Almost exactly 200 years ago, French physicist Sadi Carnot determined the maximum efficiency of heat engines. The Carnot principle, the second law of thermodynamics, was developed for large, ...

Nuclear physics is the branch of science that examines the properties and behaviour of atomic nuclei, the densely packed assemblies of protons and neutrons held together by the strong interaction.

Different atoms and ions possess characteristic energy levels. Like a fingerprint, they are unique for each species. Among ...

More than 40 researchers from international institutes collaborated to develop and implement a method that enables measurements with unprecedented precision. This sets new standards for theories and ...

Nuclear weapons tests are among the most violent events humans can trigger, and that violence leaves fingerprints in the ...

An international research team led by the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI has measured the radius of the nucleus of muonic helium-3 with unprecedented precision. The results are an important stress test ...

For two centuries, students have learned that heat flows and engines work according to rigid limits that no machine can beat.

Our account of the strong nuclear force is full of imaginative terms. Six flavors of quarks have color charges of red, green and blue, which dictate how they bind to form particles like protons and ...

The University of Manchester is hosting 80 leading researchers from the UK, Europe, Asia and the US for an international ...

Nuclear and plasma physics form complementary pillars in our understanding of the fundamental forces and states of matter. Nuclear physics investigates the structure, dynamics and interactions of ...