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A newly discovered kangaroo lizard species found in India

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A research team led by scientists from Calicut University has described a new species of agamid lizard discovered in the Indian state of Kerala.

Agastya Gama Edge, an uncollected female from the reference locality habitat of Kuramab, Idukki District, Kerala, India. Image credit: Sandeep Das.

The newly confirmed species belong to the following: Agastya Gama, a previously monotypic genus of diurnal, terrestrial, insectivorous lizards of the family Agamiidae.

This genus includes Indian Kangaroo Lizard (Agastya Gama Bed Dormitory) Originally from the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

“Terrestrial agamids, which inhabit the forests of southern India and Sri Lanka, are currently classified into two separate genera. Agastya Gama and Otocryptis It is based on genetic and morphological grounds,” said Calicut University researcher Sandeep Das and colleagues.

“Genus Otocryptis It originally included two species. Otocryptis Bed Dormitory From the southern Western Ghats of India, Otocryptis wigmannii It comes from the humid region of Sri Lanka. ”

“After a long gap, additional species Otocryptis nigristigma Illustrated from the dry forests of Sri Lanka. ”

“In 2018, scientists showed that the Sri Lankan kangaroo skink is paraphyletic with the Western Ghats kangaroo skink.”

“This prompted them to establish a monotypic genus.” Agastya Gama to accommodate Indians. Otocryptis Bed Dormitory however, no molecular data are available. Otocryptis nigristigma”

Agastya Gama Edge Lifetime: (A) An unrecovered adult male from Kuramab, Idukki District, Kerala, India. (B) Females not collected from the same locality. Image credit: Sandeep Das.

named Agastya Gama EdgeThe new species is a small agamid lizard with a body length of 3 to 4.3 centimeters.

“Agastya Gama Edge It is the second species of the genus Agastya Gama” said the researchers.

“On the surface, they are similar. Agastya Gama Bed Dormitory They vary in overall shape, size, and color, but can be distinguished by the combination of letters. ”

Agastya Gama Edge It is currently known only from evergreen forests in the Idukki district of Kerala, India. All records of this species are between 636 and 835 m above sea level.

“We encountered more individuals from March to May,” the scientists said.

“Disturbed habitats such as roadside vegetation and plantation areas had lower numbers compared to undisturbed vegetation types.”

“During the breeding season from March to May, males had creamy spots on their throats. Young individuals were observed in June and July.”

“Discovery of the second species Agastya Gama “The reptile diversity of the Western Ghats is increasing,” they added.

“Agastya Gama Bed Dormitory Its range is home to a variety of habitat types, including myristica wetlands, hilltop tropical evergreen forests in the south, tropical evergreen forests on the west coast, tropical semi-evergreen forests on the west coast, and secondary moist mixed deciduous forests in the south. I am. Agastya Gama Edge So far it has been recorded only from tropical semi-evergreen and evergreen forests. ”

“Our study shows that the two species are geographically separated by about 80 km in a straight line.”

discovery of Agastya Gama Edge is explained in paper It was published in the magazine vertebrate zoology.

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S. Das other. 2024. Discovery of a new species of kangaroo lizard (Squamatora: Agamiidae: Agastya Gama) from the southern Western Ghats of India. vertebrate zoology 74: 151-168; doi: 10.3897/vz.74.e113084

Source: www.sci.news

Newly Found Anti-Aging Cells Offer Potential for Prolonged Youthfulness

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The ‘fountain of youth’ isn’t locked away in a philosopher’s stone or a mythical body of water, according to new research. In fact, US scientists say the key to slowing aging is hidden within our bodies.

It was announced in new research that: The secret to anti-aging lies in white blood cells known as T cells. The researchers behind the study discovered that these cells can be reprogrammed into senescent cell-killing machines known as CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T cells.

When they tested this treatment on mice, they lost weight, improved their metabolism and glucose tolerance, increased physical activity, and led healthier lives. Moreover, there is no tissue damage or toxicity.

“If you give this to old mice, it rejuvenates them. If you give this to young mice, it slows down the aging process. There are currently no other treatments that can do this.” Corina Amor Vegas is an assistant professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in the United States and one of the authors of the paper.

Researchers call this treatment a “living drug.” That’s because when CAR T cells are genetically modified, they become more aggressive in attacking a group of cells known as senescent cells.

Senescent cells are responsible for many of the conditions and diseases that develop as we age, such as obesity and diabetes. As the years go by, we accumulate more and more of them, and this causes a buildup of harmful inflammation. However, CAR T cells may be able to eliminate them and slow the effects of aging.

This treatment is already approved in the United States to treat blood cancers. But this is the first time scientists have shown that CAR T cells can slow or even reduce the effects of aging.

There are already drugs that can eliminate senescent cells, but these must be taken repeatedly. The effects of CAR T cells, on the other hand, are long-lasting. If he takes one dose when he is young, he will be protected for life.

“With CAR T cells, you could potentially get away with just one treatment. For chronic diseases, this is a big advantage. Think about the patients who need treatment,” said Amor Vegas. If administered intravenously, it will be fine for several years. ”

Scientists will then investigate whether the cells not only make you healthier for the rest of your life, but also help you live longer.

read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Texas is the home of a newly discovered wind dragon species

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A new genus and species of a large wind dragon that lived about 218 million years ago has been described from a large portion of its carapace discovered in Texas, USA.

Aerosaurus life restoration chest typothorax. Image credit: Smokeybjb.

Aitosaurus is an extinct quadrupedal heavily armored reptile aetosaurs.

Their name means “eagle lizard” and comes from the fact that their skull resembles that of a bird.

These creatures could reach lengths of up to 6 m (20 ft) and were geographically widespread during the Late Triassic.

“Aetosaurs are a group of quadrupedal armored reptiles whose terrestrial ecology is inferred to include both herbivory and omnivory,” said a paleontologist at the University of Texas at Austin. William Reyes and his colleagues.

“They have achieved a nearly global geographic distribution, but are stratigraphically restricted to the Late Triassic.”

“Most species of wind dragons reach a total length of 2 to 6 meters (6.6 to 20 feet).”

dubbing Garsapelta Murerithe newly identified species grew up to 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) long.

This extinct animal lived in what is now the United States during the Middle Triassic period, about 218 million years ago.

Hypothetical reconstruction of Garsapelta Mureri: (a) Carapace seen from the back, and (bf) cross-sectional view of the carapace seen from the back. Cross-sectional views of (b) posterior neck and anterior trunk, (c) mid-trunk, (d) posterior trunk and sacrum, (e) anterior caudal region, and (f) mid-caudal region. Arrows indicate anatomical direction. A – Anterior, D – Dorsal, L – Lateral, M – Medial. Image credit: Jeffrey Martz / Reyes other., doi: 10.1002/ar.25379.

Its fossilized skeleton was discovered. Cooper canyon formation Located in Garza County, Texas.

It was recovered with an associated carapace containing elements of both the left and right sides of the body.

The discovery of Garsapelta Mureri “This provides new insights into interspecific variation in the carapace of etosaurs,” the paleontologists said.

“It is clear that the morphology of the lateral osteoderm determines the final topological position of the bone. Garsapelta Murerirecover it as a sister taxon of . Desmatostini”

“The similarities between the two are Garsapelta Mureri, Rioaribascus chamensisand the paratipothrasin The discoveries from Colorado's Eagle Basin indicate a biostratigraphic range that we believe is probably limited to Revuelto's putative holochronozone (215 to 207 million years ago), but It suggests that we are working on the emergence of a new group of wind dragons that may be just as old. The latest Adamanian. ”

team's paper appear in anatomical records.

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William A. Reyes other. Garsapelta Mureri generation. Such. In November, a new species of wind dragon (archosaur: pseudosaur) was discovered in the middle Cooper Canyon Formation of the late Triassic (middle Norian) in the Dokum Group, Texas, USA, and the morphological characteristics of the wind dragon's carapace. its impact on our understanding of difference; anatomical records, published online on January 11, 2024. doi: 10.1002/ar.25379

Source: www.sci.news

Newly color-corrected image shows that Uranus and Neptune have a greenish-blue hue

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The so-called ice giants Uranus and Neptune are the most distant giant planets in the solar system. Our knowledge of these worlds was revolutionized by his flybys of NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft on January 24, 1986 and August 25, 1989, respectively. Since these Voyager encounters, our knowledge of the visible appearance of these worlds has come primarily from images reconstructed from observations from Voyager 2 Imaging Science System (ISS), images were recorded with several separate filters ranging from ultraviolet to orange. In these images, Uranus appears pale green and Neptune appears dark blue, and the perception of the relative colors of these planets has become generally accepted. However, new research has revealed that the two ice giants are actually much closer in color.

Voyager 2/ISS images of Uranus and Neptune, released shortly after the Voyager 2 flybys in 1986 and 1989, respectively, were used in this study to determine the best estimates of the true colors of these planets. The filtered image was compared with the reprocessed version.Image credit: Irwin other., doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad3761.

Professor Patrick Irwin of the University of Oxford said: “While the well-known Voyager 2 image of Uranus was released in close to ‘true’ color, the image of Neptune has actually been stretched and enhanced. As a result, it was artificially too blue.”

“Although artificially saturated colors were known to planetary scientists at the time and images were published with descriptive captions, over time that distinction has been lost. I lost it.”

“By applying our model to the original data, we were able to reconstruct the most accurate representation to date of the colors of both Neptune and Uranus.”

In the study, Professor Irwin and his colleagues space telescope imaging spectrometer On board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (STIS) Multi-unit spectroscopic explorer (MUSE) ESO’s Very Large Telescope.

This means that the STIS and MUSE observations can be processed unambiguously to determine the actual apparent colors of Uranus and Neptune.

Astronomers used these data to rebalance the composite color images recorded by Voyager 2’s camera. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).

This revealed that Uranus and Neptune are actually quite similar shades of greenish-blue.

The main difference is that Neptune has a slight hint of additional blue. Models revealed that this is due to Neptune’s thin haze layer.

The study also provides an answer to the long-standing mystery of why Uranus’ color changes slightly during the sun’s 84-year revolution.

The authors first reached their conclusion after comparing images of the ice giant with measurements of its brightness recorded in blue and green wavelengths from 1950 to 2016 by the Lowell Observatory in Arizona.

These measurements showed that Uranus appears slightly greener during the summer and winter solstices, when one of the planet’s poles points toward our star.

However, at the vernal equinox, when the sun is above the equator, the sun takes on a somewhat blue hue.

Part of the reason for this is known to be because Uranus has a very unusual rotation.

During its orbit, it effectively rotates almost sideways. This means that during the planet’s summer solstice, either the north or south pole points almost directly in the direction of the sun and Earth.

This is therefore important because changes in reflectivity in the polar regions have a large effect on Uranus’ overall brightness as seen from Earth.

Astronomers have not been very clear about how or why this reflectance differs.

This led the researchers to develop a model that compares the spectra of Uranus’ polar and equatorial regions.

They found that in polar regions, green and red wavelengths are more reflective than blue wavelengths. Part of the reason is that red-absorbing methane is about half as abundant near the poles as it is at the equator.

But this wasn’t enough to fully explain the color change, so the researchers looked at the gradually thickening icy surface of the planet’s sunlit pole during the summer. We added a new variable to the model in the form of a haze “hood”. We move from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice.

Astronomers believe it is likely made up of particles of methane ice.

When simulated in the model, the ice particles further increased reflection in green and red wavelengths at the poles, providing an explanation for why Uranus is green at the summer solstice.

“This is the first study to match quantitative models with image data to explain why Uranus’s color changes during its orbit,” Professor Irwin said.

“Thus, we prove that Uranus at the summer solstice is greener, not only because methane abundance is reduced in the polar regions, but also because the thickness of brightly scattering methane ice particles is increased. it was done.”

“The misperceptions of Neptune’s colors and the unusual color changes of Uranus have puzzled us for decades. This comprehensive study finally puts an end to both problems. ” said Dr. Heidi Hummel, a researcher at the Association of Universities for Astronomical Research (AURA).

of result will appear in Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices.

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Patrick G.J. Irwin other. 2024. Model the seasonal cycle of Uranus’ color and size and compare it to Neptune. MNRAS 527 (4): 11521-11538; doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad3761

Source: www.sci.news

Newly Discovered Resting Behavior of Gray Reef Sharks Will Surprise You

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Considered to be a perpetually mobile predator, gray reef sharks have only ever been observed in motion, leading many to believe that they need to swim to breathe. Credit: © Christopher Leon

The first report of a gray shark resting under a reef shelf in the Seychelles changes our knowledge of how they breathe (they don’t need to keep swimming to stay alive), and the science of sleeping sharks. The basis for this has been clarified again.

A predator in perpetual motion. I can’t sleep in our ocean. If you have this impression of sharks, you’re not alone. There’s a good reason for that. Sharks have to swim to breathe (that’s what we were told). The science of shark sleep and breathing is related, and all sharks use gills for breathing, but he has two ways to move oxygen-rich seawater over the gills.

Some sharks, called obligatory rams, “ram” oxygen-rich seawater over their gills, which requires them to keep moving.other seedThey actively pump seawater over their gills while at rest, called buccal pumps.

Evidence of shark rest: A new perspective

Today’s science shows that sharks may be stationary, and there are also suggestions that sharks are asleep. However, there is no solid evidence regarding the sleep behavior of Ram ventilators. Scientists hypothesize that they may not be sleeping at all, sleeping using half their brains (like sperm whales and bottlenose dolphins), or sleeping against ocean currents. There is.

New paper “Just keep swimming? Observation of resting behavior of gray reef sharks Medicaginus Ambryrrhinchus (Bleeker, 1856),” published this month. Fish Biology Journal This overturns our knowledge of one mandatory ram ventilator. The gray shark is an endangered reef-dwelling shark of the family Ceridae, and was a typical representative of sharks that move for breathing.

First evidence of a gray reef shark resting under a reef shelf in the Seychelles. Credit: Photography by Craig Foster | © Save Our Seeds Foundation

“During a routine research dive around Daros, we discovered a gray shark resting under a reef shelf,” said the head of research at the Save Our Seas Daros Research Center (SOSF-DRC) in the Seychelles. Dr. Robert Block begins speaking. “This is not something we believed they were capable of. Gray sharks have been thought of as a ram-breathing species that cannot rest, so when we find these sharks resting, It turns our basic understanding of them upside down.”

Stationary sharks: a surprising discovery

Researchers encountered gray sharks resting alone or in groups at various locations around the Seychelles. And all the while, the sharks seemed oblivious to the observer’s presence. This is an important observation. Scientists believe that increased arousal threshold is a characteristic of sleep, not just rest.

The sharks remained stationary except for mandibular movements, suggesting that these ram-ventilating sharks switch to buccal pumping behavior. Since there is little current at the site and the shark rests facing on all sides, the idea that resting facing the current is the only way to do so is because there is little water for gray reef sharks.

Craig Foster, founder of the SeaChange project, is one of the divers and an author of the paper. “There’s something special about tiptoeing around 25 meters underwater, staring into the open eyes of a sleeping shark, and moving carefully so as not to wake the peaceful, beautiful shark.” he says.

Implications and future research

“I love anything that challenges our current thinking, and I’ve always thought the gray reef shark is a clear example of a species that needs to swim to breathe. Obviously with this discovery. Dr James Lea, CEO of the Save Our Seas Foundation, is enthusiastic about the implications of this paper. “This raises all sorts of other questions,” he says. “How are they coping? For how long? How often? We still have a lot to learn, and that’s very exciting to me.”

If gray reef sharks can switch up their breathing and rest, we may be able to learn more about similar sharks. “It’s important to understand how they use their environment and how it changes in response to changing environmental conditions,” explains Dr. Lee. “How important is this rest, or even the possibility of sleep, for sharks? And how will they be affected if they are unable to rest if conditions change, such as rising or falling oxygen levels due to climate change? Will I receive it?”

remind us of our connection to nature

The authors all agree that this discovery also tells us a lot about ourselves and our relationship with the natural world. “I hope these discoveries remind us how much we still don’t know and how interesting that is. Science can get quite a lot wrong. That’s a lot, and that’s okay,” Dr. Block recalled. Foster believes what we know about the wild is critical to conservation. “Knowing how our shark family sleeps brings us closer to their fascinating world, and awakens us from our own slumber to remind us that we cannot live without these amazing marine creatures.” ,” he said.

Reference: “Just keep swimming? Observation of resting behavior of gray reef sharks Medicaginus Ambryrrhinchus (Bleeker, 1856)” by Robert W. Block, Craig Foster, and James S.E. Lee, November 20, 2023, Fish Biology Journal.
DOI: 10.1111/jfb.15623

Source: scitechdaily.com

Newly Discovered Fossils Shed Light on Enigmatic Human Lineage in the Levant

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Orthographic view of the static skull, mandible, and parietal bones.Credit: Tel Aviv University

Nesher Ramla homoan ancient hominin group discovered in Israel reveals a complex admixture of Eurasian and African hominins 140,000 years ago, changing perceptions of the origins of Neanderthals.

Researchers have discovered a previously unknown archaic hominin group they named Nesha Ramla. homo” at a recently excavated site in Israel. This group, dating from about 140,000 to 120,000 years ago, is thought to be the last survivor of the Middle Pleistocene. homo. They exhibit a unique blend of Neanderthal and ancient human characteristics and technology.

Neanderthals are thought to have originated and flourished in continental Europe long before modern humans arrived. However, recent evidence suggests a genetic contribution from as yet unknown non-European populations and points to a long and dynamic history of interactions between Eurasian and African hominin populations.

Human interaction in Eurasia and Africa

Here, Israel Hershkovitz, Yossi Zeidner and colleagues present fossil, artifact, and radiometric evidence from the Levantine region of the Middle East that illustrates this complexity. According to Hershkovitz et al., the newly discovered Nesher Ramla homo They exhibit anatomical features that are older than their contemporaneous Eurasian Neanderthals and modern humans, who also lived in the Levant. This discovery indicates that this archaic lineage may represent one of the last surviving populations of the Middle Pleistocene. homo in southwest Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Archaeological context and cultural interaction

In joint research, Zaidner other. We provide archaeological context for the new fossils and report on their associated radiometric dates, artifact assemblages, and the behavioral and environmental insights they provide. Researchers found that Nesher Ramla homo Familiar with technology that was previously known only to a select few homo sapiens And Neanderthals. Taken together, these findings provide archaeological support for close cultural interactions and genetic admixture between different human lineages before 120,000 years ago. This may help explain the different expressions of teeth and skeletal features in later Levantine fossils.

“Interpretation of Nesher Ramla fossils and stone tools will have mixed reactions among paleoanthropologists. Nevertheless, the age of Nesher Ramla materials, the discordant morphological and archaeological similarities , and the site’s location at the crossroads of Africa and Eurasia make this a major discovery,” writes Marta Lahr in an accompanying Perspective.

For more information about this research, see Types of prehistoric humans previously unknown to science.

References:

“Middle Pleistocene Homo from Nesher Ramla, Israel” Israel Hershkovitz, Hilla May, Rachel Salig, Ariel Pokhodzhaev, Dominique Grimaud Hervé, Emiliano Bruner, Cinzia Fornai, Rolf Quam, Juan. Written by Luis Arzuaga, Victoria A. Crenn, and Maria Martinon Torres, José María Bermudez de Castro, Laura Martin Frances, Vivian Soulon, Lou Albesado Ball, Amelie Viale, and Tim Schuler , Giorgio Manzi, Antonio Profico, Fabio Di Vincenzo, Gerhard W. Weber, Yossi Seidner, June 25, 2021, science.
DOI: 10.1126/science.abh3169

“Behavior and culture of Homo during the Middle Pleistocene, 140,000 to 120,000 years ago, and interaction with Homo sapiens” Yossi Seidner, Laura Senty, Marion Prevost, Norbert Mercier, Christophe Farguerre, Gilles Guerin, Hélène Valadas, Mairis Richard, Asmodee Ghaly, Christophe Pécherin, Olivier Tombre, Edwidge Pons-Branch, Naomi Porat, Ruth Shahak Gross, David E. Friesem, Reuven Yeshurun, Zohar Turdjman Yaffe, Amos Frumkin, Gadi Herzlinger, Ravid Eckstein, Maayan Shemar, Oz Valoner, Rachel Salig, Hila May, Israel Hershkovitz, June 25, 2021, science.
DOI: 10.1126/science.abh3020

Source: scitechdaily.com

Newly Discovered Black Hole Found in New Zealand Restroom

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black hole butt

Roger Sharp added another item to his summary of feedback about black holes that can be found on surface maps of our planet (October 7).visitors to Nelson’s Mai Tai Esplanade ReserveNew Zealanders may feel relieved after entering a Blackhole public toilet.

Feedback points out that installing a toilet in an astrophysical black hole would eliminate the need for some expensive parts of modern waste treatment facilities, particularly sewage piping systems and septic tanks.

insert a needle into the patient

How far is it okay to insert a needle a little too deeply into someone’s abdomen? 365 surgeons from 58 European countries gave their opinion on this topic. Their thoughts, desires, and perhaps even dreams are distilled into a study called “.Relevance of Veres needle overshoot reductionBy researchers from the Netherlands and Malta.

These are the needles used to inflate the patient before performing the internal looking and subsequent cutting and manipulation tasks that are the highlight of most laparoscopic surgeries. A special type of needle called a Veres needle has long been the standard device for puncturing and injecting air into people who enter a shop for repairs. This performs much the same function as a simple type of needle used to inflate a soccer ball.

This study investigates the desire and need for a new and better Veress needle design.

The researchers said that surgeons “felt it was important to have a firm grip on the needle shaft, as most respondents held the needle rather than the grip.” The reason is that some surgeons try to stabilize their hands by touching the abdominal wall with their fingers during insertion, and the grip is too far from the abdominal wall. The data also shows that the maximum overshoot should be limited to 0 to 10 mm. ”

Almost every professional activity has a specific tolerance for error. Publication of this paper will make the public more aware of professionals’ general tolerance for overinsertion of injection needles in laparoscopic surgery patients.

goaf gangue

Unfamiliar scientific terminology can be fun, especially when the words are mined from depths that are unfamiliar to most people.

The same goes for gangue and goaf. He came across the feedback while reading a report by Zhanshan Shi of China’s Liaoning University of Technology and colleagues.Simulation test study on filling flow law of gangue slurry in goaf”.

Goaf is the waste that accumulates during mining. Gangue is a seemingly worthless portion of ore extracted from a mine. Goaf necessarily has gangue.

There are also mysteries. The report states that “there is little research on flow rules for gangue slurries in the Goahu sedimentary rock mass.”

This report is a reminder that there is always something yet to be unearthed, even if it is just information.

wooden board

In the vast forest of nominative determinism of people whose names are hilarious and almost eerily related to work, a few trees, namely the names of some people, are particularly suited to the purpose. One is Marlin E. Plank, who served as a forest products research technician at his Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland, Oregon. He spent much of his professional life estimating how much commercially useful wood could be obtained from certain types of trees.

Stewart Harrison told Feedback of his joy upon discovering Planck’s 1982 paper.Harvesting wood from ponderosa pines in western Montana”.

A trip through the library found more plankitudes, including a plank on a log.Estimating the volume of small-diameter logs of ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine”.

Planck’s most sophisticated log paper may be the one he co-authored with Floyd Johnson in 1975 called .Empirical log rules for Douglas fir in western Oregon and western Washington”. This describes a better way, a low-key and practical way to estimate how much wood you will get if a tree is plank-harvested.

Plank and Johnson said: “The traditional procedure for estimating timber aggregates is based on theoretical log rules, defect deductions, and overrun factors. This procedure is indirect, subjective, and complex. It is also clearly inaccurate. Theory A better procedure is described that is based on actual wood recovery rather than the wood recovery above.”

Planck passed away in 2014. The Planck memorial website says:To plant a tree in your memory, visit the Sympathy Store.”.

Blindfold measures

Greg Rubin squints at a fellow computer security expert who warns that information on a video screen can be extracted from the reflections of video chatters’ glasses (October 28).

he says: “This is what my community has.” is known about For many years. I also sometimes comment on the reflections I see during video calls. Personally, I recommend using simple defense strategies for long and boring conference calls. Close your eyes and take a nap. ”

Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers.his website is impossible.com.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Newly Discovered Light Properties Unveiled by Centuries-Old Theorem

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Researchers have used a 350-year-old mechanical theorem that is usually applied to tangible objects to uncover new insights into the properties of light. By interpreting light intensity as equivalent to physical mass, they mapped light into a system to which established mechanical equations could be applied. This approach reveals a direct correlation between the degree of non-quantum entanglement of light waves and the degree of polarization. These discoveries have the potential to simplify the understanding of complex optical and quantum properties through more direct light intensity measurements.

Researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology have applied a 350-year-old theorem originally used to describe the behavior of pendulums and planets to uncover new properties of light waves.

Ever since Isaac Newton and Christian Huygens debated the nature of light in the 17th century, the scientific community has grappled with the question: Is light a wave, a particle, or both at the same time at the quantum level? . Now, researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology have used a 350-year-old mechanical theorem, typically used to describe the motion of large physical objects such as pendulums and planets, to A new relationship has been revealed. The most complex behavior of light waves.

Reveal relationships between light properties

The research, led by Xiaofeng Qian, an assistant professor of physics at Stevens College, and reported in the August 17 online issue of Physical Review Research, shows that the degree of non-quantum entanglement of light waves exists in a direct and complementary relationship. We proved for the first time that it does. It depends on the degree of polarization. As one increases, the other decreases, so the level of entanglement can be directly inferred from the level of polarization, and vice versa. This means that difficult-to-measure optical properties such as amplitude, phase, and correlation (and perhaps even properties of quantum wave systems) can be estimated from something much easier to measure: the intensity of light.

Physicists at Stevens Institute of Technology are using a 350-year-old theorem that explains how pendulums and planets work to uncover new properties of light waves. credit:
Stevens Institute of Technology

“We’ve known for more than a century that light sometimes behaves like waves and sometimes like particles, but reconciling these two paradigms is extremely difficult. We know that,” Chen said. There is a deep connection between the concepts of waves and particles not only at the quantum level but also at the level of classical light waves and point-mass systems. ”

Applying Huygens’ mechanical theorem to light

Qian’s team used a mechanical theorem originally developed by Huygens in his 1673 book on pendulums. This theorem explains how the energy required to rotate an object varies depending on the object’s mass and its axis of rotation. “This is a well-established mechanical theorem that explains how physical systems like clocks and prosthetic limbs work,” Qian explained. “But we were able to show that it can also provide new insights into how light works.”

This 350-year-old theorem describes the relationship between a mass and its rotational momentum. So how does this apply to light, which has no mass to measure? Qian’s team interprets the intensity of light as equivalent to the mass of a physical object, which can be interpreted using Huygens’ mechanical theorem. We mapped those measurements into a coordinate system. “Essentially, we found a way to transform optical systems so that they can be visualized as mechanical systems and described using established physical equations,” he explained. .

Once the researchers visualized light waves as part of a mechanical system, new relationships between wave properties quickly became apparent, such as the fact that entanglement and polarization are clearly related to each other.

“This hasn’t been shown before, but when you map the properties of light onto a mechanical system, it becomes very clear,” Qian says. “What was once abstract becomes concrete. Using mechanical equations, you can literally measure the distance between the ‘center of mass’ and other mechanical points to determine how different properties of light interact with each other. We can show how they are related.”

Elucidating these relationships has important practical implications, as it may allow us to estimate subtle and difficult-to-measure properties of optical systems, and even quantum systems, from simpler and more reliable measurements of light intensity. Qian explained that there is a gender. More speculatively, the researchers’ findings suggest that mechanical systems could be used to simulate and better understand the strange and complex behavior of quantum wave systems.

“It’s still in front of us, but this first study clearly shows that by applying mechanical concepts, we can understand optical systems in entirely new ways,” Qian said. Ta. “Ultimately, this research will help simplify the way we understand the world by allowing us to recognize the essential underlying connections between seemingly unrelated physical laws.”

References: “Bridging coherence optics and classical mechanics: Complementarity of general light polarization entanglement” by Xiao-Feng Qian and Misag Izadi, August 17, 2023. physical review study.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.033110

Source: scitechdaily.com