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Verification efforts of density-functional theory (DFT) calculations are of crucial importance to evaluate the reliability of simulation results. In this Expert Recommendation, we suggest metrics for DFT verification, illustrating them with an all-electron reference dataset of 960 equations of state covering the whole periodic table (hydrogen to curium) and discuss the importance of improving pseudopotential codes.
Sarah Williams discusses the pressing need to involve the younger generations in the current discussions and decisions about future big projects in particle physics.
In November, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who and challenge our readers with a quiz to spot the real physics terms amid the science fiction.
Klaus Hasselmann’s viewpoint has had enormous influence in climate science, both in its theoretical and practical aspects. This Perspective provides a review of Hasselmann’s scientific programme and proposes ways forward for advancing our knowledge on the multiscale behaviour of the climate system, and on the relationship between its forced and free variability.
Today’s hopes and fears related to the use of AI systems echo familiar concerns about nuclear technology. What can be learned from the dual mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency to promote and control nuclear technologies?
Twenty-five years after the proposal of a jamming phase diagram, Andrea Liu and Sidney Nagel discuss how linking jammed granular materials with glasses helps us understand the physics of many systems.
High-school students are all too aware of climate change, but often aren’t taught how their physics lessons can help them understand the problem and its solutions. Melissa Lord shares tips on how to bridge the gap.
Optical computing has the potential to be faster and more energy-efficient than conventional digital-electronic computing for certain applications. This Perspective article surveys the differences between optics and electronics that could be exploited, and explores the physics and engineering challenges in realizing useful optical computers.
Supersolidity is an intriguing state of matter that combines superfluid and crystal features. Theoretically predicted in the 1960s, it has only recently been observed in atomic gases that exhibit typical supersolid properties such as spontaneous density modulations combined with coherence effects and the occurrence of new Goldstone modes.
Photonic systems provide a versatile platform to explore and use bound states in the continuum. This Review discusses the potential of these states for enhancing light–matter interactions in various applications and investigating the physics of emerging photonic systems.
Making physics environmentally sustainable requires changes at all levels — individual, institutional and systemic — and all physicists have the chance to act, regardless of career stage. What needs to happen, and how can you get involved?
Energy-recovery linacs are far more efficient than traditional linacs because they directly return the energy of an unused particle beam into RF power that can be used for acceleration. This Review surveys the opportunities and challenges for bringing energy-recovery linacs into the mainstream.
Across thermodynamics, systems exchange quantities such as energy and particles. What if the quantities are represented by operators that fail to commute with each other? This Perspective surveys the implications for quantum thermodynamics and adjacent fields.
The geometry of mechanical metamaterials is designed to achieve specific functions, often taking inspiration from biological structures. This Perspective article argues that disorder, commonly observed in nature but traditionally avoided in metamaterials, provides interesting and unexplored design opportunities.
