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Stars form from gas both dense enough to collapse but diffuse enough to cool into molecules. If cooling is prohibited, a supermassive black hole may form instead. The transition may explain key mysteries of galactic structure.
Radiation damage to living tissues occurs not only by the high-energy incident particles of this radiation but also by low-energy secondary electrons that they produce. Two studies now demonstrate that a large fraction of these electrons are generated by a relatively unusual autoionization process known as intermolecular Coulombic decay.
Quantum theory states that all objects possesses both particle and wave properties. An observation of the 'whispering gallery' modes of a curved surface shows that neutrons are no exception.
How thin can superconducting materials be and still retain their superconductivity? A recent study of thin films grown on silicon substrates reveals that one atomic layer is the limit.
In recent years, progress has been made towards using cold atomic gases to study the role of disorder in many-body systems. This line of research might offer the key to solving open questions in solid-state physics, but should also provide a new outlook on disordered systems in its own right.
The Nernst effect is increasingly used to characterize a material's electronic structure. The discovery of an unexpected Nernst response in graphite establishes the role of dimensionality on this effect, and provides a means of distinguishing bulk and surface contributions to it.
A method for measuring the excitation spectrum in atomic gases confined to optical lattices reveals the band structure of these systems, and should facilitate the comparison of quantum gas phases with their condensed-matter counterparts.
Shockwaves driven by intense laser pulses allow the phase diagram of diamond to be extended up to pressures of 40 megabars and temperatures of 50,000 K. The results could help us better understand the material properties of the core of giant planets within and beyond our Solar System.
It is well established that protons and neutrons are bound states of quarks. Now magnetic excitations in systems of coupled spin chains are observed to consist of fractional constituent particles as well.
