KATRIN experiment places upper limit on the mass of the neutrino

14 Feb 2022

Physicist Björn Lehnert from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory talks to Richard Blaustein about what a new precise measurement of the neutrino means for particle physics

Weighty matters: physicist Björn Lehnert works on the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology in Germany. He performed parts of the analysis using the Cori supercomputer at Berkeley Lab’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center. (Courtesy: Björn Lehnert)

Based at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US, Björn Lehnert is a neutrino physicist who originally did a PhD at the Technische Universität Dresden in Germany on the GERDA experiment.

 

Deep learning identifies head-on collisions in LHC data

23 Jun 2022

Sensory overload: simulation of a proton-proton collision at the Large Hadron Collider. (Courtesy: CERN)

Deep learning could hold the key to making sense of proton collisions generated in the world’s premier particle accelerator. That is the message from physicists in Europe and the US who have shown how an algorithm developed for language translation can efficiently filter out noise from data taken by detectors at at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

 

How climate change is affecting human and natural systems, test your knowledge of artificial intelligence

30 Jun 2022 Hamish Johnston

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast we explore how climate change is affecting human and natural systems with Noah Diffenbaugh, who leads the Climate and Earth System Dynamics Group at Stanford University in California.

 

Wearable MEG system evaluates epilepsy in children

06 Jun 2022

A better fit: Non-epileptic child with the wearable OPM set-up used in the study (left). OPMs fixed onto a conventional EEG cap using homemade 3D-printed mounts sewn onto the cap (right). (Courtesy: Odile Feys)

Optically-pumped magnetometers (OPMs) are a promising emerging technology that could make magnetoencephalography (MEG) more accurate and tolerable for patients who have difficulty remaining motionless while the exam is performed – such as young children.

 

The glass that offers Ukraine hope: Oksana Kondratyeva on the interface between art, science and architecture

23 Jun 2022 James Dacey

Taken from the June 2022 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app.

Art of the matter An example of some of Ukrainian glass artist Oksana Kondratyeva’s work, which was created using a hydrofluoric-acid-etched flashed glass technique. (Courtesy: Oksana Kondratyeva)

Just three days before the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the power plant’s administrative building received a splash of colour. A nine-part stained-glass series was installed depicting the history of humankind’s relationship with energy, from Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, to scientists splitting the atom.

 

Quantum approximate optimization algorithm can be implemented using Rydberg atoms

14 Apr 2022

Quantum optimization team: from left to right are Kilian Ender, Clemens Dlaska, Wolfgang Lechner, Rick van Bijnen, Andreas Kruckenhauser and Glen Bigan Mbeng

Quantum computers are often discussed as a technology of the future, but many devices exist already. Because there is no consensus on a single, universal quantum computer design, however, determining the best use for each existing device can be daunting. Recently, researchers at the University of Innsbruck in Austria started to address part of that question by proposing a new way to implement a quantum optimization algorithm by using extremely cold atoms.

 

Bridging the knowledge gap on AI and machine-learning technologies

22 Jun 2022

Medical physicists explored a range of education and training scenarios for AI and machine learning at last month’s ESTRO Annual Congress

ESTRO 2022: Every radiotherapy physicist should know about AI/machine learning…but how much? (Courtesy: iStock/imaginima)

How much is enough? How much is too much? These are questions that cut to the heart of a complex issue currently preoccupying senior medical physicists when it comes to the training and continuing professional development (CPD) of the radiotherapy physics workforce.