New Field Of Physics Research Articles

Topologically quantized Schwarzschild black hole

We present a new version of the Schwarzschild solution that involves an intrinsically discrete structure apt for quantization. Our method is the harmonic mapping of the unit sphere (S 2) into itself. This explains the areal quantization whereas the energy quantum derives from the energy of the harmonic map. Likewise, all thermodynamical quantities are naturally quantized at lower orders. ‘There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom’ R. P. Feynman [R. P. Feynman, Lecture given on December 29, 1959 at the annual meeting of the APS with the title There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom: An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics.

A metamaterial lens traps atoms

Compact, finely textured metasurface optics are coming to a new field of physics.

Non-accelerator particle physics in Ukraine

Non-accelerator particle physics is a new field of physics that studies the properties of particles without using accelerators. This area has been developing rapidly for the last 20—30 years providing a number of outstanding results, including the discovery of neutrino oscillations caused by the masses of neutrinos, which became the first experimental proof of an effect beyond the Standard Model of particles and interactions. While the results in the field have won five Nobel Prizes over the last twenty years, this area remains almost unnoticed in Ukraine, despite the fact that here several research groups conduct work on the subject and obtain the results of the highest quality.

Frugal Science Powered by Curiosity.

More than 60 years ago, Richard Feynman gave a lecture titled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom: An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics", where he called on others to join the then-nascent field of nanotechnology. In a similar spirit, we wish to invite chemists, biologists, physicists, bioengineers, educators, high school students, and inventors of all backgrounds to join us in the emerging field of frugal science. In this Review, we define frugal science and use six case studies to describe the broad applications of frugal science, from synthetic biology to disease diagnostics. We conclude by establishing an argument for curiosity-driven research through frugal science to enable broader access in chemical and bioengineering research and drive innovation.

The new physics of dust in plasmas

The new physics of dust, which arises due to dust-plasma interaction in space environments and laboratory devices, is presented. The new research horizons (different new fields of physics involving many challenging research problems and open issues) introduced by this new physics of dust in plasmas are explained. The basic features of dust-plasma interaction, particularly, basic characteristics of dust in plasmas, and typical dusty plasma parameters for different space and laboratory conditions are presented. The complexity and the diversity of the field of the new physics of dust in plasmas are briefly discussed. The theoretical and experimental discoveries of dust associated linear waves, nonlinear structures, and some other important phenomena are mentioned. The basic features of dust associated nonlinear structures (viz. solitary waves, shock structures, and Mach cones) obtained from our recent published works are briefly discussed.

物理学の新たな研究領域を開拓せよ( "ポスドク"問題 その27)

物理学の新たな研究領域を開拓せよ( "ポスドク"問題 その27)

An Application of (3+1)‐Dimensional Time‐Space Fractional ZK Model to Analyze the Complex Dust Acoustic Waves

Dust plasma is a new field of physics which has developed rapidly in recent decades. The study of dust plasma has received much attention due to its importance in the environment of space and the Earth. Dust acoustic waves are generated because of the inertia of dust mass while the restoring force is provided by the thermal pressure of electrons and ions. Since dust acoustic waves were first reported theoretically in unmagnetized dust plasma by Rao et al., they have become a research hot spot. In this paper, the excitation of dust acoustic waves by a gravity field in a dust plasma is analyzed. According to the control equations of dust plasma motion and employing multiscale analysis and perturbation method, we have obtained a (3+1)‐dimensional ZK model. Because of the space property of dust plasma, (3+1)‐dimensional ZK equation is more suitable than KdV equation and (2+1)‐dimensional ZK equation to describe the real dust acoustic waves. Then, the (3+1)‐dimensional time‐space fractional ZK (TSF‐ZK) equation describing the fractal process of nonlinear dust acoustic waves is given for the first time. To further explore how dust acoustic waves change energy as they travel, we discuss the conservation laws of the new model. Moreover, we study the exact solution of (3+1)‐dimensional TSF‐ZK equation by using extended Kudryashov method. Finally, based on the exact solution, we further investigate the effect of the parameter k, the charge properties of dust particle Zd0, the fractional order values α, β, γ, and θ, the temperature Td, the gravity g, and the collision frequency β0 and β1 on the properties of dust acoustic waves by a gravity field in dust plasma.

Search for dark forces at KLOE-2

During the last years several Dark Sector Models have been proposed in order to address striking and puzzling astrophysical observations which fail standard interpretations. In the minimal case a new vector particle, the so called dark photon or U-boson, is introduced, with small coupling with Standard Model particles. Also, the existence of a dark Higgs boson h’ is postulated, in analogy with the Standard Model, to give mass to the U-boson through the Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking mechanism. The discovery of such a Dark Force Mediator would belong to a new field of Physics Beyond the Standard Model. The KLOE experiment, working on the DAΦNE e+e− collider in Frascati, searched for the existence of the U-boson in a quite complete way, investigating several different processes and final states. Tight limits on the model parameters have been set at 90%CL. Further improvements are expected in terms of sensitivity and discovery potential with the new KLOE-2 detector working on the improved DAΦNE e+e− collider, which has collected more than 5 fb−1.

Vacancy-induced brittle to ductile transition of W-M co-doped Al3Ti (M=Si, Ge, Sn and Pb)

We investigated the effect of vacancy formation on brittle (D022) to ductile (L12-like) transition in Al3Ti using DFT calculations. The well-known pseudogap on the density of states of Al3Ti migrates towards its Fermi level from far above, via a W − M co-doping strategy, where M is Si, Ge, Sn or Pb respectively. In particular, by a W − M co-doping the underline electronic structure of the pseudogap approaches an octahedral (L12: t2g, eg) from the tetragonal (D022: eg, b2g, a1g, b1g) crystal field. Our calculations demonstrated that (1) a W-doping is responsible for the close up of the energy gap between a1g and b1g so that they tend to merge into an eg symmetry, and (2) all M-doping lead to a narrower gap between eg and b2g (moving towards a t2g symmetry). Thus, a brittle to ductile transition in Al3Ti is possible by adopting this W − M co-doping strategy. We further recommend the use of W-Pb co-doped Al3Ti to replace the less anodic Al electrode in Al-battery, due to its improved ductility and high Al diffusivity. Finally this study opens a new field in physics to tailor mechanical properties by manipulating electron energy level(s) towards higher symmetry via vacancy optimization.

An entropic equation to calculate contact angles of bulk water droplets on weakly-reactive solid surfaces

Room temperature contact angle (θ25) of a water droplet on a weakly-reactive solid surface is directly calculated from an entropic equation: S25 = 335.86–0.65θ25 (J. unit-mass−1 k−1), where S25 is the entropy of the air/water/solid system and the unit-mass is defined as the sum of 1 mol air, 1 mol water and 1 mol cation solid. Two parameters in the equation are optimized based on thermodynamic calculations of air/water/ice systems and experimental contact angle of water on biotite. This entropy to contact angle linear equation reproduces well experimental contact angles of water on graphite, copper, sapphire, quartz, and calcite, ranging from 9 to 82°. It suggested that (1) contact angle is a direct measure of the state function entropy, and (2) for all solids one (1) J. unit-mass−1 k−1 increment in S25 results in about two (∼2) degrees reduction in θ25. In addition, a new semi-empirical equation is established for calculation of contact angle at high temperatures, by considering the effect of steam-solid reactions. This temperature-dependence equation reproduces well experimental data in water/graphite, water/sapphire, and water/quartz systems from 25 to 272° C. It further demonstrated that under an adiabatic approximation the popular semi-empirical Young's equation is consistent with this entropic equation. This simple and practical entropic equation will advance a wide range of applications from adhesion, coatings, corrosion, protein adsorption, blood compatibility, to cell-surface interactions. It also opens a new field in physics to understand and characterize contact angles from state entropy.

A physics-based solver to optimize the illumination of cylindrical targets in spherically distributed high power laser systems.

In recent years, our understanding of high energy density plasmas has played an important role in improving inertial fusion confinement and in emerging new fields of physics, such as laboratory astrophysics. Every new idea required developing innovative experimental platforms at high power laser facilities, such as OMEGA or NIF. These facilities, designed to focus all their beams onto spherical targets or hohlraum windows, are now required to shine them on more complex targets. While the pointing on planar geometries is relatively straightforward, it becomes problematic for cylindrical targets or target with more complex geometries. This publication describes how the distribution of laser beams on a cylindrical target can be done simply by using a set of physical laws as a pointing procedure. The advantage of the method is threefold. First, it is straightforward, requiring no mathematical enterprise besides solving ordinary differential equations. Second, it will converge if a local optimum exists. Finally, it is computationally inexpensive. Experimental results show that this approach produces a geometrical beam distribution that yields cylindrically symmetric implosions.

Active matter, then and now.

Historically, living was divided from dead, inert matter by its autonomous activity. Today, a number of materials not themselves alive are characterized as having inherent activity, and this activity hasbecome the subject of a hot new field of physics, "Active Matter", or "Soft matter become alive." For active matter scientists, the relation of physics to biology is guaranteed in one direction by the assertion that the cell is a material, and hence its study can be considered a branch of material science, and in the other direction, by the claim that the physical dynamics of this material IS what brings the cell to life, and therefore its study is a proper branch of biology. I will examine these claims in relation to the concerns of nineteenth century scientists on the one hand, and on the other, in relation to future prospects of the division between animate and inanimate.

Bell's theorem, the measurement problem, Newton's self-gravitation and its connections to violations of the discrete symmetries C, P, T

About 50 years ago John St. Bell published his famous Bell theorem that initiated a new field in physics. This contribution discusses how discrete symmetries relate to the big open questions of quantum mechanics, in particular:(i) how correlations stronger than those predicted by theories sharing randomness (Bell's theorem) relate to the violation of the CP symmetry and the P symmetry; and its relation to the security of quantum cryptography,(ii) how the measurement problem (“why do we observe no tables in superposition?”) can be polled in weakly decaying systems,(iii) how strongly and weakly interacting quantum systems are affected by Newton's self gravitation.These presented preliminary results show that the meson-antimeson systems and the hyperon- antihyperon systems are a unique laboratory to tackle deep fundamental questions and to contribute to the understand what impact the violation of discrete symmetries has.

Grand challenges in interdisciplinary physics

The dictionary definition of physics is the study of matter, energy, and the interaction between them1. There is no doubt that this definition does describe the core of physics. However, over the last three decades, a shift has occured. Physics has spilled over its boundaries set by the definition quoted, and we now have fields such as econophysics, sociophysics, biological physics, and geological physics. Common for these new fields of physics is that if they are to be defined based on the subjects that are studied, they would not belong to physics. What does make them part of physics is rather the way the subjects are studied. By regarding these new fields as belonging to physics, the dictionary definition of physics no longer holds. One has to revise it. It makes sense to replace the old definition stating that physics is the study of certain quantities by one where physics is defined as a method to approach scientific problems. Physics as a method of approaching scientific problems is different from other sciences. It is hierarchical: more general questions are posed and answered before more specific questions. Here is a concrete example: In the twenties, general quantum mechanics was developed. In the thirties, a general theory of metals was developed. This allowed for studying specific metals, but it also opened up for the search for a class of materials that were between metals and insulators: the semiconductors. In the forties, this resulted in the construction of the first transistor—and the electronics age was born. One may only speculate how long it would have taken to construct

Near-Field Scanning Microwave Microscopy: An Emerging Research Tool for Nanoscale Metrology

On 29 December 1959 at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society, Richard Feynman gave a lecture at the California Institute of Technology titled "There Is Plenty of Room at the Bottom: An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics." This memorable lecture has since become very famous as it predicted and envisioned the current era of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The atomic level represents a totally new world of fresh opportunities for design and engineering due to the new physics available at such a small scale. Feynman mentions this in his lecture, "Atoms on a small scale behave like nothing on a large scale, for they satisfy the laws of quantum mechanics" [1]. This new physics allows the manipulation of matter atom by atom. As Feynman further states, "The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom. It is not an attempt to violate any laws; it is something, in principle, that can be done; but in practice, it has not been done because we are too big" [1]. Feynman was right, and quantum mechanics continues to play a crucial role in miniaturization of technology. But advances in nanotechnology are not based purely on knowledge of the theory. Today we are realizing that all this "plenty of room at the bottom" has brought a great need for complex and ingenious metrology tools that accompany our knowledge of quantum mechanics. These metrology tools are necessary for atomic-scale manipulation as well as the characterization of each atom and its interaction with the environment. Feynman's lecture envisioned the need for significantly improved metrology tools. For example, he discussed improving the electron microscope by 100-fold. Today, in addition to the scanning electron microscope (SEM), we have the atomic force microscope (AFM), the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), and the near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM), among many other metrology tools used for the advancement of nanotechnology [2]-[4], which Feynman did not foresee. These metrology tools also function as a platform for engineering novel atomic- and molecular-scale devices. This means performing logical operations with a single atom or molecule, manipulation of DNA molecules for information storage, or putting together nanomachines [2]-[4].

Reading Winnicott into Nano-Psychoanalysis: “There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom”

This article presents Winnicott's unique theoretical and clinical thinking, and especially his revision of the foundations of clinical psychoanalysis, as a Kuhnian paradigm shift that, as the title of the article indicates, I term nano-psychoanalysis. The title refers to ideas and terminology borrowed from nanoscience and nanotechnology, and particularly to physicist Richard Feynman's 1959 visionary talk that hailed nanotechnology and its radical potential: “There's plenty of room at the bottom—An Invitation to Enter a new Field of Physics.” I have paraphrased and applied it to Winnicott and to psychoanalysis: “There's plenty of room at the bottom—an invitation to enter nano-psychoanalysis,” and regard Winnicott as the originator of nano-psychoanalysis. For Winnicott's psychoanalytic theory, and particularly his clinical-technical theory with its emphasis on regression in the treatment of more disturbed patients, share the fundamental principle offered by Feynman and nanotechnology—that of going back to the bottom, to the elemental early states and processes, and to early mothering techniques, thereby enabling the initiation of formative developmental processes. This means moving beyond the space-time confines of traditional clinical psychoanalysis to work with primal processes in the treatment experience and setting, thus reaching and correcting basic self-processes and unthinkable early trauma—and enlarging the scope of psychoanalytic practice. It is a quest for clinical psychoanalysis at its most formative edge. The article explores the radical vision of Winnicott's clinical thinking and his theory of regression, comparing it to the psychoanalytic thinking of his two contemporaries—Balint in London and Nacht in Paris—who also dealt with the ideas of primary states and therapeutic regression in the psychoanalytic situation, but with rather restrained and cautious clinical-theoretical conclusions. Winnicott's 1955 letter to Bion, and the story of the Mirror of Erised in Harry Potter offer further points of relating to Winnicott's singular ideas.

Astroparticle Physics Today

In this short review paper I will draw attention to the most important steps made in the past decade toward a better understanding of the physics governing our Universe. The results that I will discuss are drawn from the photonic astrophysics, particle astrophysics, and neutrino astrophysics, which constitute the main tools for exploring the Universe. The union of these three tools has given rise to a new field of physics known as Astroparticle Physics. Because of the limited length of this paper, I have selected only a few arguments that, in my opinion, have been crucial for the progress of Physics.

The scientific legacy of Hannes Alfvén

This year marks 70 years since the publication of a paper with far‐reaching consequences for space and plasma physics: the 1942 letter to Nature by Hannes Alfvén, “Existence of electromagnetic‐hydrodynamic waves.” The letter, which was only half a page long, described a new type of low‐frequency oscillation of a magnetized plasma. The paper was long disregarded or openly rejected, as the new waves that it described could not be demonstrated experimentally at that time. But as experimental techniques improved in the laboratory and experiments in space became possible, it became evident that what are now called Alfvén waves are of fundamental importance in plasma physics in general and space plasma physics in particular. In fact, they constitute a cornerstone of a new field of physics: magneto‐hydrodynamics. Alfvén waves are found in just about every space plasma, such as the Sun, the solar corona, and the solar wind, as well as in magnetospheres of the Earth and other magnetized planets.

Resonant mode coupling theory: Fifty years of progress in space plasma physics

Workshop on Physical Processes in Non‐Uniform Finite Magnetospheric Systems: Fifty Years of Tamao's Resonant Mode Coupling Theory; Fukuoka, Japan, 12–15 September 2011 Three basic physical processes are important to space plasma physics studies: magnetic reconnection, collisionless shock waves, and field line resonances. Magnetic reconnection is a universal process whereby magnetic energy is converted into kinetic energy as the magnetic topology is rearranged. The idea of collisonless shock waves in highly conducting plasmas opened up a whole new field of physics on the interaction between charged particles and plasma waves.

Nanotechnology: Giga game for soils

AbstractResearch on colloidal properties of soils, especially of its clay and decayed organic matter components are pillars of edifice of soil science. The colloids control almost all soil reactions, but their behavior is controlled by dilution, change in pH, ion exchange, accretion of bases and many other processes, some of which are natural, while many others are anthropogenic. The anthropogenic manipulation of soils is the foundation of agrarian civilization, but spread into managed-forest, and urban ecosystems with time. In the twentieth century, great breakthroughs have been achieved in order to make soils more productive and responsive to environmental challenges. Historically, soil science as a discipline showed enormous capacity to absorb scientific advancement made in kindred disciplines into its body of knowledge. The X-ray diffraction and electron microscopic studies on clay particles in the last century exhibited nanoscale nature of the particles in all three dimensions. Therefore, it was but natural that clay and organic matter components of soils would be of primary concern to nanotechnology regardless of the field of activity – from physics to medicine. The added advantages of clay were their role in genesis of life on earth, and in evolutionary diversification of Neoproterozoic life forms. It was no wonder that many authors believe that nanoscience and nanotechnology sprouted from clay mineralogy and crystallography. Richard Feynman in his lecture, “There's plenty of room at the bottom: An invitation to enter a new field of physics” in 1959 envisioned that solid state materials, of which clay is a part, would be of great interest to nanotechnology.Nanofabrication involving clay is a distinct field, because it departs from the conventional field of nanotechnology (e.g., nanoelectronics, nanomaterials), and is far more challenging than conventional application fields (e.g., cell phone, computer, sensors, cloths, and other industrial products). This is because: (a) clay is an interface of the physical world and the world of life, and (b) soil is the central domain of geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere, and therefore, soil scientists have the responsibility to support life and protect the environment. For nanofabrication involving clays, methods followed in industry (like melting materials at a high temperature to segregate atoms / ions at plasma state) cannot be copied. It is no hindrance, because the system obeys the laws of ion exchange, adsorption-desorption, aggregation-dispersion, solubility-dissolution to name a few. The most vital yardstick is that the system has to be capable of releasing nutrient ions in plant-available forms. One of the key modules of nanofabrication is manipulation of bonds, which is a common phenomenon in soils. Clays have both covalent and ionic bonds; a feature unique for developing a passive control system for a nutrient supply mechanism. There are enormous numbers of examples in soils, where bonds are changed from one form to another through isomorphous substitution or insertion of small ions, or by the use of organic compounds (for masking of van der Waal’s force). Nanotechnology in the clay system does not promise a control system that we experience in electrical machines, or in satellites, or in chemical reactors. But, it has to be a knowledge-based passive system, and for sure, it is going to create millions of rhizospheres in an acre of land to support the growth of millions of plants for a crop; a breakthrough to place agriculture into the new millennium.