Mathematics and computing articles within Nature Physics

Featured

  • Editorial |

    The rise of big data represents an opportunity for physicists. To take full advantage, however, they need a subtle but important shift in mindset.

  • Letter |

    A neural-network technique can exploit the power of machine learning to mine the exponentially large data sets characterizing the state space of condensed-matter systems. Topological transitions and many-body localization are first on the list.

    • Evert P. L. van Nieuwenburg
    • , Ye-Hua Liu
    •  & Sebastian D. Huber

  • Article |

    Controlled wave propagation in disordered media is a challenge because of scattering processes. Now it is shown that for speckled targets much larger than the wavelength, long-range correlations between the speckles enhance wave propagation control.

    • Chia Wei Hsu
    • , Seng Fatt Liew
    •  & A. Douglas Stone

  • Letter |

    Critical phenomena are well understood in a wide range of physical systems. The dynamics of snap-through instabilities, a widespread phenomenon in their own right, are now shown to display critical scaling properties.

    • Michael Gomez
    • , Derek E. Moulton
    •  & Dominic Vella

  • Editorial |

    Nature Physics now requires its published papers to include information on whether and how their underlying data are accessible to others.

  • News & Views |

    Going around an exceptional point in a full circle can be a non-adiabatic, asymmetric process. This surprising prediction is now confirmed by two separate experiments.

    • Dieter Heiss

  • Letter |

    The common policy of replacing infected individuals with healthy substitutes can have the effect of accelerating disease transmission. A dynamic network model suggests that standard modelling approaches underplay the effect of network structure.

    • Samuel V. Scarpino
    • , Antoine Allard
    •  & Laurent Hébert-Dufresne

  • Article |

    Multiplex networks are shown to harbour significant correlations between layers. A framework describing the correlations enables multilayer community and link detection, and reveals that they improve navigation — but only when they’re strong.

    • Kaj-Kolja Kleineberg
    • , Marián Boguñá
    •  & Fragkiskos Papadopoulos

  • News & Views |

    The dynamics of a viscous liquid undergo a dramatic slowdown when it is cooled to form a solid glass. Recognizing the structural changes across such a transition remains a major challenge. Machine-learning methods, similar to those Facebook uses to recognize groups of friends, have now been applied to this problem.

    • Michele Ceriotti
    •  & Vincenzo Vitelli

  • Letter |

    When general relativity is included in large-scale simulations of the cosmic structure of the Universe, relativistic effects turn out to be small but measurable, thus providing tests for models of dark matter and dark energy.

    • Julian Adamek
    • , David Daverio
    •  & Martin Kunz

  • Letter |

    The relation between structure and dynamics in glasses is not fully understood. A new approach based on machine learning now reveals a correlation between softness—a structural property—and glassy dynamics.

    • S. S. Schoenholz
    • , E. D. Cubuk
    •  & A. J. Liu

  • Article |

    Knots have been observed in a variety of classical systems, but so far not in the quantum regime. Knot solitons have now been created in a spinor Bose–Einstein condensate, exhibiting interesting topological structures, including Hopf fibration.

    • D. S. Hall
    • , M. W. Ray
    •  & M. Möttönen

  • News & Views |

    Quantum many-body systems are often so complex as to be intractable. An algorithm that finds the ground state of any one-dimensional quantum system has now been devised, proving that the many-body problem is tractable for quantum spin chains.

    • Frank Verstraete

  • Editorial |

    Physicists are now, as ever, pushing the development of computing technologies. But they're also innovating ways of using them.

  • Commentary |

    Research in high-energy physics produces masses of data, demanding extensive computational resources. The scientists responsible for managing these resources are now turning to cloud and high-performance computing.

    • Sergey Panitkin

  • News & Views |

    The myriad creatures that inhabit the waters of our planet all swim using different mechanisms. Now, a simple relation links key physical observables of underwater locomotion, on scales ranging from millimetres to tens of metres.

    • Johannes Baumgart
    •  & Benjamin M. Friedrich

  • Letter |

    Nonlinear inertial flows usually influence the motion of swimming organisms, but most studies focus on the tractable case of swimmers too small to feel such effects. A mechanistic principle now unifies the varied dynamics of macroscopic swimmers.

    • Mattia Gazzola
    • , Médéric Argentina
    •  & L. Mahadevan

  • Letter |

    Connecting complex networks is known to exacerbate perturbations and lead to cascading failures, but natural networks of networks are surprisingly stable. A theory now proposes that network structure holds the key to understanding this paradox.

    • Saulo D. S. Reis
    • , Yanqing Hu
    •  & Hernán A. Makse

  • Letter |

    Networks competing for limited resources are often more vulnerable than isolated systems, but competition can also prove beneficial—and even prevent network failure in some cases. A new study identifies how best to link networks to capitalize on competition.

    • J. Aguirre
    • , D. Papo
    •  & J. M. Buldú

  • Editorial |

    As the 2012 celebration of Turing's life and work draws to a close, we highlight different events that showcase Turing's continuing influence on science, technology and art.

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