Perspectives

This article puts in perspective the relationship between cavity and circuit quantum electrodynamics, two related approaches for studying the fundamental quantum interaction between light and matter.

This Perspective argues that ergodicity — a foundational concept in equilibrium statistical physics — is wrongly assumed in much of the quantitative economics literature. By asking the extent to which dynamical problems can be replaced by probabilistic ones, many economics puzzles are resolved in a natural and empirically testable fashion.

A new class of inequalities known as thermodynamic uncertainty relations provides quantitative tools for the description of physical systems out of equilibrium. A perspective is offered on these results and their future developments.

A type of stochastic neural network called a restricted Boltzmann machine has been widely used in artificial intelligence applications for decades. They are now finding new life in the simulation of complex wavefunctions in quantum many-body physics.

Rich data are revealing that complex dependencies between the nodes of a network may not be captured by models based on pairwise interactions. Higher-order network models go beyond these limitations, offering new perspectives for understanding complex systems.

Some gravitational phenomena are difficult or even impossible to observe in real spacetime. Laboratory analogues of black-hole horizons offer new perspectives on field theory effects that might help our understanding of gravitation.

The solutions adopted by the high-energy physics community to foster reproducible research are examples of best practices that could be embraced more widely. This first experience suggests that reproducibility requires going beyond openness.

Despite the growing interdisciplinarity of research, the Nobel prize consolidates the traditional disciplinary categorization of science. There is, in fact, an opportunity for the most revered scientific reward to mirror the current research landscape.

Recent developments have seen concepts originally developed in quantum information theory, such as entanglement and quantum error correction, come to play a fundamental role in understanding quantum gravity.

It is the common wisdom that time evolution of a many-body system leads to thermalization and washes away quantum correlations. But one class of system — referred to as many-body localized — defy this expectation.

Quantitative tools for measuring the propagation of information through quantum many-body systems, originally developed to study quantum chaos, have recently found many new applications from black holes to disordered spin systems.

Robust and responsive, the surface of a cell is as important as its interior when it comes to mechanically regulating form and function. New techniques are shedding light on this role, and a common language to describe its properties is now needed.

The addition of nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson to the periodic table are a reminder of the achievements in nuclear physics and chemistry. Witold Nazarewicz outlines the future challenges for the field.

As part of a Focus on antiferromagnetic spintronics, this Perspective looks at the complex and often faster dynamics of antiferromagnetic spin textures.

As part of a Focus on antiferromagnetic spintronics, this Perspective examines the opportunities afforded by synthetic, as opposed to crystalline, antiferromagnets.

An analysis of Web of Science data spanning more than 100 years reveals the rapid growth and increasing multidisciplinarity of physics — as well its internal map of subdisciplines.

Fluctuation theorems go beyond the linear response regime to describe systems far from equilibrium. But what happens to these theorems when we enter the quantum realm? The answers, it seems, are now coming thick and fast.