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(PhysOrg.com) -- A dark-matter experiment deep in the Soudan mine of Minnesota now has detected a seasonal signal variation similar to one an Italian experiment has been reporting for more than a decade.

Neutron analysis of the atomic dynamics behind thermal conductivity is helping scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory gain a deeper understanding of how thermoelectric materials work. The analysis could spur the development of a broader range of products with the capability to transform heat to electricity.

The sweet smell of benzene gave birth to the term ‘aromatic’ molecules, but it is the chemical bonds within these compounds that have fascinated researchers for almost 200 years. Encasing alternating double- and single-bonded carbon atoms inside a flat ring allows so-called ‘pi’-electrons to delocalize and move around the cyclic framework. And thanks to the curious rules of quantum mechanics, this pi-electron sharing has radical consequences for differently sized rings.

(PhysOrg.com) -- A group of physicists working out of Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, have succeeded in proving what was until now, just theory; and that is, that visible photons could be produced from the virtual particles that have been thought to exist in a quantum vacuum. In a paper published on arXiv, the team describes how they used a specially created circuit called a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) to modulate a bit of wire length at a roughly five percent of the speed of light, to produce visible "sparks" from the nothingness of a vacuum.

Researchers at the National University of Singapore have invented a graphene-based polarizer that can broaden the bandwidth of prevailing optical fiber-based telecommunication systems.

Trapping antihydrogen atoms at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has become so routine that physicists are confident that they can soon begin experiments on this rare antimatter equivalent of the hydrogen atom, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

In a game of one-upmanship, a Chinese team of physicists has figured out how to entangle eight photons simultaneously and to observe them in action; the previous record was six. In a paper published in arXiv, the team from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, describe how they were able to convert a single photon into two entangled photons, using a nonlinear crystal, and then how they repeated that process with one of the paired photons produced, while holding the other in place, producing another pair, and then did it repeatedly until they had eight photons all entangled together, all held in place and all observable for a period of time.

(PhysOrg.com) -- After several hours of exposure to sunlight, silicon solar cells experience light-induced degradation, which can decrease their efficiency by up to 10%. In a new study, scientists have attempted to detect the oxygen dimer (O2i) in the predicted charge state that is widely considered to play a key role in this light-induced degradation. However, their search has been unsuccessful, casting doubt on the accepted degradation mechanism of silicon solar cells.

Quantum mechanics is famous for saying that a tree falling in a forest when there's no one there doesn't make a sound. Quantum mechanics also says that if anyone is listening, it interferes with and changes the tree.

A quantum computer is a device -- still largely theoretical -- that could perform some types of calculations much more rapidly than classical computers. While a bit in a classical computer can represent either 0 or 1, a quantum bit, or qubit, can be in "superposition," representing 0 and 1 at the same time.

(PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to atomic clocks, every second counts.

New research into drag reduction has the potential to help industries such shipping to reduce energy use and carbon emissions.

The free electron laser is the next step in the development of equipment to help us see the structure of materials. Nino Čutić at MAX-lab in Lund, Sweden, has done a PhD in further improving the test free electron laser at the laboratory.

(PhysOrg.com) -- There's a lot we don't know about the atomic nucleus, even though it was discovered a century ago this year.

(PhysOrg.com) -- X-rays have been used for more than a century to expose the invisible in many of its forms. When a family doctor studies an X-ray of a broken leg or an agent scans a carry-on bag at an airport security gate, hard X-rays, with their ability to penetrate beyond the surface of a material, reveal hidden objects.