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Fundamental Research Division
The DRF at the CEA assemble approximately 6,000 scientists since January 2016.
Chemists from ICSM have provided evidence of an atypical transition in a system of surfactant molecules in an aqueous solution: “large” hollow spheres (vesicles) evolve toward “small” solid spheres (micelles) as concentration increases. A sort of “Big Bang” due to electrostatic repulsion between vesicles leads to their explosion into micelles. This could offer new opportunities for drug encapsulation and vectorization.
Using high-performance computing and an analytical model, researchers from IRFU have shown that certain properties of a stellar cluster are already "inscribed" in the gaseous proto-cluster that precedes it and that hosts stars while they form. Gravity and turbulence play a major role in this cluster.
A team from IRAMIS has developed a sensor based on giant magnetoresistance (GMR) that can perform an in vitro measurement of the evolution of a magnetic field associated to a skeletal muscle's response to an electric stimulus. Their advance is a first step toward in vivo measurement of neuronal activity.
According to the ALICE collaboration at LHC (CERN), certain rare proton collisions have properties that are similar to those of a quark–gluon plasma. In the past, these properties had been observed for collisions of heavy nuclei only. The physicists are now confronted with a new enigma: how can a state of quark–gluon plasma emerge in a system as “small” as that generated by a collision between two protons?
Why not look for phosphate where it is: in the soil? Scientists from CEA-BIAM and their partners have provided evidence for an adaptation mechanism in the root of plants.
Theoretical physicists from IPhT have advanced the understanding of non-unitary field theories, in particular by using recent mathematical results relating to "non-semi-simple associative algebras." Their work has potential applications in, among other things, the delocalization transition in the entire quantum Hall effect.
Combining extreme value theory and chaos theory, researchers from LSCE have developed digital tools to determine the quality and rarity of a weather forecast based on atmospheric data collected since 1948. Their near-instantaneous ability to analyze atmospheric circulation could ultimately allow for better prediction of extreme weather events.
For the first time, a team from IRAMIS has produced very intense infrared laser pulses carrying “orbital angular momentum” (optical vortices) and transferred this momentum to XUV harmonics generated on a “plasma mirror.” The applications of these new effects include the acceleration of ultra-short beams of high-energy particles.
Take a very elongated nucleus of strontium-98, remove two protons... and it becomes a sphere. Although this abrupt shape transition, observed for the first time at GANIL, remains unexplained, a deeper understanding of this phenomenon will allow the physicists to know a little more about the complex organization of nucleons in the nucleus.
A team of theoretical physicists has demonstrated that, within the framework of the most “simple” solution of string theory, a close relationship binds the masses of fermions and those of their partner particles; i.e., the supersymmetric bosons. Since supersymmetric bosons are absent in the data collected at the LHC, the newly demonstrated constraint most likely rules out this version of string theory.
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CEA is a French government-funded technological research organisation in four main areas: low-carbon energies, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. A prominent player in the European Research Area, it is involved in setting up collaborative projects with many partners around the world.