Phonons are sound particles or quantized vibrations of atoms in solid materials. The Debye model, a theory introduced by physicist Peter Debye in 1912, describes the contribution of phonons to the ...

Physicists know that their elegant theoretical description of forces and particles — the standard model of particle physics — must be incomplete, because there are a host of phenomena it cannot ...

A mysterious magnetic property of subatomic particles called muons hints that new fundamental particles may be lurking undiscovered. In a painstakingly precise experiment, muons’ gyrations within a ...

The magnum opus of particle physics is far from complete, requiring physicists to devise many alternatives—some weirder than others. Reading time 5 minutes For all practical purposes, the Standard ...

Breaking the rules is exciting, especially if they have held for a long time. This is true not just in life but also in particle physics. Here the rule I'm thinking of is called “lepton flavor ...

Solids, liquids and gases. In a solid like this brick, the particles are regularly arranged touching their neighbours and move only by vibrating. This explains why solids have a fixed shape. In a ...

In less than a millionth of a second after a nuclear detonation or a severe nuclear reactor accident, an enormous burst of energy heats the surrounding air and materials. Everything in the vicinity is ...