In a First, Physicists Glimpse a Quantum Ghost

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December 09, 2021

Dear Reader, This week, we're looking at hidden worlds. Our lead story details how a team of physicists recently managed to catch the first-ever lab-based glimpse of a quantum wavefunction—an elusive, almost ghostly entity with tenuous connections to our familiar, day-to-day reality. Elsewhere, we have coverage of a heavy-metal exoplanet, two galactic "dust bunnies" from the distant universe, progress toward launching the James Webb Space Telescope and more. Enjoy!

Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space & Physics @LeeBillings

Quantum Physics In a First, Physicists Glimpse a Quantum Ghost After a decade of work, researchers have achieved the first ever experimental reconstruction of a quantum wave function By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Planetary Science Heavy Metal Exoplanet Found Orbiting Nearby Star With a density close to that of pure iron, GJ 367b may be the remnant metal-rich core of an evaporated giant world By Jonathan O'Callaghan

Astronomy NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Is Fueled for Late December Launch After some two decades of development, the orbital observatory is set to at last reach space on December 22 By Chelsea Gohd,SPACE.com

Cosmology Astronomers Spot Two Dust Bunnies Hiding in the Early Universe The scientists found several previously hidden galaxies that date back to 13 billion years ago—and many more might be missing from our current census of the early universe. By Christopher Intagliata | 02:20

Quantum Physics On the Heels of a Light Beam By Andrea Gawrylewski

Space Exploration New Views across the Galaxy By Andrea Gawrylewski

Particle Physics Elusive Neutrino Candidates Detected in Breakthrough Physics Experiment At long last, researchers have glimpsed ghostly particles produced by CERN's Large Hadron Collider By Chelsea Gohd,SPACE.com

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 30, Issue 5s

QUOTE OF THE DAY "Today we welcome 10 new explorers, 10 members of the Artemis generation, NASA's 2021 astronaut candidate class. Alone, each candidate has 'the right stuff,' but together they represent the creed of our country: E pluribus unum--out of many, one." Bill Nelson, NASA administrator

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FROM THE ARCHIVE Astronomers Create the First Heat Map of a Super-Earth The super-Earth 55 Cancri e may have a magma ocean or windblown clouds of vaporized rock By Lee Billings | March 2016

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