News: Research

Read the latest news from the Department of Physics

Research

Improved Method for Estimating the Hubble Constant with Gravitational Waves

There’s a big debate in cosmology about how fast the universe is currently expanding.

A cosmic pairing is bifurcated by a dynamic force shown in light as gases swirl about.

UT News

Surviving a Volcanic Supereruption May Have Facilitated Human Dispersal Out of Africa

Graduate students Jessica Valdes and Keenan Riordan were on a team that found humans may have dispersed during arid times along “blue highways.”

Map of northeastern Africa indicating location of an archaeological site

Research

Researchers Discover New Ways to Excite Spin Waves with Extreme Infrared Light

New ultrafast method for controlling magnetic materials might enable next-generation information processing technologies.

Two red waves enter a crystal from the left and on the other side, a blue and green wave emerge, each with a different wavelength

Research

Compact Accelerator Technology Achieves Major Energy Milestone

Bjorn “Manuel” Hegelich led the development of a compact laser accelerator that produces an electron beam with an energy of 10 billion electron volts.

A piece of scientific equipment lit from the outside by green light. In a window in the side of the equipment, a pink light glows.

Research

Researchers Find a New Avenue to Combat Biofilm Threat

A team of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and other institutions have unlocked a clue about how bacteria form biofilms.

Electron microscope image of bacterial biofilm

Research

Peering Inside a Quantum Computer Creates New Phases of Information

Physicist Matteo Ippoliti helped explore how measurements can alter information states in an innovation created by Google.

Illustraiton of colored blocks with arrows and clocks evoking a sense of time and information flowing through a system

Research

Lang Work on PET Featured in Physics World

A team led by Karol Lang at UT Austin is exploring the use of positron emission tomography (PET) to advance clinical FLASH therapy, an emerging...

Proton FLASH dosimetry

Research

James Webb Telescope Catches Glimpse of Possible First-Ever ‘Dark Stars’

Stars powered with dark matter still need proving but could reveal clues about the nature of one of the universe’s great mysteries.

Three blurry red dots stand out in the blackness of space

Research

Scientists use Exotic Stars to Tune into Hum from Cosmic Symphony

A team of astrophysicists has found evidence for gravitational waves that oscillate with periods of years to decades.

An illustration depicts colliding black holes causing waves in spacetime

Research

Scientists Demote a Potential Wonder Quantum Material

An international research team, including UT Austin's Edoardo Baldini, has disproven that Ta2NiSe5 is an excitonic insulator, resolving a long-standing debate on its phase transition...

Baldini Lab