Nature Physics - Current issue : November 2009 - Vol 5 No 11
- Frequency combs go ultraviolet
- Laboratory astrophysics: Lasers generate 'black-hole' X-rays
- Quantum phase transitions: Quantum foam at the critical point
- Ultracold atoms: An extra dimension to BECs
Latest highlights
Current issue
What do we want?
Editorial"If we've asked you to review a paper for Nature Physics, what exactly do we want from you?... Start by telling us what you think the paper is about. If you consider the central advance to be significant, why do you consider it so? If its physical insights go substantially beyond present understanding, in what ways do they do so?..."
Advance online publication
Fermi arcs
Article by Pereg-Barnea et al.Quantum oscillations in metals are a signature of electrons travelling in closed orbits in a magnetic field. Could such oscillations occur in the absence of closed orbits, as seems to be the case for the copper oxide superconductors that have arc-like segments instead of closed Fermi surfaces?
Current issue
Radical arithmetic
Book review by Wilson"Energy is the single most important aspect of modern civilization. It is needed to grow food, build shelter, deliver modern levels of comfort, health, activity and commerce; it is probably even needed to pay bankers' bonuses (although this might also require dark matter). Sustainable Energy — without the hot air is a book about energy — what form it takes, how it is made and where it is used. The question of sustainability is the central issue..."
Advance online publication
Glass physics
Article by Stevenson & WolynesIn a glassy system, a distribution of relaxation times indicates a system that continues to rearrange itself. Besides the main relaxations involved in the glass transition, there are faster dynamics associated with secondary relaxations, which are predicted to reconfigure structures that are stringy rather than tightly clustered.
Current issue
Waiting for the maths
Thesis by Buchanan"In the wake of the recent financial crisis, a number of physicists — especially those with finance experience — have attacked the mathematics of neo-classical theory for dubious assumptions about human rationality, and for reliance on simple notions of equilibrium in modelling economic reality... The question is, what might replace such theories..."
Current issue
From the recent literature
Research HighlightsOur 'research highlights' summarize some of the most interesting, or intriguing, developments reported in the physics literature. This month: gluino spotting, harmonic blinking, and photodetecting graphene transistors...
NPG supplement
Nature Milestones in Spin
MilestonesNature Milestones in Spin recounts the major developments, through the twentieth century to the present day, that derive from 'spin' — the idea that elementary particles possess intrinsic angular momentum. Starting from fundamental physics, the story moves through early technological developments, and applications in chemistry, biology and medicine, to arrive at modern-day 'spintronics'.
Current issue
Astrophysics
Letter by Fujioka et al.It has been suggested that the extreme states of matter generated by high-intensity lasers could allow conditions similar to those in the vicinity of a black hole to be studied in the lab. The observation of striking similarities between the X-ray spectra emitted by a laser-driven laboratory plasma and those measured from two high-mass binary star systems suggest such potential has been realized.


