MIT Physics

We don’t know if the theorized primordial black holes (PBH) are real. If they are, they formed in the very early Universe when physics were much different. They had no stellar progenitors, and were created by direct collapse of densely-packed subatomic matter. Theorists have wondered if PBH could be dark matter, or a component of dark matter. […] The post What Happens to a Star That Captures A Pr…

My Early Youth I was born in 1976 in Valencia (Spain) into a middle-class family. I am the second of four brothers. My parents did not have the opportunity to go to college, as they both started working in their teenage years. However, they were both well-read persons who valued hard work and culture, and […] The post Essay: Adventures Exploring the World and Unchartered Physics Territory appeare…

MIT professor of physics Pablo Jarillo-Herrero is among 10 researchers worldwide to receive this year’s prestigious Kavli Prize.  Jarillo-Herrero is co-recipient of the 2026 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience “for foundational work that established the field of twistronics.” His co-recipients are professors Eva Y. Andrei at Rutgers University and Allan MacDonald from the University of Texas […] The post …

graphene, magic angle, carbon, twistronics, 1.1 degrees, qubits, https://www.mundoamerica.com/entertainment/2026/06/09/6a27cd8821efa0694d8b4571.html The post In the laboratory of physicist Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the ‘magician’ of graphene: “My dream is to create a prestigious university in Spain like MIT” appeared first on MIT Physics .

A number of MIT affiliates were recently honored for their research by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. Stuart H. Orkin ’67 shared a Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences with Swee Lay Thein for their research transforming sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia from incurable to treatable conditions through gene editing therapy. Their work identified the master switch […] The post MIT affiliate…

Assistant Professor Haocun Yu is something of a scientific diplomat. In a recent Physical Review Letters (PRL) publication, she and colleagues show how a tabletop experiment can bring together two bedrock physics theories that have never been fully reconciled. Subatomic Gravity? More than a century ago Albert Einstein gave us the theory of general relativity, describing gravity […] The post Recon…

Nuclear physicists used a little magic in their latest experiment conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, and the result has revealed surprising new information about the behavior of protons and neutrons inside the atom’s nucleus. Specifically, the research revealed another requirement that determines how protons and neutrons pair up. […] The p…

A supermassive black hole lies at the heart of every galaxy, including the Milky Way. When a black hole is active, it pulls material in as a whirpool of high-temperature gas and dust. As this cosmic material piles up and falls onto a black hole, it lights up its vicinity, radiating a huge amount of energy.  […] The post MIT astronomers discover the earliest known flickering quasar appeared first …

Aram Harrow, Interview, Q&A, Spain’s Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT) in Madrid, HHL algorithm, quantum algorithms, superconductivity, https://english.elpais.com/technology/2026-06-05/aram-harrow-quantum-researcher-these-computers-wont-take-10-years-theyll-arrive-sooner.html The post Aram Harrow, quantum researcher: ‘These computers won’t take 10 years; they’ll arrive sooner’ appeared f…

The MIT-led Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI) has received renewed support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for an additional five years, increasing annual funding from $4 million to $4.98 million. The renewal marks a new phase for IAIFI, which has spent its first five years building a research model and an […] The post NSF renews support for MIT…

Daniel Harlow, general relativity, holographic principle, entanglement, wormhole, Preskill, quantum computing, qubit, Quantum Error Correction, https://www.quantamagazine.org/entanglement-builds-space-time-now-magic-gives-it-gravity-20260603/ The post Entanglement Builds Space-Time. Now “Magic” Gives It Gravity. appeared first on MIT Physics .

Ten MIT affiliates — including undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni — have accepted Fulbright grants to conduct research in countries across the world. Five other students declined their awards to pursue other opportunities, and another student is still deciding. In total, 16 of MIT’s 30 Fulbright applicants won awards this year.  Funded by the U.S. […] The post Ten from MIT accept 2026 …

For many graduate students, waking up at noon after a 4 a.m. bedtime is a sign of a night well spent. For a group of MIT students, it was simply the start of their workday — timed not to the sun, but to the aurora. Their goal was simple: to study plasma phenomena using the […] The post MIT students study plasma physics beneath Alaska’s aurora appeared first on MIT Physics .

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has elected 120 members and 25 international members for 2026, including six MIT faculty members and 10 additional alumni.  Among MIT professors, Bengt Holmström, Michale Fee, Gareth McKinley ’91, Keith Nelson, Fan Wang, and Catherine Wolfram ’96 were elected in recognition of their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original […] The post MIT affi…

Zhurun (Judy) Ji, Assistant Professor of Physics, has been named one of 15 exceptional early-career investigators to join the prestigious Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Global Scholars program for 2026–2028. Now in its eleventh year, the initiative empowers rising research leaders to secure global impact by providing leadership development and championing bold ideas through […] …

Researchers from the University of Ottawa and MIT have published a comprehensive roadmap in Newton detailing the potential of “magnetic topological materials.” These materials represent a cutting-edge fusion of magnetism and topology, a branch of mathematics dealing with shape and structure. They hold the promise of revolutionizing electronics by enabling faster, smaller, and significantly more […

MIT master’s student Sunshine Jiang ’25 and Rupert Li ’24 are recipients of this year’s Knight-Hennessy Scholarship. Now in its ninth year, the highly competitive scholarship provides up to three years of financial support for graduate studies at Stanford University.  Sunshine Jiang  ’25 Sunshine Jiang, from Hangzhou, China, graduated from MIT in 2025 with a […] The post Two from MIT named 2026 K…

Dark matter is thought to make up most of the matter in the universe, but the only way it interacts with its surroundings is through gravity. If two colliding black holes spiral through a dense region of dark matter and merge, gravitational waves rippling across space and time could carry an imprint of that dark […] The post A new way to spot signs of dark matter appeared first on MIT Physics .

Quantum computers could someday solve pressing problems that are too convoluted for classical computers, such as modeling complex molecular interactions to streamline drug discovery and materials development.  But to build a superconducting quantum computer that is large and resilient enough for real-world applications, scientists must precisely engineer thousands of quantum circuits so they perf…

Michael McDonald, Scott Hughes, Michael Reefe, Abell 402-BCG, James Webb Space Telescope, JWST, Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory, black holes, Link redirects to full story on www.sciencenews.org M. McDonald et al. A kiloparsec-scale stellar cavity in the center of A402-BCG may be caused by dynamic interactions with an ultramassive black hole. The Astrophysical Journal Let…