A proposed model unites quantum theory with classical gravity by assuming that states evolve in a probabilistic way, like a game of chance. Physicists’ best theory of matter is quantum mechanics, ...

Tongcang Li is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, Indiana. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University ...

The creation of modern quantum mechanics was a messy business in which many of the participants did not grasp the significance of their own discoveries. The wave nature of electrons is revealed in ...

String theory provides a microscopic description of the entropy of certain theoretical black holes—an important step toward understanding black hole thermodynamics. Figure 1: Through the AdS/CFT ...

New experiments suggest that superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene depends on an unconventional electron-pairing mechanism. Figure 1: Two twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) layers stacked one on ...

Gravitational waves emitted by the merger of two black holes have been detected, setting the course for a new era of observational astrophysics. Figure 1: Numerical simulations of the gravitational ...

When a cloud of cold atoms goes through a supersolid phase transition, its coexisting superfluid and crystalline phases do not emerge simultaneously. Figure 1: (Left to right) The solid and superfluid ...

A laser-fusion scheme has achieved ignition—an important step on the road to energy production. Figure 1: Artist’s rendering of NIF’s laser beams entering through openings on either end of a hohlraum ...

Figure 1: Will two objects fall at the same rate in a vacuum? Galileo was the first to test this equivalence principle, and he was followed by many others, including the Apollo astronauts. Now, the ...

A decades-old neutrino mystery might be solved not by undiscovered physics but by improved calculations. For more than 30 years, scientists have found that roughly 20% fewer electron neutrinos are ...

A network-theory model, tested on the work of Johann Sebastian Bach, offers tools for quantifying the amount of information delivered to a listener by a musical piece. Great pieces of music transport ...

Particle physicists are faced with a growing list of “anomalies”—experimental results that conflict with the standard model but fail to overturn it for lack of sufficient evidence. For their study of ...