An unexpected superconductor was beginning to look like a fluke, but a new theory and a second discovery have revealed that emergent quasiparticles may be behind the effect. Read more here on quantamagazine.org.
SI base units redefinition
A redefinition of SI base units is scheduled to come into force on 20 May 2019. The kilogram, ampere, kelvin, and mole will then be defined by setting exact numerical values for the Planck constant (h), the elementary electric charge (e), the Boltzmann constant (k), and the Avogadro constant (NA), respectively. Read more wikipedia Nature 550, 313 (2017) PhysicsWorld — SI gets a makeover The…
Black hole pictured for first time — in spectacular detail
Astronomers have finally glimpsed the blackness of a black hole. By stringing together a global network of radio telescopes, they have for the first time produced a picture of an event horizon — a black hole’s perilous edge — against a backdrop of swirling light. For more details see: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01155-0 Image of a black hole at the centre of the galaxy M87 obtained by the…
Chirality yields colossal photocurrent
The Weyl semimetal Tantalum Arsenide has a colossal bulk photovoltaic effect – an intrinsic, or non-linear, generation of current from light more than ten times larger than ever previously achieved, according to researchers from Boston College, the University of California Los Angeles, and Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. Credit: Kenneth Burch/Boston College Read more here. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0297-4