obey Arrhenius’ law – a century-old empirical rule that describes how the rate of chemical reactions varies with temperature. In a material at very low temperatures, Arrhenius’ law implies that the transport of heavy-atom defects slows considerably and may even become “frozen”.

https://physicsworld.com/a/quantum-diffusion-of-heavy-defects-defies-arrhenius-law/
 
kiln_wood said:
Never bought it. A hole moving in one direction is still a net movement of electrons moving in the other...
Click to expand...

Likewise. One doesn't need to use holes to be able to get along in electronics. It is possible to envisage electron flow, depletion layers etc without going into hole theory.
There was enough confusion when the text books tried to insist that electron flow and current flow were two different things. And the concept of 'conventional current flow' was brought into being.

..Arrhenius’ law implies that the transport of heavy-atom defects slows considerably and may even become “frozen”. ..

I suppose it is a bit like the speed of light problem.

If one were to accelerate to the speed of light then to keep the theory pure the speed of light has to be increased to push it out of reach.
One isn't supposed to be able to reach absolute zero. and if one did, then absolute zero would probably be re-defined as a lower temperature.


INT21.
 
INT21 said:
Likewise. One doesn't need to use holes to be able to get along in electronics. It is possible to envisage electron flow, depletion layers etc without going into hole theory.
There was enough confusion when the text books tried to insist that electron flow and current flow were two different things. And the concept of 'conventional current flow' was brought into being.
Click to expand...
I spend quite a bit of time designing electronics to pick up signals that are part of vast imaginary circuits consisting of the sky, the earth, the sea and some bits of metal in between. The conventional notions of a positive 'voltage difference' leading to a current flow to 'earth' (often literally) is a convenient fiction...but it does the job. :hoff:
 
Physicists may have accidentally discovered a new state of matter

Source: phys.org
Date: 27 February, 2020

Humans have been studying electric charge for thousands of years, and the results have shaped modern civilization. Our daily lives depend on electric lighting, smartphones, cars, and computers, in ways that the first individuals to take note of a static shock or a bolt of lightning could never have imagined.

Now, physicists at Northeastern have discovered a new way to manipulate electric charge. And the changes to the future of our technology could be monumental.

"When such phenomena are discovered, imagination is the limit," says Swastik Kar, an associate professor of physics. "It could change the way we can detect and communicate signals. It could change the way we can sense things and the storage of information, and possibilities that we may not have even thought of yet."

[...]

Kar and his colleagues were examining two such 2-D materials, bismuth selenide and a transition metal dichalcogenide, layered on top of each other like sheets of paper. That's when things started to get weird.

[...]

At first, Kar assumed the result was a mistake. The crystalline structures of 2-D materials are too small to observe directly, so physicists use special microscopes that fire beams of electrons instead of light. As the electrons pass through the material, they interfere with each other and create a pattern. The specific pattern (and a bunch of math) can be used to recreate the shape of the 2-D material.

https://phys-org.cdn.ampproject.org...3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s
 
kiln_wood said:
I spend quite a bit of time designing electronics to pick up signals that are part of vast imaginary circuits consisting of the sky, the earth, the sea and some bits of metal in between. The conventional notions of a positive 'voltage difference' leading to a current flow to 'earth' (often literally) is a convenient fiction...but it does the job. :hoff:
Click to expand...

Tell us (me) more.

You wouldn't be part of the Radio Skypipe group ?
 
kiln_wood said:
Commerical secrets and a 15 page NDA prevent that, although I did detect a 500pV sine wave yesterday...on purpose. That's frickin' small...

No.
Click to expand...

I think 'dragged out of the mud' would fit nicely.

I suspect my gear has noise levels many times that value.

Do we have a frequency ? or is that also a no-no ?

INT21.
 
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Comfortably Numb said:
Good point - never thought of that!
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'Ah, professor Kar. yes, we would love to include you on that all expenses paid once in a lifetime tour of the scientific establishments of Israel, but...... we are sure you can see there may be a bit of a problem'.
 
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