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Particle Physics
Whether you run the clock forward or backward, most of us expect the laws of physics to be the same. A 2012 experiment showed otherwise.
No matter what it is that we discover about reality, the fact that reality itself can be understood remains the most amazing fact of all.
Will we build a successor collider to the LHC? Someday, we'll reach the true limit of what experiments can probe. But that won't be the end.
Can the top quark, the shortest-lived particle of all, bind with anything else? Yes it can! New results at the LHC demonstrate toponium exists.
On Earth, our particle accelerators can reach tera-electron-volt (TeV) energies. Particles from space are thousands of times as energetic.
When theory and experiment disagree, it could mean new physics. This time, they solved the muon g-2 puzzle, and saved the Standard Model.
The long-elusive neutrino was shown to have a bizarre property no one expected: mass. New, tightest-ever limits have profound implications.
If it weren't for the intricate rules of quantum physics, we wouldn't have formed neutral atoms "only" ~380,000 years after the Big Bang.
1hr 19mins
“We don't have enough knowledge to precisely calculate what is going to happen, and so we assign probabilities to it, which reflects our ignorance of the situation.”
The laws of physics obey certain symmetries and defy others. It's theoretically tempting to add new ones, but reality doesn't agree.
The laws of nature are almost perfectly symmetric between matter and antimatter, and yet our Universe is made ~100% of matter only. But why?
Empty space itself, the quantum vacuum, could be in either a true, stable state or a false, unstable state. Our fate depends on the answer.
Planets can create nuclear power on their own, naturally, without any intelligence or technology. Earth already did: 1.7 billion years ago.
25 years ago, our concordance picture of cosmology, also known as ΛCDM, came into focus. 25 years later, are we about to break that model?
22mins
"Quantum mechanics and quantum entanglement are becoming very real. We're beginning to be able to access this tremendously complicated configuration space to do useful things."
Over a century after we first unlocked the secrets of the quantum universe, people find it more puzzling than ever. Can we make sense of it?
Under extreme conditions, matter takes on properties that lead to remarkable, novel possibilities. Topological superconductors included.
Perhaps the most well-known equation in all of physics is Einstein's E = mc². Does mass or energy increase, then, near the speed of light?
When we divide matter into its fundamental, indivisible components, are those particles truly point-like, or is there a finite minimum size?
Matter is made up largely of atoms, where atomic nuclei can contain up to 100 protons or more. But how were the heaviest elements made?
Cosmic inflation, proposed back in 1980, is a theory that precedes and sets up the hot Big Bang. After thorough testing, is it still valid?
A proton is the only stable example of a particle composed of three quarks. But inside the proton, gluons, not quarks, dominate.
The electromagnetic force can be attractive, repulsive, or "bendy," but is always mediated by the photon. How does one particle do it all?
Despite no experimental evidence showing that gravitons exist, they remain a respectable concept in the world of professional physicists.
Electromagnetism, both nuclear forces, and even the Higgs force are mediated by known bosons. What about gravity? Does it require gravitons?
Matt Strassler's journey into fundamental physics culminates in a brilliant explanation of the Higgs field. Enjoy this exclusive interview.
By improving quantum error correction, quantum computations are now faster than ever. But parallel universes? That's utter nonsense here.
From a hot, dense, uniform state in its earliest moments, our entire known Universe arose. These unavoidable steps made it all possible.
50 years ago, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes emit radiation and eventually decay away. That fate may now apply to everything.
We have very specific predictions for how particles ought to decay. When we look at B-mesons all together, something vital doesn't add up.