Using the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST), astronomers have detected a glitch in the radio pulsar PSR J0908−4913. The finding, detailed in a paper published December 18 on the arXiv preprint server, could be helpful in shedding more light on the properties and nature of this pulsar. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-01-glitch-pulsar-psr-j09084913.html…
Tag: preprint
An ancient star burst in the Milky Way’s center
New observations reveal that – about a billion years ago – the center of our Milky Way galaxy underwent a period of intense star formation, resulting in over 100,000 supernovae. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/milky-way-center-star-formation-burst-100000-supernova…
Calculating the time it will take spacecraft to find their way to other star systems
A pair of researchers, one with the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, the other with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at CIT, has found a way to estimate how long it will take already launched space vehicles to arrive at other star systems. The pair, Coryn Bailer-Jones and Davide Farnocchia have written a paper describing their findings and have uploaded it to…
Researchers Want To Use Mega Man 2 To Evaluate AI
Games have long served as a training ground for AI algorithms, and not without good reason. From a report: Games — particularly video games — provide challenging environments against which to benchmark autonomous systems. In 2013, a team of researchers introduced the Arcade Learning Environment, a collection of over 55 Atari 2600 games designed to test a broad range of AI…
2017 meteor was a ‘grazing fireball’
A team of researchers at Curtin University in Australia reports that a meteor that streaked across the Australian sky back in 2017 was a rare “grazing fireball.” The group has written a paper describing their observations and findings and have posted it on the arXiv preprint server. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-12-meteor-grazing-fireball.html…
Researchers estimate the mass of the Milky Way to be 890 billion times that of our sun
An international team of researchers has used sophisticated models to calculate the mass of the Milky Way. They have written a paper describing their efforts and results, and have posted it on the arXiv preprint server. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-12-mass-milky-billion-sun.html…
Amazon Proposes a Home Robot that Asks You Questions When It’s Confused
An anonymous reader shares a report: AI models invariably encounter ambiguous situations that they struggle to respond to with instructions alone. That’s problematic for autonomous agents tasked with, say, navigating an apartment, because they run the risk of becoming stuck when presented with several paths. To solve this, researchers at Amazon’s Alexa AI division developed a framework that endows agents with…
Quantum Computer Made From Photons Achieves New Record
Slashdot reader hackingbear shared this article from Scientific American: In the race to create a quantum computer that can outperform a classical one, a method using particles of light (photons) has taken a promising step forward. Jian-Wei Pan and Chao-Yang Lu, both at the University of Science and Technology of China, and their colleagues improved a quantum computing technique called boson…
Astrophysicist suggests light might be a problem for life on a planet orbiting a black hole
Jeremy Schnittman, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has taken what he describes as a tongue-in-cheek look at the issues that might stand in the way of life existing on a planet orbiting a black hole. He has written a paper outlining his thoughts on the idea posted on the arXiv preprint server. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-10-astrophysicist-problem-life-planet-orbiting.html…
Theorists suggest ‘Higgs Troika’ may have been responsible for disappearance of antimatter
A team of researchers from Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Kansas has developed a theory to explain why there is so much more matter than antimatter in the universe. They have written a paper describing their theory and have posted it on the arXiv preprint server. …