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A quark like no other

A University of Iowa physicist is searching for the 'bottom quark', a subatomic particle expected to arise from a Higgs boson's decay. Evidence of this particle could confirm the existence of the Higgs boson, a theory about how the universe works.

Three questions climate science must answer

Researchers identify three critical areas for climate research to tackle new frontiers of climate study. They include understanding the fate of carbon in the atmosphere and accurately modeling regional climate changes. These efforts require international collaboration and significant computational resources.

SourceUniversity of New South Wales·JournalNature Climate Change·DateJan 16, 2017

New clues in the hunt for the sources of cosmic neutrinos

Researchers found intriguing contradictions between IceCube neutrino data and Fermi gamma-ray data, suggesting 'hidden accelerator' origins of high-energy cosmic neutrinos. Proton-photon interactions may block high-energy gamma rays from escaping, enabling the use of neutrinos as new probes of dense astrophysical environments.

SourcePenn State·JournalPhysical Review Letters·DateFeb 17, 2016

UMD discovery could enable portable particle accelerators

Physicists at the University of Maryland have accelerated electron beams to nearly the speed of light using millijoules of laser pulse energy, a significant improvement over previous methods. This breakthrough could lead to ultra-compact machines useful for materials science and medical imaging, overcoming barriers in cost, complexity,...

SourceUniversity of Maryland·JournalPhysical Review Letters·DateNov 5, 2015