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First Observation of Anti-Kaonic Nuclei in Photon Beam Experiments

The LEPS2/Solenoid collaboration, composed of researchers from the Research Center for Nuclear Physics at Osaka University, Kyoto Sangyo University, the Research Center for Advanced Quantum Beam Science at Tohoku University, Korea University, Gifu University, the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, RIKEN, Kyoto University, the Institute of Physics at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, has for the first time observed nuclei containing anti-kaons in a photon beam experiment. This achievement provides new experimental evidence confirming the existence of anti-kaonic nuclei and offers important clues for understanding high-density nuclear matter and the internal structure of neutron stars. The research team conducted the experiment at the LEPS2 laser-electron photon facility at the large synchrotron radiation facility SPring-8 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan...

2026-08-07

University of Kansas Receives DOE Funding to Build New-Generation Detectors for CERN's Large Hadron Collider

A particle detector development project led by the University of Kansas has recently received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DOE EPSCoR). The project, funded at $1 million, will be used to design and build two High-Luminosity Zero Degree Calorimeters (HL-ZDC) for the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment (CMS) at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The four-year project is co-led by Michael Murray, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Kansas, and Christophe Royon, distinguished professor at the University of Kansas. Murray also serves as the project lead for the CMS High-Luminosity Zero Degree Calorimeter upgrade...

2026-08-06

Germany Achieves First Capture of Argon Nuclei at 30% Speed of Light with Electron Cooling

On August 3, researchers at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany successfully decelerated and captured fully ionized argon ions (^36Ar^18+) for the first time using the HITRAP highly charged ion trap facility. These ions, having lost all their electron shells, can be regarded as bare nuclei, with an initial velocity of approximately 30% of the speed of light. The research findings have been published in the journal Physical Review X. The interior of the radiofrequency resonator that slows down the ions is where highly charged ions are typically produced via particle accelerators and formed under strong electric fields and high-energy conditions. Since these ions are generated at extremely high velocities, they must first be stopped, captured, and cooled before precision physics measurements can be conducted. The research team stated that this experiment achieved, for the first time, the entire process from producing highly charged ions to storing them in a special trap for at least 11 seconds.

2026-08-04

New Progress in First-Principles Quantum Computing for Nuclear Structure

Recently, the research team at the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made new progress in quantum computing studies of first-principles nuclear structure for multi-fermion systems. The team developed a universal quantum-classical hybrid computing framework capable of calculating Green's functions and spectral functions of nuclear many-body systems. The relevant results were published as a Letter in Physical Review C. First-principles Hamiltonian many-body calculations are a core approach for revealing the laws of strongly correlated quantum systems, widely applied in fields such as quantum chemistry and nuclear physics. However, the Hilbert space of such problems grows exponentially with particle number, posing insurmountable computational resource challenges on classical computers...

2026-08-03

First Experimental Result Published from the High-Intensity Heavy-Ion Accelerator Facility

Recently, the research team from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with collaborators, successfully produced and identified the rare isotope hafnium-153 using the High-Intensity Heavy-Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF). This is the first physics result obtained during the commissioning of HIAF, demonstrating that China's new-generation high-intensity heavy-ion research facility is capable of exploring unknown nuclides and expanding the nuclear chart. It marks the official commencement of HIAF's scientific discovery journey. The result was published as a short communication in *Science Bulletin*. Figure: Position of hafnium-153 on the nuclear chart; the blue line indicates the boundary of known nuclides. Image | Hu Houyu, Li Hongfu. Atomic nuclei are composed of protons and neutrons, and different combinations of proton and neutron numbers form the diverse world of nuclides. Exploring unknown nuclides and investigating the boundaries of nuclear existence are important frontiers in nuclear physics. Hafnium-153 is located in the neutron-deficient heavy-mass region and is an important subject for studying the evolution of nuclear structure and the limits of nuclear stability. It had not been reported prior to this experiment. The discovery and precise measurement of this nuclide will help test nuclear theory models and deepen our understanding of nuclear structure regularities.

2026-08-03

Japanese research team experimentally confirms full-gap spin-triplet superconductivity in UBe13

On July 30, 2026, Kobe University and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency announced that a research team led by Professor Hideki Higashibata of the Graduate School of Science at Kobe University, along with Shoko Minami, who was a master's student at the time of the research, in collaboration with Yoshinori Haga, Research Director at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, and researchers from Osaka University, experimentally confirmed for the first time the existence of a spin-triplet superconducting state with full-gap characteristics in the intermetallic compound UBe13. The findings were published in the Journal of the Physical Society of Japan on June 26 and were selected as an Editor's Choice paper. Since its discovery in 1983, UBe13 has been regarded as an important candidate material for spin-triplet superconductivity. Unlike conventional spin-singlet superconductivity...

2026-08-03

After 25 Years, the Muon Wobble Puzzle Sees Key New Progress in Physics

For 25 years, precise measurements of how muons wobble in a magnetic field have been a major puzzle in particle physics. Early experiments showed a discrepancy between the measured value of the muon's g-factor and theoretical predictions, a difference once seen as a possible hint of unknown particles. Recent new theoretical calculations and experimental analyses have brought a new twist to this puzzle. The muon is a heavier cousin of the electron that precesses like a tiny magnet in a magnetic field. Its extra wobble is quantified by the muon g-2 coefficient. According to quantum theory, known particles and interactions influence this coefficient through fleeting quantum fluctuations, making muon g-2 a key test of the Standard Model...

2026-08-03

Swiss PSI Ultracold Neutron Experiment Finds No Signs of "Mirror World" Oscillation

The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland announced on July 28 that its researchers detected approximately 25 billion neutrons in an ultracold neutron experiment and found no signs of neutrons spontaneously transforming into mirror neutrons. The results constrain, with high certainty, the theoretical possibility of neutrons disappearing into the so-called mirror world. The mirror world hypothesis posits that every elementary particle in the real world may have a corresponding mirror particle, such as mirror electrons, mirror protons, and mirror neutrons. Such particles interact extremely weakly with ordinary matter, potentially connecting primarily through gravity or rare oscillations of neutral particles, and have therefore also been considered as dark matter candidates...

2026-08-03

German Science and Humanities Council Supports German Participation in the LEGEND-1000 Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Experiment

On July 27, 2026, the German Science and Humanities Council expressed its support for German participation in the LEGEND-1000 experiment. The project had previously passed scientific evaluation and was deemed significant for a broad research community in the fields of particle physics and nuclear physics. LEGEND-1000 is the next phase of the large-scale enriched germanium neutrinoless double β decay experiment, planned to be constructed by an international collaborative team at the underground laboratory of the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. German participating institutions include the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg and the Technical University of Munich, with project leaders being Professor Susanne Mertens and Professor Stefan Schönert, respectively. According to the project...

2026-08-03