The upcoming LISA gravitational wave detector is expected to observe a phenomenon known as extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs), in which small black holes spiral into supermassive ones at the centre of galaxies. These interactions produce gravitational waves, which LISA will detect in a different frequency range to ground-based detectors such as LIGO. Scientists expect LISA to observe a 'rain' of these events. There could be tens or even hundreds of events during the mission. In scenarios where two supermassive black holes interact in galactic mergers, thousands of EMRI events could occur, with a few hundred detectable by LISA. This expected flood of observations could shed light on black hole masses and galaxy properties, possibly confirming the presence of multiple supermassive black holes in certain galaxies and correlating these events with post-starburst galaxy properties. Identifying and studying these EMRIs could provide important insights into the dynamics and evolution of black holes within galaxies.
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-blogs/black-hole-files/black-hole-rain/
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration has developed and implemented a new method, called frequency-dependent squeezing, to significantly reduce quantum noise in gravitational wave detectors. By manipulating quantum fluctuations using this advanced technique, they have extended the range of detectable gravitational wave frequencies, increasing the volume of the universe that can be probed by up to 65%. This improvement allows the detection of more black hole and neutron star mergers, providing clearer signals for studying phenomena such as orbital precession, eccentricity and possible deviations from general relativity. The method, which involves tailor-made squeezing at different frequencies, marks a remarkable advance in quantum state manipulation and paves the way for future, more sensitive gravitational wave detectors.
https://physics.aps.org/articles/v16/189
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tiny-accelerators-electrons-lasers
Physicists have developed miniature particle accelerators the size of a coin that use lasers to accelerate and control electron beams. Although less powerful than their larger counterparts such as the LHC, these compact accelerators show promise for medical applications such as cancer treatment and technological advances such as quantum computing. Despite limitations in power and efficiency, these innovations represent a significant step towards miniaturising powerful technologies with transformative potential for various fields in the future.
Agostini, Krausz, and L’Huillier win the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2023/press-release/
They have been awarded "for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter.”
3blue1brown: Fundamentals Of Light - Barber Pole Effect
https://youtu.be/aXRTczANuIs
A great video that explains the classical view of light and gives an intuition for it.
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