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EPJ QT Highlight - Teaching quantum entanglement with card games
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- Published on 10 February 2026
Simple interactive activities help non-expert audiences to grasp the core concepts of quantum entanglement and the Nobel Prize-winning experiments that proved how quantum mechanics defies classical physics
Even compared with other fields of cutting-edge research, the underlying principles of quantum mechanics are often deeply complex, and can contradict our everyday intuitions about reality. When communicating these ideas beyond the scientific community, this makes it incredibly challenging for researchers to simplify concepts enough to make them approachable, without sacrificing accuracy.
Through new research published in EPJ Quantum Technology, Valentina De Renzi at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Matteo Paris at the University of Milan, and Maria Bondani at Italy’s Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies present a new approach for introducing the concepts of quantum entanglement, and its experimental proof through the violation of Bell's Inequality – whose experimental demonstration earned the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics.
EPJ Plus Highlight - A roadmap for radiation protection in human space exploration
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- Published on 10 February 2026
Comprehensive new review outlines the risks posed by space radiation, and the strategies needed to safeguard astronauts on long missions into outer space
Among the many challenges of human space exploration, radiation remains one of the most serious threats to astronaut health. Before the next extended interplanetary voyages, researchers must better understand both the risks posed by space radiation and how they can be mitigated.
In a comprehensive review published in EPJ Plus, a team led by Livio Narici at the University of Rome Tor Vergata examines the complex nature of the space radiation environment, its biological effects, and the latest strategies for risk assessment and mitigation. Drawing together results from lab studies, space missions, and analogue experiments, the team identify key knowledge gaps and propose a detailed roadmap for protecting human health during future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
EPJ QT Highlight - Exploring the full-stack design space of quantum computing
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- Published on 10 February 2026
In-depth analysis shows that co-designing hardware and software is essential for optimising quantum performance.
Over the past few years, advances in quantum computing have pushed it steadily closer to practical, real-world applications. But before this goal can be reached, greater standardisation will be needed across the entire quantum ‘stack’ – from user-facing software, all the way down to the underlying hardware.
In new research published in EPJ Quantum Technology, a team led by Hila Safi at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Regensburg investigates how this full-stack design challenge might be addressed. By systematically exploring the interplay between software hardware, the researchers show that improving quantum performance will depend on carefully co-designing both layers together.
EPJA Topical Collection: Intersection of Low-Energy Nuclear Structure and High-Energy Nuclear Collisions
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- Published on 10 February 2026
Guest Editors: Thomas Duguet, Giuliano Giacalone, Vittorio Somà, You Zhou
High-energy heavy-ion physics and low-energy nuclear structure physics have historically been disconnected fields. The hydrodynamic description of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) requires input from nuclear structure to model the initial states of the colliding nuclei, but until 2015 or so, most phenomenological studies have relied on simplified nuclear models, assuming spherical charge distributions and ignoring features like neutron skins or deformations. Advances in both theory and experiment now show that the hydrodynamic evolution of the QGP is sensitive to the detailed features of the colliding nuclei, with remarkable consequences for experimental observables.
Lasse Laurson joins the EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
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- Published on 03 February 2026
The Steering Committee of EPJ is delighted to welcome Lasse Laurson, as the new representative of the Finnish Physical Society.
Professor Lasse Laurson is a professor of computational physics and head of the Computational Physics Laboratory, part of the Physics Unit at Tampere University, Finland.
He is a member of the Academic Board of Tampere University, and works on computational statistical physics of complex systems, focusing especially on collective phenomena in materials.
Jacobo Santamaría joins the EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
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- Published on 30 January 2026
The Steering Committee of EPJ is delighted to welcome Jacobo Santamaría, as the new representative of the Spanish Physical Society.
Professor Jacobo Santamaría is a Full Professor of Physics at the Department of Materials Physics at the University Complutense de Madrid (Spain). He obtained his Ph.D. in Physics at the University Complutense (1989), followed by post-doctoral research at the University of California San Diego. He leads the Complutense Research Group on Complex Materials (GFMC), with focus on the physics of correlated transition metal oxides. His research is mainly on magnetism and superconductivity of artificial oxide interfaces with attention to spintronics and energy devices.
He is a fellow of the American Physical Society (2008) and was awarded a D´Alembert Chair of the University Paris Saclay (2017). Member of the Editorial Board of the Physical Review Materials (2018-). He has been Chair of the State Research Plan for Materials (Program Manager) of the Spanish National Funding Agency (2011-2018). Holder of international EU Projects (ERC Synergy 2025, EIC Pathfinder 2024).
Alberta Bonnani joins the EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
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- Published on 23 January 2026
The Steering Committee of EPJ is delighted to welcome Alberta Bonnani, as the new representative of the Austrian Physical Society.
Professor Alberta Bonanni was born in Italy. After studying physics at the University of Trieste, she spent several years as a researcher at the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis and the University of Wisconsin.
Since 2015, she has been Professor of Solid State Physics at the Institute for Semiconductor and Solid State Physics at Johannes Kepler University (JKU) Linz. Since October 2019 she has been Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs at JKU. Since 2024 she is Chair of the Austrian Physical Society.
Her main scientific work is in the field of quantum materials, spintronics and solid state physics.
EPJ H Highlight - Crediting the real pioneers of classical wavefunctions
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- Published on 20 January 2026
Study corrects a long-standing misconception surrounding the origins of classical wavefunctions in Hilbert space
A Hilbert space is an abstract space of finitely or infinitely many dimensions, and its mathematical properties make it incredibly useful for quantum and classical theories alike. In the 1930s, Bernard Koopman and John von Neumann found a way to formulate classical observable quantities in terms of ingredients in Hilbert spaces. Decades later, conceptually distinct methods emerged for formulating classical states as wavefunctions in Hilbert spaces – methods that have since become central to modern theories. In recent years, however, credit for both approaches has incorrectly gone entirely to Koopman and von Neumann.
In a new investigation published in EPJ H: Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Physics, Jacob Barandes at Harvard University shows how the Koopman-von Neumann formulation and the method of classical wavefunctions, despite both using Hilbert spaces, are each based on different underlying principles – with the latter possibly emerging through calculations carried out by Brazilian physicist Mario Schönberg in the 1950s. Barandes’s work corrects a long-standing misconception surrounding a cornerstone of modern classical theory, and could finally give the physicists really responsible the credit they deserve.
EPJ Plus Highlight - Using protein microtubules for quantum computations
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- Published on 20 January 2026
A new model shows how networks of protein-based microtubules could host entangled quantum states under normal biological conditions
For now, the possibility of using biological structures as a platform for quantum computing remains an open question. While existing quantum computers require tightly controlled conditions to preserve quantum coherence, researchers have begun exploring how quantum information could be stored and processed more naturally within complex biomolecular structures.
In new research published in EPJ Plus, Nick Mavromatos at the National Technical University of Athens), Andreas Mershin at RealNose.AI, and Dimitri Nanopoulos at Texas A&M University present a model in which entangled quantum states are hosted by networks of protein-based microtubules. If experimentally confirmed, this model could open entirely new avenues toward biological quantum computers, potentially more resilient to information loss than current technologies.
Mitko Gaidarov joins the EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
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- Published on 12 January 2026
The Steering Committee of EPJ is delighted to welcome Mitko Gaidarov, as the new representative of the Bulgarian Physical Society.
Professor Mitko Gaidarov is a professor of physics and the head of the Nuclear Theory Laboratory in the Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
In the past he was the Scientific Secretary and Vice-Director of this Institute..
He is a member of the C12 Commission on Nuclear Physics of the IUPAP, member of the Governing Board of the Union of Physicists in Bulgaria and Chair of Section “Physics” of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria.
Mitko Gaidarov is an Editor-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Journal of Physics.
His interests are theoretical nuclear physics, nucleon correlations in nuclei, nuclear structure and nuclear reactions.
