Browse Physics

The rotational flow of fluid in a heated tank containing some heavy beads periodically reverses direction, mimicking some aspects of the motion of Earth’s continents over geologic time.

A new technique generates movies of a thermal explosion in progress and may lead to better explosives safety.

A purely mathematical theory suggests why a wide variety of virus families construct their genome-storing shells out of a mosaic of trapezoids.

Electrons can act like light waves in many ways, but according to recent experiments, their wave-like effects don’t always correspond with light. The unexpected behavior occurs because electrons feel each other’s presence, while photons do not.

Researchers propose a new and less challenging way to “squeeze” light, strongly reducing quantum fluctuations to make a beam with unwavering intensity.

Computer simulations suggest that a perfect crystal spontaneously melts when atoms move cooperatively. The process may occur in melting under extreme conditions.

Ghost imaging, in which images are made using light that never came near the object, has now been demonstrated with reflected light, but the debate continues over whether the effect can be explained with classical physics.

Researchers used a magnetic material to create a difference in current-carrying properties between two perpendicular directions in a superconductor. They could easily change the directions with an external magnetic field, which could be useful in superconducting devices.

Researchers have simulated the formation of complex shapes formed spontaneously by sheets of polymers in solution. The results provide a recipe for experimentalists that are studying these structures for drug delivery and nanofabrication.

In the 1970s and 80s, researchers developed techniques for cooling atoms to very low temperatures using laser light. The work led to improvements in atomic clocks and the observation of a new ultracold state of matter.

A theoretical model shows that fission–nuclei breaking apart–may be an important part of the process by which supernovae produce the heaviest elements.

Researchers demonstrated an atom slowing and trapping scheme that may apply to elements that have been difficult or impossible to cool before. The atoms need only an unpaired electron, not a special set of internal states.

A century-old empirical law relates the number of times a material will survive a repeated stress to the size of the stress. A new model connects this law with steadily accumulating damage at the microscale.

Researchers have extracted electrons from atoms in a controlled way using sub-femtosecond light pulses. They also imaged the electrons’ quantum states with unprecedented clarity.

A multi-laser technique could help chip manufacturers get past the diffraction limit, to make tinier circuits without using high intensity light, according to new calculations.

New calculations show that a material with the right electrical properties could dramatically improve the efficiency of light-like waves that travel on metal surfaces. Devices based on these waves might someday process light signals on a chip.

An electric field could prevent a stressed material from developing cracks, according to a new theory. The field could nudge atoms moving around on the surface and thereby flatten out undulations that can grow into cracks.

In 1939 Hans Bethe described in detail the nuclear reactions that power the sun and other stars, leading to his Nobel Prize in 1967. His results relied heavily on the previous decades of advances in physics and astronomy.

A pair of colliding water droplets merges on the rebound, rather than when they’re squeezing against each other. The results should improve understanding of the separation process of oil-water mixtures important in industry.

The brain may need sleep in order to concentrate on one activity at a time.