New Findings by IceCube Neutrino Observatory - Gamma Ray Bursts Not Source of Mysterious Cosmic Rays

Cosmic rays -- high energy particles that bombard the Earth from beyond our solar system -- were discovered 100 years ago. However, their origin remains one of the most enduring mysteries in physics. Researchers at the University of Maryland and other institutions are using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a massive detector in Antarctica, to hone in on how the highest energy cosmic rays are produced. In a study in the April 19 issue of the journal Nature (published online today), the IceCube collaboration says that a search for neutrinos emitted from 300 gamma ray bursts, unexpectedly found none! Because neutrinos are believed to accompany cosmic ray production, this result contradicts 15 years of predictions and challenges one of the two leading theories for the origin of the highest energy cosmic rays. Read More

(Credit: NSF/J.)

A ‘Majorana’ UMD Quantum Prediction Proves True

The world is posed at the edge of a new technological revolution that will make the strange and unique properties of quantum physics relevant and exploitable in the context of information science and technology. Many think the key to crossing into this new world of quantum computing is something called a Majorana fermion.

Condensed matter physicists including Sankar Das Sarma’s group at the University of Maryland, have been in hot pursuit of Majorana fermions for decades. Originally predicted in 1937 by Ettore Majorana, these exotic particles serve as their own anti-particles. Das Sarma, the Richard E. Prange Chair in physics at Maryland and director of the university’s Condensed Matter Theory Center (CMTC), is among those leading quantum information scientists who believe that the realization of Majorana fermions would open powerful new possibilities in quantum computation.

Physics Summer Girls Program

The University of Maryland Physics Department is pleased to offer our Physics Summer Outreach Program again this year. Since its inception, over 1,000 students have attended the program. Past participants have gone on to become engineers, doctors, computer specialist and physicists.

This free program is open to all upcoming 9th, 11th, and 12th graders who have the desire to learn more about physics.

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