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Physics
Physics
Roadrunner supercomputer puts research at a new scale
June 12 — Less than a week after Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Roadrunner supercomputer began operating at world-record petaflop/s data-processing speeds, Los Alamos researchers are already using the computer to mimic extremely complex neurological processes.
Collaboration Yields 'The Right Glasses' for Observing Mystery Behavior in Electrons
December 13 — In collaboration with the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at Los Alamos, an international team of researchers has, for the first time, viewed on a nanoscale the formation of mysterious metallic puddles that facilitate the transition of an electrically insulating material into an electrically conducting one.
Frontiers in Science Lecture Series Mixes it Up
May 17 — Robert Ecke, a Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist, will discuss “The Turbulent World: How Nature Mixes Things Up” at a Frontiers in Science Public Lecture Series, beginning Monday (May 21).
Genome Institute Reaches Milestone with a Mighty Microbe
May 8 — Los Alamos scientists working as part of the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (JGI) recently finished the genetic code of Shewanella baltica OS185 as its 100th genomic sequence.
Contemplating the far away future of computing
March 20 — An unprecedented and multidisciplinary group of world-renowned scientists will gather this week in Santa Fe looking far into the future for the most promising ideas about what computers and computing may be like many decades from now.
Laboratory sponsors Santa Fe Neural Computation conference
February 16 — Understanding the computational power of the brain is the focus of a conference in Santa Fe next week sponsored by Los Alamos National Laboratory's Center for Nonlinear Studies and the New Mexico Institute for Advanced Studies (NMIAS).
Los Alamos scientists announce quantum cryptography advance
December 21 — Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder have demonstrated unconditionally secure quantum key distribution (QKD) over a record-setting 107 kilometers of optical fiber.
Nine Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists honored as American Physical Society Fellows
December 1 — Nine Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists were selected as Fellows of the American Physical Society (APS).
Learning the magnetic ropes
November 16 — At the Sun's edge, in a region called the heliosphere, magnetic fields and electrical currents align and twist themselves in massive three-dimensional structures called "magnetic flux ropes."
Sudbury Neutrino Observatory wins first Polanyi Award
November 15 — Scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory are part of an international collaboration of researchers at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) receiving the inaugural John C. Polanyi Award for its groundbreaking research on neutrinos.
Less expensive fuel cell may be possible
October 3 — Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a new class of hydrogen fuel-cell catalysts that exhibit promising activity and stability.
Los Alamos scientist to speak about optical refrigeration
September 18 — Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Richard Epstein will describe the unusual and counterintuitive practice of using lasers to cool certain materials at a "Frontiers in Science" series lecture in Albuquerque.
Plasma assisted engines fuel efficient, cleaner
August 29 — Gasoline, diesel, and turbine engines could soon burn cleaner or be more fuel efficient through the application of Plasma Assisted Combustion, a technology originated and developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and now poised to enter the marketplace.
Seeing the unseen universe
July 31 — A new method for incorporating astronomical observational data into computer simulations promises to be a significant advance in enabling future cosmological surveys aimed at understanding dark energy and dark matter.
New technologies enhance quantum cryptography
February 2 — A team of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists, in collaboration with researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo., and Albion College, in Albion, Mich., have achieved quantum key distribution (QKD) at telecommunications industry wavelengths in a 50-kilometer (31 mile) optical fiber.
The little beam that could: Laser-driven ion beams offer multiple uses
January 31 — Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno, Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Germany, and the Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics in Germany, have developed a new method for using a laser beam to accelerate ions.
High energy gamma rays may emanate in the Milky Way
December 14 — Los Alamos scientists have evidence from the Laboratory's Milagro telescope that TeV (one trillion electron volts) gamma rays, the most energetic form of electromagnetic radiation known, can originate in the plane of the Milky Way galaxy.
Los Alamos to host international accelerator conference
July 11 — Los Alamos National Laboratory will host an international conference on particle accelerator technology that could draw up to 1,500 scientists and engineers from all over the world.
Nuclear physics for stockpile stewardship focus of talk April 26 at Laboratory's Bradbury Science Museum
April 21 — Nuclear physics for stockpile stewardship and homeland security is the subject of a talk April 26 by Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist Anna Hayes. The talk is at noon in the Bradbury Science Museum downtown and is free and open to the public.
Scientists propose new method for studying ion channel kinetics
April 18 — Scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a new method for the study of ion channel gating kinetics.
Successful Los Alamos experiment supports weapon maintenance
April 4 — Using the world's most powerful flash X-ray machine, Los Alamos National Laboratory on Friday successfully detonated and captured a high-resolution X-ray image of a mock-up of imploding nuclear weapon components.
Scientists develop split green for tagging protein
January 3 — University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a new protein tagging and detection system based on a process for "splitting" a green fluorescent protein.
Los Alamos quantum cryptography team is co-winner of prestigious European research prize
December 7 — Los Alamos researchers and other members of a multi-nation collaboration that is developing a revolutionary technology for information security have captured half of the European Union's Descartes Prize for Research.
Optical fibers and a theory of things that go bump in the light
September 14 — University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a theory describing light pulse dynamics in optical fibers that explains how an interplay of noise, line imperfections and pulse collisions lead to the deterioration of information in optical fiber lines. The theory will help to enhance the performance necessary for high-speed optical communication systems like video on demand and ultra-broadband Internet, and the research has helped establish a new field of inquiry -- the statistical physics of optical communications.
Exploring the noisy nature of atoms
September 2 — University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have demonstrated a way to use the random fluctuations that exist naturally in all magnetic systems to perform magnetic resonance studies without disturbing the system's natural state.
Detecting the spin of a single electron
August 10 — University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory and at the University of California, Los Angeles have demonstrated the ability to detect the spin of a single electron in a standard silicon transistor. The advance could help facilitate the direct, rather than theoretical, study of the physics of electron spin decoherence, which is a critical step toward manipulating and monitoring the spin of a single electron.
Mapping the Evolution of a Virus
July 16 — A University of California scientist working at Los Alamos National Laboratory with collaborators from the University of Cambridge (England) and the World Health Organization National Influenza Center at Erasmus Medical Center, (Rotterdam, Netherlands) have developed a computer modeling method for mapping the evolution of the influenza virus. The method could soon help medical researchers worldwide develop a better understanding of certain mutations in influenza and other viruses that allow diseases to dodge the human immune system.
Scientists demonstrate quantum teleportation with atoms
June 17 — Researchers at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, in collaboration with a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, announced today the first demonstration of the teleportation of a quantum state from one trapped atom to another located 8 microns -- slightly less than a thousandth of an inch -- away.
Scientists provide new understanding of manganites
June 3 — University of California researchers working at Los Alamos National Laboratory recently unveiled a new theory explaining the strange coexistence of metallic and insulating phases in the crystals of a mineral called perovskite manganite.
Scientists model the dynamics of DNA transcription
May 18 — In a collaboration with colleagues at Harvard Medical School, University of California researchers working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a model and diagnostic tools to simulate the dynamics of DNA.
Scientists explore complexities of sea ice from high desert venue
May 10 — For nearly a decade, University of California researchers working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have been upgrading and fine-tuning a sea ice modeling program created at the Laboratory.
Los Alamos helps industry by simulating circuit failures from cosmic rays
May 6 — Life today runs more and more on circuits. Electrons racing through increasingly tiny transistors now control our airplanes, deposit money in our checking accounts and keep our houses warm.
Researchers untangle complex network systems
May 5 — By exploring the tangled nature of complex network systems, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Houston may have found a way to help scientists and engineers better understand dynamic processes on complex networks, such as the spread of infectious diseases, cascading massive electrical power failures, sources of vehicle traffic congestion on metropolitan roadways and information flow on the Internet. "
Ultra-cold neutron source at Los Alamos confirmed as world's most intense
May 3 — Some slow, cold visitors stopped by Los Alamos National Laboratory last week, and their arrival could prove a godsend to physicists seeking a better theory of everything.
Scientists announce cosmic ray theory breakthrough
April 28 — University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have proposed a new theory to explain the movement of vast energy fields in giant radio galaxies (GRGs). The theory could be the basis for a whole new understanding of the ways in which cosmic rays -- and their signature radio waves -- propagate and travel through intergalactic space.
Hot dry rock goes supercritical
April 21 — By proposing a method for using carbon dioxide under high pressure to extract energy from geothermal reservoirs, a University of California scientist working at Los Alamos National Laboratory has put a new twist on a historic Laboratory project. The proposed invention has the potential to take global geothermal energy science in new and exciting directions.
Plasma combustion technology could dramatically improve fuel efficiency
December 22 — Imagine a jet engine able to cleanly burn cheap, plentiful diesel fuel, or a car able to run on gasoline very efficiently and produce practically no emissions. Three Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers are imagining just these things and are embarking on a new experimental roadway that may someday arrive at this reality.
Backhaus named top young innovator by Technology Review magazine
September 15 — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Technology Review magazine today announced that Los Alamos National Laboratory staff member Scott Backhaus is one of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators for 2003.
Scientists explore complex nature of superconductivity
August 21 — Researchers from the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) at Los Alamos National Laboratory believe they have discovered evidence to support leading theories about the underlying mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity. Through research in high magnetic fields, they hope to have made one more step toward a complete understanding of this complex phenomenon.
New Supernova models take on third dimension
June 4 — Astrophysicists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, have created the first 3-D computer simulations of the spectacular explosion that marks the death of a massive star. Presented to the American Astronomical Society meeting in Albuquerque, N.M., today, the research by Michael Warren and Chris Fryer eliminates some of the doubts about earlier 2-D modeling and paves the way for rapid advances on other, more exotic questions about supernovae.
New theory straightens out sun's curved magnetic fields
May 28 — A long-accepted model of the sun's magnetic fields holds that the fields radiate outwards from the sun into space in great curving arcs in the sun's equatorial regions and growing ever more radial at higher solar latitudes. That model has been proven only partly right by direct measurements of magnetic fields by the Ulysses solar orbiter and other spacecraft.
A nickel's worth of foil helps make antimatter
April 23 — Making antimatter that can't be seen and that otherwise might not exist, filtering it through a nickel's worth of aluminum foil and then capturing it in a "trap" without walls, has the attention of Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist Michael Holzscheiter. He speaks today at a joint international meeting of the American Physical Society and the American Astrological Society in Albuquerque, N.M.
Laboratory scientist receives prestigious nuclear physics award
January 3 — Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist, J. David Bowman has been awarded the Tom W. Bonner Prize in nuclear physics. Granted annually by the American Physical Society, the Bonner Prize is the top American nuclear physics award. This is the second time that a Los Alamos scientist has received this honor.
Center for Nonlinear Studies holds 20th annual conference
May 30 — Los Alamos National Laboratory's Center for Nonlinear Studies will hold its 20th Annual International Conference on June 5-8 at the J. Robert Oppenheimer Study Center on the Laboratory campus.
Seven Laboratory researchers named APS Fellows
January 14 — Seven researchers at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory have been named Fellows of the American Physical Society (APS). This year, Los Alamos had more researchers inducted as APS Fellows than any institution in the world. The new Los Alamos APS Fellows are Greg Canavan, Alan Glasser, Terrance Goldman, Richard Hughes, Michael E. Jones, Albert Migliori and Seppo Penttila.
Director selects newest Laboratory Fellows
November 1 — Los Alamos National Laboratory Director John Browne has named Aloysius Arko, Shiyi Chen, Shimshon Gottesfeld, Steve Lamoreaux, and Robert Weaver to the position of Laboratory Fellow, the Laboratory's highest scientific honor
Pegasus II primed for parting shot
September 17 — Scientists at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory are preparing to pull the plug on the powerful Pegasus II pulsed-power capacitor bank, but not before they get one final shot from their trusted war horse.
Director's Postdoctoral Fellow Wins Prestigious Otto Hahn Award
June 2 — Konstantin Kladko of the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory has been awarded the prestigious Otto Hahn Medal for Young Scientists by the Max Planck Society of Germany.
Waste not want not -- an engine for the future
May 27 — Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a remarkably simple, energy-efficient engine with no moving parts. Greg Swift and Greg Swift have created a thermoacoustic Stirling heat engine.
Frauenfelder named to Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
March 10 — Hans Frauenfelder, director of the Center for Nonlinear Studies at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, was recently elected to the position of Foreign Member to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden.
Proteins serve as models for understanding complex physical systems
January 23 — At the 1999 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science one of the presentations made by a Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist will discuss the bridge between biology and physics: using proteins and other biomolecules as models for studying complex physical systems.
Decoherence is our ticket out of the quantum world
January 24 — The world of quantum mechanics is exceedingly weird, one in which waves can act as if they were particles, particles can spontaneously pass from one side of a barrier to the other and gedanken cats can be simultaneously dead and alive
From cells to whales: universal scaling laws in biology
January 25 — Working with biologists James Brown of the University of New Mexico and Brian Enquist of the Santa Fe Institute, Los Alamos scientist Geoffrey West has put together a set of seemingly simple principles to form a theory that explains the universal scaling laws of biology
Cosmic particles find potential role in homeland security
March 20 — Fragments of cosmic rays could someday lead to the detection of smuggled nuclear materials, according to researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
LSND strengthens evidence for neutrino oscillations
December 4 — A collaboration of university scientists and researchers working at Los Alamos National Laboratory has published the final paper from the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) experiment. The results, based on six years of data collection, strengthen previously published, but controversial LSND results and provide further evidence of neutrino oscillation and mass.
Laboratory's Atlas machine begins experimental work
September 27 — Scientists at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory performed the first liner implosion shot on the Atlas pulsed power facility recently. This successful experiment demonstrated that the Atlas facility is ready to support the Laboratory's research work relating to the certification of the nuclear weapons stockpile.
Bubble science benefits deep divers
May 30 — Studying the physics of bubble formation in the human body during deep, long duration diving has led a researcher at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory to discover a new system of dive tables that govern how deep and how long a diver may safely stay down.
Los Alamos develops technology to ease transition to HDTV
February 21 — Scientists at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a technology that could make the coming transition from current analog television to high-definition television a whole lot easier. The technology is a new transmission algorithm capable of compressing a HDTV data stream to the point where the HDTV and analog TV signals can be broadcast over the same channel.
Los Alamos scientists unravel the nature of knot
February 16 — Scientists at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory are watching simple knots untie themselves in order to gain a better understanding of how granular materials flow and how filamentary objects like DNA molecules tangle.
Six Laboratory researchers named APS Fellows
January 10 — Six researchers at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory have been named Fellows of the American Physical Society. The new Los Alamos APS Fellows are Lev Bulaevskii, Paul Ginsparg, Beverly Hartline, Michael J. Leitch, Ferenc Mezei and Darryl Smith
Fusion in a pop can?
November 20 — Researchers at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M., are investigating a way to create fusion energy in a cylinder roughly the size of a soda can.
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