An international team of astronomers has used the optical HiPERCAM camera of the Gran Telescopio Canarias in La Palma and NASA’s NICER X-ray observatory aboard the International Space Station to create a video of a growing black hole system at an unprecedented level of detail. The study has increased scientific understanding on the immediate surroundings of black holes.
The Turku Quantum Technology research team has joined the international IBM Q Network as part of the Centre of Excellence in Quantum Technology of the Academy of Finland. The aim of the network is to promote the development of quantum computers and to create new applications based on quantum technology. The European universities included in the network were announced at the World Conference of Science Journalists held in Lausanne on 3 July 2019.
The department teaches skillfull professionals in physics and astronomy for different posts in the industry, in societies and the community, as well as in the education. A student interested in research career may also continue to graduate studies either in Finland or abroad.
Main research fields of the Department are material physics, quantum mechanics, and astronomy and space research.
The BepiColombo orbiters were launched into space on Saturday, 20 October 2018 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Journeying to the innermost and smallest planet of our Solar System, the orbiters are carrying Finnish high technology with them. Head of Space Research Laboratory at the University of Turku, Professor Rami Vainio has been responsible for the particle detector of the SIXS instrument aboard the Bepi orbiter.
In Physics and Astronomy experimental and theoretical methods of natural sciences combine in a unique way. Modern technology brings basic research into an intimate connection with applications. At the same time development of the fundamental theories of physics is strongly connected to the latest developments in mathematics.
The properties of quantum mechanics can be utilised, for example, in technology and encrypting messages, but the disadvantage is the occasional disappearing of information. For the first time, a research group consisting of Finnish and Chinese scientists has found a way to fully control the information escaping the qubit.
Stars substantially more massive than our Sun end their lives in a poweful supernova explosion. However, it is unclear what happens in the latest stages of the stars’ lives before their explosive final fate. An international team of astronomers led by Dr Francisco Förster from the University of Chile and including Dr Hanindyo Kuncarayakti from the University of Turku has now found evidence that these stars lose weight shortly before their death.
For the first time, astrophysicists have localised the source of a cosmic neutrino originated outside of the Milky Way. With high probability, the neutrino comes from a blazar, an active black hole at the centre of a distant galaxy in the Orion constellation. The scientists reached this interesting finding by combining a neutrino signal from IceCube with measurements from the Fermi-LAT and MAGIC telescopes as well as other instruments. This multi-messenger observation could also provide a clue to an unsolved mystery: the origin of cosmic rays.