Volume 18 Issue 5, May 2022

As conventions in scholarly publishing evolve, it is appropriate to reassess the options that we provide to our authors. In this spirit, Nature Physics will soon stop accepting submissions in our Letter format.

The transition from chemistry to evolvable molecular systems is at the core of origins of life studies. Now, the acidic dew–liquid water dynamic cycling inside simulated Hadean rock pores is found to possibly provide a confined environment for strand separation, replication, mutation, and the evolution of nucleic acids.

Theoretical physicists studying black holes have produced a conjecture that random quantum circuits cannot be simplified. Now, a minimal version of this conjecture has been proven, reaching a milestone in quantum-circuit complexity theory.

Biomolecular condensates grow in busy cellular environments. Statistical image analysis of heterogeneous structures now enables quantification of macromolecular interactions between condensates and cytoskeletal filaments.

Circular Rydberg states provide an ideal resource for large-scale quantum computing and simulation. These circular states can be controlled using coherent optical pulses, providing a route to programmable quantum hardware.

Noble gas nuclear spins can store quantum information for hours but are hard to control. Creating a large coherent coupling to an alkali vapour gives a route to manipulating the collective nuclear spin of a helium-3 gas.

An experimental realization of an artificial spin glass is demonstrated, with an arrangement of Ising-type permalloy nanomagnets mimicking the structure of artificial spin ice — and a particular type of neural network.

Photon emission is a major source of decoherence for several quantum technologies. Four superconducting qubits have been combined to create a ‘dark state’ qubit with strongly suppressed photon emission due to collective interference effects.

Plasmodium sporozoites can move in rotating vortices owing to their chiral shape and mechanical flexibility, revealing important physical aspects of collective motion.

Controlling chemistry at the single-collision level is one of the main goals of experiments at ultralow temperatures. A method based on quantum logic techniques has now been shown to detect inelastic collisions in a hybrid ion–atom platform.

Nonlinear optical effects enable sophisticated functionalities to generate and manipulate light. The precise control of two distinct nonlinear phenomena in a photonic chip can enhance a key optical nonlinearity that makes single-photon sources more efficient.

Many nanophotonic devices rely on optical nonlinearities, which can be indirectly engineered. The quantum interference of different nonlinear pathways directly controls the Kerr nonlinearity without changing the device design.

The capabilities of optically accessible Rydberg levels are limited by their lifetime. An experiment demonstrates how to detect and manipulate long-lived circular states through the coupling of valence electrons in alkaline-earth Rydberg atoms.

The nuclear spins of noble gases are isolated from sources of decoherence but also from external control fields. Optically addressable alkali-metal atoms can couple strongly to noble-gas spins, potentially providing a mechanism for coherent control.

The Mott metal-to-insulator transition plays a key role in theoretical studies of high-temperature superconductors. A mathematical analysis of the theory of metals identifies a renormalization-group fixed point describing Mott physics.

A spin glass is a disordered system with randomized competing magnetic interactions. Now, a metamaterial artificial spin glass based on nanomagnets is reported, with rudimentary features of a neural network.

How electrons in moiré graphene populate valleys and carry spin has consequences for understanding its superconductivity. Now, evidence suggests that twisted trilayer graphene has a spin-polarized, valley-unpolarized configuration.

The dynamics of quantum states underlies the emergence of thermodynamics and even recent theories of quantum gravity. Now it has been proven that the quantum complexity of states evolving under random operations grows linearly in time.

The study of single-atom collisions in ultracold gases has so far been limited to certain atomic and molecular species. A more general scheme based on quantum logic techniques has now been realized in a hybrid cold ion–atom platform.

Dark states of quantum systems do not absorb or emit light, removing a major source of decoherence. Four superconducting qubits in a waveguide can be combined to make a coherently controlled dark-state qubit with a long lifetime.

The charge transport mechanism in MXenes—an emerging class of layered materials—is not yet fully understood. A combination of terahertz spectroscopy and transport measurements shows that the formation of large polarons play a crucial role.

Cuprates that are doped beyond the point that optimizes the critical temperature were thought to be understood. Now, a careful real-space investigation shows unconventional behaviour in the superconducting state caused by pair-breaking scattering.

Transport measurements suggest that the Fermi surface of a cuprate superconductor changes its form when the pseudogap is present. This can help to explain the low carrier density in the pseudogap regime.

Whether and when a material deforms elastically or plastically depends on its microstructure. Experiments on two-dimensional colloidal systems show that in disordered materials, packing density, stress and a microstructure-related entropy govern deformations.

Many organelles in the cell are not encapsulated in a membrane—they are liquid-like domains formed through phase separation. The liquid-like nature of such domains leads to adhesive interactions between the cytoskeleton filaments and organelles.

Detailed microfluidics experiments and numerical simulations are used to analyse the role played by dew in the origin of life, and demonstrate that it can drive the first stages of Darwinian evolution for DNA and RNA.

The collective motion of malaria parasites is analyzed as a model system for active elastic matter and suggests that mechanical flexibility is favourable for parasite transmission.

A combination of numerical simulations and fluid dynamics experiments provides insights into the generation of a forest of solar plasma jets on the Sun.

Juris Meija takes a look at the tumultuous past of the atomic unit of mass from its beginnings as an idea to its most recent revisions in a hotel bar.