Department of Physics & Astronomy

Astronomers reveal hidden lives of the early universe’s ultramassive galaxies

tomwt — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 23:30:39 +0000

Astronomers reveal hidden lives of the early universe’s ultramassive galaxies tomwt Mon, 01/05/2026 - 15:30 More CNAS in the Media Meagan O’Shea | W.M. Keck Observatory January 05, 2026

W.M. KECK OBSERVATORY - Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – An international team of astronomers has uncovered multiple evolutionary paths for the universe’s most massive galaxies. Observations of ultramassive galaxies, each containing more than 100 billion stars, show that less than two billion years after the Big Bang, some had already stopped forming stars and lost their dust, while others continued forming stars hidden behind thick dust clouds. Because dusty, star-forming galaxies can appear red and inactive, distinguishing truly “dead” galaxies from those still forming stars has long been a challenge—making the discovery of genuinely quiescent systems at such early times especially surprising.

“By combining multi-wavelength observations, we can tell which galaxies truly have limited ongoing star formation and which are still active but heavily hidden by dust,” said Wenjun Chang, lead author and graduate student at the University of California, Riverside. “Our far-infrared and (sub)millimeter measurements allow us to constrain how much dust these early massive galaxies contain.”

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FROnt Surface Type Irradiator, or FROSTI, will allow future detectors to run at higher laser powers, reducing noise and expanding capabilities

tomwt — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 18:01:22 +0000

FROnt Surface Type Irradiator, or FROSTI, will allow future detectors to run at higher laser powers, reducing noise and expanding capabilities tomwt Mon, 11/17/2025 - 10:01 More CNAS in the Media Isabelle Dumé | Physics World October 27, 2025

PHYSICS WORLD - Future versions of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) will be able to run at much higher laser powers thanks to a sophisticated new system that compensates for temperature changes in optical components. Known as FROSTI (for FROnt Surface Type Irradiator) and developed by physicists at the University of California Riverside, US, the system will enable next-generation machines to detect gravitational waves emitted when the universe was just 0.1% of its current age, before the first stars had even formed.

Gravitational waves are distortions in spacetime that occur when massive astronomical objects accelerate and collide. When these distortions pass through the four-kilometre-long arms of the two LIGO detectors, they create a tiny difference in the (otherwise identical) distance that light travels between the centre of the observatory and the mirrors located at the end of each arm. The problem is that detecting and studying gravitational waves requires these differences in distance to be measured with an accuracy of 10-19 m, which is 1/10 000th the size of a proton.

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Jonathan Richardson

Laser wavefront-correcting device gives LIGO 10x boost to spot distant gravitational waves

tomwt — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 15:03:14 +0000

Laser wavefront-correcting device gives LIGO 10x boost to spot distant gravitational waves tomwt Mon, 09/29/2025 - 08:03 More CNAS in the Media Rupendra Brahambhatt | Interesting Engineering September 28, 2025

INTERESTING ENGINEERING - Gravitational waves, tiny ripples in spacetime caused by cosmic collisions like merging black holes, are almost impossibly faint. Detecting them requires LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), one of the most sensitive instruments ever built.

However, there’s a catch. To see farther and catch weaker signals, LIGO needs more powerful lasers, but stronger lasers slightly bend the mirrors, and even tiny bends smaller than a proton can block the signals.

A team of researchers has developed a new system called FROSTI to fix this problem, enabling LIGO and future observatories to explore the cosmos more deeply than ever before.

“The problem is, increasing laser power tends to destroy the delicate quantum states we rely on to improve signal clarity. Our new technology solves this tension by making sure the optics remain undistorted, even at megawatt power levels,” Jonathan Richardson, one of the researchers and a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, said.

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Jonathan Richardson

Scientists warn of 'massive' black holes forming inside of planets that could have apocalyptic impact

tomwt — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 16:20:02 +0000

Scientists warn of 'massive' black holes forming inside of planets that could have apocalyptic impact tomwt Tue, 09/02/2025 - 09:20 More CNAS in the Media Niamh Shackleton | Unilad August 29, 2025

UNILAD - A worrying new study has found that some planets might develop black holes from within that go on to destroy them.

The research, which was published on August 20, found that dark matter may gather over time in the center of some planets which creates a black hole that ultimately goes on to devour the planet from the inside out.

While we don't really know what dark matter is, it makes up around 27 percent of the universe, says NASA.

The space agency further explains: "Dark matter is the invisible glue that holds the universe together. This mysterious material is all around us, making up most of the matter in the universe."

Dark matter doesn't create black holes, but it can help form them.

Exoplanets (a planet that orbits a star outside the solar system) in particular are said to be 'ideal celestial detectors for probing dark matter interactions', per the new study.

Using theoretical calculations, researchers suggested that exoplanets could collect dark matter in their cores over long periods of time.

Co-lead author Mehrdad Phoroutan-Mehr, an astronomer at the University of California, Riverside, said: "If the dark matter particles are heavy enough and don’t annihilate, they may eventually collapse into a tiny black hole.

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Dark matter could turn some planets into tiny black holes

tomwt — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 16:09:27 +0000

Dark matter could turn some planets into tiny black holes tomwt Tue, 09/02/2025 - 09:09 More CNAS in the Media Michelle Starr | ScienceAlert August 31, 2025

SCIENCEALERT - Giant worlds beyond the Solar System could be the probe we need to figure out how dark matter manifests in the Universe.

According to a new study, one particular dark matter model could see the mysterious mass accumulating in the cores of giant planets, collapsing into tiny black holes destined to consume the surrounding material over time.

If we can find evidence of the resulting planet-mass object, it might validate the existence of a hefty form of dark matter that doesn't destroy itself.

"If the dark matter particles are heavy enough and don't annihilate, they may eventually collapse into a tiny black hole," says astrophysicist Mehrdad Phoroutan-Mehr of the University of California, Riverside.

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How dark matter in exoplanets could create new black holes

tomwt — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 15:35:13 +0000

How dark matter in exoplanets could create new black holes tomwt Tue, 08/26/2025 - 08:35 More CNAS in the Media Paul Scott Anderson | EarthSky August 26, 2025

EARTHSKY - The mysterious substance known as dark matter makes up most of the mass in the universe. But there is a lot we don’t know about it. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have suggested using exoplanets – planets orbiting distant stars – to study and better understand dark matter. They said on August 21, 2025, that dark matter particles could accumulate inside giant Jupiter-like exoplanets. Dense dark matter particles could eventually collapse to form a black hole inside a planet. The black hole could then ultimately consume the entire planet, fully transforming the world into a black hole.

Dark matter is a mysterious “substance” that scientists still know little about. We might tend to think of dark matter as something “floating around in space.” But it actually composes most of the matter and mass in the universe. This can include galaxies, gas clouds, stars and planets. Scientists say that 85% of the matter in the universe is dark matter, and just 15% is ordinary matter.

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Breathing room for quantum chips: Study shows noisy links can still scale systems

tomwt — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 15:22:03 +0000

Breathing room for quantum chips: Study shows noisy links can still scale systems tomwt Tue, 08/26/2025 - 08:22 More CNAS in the Media Neetika Walter | Interesting Engineering August 25, 2025

INTERESTING ENGINEERING - For years, the biggest hurdle in quantum computing has been scale. While quantum processors can already tackle complex simulations in chemistry, material science, and data security, most remain too small and fragile to be practical for large-scale applications.

A new study led by the University of California, Riverside, suggests that may be changing.

Researchers demonstrated through simulations that multiple small quantum chips can be linked together into one functioning system even if the connections between them aren’t flawless.

The finding points to a path for building larger, fault-tolerant quantum computers sooner than expected.

“Our work isn’t about inventing a new chip,” said Mohamed A. Shalby, the paper’s first author and a doctoral candidate in UCR’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.

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Dark matter may turn planets into black holes

tomwt — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 14:45:26 +0000

Dark matter may turn planets into black holes tomwt Mon, 08/25/2025 - 07:45 More CNAS in the Media Jordan Joseph | Earth.com August 23, 2025

EARTH.COM - Exoplanets used to be fringe objects in astronomy. Now, they are popular subjects for testing ideas about the composition of the universe.

A new study proposes that some gas giants might steadily collect dark matter in their cores until the buildup tips into a collapse that forms a tiny black hole.

Mehrdad Phoroutan-Mehr, a graduate researcher at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), led the work with postdoctoral researcher Tara Fetherolf.

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Dark matter could turn exoplanets into tiny black holes, shocking study reveals

tomwt — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 22:52:13 +0000

Dark matter could turn exoplanets into tiny black holes, shocking study reveals tomwt Fri, 08/22/2025 - 15:52 More CNAS in the Media Mrigakshi Dixit | Interesting Engineering August 22, 2025

INTERESTING ENGINEERING - A study suggests that exoplanets could be used to search for dark matter — the elusive substance that makes up 85% of the universe’s matter.

Dark matter’s gravitational pull proves it exists, but we’ve never been able to directly find it.

Now, the University of California, Riverside study proposes that exoplanets, especially large, gaseous ones like Jupiter, could act as natural laboratories for dark matter search.

The researchers theorize that “superheavy non-annihilating” dark matter particles could gradually collect in the cores of these planets over time.

“If the dark matter particles are heavy enough and don’t annihilate, they may eventually collapse into a tiny black hole,” said Mehrdad Phoroutan-Mehr, first author and a graduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

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Atomic gold shield solves quantum chip noise problem without killing speed

tomwt — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 18:54:08 +0000

Atomic gold shield solves quantum chip noise problem without killing speed tomwt Thu, 07/31/2025 - 11:54 More CNAS in the Media Aamir Khollam | Interesting Engineering July 30, 2025

INTERESTING ENGINEERING - Quantum computing’s ability to solve problems that would take classical computers millennia has captured global interest.

But the path to functional, scalable quantum machines has been riddled with fundamental challenges.

At the heart of the problem lies the qubit, the quantum version of a digital bit.

Qubits can exist in multiple states simultaneously, but this delicate state, known as quantum coherence, is extremely sensitive to environmental interference.

Even atomic-scale flaws in the materials that host qubits can disrupt performance.

A physicist at the University of California, Riverside, may have cracked this persistent problem by adding a layer of gold just a few atoms thick.

Quantum computers rely on superconducting materials to manipulate and preserve qubits, which hold quantum information.

But imperfections at the surface of these superconductors have long created instability, introducing noise and causing fragile quantum states to collapse.

That flaw has prevented reliable scaling of quantum systems.

Peng Wei, associate professor of physics at UC Riverside, has developed a technique to coat niobium, one of the most widely used superconducting metals, with a uniform, ultra-thin gold layer.

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Peng Wei