Phase transitions and critical phenomena articles within Nature Physics

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  • News & Views |

    The determination of the order parameter symmetry is a critical issue in the study of unconventional superconductors. Ultrasound measurements on UTe2, a candidate spin-triplet superconductor, now provide evidence for the single-component nature of its order parameter.

    • Bohm-Jung Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Connecting two superfluid reservoirs leads to both particle and entropy flow between the systems. Now, a direct measurement of the entropy current and production in ultracold quantum gases reveals how superfluidity enhances entropy transport.

    • Philipp Fabritius
    • , Jeffrey Mohan
    •  & Tilman Esslinger

  • News & Views |

    Ageing is a non-linear, irreversible process that defines many properties of glassy materials. Now, it is shown that the so-called material-time formalism can describe ageing in terms of equilibrium-like properties.

    • Beatrice Ruta
    •  & Daniele Cangialosi

  • News & Views |

    The integration of theory and experiment makes possible tracking the slow evolution of a photodoped Mott insulator to a distinct non-equilibrium metallic phase under the influence of electron-lattice coupling.

    • Denitsa R. Baykusheva

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The existence of Bragg glasses—featuring nearly perfect crystalline order and glassy features—has yet to be experimentally confirmed for disordered charge-density-wave systems. A machine-learning-based experimental study now provides evidence for a Bragg glass phase in the charge density waves of PdxErTe3.

    • Krishnanand Mallayya
    • , Joshua Straquadine
    •  & Eun-Ah Kim

  • Article |

    The phase diagram of confined ice is different from that of bulk ice. Simulations now reveal several 2D ice phases and show how strong nuclear quantum effects result in rich proton dynamics in 2D confined ices.

    • Jian Jiang
    • , Yurui Gao
    •  & Xiao Cheng Zeng

  • News & Views |

    Quasicrystals are ordered but not periodic, which makes them fascinating objects at the interface between order and disorder. Experiments with ultracold atoms zoom in on this interface by driving a quasicrystal and exploring its fractal properties.

    • Julian Léonard

  • Article |

    In quasi-crystals, constituents do not form spatially periodic patterns, but their structures still give rise to sharp diffraction patterns. Now, quasi-crystalline patterns are found in a system of spherical macroscopic grains vibrating on a substrate.

    • A. Plati
    • , R. Maire
    •  & G. Foffi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phases of matter can host different transport behaviours, ranging from diffusion to localization. Anomalous transport has now been observed in an interacting Bose gas in a one-dimensional lattice subject to a pulsed incommensurate potential.

    • Toshihiko Shimasaki
    • , Max Prichard
    •  & David M. Weld

  • Research Briefing |

    Predicting the complex flows that emerge in active fluid networks remains a challenge. A combination of experiments and theory was used to determine the hydraulic laws of active fluids. Analogies with frustrated magnetism and loop models explain the emergent flow patterns that result when active fluids explore pipe networks.

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experiments with active colloidal fluids in large-scale hydraulic networks reveal a connection between emergent flows and dynamical spin-ice patterns.

    • Camille Jorge
    • , Amélie Chardac
    •  & Denis Bartolo

  • News & Views |

    The ability to extract information from diffuse background signals in ultrafast electron diffraction experiments now enables a direct view of the formation of topological defects during a light-induced phase transition.

    • Isabella Gierz

  • Comment |

    Kenneth Wilson worked on the renormalization group during the Cold War, when communication between scientists in the Soviet Union and in the West was restricted. Nevertheless, Soviet physicists had a strong influence on Wilson’s work.

    • P. Chandra

  • Comment |

    Historically, most renormalization group studies have been performed for equilibrium systems. Here, I give a personal reflection on the unexpected outcome of studying non-equilibrium flocking using renormalization methods.

    • Yuhai Tu

  • Comment |

    Renormalization began as a tool to eliminate divergences in quantum electrodynamics, but it is now the basis of our understanding of physics at different energy scales. Here, I review its evolution with an eye towards physics beyond the Wilsonian paradigm.

    • Philip W. Phillips

  • News & Views |

    The simulation of open quantum many-body systems is one of the hardest tasks in computational physics. Now, quantum computers are close to answering crucial questions for such systems in a regime that classical computers cannot reach.

    • Hendrik Weimer

  • News & Views |

    Currently, a general framework explaining the fundamental dynamic transitions from solid to fluid of mechanically probed soft materials is lacking. Now, a unifying van der Waals-like model is proposed that describes the dynamic solid–liquid transition in the rheology of these materials.

    • Nick Oikonomeas-Koppasis
    •  & Peter Schall

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There is evidence that K3C60 can host a photo-induced superconducting state. Now, resonant excitation at low frequencies allows this phenomenon at room temperature and low pumping fluence.

    • E. Rowe
    • , B. Yuan
    •  & A. Cavalleri

  • News & Views |

    Hubbard excitons are elusive quasiparticles that are predicted to form in strongly correlated insulators. Detecting their internal structure and dynamics clarifies the involvement of spin fluctuations in their binding and recombination processes.

    • Edoardo Baldini

  • Article |

    Hole and particle-like quasiparticles of a Mott insulator can pair into excitonic bound states. Now, time-resolved measurements of Sr2IrO4 show signs of an excitonic fluid forming from a photo-excited population of quasiparticles.

    • Omar Mehio
    • , Xinwei Li
    •  & David Hsieh

  • Article |

    Quantum computers may help to solve classically intractable problems, such as simulating non-equilibrium dissipative quantum systems. The critical dynamics of a dissipative quantum model has now been probed on a trapped-ion quantum computer.

    • Eli Chertkov
    • , Zihan Cheng
    •  & Michael Foss-Feig

  • Review Article |

    Describing interdependencies and coupling between complex systems requires tools beyond what the framework of single networks offers. This Review covers recent developments in the study and modelling of multilayer networks.

    • Manlio De Domenico

  • News & Views |

    An experimental approach enables the observation of the microscopic details of the relaxation of a highly equilibrated glass back to the liquid phase in real time. This points to a scenario where devitrification proceeds via localized seeds separated by macroscopic length scales.

    • Federico Caporaletti

  • News & Views |

    Chains of coupled superconducting islands known as Josephson junction arrays were predicted to be insulating at high impedance, but superconducting behaviour has been observed. A study of the arrays’ transport suggests thermal effects are responsible.

    • Dmitri V. Averin

  • News & Views |

    Amorphous gel structures are present in our everyday lives in the form of food, cosmetics, and biological systems. Experiments now show that their formation cannot be explained within the framework of equilibrium physics.

    • Michael Schmiedeberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Visualizing dynamical changes in glassy systems is challenging because of the time and length scales involved. Now, atomic force microscopy is shown to be a viable method for obtaining a spatio-temporal description of the relaxation of a glass.

    • Marta Ruiz-Ruiz
    • , Ana Vila-Costa
    •  & Javier Rodriguez-Viejo

  • Article |

    Some many-body problems are challenging to solve in real space, but have a convenient Fock-space representation. A superconducting qubit experiment now demonstrates the benefits of this approach for the study of quantum dynamics and criticality.

    • Yunyan Yao
    • , Liang Xiang
    •  & Qiujiang Guo

  • Article |

    The Kibble–Zurek mechanism is shown to apply to structural Ising domains in three-dimensional materials. Long-range interactions modify the critical exponents away from theoretical predictions.

    • Kai Du
    • , Xiaochen Fang
    •  & Sang-Wook Cheong

  • News & Views |

    The interplay of quantum measurements and local interactions in many-body systems can lead to new out-of-equilibrium phase transitions. An experiment has now shown that quantum simulators can meet the challenge of detecting them.

    • Alessandro Romito

  • News & Views |

    Determining the melting temperature and electrical conductivity of ammonia under the internal conditions of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune is helping us to understand the structure and magnetic field formation of these planets.

    • Kenji Ohta

  • Article |

    Dynamic arrest in amorphous gels has so far been ascribed to glass transition. Now, experiments reveal a hierarchical structural ordering in dilute colloidal gels driven by the local potential energy, making this type of gel distinct from amorphous glasses.

    • Hideyo Tsurusawa
    •  & Hajime Tanaka

  • News & Views |

    Although quantum spin liquids have long been theoretically studied, an experimental demonstration has remained challenging. An inorganic oxide presents an ideal candidate to realize this disordered state.

    • Jie Ma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Random spin models play a key role in our understanding of disorder and complex many-body systems. Two all-to-all interacting, disordered models have now been realized using a cavity quantum electrodynamics platform.

    • Nick Sauerwein
    • , Francesca Orsi
    •  & Jean-Philippe Brantut

  • Research Briefing |

    An experimental platform comprising two disordered superconductors separated by a thermally conducting electrical insulator represents a controllable physical system of interdependent networks. This system is modelled by thermally coupled networks of Josephson junctions. This platform could provide insights into theoretical multiscale phenomena, such as cascading tipping points or self-organized branching processes.

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