Physical Review Letters

Magnetic fields spanning entire galaxies may have formed much faster than traditional theories predict. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Collapsed plasma may explain how magnetic fields formed rapidly in young galaxies

An article published in Physical Review Letters suggests that the collapse of plasma clouds and turbulent flows greatly accelerated the growth of ordered magnetic fields, potentially resolving the discrepancy between conventional models and observations of the Milky Way.
Weak gravitational waves from the early universe may hint at how dark matter first formed. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Gravitational waves from the early universe may have created dark matter

A new paper suggests that a weak background of stochastic gravitational waves from the early universe created low-mass particles that may have later become the dark matter that shapes galaxies and large cosmic structures.
Prof. Yair Shokef and student Tomer Siglov. Photo: Tel Aviv University Spokesperson

Can matter compute? New “mechanical Lego” from Tel Aviv University shows computation in matter without electronics

A study in Physical Review Letters presents a combinatorial design method for metamaterials: controlling motion states and “frustrated” loops, graded response to pressure, and even matrix-vector multiplication using only mechanical displacements.
Dark matter distorts space-time. Illustration: depositphotos.com

New code allows simulation of the “hidden life” of dark matter within galactic halos

Researchers at the Perimeter Institute have developed KiSS-SIDM, a computational tool that bridges intermediate regimes in a model of self-interacting dark matter, and may improve the understanding of core collapse and even the formation of black holes.
This artistic rendering depicts small, primordial black holes. In reality, such tiny black holes would struggle to form the accretion disks that would make them appear as they do here. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Physicists: Within a decade, we may see a primordial black hole exploding

New research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst indicates a probability of up to 90% for a primordial black hole to explode in the next decade – an event that could provide direct evidence of Hawking radiation and reveal the full list of all the universe's dark matter.