Volume 3 Issue 7, July 2021

Writing on behalf of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) collaboration, Arthur McDonald recalls the discoveries that followed the SNO result on solar neutrino fluxes, published 20 years ago.

James Spencer explains how deep neural networks can approximate many-electron wavefunctions used in variational quantum Monte Carlo, introducing the Fermionic Neural Network or FermiNet.

Iolanda Di Bernardo describes how to depth profile samples using angle-resolved and energy-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.

Launched 2 years ago, the Deep-Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) mission has exceeded expectations for the first mercury ion clock in space, demonstrating a long-term stability beyond the current performance of other space clocks.

A table-top experiment, reported in Physical Review Letters, simulates a shockwave propagating through a solid and provides evidence that continuum models do not capture all the relevant physics.

Despite decades of intense theoretical, experimental and computational effort, a microscopic theory of high-temperature superconductivity is not yet established. Eight researchers share their contributions to the search for a better understanding of unconventional superconductivity and their hopes for the future of the field.

Quantum annealing is a widely used heuristic algorithm for optimization and sampling, implemented in commercial processors. This Review provides a critical assessment of the field and points to new opportunities for a quantum advantage via recently developed alternative quantum annealing protocols.

The interconnectedness of the financial system is increasing over time, and modelling it as a network captures key interactions between financial institutions. This Review surveys the most successful applications of statistical physics and complex networks to the description and understanding of financial networks.

Over the last decade, ionic gate spectroscopy has developed into a powerful technique to measure gaps and band offsets of atomically thin semiconductors. Here, we provide a detailed overview of the technique, discussing results obtained on different 2D semiconducting materials.

The recent discovery of higher-order band topology in topological insulators has unveiled the hierarchical structure of topological band theory. This Perspective reviews this rapidly developing field and discusses future directions, including open challenges, future trends, synergy and its use in other fields and potential applications.