We introduce a generalization of the conventional renormalization schemes used in dimensional regularization, which illuminates the renormalization scheme and scale ambiguities of perturbative QCD predictions, exposes the general pattern of nonconformal $\{{\beta }_i\}$ terms, and reveals a special degeneracy of the terms in the perturbative coefficients. It allows us to systematically determine the argument of the running coupling order by order in perturbative QCD in a form which can be readily automatized. The new method satisfies all of the principles of the renormalization group and eliminates an unnecessary source of systematic error.

It was recently shown theoretically that the time-dependent heat conduction equation is form invariant under curvilinear coordinate transformations. Thus, in analogy to transformation optics, fictitious transformed space can be mapped onto (meta)materials with spatially inhomogeneous and anisotropic heat-conductivity tensors in the laboratory space. On this basis, we design, fabricate, and characterize a microstructured thermal cloak that molds the flow of heat around an object in a metal plate. This allows for transient protection of the object from heating while maintaining the same downstream heat flow as without object and cloak.

We present a one-to-one comparison of polymer segmental fluctuations as measured by small angle neutron scattering in a network under deformation with those obtained by neutron spin echo spectroscopy. This allows an independent proof of the strain dependence of the chain entanglement length. The experimentally observed nonaffine square-root dependence of the tube channel on strain is in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions and permits us to exclude an often invoked nondeformed as well as affinely deformed tube.

We propose to use the intrinsic two-level system (TLS) defect states found naturally in integrated optomechanical devices for exploring cavity QED-like phenomena with localized phonons. The Jaynes-Cummings-type interaction between TLS and mechanics can reach the strong coupling regime for existing nano-optomechanical systems, observable via clear signatures in the optomechanical output spectrum. These signatures persist even at finite temperature, and we derive an explicit expression for the temperature at which they vanish. Further, the ability to drive the defect with a microwave field allows for realization of phonon blockade, and the available controls are sufficient to deterministically prepare non-classical states of the mechanical resonator.

We demonstrate a link between the growth process, the stoichiometry of ${\mathrm{LaAlO}}_3$, and the interfacial electrical properties of ${\mathrm{LaAlO}}_3/{\mathrm{SrTiO}}_3$ heterointerfaces. Varying the relative La:Al cation stoichiometry by a few atomic percent in films grown at $1\times {10}^{-3}\mathrm{Torr}$ results in a 2 and 7 order-of-magnitude change in the 300 and 2 K sheet resistance, respectively, with highly conducting states occurring only in La-deficient or Al-excess films. Further reducing the growth pressure results in an increase of the carrier density and a dramatic change in mobility. We discuss the relative contributions of intrinsic and extrinsic effects in controlling the physical properties of this widely studied system.

Micron-sized self-propelled (active) particles can be considered as model systems for characterizing more complex biological organisms like swimming bacteria or motile cells. We produce asymmetric microswimmers by soft lithography and study their circular motion on a substrate and near channel boundaries. Our experimental observations are in full agreement with a theory of Brownian dynamics for asymmetric self-propelled particles, which couples their translational and orientational motion.

The fundamental ground tone vibration of ${\mathrm{H}}_2$, HD, and ${\mathrm{D}}_2$ is determined to an accuracy of $2\times {10}^{-4}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-1}$ from Doppler-free laser spectroscopy in the collisionless environment of a molecular beam. This rotationless vibrational splitting is derived from the combination difference between electronic excitation from the $X^1{\Sigma }_g^{+}$, $v=0$, and $v=1$ levels to a common $E{F}^1{\Sigma }_g^{+}$, $v=0$ level. Agreement within $1\sigma$ between the experimental result and a full ab initio calculation provides a stringent test of quantum electrodynamics in a chemically bound system.

Oxygen vacancies created in anatase ${\mathrm{TiO}}_2$ by UV photons (80–130 eV) provide an effective electron-doping mechanism and induce a hitherto unobserved dispersive metallic state. Angle resolved photoemission reveals that the quasiparticles are large polarons. These results indicate that anatase can be tuned from an insulator to a polaron gas to a weakly correlated metal as a function of doping and clarify the nature of conductivity in this material.

The neutron-rich isotopes of cadmium up to the $N=82$ shell closure have been investigated by high-resolution laser spectroscopy. Deep-uv excitation at 214.5 nm and radioactive-beam bunching provided the required experimental sensitivity. Long-lived isomers are observed in ${}^{127}\mathrm{Cd}$ and ${}^{129}\mathrm{Cd}$ for the first time. One essential feature of the spherical shell model is unambiguously confirmed by a linear increase of the $11/2^{-}$ quadrupole moments. Remarkably, this mechanism is found to act well beyond the $h_{11/2}$ shell.

Huygens’ principle is a well-known concept in electromagnetics that dates back to 1690. Here, it is applied to develop designer surfaces that provide extreme control of electromagnetic wave fronts across electrically thin layers. These reflectionless surfaces, referred to as metamaterial Huygens’ surfaces, provide new beam shaping, steering, and focusing capabilities. The metamaterial Huygens’ surfaces are realized with two-dimensional arrays of polarizable particles that provide both electric and magnetic polarization currents to generate prescribed wave fronts. A straightforward design methodology is demonstrated and applied to develop a beam-refracting surface and a Gaussian-to-Bessel beam transformer. Metamaterial Huygens’ surfaces could find a wide range of applications over the entire electromagnetic spectrum including single-surface lenses, polarization controlling devices, stealth technologies, and perfect absorbers.

We use direct numerical simulation of the Navier-Stokes equations for a two-phase flow (water and air) to study the dynamics of the modulational instability of free surface waves and its contribution to the interaction between the ocean and atmosphere. If the steepness of the initial wave exceeds a threshold value, we observe wave-breaking events and the formation of large-scale dipole structures in the air. Because of the multiple steepening and breaking of the waves under unstable wave packets, a train of dipoles is released in the atmosphere; those dipoles propagate at a height comparable with the wavelength. The amount of energy dissipated by the breaker in water and air is considered, and contrary to expectations, we observe that the energy dissipation in air is greater than that in water. The possible consequences on the wave modeling and on the exchange of aerosols and gases between air and water are discussed.

Geometric frustration, the inability of an ordered system to find a unique ground state plays a key role in a wide range of systems. We present a new experimental approach to observe large-scale geometric frustration with 1500 negatively coupled lasers arranged in a kagome lattice. We show how dissipation drives the lasers into a phase-locked state that directly maps to the classical $XY$ spin Hamiltonian ground state. In our system, frustration is manifested by the lack of long range phase ordering. Finally, we show how next-nearest-neighbor coupling removes frustration and restores order.

The particular electric pulse discharges are observed in thunderclouds during the initiation stage of negative cloud-to-ground lightning. The discharges are quite different from conventional streamers or leaders. A detailed analysis reveals that the shape of the pulses is determined by the runaway breakdown of air in the thundercloud electric field initiated by extensive atmospheric showers (RB-EAS). The high amplitude of the pulse electric current is due to the multiple microdischarges at hydrometeors stimulated and synchronized by the low-energy electrons generated in the RB-EAS process. The series of specific pulse discharges leads to charge reset from hydrometeors to the free ions and creates numerous stretched ion clusters, both positive and negative. As a result, a wide region in the thundercloud with a sufficiently high fractal ion conductivity is formed. The charge transport by ions plays a decisive role in the lightning leader preconditioning.

Newly developed achromatic electron optics allows the use of wide energy windows and makes feasible energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) at atomic resolution. In this Letter we present EFTEM images formed using electrons that have undergone a silicon $L_{2,3}$ core-shell energy loss, exhibiting a resolution in EFTEM of 1.35 Å. This permits elemental mapping beyond the nanoscale provided that quantum mechanical calculations from first principles are done in tandem with the experiment to understand the physical information encoded in the images.

We study the electric conductivity of hot QCD matter at various temperatures $T$ within the off-shell parton-hadron-string dynamics transport approach for interacting partonic, hadronic or mixed systems in a finite box with periodic boundary conditions. The response of the strongly interacting system in equilibrium to an external electric field defines the electric conductivity ${\sigma }_0$. We find a sizable temperature dependence of the ratio ${\sigma }_0/T$ well in line with calculations in a relaxation time approach for $T_c<T<2.5T_c$. The ratio drops in the hadronic phase with $T$, shows a minimum close to $T_c$, and becomes approximately constant ($\sim 0.3$) above $\sim 5T_c$. Our findings imply that the QCD matter even at $T\approx T_c$ is a much better electric conductor than Cu or Ag (at room temperature).

Semiconductor microcavities are used to support freely flowing polariton quantum liquids allowing the direct observation and optical manipulation of macroscopic quantum states. Incoherent optical excitation at a point produces radially expanding condensate clouds within the planar geometry. By using arbitrary configurations of multiple pump spots, we discover a geometrically controlled phase transition, switching from the coherent phase-locking of multiple condensates to the formation of a single trapped condensate. The condensation threshold becomes strongly dependent on the programmed superfluid geometry and sensitive to cooperative interactions between condensates. We directly image persistently circulating superfluid and show how flows of light-matter quasiparticles are dominated by the quantum pressure in such configurable laser-written potential landscapes.

Active elastomeric liquid crystal particles with initial cylindrical shapes are obtained by means of soft lithography and polymerization in a strong magnetic field. Gold nanocrystals infiltrated into these particles mediate energy transfer from laser light to heat, so that the inherent coupling between the temperature-dependent order and shape allows for dynamic morphing of these particles and well-controlled stable shapes. Continuous changes of particle shapes are followed by their spontaneous realignment and transformations of director structures in the surrounding cholesteric host, as well as locomotion in the case of a nonreciprocal shape morphing. These findings bridge the fields of liquid crystal solids and active colloids, may enable shape-controlled self-assembly of adaptive composites and light-driven micromachines, and can be understood by employing simple symmetry considerations along with electrostatic analogies.

We study the hydrodynamics of dip coating from a suspension and report a mechanism for colloidal assembly and pattern formation on smooth substrates. Below a critical withdrawal speed where the coating film is thinner than the particle diameter, capillary forces induced by deformation of the free surface prevent the convective transport of single particles through the meniscus beneath the film. Capillary-induced forces are balanced by hydrodynamic drag only after a minimum number of particles assemble within the meniscus. The particle assembly can thus enter the thin film where it moves at nearly the withdrawal speed and rapidly separates from the next assembly. The interplay between hydrodynamic and capillary forces produces periodic and regular structures below a critical ratio ${\mathrm{Ca}}^{2/3}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Bo}}<0.7$, where Ca and Bo are the capillary and Bond numbers, respectively. An analytical model and numerical simulations are presented for the case of two-dimensional flow with circular particles in suspension. The hydrodynamically driven assembly documented here is consistent with stripe pattern formations observed experimentally in dip coating.

We present a robust scheme by which fractional quantum Hall states of bosons can be achieved for ultracold atomic gases. We describe a new form of optical flux lattice, suitable for commonly used atomic species with ground state angular momentum $J_g=1$, for which the lowest energy band is topological and nearly dispersionless. Through exact diagonalization studies, we show that, even for moderate interactions, the many-body ground states consist of bosonic fractional quantum Hall states, including the Laughlin state and the Moore-Read (Pfaffian) state. These phases are shown to have energy gaps that are larger than temperature scales achievable in ultracold gases.

Strongly correlated quantum systems can exhibit exotic behavior controlled by topology. We predict that the $\nu =1/2$ fractional Chern insulator arises naturally in a two-dimensional array of driven, dipolar-interacting spins. As a specific implementation, we analyze how to prepare and detect synthetic gauge potentials for the rotational excitations of ultracold polar molecules trapped in a deep optical lattice. With the motion of the molecules pinned, under certain conditions, these rotational excitations form a fractional Chern insulating state. We present a detailed experimental blueprint for its realization and demonstrate that the implementation is consistent with near-term capabilities. Prospects for the realization of such phases in solid-state dipolar systems are discussed as are their possible applications.