New Scientist Magazine has writen an article on left-right symmetric models, a model suggested by Rabi Mohapatra, Jogesh Pati and Goran Senjanovic in 1974-75, and mentioned in a recent paper by Mohapatra and Bhupal Dev. Read More
The quantum Hall effect, discovered in the early 1980s, is a phenomenon that was observed in a two-dimensional gas of electrons existing at the interface between two semiconductor layers. Subject to the severe criteria of very high material purity and very low temperatures, the electrons, when under the influence of a large magnetic field, will organize themselves into an ensemble state featuring remarkable properties.
Many physicists believe that quantum Hall physics is not unique to electrons, and thus it should be possible to observe this behavior elsewhere, such as in a collection of trapped ultracold atoms. Experiments at JQI and elsewhere are being planned to do just that. On the theoretical front, scientists* at JQI and University of Maryland have also made progress, which they describe in the journal Physical Review Letters. The result, to be summarized here, proposes using quantum matter made from a neutral atomic gas, instead of electrons. In this new design, elusive exotic states that are predicted to occur in certain quantum Hall systems should emerge. These states, known as parafermionic zero modes, may be useful in building robust quantum gates.
It’s not lightsaber time, not yet. But a team including theoretical physicists from JQI and NIST has taken another step toward building objects out of photons, and the findings hint that weightless particles of light can be joined into a sort of “molecule” with its own peculiar force. Researchers show that two photons, depicted in this artist’s conception as waves (left and right), can be locked together at a short distance. Under certain conditions, the photons can form a state resembling a two-atom molecule, represented as the blue dumbbell shape at center.
The findings build on previous research that several team members contributed to before joining JQI and NIST. In 2013, collaborators from Harvard, Caltech and MIT found a way to bind two photons together so that one would sit right atop the other, superimposed as they travel. Their experimental demonstration was considered a breakthrough, because no one had ever constructed anything by combining individual photons—inspiring some to imagine that real-life lightsabers were just around the corner.
See more at: http://jqi.umd.edu/news/jqi-physicists-show-molecules-made-light-may-be-possible#sthash.FlERjh1d.dpuf
The Large Hadron Collider team, which includes physicists from the University of Maryland who made key contributions to the study, analyzed data collected by the LHCb detector during the first run of the LHC, finds hints of leptons acting out against time-tested predictions. Read More
Luis Orozco and researchers have developed a new technique using an optical nanofiber to measure atomic-cloud temperature. Their article was published in Physical Review A as an Editor's suggestion. Read More
