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A visualization of the titles of scientific articles in Nature Physics, ordered clockwise based on their publication date, and connected by a citation network. Font size, colour and distance from the centre indicate the number of citations, with large titles in green denoting the most highly cited papers. Perspective p791VISUALIZATION: MAURO MARTINO, DATA: ROBERTA SINATRACOVER DESIGN: ALLEN BEATTIE
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.
For ultracold atoms experiencing a synthetic magnetic field in an optical lattice, it is possible to observe the translational symmetry-breaking pattern determined by the chosen gauge.
Crushing a brittle porous medium such as a box of cereal causes the grains to break up and rearrange themselves. A lattice spring model based on simple physical assumptions gives rise to behaviours that are complex enough to reproduce diverse compaction patterns.
Real-time tracking of self-propelled biomolecules provides insight into the physical rules governing self-organization in complex living systems — including evidence to suggest that their alignment requires multiple simultaneous interactions.
Nonlocal, nonlinear interactions of optical beams can be described by the Newton–Schrödinger equation for quantum gravity, offering an analogue for studying gravitational phenomena.
We're well versed on the first-passage time for a random process, but the time required to cover more than one site in a system is a different problem altogether. It turns out that the two measures have more in common than we thought.
When Nature Physics celebrated 20 years of high-temperature superconductors, numerical approaches were on the periphery. Since then, new ideas implemented in new algorithms are leading to new insights.
The abundant production of (anti-)nuclei in relativistic heavy-ion collisions provides a platform to test the CPT invariance of nucleon–nucleon interactions—offering the highest precision measurement to date in the light-nuclei sector.
An interferometric measurement based on high-harmonic generation now provides direct access to the electron wavefunction during field-induced tunnelling.
The efficient and robust manipulation of single spins is an essential requirement for successful quantum devices. The manipulation of a single nitrogen–vacancy spin centre is now demonstrated by means of a mechanical resonator approach.
The Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya exchange induces a range of chiral phenomena in spintronic systems. Experiments now confirm that this interaction is proportional to the Heisenberg exchange, reflecting their common origins despite their opposite symmetries.
A range of semiconductors can host both spin and valley polarizations. Optical experiments on single layers of transition metal dichalcogenides now show that inter-valley scattering can accelerate spin relaxation.
When compacting a brittle porous medium—think stepping on fresh snow—patterns develop. Simulations and densification experiments with cereals now provide an understanding of compaction patterns in terms of a lattice model with breakable springs.
A simple system for studying self-organization in biology comprises driven actin filaments, thought to interact primarily via binary collisions. Angle-resolved statistics suggest that the transition to polar order is driven by multi-filament events.
The first-passage time relates the efficiency of a search process, but fails to do so for searches in which several targets are sought. Now, the distribution of times required for a random search to visit all sites has been determined analytically.
Small distinctive patterns or ‘motifs’ are more prevalent in real systems than they are in randomly generated networks. It now seems that these motifs emerge naturally according to a principle that favours interconnections biased towards stability.
A reformulation of quantum theory aims at reconciling transition probabilities with time reversal in connection to Wigner’s notion of symmetry, expanding the known classes of symmetry transformations.
The Bose–Einstein condensation of ultracold atoms in a strong synthetic magnetic field in a cubic lattice realizes the Harper–Hofstadter model used in the study of topological states of matter.
A high-resolution X-ray diffraction study of chromium and niobium diselenide traces the evolution of the ordering wavevector in charge and spin density waves, respectively, as a function of temperature and applied pressure.
Interacting optical wavepackets in the presence of a thermal optical nonlinearity are described by the same mathematics as the gravitational self-interaction of quantum wavepackets, providing a way of emulating gravitational phenomena in the lab.