Physicists create synthetic magnetic monopole predicted more than 80 years ago.

Nearly 85 years after pioneering theoretical physicist Paul Dirac predicted the possibility of their existence, an international collaboration led by Amherst College Physics Professor David S. Hall '91 and Aalto University (Finland) Academy Research Fellow Mikko Möttönen has created, identified and photographed synthetic magnetic monopoles in Hall's laboratory on the Amherst campus. The groundbreaking accomplishment paves the way for the detection of the particles in nature, which would be a revolutionary development comparable to the discovery of the electron.

A paper about this work co-authored by Hall, Möttönen, Amherst postdoctoral research associate Michael Ray, Saugat Kandel '12 and Finnish graduate student Emmi Ruokokski was published today in the journal Nature.

"The creation of a synthetic magnetic monopole

 should provide us with unprecedented insight into aspects of the natural magnetic monopole—if indeed it exists," said Hall, explaining the implications of his work.

Ray, the paper's lead author and first to sight the monopoles in the laboratory, agreed, noting: "This is an incredible discovery. To be able to confirm the work of one of the most famous physicists is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I am proud and honored to have been part of this great collaborative effort."

Ordinarily, magnetic poles come in pairs: they have both a north pole and a south pole. As the name suggests, however, a magnetic monopole is a magnetic particle possessing only a single, isolated pole—a north pole without a south pole, or vice versa. In 1931, Dirac published a paper that explored the nature of these monopoles in the context of quantum mechanics. Despite extensive experimental searches since then, in everything from lunar samples—moon rock—to ancient fossilized minerals, no observation of a naturally-occurring magnetic monopole has yet been confirmed.

Hall's team adopted an innovative approach to investigating Dirac's theory, creating and identifying synthetic magnetic monopoles in an artificial magnetic field generated by a Bose-Einstein condensate, an extremely cold atomic gas tens of billionths of a degree warmer than absolute zero. The team relied upon theoretical work published by Möttönen and his student Ville Pietilä that suggested a particular sequence of changing external magnetic fields could lead to the creation of the synthetic monopole. Their experiments subsequently took place in the atomic refrigerator built by Hall and his students in his basement laboratory in the Merrill Science Center.

After resolving many technical challenges, the team was rewarded with photographs that confirmed the monopoles' presence at the ends of tiny quantum whirlpools within the ultracold gas. The result proves experimentally that Dirac's envisioned structures do exist in nature, explained Hall, even if the naturally occurring magnetic monopoles remain at large.

Finally seeing the synthetic monopole, said Hall, was one of the most exciting moments in his career. "It's not every day that you get to poke and prod the analog of an elusive fundamental particle under highly controlled conditions in the lab." He added that creation of synthetic electric and magnetic fields is a new and rapidly expanding branch of physics that may lead to the development and understanding of entirely new materials, such as higher-temperature superconductors for the lossless transmission of electricity. He also said that the team's discovery of the synthetic monopole provides a stronger foundation for current searches for magnetic monopoles that have even involved the famous Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. (Older theoretical models that described the post-Big Bang period predicted that they should be quite common, but a special model for the expansion of the universe that was later developed explained the extreme rarity of these particles.)

Added Aalto's Möttönen: "Our achievement opens up amazing avenues for quantum research. In the future, we want to get even a more complete correspondence with the natural magnetic monopole."

Hall, who was recently named a Fellow of the American Physical Society, said his team's experimental work arose out of interest from Amherst summer student researchers at a group meeting in 2011, well after Pietilä and Möttönen's 2009 paper had appeared in Physical Review Letters. "It felt as though Pietilä and Möttönen had written their letter with our apparatus in mind," he said, "so it was natural to write them with our questions. Were it not for the initial curiosity on the part of the students we would never have embarked on this project."

Watch A Drone Launch A Rocket.

This is a quadcopter that launches rockets. According to Scottsdale, Ariz.-based ukarmy04, the Flitetest forum member behind the project, it's more of a proof of concept than anything else. The body is mostly wood, with electrical parts from kits, and has a few novel features. The first is a metal disk at the center to absorb the rocket's blast. The second is a pair of central copper strips that connect the motors to the battery. The motors and batter are mounted on the bottom of the drone, as far from the rocket's blast as possible. 

There's limited usefulness for something like this—the height gained by launching from a drone is almost certainly offset by the limited carrying capacity of the flying platform. As far as "flying thing that launches flying things" goes, well, this is way less ridiculous than the Helicarrier from "The Avengers".

Stephen Hawking stuns physicists by declaring 'there are no black holes' - but says there are GREY ones.

• Author claims there is no 'event horizon' black hole
• Instead clams there are 'grey holes' which hold energy before releasing it
• Admits the problem 'remains a mystery'

Stephen Hawking has shocked physicists by admitting 'there are no black holes'.

In a paper published online, Professor Hawking instead argues there are 'grey holes'

'The absence of event horizons means that there are no black holes - in the sense of regimes from which light can't escape to infinity,' he says in the paper, called Information Preservation and Weather Forecasting For Black Holes.

He says that the idea of an event horizon, from which light cannot escape, is flawed.

He suggests that instead light rays attempting to rush away from the black hole’s core will be held as though stuck on a treadmill and that they can slowly shrink by spewing out radiation.

Hawking told the journal Nature: 'There is no escape from a black hole in classical theory. [But quantum theory] enables energy and information to escape from a black hole'.

A full explanation of the process, Hawking admits, would require a theory that successfully merges gravity with the other fundamental forces of nature.

However, that is a goal that has eluded physicists for nearly a century. 

'The correct treatment,' Hawking told Nature, 'remains a mystery.'

The professor’s grey hole theory would allow matter and energy to be held for a period of time before being released back into space.

Hawking’s latest work was prompted by a talk he gave via Skype to a meeting at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, California, in August 2013.

It tries to address what is known as the black-hole firewall paradox, which has puzzled scientists for almost two years. 

It stems from a theory where scientists tried to imagine what would happen to an astronaut unlucky enough to fall into a black hole.

Black hole expert Don Page, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, admits: 'The picture Hawking gives sounds reasonable.'

But theoretical physicist Joseph Polchinski of the Kavli Institute is sceptical and insists: 'In Einstein’s gravity, the black-hole horizon is not so different from any other part of space.

'We never see space-time fluctuate in our own neighbourhood: it is just too rare on large scales.'

Raphael Bousso, a theoretical physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, and former student of Hawking's, admits many physicists will find Hawking’s work “abhorrent”.

He says: “The idea that there are no points from which you cannot escape a black hole is in some ways an even more radical and problematic suggestion than the existence of firewalls. 

'But the fact that we’re still discussing such questions 40 years after Hawking’s first papers on black holes and information is testament to their enormous significance.'

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PROFESSOR HAWKING'S WORK

In the 1970s, already confined to a wheelchair, he produced a stream of first class research, including probably his most important contribution to cosmology.

This was the discovery of Hawking radiation, which allows a black hole to leak energy and gradually fade away to nothing.

By applying quantum mechanics to black holes, he had taken the first steps to combining quantum theory and general relativity. 

One describes the universe at the sub-atomic level, and the other at very large scales.

Bringing the two theories together is one of the great unfulfilled goals of modern physics.

In the 1980s, Prof Hawking and Professor Jim Hartle, from the University of California at Santa Barbara, proposed a model of the universe which had no boundaries in space or time.

The concept was described in A Brief History Of Time, which sold 25 million copies worldwide.

Flying Power Plant Would Suck Energy From Sky.

If UK-based New Wave Energy has its way, drones simply won’t be delivering Amazon boxes to doorsteps, they’ll also be charging the gizmos and gadgets within those packages.

New Wave’s idea is to create energy harvesting drones equipped with solar panels and small wind turbines that fly to around 50,000 feet where wind patterns are more reliable and solar production is greater. After collecting solar and wind energy, the drones would beam that energy via microwaves back to antennas on the Earth’s surface, all while using a portion of that electricity to keep themselves aloft. The ground-based antennas would then convert the microwave energy into electricity and pump it into the grid.

Each drone is capable of generating 50 kW of power. That may not be enough juice to turn the lights back on during a citywide blackout, but it might be enough to power a small neighborhood. Regardless, every little bit of electricity helps, especially during natural disasters like Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina. In those cases, the drone’s mobile deployment could have been a real asset for those without power.

New Wave is slated to launch a Kickstarter campaign soon, with an intended goal of $500,000. If that amount is reached, the electricity-generating drones could take to the skies in as little as six months.

Sky Whale.

Whale-Like Plane Wants To Get Some Air.

If you took an Airbus A380, asked Al Gore to work on it and Michael Bay to show us the result, you might end up with the Sky Whale. Despite its large capacity, this conceptual aircraft boasts sleek features that include a solar roof and an unusual engine system.

Aviation enthusiast and Barcelona-based designer Oscar Viñals came up with the Sky Whale as a futuristic vision for greener air travel. According to his design description, he combined existing technology with concepts that don’t exist yet in order to maximize performance while minimizing the environmental impact. His design could reduce both air and noise pollution.

Sky Whale would seat 755 passengers on three floors. For comparison, an A380 can be configured to seat 853. But most striking is Viñals’ plan to power the aircraft. He calls for “a unique, hybrid turbo-electric propulsion system” consisting of four oversize electric-fuel engines that can each rotate up to 45 degrees for takeoff and landing. We’re clearly not there yet, but Viñals anticipates significant advances in battery technology.

In addition, Sky Whale’s design calls for a ceiling structure containing micro-solar cells arranged in a hexagonal pattern to help power passengers’ electronics and give the engines a boost, Dvice’s Colin Druce-McFadden pointed out. Other cool elements: active wings, carbon nanotubes, self-healing skin and virtual reality windows with adaptable opacity similar to these.

There are people who will look at Viñals’ beautiful design and scoff. They’re going to point to all the impossibilities, the giant leaps that haven’t been attempted yet. The airline industry isn’t known for moving quickly to change anything, either. But air travel is all about overcoming daunting challenges. Given our past, it’s worth listening to what this whale is saying about the future.