Physics

The predictions of warm inflation with the SM for a quartic inflaton potential. Credit: Physical Review Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1103/9nn9-bsm9 How did the universe come into being? There are a multitude of theories on this subject. In a Physical Review Letters paper, three scientists formulate a new model: according to this, inflation, the first, very […]

Feynman diagrams for QED or linear quantum gravity. Credit: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09595-7 Unifying gravity and quantum theory remains a significant goal in modern physics. Despite the success in unifying all other fundamental interactions (electromagnetism, strong force and weak force) with quantum mechanics and many attempts at explaining a “quantum gravity,” scientists are still coming

Light illuminates some of CUORE’s crystals of tellurium dioxide. Credit: CUORE collaboration Deep under a mountain in Italy, researchers continue to push the boundaries of science with an experiment that could rewrite the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Their experiment, known as the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE), which includes researchers from Yale,

This image depicts the radium atom’s pear-shaped nucleus of protons and neutrons in the center, surrounded by a cloud of electrons (yellow), and an electron (yellow ball with arrow) that has a probability to be inside the nucleus. In the background is the spherical nucleus of a fluoride atom, which joins to form the overall

Quantum vortices—tiny whirlpools in the quantum fluid—cause the precession and revolution of the superfluid crystal structure to synchronize their motion. Credit: Andrea Litvinov A supersolid is a paradoxical state of matter—it is rigid like a crystal but flows without friction like a superfluid. This exotic form of quantum matter has only recently been realized in

Neutron TOF spectra in coincidence with 134In β− decay. Credit: Physical Review Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1103/l24v-5m31 You can’t have gold until a nucleus decays. The specifics of that process have been hard to pin down, but UT’s nuclear physicists have published three discoveries in one paper explaining key details. The results can help scientists come

Another view of the NOvA far detector in Minnesota. The detector comprises 344,000 individual cells each 50 feet long and filled with a mixture of mineral oil and dissolved light-emitting chemicals. When a neutrino interacts in the detector, it produces a spray of high-energy particles that stream through the cells and light them up. Researchers

The model suggests a brief “knot-dominated era,” when these tangled energy fields outweighed everything else, a scenario that could be probed through gravitational-wave signals. Credit: Muneto Nitta In 1867, Lord Kelvin imagined atoms as knots in the aether. The idea was soon disproven. Atoms turned out to be something else entirely. But his discarded vision

Spontaneous fragmentation of a rotating crystal comprised of transversely interacting particles into multiple rotating crystal fragments. Credit: Wayne State University/Zhi-Feng Huang It sounds bizarre, but they exist: crystals made of rotating objects. Physicists from Aachen, Düsseldorf, Mainz and Wayne State (Detroit, U.S.) have jointly studied these exotic objects and their properties. They easily break into

Concept of photonic parallel spaces and versatile functionalities. Credit: Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63981-3 Researchers have harnessed nonlocal artificial materials to create optical systems that emulate parallel spaces, wormholes, and multiple realities. A single material acts as two distinct optical media or devices simultaneously, allowing light to experience different properties based on entry boundaries. Demonstrations