2025-09-24

The collision and merger of two neutron stars — the incredibly dense remnants of collapsed stars — are some of the most energetic events in the universe, producing a variety of signals that can be observed on Earth. New simulations of neutron star mergers by a team from Penn State and the University of Tennessee Knoxville reveal that the mixing and changing of tiny particles called neutrinos that can travel astronomical distances undisturbed impacts how the merger unfolds, as well as the resulting emissions. The findings have implications for longstanding questions about the origins of metals and rare earth elements as well as understanding physics in extreme environments, the researchers said.

The paper, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, is the first to simulate the transformation of neutrino “flavors” in neutron star mergers. Neutrinos are fundamental particles that interact weakly with other matter, and come in three flavors, named for the other particles they associate with: electron, muon and tau. Under specific conditions, including the inside of a neutron star, neutrinos can theoretically change flavors, which can change the types of particles with which they interact.

“Previous simulations of binary neutron star mergers have not included the transformation of neutrino flavor,” said Yi Qiu, graduate student in physics in the Penn State Eberly College of Science and first author of the paper. “This is partly because this process happens on a nanosecond timescale and is very difficult to capture and partly because, until recently, we didn’t know enough about the theoretical physics underlying these transformations, which falls outside of the standard model of physics. In our new simulations, we found that the extent and location of neutrinos mixing and transforming impacts the matter that is ejected from the merger, the structure and composition of what remains after the merger — the remnant — as well as the material around it.”

The researchers built a computer simulation of a neutron star merger from the ground up, incorporating a variety of physical processes, including gravity, general relativity, hydrodynamics and the neutrino mixing. They also accounted for the transformation of electron flavor neutrinos to muon flavor, which the researchers said is the most relevant neutrino transformation in this environment. They modeled several scenarios, varying the timing and location of the mixing as well as the density of the surrounding material.

The researchers found that all of these factors influenced the composition and structure of the merger remnant, including the type and quantities of elements created during the merger. During a collision, the neutrons in a neutron star can be launched at other atoms in the debris, which can capture the neutrons and ultimately decay into heavier elements, such as heavy metals like gold and platinum as well as rare earth elements that are used on Earth in smart phones, electric vehicle batteries and other devices.

“A neutrino’s flavor changes how it interacts with other matter,” said David Radice, Knerr Early Career Professor of Physics and associate professor astronomy and astrophysics in the Penn State Eberly College of Science and an author of the paper. “Electron type neutrinos can take a neutron, one of the three basic parts of an atom, and transform it into the other two, a proton and electron. But muon type neutrinos cannot do this. So, the conversion of neutrino flavors can alter how many neutrons are available in the system, which directly impacts the creation of heavy metals and rare earth elements. There are still many lingering questions about the cosmic origin of these important elements, and we found that accounting for neutrino mixing could increase element production by as much as a factor of 10.”

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2025-09-23

The violent collision and merger of two black holes emits gravitational waves — ripples in spacetime — that can cause the resulting newborn black hole to recoil and rapidly move, sometimes escaping its own galaxy. Now, an international team that includes a Penn State researcher has measured the direction of this recoil for the first time, as well as its speed.

The international research team published their work in the journal Nature Astronomy.

“When two black holes spiral into each other and merge, they don’t just disappear quietly,” said Koustav Chandra, postdoctoral researcher in astronomy and astrophysics in the Penn State Eberly College of Science at the time of the research, currently at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany, and an author of the paper. “The violent collision emits gravitational waves that carry away energy and momentum. If the gravitational waves are emitted unevenly in different directions, it will create an imbalance that literally ‘kicks’ the newly formed black hole, sometimes at speeds of thousands of kilometers per second.”

Gravitational waves were first predicted by Einstein in 1916 but remained undetected until 2015, when the two detectors of the U.S. National Science Foundation Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (NSF LIGO) — designed to detect these very signals — first observed the merger of two black holes of similar sizes. Since then, nearly 300 such events have been detected. However, measuring the recoil of the remnant black hole required observations of a specific type of merger: two black holes with unequal masses.

The team analyzed GW190412, the merger of two black holes with unequal masses that was detected in 2019 by both LIGO and its gravitational wave–detecting counterpart in Italy, Virgo, during their third observing run. This mass imbalance was key, because it created gravitational waves that appear significantly different depending on the observer’s position relative to the recoiling black hole.

“Gravitational waves from black-hole mergers can be understood as a superposition of different signals, much like an orchestra,” said Juan Calderón-Bustillo, professor in the Galician Institute for High Energy Physics at the University of Santiago de Compostela and an author of the paper. “However, this orchestra is special: audiences located in various positions will hear slightly different combinations of instruments, helping them to understand their exact location around it.”

The researchers fully characterized the remnant black hole’s motion for the first time by combining these directional clues with predictions based on Einstein’s theory of general relativity for recoil speed based on the black holes' masses and spins. They found that GW190412’s remnant was kicked at over 31 miles per second — fast enough to eject it from the globular cluster of stars where it was originally located. For the first time, the researchers also determined the kick’s direction relative to Earth and the original binary system.

“This is truly awesome!” Chandra said. “We’re not just detecting something — we’re actually reconstructing the motion of an object billions of light-years away using only ripples in spacetime. This is a step beyond most astronomical measurements, which often only give a two-dimensional projection.”

This work opens new possibilities in gravitational-wave astronomy, Chandra said, by providing a technique to measure recoil measurements for future detections of asymmetric mergers with current technology. It may also improve the ability to pair up signals from “multi-messenger” events that emit both gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation that are observed with different detectors on Earth and in space.

“Black-hole mergers in dense environments can lead to detectable electromagnetic signals — known as flares — as the remnant black hole traverses a dense environment like an active galactic nucleus,” said Samson Hin Wai Leong, doctoral student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and an author of the article. “Because the visibility of the flare depends on the recoil’s orientation relative to Earth, measuring the recoils will allow us to distinguish between a true gravitational wave-electromagnetic signal pair that comes from a binary black hole and a just random coincidence.”

Beyond recoils, the team said their methods provide a new toolkit for exploring other subtle properties of these violent astronomical events, expanding the ability to study the universe’s most extreme phenomena.

The Penn State contributions to this work were funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

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2025-09-10

On September 14, 2015, a signal arrived on Earth, carrying information about a pair of remote black holes that had spiraled together and merged. The signal had traveled about 1.3 billion years to reach us at the speed of light — but it was not made of light. It was a different kind of signal: a quivering of space-time called gravitational waves first predicted by Albert Einstein 100 years prior. On that day 10 years ago, the twin detectors of the U.S. National Science Foundation Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (NSF LIGO) made the first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves, whispers in the cosmos that had gone unheard until that moment.

Now, a decade later, researchers on this collaboration have “heard” the clearest evidence for a theorem proposed by Stephen Hawking in 1971 that merging black holes must grow their collective surface areas, despite energy loss and other competing factors. The team, which includes scientists at Penn State, published the finding today (Sept. 10) in Physical Review Letters.

It’s only the most recent finding resulting directly from the initial discovery of gravitational waves.

“I have seen first-hand the transformation of knowledge brought on by gravitational wave discoveries,” said Chad Hanna, professor of physics and of astronomy and astrophysics in the Eberly College of Science at Penn State, a co-hire of the Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) and a leader of the Penn State LIGO group. “Reflecting over the last 10 years I am reminded of a job interview which occurred years before the initial gravitational wave discovery. After delivering a lecture on searching for binary black hole mergers with a null result, one faculty member in the audience was quick to point out the flaw in my research — binary black holes detectable by LIGO don’t exist! Of course, we now know that binary black hole mergers do exist, are quite common in the universe, and are regularly detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration, but before the gravitational wave discovery 10 years ago many scientists were skeptical that LIGO would be successful.”

The first historic discovery meant that researchers could sense the universe through three different means. Light waves, such as X-rays, optical, radio and other wavelengths of light as well as high-energy particles called cosmic rays and neutrinos had been captured before, but this was the first time anyone had witnessed a cosmic event through its gravitational warping of space-time.

“LIGO finally captured the unmistakable signature of a black hole,” said B.S. Sathyaprakash, Bert Elsbach Professor of Physics and professor of astronomy and astrophysics in the Eberly College of Science at Penn State and a leader of the Penn State LIGO group. “Black holes are believed to be ubiquitous, but distinguishing them from other exotic objects that might mimic their behavior has been a longstanding challenge. The decisive evidence lies in the unique spectrum of gravitational waves that only black holes can produce. For the first time, we confirmed, with high statistical confidence, that the observed signals indeed bear this unmistakable signature. After decades of pursuit, it was deeply gratifying to see LIGO, with its unmatched technology, finally capture the definitive proof of black holes.”

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2025-08-18

A pair of new grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the German Research Foundation (DFG) will support an international research collaboration and student exchange program between Penn State and the University of Jena in Germany. The grants will support research to produce a database of simulations of neutron stars merging with other neutron stars or black holes. This work will not only explore the physics of incredibly energetic cosmic events but also lend insight into how rare-earth elements and heavy metals are formed and provide a frame of reference to interpret future observations of merger emissions.

The $392,000 NSF grant is awarded to David Radice, Knerr Early Career Professor of Physics and and associate professor astronomy and astrophysics in the Eberly College of Science at Penn State, and the DFG grant is awarded to Radice’s colleagues in Germany.

The collision and merger of two neutron stars, or of a neutron star with a black hole, are some of the most energetic events in the universe. These events produce gravitational waves, or ripples in space time that can be detected on Earth with observatories like NSF’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Mergers also often result in the ejection of matter into space, which produces electromagnetic radiation like gamma rays, X-rays, and visible light that can be detected with ground-based observatories like NSF’s Vera Rubin Observatory and space-based observatories like NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

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2025-06-23

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — “Deep learning is driving a revolution in physics, science, and engineering,” said Robin Tuluie, founder and chairman of PhysicsX, during the Alumni and Friends Reunion of the Penn State Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos (IGC) on May 30. Tuluie, who was a postdoctoral scholar with the IGC from 1993 to 1995, presented a talk about the use of deep learning to push the boundaries of engineering.

Deep learning is a type of artificial intelligence machine learning inspired by neural networks in the human brain, using several layers of artificial neurons to process data in different ways. Much like large language models (LLMs) — a type of deep learning model— like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot “train” on existing texts and language to create logical sentences, Large physics models and large geometry models train on data from physics, geometry and spatial relationships in order to generate predictions for variables like air or fluid flow across arbitrary geometries. PhysicsX has created large physics models and large geometry models to address engineering challenges in optimizing structures, from aircraft wings and hydro-turbine blades to the tires of Formula 1 cars and the heat-exchangers used to keep batteries in electric vehicles cool.

Traditional analysis of structural optimization, Tuluie explained, might involve running many simulations to explore, for example, how adjusting aspects of an airplane wing’s geometry might reduce drag. But even on the fastest supercomputers, the hundreds of simulations required might take hours, days or even months to run. But after a day or two of training, the deep geometry models can accomplish the same results in less than a second.

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2025-06-23

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — “Deep learning is driving a revolution in physics, science, and engineering,” said Robin Tuluie, founder and chairman of PhysicsX, during the Alumni and Friends Reunion of the Penn State Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos (IGC) on May 30. Tuluie, who was a postdoctoral scholar with the IGC from 1993 to 1995, presented a talk about the use of deep learning to push the boundaries of engineering.

Deep learning is a type of artificial intelligence machine learning inspired by neural networks in the human brain, using several layers of artificial neurons to process data in different ways. Much like large language models (LLMs) — a type of deep learning model— like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot “train” on existing texts and language to create logical sentences, Large physics models and large geometry models train on data from physics, geometry and spatial relationships in order to generate predictions for variables like air or fluid flow across arbitrary geometries. PhysicsX has created large physics models and large geometry models to address engineering challenges in optimizing structures, from aircraft wings and hydro-turbine blades to the tires of Formula 1 cars and the heat-exchangers used to keep batteries in electric vehicles cool.

Traditional analysis of structural optimization, Tuluie explained, might involve running many simulations to explore, for example, how adjusting aspects of an airplane wing’s geometry might reduce drag. But even on the fastest supercomputers, the hundreds of simulations required might take hours, days or even months to run. But after a day or two of training, the deep geometry models can accomplish the same results in less than a second.

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2025-06-16

Several years ago, a cosmic particle detector in Antarctica observed a series of unusual radio signals, according to an international research group that includes scientists from Penn State. The strange radio pulses were detected between 2016 and 2018 by NASA’s Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), a range of instruments flown on balloons high above Antarctica that are designed to detect radio waves from cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere, and a new study provides additional context to the nearly decade-old results.

The goal of the ANITA experiment was to gain insight into distant cosmic events by analyzing signals that reach the Earth. Rather than reflecting off the ice, the signals — a form of radio waves — appeared to be coming from below the horizon, an orientation that could not be explained by the current understanding of particle physics and may have hinted at new types of particles or interactions previously unknown to science, the team said at the time.

A new study using the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina analyzed 15 years of cosmic data to try to make sense of those signals. The team of international scientists, including Penn State researchers, recently published their results in the journal Physical Review Letters.

“The radio waves that we detected nearly a decade ago were at really steep angles, like 30 degrees below the surface of the ice,” said Stephanie Wissel, associate professor of physics, astronomy and astrophysics who worked on the ANITA team searching for signals from elusive particles called neutrinos. “While the origin of these events is still unclear, our new study indicates that such events have not been seen by an experiment with a long exposure like the Pierre Auger Observatory. So, it does not indicate that there is new physics, but rather more information to add to the story.”

She explained that by their calculations, the anomalous signal had to pass through and interact with thousands of kilometers of rock before reaching the detector, which should have left the radio signal undetectable because it would have been absorbed into the rock.

“It’s an interesting problem because we still don’t actually have an explanation for what those anomalies are, but what we do know is that they’re most likely not representing neutrinos,” Wissel said.

Neutrinos, a type of particle with no charge and the smallest mass of all subatomic particles, are abundant in the universe. Usually emitted by high-energy sources like the sun or major cosmic events like supernovas or even the Big Bang, there are neutrino signals everywhere. The problem with these particles, though, is that they are notoriously difficult to detect, Wissel explained.

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2025-06-04

The Eberly College of Science has a long history of research and teaching excellence in physics, including notable achievements in atomic-scale research and quantum science.

In 1955, the late Erwin Müller, Evan Pugh Research Professor of Physics, became the first person to “see” the atom, using a field ion microscope that he invented, in Osmond Laboratory on the Penn State University Park campus. Prior to this landmark advance in scientific instrumentation, there was no direct proof of the existence of atoms. Müller’s research group, which included then–graduate student John Panitz, went on to invent the atom-probe field ion microscope, an atomic-resolution microscope that can reveal the chemical identity of individual atoms, in 1967. Panitz has generously donated a variety of equipment and Müller’s research materials to the Eberly College of Science, which are now on display in Müller’s former office and the lobby of Osmond Laboratory.

In 1986, Abhay Ashtekar, Atherton Professor of Physics, developed the theory of loop quantum gravity, which uses quantum mechanics to extend gravitational physics beyond Einstein’s theory of general relativity and opened up a new paradigm in modern physics. As part of this effort, he discovered a new set of variables, now known as Ashtekar variables, that provide a powerful representation of canonical general relativity.

Ashtekar founded the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos at Penn State, which investigates the fundamental forces of the universe, including gravity, as a way to explain the origin and evolution of the universe. He also founded and later endowed the popular Ashtekar Frontiers of Science lecture series, which celebrated its 31st season this spring.

In 1988, Jainendra Jain, Evan Pugh University Professor and Erwin W. Müller Professor of Physics and holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Physics, made theoretical advances that reshaped understanding of quantum mechanics. For these “groundbreaking contributions to quantum matter and its topological potential,” he was recognized with the prestigious 2025 Wolf Prize in Physics.

In his early theory research, Jain introduced a class of exotic particles called composite fermions, which helped explain nuances around a phenomenon known as the quantum Hall effect. The quantum Hall effect occurs when electrons in two dimensions are subjected to a strong magnetic field, which results in unique electrical properties. His theory included the intricate sequence of fractional quantum Hall states, now known as Jain states. Jain’s theoretical advances have led to many theoretical and experimental advances, which may ultimately support applications like quantum computing.

To further support world-class research and education at Penn State, Osmond Laboratory will undergo critical renovations, including a 48,000-square-foot addition. The renovation will feature new, cutting-edge research lab spaces and a high-bay research facility to accommodate large-scale experiments; spaces to facilitate collaboration and connection; and improvements to teaching spaces. According to physics department head Mauricio Terrones, “These updates to the physics department facilities, specifically those for condensed-matter physics and particle astrophysics, will help us continue to attract and retain the best faculty in support of our highly ranked program.”

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2025-05-07

Two months after Jainendra K. Jain, Evan Pugh University Professor and Erwin W. Müller Professor of Physics and holder of the Eberly Family Chair in the Penn State Eberly College of Science, received the 2025 Wolf Prize in Physics, he has been featured on the front page of the Hindustan Times.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced a potential breakthrough in quantum computing based, in part, on the early work of Jain and others in this space.

“He discovered a new state of matter — years ago,” wrote journalist Kanika Sharma in the Hindustan Times. “There are new formulas named after him. His particles could lead to the discovery of even weirder ones. And Jain recently won the Wolf Prize, considered second only to the Nobel.”

The full article and May 4 edition of the paper can be read on the Hindustan Times and for those with a Penn State account through Penn State’s University Libraries press reader.

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2025-05-02

The Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos is hosting an Alumni and Friends Reunion on May 30-31 at the Hyatt meeting room in State College, Pennsylvania. This event will feature presentations by several postdoctoral scholar alumni, networking opportunities, panel discussions, and a showcase of new developments and initiatives at the IGC.

“We are thrilled to welcome back alums and friends of the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, including six people whose time at Penn State collectively spanned the last three decades,” said Sarah Shandera, director of the IGC and professor of physics. “All of them were here as postdoctoral researchers—a career stage when people have the expertise and time to develop new ideas, and when they also serve as the glue in a research group, connecting busy faculty and mentoring graduate students.”

Speakers include: Robin Tuluie (IGC postdoc, 1993-1995), previous head of R&D at Renault F1 (engine design); founder PhysicsX Tristan McLoughlin (IGC postdoc, 2005-2007), professor of pure and applied mathematics, Trinity College Dublin Darren Grant (IGC postdoc, 2007-2009), Canada Excellence Research Chair, Simon Fraser University (to be confirmed) Gordana Tešic (IGC postdoc, 2012-2017), data scientist at Meta, Ottawa Jonathan Trump (IGC postdoc, 2013-2016), associate professor of physics, U. Connecticut Surabhi Sachdev (IGC postdoc, 2018-2020), assistant professor of physics, Georgia Tech “We are delighted to showcase their roles as key drivers in our research ecosystem as well as their accomplishments,” Shandera said. “Each of our keynote speakers went on to do really interesting and impactful things in industry or academia, and we are excited to hear their stories! Their talks will anchor the reunion’s program of networking and discussion, including updates on how the Institute is adapting to better serve its members.”

Please sign up to attend by May 10. A virtual option will be available for portions of the program.

More information about event is available on the IGC website, with an updated program coming soon. Questions can be directed to Courtney Shaffer as cls6664@psu.edu.

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2025-04-21

Three graduate students in the Penn State Eberly College of Science have been selected by the J. Jeffery and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School to receive awards for their research and excellence. Ish Gupta has been selected along with twelve other graduate students to receive the Alumni Association Dissertation Award; Garrett Wendel has been selected along with one other graduate student to receive the Penn State Alumni Association Scholarship; and Nate Carey has been selected along with three other graduate students to receive the Professional Master’s Excellence Award. These awards are among some of the most prestigious awards given to graduate students at Penn State.

The Alumni Association Dissertation Award was made possible through a gift from the Penn State Alumni Association and provides funding and recognition to outstanding full-time doctor of philosophy students whose dissertations will have the greatest impact. These students have also demonstrated outstanding academic and personal potential in the areas of extracurricular and professional activities. The award, comprised of a certificate and a medal, is considered to be among the most prestigious available to Penn State graduate students and recognizes outstanding professional accomplishment and achievement in scholarly research in any of the disciplinary areas.

The Penn State Alumni Association Scholarship for Penn State Alumni in the Fox Graduate School supports students who have been admitted to the Fox Graduate School at Penn State as candidates for a graduate degree who received their undergraduate degree from the University.

The Professional Master’s Excellence Award recognizes individual student excellence in a professional master’s degree program. These students demonstrate outstanding breadth of experience, performance, and professional projects or work.

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2025-03-10

Jainendra K. Jain, Evan Pugh University Professor and Erwin W. Müller Professor of Physics and holder of the Eberly Family Chair in the Penn State Eberly College of Science, has been awarded, along with two others, the 2025 Wolf Prize in Physics for “groundbreaking contributions to quantum matter and its topological potential” that revolutionized “our understanding of two-dimensional electron systems in strong magnetic fields.”

The Wolf Prize acknowledges scientists and artists worldwide for their outstanding achievements in advancing science and the arts for the betterment of humanity.

“The Wolf Prize is one of the highest honors in the world of science, and this well-deserved recognition of Dr. Jain’s extraordinary contributions is a proud moment for Penn State,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “For over 30 years, his groundbreaking work in theoretical physics has deepened our understanding of quantum matter, paving the way for real-world innovations in high-performance electronics and quantum computing. His research exemplifies the power of university-driven discovery, and we celebrate this prestigious recognition of his remarkable achievements.”

In his early theory research, Jain introduced a class of exotic particles called composite fermions, explaining a new state of matter consisting of the intricate sequence of fractional quantum Hall states, now known as Jain states. Jain described the composite fermion as an electron trapped inside a quantum vortex in this strange liquid, sometimes thought of as an electron bound to a quantized magnetic field.

“I am immensely grateful to the Wolf Foundation for welcoming me into this truly esteemed community of scientists for my introduction of composite fermions. The honor truly belongs to my students, collaborators, and numerous other researchers whose brilliant work transformed composite fermions from an idea to reality,” Jain said. “Looking back, it is hard to believe how incredibly fortunate I have been. Growing up in a poor village in India, traumatized by an accident that left me on crutches with a lifelong disability, I did not think I would ever walk again or attend college, let alone pursue my dream of becoming a physicist. I don’t have words to express my profound gratitude to my family, friends, colleagues, and even strangers who have helped and supported me throughout my journey to make this possible.

“When the idea of composite fermions first struck me during the Christmas break of 1988, I did not know that these particles would occupy my mind every day for the next 37 years. My hope is that this prize will motivate a few more to experience the beauty of nature through composite fermions.”

Under certain conditions, composite fermions form a superconductor — or a material that can conduct electricity without losing any energy at low temperatures — that theorists predicted would contain an even stranger particle, called a Majorana, which is its own antiparticle (a particle with the same mass but different charge).

“These discoveries advance high performance electronics, enabling ultra-low resistance materials and topological quantum computing,” the Wolf Foundation shared in its award presentation on March 10. “They reveal complex quantum behaviors, guiding novel materials with revolutionary properties.”

Just last month, Microsoft announced a potential breakthrough in quantum computing based, in part, on the early work of Jain and others in this space.

“I am on the theoretical understanding side of this spectrum, but I work closely with scientists who test whether the theories correspond to reality,” Jain said in a recent Penn State News article. “The news from Microsoft is an example of how basic research at universities could lead to real-world applications that drive innovation — like quantum computers.”

The Wolf Prize is awarded annually and honors exceptional individuals who transcend barriers of religion, gender, race, geography, and political stance, according to the organization’s website. In the scientific domain, the awards are conferred in medicine, agriculture, mathematics, chemistry, and physics. In the arts, the awards recognize excellence in painting and sculpture, music, and architecture.

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2025-02-27

More than 30 years ago, Penn State physicist Jainendra Jain pioneered the theory of a new state of matter called the fractional quantum Hall effect, whose discoverers were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1998. Jain described it as a liquid of certain strange particles that he called composite fermions.

Under certain conditions, composite fermions form a superconductor — or a material that can conduct electricity without losing any energy at low temperatures — that theorists predicted would contain an even stranger particle, called a Majorana, which is its own antiparticle — a particle with the same mass but different charge.

Theorists envisioned that the Majorana particles, which mirror themselves as their own antiparticles, could be used to perform fault-tolerant quantum computation. This ability to run calculations while simultaneously correcting errors is essential for advancing quantum computing for real-world, industrial scale applications.

Last week (Feb. 19), Microsoft announced a potential breakthrough in quantum computing based on these long-theorized but experimentally unconfirmed Majorana particles. They also published a paper in the journal Nature on some of the work described in their announcement.

In the following Q&A, Jain, an Evan Pugh University Professor and Erwin W. Müller Professor in Physics, spoke about his work on the theory of composite fermions, how it relates to Microsoft’s announcement and why skepticism is a valuable element of scientific discovery.

Q: How does theoretical physics support real-world design?

Jain: Quantum physics is the science of how tiny particles — like photons, particles of light, and electrons — behave in ways that seem counter to our everyday experience. Unlike objects we encounter in our daily lives, these tiny particles can pass through barriers and can seemingly exist in multiple places at once, until they are observed.

It turns out that physicists can create new particles in the laboratory, which are unlike any particles nature has given us. And, sometimes, they have incredibly strange properties and do things which the old, familiar particles couldn’t. Such particles are called emergent particles. If we can understand them, then maybe we can use them to develop new materials and technologies for the benefit of humanity.

I am on the theoretical understanding side of this spectrum, but I work closely with scientists who test whether the theories correspond to reality. The news from Microsoft is an example of how basic research at universities could lead to real-world applications that drive innovation — like quantum computers.

Q: What is a quantum computer and how would the Majorana particle help?

Jain: A normal computer works with “bits,” which are binary digits and comprise the smallest data unit. It can code either one or zero, on or off, and many of them together in a certain order convey larger messages. A quantum bit, or qubit, offers additional possibilities: it can be on, off or in any superpositions of the two, including on and off at the same time — just like the famous thought experiment “Schrodinger’s cat” in which a cat in a box is both alive and dead at the same time, until someone opens the box to check, at which time a definitive state of dead or alive is achieved.

When you link many qubits together, the possibilities grow exponentially. This allows a quantum computer to do certain types of calculations, at least theoretically, much faster than a classical computer. One can come up with examples where all the world’s current computers operating together for decades would not be able to perform the calculations of one quantum computer in a day.

One of the biggest hurdles in quantum computing is that information degrades because of interaction with noise, or interference from the environment or elsewhere in the system. This can lead qubits to collapse into a definite state, introducing errors. This is where the rather strange Majorana particles come in.

Two Majorana particles can produce either nothing or a whole fermion, which make the on and off states of a single qubit. Unlike many other qubits, the information here can be stored non-locally in a topological fashion — meaning the two Majorana particles forming a qubit could be far apart. Then, since neither Majorana contains the full information, any local noise cannot switch off to on or on to off. This enables the qubits to hold information without information loss.

Q: Tell me more about your work. What are composite fermions and how do they relate to applications like quantum computing?

Jain: My work had a role in the unlikely sequence of events that led to the idea of Majorana-based quantum computation. I think this is an example of how ideas evolve and mutate and move into unexpected directions.

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2025-02-20

Jacob Bourjaily, associate professor of physics, was honored with the Lars Kann-Rasmussen Prize for 2025 by the Niels Bohr International Academy (NBIA), in Copenhagen, Denmark. The prize is awarded annually to an exceptionally talented young individual who has had very high impact in research and has or has had close connections to the Niels Bohr Institute. Bourjaily was presented the prize by Lars Kann-Rasmussen, former chairman of the board of VKR Holding and the Villum Foundation, at an award ceremony on February 24 that was attended by the head of the Niels Bohr Institute Joachim Mathiesen, Deputy Dean of Research Lise Arleth, and NBIA Director Poul Henrik Damgaard.

“I am extremely grateful for the generosity and support I was given during the nearly ten years I spent at the Niels Bohr Institute and International Academy,” Bourjaily said. “Through the generosity and support of the Danish people and the Niels Bohr Institute, I was able to build and lead the world’s largest team of postdoctoral scholars studying exciting new developments in quantum field theory. It is a great honor to be awarded this prize for the work that was started there.”

Bourjaily was awarded the prize “for his fundamental and original contributions to quantum field theory, guided by an on-going quest for both simplifications and deeper understanding.”

Bourjaily is a theoretical physicist whose research revolves around quantum field theory — the basic theoretical and mathematical framework that combines quantum mechanics with relativity. He works to revolutionize how quantum field theory is used to make predictions for experiments. Among the most important of these predictions are scattering amplitudes, which encode the predicted relative likelihoods of all possible outcomes of any experiment. Bourjaily’s research has led to great advances in the ability to make such predictions and in understanding the mathematical form that these predictions take.

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