Physics articles within Nature

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  • News & Views |

    The atmospheric properties of distant worlds are becoming increasingly clear. The latest observations reveal fluorescent emission from methane in the upper atmosphere of a Jupiter-like extrasolar planet.

    • Seth Redfield

  • News & Views |

    The thermal process known as Joule heating, which often plagues electronic devices, has been turned to good use: making devices that can produce sound as well as reproduce music and speech.

    • Rama Venkatasubramanian

  • News & Views |

    The photosynthetic apparatus of cryptophyte algae is odd — its pigments are farther apart than is expected for efficient functioning. A study into how this apparatus works so well finds quantum effects at play.

    • Rienk van Grondelle
    •  & Vladimir I. Novoderezhkin

  • Letter |

    In the study of high-transition-temperature (high-Tc) copper oxide superconductors, a fundamental question is what symmetries are broken when the pseudogap phase sets in below a temperature T*. A large in-plane anisotropy of the Nernst effect is now observed in a high-Tc copper oxide superconductor that sets in precisely at T* throughout the doping phase diagram. It is concluded that the pseudogap phase is an electronic state that strongly breaks four-fold rotational symmetry.

    • R. Daou
    • , J. Chang
    •  & Louis Taillefer

  • News and Views Q&A |

    The race is on to build a computer that exploits quantum mechanics. Such a machine could solve problems in physics, mathematics and cryptography that were once thought intractable, revolutionizing information technology and illuminating the foundations of physics. But when?

    • Emanuel Knill

  • Letter |

    The close binary Algol system contains a radio-bright KIV sub-giant star in a very close and rapid orbit with a main sequence B8 star. Evidence points to the existence of an extended, complex coronal magnetosphere originating at the cooler K subgiant, but the detailed morphology of the subgiant's corona and its possible interaction with its companion are unknown. Multi-epoch radio imaging of the Algol system now reveals a large coronal loop suggestive of a persistent asymmetric magnetic field structure aligned between the two stars.

    • W. M. Peterson
    • , R. L. Mutel
    •  & W. M. Goss

  • Letter |

    The Dirac equation successfully merges quantum mechanics with special relativity. It predicts some peculiar effects such as 'Zitterbewegung', an unexpected quivering motion of a free relativistic quantum particle. This and other predicted phenomena are key fundamental examples for understanding relativistic quantum effects, but are difficult to observe in real particles. Here, using a single trapped ion set to behave as a free relativistic quantum particle, a quantum simulation of the one-dimensional Dirac equation is demonstrated.

    • R. Gerritsma
    • , G. Kirchmair
    •  & C. F. Roos

  • Letter |

    Existing models of type Ia supernovae generally explain their observed properties, with the exception of the sub-luminous 1991bg-like supernovae. It has long been suspected that the merger of two white dwarfs could give rise to a type Ia event, but simulations so far have failed to produce an explosion. Here, a simulation of the merger of two equal-mass white dwarfs is presented that leads to a sub-luminous explosion; it requires a single common-envelope phase and component masses of about 0.9 solar masses.

    • Rüdiger Pakmor
    • , Markus Kromer
    •  & Wolfgang Hillebrandt

  • Letter |

    The amplitude of the magnetic field near the Galactic Centre has been uncertain by two orders of magnitude for several decades. A compilation of previous data now reveals a downward break in the region's non-thermal radio spectrum; this requires that the Galactic Centre field be at least ∼50 microgauss on 400 parsec scales, with evidence supporting a field of 100 microgauss. This would imply that over 10% of the Galaxy's magnetic energy is contained in only around 0.05% (or less) of its volume.

    • Roland M. Crocker
    • , David I. Jones
    •  & Raymond J. Protheroe

  • Letter |

    From earthquakes to hard drives, frictional motion and its strength are involved in a wide range of phenomena. The strength of an interface that divides two sliding bodies is determined by both the real contact area and the contacts' shear strength. By continuous measurements of the concurrent local evolution of the real contact area and the corresponding interface motion from the first microseconds when contact detachment occurs, frictional strength is now characterized from short to long timescales.

    • Oded Ben-David
    • , Shmuel M. Rubinstein
    •  & Jay Fineberg

  • Letter |

    The Southern Ocean is potentially a substantial sink of anthropogenic carbon dioxide; however, the regulation of this carbon sink by the wind-driven Ekman flow, mesoscale eddies and their interaction is under debate. Here, a high-resolution ocean circulation and carbon cycle model is used to study intra-annual variability in anthropogenic carbon dioxide over a two-year time period; the Ekman flow is found to be the primary mechanism of anthropogenic carbon dioxide transport across the Antarctic polar front.

    • T. Ito
    • , M. Woloszyn
    •  & M. Mazloff

  • News & Views |

    The peculiar ultra-fast trembling motion of a free electron — the Zitterbewegung predicted by Erwin Schrödinger in 1930 when he scrutinized the Dirac equation — has been simulated using a single trapped ion.

    • Christof Wunderlich

  • Books & Arts |

    The latest thesis on the disappearance of physicist Ettore Majorana adds little, but reminds us of the Nobel-prizewinning quality of the discoveries he made during his brief career, explains Frank Close.

    • Frank Close

  • News & Views |

    The progenitors of type Ia supernovae, the standard candles that lit the way to dark energy, have been elusive. A largely dismissed scenario has now produced one, but the results aren't what anyone expected.

    • D. Andrew Howell

  • News |

    Srikumar Banerjee, head of India's Atomic Energy Commission, outlines plans for the country's energy supply.

    • K. S. Jayaraman

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