Symmetry

Handedness — and the related concept of chirality — are double-sided ways of understanding how matter breaks symmetries. Different-handed object pairs reveal some puzzling asymmetries in the way our universe works.

Particle accelerators like the LHC require intricate beam dump systems to safely dispose of high-energy particles after each run.

Particle physics is driven by surprise. Researchers in the 1960s studying tiny but ubiquitous particles called neutrinos found only a fraction of what they expected to be in their detector. That unexpected result eventually led to the discovery that neutrinos are shape-shifters, oscillating between three types as they travel. In this stop-motion video, Symmetry writer Zack Savitsky imagines a painter discovering a similar surprise among his art supplies.

Sensors for the world’s largest digital camera have snapped their first 3,200-megapixel images at SLAC. Crews at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory took the photo with an extraordinary array of imaging sensors that will become the heart and soul of the future camera of Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

While we’ve known about neutron stars for the better part of a century, astrophysicists still aren’t entirely sure how large they are. That uncertainty is related to two other unanswered questions: What’s in the middle of neutron stars, and how massive can they grow? Astrophysicists are combining multiple methods to reveal the secrets of some of the weirdest objects in the universe.

The MAGIC telescope’s first observation of a gamma-ray burst gave astronomers surprising new insight into the phenomenon.

Scientists on an experiment at the Large Hadron Collider see massive W particles emerging from collisions with electromagnetic fields. How can this happen?

Scientists on experiments at the LHC are redesigning their methods and building supplemental detectors to look for new particles that might be evading them.

Scientists know the Higgs boson interacts with extremely massive particles. Now, they’re starting to study how it interacts with lighter particles as well.

Even world-famous theorist Juan Maldacena wasn’t sure at first whether he should pursue a Ph.D. in physics.