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Ultracold-atom experiments enable more flexibility in the study of quantum transport phenomena that are otherwise difficult to probe in solid-state systems. A survey of recent advances highlights the challenges and opportunities of this approach.
The internal structure of cells is organized into compartments, many of which lack a confining membrane and instead resemble viscous liquid droplets. Evidence is mounting that these compartments form via spontaneous phase transitions.
The traditional approaches to quantum information processing using either discrete or continuous variables can be combined in hybrid protocols for tasks including quantum teleportation, computation, entanglement distillation or Bell tests.
Similar to orbital angular momentum-carrying optical beams, it is now possible to engineer structured electron beams that could find applications in imaging, nanofabrication and the study of fundamental phenomena.
Topological insulators are often considered to be one-band problems that are easy to solve. However, strongly correlated topological insulators cannot be described by band theory because the electrons fractionalize into other degrees of freedom.
Experiments probing non-equilibrium processes have so far been tailored largely to classical systems. The endeavour to extend our understanding into the quantum realm is finding traction in studies of electronic circuits at sub-kelvin temperatures.
Equilibrium physics is ill-equipped to explain all of life’s subtleties, largely because living systems are out of equilibrium. Attempts to overcome this problem have given rise to a lively field of research—and some surprising biological findings.
