Temperature is typically thought of as the average energy of individual atoms or molecules within a given collection. For atoms of similar mass, this "kinetic temperature" would basically be their ...

Absolute zero is often thought to be the coldest temperature possible. But now researchers show they can achieve even lower temperatures for a strange realm of "negative temperatures." Oddly, another ...

There’s a whole mirror world of negative temperatures reaching from minus infinity to absolute zero – now we’re plumbing those depths for real DEFINING a temperature scale is easy. Fire is hot, ice is ...

Over the past 60 years, several theories and experiments have claimed the existence of negative absolute temperatures in certain quantum systems. This fueled speculations about hyper-efficient heat ...

Right now, as I type this sentence, Earth’s Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the bright ball of light that is the Sun, and it’s cold here (relatively speaking). Humans have long recorded and ...

Energy distribution of atoms in a thermal state. For positive absolute temperatures (upper part, blue), the low energy states have the highest population; for negative absolute temperatures, the high ...

Tapio Simula receives funding from Australian Research Council (ARC). He is affiliated with American Physical Society (APS). He works for Monash University. The concept of temperature is intimately ...

Over the past 60 years, a considerable number of theories and experiments have claimed the existence of negative absolute temperature in spin systems and ultracold quantum gases. This has led to ...

A cloud of atoms with a temperature beyond absolute zero – which is also bizarrely hotter than any positive temperature imaginable – could be a mysterious new quantum state of matter. Luca Donini at ...