Featured
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News & Views |
Giant ice cube hints at the existence of cosmic antineutrinos
Evidence of a rare neutrino-interaction process called the Glashow resonance has been observed by a detector buried deep in the Antarctic ice — opening up a way to probe neutrino formation in astrophysical sources.
- Carla Distefano
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Article |
Detection of a particle shower at the Glashow resonance with IceCube
A particle shower detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the very high energy of the Glashow resonance demonstrates its potential for the study of high-energy particle physics and astrophysics.
- M. G. Aartsen
- , R. Abbasi
- & M. Zöcklein
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News & Views |
Antimatter in the proton is more down than up
Protons are found in all atoms, so it might be surprising to learn that they contain antimatter. It now emerges that there is an imbalance in the types of antimatter in the proton — a finding for which there is no agreed theoretical explanation.
- Haiyan Gao
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Article |
The asymmetry of antimatter in the proton
Quark–antiquark annihilation measurements provide a precise determination of the ratio of down and up antiquarks within protons as a function of momentum, which confirms the asymmetry between the abundance of down and up antiquarks.
- J. Dove
- , B. Kerns
- & Z. Ye
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News & Views |
Shedding squeezed light on dark matter
Hypothetical particles called axions could constitute dark matter — the unseen component of the Universe. An experiment shows how quantum-manipulation technology can improve the sensitivity of axion detectors.
- Igor G. Irastorza
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Article |
A quantum enhanced search for dark matter axions
A quantum enhanced search for dark matter that uses vacuum squeezing to overcome the quantum noise limit finds no evidence of dark matter axions in a well motivated mass range.
- K. M. Backes
- , D. A. Palken
- & H. Wang
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Obituary |
Akito Arima (1930–2020)
Theoretician who simplified nuclear physics and revamped Japan’s science.
- David Swinbanks
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Obituary |
Jack Steinberger (1921–2020)
Particle physicist who shared Nobel for discovering muon neutrinos.
- Christine Sutton
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News & Views |
Proton collisions probe the final frontier of the standard model of particle physics
The nuclear forces that act on short-lived subatomic particles have been hard to study. This problem has now been solved by smashing high-energy protons together and measuring the momenta of the unstable particles produced.
- Manuel Lorenz
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Article
| Open AccessUnveiling the strong interaction among hadrons at the LHC
Correlations in momentum space between hadrons created by ultrarelativistic proton–proton collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider provide insights into the strong interaction, particularly the short-range dynamics of hyperons—baryons that contain strange quarks.
- S. Acharya
- , D. Adamová
- & N. Zurlo
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Nature Podcast |
Cellular ageing: turning back the clock restores vision in mice
A trio of genes may be key to making cells young again, and ultra precise measurement of a fundamental physics constant.
- Noah Baker
- & Nick Howe
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News & Views |
Standard model of particle physics tested by the fine-structure constant
A highly precise measurement of a physical constant known as the fine-structure constant provides a stringent test of the standard model of particle physics, and sets strong limits on the existence of speculative particles.
- Holger Müller
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Nature Index |
Clusters of Excellence: the new ‘brains trusts’ of German science
Researchers praise the time and funding they are given for deep exploration.
- Gemma Conroy
- , Bec Crew
- & Andy Tay
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News & Views |
Neutrino detection gets to the core of the Sun
The first detection of neutrinos produced by the Sun’s secondary solar-fusion cycle paves the way for a detailed understanding of the structure of the Sun and of the formation of massive stars.
- Gabriel D. Orebi Gann
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Article |
Experimental evidence of neutrinos produced in the CNO fusion cycle in the Sun
Direct experimental evidence of the carbon–nitrogen–oxygen fusion cycle in the Sun is provided by the detection of neutrinos emitted during this process.
- M. Agostini
- , K. Altenmüller
- & G. Zuzel
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Article |
Universal structure of dark matter haloes over a mass range of 20 orders of magnitude
Simulations of formation of dark matter haloes ranging in size from Earth mass to clusters of galaxies find a universal halo density structure spanning 20 orders of magnitude in mass.
- J. Wang
- , S. Bose
- & S. D. M. White
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Research Highlight |
The particle accelerator that’s serious about recycling
Most linear accelerators are energy hogs, but a new model recovers waste energy that can be ploughed back into the system.
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News |
Neutrinos reveal final secret of Sun’s nuclear fusion
Detection of particles produced by the Sun’s core supports long-held theory about how our star is powered.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News Round-Up |
Mathematical boycott, supercollider plan and lava-lamp cells
The latest science news, in brief.
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Article |
Fluorescent bicolour sensor for low-background neutrinoless double β decay experiments
A fluorescent bicolour sensor is proposed as the basis of a barium-tagging technique for the detection of neutrinoless double β decay in xenon gas experiments.
- Iván Rivilla
- , Borja Aparicio
- & Juan J. Gómez-Cadenas
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News |
CERN makes bold push to build €21-billion supercollider
European particle-physics lab will pursue a 100-kilometre machine to uncover the Higgs boson’s secrets — but it doesn’t yet have the funds.
- Davide Castelvecchi
- & Elizabeth Gibney
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Research Highlight |
The vanishing-neutron mystery might be cracked by a robot in outer space
A mission to explore the planets also furnishes insights into the small stuff.
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Obituary |
Philip W. Anderson (1923–2020)
Nobel winner who transformed condensed-matter and particle physics.
- Piers Coleman
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Nature Video |
Cracking the antimatter mystery: A three minute guide
An experiment in Japan may have found crucial differences between the behaviour of neutrino particles and their antimatter twins.
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Editorial |
Neutrinos could shed light on why the Universe has so much more matter than antimatter
A major finding in particle physics reminds us of the importance of robust preliminary results — and paves the way for more exciting discoveries.
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Article |
Constraint on the matter–antimatter symmetry-violating phase in neutrino oscillations
The T2K experiment constrains CP symmetry in neutrino oscillations, excluding 46% of possible values of the CP violating parameter at a significance of three standard deviations; this is an important milestone to test CP symmetry conservation in leptons and whether the Universe’s matter–antimatter imbalance originates from leptons.
- K. Abe
- , R. Akutsu
- & A. Zykova
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News & Views |
Matter–antimatter symmetry violated
In a mirror world, antiparticles should behave in the same way as particles. But it emerges that leptons — neutrinos, electrons and their more exotic cousins — might not obey this expected pattern.
- Silvia Pascoli
- & Jessica Turner
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News & Views |
Fundamental symmetry tested using antihydrogen
The breaking of a property of nature called charge–parity–time symmetry might explain the observed lack of antimatter in the Universe. Scientists have now hunted for such symmetry breaking using the antimatter atom antihydrogen.
- Randolf Pohl
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Article |
Investigation of the fine structure of antihydrogen
Precision measurements of the 1S–2P transition in antihydrogen that take into account the standard Zeeman and hyperfine effects confirm the predictions of quantum electrodynamics.
- M. Ahmadi
- , B. X. R. Alves
- & J. S. Wurtele
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Nature Video |
Inside Japan's big physics
Video series goes behind the scenes of three flagship detectors — Super Kamiokande, KAGRA and Belle II.
- Noah Baker
- & Davide Castelvecchi
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News & Views |
Muon colliders come a step closer
Particle colliders that use elementary particles called muons could outperform conventional colliders, while requiring much smaller facilities. Muon cooling, a milestone on the road to these muon colliders, has now been achieved.
- Robert D. Ryne
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Article
| Open AccessDemonstration of cooling by the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment
Ionization cooling, a technique that delivers high-brightness muon beams for the study of phenomena at energy scales beyond those of the Large Hadron Collider, is demonstrated by the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment.
- M. Bogomilov
- , R. Tsenov
- & C. Heidt
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News & Views |
Link between antimatter and dark matter probed
Ultrasensitive experiments on trapped antiprotons provide a window onto possible differences between matter and antimatter. Now they could also shed light on the identity of dark matter — the ‘missing’ mass in the Universe.
- Gianpaolo Carosi
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Article |
Direct limits on the interaction of antiprotons with axion-like dark matter
Spin-flip resonance data are used to place direct constraints on the interaction of ultralight axion-like particles with antiprotons, improving the sensitivity to the corresponding coupling coefficient by five orders of magnitude.
- C. Smorra
- , Y. V. Stadnik
- & S. Ulmer
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Article |
A small proton charge radius from an electron–proton scattering experiment
A magnetic-spectrometer-free method for electron–proton scattering data reveals a proton charge radius 2.7 standard deviations smaller than the currently accepted value from electron–proton scattering, yet consistent with other recent experiments.
- W. Xiong
- , A. Gasparian
- & Z. W. Zhao
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News & Views |
Detection of a strange particle
In 1947, scientists found a previously unseen particle, which is now called a neutral kaon. This work led to the discovery of elementary particles known as quarks, and ultimately to the establishment of the standard model of particle physics.
- Taku Yamanaka
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Article |
Axionic charge-density wave in the Weyl semimetal (TaSe4)2I
In the charge-density-wave Weyl semimetal (TaSe4)2I, an axion is observed and identified as a sliding mode in the charge-density-wave phase characterized by anomalous magnetoelectric transport effects.
- J. Gooth
- , B. Bradlyn
- & C. Felser
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News |
Physicists close in on elusive neutrino’s mass
Experiment produces best laboratory estimate yet of super-light particle’s maximum mass.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Research Highlight |
Lightest neutrino is at least 6 million times lighter than an electron
Researchers established the limits by combining data from surveys of the cosmos and particle-physics experiments.
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News |
Speculative ‘supergravity’ theory wins US$3-million prize
Three physicists honoured for theory that has been hugely influential — but might not be a good description of reality.
- Zeeya Merali
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Obituary |
Murray Gell-Mann (1929–2019)
Theoretical physicist who won a Nobel for codifying fundamental particles.
- Robert P. Crease
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News |
Murray Gell-Mann, father of quarks, dies
US physicist was one of the chief architects of the standard model of particle physics.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News |
Italian physicists to stand trial for conditions in underground lab
The Gran Sasso National Laboratories have seen no major accidents so far, but prosecutors charge that environmental controls were lax.
- Nicola Nosengo
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Article |
Imaging individual barium atoms in solid xenon for barium tagging in nEXO
Single barium atoms trapped in a solid xenon matrix can be imaged and counted by scanning with a focused laser, providing a possible tagging technique for the neutrinoless-double-β-decay experiment nEXO.
- C. Chambers
- , T. Walton
- & T. Ziegler
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News & Views |
Dark-matter detector observes exotic nuclear decay
A detector that was designed to probe dark matter, the ‘missing’ mass in the Universe, has seen an elusive nuclear decay called two-neutrino double electron capture — with implications for nuclear and particle physics.
- Jouni Suhonen
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Letter |
Observation of two-neutrino double electron capture in 124Xe with XENON1T
Two-neutrino double electron capture is observed experimentally in 124Xe with the XENON1T detector, yielding a half-life of 1.8 × 1022 years.
- E. Aprile
- , J. Aalbers
- & J. P. Zopounidis