‘Spooky Action’ at a Very Short Distance: Scientists Map Out Quantum Entanglement in Protons

Scientists have a new way to use data from high-energy particle smashups to peer inside protons. Their approach uses quantum information science to map out how particle tracks streaming from electron-proton collisions are influenced by quantum entanglement inside the proton.

Imaging Nuclear Shapes by Smashing them to Smithereens

Scientists have demonstrated a new way to use high-energy particle smashups at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) to reveal subtle details about the shapes of atomic nuclei. The method is complementary to lower energy techniques for determining nuclear structure. It will add depth to scientists’ understanding of the nuclei that make up the bulk of visible matter.

Reaction Conditions Tune Catalytic Selectivity

Chemists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new theoretical framework for more accurately predicting the behavior of catalysts. The study reveals how conditions such as temperature and pressure can change a catalyst’s structure, efficiency, and even the products it makes — and can potentially be used to control reaction outcomes.

Brookhaven’s Computing Center Reaches 300 Petabytes of Stored Data

The Scientific Data and Computing Center (SDCC) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory now stores more than 300 petabytes of data. That’s far more data than would be needed to store everything written by humankind since the dawn of history — or, if you prefer your media in video format, all the movies ever created.

Juan Jimenez Named Blavatnik Regional Awards Finalist

The Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences have recognized chemical engineer Juan Jimenez as a Finalist in the 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists. Jimenez’s catalysis science research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory opens doors for turning climate change-driving gases into industrially useful materials.

VENUS rising: A new dawn for AI-powered atomic-scale 3D imaging

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory added a new neutron scattering instrument to its powerhouse of discovery at the Spallation Neutron Source, charting new territory for neutron imaging through artificial intelligence. In July, DOE’s Office of Science approved the final commissioning of the Versatile Neutron Imaging Instrument, or VENUS.

Instrumental: Brookhaven’s Alabama-Bound Spectrometer

What populates Alabama’s William Bankhead National Forest? Trees might be the first thing that come to mind — or maybe deer. But a lot of sophisticated scientific instruments are joining the natural forest occupants thanks to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research facility being set up there to study connections between the forest and atmosphere.

Elke Arenholz Named Director of the National Synchrotron Light Source II at Brookhaven Lab

UPTON, N.Y. — Elke Arenholz, a renowned scientist known for her expertise in magnetic materials and X-ray spectroscopy, scattering, imaging, and instrument development, has been named director of the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, effective August 2024.

Scientists Make and Test Efficient Water-Splitting Catalyst Predicted by Theory

Scientists have developed a new efficient catalyst for the most challenging part of “water splitting,” a series of two simultaneous electrochemical reactions that generate hydrogen gas, a green energy source, from water. The new catalyst was designed based on theoretical predictions and validated in laboratory tests and industrially relevant demonstrations.

Scientists Discover Mechanism of Sugar Signaling in Plants

A paper in the journal Science Advances describes how the moving parts of a particular plant protein control whether plants can grow and make energy-intensive products such as oil — or instead put in place a series of steps to conserve precious resources. The study focuses specifically on how the molecular machinery is regulated by a molecule that rises and falls with the level of sugar — plants’ main energy source.

Brookhaven Lab Biophysicist F. William Studier Awarded Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology

F. William Studier, a senior biophysicist emeritus at the U.S. Department of Energy’s ‘Brookhaven National Laboratory, has won the 2024 Richard N. Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology for his development in the 1980s of an efficient, scalable method of producing RNA and proteins in the laboratory.

Giving Local Business a ‘Boost’ with National Lab Technology

Jefferson Lab has teamed up with New Mexico’s Sandia National Laboratories to bring the Boost Platform to Hampton Roads, kicking off the partnership with a well-attended workshop in Newport News. The DOE initiative, led by Sandia Labs, brings national labs, startups, academia and entrepreneurs together to find solutions to big, community-based energy and technology challenges.

United Kingdom Invests in DOE’s Electron-Ion Collider Project to Understand Matter at the Smallest Scale

The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Infrastructure Fund, has announced its commitment to support UK personnel involved in research, development, and major equipment contributions towards the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC).

Recyclable Reagent and Sunlight Convert Carbon Monoxide into Methanol

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) have demonstrated the selective conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into methanol using a cascade reaction strategy. The two-part process is powered by sunlight, occurs at room temperature and at ambient pressure, and employs a recyclable organic reagent that’s similar to a catalyst found in natural photosynthesis.

France’s National Center for Scientific Research and U.S. Department of Energy Sign ‘Statement of Interest’ on EIC Collaboration

Representatives of France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have signed a new “Statement of Interest” in future cooperation on the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a unique facility for exploring the building blocks of matter and the strongest force in nature.

Toshifumi Sugama Honored for Contributions to Geothermal Industry

Toshifumi Sugama–a chemist in the Interdisciplinary Science Department at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory who designs, develops, and evaluates materials for geothermal wells–received the Outstanding Research Award from Geothermal Rising, a non-profit organization advocating for the advancement of geothermal energy around the world.

SLAC fires up the world’s most powerful X-ray laser: LCLS-II ushers in a new era of science

The newly upgraded Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory successfully produced its first X-rays, and researchers around the world are already lined up to kick off an ambitious science program. 

First Direct Visualization of a Zero-Field Pair Density Wave

Scientists directly observed a pair-density wave (PDW) in an iron-based superconducting material with no magnetic field present. This state of matter, which is characterized by coupled pairs of electrons that are constantly in motion, had been thought to only arise when a superconductor is placed within a large magnetic field. This exciting result opens new potential avenues of research and discovery for superconductivity.

New Driver for Shapes of Small Quark-Gluon Plasma Drops?

New measurements of how particles flow from collisions of different types of particles at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) have provided new insights into the origin of the shape of hot specks of matter generated in these collisions. The results may lead to a deeper understanding of the properties and dynamics of this form of matter, known as a quark-gluon plasma (QGP).

Direct Photons Point to Positive Gluon Polarization

A new publication by the PHENIX Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) provides definitive evidence that gluon “spins” are aligned in the same direction as the spin of the proton they’re in. The result, just published in Physical Review Letters, provides theorists with new input for calculating how much gluons—the gluelike particles that hold quarks together within protons and neutrons—contribute to a proton’s spin.

Zinc Transporter Has Built-in Self-regulating Sensor

Scientists at Brookhaven Lab have determined the atomic-level structure of a zinc-transporter protein, a molecular machine that regulates levels of this crucial trace metal micronutrient inside cells. The structure reveals how the cellular membrane protein shifts its shape to move zinc from the environment into a cell, and temporarily blocks this action automatically when zinc levels inside the cell get too high.

Calculation Shows Why Heavy Quarks Get Caught up in the Flow

Theorists have calculated how quickly a melted soup of quarks and gluons—the building blocks of protons and neutrons—transfers its momentum to heavy quarks. The calculation will help explain experimental results showing heavy quarks getting caught up in the flow of matter generated in heavy ion collisions.

RHIC Gets Ready to Smash Gold Ions for Run 23

The start of this year’s physics run at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) also marks the start of a new era. For the first time since RHIC began operating at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in 2000, a brand new detector, known as sPHENIX, will track what happens when the nuclei of gold atoms smash into one another at nearly the speed of light. RHIC’s STAR detector, which has been running and evolving since 2000, will also see some firsts in Run 23.

JoAnne Hewett Named Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory

The Board of Directors of Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA) has named theoretical physicist JoAnne Hewett as the next director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and BSA president. BSA, a partnership between Stony Brook University (SBU) and Battelle, manages and operates Brookhaven Lab for DOE’s Office of Science.

Structure of ‘Oil-Eating’ Enzyme Opens Door to Bioengineered Catalysts

Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have produced the first atomic-level structure of an enzyme that selectively cuts carbon-hydrogen bonds—the first and most challenging step in turning simple hydrocarbons into more useful chemicals. The detailed atomic level “blueprint” suggests ways to engineer the enzyme to produce desired products.

Scientists Map Changes in Soot Particles Emitted from Wildfires

We need a better understanding of the particles emitted by wildfires, including how they evolve, so we can improve our predictions of their impacts on climate, climate change, and human health. Atmospheric scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborating institutions recently published a study that suggests the global climate models aren’t getting the full picture. Their data could change that.

Clear Sign that QGP Production ‘Turns Off’ at Low Energy

Physicists report new evidence that production of an exotic state of matter in collisions of gold nuclei at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) can be ‘turned off’ by lowering the collision energy. The findings will help physicists map out the conditions of temperature and density under which the exotic matter, known as a quark-gluon plasma (QGP), can exist and identify key features of the phases of nuclear matter.

How a Record-Breaking Copper Catalyst Converts CO2 Into Liquid Fuels

Since the 1970s, scientists have known that copper has a special ability to transform carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals and fuels. But for many years, scientists have struggled to understand how this common metal works as an electrocatalyst, a mechanism that uses energy from electrons to chemically transform molecules into different products.

Data Reveal a Surprising Preference in Particle Spin Alignment

Given the choice of three different “spin” orientations, certain particles emerging from collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), an atom smasher at Brookhaven National Laboratory, appear to have a preference. Recent results reveal a preference in global spin alignment of particles called phi mesons.

New Type of Entanglement Lets Scientists ‘See’ Inside Nuclei

Nuclear physicists have found a new way to use the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)—a particle collider at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory—to see the shape and details inside atomic nuclei. The method relies on particles of light that surround gold ions as they speed around the collider and a new type of quantum entanglement that’s never been seen before.