RESEARCH NEWS → Jing Teng, Chen Chen, Yimin Xiong, Jiandi Zhang, Rongying Jin and E. W. Plummer have recently reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [PNAS 110, 898 (2013)] the observation of extremely large spin-charge-lattice coupling driven by the broken symmetry present at the surface. The study was conducted on single crystals grown at LSU of the newly discovered Fe-based superconductors Ba(Fe_1-xCo_x)₂As₂, using high resolution inelastic electron scattering to proble the lattice dynamics. More . . .

RESEARCH NEWS → A paper by Thomas Kutter, former LSU postdoc Jason Goon, and their collaborators on the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) describes a new analysis of the Sudbury solar neutrino data using an array of He-3 proportional counters installed in the heavy water target to measure the rate of neutrino-deuteron neutral-current interactions. The total flux of active neutrinos was measured to be consistent with both previous measurements and standard solar models. A global analysis of solar and reactor neutrino mixing parameters yielded best-fit values of Δm² = 7.59 +0.19/-0.21 x 10-5 eV² and θ = 34.4+1.3/-1.2 degrees. The paper, published in Physical Review C 87, 015502 (2013), was selected as a "Phys. Rev. C Editor's Suggestion". More . . .

RESEARCH NEWS → Jorge Pullin of the LSU Relativity Group and Hearne Institute and Adjunct Professor Rodolfo Gambini of Universidad de la Republica in Montevideo, Uruguay, have made a step forward in reconciling quantum mechanics with gravity using a new interpretation – the Montevideo interpretation – that eliminates the need for outside observers. This new view of the meaning of measurements in quantum mechanics may yield insights into the development of a quantum theory of gravity, a major unresolved issue in theoretical physics. It may also allow improved connection between a possible quantum mechanical phase early in the history of the universe and imprints of that phase on today's classical universe. More . . .