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The Year in Physics

December 22, 2022

Myriam Wares for Quanta Magazine

Introduction

The year began right as the James Webb Space Telescope was unfurling its sunshield — the giant, nail-bitingly thin and delicate blanket that, once open, would plunge the observatory into frigid shade and open up its view of the infrared universe. Within hours of the ball dropping here in New York City, the sunshield could have caught on a snag, ruining the new telescope and tossing billions of dollars and decades of work into the void. Instead, the sunshield opened perfectly, getting the new year in physics off to an excellent start.

JWST soon started to glimpse gorgeous new faces of the cosmos. On July 11, President Biden unveiled the telescope’s first public image — a panoramic view of thousands of galaxies various distances away in space and time. Four more instantly iconic images were released the next day. Since then, the telescope’s data has been distributed among hundreds of astronomers and cosmologists, and cosmic discoveries and papers are pouring forth.

Astronomy is swimming in fresh data of all kinds. In May, for instance, the Event Horizon Telescope released the first-ever photo of the supermassive black hole in the heart of our galaxy — one of several recent observations that are helping astrophysicists figure out how galaxies operate . Other telescopes are mapping the locations of millions of galaxies, an effort that recently yielded surprising evidence of an asymmetry in galaxy distribution .

Breakthroughs are coming fast in condensed matter physics, too. An experiment published in September all but proved the origin of high-temperature superconductivity , which could help in the field’s perennial quest for an even warmer version of the phenomenon that could work at room temperature. That’s also a goal of research on two-dimensional materials. This year, a kind of flat crystal that once helped lubricate skis has emerged as a powerful platform for exotic, potentially useful quantum phenomena.

Particle physicists, who seek new fundamental ingredients of the universe, have been less lucky. They’ve continued to unravel features of particles we already know of — including the proton , the subject of a wonderful visual project we published this fall. But theorists have few if any concrete clues about how to go beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, the stiflingly comprehensive set of equations for the quantum world that’s been the theory to beat for half a century. Hope is a virtue, though, and at least one possible crack in the Standard Model did open up this year. Let’s start the 2022 greatest-hits list there.

Samuel Velasco/Quanta Magazine

A Tantalizingly Heavy Boson

The Tevatron collider in Illinois smashed its last protons a decade ago, but its handlers have continued to analyze its detections of W bosons — particles that mediate the weak force. They announced in April that, by painstakingly tracking down and eliminating sources of error in the data, they’d measured the mass of the W boson more precisely than ever before and found the particle significantly heavier than predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics.

A true discrepancy with the Standard Model would be a monumental discovery, pointing to new particles or effects beyond the theory’s purview. But hold the applause. Other experiments weighing the W — most notably the ATLAS experiment at Europe’s Large Hadron Collider — measured a mass much closer to the Standard Model prediction. The new Tevatron measurement purports to be more precise, but one or both groups might have missed some subtle source of error.  

The ATLAS experiment aims to resolve the matter. As Guillaume Unal, a member of ATLAS, said, “The W boson has to be the same on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Emily Buder/Quanta Magazine; Kristina Armitage and Rui Braz for Quanta Magazine

Rethinking Naturalness

All that buzz about a tenuous hint of a problem with the Standard Model reflects the troubled situation particle physicists find themselves in. The 17 elementary particles known to exist — the ones described by the Standard Model — don’t solve all the mysteries of the universe. Yet the Large Hadron Collider hasn’t turned up an 18th.

For years, theorists have struggled with how to proceed. But recently, a new direction has opened up. Theorists are rethinking a long-held assumption known as naturalness — a way of reasoning about what’s natural or expected in the laws of nature. The idea is closely connected to nature’s reductionist, nesting-doll structure, where big stuff is explained by smaller stuff. Now theorists wonder if profound naturalness problems like the lack of new particles from the Large Hadron Collider might mean the laws of nature aren’t structured in such a simple bottom-up way after all. In a spate of new papers, they’re exploring how gravity might dramatically change the picture.

“Some people call it a crisis,” said the theoretical particle physicist Isabel Garcia Garcia, referring to the current moment in the field. But that’s too pessimistic, in her view: “It’s a time where I feel like we are on to something profound.”  

(Incidentally, as well as rethinking naturalness, Garcia Garcia also studies the physics of nothing — the subject of a rollicking explainer published in August.)

Sasha Maslov and Olena Shmahalo for Quanta Magazine

2D Physics Unlocked  

Thousands of condensed matter physicists have studied graphene, a crystal sheet made of carbon atoms that has special properties. But lately a new family of flat crystals has hit the scene: transition metal dichalcogenides, or TMDs. Stacking different TMDs gives rise to bespoke materials with different quantum properties and behaviors.

The near-magical properties of these materials are known largely thanks to Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak, a married couple who co-run a lab at Cornell University. Quanta ’s profile of Shan and Mak , published this past summer, tells the story of 2D materials against the backdrop of condensed matter physics, while also unpacking a slew of exciting new breakthroughs spilling out of Shan and Mak’s lab, from artificial atoms to long-lived excitons. A short documentary about the duo and their discoveries also appeared on Quanta ’s YouTube channel .

Kim Taylor for Quanta Magazine

A Holographic Wormhole

In November, physicists announced a first-of-its-kind “quantum gravity experiment on a chip,” in the words of team leader Maria Spiropulu of the California Institute of Technology. They ran a “wormhole teleportation protocol” on Google’s Sycamore quantum computer, manipulating the flow of quantum information in the computer in such a way that it was mathematically equivalent, or dual, to information passing through a wormhole between two points in space-time.  

To be clear, the wormhole isn’t part of the space-time we inhabit. It’s a sort of simulation or hologram — though not one of the kinds we’re used to — and it has a different space-time geometry than the real, positively curved, 4D space-time we live in. The point of the experiment was to demonstrate holographic duality, a major theoretical discovery of the last 25 years which states that certain quantum systems of particles can be interpreted as a bendy, gravitating space-time continuum. (The space-time can loosely be thought of as a hologram that emerges from the lower-dimensional quantum system.) In more advanced quantum computer experiments in the coming years, researchers hope to explore the mechanics of holographic duality, with the ultimate goal of unraveling whether “gravity in our universe is emergent from some quantum [bits] in the same way that this little baby one-dimensional wormhole is emergent” from the Sycamore chip, said Daniel Jafferis of Harvard University, who developed the wormhole teleportation protocol.  

The holographic wormhole spawned endless opinions among physicists and lay readers alike. Some physicists thought the quantum simulation was too pared down compared to the theoretical model it was based on to have a holographic dual description as a wormhole. Many felt that the physicists behind the work, and we, the journalists who covered it, should have better emphasized that this was not an actual wormhole that could transport people to Andromeda. Indeed, to open up a wormhole in real space-time, you’d need negative-energy material, and that doesn’t seem to exist.  

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI and Judy Schmidt

JWST Is Revolutionizing Astronomy

The biggest thing in physics this year is floating a million miles away, at a spot in space called Lagrange Point 2, where its sunshield can simultaneously block out the Earth, moon and sun. JWST’s images have made hearts stand still. Its data is already reshaping our understanding of the cosmos.

When Biden unveiled JWST’s first image, researchers immediately began spotting interesting galaxies in the vast tableau. Scientific papers appeared online within days. Two weeks later, Quanta reported that JWST data had already yielded new discoveries about galaxies, stars, exoplanets and even Jupiter. One of the most exciting early findings was that galaxies seem to have assembled surprisingly early in cosmic history — perhaps even earlier than cosmological models can easily explain. Expect to hear more about this in 2023.  

We’ll also have to wait patiently for JWST’s much-anticipated studies of the rocky planets in a nearby star system called TRAPPIST-1. A key JWST specialty is to dissect the starlight that pierces the atmosphere of a distant planet as the planet moves across the face of its star. This reveals what the planet’s atmosphere is made of, including possible evidence of “biosignature” gases that might signify alien biology. The telescope has produced excellent exoplanet spectra already. But potentially habitable worlds, like the TRAPPIST-1 planets, are so small that they’ll need to transit in front of their suns a few times over the next few years before atmospheric features will show up.  

Seeing clear-cut biosignatures in their skies might be unlikely. Still, some astronomers have waited their whole careers for the search to begin. Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University and one of the leading computer modelers of potentially habitable worlds, came of age just as the first exoplanets were discovered. She joined a cadre of dreamers who started thinking about how to find life on one. Our profile of Kaltenegger describes how she and her generation of exoplanet astronomers have planned for this era for decades, setting the stage for an epochal detection. More on that in the coming years.  

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Noah Lupu-Gladstein et al 2024 New J. Phys. 26 053029

Quantum mechanics is usually formulated with an implicit assumption that agents who can observe and interact with the world are external to it and have a classical memory. However, there is no accepted way to define the quantum–classical cut and no a priori reason to rule out fully quantum agents with coherent quantum memories. In this work, we introduce an entirely quantum notion of measurement, called a sensation , to account for quantum agents that experience the world through quantum sensors. Sensations eschew probabilities and instead describe a deterministic flow of quantum information. We quantify the information gain and disturbance of a sensation using concepts from quantum information theory and find that sensations always disturb at least as much as they inform. Viewing measurements as sensations could lead to a new understanding of quantum theory in general and to new results in the context of quantum networks.

Caroline Cohen et al 2015 New J. Phys. 17 063001

The conical shape of a shuttlecock allows it to flip on impact. As a light and extended particle, it flies with a pure drag trajectory. We first study the flip phenomenon and the dynamics of the flight and then discuss the implications on the game. Lastly, a possible classification of different shots is proposed.

Ran Finkelstein et al 2023 New J. Phys. 25 035001

This tutorial introduces the theoretical and experimental basics of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in thermal alkali vapors. We first give a brief phenomenological description of EIT in simple three-level systems of stationary atoms and derive analytical expressions for optical absorption and dispersion under EIT conditions. Then we focus on how the thermal motion of atoms affects various parameters of the EIT system. Specifically, we analyze the Doppler broadening of optical transitions, ballistic versus diffusive atomic motion in a limited-volume interaction region, and collisional depopulation and decoherence. Finally, we discuss the common trade-offs important for optimizing an EIT experiment and give a brief 'walk-through' of a typical EIT experimental setup. We conclude with a brief overview of current and potential EIT applications.

Guillaume Dupeux et al 2010 New J. Phys. 12 093004

Baptiste Darbois Texier et al 2016 New J. Phys. 18 073027

Zigzag paths in sports ball trajectories are exceptional events. They have been reported in baseball (from where the word knuckleball comes from), in volleyball and in soccer. Such trajectories are associated with intermittent breaking of the lateral symmetry in the surrounding flow. The different scenarios proposed in the literature (such as the effect of seams in baseball) are first discussed and compared to existing data. We then perform experiments on zigzag trajectories and propose a new explanation based on unsteady lift forces. In a second step, we exploit wind tunnel measurements of these unsteady lift forces to solve the equations of motion for various sports and deduce the characteristics of the zigzags, pointing out the role of the drag crisis. Finally, the conditions for the observation of such trajectories in sports are discussed.

Jarrod R McClean et al 2016 New J. Phys. 18 023023

Many quantum algorithms have daunting resource requirements when compared to what is available today. To address this discrepancy, a quantum-classical hybrid optimization scheme known as 'the quantum variational eigensolver' was developed (Peruzzo et al 2014 Nat. Commun. 5 4213 ) with the philosophy that even minimal quantum resources could be made useful when used in conjunction with classical routines. In this work we extend the general theory of this algorithm and suggest algorithmic improvements for practical implementations. Specifically, we develop a variational adiabatic ansatz and explore unitary coupled cluster where we establish a connection from second order unitary coupled cluster to universal gate sets through a relaxation of exponential operator splitting. We introduce the concept of quantum variational error suppression that allows some errors to be suppressed naturally in this algorithm on a pre-threshold quantum device. Additionally, we analyze truncation and correlated sampling in Hamiltonian averaging as ways to reduce the cost of this procedure. Finally, we show how the use of modern derivative free optimization techniques can offer dramatic computational savings of up to three orders of magnitude over previously used optimization techniques.

Roger Bach et al 2013 New J. Phys. 15 033018

Double-slit diffraction is a corner stone of quantum mechanics. It illustrates key features of quantum mechanics: interference and the particle-wave duality of matter. In 1965, Richard Feynman presented a thought experiment to show these features. Here we demonstrate the full realization of his famous thought experiment. By placing a movable mask in front of a double-slit to control the transmission through the individual slits, probability distributions for single- and double-slit arrangements were observed. Also, by recording single electron detection events diffracting through a double-slit, a diffraction pattern was built up from individual events.

L S Liebovitch et al 2019 New J. Phys. 21 073022

Peace is not merely the absence of war and violence, rather 'positive peace' is the political, economic, and social systems that generate and sustain peaceful societies. Our international and multidisciplinary group is using physics inspired complex systems analysis methods to understand the factors and their interactions that together support and maintain peace. We developed causal loop diagrams and from them ordinary differential equation models of the system needed for sustainable peace. We then used that mathematical model to determine the attractors in the system, the dynamics of the approach to those attractors, and the factors and connections that play the most important role in determining the final state of the system. We used data science ('big data') methods to measure quantitative values of the peace factors from structured and unstructured (social media) data. We also developed a graphical user interface for the mathematical model so that social scientists or policy makers, can by themselves, explore the effects of changing the variables and parameters in these systems. These results demonstrate that complex systems analysis methods, previously developed and applied to physical and biological systems, can also be productively applied to analyze social systems such as those needed for sustainable peace.

Dominic Horsman et al 2012 New J. Phys. 14 123011

In recent years, surface codes have become a leading method for quantum error correction in theoretical large-scale computational and communications architecture designs. Their comparatively high fault-tolerant thresholds and their natural two-dimensional nearest-neighbour (2DNN) structure make them an obvious choice for large scale designs in experimentally realistic systems. While fundamentally based on the toric code of Kitaev, there are many variants, two of which are the planar- and defect-based codes. Planar codes require fewer qubits to implement (for the same strength of error correction), but are restricted to encoding a single qubit of information. Interactions between encoded qubits are achieved via transversal operations, thus destroying the inherent 2DNN nature of the code. In this paper we introduce a new technique enabling the coupling of two planar codes without transversal operations, maintaining the 2DNN of the encoded computer. Our lattice surgery technique comprises splitting and merging planar code surfaces, and enables us to perform universal quantum computation (including magic state injection) while removing the need for braided logic in a strictly 2DNN design, and hence reduces the overall qubit resources for logic operations. Those resources are further reduced by the use of a rotated lattice for the planar encoding. We show how lattice surgery allows us to distribute encoded GHZ states in a more direct (and overhead friendly) manner, and how a demonstration of an encoded CNOT between two distance-3 logical states is possible with 53 physical qubits, half of that required in any other known construction in 2D.

Shinsei Ryu et al 2010 New J. Phys. 12 065010

Latest articles

Gábor Drótos et al 2024 New J. Phys. 26 063012

Self-testing is a promising approach to certifying quantum states or measurements. Originally, it relied solely on the outcome statistics of the measurements involved in a device-independent (DI) setup. Extra physical assumptions about the system make the setup semi-DI. In the latter approach, we consider a prepare-and-measure scenario in which the dimension of the mediating particle is assumed to be two. In a setup involving four (three) preparations and three (two) projective measurements in addition to the target, we exemplify how to self-test any four- (three-) outcome extremal positive operator-valued measure using a linear witness. One of our constructions also achieves self-testing of any number of states with the help of as many projective measurements as the dimensionality of the space spanned by the corresponding Bloch vectors. These constructions are conjectured to be minimal in terms of the number of preparations and measurements required. In addition, we implement one of our prepare-and-measure constructionson IBM and IonQ quantum processors and certify the existence of a complex qubit Hilbert space based on the data obtained from these experiments.

Philipp Sikorski et al 2024 New J. Phys. 26 063011

In this article we investigate novel signatures of radiation reaction via the angular deflection of an electron beam colliding at 90 degrees with an intense laser pulse. Due to the radiation reaction effect, the electrons can be deflected towards the beam axis for plane wave backgrounds, which is not possible in the absence of radiation reaction effects. The magnitude and size of the deflection angle can be controlled by tailoring the laser pulse shapes. The effect is first derived analytically using the Landau–Lifshitz equation, which allows to determine the important scaling behavior with laser intensity and particle energy. We then move on to full scale 3D Monte Carlo simulations to verify the effect is observable with present day laser technology. We investigate the opportunities for an indirect observation of laser depletion in such side scattering scenarios.

You-Qi Lu and Yu-Yu Zhang 2024 New J. Phys. 26 063010

Quantum tricriticality, a unique form of high-order criticality, is expected to exhibit fascinating features including unconventional critical exponents and universal scaling laws. However, a quantum tricritical point (QTCP) is much harder to access, and the corresponding phenomena at tricriticality have rarely been investigated. In this study, we explore a tricritical quantum Rabi model, which incorporates a non-trivial parameter to adjust the coupling ratio between a cavity and a three-level atom. The QTCP emerges at the intersection of first- and second-order superradiant phase transitions according to Landau theory. By using finite-frequency scaling analysis on quantum fluctuations and the average photon number, universal critical exponents differentiate the QTCP from the second-order critical point. Our results indicate that the phase transition at the tricritical point goes beyond the conventional second-order phase transition. Our work explores an interesting direction in the generalization of the well-known Rabi model for the study of higher-order critical points due to its high control and tunability.

Tal Agranov et al 2024 New J. Phys. 26 063006

We introduce a family of lattice-gas models of flocking, whose thermodynamically consistent dynamics admits a proper equilibrium limit at vanishing self-propulsion. These models are amenable to an exact coarse-graining which allows us to study their hydrodynamic behavior analytically. We show that the equilibrium limit here belongs to the universality class of Model C, and that it generically exhibits tricritical behavior. Self-propulsion has a non-perturbative effect on the phase diagram, yielding novel phase behaviors depending on the type of aligning interactions. For aligning interaction that increase monotonically with the density, the tricritical point diverges to infinite density reproducing the standard scenario of a discontinuous flocking transition accompanied by traveling bands. In contrast, for models where the aligning interaction is non-monotonic in density, the system can exhibit either (the nonequilibrium counterpart of) an azeotropic point, associated with a continuous flocking transition, or a state with counterpropagating bands.

Chongzhi Wang et al 2024 New J. Phys. 26 063009

The standard Kuramoto model has been instrumental in explaining synchronization and desynchronization, two emergent phenomena often observed in biological, neuronal, and physical systems. While the Kuramoto model has turned out effective with one-dimensional oscillators, real-world systems often involve high-dimensional interacting units, such as biological swarms, necessitating a model of multidimensional oscillators. However, existing high-dimensional generalizations of the Kuramoto model commonly rely on a scalar-valued coupling strength, which limits their ability to capture the full complexity of high-dimensional interactions. This work introduces a matrix, A , to couple the interconnected components of the oscillators in a d -dimensional space, leading to a matrix-coupled multidimensional Kuramoto model that approximates a prototypical swarm dynamics by its first-order Fourier harmonics. Moreover, the matrix A introduces an inter-dimensional higher-order interaction that partly accounts for the emergence of 2 d system modes in a d -dimensional population, where each dimension can either be synchronized or desynchronized, represented by a set of almost binary order parameters. The binary system modes capture characteristic swarm behaviors such as fish milling or polarized schooling. Additionally, our findings provides a theoretical analogy to cerebral activity, where the resting state and the activated state coexist unihemispherically. It also suggests a new possibility for information storage in oscillatory neural networks.

Review articles

Xuan Zuo et al 2024 New J. Phys. 26 031201

Hybrid quantum systems based on magnons in magnetic materials have made significant progress in the past decade. They are built based on the couplings of magnons with microwave photons, optical photons, vibration phonons, and superconducting qubits. In particular, the interactions among magnons, microwave cavity photons, and vibration phonons form the system of cavity magnomechanics (CMM), which lies in the interdisciplinary field of cavity QED, magnonics, quantum optics, and quantum information. Here, we review the experimental and theoretical progress of this emerging field. We first introduce the underlying theories of the magnomechanical coupling, and then some representative classical phenomena that have been experimentally observed, including magnomechanically induced transparency, magnomechanical dynamical backaction, magnon-phonon cross-Kerr nonlinearity, etc. We also discuss a number of theoretical proposals, which show the potential of the CMM system for preparing different kinds of quantum states of magnons, phonons, and photons, and hybrid systems combining magnomechanics and optomechanics and relevant quantum protocols based on them. Finally, we summarize this review and provide an outlook for the future research directions in this field.

J Lambert and E S Sørensen 2023 New J. Phys. 25 081201

Recently, there has been considerable interest in the application of information geometry to quantum many body physics. This interest has been driven by three separate lines of research, which can all be understood as different facets of quantum information geometry. First, the study of topological phases of matter characterized by Chern number is rooted in the symplectic structure of the quantum state space, known in the physics literature as Berry curvature. Second, in the study of quantum phase transitions, the fidelity susceptibility has gained prominence as a universal probe of quantum criticality, even for systems that lack an obviously discernible order parameter. Finally, the study of quantum Fisher information in many body systems has seen a surge of interest due to its role as a witness of genuine multipartite entanglement and owing to its utility as a quantifier of quantum resources, in particular those useful in quantum sensing. Rather than a thorough review, our aim is to connect key results within a common conceptual framework that may serve as an introductory guide to the extensive breadth of applications, and deep mathematical roots, of quantum information geometry, with an intended audience of researchers in quantum many body and condensed matter physics.

Quentin Glorieux et al 2023 New J. Phys. 25 051201

Nonlinear optics has been a very dynamic field of research with spectacular phenomena discovered mainly after the invention of lasers. The combination of high intensity fields with resonant systems has further enhanced the nonlinearity with specific additional effects related to the resonances. In this paper we review a limited range of these effects which has been studied in the past decades using close-to-room-temperature atomic vapors as the nonlinear resonant medium. In particular we describe four-wave mixing and generation of nonclassical light in atomic vapors. One-and two-mode squeezing as well as photon correlations are discussed. Furthermore, we present some applications for optical and quantum memories based on hot atomic vapors. Finally, we present results on the recently developed field of quantum fluids of light using hot atomic vapors.

F Luoni et al 2021 New J. Phys. 23 101201

Realistic nuclear reaction cross-section models are an essential ingredient of reliable heavy-ion transport codes. Such codes are used for risk evaluation of manned space exploration missions as well as for ion-beam therapy dose calculations and treatment planning. Therefore, in this study, a collection of total nuclear reaction cross-section data has been generated within a GSI-ESA-NASA collaboration. The database includes the experimentally measured total nucleus–nucleus reaction cross-sections. The Tripathi, Kox, Shen, Kox–Shen, and Hybrid-Kurotama models are systematically compared with the collected data. Details about the implementation of the models are given. Literature gaps are pointed out and considerations are made about which models fit best the existing data for the most relevant systems to radiation protection in space and heavy-ion therapy.

S Al Kharusi et al 2021 New J. Phys. 23 031201

The next core-collapse supernova in the Milky Way or its satellites will represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to obtain detailed information about the explosion of a star and provide significant scientific insight for a variety of fields because of the extreme conditions found within. Supernovae in our galaxy are not only rare on a human timescale but also happen at unscheduled times, so it is crucial to be ready and use all available instruments to capture all possible information from the event. The first indication of a potential stellar explosion will be the arrival of a bright burst of neutrinos. Its observation by multiple detectors worldwide can provide an early warning for the subsequent electromagnetic fireworks, as well as signal to other detectors with significant backgrounds so they can store their recent data. The supernova early warning system (SNEWS) has been operating as a simple coincidence between neutrino experiments in automated mode since 2005. In the current era of multi-messenger astronomy there are new opportunities for SNEWS to optimize sensitivity to science from the next galactic supernova beyond the simple early alert. This document is the product of a workshop in June 2019 towards design of SNEWS 2.0, an upgraded SNEWS with enhanced capabilities exploiting the unique advantages of prompt neutrino detection to maximize the science gained from such a valuable event.

Accepted manuscripts

Mochida et al 

Magnetic textures, such as skyrmions and domain walls, engender rich transport phenomena, including anomalous Hall effect and nonlinear response. In this work, we discuss an anomalous Hall effect proportional to the net magnetic monopole charge and dependent on the skyrmion helicity that occurs by askew scattering in a noncentrosymmetric two-dimensional magnet. This mechanism, which arises from the spin-orbit interaction, gives rise to a finite anomalous Hall effect in a ferromagnetic domain wall whose spins rotate in the $xy$ plane despite no out-of-plane magnetic moment. We show that the presence and absence of the monopole contribution is related to crystal symmetry, which gives a guideline for finding candidate materials beyond the Rashba model. The results demonstrate the rich features arising from the interplay of spin-orbit interaction and magnetic textures, and their potential for detecting various magnetic textures in micrometer devices.

Ilin et al 

We present a scalable method for learning local quantum channels using local expectation values measured on a single state --- their steady state. Our method is inspired by the algorithms for learning local Hamiltonians from their ground states. For it to succeed, the steady state must be non-trivial, and therefore the channel needs to be non-unital. Such non-unital channels are readily implementable on present day quantum computers using mid-circuit measurements or RESET gates. We demonstrate that the full structure of such channels is encoded in their steady states, and can be learned efficiently using only the expectation values of local observables on these states. We emphasize two immediate applications to illustrate our approach: (i) Using engineered dissipative dynamics, we offer a straightforward way to assess the accuracy of a given noise model in a regime where all qubits are actively utilized for a significant duration. (ii) Given a parameterized noise model for the entire system, our method can learn its underlying parameters. We demonstrate both applications using numerical simulations and experimental trials conducted on an IBMQ machine.

Schroeder et al 

Measurement-based quantum computing (MBQC) is a promising approach to reducing circuit depth in noisy intermediate-scale quantum algorithms such as the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE). Unlike gate-based computing, MBQC employs local measurements on a preprepared resource state, offering a trade-off between circuit depth and qubit count. Ensuring determinism is crucial to MBQC, particularly in the VQE context, as a lack of flow in measurement patterns leads to evaluating the cost function at irrelevant locations. This study introduces MBVQE-ansätze that respect determinism and resemble the widely used problem-agnostic hardware-efficient VQE ansatz. We evaluate our approach using ideal simulations on the Schwinger Hamiltonian and XY-model and perform experiments on IBM hardware with an adaptive measurement capability. In our use case, we find that ensuring determinism works better via postselection than by adaptive measurements at the expense of increased sampling cost. Additionally, we propose an efficient MBQC-inspired method to prepare the resource state, specifically the cluster state, on hardware with heavy-hex connectivity, requiring a single measurement round, and implement this scheme on quantum computers with 27 and 127 qubits. We observe notable improvements for larger cluster states, although direct gate-based implementation achieves higher fidelity for smaller instances.

Bojer et al 

To obtain spatial information about an arbitrary atomic distribution in x-ray structure analysis, e.g., in molecules or proteins, the standard method is to measure the intensity in the far field, i.e., the first-order photon correlation function of the coherently scattered x-ray photons (coherent diffractive imaging). Recently, it was suggested to record alternatively the incoherently scattered photons and measure the second-order photon correlation function to reconstruct the geometry of the unknown atomic distribution (incoherent diffractive imaging). Yet, besides various advantages of the latter method, both techniques suffer from the so-called phase retrieval problem. Lately, an ab-initio phase retrieval algorithm to reconstruct the phase of the so-called structure factor of the scattering objects based on the third-order photon correlation function was reported. The algorithm makes use of the closure phase, which contains important, yet incomplete phase information, well-known from triple correlations and their bispectrum in speckle masking and astronomy applications. Here, we provide a detailed analysis of the underlying scheme and quantities in the context of x-ray structure analysis. In particular, we explicitly calculate for the first time the third-order photon correlation
function for single photon emitters in a full quantum mechanical treatment and discuss the uniqueness of the closure phase equations constructed from. In this context, we recapitulate the sign problem of the closure phase and how it can be lifted using redundant information. We further show how the algorithm can be improved using even higher-order photon correlation functions produced by single photon emitters, e.g., the fourth-order correlation function, delivering new phase relations appearing in the four-point correlations.

Siu et al 

Certain non-centrosymmetric materials with broken time-reversal symmetry may exhibit non-reciprocal transport behavior under an applied electric field in which the charge and spin currents contain components that are second order in the electric field. In this study, we investigate the second-order spin accumulation and charge and spin responses in the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LaO/STO) system with magnetic dopants under the influence of linear and cubic Rashba spin‒orbit coupling (RSOC) terms. We explain the physical origin of the second-order response and perform a symmetry analysis of the first and second-order responses for different dopant magnetization directions relative to the applied electric field. We then numerically solve the Boltzmann transport equation by extending the approach of Schliemann and Loss [Phys. Rev. B 68, 165311] to higher orders in the electric field. We show that the sign of the second-order responses can be switched by varying the magnetization direction of the magnetic dopants or relative strengths of the two cubic RSOC terms and explain these trends by considering the Fermi surfaces of the respective systems. These findings provide insights into the interplay of multiple SOC effects in a LaO/STO system and how the resulting first- and second-order charge and spin responses can be engineered by exploiting the symmetries of the system.

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June 5, 2024

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Safer, cheaper, more flexible battery invented for wearable tech

by Tsinghua University Press

Researchers have developed a safer, cheaper, better performing and more flexible battery option for wearable devices. A paper describing the "recipe" for their new battery type was published in the journal Nano Research Energy on June 3.

Fitness trackers. Smart watches. Virtual-reality headsets. Even smart clothing and implants. Wearable smart devices are everywhere these days. But for greater comfort, reliability and longevity, these devices will require greater levels of flexibility and miniaturization of their energy storage mechanisms, which are often frustratingly bulky, heavy and fragile. On top of this, any improvements cannot come at the expense of safety.

As a result, in recent years, a great deal of battery research has focused on the development of "micro" flexible energy storage devices, or MFESDs. A range of different structures and electrochemical foundations have been explored, and among them, aqueous micro batteries offer many distinct advantages.

Aqueous batteries—those that use a water-based solution as an electrolyte (the medium that allows transport of ions in the battery and thus creating an electric circuit) are nothing new. They have been around since the late 19th century.

However, their energy density —or the amount of energy contained in the battery per unit of volume—is too low for use in things like electric vehicles as they would take up too much space. Lithium-ion batteries are far more appropriate for such uses.

At the same time, aqueous batteries are much less flammable, and thus safer, than lithium-ion batteries . They are also much cheaper. As a result of this more robust safety and low cost, aqueous options have increasingly been explored as one of the better options for MFESDs. These are termed aqueous micro batteries, or just AMBs.

"Up till now, sadly, AMBs have not lived up to their potential," said Ke Niu, a materials scientist with the Guangxi Key Laboratory of Optical and Electronic Materials and Devices at the Guilin University of Technology—one of the lead researchers on the team. "To be able to be used in a wearable device, they need to withstand a certain degree of real-world bending and twisting. But most of those explored so far fail in the face of such stress."

To overcome this, any fractures or failure points in an AMB would need to be self-healing following such stress. Unfortunately, the self-healing AMBs that have been developed so far have tended to depend on metallic compounds as the carriers of charge in the battery's electric circuit.

This has the undesirable side-effect of strong reaction between the metal's ions and the materials that the electrodes (the battery's positive and negative electrical conductors) are made out of. This in turn reduces the battery's reaction rate (the speed at which the electrochemical reactions at the heart of any battery take place), drastically limiting performance.

"So we started investigating the possibility of non-metallic charge carriers, as these would not suffer from the same difficulties from interaction with the electrodes," added Junjie Shi, another leading member of the team and a researcher with the School of Physics and Center for Nanoscale Characterization & Devices (CNCD) at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan.

The research team alighted upon ammonium ions, derived from abundantly available ammonium salts, as the optimal charge carriers. They are far less corrosive than other options and have a wide electrochemical stability window.

"But ammonium ions are not the only ingredient in the recipe needed to make our batteries self-healing," said Long Zhang, the third leading member of the research team, also at CNCD.

For that, the team incorporated the ammonium salts into a hydrogel—a polymer material that can absorb and retain a large amount of water without disturbing its structure. This gives hydrogels impressive flexibility—delivering precisely the sort of self-healing character needed. Gelatin is probably the most well-known hydrogel, although the researchers in this case opted for a polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel (PVA) for its great strength and low cost.

To optimize compatibility with the ammonium electrolyte, titanium carbide—a "2D" nanomaterial with only a single layer of atoms—was chosen for the anode (the negative electrode) material for its excellent conductivity. Meanwhile, manganese dioxide , already commonly used in dry cell batteries, was woven into a carbon nanotube matrix (again to improve conductivity) for the cathode (the positive electrode).

Testing of the prototype self-healing battery showed it exhibited excellent energy density, power density, cycle life, flexibility, and self-healing even after ten self-healing cycles.

The team now aims to further develop and optimize their prototype in preparation for commercial production.

Provided by Tsinghua University Press

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• astro-ph.HE - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ( new , recent , current month ) Cosmic ray production, acceleration, propagation, detection. Gamma ray astronomy and bursts, X-rays, charged particles, supernovae and other explosive phenomena, stellar remnants and accretion systems, jets, microquasars, neutron stars, pulsars, black holes
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• Corpus ID: 269148791

Spin entanglement of multinucleons: experimental prospects

• Dong Bai , Zhongzhou Ren
• Published 14 April 2024

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The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) is a 26-ton water Cherenkov neutrino detector installed on the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. Its main physics goals are to perform a measurement of the neutron yield from neutrino-nucleus interactions, as well as a measurement of the charged-current cross section of muon neutrinos. An equally important focus is the research and development of new detector technologies and target media. Specifically, water-based liquid scintillator (WbLS) is of interest as a novel detector medium, as it allows for the simultaneous detection of Cherenkov light and scintillation. This paper presents the deployment of a 366 L WbLS vessel in ANNIE in March 2023 and the subsequent detection of both Cherenkov light and scintillation from the WbLS. This proof-of-concept allows for the future development of reconstruction and particle identification algorithms in ANNIE, as well as dedicated analyses within the WbLS volume, such as the search for neutral-current events and the hadronic scintillation component.

• Neutrino detectors;
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• Scintillators;
• scintillation and light emission processes (solid;
• gas and liquid scintillators);
• High Energy Physics - Experiment;
• Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors

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Collection  04 March 2020

Top 100 in Physics

This collection highlights our most downloaded* physics papers published in 2019. Featuring authors from around the world, these papers feature valuable research from an international community.

* Data obtained from SN Insights which is based on Digital Science’s Dimensions.

Arrow of time and its reversal on the IBM quantum computer

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Room-temperature Operation of Low-voltage, Non-volatile, Compound-semiconductor Memory Cells

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Emergent dynamics of neuromorphic nanowire networks

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Machine-learning guided discovery of a new thermoelectric material

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Beyond 30% Conversion Efficiency in Silicon Solar Cells: A Numerical Demonstration

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QAOA for Max-Cut requires hundreds of qubits for quantum speed-up

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How Quantum Mechanics can consistently describe the use of itself

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Finding Hadamard Matrices by a Quantum Annealing Machine

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Enhanced Grüneisen Parameter in Supercooled Water

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Laser-wakefield accelerators for high-resolution X-ray imaging of complex microstructures

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QuEST and High Performance Simulation of Quantum Computers

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Improving solutions by embedding larger subproblems in a D-Wave quantum annealer

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• Masayuki Ohzeki
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Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Lanthanum and Strontium Doped Bismuth Ferrite: A First-Principles Study

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• Dennis P. Trujillo
• Jian-Xin Zhu

Quantum annealing for systems of polynomial equations

• Chia Cheng Chang
• Arjun Gambhir
• Shigetoshi Sota

High-temperature operation of a silicon qubit

• Takahiro Mori
• Satoshi Moriyama

Pore-scale characteristics of multiphase flow in heterogeneous porous media using the lattice Boltzmann method

• Sahar Bakhshian
• Seyyed A. Hosseini
• Nima Shokri

Linear and circular-polarization conversion in X-band using anisotropic metasurface

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Observation of Skyrmions at Room Temperature in Co 2 FeAl Heusler Alloy Ultrathin Film Heterostructures

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Successively accelerated ionic wind with integrated dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma actuator for low-voltage operation

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Bulk and surface recombination properties in thin film semiconductors with different surface treatments from time-resolved photoluminescence measurements

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Probability estimation of a Carrington-like geomagnetic storm

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Electron-Phonon Coupling as the Source of 1/f Noise in Carbon Soot

Evidence for Crystalline Structure in Dynamically-Compressed Polyethylene up to 200 GPa

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The Young-Feynman controlled double-slit electron interference experiment

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Control of Multiferroic properties in BiFeO 3 nanoparticles

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• Alexander Cardona-Rodríguez
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Visualization of unstained DNA nanostructures with advanced in-focus phase contrast TEM techniques

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Analog Coupled Oscillator Based Weighted Ising Machine

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• William Herzog

Revisiting the optical bandgap of semiconductors and the proposal of a unified methodology to its determination

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Field-free Magnetization Switching by Utilizing the Spin Hall Effect and Interlayer Exchange Coupling of Iridium

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Growth of vanadium dioxide thin films on hexagonal boron nitride flakes as transferrable substrates

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On Behind the Physics of the Thermoelectricity of Topological Insulators

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Zero-reflection acoustic metamaterial with a negative refractive index

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Switchable multifunctional terahertz metasurfaces employing vanadium dioxide

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Entanglement in a 20-Qubit Superconducting Quantum Computer

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Strong magnetoelectric coupling in mixed ferrimagnetic-multiferroic phases of a double perovskite

Training Optimization for Gate-Model Quantum Neural Networks

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High-throughput physical vapour deposition flexible thermoelectric generators

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Measurement-Device-Independent Twin-Field Quantum Key Distribution

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Low-frequency perfect sound absorption achieved by a modulus-near-zero metamaterial

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Blueprint for nanoscale NMR

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Realization of efficient quantum gates with a superconducting qubit-qutrit circuit

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Circuit-Based Quantum Random Access Memory for Classical Data

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• Francesco Petruccione
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Laser- synthesized TiN nanoparticles as promising plasmonic alternative for biomedical applications

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• Andrei V. Kabashin

Improvement of Terahertz Photoconductive Antenna using Optical Antenna Array of ZnO Nanorods

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Wave attenuation and trapping in 3D printed cantilever-in-mass metamaterials with spatially correlated variability

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Study of CuO Nanowire Growth on Different Copper Surfaces

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• Günther A. Maier

Second-order topological insulators and loop-nodal semimetals in Transition Metal Dichalcogenides XTe 2 (X = Mo, W)

• Motohiko Ezawa

Positive non-linear capacitance: the origin of the steep subthreshold-slope in ferroelectric FETs

• Md Nur K. Alam
• J. Van Houdt

Employing machine learning for theory validation and identification of experimental conditions in laser-plasma physics

• A. Gonoskov

Enhanced absorption in all-dielectric metasurfaces due to magnetic dipole excitation

• Pavel D. Terekhov
• Kseniia V. Baryshnikova
• Alina Karabchevsky

Origin of ferromagnetism in Cu-doped ZnO

• Budhi Singh
• Subhasis Ghosh

High-throughput Discovery of Topologically Non-trivial Materials using Spin-orbit Spillage

• Kamal Choudhary
• Kevin F. Garrity
• Francesca Tavazza

Frequency and Phase Characteristics of Candle Flame Oscillation

• Jinghua Xiao

Materials Selection and Mechanism of Non-linear Conduction in Chalcogenide Selector Devices

• Huanglong Li
• John Robertson

Enhanced room temperature ferromagnetism and green photoluminescence in Cu doped ZnO thin film synthesised by neutral beam sputtering

• D. C. Agarwal
• U. B. Singh
• D. K. Avasthi

Hybrid quantum linear equation algorithm and its experimental test on IBM Quantum Experience

• Yonghae Lee
• Soojoon Lee

Effect of sodium diffusion on the properties of CIGS solar absorbers prepared using elemental Se in a two-step process

• Selvaraj Venkataraj

Density of bulk trap states of hybrid lead halide perovskite single crystals: temperature modulated space-charge-limited-currents

• Jan Pospisil
• Oldrich Zmeskal
• Alexander Kovalenko

Spin-momentum locked spin manipulation in a two-dimensional Rashba system

• Makoto Kohda
• Takanori Okayasu
• Junsaku Nitta

Carrier Transport and Recombination Mechanism in Blue Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diode with Hosts Consisting of Cabazole- and Triazole-Moiety

• Tian-You Cheng
• Jiun-Haw Lee
• Chi-Feng Lin

Possible quantum critical behavior revealed by the critical current density of hole doped high- T c cuprates in comparison to heavy fermion superconductors

• S. H. Naqib
• R. S. Islam

Plasmofluidic Microlenses for Label-Free Optical Sorting of Exosomes

• Xiangchao Zhu
• Ahmet Cicek
• Ahmet Ali Yanik

Research on the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference with two independent sources

• Chen-Xi Liu

All semiconductor enhanced high-harmonic generation from a single nanostructured cone

• Dominik Franz
• Shatha Kaassamani
• Hamed Merdji

p -wave superconductivity in iron-based superconductors

• E. F. Talantsev

Lattice Discontinuities of 1T-TaS 2 across First Order Charge Density Wave Phase Transitions

• Dirk Dietzel
• André Schirmeisen

Weak localization and small anomalous Hall conductivity in ferromagnetic Weyl semimetal Co 2 TiGe

• Rajendra P. Dulal
• Bishnu R. Dahal
• John Philip

Dirac gap opening and Dirac-fermion-mediated magnetic coupling in antiferromagnetic Gd-doped topological insulators and their manipulation by synchrotron radiation

• A. M. Shikin
• D. A. Estyunin

Continuously Frequency-Tuneable Plasmonic Structures for Terahertz Bio-sensing and Spectroscopy

• Xiangying Deng
• Yukio Kawano

Silver nanowires with optimized silica coating as versatile plasmonic resonators

• Martin Rothe
• Yuhang Zhao
• Oliver Benson

Full-surface emission of graphene-based vertical-type organic light-emitting transistors with high on/off contrast ratios and enhanced efficiencies

• Byoungchoo Park
• Won Seok Lee

Fe-Sn nanocrystalline films for flexible magnetic sensors with high thermal stability

• K. Fujiwara
• A. Tsukazaki

Light-emitting diodes with surface gallium nitride p–n homojunction structure formed by selective area regrowth

• Ming-Lun Lee
• Shih-Sian Wang
• Jinn-Kong Sheu

How a ferromagnet drives an antiferromagnet in exchange biased CoO/Fe(110) bilayers

Efficient visible light modulation based on electrically tunable all dielectric metasurfaces embedded in thin-layer nematic liquid crystals

• Arseniy I. Kuznetsov

How to measure the local Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction in Skyrmion Thin-Film Multilayers

• Mirko Baćani
• Miguel A. Marioni
• Hans J. Hug

Simulation and design of folded perovskite x-ray detectors

• Henning Mescher
• Elias Hamann

High-Electrical-Conductivity Multilayer Graphene Formed by Layer Exchange with Controlled Thickness and Interlayer

• Hiromasa Murata
• Yoshiki Nakajima

Tunable Superconducting Cavity using Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Metamaterials

• David Shrekenhamer
• Jacob Alldredge

RGB Magnetophotonic Crystals for High-contrast Magnetooptical Spatial Light Modulators

• Soheila Kharratian
• Mehmet C. Onbaşlı

The actual electronic band structure of a rubrene single crystal

• Kazumoto Miwa
• Kazuyuki Sakamoto

Three-dimensional resonating metamaterials for low-frequency vibration attenuation

• D. Chronopoulos
• R. K. Leach

Ultra-high sensitive 1D porous silicon photonic crystal sensor based on the coupling of Tamm/Fano resonances in the mid-infrared region

• Ashour M. Ahmed
• Ahmed Mehaney

The Transition to Paschen’s Law for Microscale Gas Breakdown at Subatmospheric Pressure

• Amanda M. Loveless
• Guodong Meng
• Allen L. Garner

Ferroelectrics with a controlled oxygen-vacancy distribution by design

• Yuji Noguchi
• Hiroki Matsuo
• Masaru Miyayama

The paradoxes of the Late Hesperian Mars ocean

A universal constant for dark matter-baryon interplay

• Man Ho Chan

Superconducting Diamond on Silicon Nitride for Device Applications

• Henry A. Bland
• Evan L. H. Thomas
• Oliver A. Williams

Perovskite ferroelectric tuned by thermal strain

• O. Pacherova

Radiation Tolerance of Nanopore Sequencing Technology for Life Detection on Mars and Europa

• Mark A. Sutton
• Aaron S. Burton
• Sarah Stewart Johnson

Laser-driven shock compression of “synthetic planetary mixtures” of water, ethanol, and ammonia

• M. Guarguaglini
• J.-A. Hernandez

Detecting dynamic spatial correlation patterns with generalized wavelet coherence and non-stationary surrogate data

• Mario Chavez
• Bernard Cazelles

Bulk superconductivity in a four-layer-type Bi-based compound La 2 O 2 Bi 3 Ag 0.6 Sn 0.4 S 5.7 Se 0.3

• Rajveer Jha
• Yosuke Goto
• Yoshikazu Mizuguchi

All Nonmetal Resistive Random Access Memory

• Andrei Gismatulin
• Albert Chin

Improvements in structural and optical properties of wafer-scale hexagonal boron nitride film by post-growth annealing

• Seung Hee Lee
• Hokyeong Jeong
• Jong Kyu Kim

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