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EPJ Web of Conferences indexed in Scopus
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- Published on 03 October 2024
We are thrilled to announce that EPJ Web of Conferences has been accepted for indexing in Scopus.
EPJ Web of Conferences is an open access publication series focused on publishing high-quality conference proceedings in the fields of Physics and related sciences.
EPJ D Highlight - Discovering new details in atomic hyperfine structures
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- Published on 20 September 2024
A new approach to analysing infrared spectra reveal 20 new energy levels in the hyperfine structure of Protactinium
Since the late 1960s, the Laboratoire Aimé Cotton (LAC) in Orsay, France, has made significant progress in the classification of complex atomic spectra. These advances have been driven both by the development of Fourier transform spectroscopy, and through novel theoretical interpretations of atomic spectra.
In new research published in EPJ D, Sophie Kröger from the Berlin University of Technology and Economics carried out detailed analysis of Protactinium's infrared (IR) spectrum, revealing 20 new energy levels that were previously undetectable with earlier methods employed by the LAC. The study showcases important progress in the precision of atomic spectrum measurements, which could soon offer deeper insights into atomic structures and interactions.
EPJ H Highlight - Merging two journals dedicated to the history of physics
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- Published on 20 September 2024
Under new leadership, EPJH has been integrated with Quaderni di Storia della Fisica
On July 1st, 2024, the European Physical Journal H (EPJ H) merged with Quaderni di Storia della Fisica (Notebooks of History of Physics), one of very few other journals dedicated to the history of physics. The merger was announced through a new editorial published in EPJ H by the journal’s new Editors-in-Chief, Alexander Blum at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, and Matteo Leone at the University of Turin.
EPJ H Special Issue - From history of physics to “history for physics”
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- Published on 18 September 2024
The special issue “History for Physics: Contextualizing modern developments in the foundations of quantum theory” aims at demonstrating the importance of the history of physics within physics itself.
With their special issue “History for Physics: Contextualizing modern developments in the foundations of quantum theory” the guest editors aim to bridge contemporary topics in physics with their historical context and to draw attention to the history of physics as a subject of study and research for the active practitioner in physics but also hope to encourage historians of physics to engage with contemporary questions in physics, to possibly draw from this inspiration, or recognize need, for further historical research.
Central to carrying over the “history for physics” theme to the special issue format is the concept of tandem articles. Each tandem article consists of two parts: a part written by a historian of physics and a part written by a physicist. Both parts are supposed to treat one and the same aspect of a foundational issue involving quantum theory in a broad sense. In their respective parts, each author treats this aspect from their own respective perspective: The physicist contributes to the description of the state of the art of an open problem or debated phenomenon related to quantum physics, whereas the historian provides an appropriate historical account related to this actual case. The precise shaping and proportioning of the parts were left to the authors.
EPJ H Highlight - Were Bohr and von Neumann really in conflict over quantum measurements?
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- Published on 18 September 2024
Analysis suggests that the two pioneers of quantum mechanics may have had more similar views than previously thought regarding the nature of quantum systems, and the classical apparatus used to measure them.
In the early years of quantum theory, two foundational thinkers developed independent ideas about how measurements of quantum systems should be interpreted. While Niels Bohr suggested that these measurements require a clear distinction between the quantum system being measured and the classical apparatus performing the measurement, John von Neumann argued that quantum mechanics should apply to everything, including the measurement apparatus.
Since these interpretations emerged, quantum theorists have widely viewed them as being in conflict with each other. Yet through new analysis published in EPJ H: Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Physics, Federico Laudisa at the University of Trento suggests that Bohr and von Neumann’s views are far closer than currently thought.
EPJ C Highlight - The ALICE experiment – A journey through QCD
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- Published on 04 September 2024
The comprehensive review article “The ALICE experiment – A journey through QCD” has been recently published in the European Physical Journal C (EPJ C).
As of today, QCD is a gauge theory describing the interactions of quarks and gluons, the carriers of the strong force in analogy to the photon in electromagnetic processes. There is, however, a fundamental difference regarding the underling gauge symmetry, which is nonabelian in contrast to the one governing electromagnetic processes. Consequently, the strong force has the outstanding feature that its strength increases with increasing distance, resulting in a phenomenology of quark and gluon interactions depending upon the distance scale. In experiments where small distances are probed, the quarks and gluons behave like quasi-free elementary particles. Such processes can be described theoretically by perturbative methods; otherwise the quarks and gluons are confined, forming a small complex system inside a hadron, and lattice methods are required to describe the processes. In hindsight it becomes obvious why the searches for free quarks during the 1960s were doomed to fail.
EPJ D Highlight - Improving tuneability in optical differentiation
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- Published on 23 August 2024
By considering waves which propagate through sample surfaces as light interacts with them, a new technique could make it easier for researchers to create real-time images of microscopic samples.
Optical differentiation is a useful technique for analysing images of microscopic samples in real time. Currently, however, it lacks the ability to fine-tune the resolution in the images it produces.
Through new research published in EPJ D, a team led by Jian Wu at the National University of Defence Technology in Changsha, China, propose a new approach, which enabled them to tune the wavelengths reflected from crystal samples. Their technique could allow researchers to extract far more detailed images of their samples, and would be especially useful for analysing systems of cells and large molecules.
EPJ B Highlight - How did the COVID pandemic end so abruptly?
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- Published on 21 August 2024
New analysis suggests that a dramatic drop in deaths from COVID-19 between 2022 and 2023 could be attributed to an abrupt phase transition in the molecular structure of the virus’ spike protein.
During the winter of 2020 and 2021, the US saw deaths from COVID-19 reach 250,000. The following year, this number surged by a third to 330,000. But from August 2022 to March 2023, the number of deaths related to COVID-19 deaths plummeted to just 80,000, abruptly ending the COVID pandemic. This dramatic decline couldn’t be attributed solely to vaccines, which had been already widely available since Spring 2021.
Through new research published in EPJ B Marcelo Moret of CIMATEC in Brazil, together with James Phillips at Rutgers University, New Jersey, suggest that a phase transition in the molecular structure of the COVID-19 spike protein made the virus less likely to cause severe infections. Their results offer important insights into how the pandemic ended so quickly, and could help us to prepare for future pandemics.
EPJ B Highlight - Scheduling meetings: Are the odds in your favour?
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- Published on 14 August 2024
The results of an exploration of the mathematical theory behind Doodle polls that began in jest may be applicable to many other situations that require consensus-building.
If you often schedule meetings, you are likely to know how difficult it is to pick a time that suits everyone. Furthermore, the advent of tools like Doodle can make it harder: all too often, a poll will ‘fail’ with no mutually acceptable slot found. It would surely be useful to know the probability that a poll with a given number of participants and slots will generate a suitable time.
Three US-based theoretical physicists have now generated mathematical models of this problem and published them in EPJ B. “Our study began almost as a joke, when we were irritated by the growing number of polls we had to complete”, says first author Harsh Mathur from Case Western University, Cleveland, OH. “But we found that the models we produced were mathematically sophisticated and could be useful more widely.”
EPJ B Highlight - Assessing the environmental impacts of Brazil’s biofuel sector
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- Published on 13 August 2024
Mathematical analysis reveals that within Brazil’s agriculture and livestock industry, the biofuels sector is most heavily reliant on other sectors with high greenhouse gas emissions.
Brazil is a world leader in biofuel production, but the environmental sustainability of the sector has faced criticism due to its impacts on deforestation, water use, and biodiversity, especially in the Amazon rainforest.
Through analysis published in EPJ B, researchers led by Eder Johnson de Area Leão Pereira at the Federal Institute of Maranhão reveal new insights into the biofuel industry's dependence on high greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting sectors.
