Volume 12 Issue 10, October 2016

Signatures of many-body localization have been observed in a one-dimensional chain of trapped ions, heralding new studies of the interplay between localization and long-range interactions.

Chiral symmetry breaking is imaged in graphene which, through a mechanism analogous to mass generation in quantum electrodynamics, could provide a means for making it semiconducting.

A milestone for quantum hydrodynamics may have been reached, with experiments on a black hole-like event horizon for sound waves providing strong evidence for a sonic analogue of Hawking radiation.

Rashba spin–orbit coupling has already provided fertile physics and applications in spintronics but real-space imaging shows how the strength of this interaction varies on the nanoscale.

Micro-explosions triggered by the absorption of X-ray laser light in drops and jets of water result in shock waves and in rapid heating and expansion of the liquid — as now revealed in state-of-the-art experiments.

Reshaping network theory to describe the multilayered structures of the real world has formed a focus in complex networks research in recent years. Progress in our understanding of dynamical processes is but one of the fruits of this labour.

Interacting quantum systems are expected to thermalize, but in some situations in the presence of disorder they can exist in localized states instead. This many-body localization is studied experimentally in a small system with programmable disorder.

An intriguing state of matter known as a quantum spin liquid has been predicted to host Majorana fermions. A detailed theoretical and numerical analysis re-interprets existing Raman data for α-RuCl₃ and uncovers direct evidence of a fermionic response.

The linear change in resistance with temperature in high-temperature superconductors is an enduring mystery. And now, the resistance in a magnetic field shows similar scaling, suggesting that physicists have another probe of the linear behaviour.

Scanning tunnelling spectroscopy provides access to the spatial variations in the strength of Rashba spin–orbit coupling in a two-dimensional electron system, with local fluctuations shown to cause spin dephasing.

The elastic energy built up during peptide self-assembly is exploited in the realization of a microactuator. The energy stored is released on millisecond timescales via a buckling instability controlled with droplet microfluidics.

Chameleons rely on strong adhesion to manoeuvre prey with their tongues at high speeds across distances up to twice their body length. A large contact area and high mucus viscosity are shown to engender an efficient capture mechanism.

A detailed theoretical and numerical study demonstrates a connection between the electronic structure of topological semimetals and Riemann surfaces.

A detailed and systematic study of Ca₁₀Cr₇O₂₈ reveals all the hallmarks of spin-liquid behaviour, in spite of the compound’s unusually complex structure.

Scanning tunnelling microscopy shows how the interaction between electrons in graphene and atomic vacancies in a copper substrate produces Kekulé ordering — an electronic phase that breaks chiral symmetry.

Hawking radiation is observed emanating from an analogue black hole, with measurements of the entanglement between the pairs of particles inside and outside the hole offering tantalizing insights into the field of black hole thermodynamics.

X-ray-induced explosions in water drops, examined using time-resolved imaging, show interacting high-speed liquid and vapour flows. This type of X-ray absorption dynamics is predictable and may be used for inducing particular dynamical liquid states.

Using a water bath subject to a sudden vertical jolt — representing a change in the effective gravity — researchers demonstrate the concept of a ‘time mirror’, where time-reversed waves return to their point source following a downward jolt.

The appearance of a third radiation belt in the Earth’s Van Allen belts is difficult to explain using existing models for two belts. However, a model based on ultra-low-frequency waves agrees quantitatively with measurements of the third belt.

The most precise measurements of the atomic masses of the proton and the electron make use of Penning traps, and for the latter, a hydrogen-like ion, as Edmund Myers explains.