Physicists have developed a quantum simulation method that can “virtually cool” an experimental quantum system to a fraction of its actual temperature. The method could potentially allow access to extremely low-temperature phenomena, such as unusual forms of superconductivity, that have never been observed before. The simulation involves preparing multiple copies of the system’s quantum state, interfering the states, and making measurements…
Tag: measurements
Astronomers see a new type of pulsating star
At Palomar Observatory near San Diego, a dedicated telescope spends its nights surveying the heavens. A recent analysis of its data revealed 4 stars that change in brightness, over just minutes. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/pulsating-star-hot-subdwarf-pulsator…
Researchers Can Accurately Measure Blood Pressure Using Just A Cellphone Video Of Your Face
A new study published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging found that blood pressure can be measured accurately by taking a quick video selfie. An anonymous reader quotes this announcement from the University of Toronto: Kang Lee, a professor of applied psychology and human development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and Canada Research Chair in…
NASA’s MMS finds first interplanetary shock
The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission—MMS—has spent the past four years using high-resolution instruments to see what no other spacecraft can. Recently, MMS made the first high-resolution measurements of an interplanetary shock. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-08-nasa-mms-interplanetary.html…
Scientists Develop ‘Artificial Tongue’ To Detect Fake Whiskies
Scientists have developed an “artificial tongue” that can differentiate a young whisky from an 18-year-old single malt. “The team, based in Scotland, say their device can be used to tell apart a host of single malts — a move they say might help in the fight against counterfeit products,” reports The Guardian. From the report: Writing in the journal Nanoscale, the…
When our Milky Way merged with an ancient dwarf galaxy
Analysis of measurements via the Gaia space telescope – of star positions, brightnesses and distances – has let astronomers probe a merger 10 billion years ago between the primitive Milky Way and a dwarf galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/gaia-enceladus-collision-milky-way…
The uncertainty of detecting planets
Uncertainty in science is a good thing. Because here’s how the scientific model works: you observe a phenomenon, then form a hypothesis about why that phenomenon is taking place, then test the hypothesis, which leads you to develop a new hypothesis, and so on. That process means it can be difficult to ever definitely know something. Instead, scientists work to understand…
A 3-D model of the Milky Way Galaxy using data from Cepheids
A team of researchers at the University of Warsaw has created the most accurate 3-D model of the Milky Way Galaxy to date. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group explains how they used measurements from a special group of pulsating stars to create the map. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-08-d-milky-galaxy-cepheids.html…
Private Space Race Targets Greenhouse Gas Emitters
Several startups and nonprofit organizations are using methane-tracking microsatellites to help companies understand the emissions levels of their business operations, and hold the worst polluters accountable. The satellites focus on tracking methane as it has 80 times the warming power of CO2, and is blamed for more than a quarter of the earth’s 0.8 degree Celsius temperature rise since the Industrial…
Measurements induce a phase transition in entangled systems
Many famous experiments have shown that the simple act of observing a quantum system can change the properties of the system. This phenomenon, called the “observer effect,” appears, for example, when Schrödinger’s cat becomes either dead or alive (but no longer both) after someone peeks into its box. The observation destroys the superposition of the cat’s state, or in other words,…