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Precision Nuclear Probes for New Physics

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15 July 2022 • Physics 15, 108 Tests of standard models of particle physics using nuclear isotopes are becoming increasingly precise but they have a way to go before they can confirm the existence of new particles. Diana Prado Lopes Aude Craik/Harvard University On the right, ytterbium ions are trapped in a vacuum chamber and examined with a laser, which produces blue light. This test allowed the MIT group to determine the energy levels of each isotope. Diana Prado Lopes Aude Craik/Harvard University On the right, ytterbium ions are trapped in a vacuum chamber and examined with a laser, which produces blue light. This test allowed the MIT group to determine the energy levels of each isotope. × Traditionally, to find new fundamental particles, physicists have used pulverizers, smashed high-energy particles, and surveyed the wreckage. But in recent years, the search for low-energy nuclear has emerged as a more refined path to particle discovery. Two new studies hint at thei...

Rapid bursts of radio waves from millions to billions of light-years away can be used as probes to study the halos of hazy gases that are hard to see.

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Rapid bursts of radio waves from millions to billions of light-years away can be used as probes to study the halos of the hard-to-see hazy gas that surrounds closer galaxies. These pulses, known as fast radio bursts (FRBs), slow down as they transit through the gas shrouding the galaxy between their source and Earth. This has the added consequence of their radio frequency scattering. Using this to investigate the galaxy’s gaseous halo, researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) found twice as much matter as previously believed in the envelope surrounding the galaxy. This has implications for how this collection of stars and planets evolves over long periods of time. Astronomers looked at a sample of 474 distant FRBs with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) which confirmed that the 24 FRBs intercepted by the galactic halo did indeed slow down compared to the others that traveled to Earth unimpeded. Thus, this effect can be used to in...