Browse Physics

Gamma-ray spectroscopy of the superheavy nucleus ${}^{256}$Rutherfordium reveals details of its nonspherical shape and internal structure—the heaviest element for which such information has been obtained.

Colliding matter waves from a Bose-Einstein condensate violate a relation called the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, proving that such interactions must be considered quantum mechanically.

A new model for DNA-covered nanoparticles predicts their stable crystal structures and may one day help in finding the optimal building blocks for self-assembling materials.

A new resonant emission component from solitons that had been ignored has now been identified and studied.

Majorana’s geometrical representation of quantum spin as points on a sphere offers an intuitive approach to understanding quantum systems with multiple components.

New experiments on an organic ferroelectric verify that its electric polarization is driven primarily by an electron shift, rather than the ion shift that characterizes most other ferroelectrics.

Symmetry considerations point to a universal mechanism responsible for superconductivity in the iron pnictides and iron chalcogenides.

Two groups use different approaches to realize artificial magnetic fields for atoms trapped in a one-dimensional optical lattice.

Lanthanide atoms are offering the best opportunities to study the effects of strong dipolar interactions in a quantum gas.

New functionalities might arise from rethinking the essential ingredients needed to build a heat-driven machine.

A generalization of one of the most famous experiments in quantum foundations provides a powerful new unifying concept.

Short chains of iron atoms deposited on a metal surface could be used to transmit bits of magnetic information.

Specially designed waveguides act like conduits for high-frequency displacement currents.

Measurements of radioactive, neutron-rich isotopes of argon are paving the way for experiments at new facilities that will explore the neutron dripline.

Statistical mechanical models are the key to understanding the performance of error correction in topological quantum computers.

Shifts in atomic energy levels caused by electron interaction with virtual photons can also occur in an ensemble of atoms acting cooperatively.

The Daya Bay Collaboration in China has discovered an unexpectedly large neutrino oscillation.

Mathematical solutions to Maxwell’s equations suggest that it is possible for shape-preserving optical beams to bend along a circular path.

The electronic properties of graphene allow a population inversion to be established within the duration of a 35-femtosecond light pulse.

Optically switched magnetic domains are easier to control if the light source is circularly polarized.