Physics & Astronomy department hosted 2009 Hangzhou Workshop
The Physics & Astronomy along with the Rice Quantum Magnetism Laboratory, co-sponsored the 2009 Hangzhou Workshop on Quantum Matter last week. During the workshop the "International Collaborative Center for Quantum Matter was inaugurated. This virtual collaborative center will foster collaborations in the area of Quantum Materials among Rice University, Zhejiang Univeristy, Max Planck Institute for the Chemical Physics of Solids, London Centre for Nanotechnology, and a number of other institutions from North America, Asia, and Europe.
Single-Molecular Spectroscopy Reveals Protein Fold. . .
Understanding biomolecular interaction is one of the most important questions of biological physics. In fact, a protein's function is often closely related to its three-dimensional structure and the pathway it follows to fold into that structure. So much so that there are a large number of diseases that are associated with protein misfolding, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases. Studying the energetics of the protein folding process can give insight into that protein's function, as well as the processes that may lead to protein misfolding and disease.
Stars just got clearer, closer. . .
For Rice scientists staring into the night sky, the stars just got a little clearer. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced it will fund the refurbishment of a telescope at the McDonald Observatory in western Texas that is used by Rice astronomers.
Non-Technical Summaries of Research Papers Recently Accepted for Publication
DATE POSTED
RESEARCHER
GROUP
TITLE/DESCRIPTION
JOURNAL
11/19/08
Deem
BIO
Forced evolution: Can we mutate viruses to death? It sounds like a science fiction movie: A killer contagion threatens Earth, but scientists save the day with a designer drug that forces the virus to mutate itself out of existence. The killer disease? Still fictitious. The drug? It could become a reality, thanks to a new study by Rice University bioengineers.
Physical Review E 79, 0319087 2009
07/31/08
Corcoran
NPP
Rice physicists play role in new discovery from Fermilab’s DZero experiment Physicists from the DZero collaboration at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., this week announced the observation of a key pairing of subatomic particles called "Z bosons." The subatomic, force-carrying particles were produced at Fermilab's Tevatron particle accelerator.
Press Release
07/11/08
Rau
CMP
Tiny vortex could be key to computing future In a research first that could lead to a new generation of hard drives capable of storing thousands of movies per square inch, physicists at Rice University have decoded the three-dimensional structure of a tornado-like magnetic vortex no larger than a red blood cell.
Physical Review Letters
02/06/08
Natelson
Rice Scientist make breakthrough in Single-Molecule Sensing In a study that could lay the foundation for mass-produced single-molecule sensors, physicists and engineers at Rice University have demonstrated a means of simultaneously making optical and electronic measurements of the same molecule.
Nano Letters
01/23/08
Killian
AMO
Making plasmas in the deepest of deep freezes Rice University physicist Tom Killian is one of a growing group of researchers worldwide who are unlocking someo of the mysteries of plasmas by doing something nature never does-freezing them to less than a degree above absolute zero.
Science
01/18/08
New surprise in an old material: Nonequilibrium Phase Transition in Magnetite Magnetite (Fe3O4), also known as lodestone, has been studied for thousands of years, since its first use in primative compasses to current applications in magnetoelectronic devices.
Nature Materials
10/8/07
Exploding Plasmas Exploding plasmas expand into surrounding space under the influence of many factors, such as thermal energy and inertia of the plasma constituents, particle interactions, and magnetic fields.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 155001 2007
09/26/07
Kiang
Mapping Protein Folding Energy Landscapes Understanding biomolecular interaction is one of the most important questions of biological physics.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 068101 2007
09/18/07
Hartigan
AST
Magnetic Fields in Stellar Jets To `B' or not to `B': astronomers ponder whether or not supersonic jets of material from young stars are magnetized.
Astrophysical Journal
09/17/07
Bolech
Noisy Majoranas Did you know Majorana Fermions can also be found in condensed matter systems? Or so we hope in our quantum computing dreams...
Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 237002 2007
Alexander
SPA
A Twist in the Tale Solar filaments (or prominences) commonly spawn large geomagnetic storms. New observations of writhing filaments may tell us why.
9/13/07
Mathematical adventures in biologyHow might biology open new avenues for research in physics?
Physics Today January 2007 Feature Article
9/6/07
Hafner
Microscopic Views of Gold Nanorods
J. Phys. Chem. B
8/7/07
The Hubble Space Telescope Can Do That?!The rarely-used capability of slitless spectroscopy on HST produces unprecedented images of real physical quantities in collimated jets from young stars
2/15/07
SI
Quantum effects writ large HOUSTON, Feb. 15, 2007 — A team of physicists from Rice University, Rutgers University, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, Germany, this week reports in the journal Science the discovery of surprising quantum effects in a member of a broad class of materials that include high-temperature superconductors and quantum magnets.
1/7/07
Failure to Launch: Solar prominences find it difficult to leave home Erupting solar prominences can frequently cause major geomagnetic effects at the Earth. However, some prominences prefer to stay home and release energy there.
Astrophys. J.
11/1/06
Du
A Hint of Negative Electrical Resistance A hint of negative electrical resistance emerges from a new experiment in which microwaves of two different frequencies are directed at a 2DEG
Phys. Rev. Lett.
10/12/06
Liang
HEA
A New Mechanism for Laser Plasma Accelerators
Physics of Plasmas
10/11/06
Johns-Krull
Metals in Low Mass Stars We present an improved technique and results for measuring the metal content of the lowest mass stars.
The Astrophysical Journal
7/5/06
Making gold act more like platinum improves organic devices Molecules can tune metal surfaces' electronic properties. This allows the engineering of contacts between metals and organic semiconductors.
Nano Lett. 6
Hill
NASA's Cassini satellite probes the mysterious world of Enceladus Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, is geologically active, and hence a potent source of icy dust, water vapor, and plasma for the Saturnian system.
J. Geophys. Res.
5/30/06
Uncovering the High Energy Particles in Solar Flares We show that the RHESSI satellite can for the first time study the detailed distribution of high energy electrons in a large sample of solar flares
The Hot Outer Layers of a Cold Star Data from 4 satellites are combined with ground based radio observations to study the structure of the 10,000 K to 10,000,000 K outer layers of a 3000 K star.
New Planet Around a Sun-Like Star A group of professional and amateur astronomers have discovered a new Jupiter mass planet in a tight 4 day orbit around a Sun-like star.
5/4/06
Bonner
Rice lab leads $7M nuclear project
4/24/06
Padley
Rice particle physicist to lead major US contribution at CERN
3/7/06
Dunning
Atomic Engineering The ability to shape and sculpt individual atoms has been demonstrated with potential applications in information storage and quantum computing.
Physica. Review Letters
3/2/06
Mutchler
Search for Exotic Matter An international search for a new exotic form of matter has led to a great deal of controversy. A new dedicated experiment does not see this new form of matter.
2/22/06
High energy radiation illuminates Sun's magnetic field Simultaneous UV and X-ray radiation from the Sun highlight a complex magnetic structure as the origin of solar storms which drive Space Weather.
2/20/06
Debris From Massive Star Turns Into a Laboratory for Atomic Physics Astronomers studying the remains of a 400-yr old stellar explosion measure key properties of the iron atom impossible to calculate in Earth-based labs.
PU
Vortices in transition Swirling an atomic condensate creates a lattice of vortices. Pushing around these vortices could shed light on how vortices get pinned in superconductors.
W Bosons light up the Standard Model
Physical Review D
Abbreviations for Research Groups