Science

A peer-reviewed Nature Physics study, highlighted by the National Science Foundation on October twenty-eighth, used a quantum simulator to model an extreme process: energy producing new particles when an interaction between quark-like particles breaks. The team controlled thirteen ions with lasers and compared the result with a traditional computer simulation. These ions do not reproduce every detail of the strong nuclear force. But the experiment offers a controlled way to study a related process that is otherwise difficult to recreate.

The NSF?DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has spotted a large object beyond Pluto that scientists identify as a possible dwarf planet. The National Science Foundation announced the finding October twenty-seventh. The object, provisionally called 2026 ED138, was detected near the crowded plane of the Milky Way, where many background stars can hide moving objects. Its dwarf-planet status is not confirmed: other observatories still need follow-up measurements. The discovery shows how repeated wide-field observations can pick out motion in a busy sky.