Theoretical physics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fluctuations of atomic positions are related to several materials properties. Here the authors measure the photon number statistics via a non-equilibrium optical experiment and provide a quantum description of the interaction between photonic and phononic fields to reveal lattice dynamics fluctuations in quartz.

    • Martina Esposito
    • , Kelvin Titimbo
    •  & Daniele Fausti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plasmons can enhance hot-carrier generation for efficient photochemical reactions, but the interplay between plasmons and single-particle excitations are difficult to capture in models. Here, the authors use real-time time-dependent density functional theory to study these interactions in silver nanocrystals.

    • Jie Ma
    • , Zhi Wang
    •  & Lin-Wang Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum key distribution (QKD) holds promise for unconditionally secure communication, but due to fibre losses distances are so far restricted to intracity. Here, the authors present an all optical QKD protocol that can connect distant cities without the need of quantum repeaters or quantum error correction.

    • Koji Azuma
    • , Kiyoshi Tamaki
    •  & William J. Munro

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The percolation transition has been regarded as model-independent, namely determined by the geometry of a system but otherwise identical for bond or site percolation models. Here, the authors show the violation of this assumption both analytically and numerically for networks with null percolation thresholds.

    • Filippo Radicchi
    •  & Claudio Castellano

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Constraint satisfaction problems are typically solved using conventional von Neumann computing architectures, which are however ill-suited to solving them. Here, the authors present a prototype for an event-based architecture that yield state of the art performance on random SAT problems.

    • Hesham Mostafa
    • , Lorenz K. Müller
    •  & Giacomo Indiveri

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cavity QED systems which can be used for quantum information processing can absorb or emit signals with specific frequencies and temporal envelops. Here, the authors show that the temporal and spectral content of microwave signals can be manipulated with a flexible aluminium drumhead embedded in a circuit.

    • R. W. Andrews
    • , A. P. Reed
    •  & K. W. Lehnert

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Qubit-cavity entanglement can be used for quantum information processing and for investigating the quantum-to-classical transition with high control. Here, the authors characterize the entanglement between an artificial atom and a cat state and its susceptibility to decoherence through Bell test witnesses.

    • Brian Vlastakis
    • , Andrei Petrenko
    •  & R. J. Schoelkopf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The critical temperature of superconductors is proportional to the particle coupling energy, but this is different to conventional superfluids where this coupling is small. Here, the authors establish a relation between superconductivity and superfluidity and the topological properties of their band structures.

    • Sebastiano Peotta
    •  & Päivi Törmä

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Some optical forces can direct particles, but only in the direction of light propagation. Here, the authors show theoretically that when the spin of the incident circularly polarized light is converted into lateral electromagnetic momentum, it leads to a lateral optical force associated with a recoil mechanical force.

    • Francisco J. Rodríguez-Fortuño
    • , Nader Engheta
    •  & Anatoly V. Zayats

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photonic quantum technologies rely on the creation and manipulation of continuous variables states whose experimental preparation needs to be verified- a noteworthy impractical task. Here, the authors present a protocol that allows to certify continuous variables states with limited experimental overhead.

    • Leandro Aolita
    • , Christian Gogolin
    •  & Jens Eisert

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Data describing human interaction suffer from incomplete sampling of population, affecting the reliability of studies on contagion spreading. Here, the authors present a systematic method to resample data and generate surrogate datasets of the unknown contacts, which approximate well the complete datasets.

    • Mathieu Génois
    • , Christian L. Vestergaard
    •  & Alain Barrat

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fractional Chern insulators, topological insulators with partially filled bands, do not require large magnetic fields to form fractional quantum Hall states. Here, the authors investigate the correlation between the stability of such states and the bandgap to their creation on a variety of lattices.

    • T. S. Jackson
    • , Gunnar Möller
    •  & Rahul Roy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Open quantum systems are subject to dephasing that ultimately destroys the information they hold. Here, the authors use a superconducting qubit to show that dephasing also has a geometric origin, which can either reduce or restore coherence depending on the path of the quantum system in its Hilbert space.

    • S. Berger
    • , M. Pechal
    •  & S. Filipp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    When quantum key distribution is composed with other secure protocols the overall security has to be guaranteed, which adds further security requirements. Here, the authors demonstrate continuous-variable quantum key distribution with composable security and one-sided-device independence.

    • Tobias Gehring
    • , Vitus Händchen
    •  & Roman Schnabel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum communication allows exponential reductions in the information that must be transmitted to solve distributed computational tasks. Here, the authors demonstrate with weak coherent optical pulses a quantum fingerprinting system that transmits less information that the best known classical protocol.

    • Feihu Xu
    • , Juan Miguel Arrazola
    •  & Hoi-Kwong Lo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many complex properties of real networks appear as consequences of a small set of their basic properties. Here, the authors show thatdk-random graphs that reproduce degree distributions, degree correlations, and clustering in real networks, reproduce a variety of their other properties as well.

    • Chiara Orsini
    • , Marija M. Dankulov
    •  & Dmitri Krioukov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Communications encryption does prevent unauthorized decoding, but does not ensure stealth of the transmission. Here, the authors characterize the quantum limits of covert communication on lossy thermal-noise bosonic channels.

    • Boulat A. Bash
    • , Andrei H. Gheorghe
    •  & Saikat Guha

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetic skyrmions are particle-like configurations which can emerge in the magnetization of materials possessing a chiral exchange interaction. Here, the authors demonstrate how spin-mixing magnetoresistance can allow for the reliable perpendicular detection of single nanoscale skyrmions in Pd/Fe/Ir(111) thin films.

    • Dax M. Crum
    • , Mohammed Bouhassoune
    •  & Samir Lounis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetic skyrmions are swirling magnetization textures which are topologically stabilized in helical magnets under an applied magnetic field. Here, the authors use Monte Carlo simulations to explore the stability of skyrmions against a ferromagnetic phase and their potential as single bits.

    • J. Hagemeister
    • , N. Romming
    •  & R. Wiesendanger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Superconductors can be used in future supercomputers because they can greatly reduce power consumption and facilitate nonvolatile quantized states that are ideal for Boolean logics. Here, the authors provide a proof-of-concept RAM memory based on a single Abrikosov vortex as bit.

    • T. Golod
    • , A. Iovan
    •  & V. M. Krasnov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Identifying regions important for spreading and mediating perturbations is crucial to assess the susceptibilities of complex systems such as the Earth’s climate. Here the authors introduce a data-driven approach that identifies causal pathways, and apply it to a global atmospheric data set.

    • Jakob Runge
    • , Vladimir Petoukhov
    •  & Jürgen Kurths

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tensor network states efficiently parametrize many-body quantum ground states and entanglement properties of strongly correlated systems. Here, the authors show how the presence of anyons and topological order can be related to symmetry breaking in the virtual boundary theory of the network.

    • J. Haegeman
    • , V. Zauner
    •  & F. Verstraete

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whilst chiral magnets can support topologically protected particle-like magnetization textures called skyrmions, ferroelectric skyrmions have yet to be observed. Here, the authors use first-principles-based calculations to demonstrate the possibility of ferroelectric skyrmions in oxide nanocomposites.

    • Y. Nahas
    • , S. Prokhorenko
    •  & L. Bellaiche

  • Article |

    It is predicted that topologically trivial insulators may become topologically non-trivial when periodically driven. Here, the authors consider the dynamics of a graphene-like system under a circularly polarized electric field and follow the time evolution of topological parameters.

    • Luca D’Alessio
    •  & Marcos Rigol

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding how to control complex networks can be useful to steer interconnected systems towards a desired state. Here, the authors introduce the concept of network permeability, a unified metric of the propensity of a network to be controllable taking into account physical and economic constrains.

    • Francesco Lo Iudice
    • , Franco Garofalo
    •  & Francesco Sorrentino

  • Article |

    Although quantum alternatives of various classical tasks are considered advantageous, this is typically extremely difficult to concretely prove. Here, the authors show that a quantum approach to randomness processing provides a reduction in resources and a larger class of solvable problems.

    • Howard Dale
    • , David Jennings
    •  & Terry Rudolph

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In the ultrafast manipulation of magnetization by light, it is thought that the electric field couples only indirectly to spins via spin-orbit interaction. Here, the authors demonstrate inverse magneto-refraction, a direct optical modification of the exchange interaction allowed for any material symmetry.

    • R.V. Mikhaylovskiy
    • , E. Hendry
    •  & A.V. Kimel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    One-dimensional alkaline-earth-like fermionic gases with large nuclear spins and atomic repulsion host a hierarchy of states with intriguing properties. Here, the authors use analytical and numerical techniques to predict the emergence of magnetic ordering in gapped states and helical modes in gapless phases.

    • Simone Barbarino
    • , Luca Taddia
    •  & Rosario Fazio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetic skyrmions are particle-like spin textures with non-trivial topology which are stabilized by local magnetic interactions. Here, the authors demonstrate theoretically a class of skyrmions which are stabilized dynamically in the absence of interactions in a nanocontact spin-torque oscillator.

    • Y. Zhou
    • , E. Iacocca
    •  & J. Åkerman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Human mobility studies established that a high degree of predictability coexists with the variability of individual mobility. Here, the authors, by looking at mobile phone and GPS data, identify and model the emergence of two classes of mobility patterns in humans, returners and explorers.

    • Luca Pappalardo
    • , Filippo Simini
    •  & Albert-László Barabási

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The luminosity of ultraviolet light emitted by the first galaxies in the universe traces the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies which led to the epoch of reionization. Here the authors use data from the Hubble Space Telescope and through a model provide a bound for the total luminosity.

    • Ketron Mitchell-Wynne
    • , Asantha Cooray
    •  & Joseph Smidt

  • Article |

    A topological superconductor is an exotic state of matter that is gapped in the bulk but possesses gapless surface states, but its identification has been so far elusive. Here, the authors develop a theory for scanning tunnelling microscopy which would allow to resolve topological superconductor states.

    • Lars Elster
    • , Christian Platt
    •  & Ewelina M. Hankiewicz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Abelian and non-abelian emergent gauge fields govern the physics of many topological phenomena, such as Hall effects. Here the authors show theoretically that in a spinor Bose-Fermi mixture the non-abelianness of the gauge potential can be tuned, offering the chance to study the abelian-non-abelian crossover.

    • Nguyen Thanh Phuc
    • , Gen Tatara
    •  & Masahito Ueda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lorentz invariance, tested more than a century ago by Michelson and Morley, is a foundational property of modern physics within the standard model and general relativity. Here, the authors report the most precise terrestrial test to date, bounding the lack of violations of Lorentz symmetry in photons to 10–18.

    • Moritz Nagel
    • , Stephen R. Parker
    •  & Michael E. Tobar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The anapole is an intriguing example of a nonradiating source useful in the study of electromagnetic properties in complex phenomena. Here, Miroshnichenko et al.demonstrate that a single dielectric nanoparticle can exhibit a radiationless anapole mode at visible wavelengths.

    • Andrey E. Miroshnichenko
    • , Andrey B. Evlyukhin
    •  & Yuri S. Kivshar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanistic modelling of dynamical phenomena with many degrees of freedom runs the risk of overfitting and making faulty predictions, whereas ad hocmodels may miss defining features. Here the authors develop an approach to construct dynamical models that adapt their complexity to the amount of available data.

    • Bryan C. Daniels
    •  & Ilya Nemenman

  • Article |

    Quantum Darwinism provides an explanation for the emergence of classical reality from the underlying quantum world, as information proliferates in the environment and becomes objective. Here, the authors show how some aspects of this mechanism is generic and classicality emerges for any quantum dynamics.

    • Fernando G. S. L. Brandão
    • , Marco Piani
    •  & Paweł Horodecki

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum communications operate with shared multipartite entangled states, and this has to be certified in a setting where not all parties are trusted in the same way. Here the authors propose a method to certify multipartite entanglement in asymmetric scenarios and demonstrate it in an optical experiment.

    • D. Cavalcanti
    • , P. Skrzypczyk
    •  & S. P. Walborn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultracold reactions can give insights into reactions dynamics in the quantum regime. Here, the authors show that the geometric phase can have a dramatic effect on ultracold reactions, enhancing or suppressing rates by nearly two orders of magnitude in the reaction studied.

    • B. K. Kendrick
    • , Jisha Hazra
    •  & N. Balakrishnan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    All quantum systems are connected to their environment, and this reduces their quantumness through decoherence. Here, the authors show that the interaction between a macroscale quantum system—a micromechanical oscillator—and its environment leads to non-Markovian Brownian motion

    • S. Gröblacher
    • , A. Trubarov
    •  & J. Eisert

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experimental studies of hydrogen at high pressure are challenging, so theory is central to understanding its phase behaviour; however, computed phase diagrams do not agree with previous measurements. Here, the authors use a quantum Monte Carlo method and present results in qualitative agreement with experiment.

    • N. D. Drummond
    • , Bartomeu Monserrat
    •  & R. J. Needs

  • Article |

    The spreading dynamics of a contagion depend on the structure of an underlying network, and long-range edges due to airline transportation or media communication can significantly alter such dynamics. Here the authors use contagion dynamics on networks to produce point clouds for this analysis.

    • Dane Taylor
    • , Florian Klimm
    •  & Peter J. Mucha

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Oscillatory behaviour is essential for proper functioning of several processes, yet quenching phenomena can lead to steady states with suppressed oscillations. Here the authors present a scheme to revoke these states in diffusively coupled networks, and demonstrate their approach on a chemical oscillator.

    • Wei Zou
    • , D. V. Senthilkumar
    •  & Jürgen Kurths

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chimera states are a class of self-organized solutions of high-dimensional networks with non-local and symmetry breaking coupling. Here the authors study the chimera patterns generated in a non-linear optical setup and uncover the transition between chimera orders as a pattern across clusters of chaoticity.

    • Laurent Larger
    • , Bogdan Penkovsky
    •  & Yuri Maistrenko

  • Article |

    Quantum coherence should be rapidly lost in a system of many strongly coupled particles. Here, the authors show that this need not be the case in a one-dimensional magnet with impurities, allowing for a sharply defined topological phase even at high temperatures.

    • Yasaman Bahri
    • , Ronen Vosk
    •  & Ashvin Vishwanath

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Two-dimensional spectroscopy revealed oscillatory signals in photosynthesis’ exciton dynamics, but crowded spectra impede the identification of what sustains the oscillations. Here the authors probe an J-aggregate, whose uncongested response shows that vibronic coupling is responsible for the sustained coherence.

    • James Lim
    • , David Paleček
    •  & Jürgen Hauer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum simulation offers an unparalleled computational resource, but realizing it for fermionic systems is challenging due to their particle statistics. Here the authors report on the time evolutions of fermionic interactions implemented with digital techniques on a nine-qubit superconducting circuit.

    • R. Barends
    • , L. Lamata
    •  & John M. Martinis

  • Article |

    In the presence of a Hermitian potential, a plane wave propagating in free space cannot maintain a constant intensity due to scattering. Here, Makriset al. show that in non-Hermitian potential, waves can propagate with constant intensity through linear and nonlinear inhomogeneous media with gain and loss.

    • K. G. Makris
    • , Z. H. Musslimani
    •  & S. Rotter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Irreversible computation cannot be performed without a work cost, and energy dissipation imposes limitations on devices' performances. Here the authors show that the minimal work requirement of logical operations is given by the amount of discarded information, measured by entropy.

    • Philippe Faist
    • , Frédéric Dupuis
    •  & Renato Renner

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