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Experimental physics

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Janet Conrad, Seeker of Neutrinos and Other Curiosities

August 21, 2017

The physicist and curios collector hopes to reveal the hidden structure lurking in the subatomic world.

Experiment Reaffirms Quantum Weirdness

February 7, 2017

Physicists are closing the door on an intriguing loophole around the quantum phenomenon Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.”

Q&A

In the Deep, a Drive to Find Dark Matter

December 20, 2016

Elena Aprile now leads the world’s most sensitive dark-matter search. But before she could build her first detector, she had to make herself out of titanium.

Grand Unification Dream Kept at Bay

December 15, 2016

Physicists have failed to find disintegrating protons, throwing into limbo the beloved theory that the forces of nature were unified at the beginning of time.

Q&A

On a Hunt for a Ghost of a Particle

December 8, 2016

Janet Conrad has a plan to catch the sterile neutrino — an elusive particle, possibly glimpsed by a number of experiments, that would upend what we know about the subatomic world.

The Math That’s Too Difficult for Physics

November 18, 2016

How do physicists reconstruct what really happened in a particle collision? Through calculations that are so challenging that, in some cases, they simply can’t be done. Yet.

Strange Numbers Found in Particle Collisions

November 15, 2016

An unexpected connection has emerged between the results of physics experiments and an important, seemingly unrelated set of numbers in pure mathematics.

Can Analogies Reveal the Laws of Physics?

November 10, 2016

So-called “analogue experiments” are becoming increasingly common in physics, but do they teach or mislead?

What Sonic Black Holes Say About Real Ones

November 8, 2016

Can a fluid analogue of a black hole point physicists toward the theory of quantum gravity, or is it a red herring?

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