Physics

A more than $40 million investment to add advanced nano-fabrication equipment and capabilities to MIT.nano will significantly expand the center’s nanofabrication capabilities, reports Jon Chesto for The Boston Globe. The new equipment, which will also be available to scientists outside MIT, will allow “startups and students access to wafer-making equipment used by larger companies. These tools will allow its researchers to make prototypes of an array of microelectronic devices.”

MIT researchers have discovered 18 new tidal disruption events (TDEs), “which are huge bursts of energy released as a star is shredded by a black hole,” reports Jess Thomson for Newsweek. “These new discoveries have also helped scientists learn more about what TDEs really are and where they occur,” explains Thomson. “The previous stock of TDEs had only been found in a rare form of galaxy known as a ‘post-starburst’ system, which once created a number of stars but has since stopped.”

MIT researchers have discovered that “stars at the edge of our home galaxy appear to be moving more slowly than expected,” reports Jess Thomson. This discovery “implies that the galaxy itself may be structured differently from how scientists first thought, with the core of the Milky Way possibly containing less dark matter and, therefore, being lighter in mass than first assumed,” explains Thomson.

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have proposed a new method to look for primordial black holes (PMBs), reports Jackie Appel for Popular Mechanics. “If there are as many as the team thinks there should be, and they interact with gravity as we expect them to, they should be zooming around in a way that some of them should pass close by various objects in our solar system – including Earth,” explains Appel. “And if that happens, it should actually be enough to disturb the natural orbits of these objects in a way that we can measure.” 

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have uncovered “a major advancement in the development of ‘error correction,’ the process of fighting the subatomic deterioration that makes most quantum computers today unhelpful for more than research purposes,” reports Derek Robertson for Politico.

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have successfully linked together two molecules in special quantum states, reports Pandora Dewan for Newsweek. “The discovery may lead to more robust quantum computing and support new research techniques,” writes Dewan.

Prof. Nergis Mavalvala, dean of the School of Science, speaks with Wired reporter Swapna Krishna about her work searching for gravitational waves, the importance of skepticism in scientific research and why she enjoys working with young people. Mavalvala explains, “there’s an idea that the greatest scientific discoveries are made by wiry silver-haired scientists. But it’s the work of young people that enables all of these scientific discoveries.”  

Prof. Sara Seager and her colleagues have discovered “a six-pack of planets, formed at least 4 billion years ago,” that orbit a nearby sun-like star named HD110067, reports Joel Achenbach for The Washington Post. “Occasionally, nature reveals an absolute gem,” says Seager. “HD 110067 is an immediate astronomical Rosetta stone – offering a key system to help unlock some mysteries of planet formation and evolution.”

MIT researchers have successfully figured out how to trap tiny electrons in a three-dimensional crystal prison, reports Jess Thomson for Newsweek. The researchers hope that “the flat band properties of the electrons in these crystals will help them to explore new quantum states in three-dimensional materials,” Thomson explains, “and therefore develop technology like superconductors, supercomputing quantum bits, and ultraefficient power lines.”

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have discovered that the young cosmos hosted a large number of tempestuous galaxies with large black holes at their cores, reports Charlie Wood for Quanta Magazine. “The exact numbers and the details of each object remain uncertain, but it’s very convincing that we’re finding a large population of accreting black holes,” says Prof. Anna-Christina Eilers. “JWST has revealed them for the first time, and that’s very exciting.”

Science News reporter James Riordon writes that by employing a new technology called frequency-dependent squeezing, LIGO detectors should now be able to identify about 60 more mergers between massive objects like black holes and neutron stars than before the upgrade. Senior research scientist Lisa Barsotti, who oversaw the development of this new technology, notes that even next-generation gravitational wave detectors will be able to benefit from quantum squeezing. “The beauty is you can do both. You can push the limit of what is possible from the technology of laser power and mirror [design],” Barsotti explains, “and then do squeezing on top of that.”

MIT researchers Lisa Barsotti, Deep Chatterjee and Victoria Xu speak with Curiosity Stream about how developments in gravitational wave detection are enabling a better understanding of the universe. Barsotti notes that in the future, gravitational wave science should help enable us to, “learn more about dark matter about primordial black holds to try to solve some of the biggest mysteries in our universe.” Xu notes, “the detection of gravitational waves is a completely new window that has opened into our universe.”

Researchers from Atlantic Quantum, an MIT startup building quantum computers, have published new research showing “the architecture of the circuits underlying its quantum computer produces far fewer errors than the industry standard,” reports Rashi Shrivastava for Forbes.

MIT researchers are leading three missions over the next decade to characterize Venus’ atmosphere for habitability, reports Bruce Dorminey for Forbes. “Understanding Venus is key to understanding exo-earths,” writes Dorminey.

The Center for UltraCold Atoms, located at MIT, is one of four university physics programs that will share $76 million in funding from the National Science Foundation as part of the organization’s Physics Frontiers Centers program, which aims to “foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics,” writes Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes. “[T]he Center for UltraCold Atoms is a joint effort with Harvard University that will explore how to achieve greater control and programmability of complex quantum systems,” he explains.