The Algorithm That Lets Particle Physicists Count Higher Than 2
Through his encyclopedic study of the electron, an obscure figure named Stefano Laporta found a handle on the subatomic world’s fearsome complexity.
Cosmologists Close in on Logical Laws for the Big Bang
Physicists are translating commonsense principles into strict mathematical constraints for how our universe must have behaved at the beginning of time.
‘Impossible’ Particle Adds a Piece to the Strong Force Puzzle
The unexpected discovery of the double-charm tetraquark gives physicists fresh insight into the strongest of nature’s fundamental forces.
Mathematicians Prove a 2D Version of Quantum Gravity Works
In three towering papers, a team of mathematicians has worked out the details of Liouville quantum field theory, forging a bridge between math and physics.
What If Gravity Is Actually a Double Copy of Other Forces?
An enigmatic connection between the forces of nature is allowing physicists to explore the quantum side of gravity.
Imaginary Numbers May Be Essential for Describing Reality
A new thought experiment indicates that quantum mechanics doesn’t work without strange numbers that turn negative when squared.
How Universes Might Bubble Up and Collide
To understand how universes might inflate and bump into each other in the hypothetical multiverse, physicists are studying digital and physical analogs of the process.
The Milky Way Gets a New Origin Story
Over the past two years, astronomers have rewritten the history of our galaxy.
What Do the Quark Oddities at the Large Hadron Collider Mean?
Measurements of particles called B mesons deviate from predictions. Alone, each anomaly looks like a fluke, but their collective drift is more suggestive.