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Astronomers Capture First-Ever Spacetime Vortex Caused by a Spinning Black Hole Scientists Report Breakthrough Observation in Rare Cosmic Event The cosmos has delivered a remarkable surprise to a team of researchers long in pursuit of one of the night sky's most elusive events. Their findings, published in Science Advances, reveal the first-ever recorded sighting of a spiraling vortex within spacetime, generated by a rapidly spinning black hole. This phenomenon — known as Lense-Thirring precession, or frame-dragging — explains how a black hole twists the fabric of spacetime around it, pulling nearby stars along and causing their orbits to wobble. Discovery of the Swirling Vortex Effect How AT2020afhd Revealed a Hidden Spacetime Distortion The research team, led by the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, analyzed AT2020afhd — a tidal disruption event in which a star was ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. The violent encounter created a swi...

Rare Optical Flare AT2022zod May Be an Unusual Tidal Disruption Event, Astronomers Say International Team Investigates a Powerful and Mysterious Flare Study Posted on arXiv Reveals New Clues to a Rare Phenomenon An international team of astronomers has examined a brief but intense optical flare known as AT2022zod, uncovering evidence that it may represent an unusual tidal disruption event. Their results, posted on 1 December on the arXiv pre-print server, shed new light on this rare phenomenon. A tidal disruption event (TDE) occurs when a star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole and is torn apart by immense tidal forces. The shredded stellar material then spirals inward, producing radiation from the innermost regions of the accreting debris — a telltale hallmark of a TDE. A Mysterious Flare Observed in 2022 Optical Outburst Lasted Just Over a Month AT2022zod was observed as an optical flare lasting just over a month, from 13 October to 18 November 2022, with a rise of rough...

New Study Reveals Fresh Insights Into Milky Way's Chemical Evolution Research Published in MNRAS Sheds Light on Chemical Bimodality Fresh insights into how galaxies such as our Milky Way form, evolve and develop unexpected chemical signatures have emerged from a new study. Published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , the research investigates the origins of a long-standing mystery in our galaxy: the existence of two chemically distinct populations of stars, a phenomenon known as "chemical bimodality." Astronomers Identify Two Distinct Stellar Populations When astronomers examine stars in the Sun's neighbourhood, they consistently uncover two major groups distinguished by the relative amounts of iron (Fe) and magnesium (Mg) they contain. These groups trace separate sequences on chemical plots, even though they overlap in overall metallicity — an enduring puzzle that has intrigued researchers for decades. Simulations Reveal How Milky Way-Type Galaxi...

New ATLAS Analysis Reveals Strong Evidence of Higgs Boson Decay Into Muon-Antimuon Pair Higgs Boson Research Advances With New 3.4 σ  Findings Evidence Builds at CERN's Large Hadron Collider Although theorized for decades, the Higgs boson was only confirmed in 2012 at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Since that landmark discovery, scientists have continued to scrutinize it at the LHC. A new analysis from CERN researchers now brings together data from the last two runs of ATLAS — one of the LHC's main detectors — to present evidence that the Higgs boson can decay into a muon-antimuon pair. Published in Physical Review Letters, the study reports a combined significance of 3.4 standard deviations above background noise, surpassing the previous 3.0 standard-deviation result from CMS. The Higgs Mechanism and Particle Mass Understanding Mass Through Higgs Field Interactions Physicists have strong motivation for pursuing this specific Higgs boson decay. In the peculiar realm o...

New Quantum Gravity Study Suggests a Breakthrough Path Toward Unifying Physics Physicists Renew the Quest for the "Holy Grail" of Modern Physics Physicists have long pursued what many consider the discipline's "Holy Grail": a unified framework that brings particle physics and gravity under one roof. Quantum theory superbly captures the behaviour of the tiniest particles, while Einstein's general relativity explains gravity on the grandest scales. Yet the two leading pillars of modern physics still refuse to align. Ideas such as string theory, loop quantum gravity, canonical quantum gravity and asymptotically safe gravity all offer possible routes forward, each with its own set of strengths and shortcomings. What has been lacking, however, are clear, testable predictions — hard data capable of showing which theory most accurately reflects reality. A new study from TU Wien, published in Physical Review D, may have nudged us a little closer to that formidab...

Physicists Uncover Why Detecting Strong-to-Weak Symmetry Breaking May Be Impossible Understanding Symmetry and Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking Fundamental Concepts Behind Symmetry in Physics When a system changes but a key physical property remains constant, that property is known as a "symmetry." Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) happens when the system departs from this symmetry at most stable, lowest-energy state. Physicists have recently discovered that a new form of SSB can arise in open quantum systems — those influenced by quantum effects and capable of exchanging energy, particles or information with their surroundings. They found that symmetry in such systems may be classified as either "strong" or "weak." A strong symmetry means both the system and its environment individually uphold the symmetry, whereas a weak symmetry appears only when the two are considered together. When a strong symmetry gives way to weak one, entirely new phases of matter...

Scientists Propose Universal Law Explaining How Materials Break A New Rule for How Objects Shatter Why Physicists Study Broken Objects When a plate slips or a glass shatters, most of us think only of the mess and the cost of replacing it. But to certain physicists, those scattered fragments are a puzzle worth pondering: why do broken objects produce such a wide range of piece sizes? Emmanuel Villermaux of Aix-Marseille University and the University Institute of France now proposes a simple, elegant rule that describes how materials fracture — whether brittle solids, falling droplets, or bursting bubbles. Scientists have long believed that fragmentation follow a universal pattern. When the number of fragments within each size range is counted and plotted, the resulting distribution appears to take the same form, no matter what object has broken. A Formula for Fragmentation The Principle of Maximal Randomness Villermaux began by examining the sheer chaos unleashed when an object shatter...