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Imaging Nuclear Shapes by Smashing them to Smithereens Scientists use high-energy heavy ion collisions in a new way to reveal subtleties of nuclear structure with implications for many areas of physics.
Landmark Photosynthesis Gene Discovery Boosts Plant Growth, Advances Crop Science A novel gene, BOOSTER, enhances plants’ photosynthesis efficiency and productivity.
Quantum Shells Redefine X-ray Detection with Unmatched Speed and Sensitivity A novel type of radiation-detecting scintillator could lead to benefits for medicine, national security, and particle physics.
A Subatomic Challenge Resolved: Supercomputer Calculations Produce the First Accurate Theoretical View of the Sigma Meson A Subatomic Challenge Resolved: Supercomputer Calculations Produce the First Accurate Theoretical View of the Sigma Meson

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In nuclear beta decay an up quark ‘u’ in a proton converts into an up down quark ‘d,’ turning the proton into a neutron and emitting a positron and a neutrino. This work affects interpretation of beta decay measurements across the chart of nuclides.

New Precise Calculation of Nuclear Beta Decays Paves the Way to Uncover Physics Beyond the Standard Model

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Conceptual art showing the rare earth element promethium in a vial surrounded by an organic ligand. Scientists have discovered hidden features of promethium, opening a pathway for research on other lanthanide elements.

In an Advance for Promethium Production, Researchers Get a New View of the Element’s Properties

Read more about In an Advance for Promethium Production, Researchers Get a New View of the Element’s Properties

The image using Coherent Correlation Imaging shows the areas where the borders of magnetic domains (called domain walls) accumulate over time and thus maps the presence of pinning sites. The image field of view is 700 nanometers.

Watching Magnetic Materials Get Organized in Real Time

Read more about Watching Magnetic Materials Get Organized in Real Time

A depiction of proposed four-quark structures and their sizes relative to the proton. The labels u and c represent the up and charm quarks, respectively, while the labels u and c with bars indicate the corresponding antiquarks.

Can Four-Quark States Arise from Inside the Proton Itself?

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An artist’s impression of a quantum electrodynamics simulation using 100 qubits of an IBM quantum computer. The spheres and lines denote the qubits and connectivity of the IBM quantum processor; gold spheres denote the qubits used in the simulation.

Nuclear Physicists Create Scalable Quantum Circuits to Simulate Fundamental Physics

Researchers developed and executed algorithms for preparing the quantum vacuum and hadrons on more than 100 qubits of IBM quantum computers.

A photon (γ) and a jet of other particles emerges from a proton-proton (p-p) collision (left). But in a deuteron (d)-gold nucleus (Au) collision (right), the jet loses energy while the photon is not affected. Neutral pions (π0) are proxies for the jet.

Fresh Direct Evidence for Tiny Drops of Quark-Gluon Plasma

Particles of light from collisions of deuterons with gold ions provide direct evidence that energetic jets get stuck.

Strong interactions between neighboring metal and sulfur atoms are found to influence the properties of electronic excited states created by light absorption, as shown by X-ray spectroscopy methods at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource.

Excited Electronic States of Metallic Atoms Rely on their Sulfuric Neighbors

Scientists discover that bond covalency is an important property of excited states in molecules containing metal-sulfur bonds.

Crystallographic and spectroscopic evidence now show that americium and curium yield a variety of polyoxometalate compounds that their lanthanide counterparts are unable to form.

Heavy Ligands Unravel New Chemistry for Heavy Elements

Heavy ligands, like polyoxometalates, open a new frontier in the chemistry of actinide elements.

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An artist’s impression of an analog quantum computer in which atoms are manipulated by lasers to simulate quantum many-body systems.

Scientists Take an Important Step toward Mitigating Errors in Analog Quantum Simulations of Many-Body Problems

Simulated predicted shape distribution for magic-sized silver clusters (purple insets) assembled at different solvent temperatures. These predictions can guide experiments to target seeds for crystal growth.

Molecular Modeling Reveals How Nanocrystals Take Shape

In a strange metal (translucent box), electrons (blue marbles) lose their individuality and melt into a featureless, liquid-like stream.

Can Electricity Flow Without Electrons?

A cartoon of robot-enabled inorganic materials synthesis. The robot selects powder precursors based on new criteria, mixes them by ball milling, moves them to an oven, and measures the results with X-ray diffraction to determine the phase purity.

New Approach to Materials Synthesis—with Quick Validation by a Robotic Lab

Illustration of an idealized extraction chromatographic resin using DGA or LN extractants. By studying the adsorption properties of terbium on these DGA and LN resins, scientists gain insights into these properties for the entire lanthanide series.

Understanding the Adsorption Properties of Terbium for Future Medical Use

Structure of Iridium (Ir) dimer complex showing an Ir-Ir bonding molecular orbital populated (left) and an Ir-Ir anti-bonding molecular orbital depopulated (right) by optical excitation.

Advanced Techniques Paint a More Accurate Picture of Molecular Geometry in Metal Complexes

Representation of the magnitude of the elastic πΣ hadron scattering amplitude showing the double-pole structure that suggests the hadron has a pair of resonances at 1380 megaelectronvolts (MeV) and 1405 MeV, not just one at 1405 MeV.

To Understand a Special Hadron, Researchers Turn to Supercomputers and Quantum Chromodynamics

Concept of the automated system for remote dissolution of the irradiated bismuth target and astatine recovery in nitric acid media.

Automation of Nuclear Chemistry Processes Leads to More Efficient Production of Astatine for Cancer Therapy

This sample of niobium has been treated in a process that is typical for preparing particle accelerator components. Tests have revealed how adding oxygen to such components makes them more efficient.

Oxygen Tweaking May Be the Key to Optimizing Particle Accelerators

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