APS articles, including one about alum Andrew Chael!

14 February 2022

This Week in Physics Magazine — February 14, 2022

Viewpoint

Illuminating Black Holes through Turbulent Heating

Gregory Howes – February 14, 2022

Predictions indicate that it should be possible to directly identify how turbulence heats a given black hole’s plasma from the spectrum of that plasma’s radiation.

Feature

High Expectations for Black Hole Simulations

February 11, 2022

Andrew Chael’s simulations identify black hole features that he hopes could be spotted by the next-generation Event Horizon Telescope.

Research News

Maximum Neutrino Mass Drops Again

February 14, 2022

The KATRIN experiment has delivered the best estimate to date for the maximum mass of a neutrino, finding it to be over 25% lower than the previous estimate.

Research News

Race Not Over Between Classical and Quantum Computers

February 10, 2022

A new classical algorithm reduces—by a factor of one billion—a recent claim of so-called quantum advantage.

Research News

Galactic Debris as a Dark Matter Identifier

February 8, 2022

Dynamic maps of 12 stellar streams trace paths that are determined by the distribution of mass in the Milky Way.

Focus

Waves in a Solid Imitate Twisted Light

February 11, 2022

Waves of vibration moving through the walls of a pipe can carry orbital angular momentum that could be used for several purposes, according to new theoretical work.

synopsis

Cavity Engineering for Superconductors

February 10, 2022

Enclosing a cuprate superconductor in a passive THz-resonant cavity could provide a new route to modifying a superconductor’s properties.

synopsis

Extracting the Spin and Valley Information of Electrons

February 9, 2022

An electron’s spin and valley information can be determined by monitoring how easily that electron passes through a qubit.

synopsis

A Plasma Lens for the World’s Most Powerful Lasers

February 8, 2022

Researchers propose inducing density variations in a plasma to create a lens that can focus a petawatt-scale laser beam without being damaged.