Physicists recently wondered what would happen if you tried to split a photon — and they found some unexpected behavior that may transform the way we think about particles.
The experiment, in which researchers simulated a photon being sliced by a shutter under various conditions, showed that a severed photon can lead to a complex mixture of zero to infinitely-many photons — raising some big questions about the nature of particle interactions.
Photons are elementary packets of light, which means they are not made up of anything else. So what does it even mean to try splitting a photon? It may be possible thanks to wave-particle duality — a core principle of quantum mechanics, the bizarre physics of the very small.
According to wave-particle duality, a photon is not only a particle but also a wave. Using theoretical calculations, the researchers investigated what would happen if you sent this photon through a shutter and closed it while the photon was passing through, effectively cutting off the tail end of the photon wave.
"I think that most physicists would expect there to be a certain probability that you have zero photons and a certain probability that you have a single photon left after you have done this," Johannes Skaar, co-author of the new study and a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Oslo, told Live Science. "And that is approximately true, but it is not exactly true."
What are the chances?
This brings up another strange aspect of quantum mechanics: its probabilistic nature. Particles exist as a cloud of probabilities stretching to infinity. Until a particle is observed, its properties, such as its position or energy, are in a superposition of possible values; all we can know are the chances of finding it in a certain state.
Through their calculations, Skaar and his colleagues determined how cutting a photon affects these probabilities. In their study, recently accepted in the journal Physical Review Letters, they found that it would create a complex mixture of photon states, including one with an infinite number of photons.
Each of these states has a probability that depends on how quickly the shutter cuts the photon. The expected number of photons becomes infinite only if the shutter is closed infinitely quickly. For realistic shutter speeds, even a thousand photons would be extremely unlikely.
This may sound very strange, but the quantum physicists were unfazed. In fact, what surprised Skaar and his colleagues was what happens if you make measurements of the cut photon from different perspectives.
A photo of an optical table with laser and beam-splitting cube, often used in photonics research. (Image credit: EschCollection via Getty Images)
"When you measure from one side of the shutter, then it will look like a single photon state," Skaar said. "Then, on the other side, it will look like a vacuum state — that means no photons. And that is very strange because the actual state globally is this mixture from zero to infinity."
Changing how we think about particles
The fact that these complex mixtures can be treated locally as very simple states raises fundamental questions about the nature of particles. Skaar said they are still reckoning with the full extent of these implications and they are now considering how this process could play out for other quantum particles, such as electrons.
They hope that by following this theoretical thread through, they may be able to develop a neater way of describing particle interactions. Currently, particles' infinite stretching means they have been interacting for an infinite amount of time. This then poses a problem for causality — the order of cause and effect — in particle interactions, the team said.
These new theoretical photons with a cutoff tail would not have this problem, meaning the causal link in an interaction would be clear, Skaar said. He admitted that there is much more work to be done to develop the theoretical description of this interaction. However, the new result is an important step toward describing particle interactions with a clear causal relationship, which Skaar described as the team's "ultimate goal."
NASA’s Fermi Mission Uncovers Possible Sibling Supernova Remnants
A new study of two supernova remnants, the debris left behind after stars explode, suggests the explosions came from stellar siblings that once orbited each other. The first star’s detonation sent its binary companion hurtling through space, and then, after traveling for thousands of years, the surviving star blew up too.
This multiwavelength scene shows the Jellyfish Nebula supernova remnant (right), the interstellar cloud it’s interacting with, and a distinctive curving filament to its upper left. The filament, which is shown here both in optical and ultraviolet (UV) light, is the visible part of an overlapping supernova remnant, G189.6+3.3, that is more prominent in radio and X-rays. Visible light is shown in yellow, UV from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is shown in violet, and infrared light from NASA’s retired WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission appears in cyan, red, and orange. Both remnants are located about 6,000 light-years away in the constellation Gemini. The brilliant star at far right is Propus, also known as Eta Geminorum.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and M. Michailidis et al. 2026; optical: DSS; infrared: NASA/WISE/JPL-Caltech/UCLA; ultraviolet: NASA/Swift
“Using 16 years of data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, our analysis uncovered gamma rays associated with a supernova remnant that was hidden in the glare of its neighbor, the Jellyfish Nebula, one of the brightest gamma-ray-emitting supernova remnants known,” said Miltiadis Michailidis, a postdoctoral fellow in the physics department at Stanford University in California. “There are so many striking connections between the two remnants that we conclude they’re likely related, giving us the first known example of a binary system where both stars have undergone supernova explosions.”
Michailidis presented the findings Wednesday at the 248th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, California. A paper describing the results will appear in a future edition of Nature Communications.
The study focused on a faint supernova remnant called G189.6+3.3, which is mainly visible in X-rays. It is upstaged by its brighter and better-known neighbor, the Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443). The two star wrecks, both located in the constellation Gemini, appear to partially overlap as seen in X-rays. Recent X-ray evidence suggests that hot plasma likely associated with G189.6+3.3 may extend across the entire region, a hint that the overlap may be nearly total.
A massive star explodes when its energy-producing core runs out of fuel and collapses under its own weight, triggering an explosion that blows the star apart. The explosion’s shock wave encloses a hot cloud of debris that rapidly expands into space. So far, astronomers have cataloged about 300 supernova remnants in our galaxy.
The Fermi mission is part of NASA’s fleet of observatories monitoring the changing cosmos to help humanity better understand how the universe works. More than a decade ago, observations from Fermi’s LAT (Large Area Telescope) showed that the shock waves of supernova remnants accelerated particles to within a fraction of the speed of light, a process first proposed by physicist Enrico Fermi — the mission’s namesake — in 1949.
These high-speed particles, called cosmic rays, interact with interstellar gas to produce gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light. Protons make up 99% of cosmic ray particles. To prove that accelerated protons are responsible for the glow, astronomers search for a specific gamma-ray feature. When cosmic-ray protons smash into interstellar gas, they produce a short-lived particle called a neutral pion, which almost immediately decays into a pair of gamma rays. This emission occurs within a specific band of energies associated with the neutral pion’s mass and lies within the range detected by Fermi’s LAT instrument.
In 2013, Fermi observations proved that the Jellyfish Nebula, which is interacting with part of a glowing cloud of hydrogen gas known as Sharpless 249, produced gamma rays through this mechanism. Its neighbor, G189.6+3.3, was discovered in 1994 as part of an X-ray survey by the German-led ROSAT (Roentgen Satellite) mission.
A bright filament of gas lies between the overlapping remnants. New observations of this feature reveal that the shock wave from G189.6+3.3 slammed into dense interstellar gas there and dramatically slowed, key evidence that both remnants are interacting with the same cloud system.
The well-known supernova remnant IC 443 (right) has an older, fainter neighbor (shown here in blue-green and magenta) called G189.6+3.3. A filament of gas between them, glowing in visible and ultraviolet light (violet arc at center), traces the neighbor’s shock wave and shows that both remnants are interacting with the same molecular cloud, shown in red, orange, brown for infrared and radio data and yellow for visible light. Blue-green shows X-rays from the fainter remnant, while magenta shows gamma rays with energies greater than 10 billion electron volts; for comparison, visible light has energies between about 2 and 3 electron volts. In this view, high-energy light from the much brighter IC 443 has been removed for clarity. Gamma-ray emission near the filament stems from protons accelerated in the supernova’s shock wave as it expands into the cloud.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and M. Michailidis et al. 2026; radio, MWISP and ESA/Planck; infrared: NASA/WISE/JPL-Caltech/UCLA; optical: DSS; ultraviolet: NASA/Swift; X-ray: SRG/eROSITA; gamma ray: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration
Astronomers think the Jellyfish Nebula is also a candidate PeVatron, a cosmic particle accelerator capable of boosting protons to energies so high they could nearly escape our galaxy. Such particles can produce gamma rays with trillions of times more energy than visible light. Finding a second particle accelerator near the Jellyfish Nebula could offer scientists new clues for how supernova remnants develop into PeVatrons.
“The overlapping remnants, a connecting gas filament, and the availability of data from Fermi and other facilities motivated us to delve into this complex but little-studied region,” said co-author Marianne Lemoine-Goumard, an astrophysicist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) based at the University of Bordeaux. “With Fermi’s LAT instrument, we found gamma-ray emission associated with accelerated protons in the northern part of the fainter remnant. If both remnants are interacting with the same structure, then they must share a common distance from us.”
The team concludes the remnants lie about 6,000 light-years away, their explosion centers are separated by roughly 40 light-years projected onto the plane of the sky, and the original stars may have been 20 or more times the Sun’s mass.
Estimates of the remnants’ ages vary widely, but the team concludes that the age of the Jellyfish Nebula is 8,000 to 9,000 years, while G189.6+3.3 is between 20,000 to 110,000 years old. This means the delay between the explosions could have extended for up to 100,000 years.
In addition, the team conducted computer simulations of a million massive binary systems. They show that systems where the stars orbit close enough to exchange matter and interact during their lives can readily produce dual supernova explosions with similar separations and time delays as those found for the remnants. The team also estimated that the chance of randomly encountering this combination of observed spatial alignment and compatible distances to be less than 1%, strongly supporting a physical association.
“The evidence we’ve compiled — including observations across the spectrum, the chemical and physical properties of the remnants, simulations, and more — paints a compelling picture of a dual supernova event,” said Michailidis.
This study identifies a unique possible example of a binary system where both stars exploded as supernovae and left behind separate, detectable supernova remnants. Astronomers think that most massive stars form in binary or multiple-star systems. The Jellyfish Nebula/G189.6+3.3 complex offers astronomers a rare opportunity to study how massive binary stars evolve, exchange matter, explode, and experience velocity changes — called kicks — induced by the supernova blast. It also provides a powerful new laboratory for understanding how coupled supernova remnants behave, including how they accelerate particles, generate gamma rays, and shape their surrounding environments.
“Fermi’s gamma-ray observations of supernova remnants continue to reveal the dynamic lives of stars,” said Elizabeth Hays, the Fermi project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We can now connect the glowing remains of two massive stars to a powerful pair that evolved together over thousands of years.”
Among the range of proposed alternatives, one potential candidate involves what are called solar light sails, a theoretical propulsion system that relies on pressure generated from solar radiation against a large surface to move a spacecraft.
Such concepts have been proposed since the 1980s, some of which combine the idea of using sunlight as a power source with the implementation of lasers, which could propel such futuristic starships to speeds our best current technologies cannot attain.
However, not all spacecraft propulsion experts are necessarily sold on the idea of solar light sails just yet. According to new findings detailed in a paper by researchers Jiaze Li and Chao Shen of the Harbin Institute of Technology in China, this novel form of propulsion may have a few hurdles to cross before it can attain the near-light-speeds many experts had hoped for.
A Tale of Three Forces
According to Shen and Li’s recent research, a key problem arises once a solar light sail spacecraft begins nearing the speed of light: drag forces resulting from the very source of energy used to propel the devices could place significant limitations on their maximum attainable speeds.
A combination of different forces can be expected to occur as sunlight strikes a light sail, the authors say, which includes incident light, specular reflection, and diffuse scattering.
Incident light describes the physical momentum generated by light energy in the form of photons as they strike the sail, whereas specular reflection describes the momentum produced as photons reflect off the sail. Finally, diffuse scattering is a separate form of momentum generated by photons, which, rather than bouncing away upon impact, is actually absorbed by the sail, the energy from which is thereafter released in random directions.
New Limitations on Solar Light Sails
Based on these primary forces, the authors identify that once a light sail begins reaching relativistic speeds, it also becomes subjected to intense Doppler effect—the phenomenon that occurs as changes in the frequency of waves result as their source and an object or observer’s distance changes in relation to it.
In the case of solar light sails, the more the frequency of light waves striking the sail decreases, the less the amount of thrust generated by the three forces the paper identifies. In simpler terms, the faster a solar light sail spacecraft attempts to travel, the harder it becomes for it to accelerate.
Relativistic Light Aberration
At approximately 75% of the speed of light, the researchers say that an additional hindrance emerges, as what physicists call relativistic light aberration takes over. This phenomenon, first described by Einstein more than a century ago, involves relativistic corrections of light sources for observers who move at velocities approaching light speed.
In the case of our prospective future solar light sailors, this would mean that the weakest of the three forces impacting the sail (diffuse scattering) would begin to impose an active drag once the sail reaches approximately three-quarters of light speed. While the overall force of lasers helping to propel the light sail would remain positive at this stage in the system’s acceleration, the authors note an inevitable decline in efficiency.
The authors do concede that while their paper examines the radiative dynamics of solar light sail propulsion, it does not account for other factors that may include drag resulting from encounters with materials like gases, dust, or other physical sources (i.e., non-radiative sources), which could also impact overall speeds.
Additional factors worthy of consideration, but which the authors do not directly address in their paper, include the melting point of any materials used for solar light sail propulsion, which could be heated to extreme temperatures due to combined exposure to solar radiation, laser energy, and friction from movement.
Fundamentally, the team reports that their paper “provides a rigorous and in-depth theoretical foundation for lightsail dynamics,” which illustrates that while this future propulsion concept has its merits, we may still be far from seeing its realization for practical space travel.
By outlining the factors that contribute to constraints on light sail propulsion, Li and Shen aim to improve our overall understanding of this prospective future technology, thereby helping engineers to realize its potential for use in space exploration at some point in the future.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached atmicah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.
It’s 2158, and you’re chugging away on your PhD in Planetary Volcanology from the University of Utopia Planitia on Mars. Graduate students still get paid a sub-living wage, so you’ve been stuck eating freeze-dried ramen for the past three years. You’ve completed studying Jupiter’s moon, Io, but now you have to leave the solar system […]
In an ambitious collaboration bridging continents and disciplines, researchers from the University of Vienna and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have revisited one of astrophysics’ most enigmatic phenomena—the Galactic Center Excess (GCE). For over a decade, the GCE, a subtle yet pervasive gamma-ray glow enveloping the Milky Way’s core, has stimulated intense debate and exploration within the scientific community. This new study, leveraging cutting-edge machine learning methodologies, offers fresh perspectives that reinvigorate the dark matter hypothesis as a viable explanation for the GCE, a prospect previously challenged by conventional analyses.
The Galactic Center Excess presents itself as a roughly spherical halo of gamma-ray emission, extending over thousands of light years around our galaxy’s nucleus. This faint glow eludes straightforward interpretation, primarily due to the complexities of the astronomical environment it inhabits. The region is not only densely packed with astrophysical sources but also exhibits extraordinarily bright and intricately structured gamma-ray emissions, complicating efforts to disentangle the origins of the GCE signal.
Before this study, two primary interpretations vied for dominance in explaining the GCE. One posited that the excess emanates from annihilations of dark matter particles, hypothetical constituents of the universe that interact weakly with ordinary matter and light. Dark matter, while composing approximately 85% of the universe’s matter content, remains elusive, and detecting its indirect signatures through gamma-ray emissions has been a tantalizing goal. The second hypothesis attributes the gamma-ray glow to a population of millisecond pulsars—rapidly rotating neutron stars known for their intense electromagnetic emissions. These pulsars, if sufficiently numerous and faint, could collectively mimic the characteristics of the observed GCE.
However, the astrophysical scenario faced a significant analytical hurdle. Earlier statistical approaches, while sophisticated, did not fully incorporate a vital dimension of the observed data: the energy spectrum of individual gamma-ray photons. Prior analyses predominantly focused on spatial distribution patterns, searching for point sources that could represent pulsars or diffuse emissions consistent with dark matter annihilation. Without the spectral dimension, conclusions remained inconclusive, often biased toward interpretations favoring bright unresolved sources.
The breakthrough in this new research is the implementation of an advanced machine-learning framework that simultaneously evaluates the spatial location and energy distribution of gamma-ray photons captured by telescopes. Training this model required generating over a million simulated gamma-ray skies, replicating a diverse range of scenarios that include both dark matter and pulsar contributions. By synthesizing these rich datasets, the model attains unprecedented sensitivity and discrimination power, uniquely capable of parsing subtle differences in the gamma-ray energy patterns correlated with different source populations.
The enriched analysis dramatically alters the interpretation landscape. The findings demonstrate that the putative point sources—if responsible for the GCE—would need to be extraordinarily faint, to the point where their individual characteristics blur into a diffuse glow nearly indistinguishable from what dark matter annihilation models predict. This faintness requirement for pulsars implies an astronomical population count exceeding 35,000 millisecond pulsars in the central Milky Way region. Such a number challenges existing astrophysical models and contrasts with previous studies that suggested only a few hundred to a few thousand such sources would suffice to explain the gamma-ray excess.
This new quantitative insight reopens the door for dark matter as a plausible explanation. While previous evidence tended to discount dark matter in favor of point sources, the subtlety revealed by including photon energy analysis counters these assertions. It underscores the present limitations in conclusively resolving the GCE’s origin, emphasizing that the dark matter scenario remains firmly on the table alongside pulsar hypotheses.
The difficulty in resolving the GCE nature also reflects broader challenges in high-energy astrophysics—particularly in crowded celestial environments like our galaxy’s core, where overlapping emissions from stars, supernova remnants, and other celestial objects confound the interpretation of indirect dark matter signals. Machine learning, as applied here, represents a transformative tool, capable of synthesizing immense, multidimensional datasets to disentangle complex astrophysical phenomena.
Scientists caution that these findings do not constitute direct evidence for dark matter annihilation; instead, they highlight the incomplete nature of current data interpretations. The inability to definitively favor pulsars over dark matter annihilation underscores the need for next-generation gamma-ray observatories and continued advances in modeling techniques that can incorporate even more nuanced data features, such as temporal variability and polarization signatures.
This research embodies the synergy between theoretical physics, computational innovation, and observational astrophysics, demonstrating how modern data-driven approaches can revitalize longstanding scientific debates. As gamma-ray detection technologies evolve and more data become available, the methodology pioneered here promises further refinement, potentially leading to breakthroughs in identifying signals from the elusive dark sector of the universe.
The Galactic Center Excess remains one of the most compelling mysteries in contemporary astrophysics, symbolizing the frontier where known astrophysical processes intersect with profound questions about the fundamental composition of the universe. Whether future research will tilt the scales decisively in favor of dark matter or pulsars, this study exemplifies the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and sophisticated computational methods to deepen our cosmic understanding.
Moreover, the implications extend beyond academic curiosity. Deciphering the GCE carries the promise of shedding light on the nature of dark matter, a cornerstone of cosmological structure formation and evolution. Success in this endeavor could unveil new physics beyond the Standard Model, revolutionizing our conception of the universe’s fabric and the forces that govern it at the most fundamental level.
As researchers continue to probe the galactic center’s gamma-ray glow, the intellectual journey itself enriches science, reflecting a profound human drive to illuminate the obscure workings of the cosmos. This study marks a significant stride in that journey, blending technology, theory, and observation to navigate a complex astrophysical puzzle whose solution may redefine our place in the universe.
Subject of Research: The Galactic Center Excess in gamma-ray observations and its implications for dark matter and millisecond pulsar populations.
Article Title: Energy Distribution of the Galactic Center Excess’s Sources
Ultrasonic espresso’ made with cold water and high-frequency sound waves uses less energy than the traditional version – and taste tests show it’s just as good.
Researchers in Sweden have developed a machine-learning approach that embeds the laws of physics directly into neural networks. A new study from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden shows that machine learning can become far more efficient when it starts with a built-in understanding of the laws of physics. Researchers found that giving an AI [...]
Bird flocks, bacterial swarms, and even crowds move according to interaction rules that appear to break one of physics’ most fundamental principles: Newton’s law of action and reaction. Birds can see much of what is happening around them, but when flying in a flock, they respond only to birds beside them or ahead of them. [...]
In a groundbreaking advancement poised to redefine core principles in theoretical physics, researchers from Kyushu University and esteemed international collaborators have unveiled insights into the nature of continuous parameters within quantum gravity. This study challenges the long-standing assumption that such parameters are freely adjustable external inputs by demonstrating—under particular theoretical conditions—that they inherently originate from operators embedded within the physical theory itself. This resolution not only revitalizes Albert Einstein’s century-old assertion regarding the intrinsic completeness of physical laws but also propels forward our comprehensive understanding of the quantum structure of spacetime.
Central to this revelation is the concept of exactly marginal operators within the framework of conformal field theory (CFT), a pivotal branch of modern physics that explores systems invariant under scale transformations. CFT serves as a formidable bridge between quantum theory and gravitational physics, especially through the lens of the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence. This correspondence posits a deep equivalence between gravitational theories in a curved AdS spacetime and lower-dimensional CFTs residing at its boundary, rendering CFT an indispensable tool to probe quantum gravity’s elusive traits.
At the heart of the research lies the structure known as the conformal manifold—an abstract space parameterizing a continuous family of CFTs interconnected via exactly marginal deformations. These deformations represent operators that tweak a theory’s parameters without sacrificing its conformal symmetry. The pressing theoretical puzzle was whether the existence of such a manifold necessarily implies that continuous variations in the theory’s parameters emerge from operators already encoded within the theory, rather than arbitrary, external parameters appended to the formalism.
To rigorously examine this, the interdisciplinary team led by Associate Professor Yuya Kusuki embraced an innovative approach involving conformal interfaces, mathematical constructs that serve as boundary layers interpolating between two related CFTs situated on a conformal manifold. The researchers posited that as two nearby CFTs approach equivalence, the conformal interface connecting them should become trivial. Under the plausible assumption that certain correlation functions transition smoothly as this interface dissolves, they utilized the interface’s displacement operator—which quantifies the response of the interface to infinitesimal positional shifts—to reconstruct an exactly marginal operator governing motions on the manifold.
This reconstruction represents a monumental stride because it conclusively ties continuous parameters characterizing a family of theories not to arbitrary external dials but to concrete operators intrinsic to the theory’s internal dynamics. By examining the perturbative behavior of the conformal interface, the team effectively identified the fundamental origin of parameters that might otherwise have seemed freely tunable.
What does this imply for the broader quest of quantum gravity? Through the prism of AdS/CFT duality, the intimate relationship between conformal manifolds in CFT and the moduli space of vacua in quantum gravity theories becomes transparent. This newly established principle supports the profound conjecture that quantum gravity forbids arbitrary external parameters, with all continuous couplings traceable to internal degrees of freedom—a concept resonant with a widespread expectation but hitherto unproven with such clarity.
Importantly, the present findings apply specifically to two-dimensional CFTs, a fertile domain where theoretical control is well established. Nevertheless, the researchers have expressed optimism that their methods and conceptual revelations will motivate extensions to higher-dimensional CFTs and more general quantum gravity landscapes. Extending these results could illuminate the landscape of string theories and the parameters governing candidate quantum gravity models.
Moreover, these results have significant implications for the so-called “Swampland program,” a burgeoning field striving to delineate which consistent-looking effective field theories can be embedded into quantum gravity. By constraining continuous deformations to those generated by internal operators, this study offers fresh constraints on the space of viable theories and sharpens the boundaries between the “landscape” of consistent theories and the “swampland” of inconsistent ones.
The research underscores an increasingly vital notion: the parameters defining fundamental physics are not arbitrary selections but emergent phenomena anchored within the theory’s operator framework. This insight advances a vision in which the fabric of physical law is self-contained, avoiding unexplained fundamental constants, and aligning with Einstein’s aspiration for a theory without ad hoc inputs.
Led by Kusuki alongside collaborators Shota Komatsu of CERN, Marco Meineri from the University of Turin, and Hirosi Ooguri of the California Institute of Technology, the project utilized sophisticated computational simulations combined with analytic operator algebra techniques to bring these abstract mathematical objects into clearer physical focus.
Published in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters on June 16, 2026, the paper titled “Continuous Family of Conformal Field Theories and Exactly Marginal Operators” delineates these technical breakthroughs and their broader theoretical implications, offering a compelling blueprint for future explorations in the intersection of quantum theory and gravity.
As the physics community absorbs the ramifications of this breakthrough, it heralds a renewed momentum for using conformal field theory and holographic dualities as guiding principles to unravel the enigmatic quantum nature of gravitation, spacetime, and the universe’s foundational constants.
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Subject of Research: Not applicable
Article Title: Continuous Family of Conformal Field Theories and Exactly Marginal Operators
Oxford physicists have created an unconventional class of quantum superpositions from highly nonclassical states. Researchers at the University of Oxford have created a new class of quantum superpositions, including Schrödinger’s cat-like states, using building blocks that are themselves strongly nonclassical. The advance could support future quantum computing architectures based on more complex systems than conventional [...]
This artist’s concept shows exoplanet HD 80606 b being “roasted” as its orbit approaches periastron, the point at which it is closest to its host star, which is similar to our Sun.
Credits: Artwork: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
4 min read
NASA’s Webb Catches Exoplanet Getting Roasted
One well-done gas giant, coming right up! That’s the latest from researchers analyzing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s observations of HD 80606 b, an exoplanet four times the mass of Jupiter with an extremely elliptical orbit that sweeps close by its Sun-like star. The research team is presenting their study and preliminary findings Tuesday at the 248th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, California.
“Hot Jupiters are already considered some of the most extreme exoplanets we know of, but even among that population, HD 80606 b is one of the most extreme,” said Tiffany Kataria, the study’s principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We typically think of hot Jupiters as hot gas giants sitting right next to their stars, but this planet’s highly eccentric orbit creates a completely different beast.”
As the planet plunges close to its star, Webb shows its temperature skyrockets by 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit. Previous studies have shown that radical temperature swings can cause an exoplanet’s chemistry and clouds to change in real time. According to the research team, the dynamic conditions of HD 80606 b make the planet an ideal target to observe these changes with Webb’s powerful instruments.
Image: Artist’s concept exoplanet HD 80606 b
This artist’s concept shows exoplanet HD 80606 b being “roasted” as its orbit approaches periastron, the point at which it is closest to its host star, which is similar to our Sun.
Artwork: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
“Observing a planet like HD 80606 b is actually very efficient because its unusual orbit, with the corresponding swings in temperature and chemical composition, allow us to gather data under varying conditions in just hours and apply those findings to other hot Jupiters or more conventional exoplanets,” said Laura C. Mayorga, co-investigator on the study and an exoplanet astronomer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
Measurements of temperature and chemical composition were done with spectroscopy, a technique scientists use to break light into its component colors to reveal information about the composition, temperature, motion, and physical properties of objects in space. The team used Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) for an extended observation of HD 80606 b before, during, and after its periastron, or closest pass by its star. During periastron, the planet also passed behind the star from Webb’s perspective in what’s known as a secondary eclipse. The observation was years in the planning, as scheduling the time to catch the planet at this point was complex given its extremely elliptical 111-day orbit, and Webb’s own restrictions on where it can look during specific times of the year, based on Earth’s position in orbit around the Sun.
Researchers say they have only begun to peel back the layers of an incredibly rich dataset, but they can clearly see a dramatic shift in the exoplanet’s temperature. “Webb has shown that the planet’s increase in temperature was even more extreme than we anticipated based on Spitzer data,” said Kataria.
In fact, the planet had already been dubbed the “roasted exoplanet” and even got its own poster in NASA’s popular series. NASA’s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope laid the groundwork of infrared observations of HD 80606 b, showing that more detailed spectroscopic data from Webb would be especially compelling.
“Spitzer did amazing work on this exoplanet, and now Webb is building on that legacy by enabling us to drill down to distinguish specific chemical signatures like methane and carbon dioxide, which is just amazing progress,” said Ryan Challener, co-author and research associate at the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science. “There’s so much to learn from this one dataset here — we really are just getting started deciphering what Webb has to tell us.”
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
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HD 80606 b (Artist’s Concept)
This artist’s concept shows exoplanet HD 80606 b being “roasted” as its orbit approaches periastron, the point at which it is closest to its host star, which is similar to our Sun.