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Scientists at Kyoto University have developed an experimental method to examine ultra-light dark matter by observing its gravitational effects on visible matter. Using millimeter-wave sensing in cryogenic conditions, the team achieved experimental parameters for unexplored mass ranges of dark photon.

A photon is a particle of light. It is the basic unit of light and other electromagnetic radiation, and is responsible for the electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature. Photons have no mass, but they do have energy and momentum. They travel at the speed of light in a vacuum, and can have different wavelengths, which correspond to different colors of light. Photons can also have different energies, which correspond to different frequencies of light.

A team of researchers designed a two-dimensional photonic time crystal that they say could have applications in technologies like transmitters and lasers.

Despite their name, photonic time crystals have little in common with time crystals, a phase of matter first proposed in 2012 and observed several years later. The fundamental commonality is that both crystals have structural patterns over time, but time crystals are quantum materials—the atoms are suspended in quantum states—while photonic time crystals are artificial materials not found in nature and they are not necessarily suspended in quantum states.

Researchers have put a sapphire crystal containing quadrillions of atoms into a superposition of quantum states, bringing quantum effects into the macroscopic world.

By Leah Crane

Scientists are still getting to grips with the ins and outs of strange materials known as time crystals; structures that buzz with movement for eternity. Now a new variety might help deepen our understanding of the perplexing state of matter.

Just as regular crystals are atoms and molecules that repeat over a volume of space, time crystals are collections of particles that tick-tock in patterns over a duration of time in ways that initially seem to defy science.

Theorized in 2012 before being observed in the lab for the first time just four years later, researchers have been busy tinkering with the structures to probe deeper foundations of particle physics and uncover potential applications.

Simultaneously detecting the gravitational-wave and neutrino signals emitted during the last second of a massive star’s life could show how such stars die.

A new electron-scattering experiment challenges our understanding of the first excited state of the helium nucleus.

A helium nucleus, also known as an particle, consists of two protons and two neutrons and is one of the most extensively studied atomic nuclei. Given the small number of constituents, the particle can be accurately described by first principles calculations. And yet, the excited states of the particle remain a bit of a mystery, as evidenced by a disagreement surrounding the excitation from the ground state 01+ to the first excited state 02+ [1]. Theoretical predictions for this transition do not match measurements, but the experimental uncertainties have been too large for implications to be drawn. Now, the A1 Collaboration at Mainz Microtron (MAMI) in Germany has remeasured this transition via inelastic electron scattering [2]. The new data significantly improves the precision compared to previous measurements and confirms the initial discrepancy.

Hidden stripes in a crystal could help scientists understand the mysterious behavior of electrons in certain quantum systems, including high-temperature superconductors, an unexpected discovery by RIKEN physicists suggests.

The electrons in most materials interact with each other very weakly. But physicists often observe interesting properties in materials in which electrons strongly interact with each other. In these materials, the electrons often collectively behave as particles, giving rise to ‘quasiparticles’.

“A crystal can be thought of like an alternative universe with different laws of physics that allow different fundamental particles to live there,” says Christopher Butler of the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science.

The wave-particle duality of quantum objects like photons, electrons and atoms through double-slit experiments. Now it’s time’s turn.

Imperial physicists have performed the double-slit experiment in time, using materials that can change optical properties in femtoseconds, providing insights into the nature of light and paving the way for advanced materials that can control light in both space and time.

Imperial physicists have recreated the famous double-slit experiment, which showed light behaving as particles and a wave, in time rather than space.

In a groundbreaking development, Imperial College London.