TYB
"air pods"
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
Aug 14, 2023
The Ring Nebula from Webb
The Ring Nebula (M57), is more complicated than it appears through a small telescope. The easily visible central ring is about one light-year across, but this remarkable exposure by the James Webb Space Telescope explores this popular nebula with a deep exposure in infrared light. Strings of gas, like eyelashes around a cosmic eye, become evident around the Ring in this digitally enhanced featured image in assigned colors. These long filaments may be caused by shadowing of knots of dense gas in the ring from energetic light emitted within. The Ring Nebula is an elongated planetary nebula, a type of gas cloud created when a Sun-like star evolves to throw off its outer atmosphere to become a white dwarf star. The central oval in the Ring Nebula lies about 2,500 light-years away toward the musical constellation Lyra.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
'Quantum superchemistry' observed for the 1st time ever
Aug 13, 2023
For the first time, researchers have observed "quantum superchemistry" in the lab.
Long theorized but never before seen, quantum superchemistry is a phenomenon in which atoms or molecules in the same quantum state chemically react more rapidly than do atoms or molecules that are in different quantum states. A quantum state is a set of characteristics of a quantum particle, such as spin (angular momentum) or energy level.
To observe this new super-charged chemistry, researchers had to coax not just atoms, but entire molecules, into the same quantum state. When they did, however, they saw that the chemical reactions occurred collectively, rather than individually. And the more atoms were involved, meaning the greater the density of the atoms, the quicker the chemical reactions went.
"What we saw lined up with the theoretical predictions," Cheng Chin, a professor of physics at the University of Chicago who led the research, said in a statement. "This has been a scientific goal for 20 years, so it's a very exciting era."
The team reported their findings July 24 in the journal Nature Physics. They observed the quantum superchemistry in cesium atoms that paired up to form molecules. First, they cooled cesium gas to near absolute zero, the point at which all motion ceases. In this chilled state, they could ease each cesium atom into the same quantum state. They then altered the surrounding magnetic field to kick off the chemical bonding of the atoms.
These atoms reacted more quickly together to form two-atom cesium molecules than when the researchers conducted the experiment in normal, non-super-cooled gas. The resulting molecules also shared the same quantum state, at least over several milliseconds, after which the atoms and molecules start to decay, no longer oscillating together.
"[W]ith this technique, you can steer the molecules into an identical state," Chin said.
The researchers found that though the end result of the reaction was a two-atom molecule, three atoms were actually involved, with a spare atom interacting with the two bonding atoms in a way that facilitated the reaction.
This could be useful for applications in quantum chemistry and quantum computing, as molecules in the same quantum state share physical and chemical properties. The experiments are part of the field of ultracold chemistry, which aims to gain incredibly detailed control over chemical reactions by taking advantage of the quantum interactions that occur in these cold states. Ultracold particles could be used as qubits, or the quantum bits that carry information in quantum computing, for example.
The study used only simple molecules, so the next goal is to attempt to create quantum superchemistry with more complex molecules, Chin said.
"How far we can push our understanding and our knowledge of quantum engineering, into more complicated molecules, is a major research direction in this scientific community," he said.
https://www.space.com/quantum-superchemistry-observed-for-the-1st-time-ever
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-023-02139-8.epdf
China makes Chang'e 5 moon samples open to international researchers
Aug 14, 2023
China is making lunar material collected by its Chang'e 5 moon mission available to research proposals by international scientists for the first time.
The Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) outlined opportunities and set the rules for future management of international cooperation in moon samples and scientific data in a statement on its webpages on Aug. 2.
The Chang'e 5 lunar sample return mission launched in November 2020 and returned 23 days later with 3.81 pounds (1.73 kilograms) of lunar material collected from the Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms") region.
The samples have long been open to proposals from Chinese research institutions. Studies using them have made a series of discoveries, including clues regarding the nature of lunar volcanism and an unexpected amount of water locked inside lunar glass beads. But now the precious samples will be more widely accessible.
Proposals can be submitted to CNSA and will be reviewed every six months. CNSA's Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center (LESEC) will be involved in research management, while the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the main curatorial agency of lunar samples, will oversee distribution and return of lunar samples.
China is planning to follow up Chang'e 5 with an even more complex and ambitious sample return mission next year. Launching around May 2024, Chang'e 6 will attempt to collect the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon.
The aim will be to obtain material from Apollo Crater containing rocks originating in the lunar mantle.
https://www.space.com/china-change-5-moon-samples-open-international-researchers