news 2019

Physics experiments are often time-consuming and expensive. Sometimes scientists do not realize until the very end that they have been using the wrong calibration for measurements the whole time. What if there were a way to go back in time to the start of the experiment and re-examine the data? Researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Freie Universität Berlin, and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) hope to create a machine that would make that possible.

The world's fastest camera for imaging individual protons in the so-called soft X-ray range has begun operations. It was developed by an international consortium which includes physicists from Heidelberg University. The so-called DSSC detector is being used at the European XFEL research facility in Hamburg.

Many phenomena of the natural world evidence symmetries in their dynamic evolution which help researchers to better understand a system's inner mechanism. In quantum physics, however, these symmetries are not always achieved. In laboratory experiments with ultracold lithium atoms, researchers from the Center for Quantum Dynamics at Heidelberg University have proven for the first time the theoretically predicted deviation from classical symmetry.

For almost ten years, scientists from all over the world have been using the large-scale experiment "IceCube" to search for neutrinos in the permanent ice of the South Pole. Neutrinos are the smallest particles that reach Earth as cosmic rays. Now the participating researchers, among them Prof. Alexander Kappes from the University of Münster, are pleased about a huge upgrade of the laboratory, which should contribute to measuring the properties of neutrinos much more accurately than before.

Is that a dog or a cat? Such a classification is a prime example of machine learning: artificial neural networks can be trained to analyze images by looking for patterns that are characteristic of specific objects. Provided the system has learned such patterns, it is able to recognize dogs or cats on any picture.

Fuel cells may well replace batteries as the power source for electric cars. They consume hydrogen, a gas which could be produced for example using surplus electricity from wind power plants. However, the platinum used in fuel cells is rare and extremely expensive, which has been a limiting factor in applications up to now.

As the saying goes, nothing lasts forever. The laws of physics confirm this: on our planet, all processes increase entropy, thus molecular disorder. For example, a broken glass would never put itself back together again. Theoretical physicists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems have discovered that things which seem inconceivable in the everyday world are possible on a microscopic level.

New findings on the Earth's magnetic field: researchers show that the iron oxide hematite remains magnetic deep within the Earth's mantle / Study published in "Nature" journal The huge magnetic field which surrounds the Earth, protecting it from radiation and charged particles from space - and which many animals even use for orientation purposes - is changing constantly, which is why geoscientists keep it constantly under surveillance.

05/23/2019 A great success for Würzburg's physics department: its Collaborative Research Centre was rated as excellent and is now entering its second funding phase. The German Research Foundation is providing 12 million euros for this purpose. In 2015, physicists at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, succeeded in establishing a new Collaborative Research Centre in Würzburg.

For the first time it is possible to measure, simultaneously and with extreme precision, four rare molecular variants of carbon dioxide (CO2) using a novel laser instrument. It is thus able to measure the temperature during the formation of CO2-binding carbonates and carbonaceous fossils completely independently of other parameters.

Heidelberg Researchers investigate "error bound" that limits usable simulations In solving quantum-physical problems in many-body systems, such as predicting material properties, conventional computers rapidly reach the limits of their capacity. Digital quantum simulators might help, but until now they are drastically limited to small systems with few particles and only short simulation times.

In collaboration with researchers from Harvard University, researchers from the University of Würzburg have made an important step on the road to topological quantum computers. Now, they present their findings in the renowned scientific journal Nature. Majorana particles are very peculiar members of the family of elementary particles.

Researchers from the University of Stuttgart and from the Institut d'optique in Palaiseau have explored a unique state of matter, a so-called topological phase. Such a topologicial phase is the ground state of a quantum many-body system and exhibits unique properties.

When an individual cell is placed on a level surface, it does not keep still, but starts moving. This phenomenon was observed by the British cell biologist Michael Abercrombie as long ago as 1967. Since then, researchers have been thriving to understand how cells accomplish this feat. This much is known: cells form so-called lamellipodia - cellular protrusions that continuously grow and contract - to propel themselves towards signalling cues such as chemical attractants produced and secreted by other cells.

The universe is almost 14 billion years old. An inconceivable length of time by human standards - yet compared to some physical processes, it is but a moment. There are radioactive nuclei that decay on much longer time scales. An international team of scientists has now directly measured the rarest decay process ever recorded in a detector.

The dark skin pigment melanin protects us from the sun's damaging rays by absorbing light energy and converting it to heat. This could make it a very effective tool in tumor diagnosis and treatment, as demonstrated by a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Helmholtz Zentrum München.

A giant cylindrical refrigerator, an electron-beam pattern generator, a cleanroom, etching equipment. Sometimes it takes a lot of big things to make something very small. The nanoscientists at the University of Münster headed by Prof. Wolfram Pernice and Prof. Carsten Schuck know this only too well: they use these and other devices to produce nanophotonic chips the size of a one-cent piece.

In toothpaste, Teflon, LEDs and medications, it shows its sunny side - but elemental fluorine is extremely aggressive and highly toxic. Attempts to determine the crystal structure of solid fluorine using X-rays ended with explosions 50 years ago. A research team has now clarified the actual structure of the fluorine using neutrons from the Heinz Maier Leibnitz Research Neutron Source (FRM II).

Part 2 of the series "Under lock and key at Münster University": the vacuum machine at the Institute of Physics is used to investigate spin phenomena The yellow stickers can already be seen from a distance: "Laser beam", "High voltage - danger to life", "No unauthorized access". The locked door with the warning notices is located at the end of a long, dark corridor on the fourth floor of the Institute of Physics at the University of Münster.

One of the greatest global challenges is the efficient use of renewable sources in order to meet the increasing demand for energy and feedstock chemicals in the future. In this context, biomass is a promising alternative to existing fossil sources such as coal or oil. Cellulose plays a decisive role here because it accounts for the largest fraction of the natural carbon storage.