We demonstrate laser-field-free molecular orientation with the combination of a moderate electrostatic field and an intense nonresonant rapidly turned-off laser field, which can be shaped with the plasma shutter technique. We use OCS (carbonyl sulfide) molecules as a sample. Molecular orientation is adiabatically created in the rising part of the laser pulse, and it is found to revive at around the rotational period of an OCS molecule with the same degree of orientation as that at the peak of the laser pulse in the virtually laser-field-free condition. This accomplishment means that a new class of molecular sample has become available for various applications.

Using density functional theory calculations we show that the recently synthesized superhard diamondlike ${\mathrm{BC}}_5$ is superconducting with a critical temperature of the same order as that of ${\mathrm{MgB}}_2$. The average electron-phonon coupling is $\lambda =0.89$, the phonon-frequency logarithmic average is $⟨\omega {⟩}_{\log }=67.4\mathrm{meV}$, and the isotope coefficients are $\alpha (\mathrm{C})=0.3$ and $\alpha (\mathrm{B})=0.2$. In ${\mathrm{BC}}_5$, superconductivity is mostly sustained by concerted vibrations of the B atom and its C neighbors.

For the voter model, we study the effect of a memory-dependent transition rate. We assume that the transition of a spin into the opposite state decreases with the time it has been in its current state. Counterintuitively, we find that the time to reach a macroscopically ordered state can be accelerated by slowing down the microscopic dynamics in this way. This holds for different network topologies, including fully connected ones. We find that the ordering dynamics is governed by two competing processes which either stabilize the majority or the minority state. If the first one dominates, it accelerates the ordering of the system. The conclusions of this Letter are not restricted to the voter model, but remain valid to many other spin systems as well.

The Hamiltonian for a system of relativistic bodies interacting by their gravitational field is found in the post-Minkowskian approximation, including all terms linear in the gravitational constant. It is given in a surprisingly simple closed form as a function of canonical variables describing the bodies only. The field is eliminated by solving inhomogeneous wave equations, applying transverse-traceless projections, and using the Routh functional. By including all special relativistic effects our Hamiltonian extends the results described in classical textbooks of theoretical physics. As an application, the scattering of relativistic objects is considered.

We present a first-principles study of the electron-phonon interaction and the prediction of the superconducting critical temperature in molecular metallic hydrogen. Our study is able to single out the features which drive the system towards superconductivity: mainly, a rich and complex Fermi surface and strongly coupled phonon modes driving the intra- or intermolecular charge transfer. We demonstrate that in this simple system, a very high superconducting critical temperature can be reached via electron-phonon and Coulomb electron-electron interactions.

Cooperative interactions in the binding of multiple signaling molecules is a common mechanism for enhancing the sensitivity of biological signaling systems. It is widely assumed this increase in sensitivity of the mean response implies the ability to detect smaller signals. Extending the classic work of Berg and Purcell [Biophys. J. 20, 193 (1977)] on the physical limits of chemoreception, we show that the random arrival of diffusing signaling molecules at receptor sites constitutes a noise source that is not reduced by cooperativity. Cooperativity makes reaching this limit easier, but cannot reduce the limit itself.

Filopodia are long, fingerlike membrane tubes supported by cytoskeletal filaments. Their shape is determined by the stiffness of the actin filament bundles found inside them and by the interplay between the surface tension and bending rigidity of the membrane. Although one might expect the Euler buckling instability to limit the length of filopodia, we show through simple energetic considerations that this is in general not the case. By further analyzing the statics of filaments inside membrane tubes, and through computer simulations that capture membrane and filament fluctuations, we show under which conditions filopodia of arbitrary lengths are stable. We discuss several in vitro experiments where this kind of stability has already been observed. Furthermore, we predict that the filaments in long, stable filopodia adopt a helical shape.

We demonstrate an asymmetric optical potential barrier for ultracold ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms using laser light tuned near the $D_2$ optical transition. Such a one-way barrier, where atoms incident on one side are transmitted but reflected from the other, is a realization of Maxwell’s demon and has important implications for cooling atoms and molecules not amenable to standard laser-cooling techniques. In our experiment, atoms are confined to a far-detuned dipole trap consisting of a single focused Gaussian beam, which is divided near the focus by the barrier. The one-way barrier consists of two focused laser beams oriented almost normal to the dipole-trap axis. The first beam is tuned to present either a potential well or barrier, depending on the state of the incident atoms. On the reflecting side of the barrier, the second beam optically pumps the atoms to the reflecting (barrier) state, thus producing the asymmetry.

We present a continuation method that enables one to track or continue branches of periodic orbits directly in an experiment when a parameter is changed. A control-based setup in combination with Newton iterations ensures that the periodic orbit can be continued even when it is unstable. This is demonstrated with the continuation of initially stable rotations of a vertically forced pendulum experiment through a fold bifurcation to find the unstable part of the branch.

We investigate the dynamics of a thermally convecting fluid as it interacts with freely moving solid objects. This is a previously unexplored paradigm of interactions between many free bodies mediated by thermal convection, which gives rise to surprising robust oscillations between different large-scale circulations. Once begun, this process repeats cyclically, with the collection of objects (solid spheres) entrained and packed from one side of the convection cell to the other. The cyclic frequency is highest when the spheres occupy about half of the cell bottom and their size coincides with the thickness of the thermal boundary layer. Our work shows that a deformable mass stimulates a thermally convecting fluid into oscillation, a collective behavior that may be found in nature.

We demonstrate new experimental procedures for measuring small errors in a superconducting quantum bit (qubit). By carefully separating out gate and measurement errors, we construct a complete error budget and demonstrate single qubit gate fidelities of 0.98, limited by energy relaxation. We also introduce a new metrology tool—a Ramsey interference error filter—that can measure the occupation probability of the state $|2⟩$, which is outside the computational basis, down to ${10}^{-4}$, thereby confirming that our quantum system stays within the qubit manifold during single qubit logic operations.

A series of layered ${\mathrm{CeO}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{F}}_x\mathrm{FeAs}$ compounds with $x=0$ to 0.20 are synthesized by the solid state reaction method. Similar to the LaOFeAs, the pure CeOFeAs shows a strong resistivity anomaly near 145 K, which was ascribed to the spin-density-wave instability. $F$ doping suppresses this instability and leads to the superconducting ground state. Most surprisingly, the superconducting transition temperature could reach as high as 41 K. Such a high $T_c$ strongly challenges the classic BCS theory based on the electron-phonon interaction. The closeness of the superconducting phase to the spin-density-wave instability suggests that the magnetic fluctuation plays a key role in the superconducting pairing mechanism. The study also reveals that the Ce $4f$ electrons form local moments and are ordered antiferromagnetically below 4 K, which could coexist with superconductivity.

We present time-resolved x-ray images with 30 nm spatial and 70 ps temporal resolution, which reveal details of the spatially resolved magnetization evolution in nanoscale samples of various dimensions during reversible spin-torque switching processes. Our data in conjunction with micromagnetic simulations suggest a simple unified picture of magnetic switching based on the motion of a magnetic vortex. With decreasing size of the magnetic element the path of the vortex core moves from inside to outside of the nanoelement, and the switching process evolves from a curled nonuniform to an increasingly uniform mode.

How correlated are two quantum systems from the perspective of a third? We answer this by providing an optimal “quantum state redistribution” protocol for multipartite product sources. Specifically, given an arbitrary quantum state of three systems, where Alice holds two and Bob holds one, we identify the cost, in terms of quantum communication and entanglement, for Alice to give one of her parts to Bob. The communication cost gives the first known operational interpretation to quantum conditional mutual information. The optimal procedure is self-dual under time reversal and is perfectly composable. This generalizes known protocols such as the state merging and fully quantum Slepian-Wolf protocols, from which almost every known protocol in quantum Shannon theory can be derived.

Within a MHD approach we find magnetic reconnection to progress in two entirely different ways. The first is well known: the laminar Sweet-Parker process. But a second, completely different and chaotic reconnection process is possible. This regime has properties of immediate practical relevance: (i) it is much faster, developing on scales of the order of the Alfvén time, and (ii) the areas of reconnection become distributed chaotically over a macroscopic region. The onset of the faster process is the formation of closed-circulation patterns where the jets going out of the reconnection regions turn around and force their way back in, carrying along copious amounts of magnetic flux.

Our recently developed approach of UHV-tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy permits us to acquire Raman spectra of a few single brilliant cresyl blue (BCB) molecules and even a single one adsorbed on a Au(111) surface. This is substantiated by simultaneously recorded STM images. Furthermore, because of the reduced photobleaching in UHV, the time frame for spectral acquisition is sufficiently extended to allow tip-enhanced Raman imaging of a single BCB molecule with a lateral resolution of 15 nm.

The temperatures in different zones in the world do not show significant changes due to El Niño except when measured in a restricted area in the Pacific Ocean. We find, in contrast, that the dynamics of a climate network based on the same temperature records in various geographical zones in the world is significantly influenced by El Niño. During El Niño many links of the network are broken, and the number of surviving links comprises a specific and sensitive measure for El Niño events. While during non-El Niño periods these links which represent correlations between temperatures in different sites are more stable, fast fluctuations of the correlations observed during El Niño periods cause the links to break.

We construct the networks of the surface temperature field for El Niño and for La Niña years and investigate their structure. We find that the El Niño network possesses significantly fewer links and lower clustering coefficient and characteristic path length than the La Niña network, which indicates that the former network is less communicative and less stable than the latter. We conjecture that because of this, predictability of temperature should decrease during El Niño years. Here we verify that indeed during El Niño years predictability is lower compared to La Niña years.

We present a new phenomenology for burn propagation inside a thermal explosion based on dynamic radiography. Radiographic images were obtained of an aluminum cased solid cylindrical sample of a plastic bonded formulation of octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine. The phenomenology observed is ignition followed by cracking in the solid accompanied by the propagation of a radially symmetric front of increasing proton transmission. This is followed by a further increase in transmission through the sample, ending after approximately $100\mu \mathrm{s}$. We show that these processes are consistent with the propagation of a convective burn front followed by consumption of the remaining solid by conductive particle burning.

We report an experimental test of quantum complementarity with single-photon pulses sent into a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with an output beam splitter of adjustable reflection coefficient $R$. In addition, the experiment is realized in Wheeler’s delayed-choice regime. Each randomly set value of $R$ allows us to observe interference with visibility $V$ and to obtain incomplete which-path information characterized by the distinguishability parameter $D$. Measured values of $V$ and $D$ are found to fulfill the complementarity relation $V^2+D^2\le 1$.