Browse Physics

Large electric fields, alternating at hundreds of hertz, cause DNA molecules to collapse, the opposite of previous observations that they stretch out at higher and lower frequencies.

In iron-based superconductors, the gap on the hole Fermi surface can be used to predict nodal behavior on the electron Fermi surface.

Connections relating mathematical models of quantum particles in four and two spacetime dimensions could simplify calculations in quantum field theories.

Observations of single photons traveling through cold atomic gases confirm that information can only travel as fast as the speed of light.

Depending on their width, certain ribbon-forming biomolecules assume either twisted or spiral shapes.

Experiments chip away at the assumption that Fermi-surface nesting is key to superconductivity in iron-based superconductors.

Three-body bound states, known to form among spherically symmetric atoms, should also exist for dipole molecules.

Ring formation in polymerization offers new insight into the formation of giant polymer clusters.

Thin sheets of length scales ranging from graphene to paper are shown to exhibit a universal behavior of self-similar wrinkling patterns.

Optical clocks based on nuclear energy levels may offer unprecedented precision and a chance to find out whether fundamental constants change over time.

Inspired by the way genetic material is stored in a virus, researchers are exploring how densely they can pack elastic wires into a spherical shell.

A link in a quantum network is built from a hybrid atomic system, connected by fiber optics.

A combination of strain and scalar potentials opens a gap in graphene.

A two-dimensional array of silicon rods is theoretically shown to bend light around tight corners.

A report from the PAMELA satellite says the electron flux in cosmic rays is consistent with the existence of new sources, such as dark matter particles or other astrophysical phenomena, but the results are still inconclusive.

A new x-ray scattering technique successfully probes the elastic properties of thin semiconductor films.

Experimenters have created overlapping quantum fluids of lithium and ytterbium, en route to creating quantum fluids of molecules that have unpaired electronic spins.

The swimming motion of organisms in complex fluids is hindered by elasticity.

A detailed investigation shows that the topological Anderson insulator phase is not distinct but part of the quantum spin-Hall phase.

According to calculations, a quantum version of energy transfer in plants would not necessarily offer any speedup compared to its classical counterpart.