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condensed matter physics

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Animation of a gemstone flipping up and down between mirror-image states.
quantum computing

Eternal Change for No Energy: A Time Crystal Finally Made Real

By Natalie Wolchover
July 30, 2021
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Like a perpetual motion machine, a time crystal forever cycles between states without consuming energy. Physicists claim to have built this new phase of matter inside a quantum computer.

A complicated arrangement of orange and purple bands against a black background.
condensed matter physics

The ‘Weirdest’ Matter, Made of Partial Particles, Defies Description

By Thomas Lewton
July 26, 2021
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Theorists are in a frenzy over “fractons,” bizarre, but potentially useful, hypothetical particles that can only move in combination with one another.

An illustration showing three stacked sheets of carbon atoms, each offset from the one below by half a lattice spacing.]
condensed matter physics

Graphene Superconductors May Be Less Exotic Than Physicists Hoped

By Charlie Wood
June 14, 2021
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Superconductivity has been discovered in graphene devices without any twists, suggesting the form of superconductivity in the material might be mundane after all.

Orange hills (polaritons) against a black background. Below each hill, an arrow points to an angular position on a circle.
explainers

The Near-Magical Mystery of Quasiparticles

By Thomas Lewton
March 24, 2021
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The zoo of spontaneously emerging particlelike entities known as quasiparticles has grown quickly and become more and more exotic. Here are a few of the most curious and potentially useful examples.

Graphic of swirling vortex-like patterns called skyrmions.
condensed matter physics

A New Twist Reveals Superconductivity’s Secrets

By Charlie Wood
March 16, 2021
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An unexpected superconductor was beginning to look like a fluke, but a new theory and a second discovery have revealed that emergent quasiparticles may be behind the effect.

A pair of diamonds press from opposite directions against a black metal gasket containing a hydrogen-carbon-sulfur compound.
Abstractions blog

Room-Temperature Superconductivity Claim Falls Apart [Update]

By Charlie Wood
October 14, 2020
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In 2020, researchers reported that they had created a room-temperature superconductor. That paper has now been retracted.

Illustration of gold unicorn
optics

Alchemy Arrives in a Burst of Light

By Philip Ball
September 30, 2020
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Researchers have shown how to effectively transform one material into another using a finely shaped laser pulse.

water molecules, droplets and a wave
Abstractions blog

How Mathematical ‘Hocus-Pocus’ Saved Particle Physics

By Charlie Wood
September 17, 2020
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Renormalization has become perhaps the single most important advance in theoretical physics in 50 years.

materials science

The Shape-Shifting Squeeze Coolers

By Marcus Woo
August 24, 2020
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Push or crush a new class of materials, and they’ll undergo record-breaking temperature changes.


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