NUS Physics Channel

The Eureka Moment In the whimsical town of Tensorfield, physics undergrad Tammy found herself overwhelmed by her upcoming exams. With concepts like phase transitions and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle swirling in her head, she sought refuge at the local café, "Spacetime Sippers." As Tammy sipped her triple-shot espresso, fellow students trickled in, each bearing the weight of academic pressure. The group, united by their shared struggle, decided to tackle the challenge together. They joked that their stress was like a phase transition, waiting for that Eureka moment to suddenly feel ready for the exams. As they studied, Tammy playfully sketched an equation on a napkin, claiming it could predict exam scores based on study hours and caffeine intake. The group laughed, plugging in their own numbers and constructing a comical "success" curve. The laughter worked like a catalyst, sparking a phase transition among the students as they reached their Eureka moments. Their anxiety transformed into motivation and confidence, as they felt ready to tackle the exams. And so, with grins on their faces and caffeine in their veins, the students of Tensorfield triumphed over their academic trials, one espresso-fueled equation at a time. A story by ChatGPT4.0

An award ceremony for the Singapore Physics Olympiad 2022 was held in conjunction with the annual general meeting of the Institute of Physics Singapore on 24 March. It was a delight to hear former Olympiad participants shared about how students could continue to pursue their passion for Physics despite the end of the competition. There was also a panel discussion with the theme "The Meaning of Physics". For more report, click here.

Two teams of students from NUS Physics emerged as winners among participants from local universities at the PLANCKS Singapore Preliminaries held on 3 and 4 March. PLANCKS is an international, undergraduate exam-based physics competition organised by the International Association for Physics Students. The winning team (Alice and Bob) will represent Singapore universities at PLANCKS International to be held this May at the University of Milan, Milan. Click here for more.

Attention all subscribers of the NUS Physics Channel! Join the Physics Telegram Challenge for a chance to win amazing vouchers! To participate, simply submit a short original narrative using the link provided here by 19 March. Your narrative should explain a physical phenomenon in a humorous way. Winning entries will be published in the channel. So don’t miss this opportunity to showcase your creativity and knowledge! Click on link!

JWST found six galaxies that may be too hefty for their age https://www.sciencenews.org/article/james-webb-telescope-six-galaxies-old

The College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS) warmly invites you to Open House 2023 on 27 Feb. Come on board a virtual journey with us where you will discover a wide array of academic offerings under CHS. For more information, click here.

Well folks, it looks like we've finally found a way to beat the long line for Moon tickets! Our intrepid adventurer, Bob, has discovered a cutting-edge way of using quantum teleportation to beam himself straight to the lunar surface. Bob, who's always been fascinated by the latest and greatest technology, has been studying up on quantum teleportation and has finally figured out how to make it work for his purposes. He's so confident in his newfound knowledge that he's decided to use it to become the first person to teleport to the moon! Of course, there are a few catches. First, he'll need to find a partner on the moon to receive the teleported information and reassemble him. Second, there's the small matter of overcoming the intrinsic limitations of quantum teleportation, such as the need for entangled particles and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. But Bob's undaunted! He's already started practicing his moon landing speech and is eager to show the world that anything is possible with the power of science. Wish him luck, folks! And who knows, maybe someday we'll all be able to teleport to the moon and back for lunch.

In 2022, professors, research fellows and PhD students @ NUS Physics took their research to the next level with ground-breaking works from quantum physics at extreme conditions, to exotic condensed matter phenomena and theory. Find out more here: https://www.physics.nus.edu.sg/breakthrough-of-the-year-2022/

High-powered lasers can be used to steer lightning strikes | Engadget https://www.engadget.com/laser-guides-lightning-strikes-172716503.html

Congratulations to Dr. Kayla Nguyen (left) and Dr. Ho Wen Wei (right) who just won the highly competitive Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) Fellowship. Each of them will be awarded up to S$3 million research funding to conduct independent research at NUS Physics department. Yet to join NUS later this year from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Kayla will work on direct electron imaging techniques. Already an Assistant Professor at NUS Physics, Wen Wei will work on non-equilibrium many-body physics and quantum information science.

With the Lunar New Year feasting approaching, ever wonder if this has anything to do with physics? A group of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology has the answer! After analysing recordings of several Chinese chefs at work, they devised a model for the kinematics of wok tossing and hoped that a better understanding might one day lead to fewer wok-related injuries for chefs. The findings have been well received by chefs around the world and companies specialising in cooking technology. Come savour this: https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/georgia-tech-physicists-unlock-the-secret-to-perfect-wok-tossed-fried-rice/

Your phone (example of a classical computer) ingests information encoded in bit strings (strings of zeros and ones), manipulates and converts it to another piece of information you desire. Quantum computer does the same but it uses quantum bits (qubits) instead. Qubits make it better (in some instances) than classical machines. Let me tell you something really weird about qubits. You can copy classical bits effortlessly (0—>00, 1—>11) so sharing your food pictures around is a breeze. However, you can’t do this with qubits! That’s right. Nature isn’t okay with a quantum copier. This strange quantum behaviour was proved in 1982 by Wooters, Żurek and Dieks. Although it looks like a problem (which it can be), you can effectively use it to protect your quantum information from hackers and spies. It's a delightful example of turning limitations into something useful.