Hacker News with Generative AI: Physics

The Blowtorch Theory: A new model for structure formation in the universe (theeggandtherock.com)
We have known since the 1970s that our universe has a complex structure. Dense nodes, packed with galaxies and gas, are connected by long, thin, filaments of galaxies and gas, all surrounded by largely empty voids. This structure resembles the neural network in a brain, and is known as the Cosmic Web. Its extraordinary scale and complexity was not predicted in advance of observation, and came as a huge surprise. So, how did all this unexpected structure form?

Cosmology, Astrophysics, Physics, Universe Formation

187 points by surprisetalk 30 days ago | 170 comments

Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill (quantamagazine.org)
Black hole and Big Bang singularities break our best theory of gravity. A trilogy of theorems hints that physicists must go to the ends of space and time to find a fix.

Physics, Black Holes, Cosmology, General Relativity

38 points by nsoonhui 31 days ago | 59 comments

Developing first petahertz-speed phototransistor in ambient conditions (news.arizona.edu)
A team of scientists, including researchers from the University of Arizona, are working to make that possible.

Physics, Technology, Nanotechnology, Research

22 points by joak 34 days ago | 5 comments

MIT physicists discover a new type of superconductor that's also a magnet (news.mit.edu)
Magnets and superconductors go together like oil and water — or so scientists have thought. But a new finding by MIT physicists is challenging this century-old assumption.

Physics, Superconductors, Magnetism, Materials Science

16 points by pseudolus 34 days ago | 1 comments

Scientists discover class of crystals with properties that may be revolutionary (nanotechnologyworld.org)

Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Physics

8 points by MaysonL 34 days ago | 0 comments

'Golden Dome' plan has a major obstacle: Physics (sciencenews.org)
In sports, the best offense is often a good defense. It’s not clear if the same applies in nuclear war.

Physics, Nuclear War, Science

10 points by Anon84 34 days ago | 2 comments

Autopsy of an LHC Beam Dump (home.cern)
For the first time at CERN, an autopsy has been carried out on a radioactive beam dump.

Science, Physics, CERN

54 points by voxadam 38 days ago | 7 comments

AI in my plasma physics research didn’t go the way I expected (understandingai.org)
I’m excited to publish this guest post by Nick McGreivy, a physicist who last year earned a PhD from Princeton. Nick used to be optimistic that AI could accelerate physics research. But when he tried to apply AI techniques to real physics problems the results were disappointing.

Artificial Intelligence, Physics, Research, Academia

366 points by qianli_cs 39 days ago | 299 comments

CERN gears up to ship antimatter across Europe (arstechnica.com)
There's a lot of matter around, which ensures that any antimatter produced experiences a very short lifespan. Studying antimatter, therefore, has been extremely difficult. But that's changed a bit in recent years, as CERN has set up a facility that produces and traps antimatter, allowing for extensive studies of its properties, including entire anti-atoms.

Science, Physics, Antimatter

263 points by ben_w 39 days ago | 170 comments

First successful demonstration of quantum error correction of qudits (phys.org)
In the world of quantum computing, the Hilbert space dimension—the measure of the number of quantum states that a quantum computer can access—is a prized possession.

Quantum Computing, Science, Physics

11 points by saikatsg 40 days ago | 1 comments

The Universe Is 'Suspiciously' Like a Computer Simulation, Physicist Says (sciencealert.com)
We have long taken it for granted that gravity is one of the basic forces of nature – one of the invisible threads that keeps the universe stitched together. But suppose that this is not true. Suppose the law of gravity is simply an echo of something more fundamental: a byproduct of the universe operating under a computer-like code.

Physics, Simulation, Universe, Science

8 points by cpncrunch 40 days ago | 5 comments

Show HN: Python Simulator of David Deutsch’s “Constructor Theory of Time” (github.com/gvelesandro)
A Python implementation of David Deutsch’s Constructor Theory framework, exposing key concepts—from simple Tasks and branching substrates to quantum-gravity and electromagnetism—entirely in code. Includes a “universal constructor” that can bootstrap itself from a list of Tasks, demonstrating self-replication and the power of Constructor Theory.

Physics, Python, Software, Simulation, Theory

84 points by SandroG 40 days ago | 11 comments

The Stochastic-Quantum Correspondence (2023) (inspirehep.net)

Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Science

5 points by lisper 41 days ago | 0 comments

Dead Stars Don’t Radiate (wordpress.com)
Three guys claim that any heavy chunk of matter emits Hawking radiation, even if it’s not a black hole:

Physics, Black Holes, Astronomy, Radiation

246 points by thechao 41 days ago | 148 comments

No One Can Explain Why Planes Stay in the Air (2020) (scientificamerican.com)
In December 2003, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first flight of the Wright brothers, the New York Times ran a story entitled “Staying Aloft; What Does Keep Them Up There?” The point of the piece was a simple question: What keeps planes in the air? To answer it, the Times turned to John D. Anderson, Jr., curator of aerodynamics at the National Air and Space Museum and author of several textbooks in the field.

Physics, Aviation, History

12 points by Tomte 41 days ago | 22 comments

Why bad philosophy is stopping progress in physics (nature.com)
Physicists have developed an obsession for finding hints of physics ‘beyond’ what we already know.

Physics, Philosophy, Science

6 points by mellosouls 42 days ago | 2 comments

New 'Superdiffusion' Proof Probes the Mysterious Math of Turbulence (quantamagazine.org)
Turbulence is one of the greatest mysteries of modern science.

Mathematics, Physics, Science, Fluid Dynamics

51 points by rbanffy 42 days ago | 11 comments

How the Universe Differs from Its Mirror Image (quantamagazine.org)
When Alice went through the looking glass, she found a bizarre world indeed.

Physics, Cosmology, Quantum Mechanics

6 points by pseudolus 43 days ago | 0 comments

Why bad philosophy is stopping progress in physics (nature.com)
Physicists have developed an obsession for finding hints of physics ‘beyond’ what we already know.

Physics, Philosophy, Science

19 points by bookofjoe 43 days ago | 11 comments

Physicists snap the first images of "free-range" atoms (news.mit.edu)
MIT physicists have captured the first images of individual atoms freely interacting in space.

Physics, Science, Atomic Physics, Microscopy

7 points by gmays 43 days ago | 0 comments

Researchers establish fundamental limit on how light bosonic dark matter can be (phys.org)
In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, scientists have estimated a new lower bound on the mass of ultra-lightweight bosonic dark matter particles.

Dark Matter, Physics, Science

17 points by rbanffy 43 days ago | 3 comments

The making of the first 'electrostate' (pressreader.com)

Science, Physics, Materials Science

6 points by xnhbx 43 days ago | 3 comments

Remembering IBM Researcher Dick Garwin (research.ibm.com)
The longtime IBM researcher and Fellow Emeritus, who advised every president from Eisenhower to Obama, has passed away at 97. His work in physics was as varied as it was influential.

Obituary, Physics, IBM, Research, History

17 points by rbanffy 44 days ago | 1 comments

Various Things in MetaPost (2019) (habr.com)
What is the best tool to use for drawing vector pictures? For me and probably for many others, the answer is pretty obvious: Illustrator, or, maybe, Inkscape. At least that's what I thought when I was asked to draw about eight hundred diagrams for a physics textbook.

Vector Graphics, Software, Technical Articles, Physics, Illustration

41 points by Tomte 44 days ago | 5 comments

How the Universe Differs from Its Mirror Image (quantamagazine.org)
When Alice went through the looking glass, she found a bizarre world indeed.

Physics, Cosmology, Mirror Symmetry

4 points by rbanffy 44 days ago | 0 comments

Recursive Becoming: Theory of Everything (twitter.com)
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.

Physics, Recursion

11 points by dvcoolster 45 days ago | 6 comments

Finding Beauty and Truth in Mundane Occurrences (quantamagazine.org)
The physicist Sidney Nagel delights in solving mysteries of the universe that are hiding in plain sight.

Physics, Science, Beauty, Observation

18 points by rbanffy 45 days ago | 2 comments

Universe expected to decay in 10⁷⁸ years, much sooner than previously thought (phys.org)
The universe is decaying much faster than thought. This is shown by calculations of three Dutch scientists on the so-called Hawking radiation. They calculate that the last stellar remnants take about 1078 years to perish. That is much shorter than the previously postulated 101100 years.

Physics, Astronomy, Science, Universe

225 points by pseudolus 46 days ago | 309 comments

Why are coffee stains darker at the edges? (why.is)
There are many things around us that are so taken for granted that it never occurs to us to give them a second thought until we look a little closer. Coffee stains are one such thing. When coffee dries it leaves stains that are dark at the edges and lighter inside. The explanation may not be obvious but it is in fact rather simple.