Volume 137, Issue 18

30 October 2026

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On the Cover

Illustration of self-synchronized dual-color free-electron-laser generation driven by a single prebunched electron beam. Blue: soft x-ray pulses; magenta: long-wavelength mid-infrared radiation.

From the article:

Self-Synchronized Soft X-Ray and Infrared Free-Electron Lasers from a Single Prebunched Electron Beam
Yin Kang et al.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 185001 (2026)

HIGHLIGHTED ARTICLES

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Millimeter Wave Readout of a Superconducting Qubit

Akash V. Dixit, Zachary L. Parrott, Dennis Chunikhin, Trevyn F. Q. Larson, Bradley D. Hauer, and John D. Teufel

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 180803 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

A new device uses millimeter-wave radiation to accurately read the states of superconducting qubits without altering them.

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Odd-Even Parity of Nonlinear Hall Effects in Bilayer Graphene

Zitian Pan, Jiaheng Li, Jin Cao, Xuejin Zhang, Jundong Zhu, Yu Hong, Zhiheng Huang, Jingwei Dong, Dongxia Shi, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Wei Yang, Cong Xiao, Shengyuan A. Yang, Hongming Weng, Luojun Du, and Guangyu Zhang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186302 (2026) - Published 29 October, 2026

Experiments reveal a potentially useful odd–even dichotomy in the nonlinear Hall response of bilayer graphene.

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Brewster-Anomaly Delocalization for Free-Electron Radiation

Zheng Gong, Xiangfeng Xi, Hongsheng Chen, Owen D. Miller, Stefan Rotter, and Xiao Lin

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186903 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

Researchers have proposed that structural disorder can be harnessed to generate coherent, directional light from the passage of a charged particle.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Superconducting Qutrit Link beyond the Qubit Limit

Xiang Li, Zheng-Yang Mei, Yang He, Si-Lu Zhao, Yan-Jun Liu, Xiao-Hui Song, Kai Xu, Zhong-Cheng Xiang, Dong-Ning Zheng, and Heng Fan

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 180801 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

Deterministic remote entanglement of superconducting qutrits via time-bin microwave photons surpasses the negativity bound of two-qubit states.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Rare-Event Quantum Sensing Using Logical Qubits

Robert Ott, Torsten V. Zache, Soonwon Choi, Adam M. Kaufman, and Hannes Pichler

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 180802 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Integrating quantum error correction into a sensing protocol improves detection of rare events in noisy environment.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Closing the Mass Window for Stupendously Large Black Holes

Christopher Gerlach, Yann Gouttenoire, Antonio J. Iovino, and Nicholas Leister

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181401 (2026) - Published 26 October, 2026

Primordial black holes heavier than $10^{11}$ solar masses generate isocurvature perturbations that exceed current cosmic microwave background limits, ruling them out as a dark matter candidate.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Particle-Soliton Degeneracy in 2D Quantum Chromodynamics

Clay Córdova, Diego García-Sepúlveda, and Nicholas Holfester

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181603 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Exact results in mass-gapped two-dimensional QCD show that spontaneously broken noninvertible symmetry often places particles and solitons in one multiplet, forcing equal masses.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Projected Coherent Perfect Absorption at Exceptional Points via Nonlocal Elastodynamic Coupling

Jingyi Chen, Di Wang, Jiacheng Xing, Xu Wang, and Jie Zhu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186601 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

By designing a special underwater structure that harnesses the interaction between water and solid vibrations, researchers have created a unique acoustic state that is simultaneously highly sensitive and remarkably stable, opening new possibilities for precisely controlling sound waves.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Nonrelativistic Optically Induced Spin Torque in Noncollinear Magnets

Zhiyuan Li and Jian Zhou

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186905 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Spin torque can be induced in noncollinear magnets by nonlinear light in the absence of nonrelativistic spin-orbit coupling, and can generate an effective magnetic field of ~30 Tesla under modest light in realistic materials.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Compositional Proofreading through Critical Self-Tuning

Omer Karin

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 188401 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

Competition for shared resources implements compositional proofreading associated with a nonequilibrium phase transition, such that below a critical flux, competition pins the system to the marginal stability of the most persistent species, concentrating the population into that species, and above this threshold, pinning fails and selectivity is lost.

LETTERS

Quantum Information, Science, and Technology

Deep Thermalization and Measurements of Quantum Resources

Naga Dileep Varikuti, Soumik Bandyopadhyay, and Philipp Hauke

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 180401 (2026) - Published 26 October, 2026

Spreading of Magic Resource under Unitary Clifford Dynamics

Mircea Bejan, Pieter W. Claeys, and Jiangtian Yao

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 180402 (2026) - Published 26 October, 2026

Bidirectional Teleportation Using Scrambling Dynamics: A Practical Protocol

Amit Vikram, Edwin Chaparro, Muhammad Miskeen Khan, Andrew Lucas, Chris Akers, and Ana Maria Rey

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 180403 (2026) - Published 27 October, 2026

Charging Quantum Batteries with Chiral Squeezing

Borhan Ahmadi, André H. A. Malavazi, Janine Splettstoesser, Paweł Horodecki, and Lei Du

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 180404 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

Learning Midcircuit Measurement Backaction from Three Repeated Measurements

Chia-Tung Chu, Su-un Lee, Han Zheng, Senrui Chen, Bibek Pokharel, Alireza Seif, and Liang Jiang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 180601 (2026) - Published 26 October, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Superconducting Qutrit Link beyond the Qubit Limit

Xiang Li, Zheng-Yang Mei, Yang He, Si-Lu Zhao, Yan-Jun Liu, Xiao-Hui Song, Kai Xu, Zhong-Cheng Xiang, Dong-Ning Zheng, and Heng Fan

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 180801 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

Deterministic remote entanglement of superconducting qutrits via time-bin microwave photons surpasses the negativity bound of two-qubit states.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Rare-Event Quantum Sensing Using Logical Qubits

Robert Ott, Torsten V. Zache, Soonwon Choi, Adam M. Kaufman, and Hannes Pichler

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 180802 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Integrating quantum error correction into a sensing protocol improves detection of rare events in noisy environment.

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Millimeter Wave Readout of a Superconducting Qubit

Akash V. Dixit, Zachary L. Parrott, Dennis Chunikhin, Trevyn F. Q. Larson, Bradley D. Hauer, and John D. Teufel

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 180803 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

A new device uses millimeter-wave radiation to accurately read the states of superconducting qubits without altering them.

Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Gravitation

Probing Extragalactic Ultralight Axion Dark Matter with Decade-Long Blazar Optical Polarimetry of 1ES $1959 + 650$

Qiu-Ju Huang, Bao Wang, Jun-Jie Wei, and Xue-Feng Wu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181001 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

Reduced Gravitational Wave Signal Reopens the Ultralight Primordial Black Hole Window

Yann Gouttenoire, Nicholas Leister, and Pedro Schwaller

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181002 (2026) - Published 29 October, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Closing the Mass Window for Stupendously Large Black Holes

Christopher Gerlach, Yann Gouttenoire, Antonio J. Iovino, and Nicholas Leister

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181401 (2026) - Published 26 October, 2026

Primordial black holes heavier than $10^{11}$ solar masses generate isocurvature perturbations that exceed current cosmic microwave background limits, ruling them out as a dark matter candidate.

Local Obstructions to Trapped-Region Escape in Modified Gravity

Francisco S. N. Lobo

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181402 (2026) - Published 27 October, 2026

Designing a Low-Loss High-Reflectivity Mirror for Gravitational-Wave Detectors by Combining a Dielectric Metasurface and a Multilayer Stack

Edith Hartmann, Michel Lequime, Jérôme Degallaix, Michael T. Hartman, Paul Rouquette, Claude Amra, and Myriam Zerrad

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181403 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Particles and Fields

Beyond the Dilute Instanton Gas: Resurgence with Exact Saddles in the Double Well

Aurélien Dersy and Matthew D. Schwartz

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181601 (2026) - Published 27 October, 2026

O(4)-Breaking Bubble

Guy Avraham, Kfir Blum, Omri Rosner, and Isaac G. Smith

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181602 (2026) - Published 27 October, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Particle-Soliton Degeneracy in 2D Quantum Chromodynamics

Clay Córdova, Diego García-Sepúlveda, and Nicholas Holfester

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181603 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Exact results in mass-gapped two-dimensional QCD show that spontaneously broken noninvertible symmetry often places particles and solitons in one multiplet, forcing equal masses.

Observation of Electroweak Production of Pairs of $Z$ Bosons in Proton-Proton Collisions at 13 TeV

A. Gevorgyan et al. (CMS Collaboration)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181801 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

First Search for Quirks at the LHC with FASER

Roshan Mammen Abraham et al. (FASER Collaboration)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181802 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Parton Distribution Functions from Large-Momentum Expansion of Current-Current Correlators

Jia-Lu Zhang, Xiangdong Ji, Andreas Schäfer, Rui Zhang, and Christian Zimmermann

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181901 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Nuclear Physics

Accurate Charge Radius Measurement of ${}^{14}C$ Confronts Ab Initio Theory

Kristian König, Patrick Müller, Tobias Gesser, Emily Burbach, Stefano Gandolfi, Matthias Heinz, Phillip Imgram, Alessandro Lovato, Pieter Maris, Takayuki Miyagi, Wilfried Nörtershäuser, Robert Roth, Achim Schwenk, and Julien Spahn

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 182501 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

Real-Space Imaging of Thomson Charge Configurations in Superfluid Helium Nanodroplets

Thomas Pohl, Jan Mayerhofer, Hanqing Liu, Arin Mizouri, Hao Sha, Masoomeh Mahmoodi Darian, Fabio Zappa, Andrew M. Ellis, David J. Wales, Shengfu Yang, and Paul Scheier

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 183001 (2026) - Published 26 October, 2026

Precision Isotope-Shift Measurement of the ${{}^{1}S}_{0} \leftrightarrow {{}^{3}P}_{2}$ Transition and a Multitransition King-Plot Consistency Test

Taiki Ishiyama, Koki Ono, Reiji Asano, Hokuto Kawase, Tetsushi Takano, Ayaki Sunaga, Yasuhiro Yamamoto, Minoru Tanaka, and Yoshiro Takahashi

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 183401 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

Experimental Subdiffraction Source Discrimination Enabled by Spatial Demultiplexing and Single-Photon Detectors

Luigi Santamaria Amato, Danilo Triggiani, and Cosmo Lupo

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 183801 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

Plasma and Solar Physics, Accelerators and Beams

Self-Synchronized Soft X-Ray and Infrared Free-Electron Lasers from a Single Prebunched Electron Beam

Yin Kang et al.

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 185001 (2026) - Published 26 October, 2026

Available Energy and Ground States of Convective Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic Instabilities

Kaixuan Fan and Yao Zhou

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 185101 (2026) - Published 27 October, 2026

Condensed Matter and Materials

Atomic-Scale Visualization of Quantum Phase Transition in Mixed-Valence Regime

Xingsen Chen, Junyi Zhang, Qiaoyan Yu, Ruijun Xi, Shasha Xue, Jice Sun, Yi Zhang, Xian Du, Xuhui Ning, Pengyu Hu, Tingwen Miao, Hao Yang, Hemian Yi, Weijiong Chen, Xiaoxue Liu, Liang Liu, Dandan Guan, Yaoyi Li, Shiyong Wang, Canhua Liu, Sangen Zhao, Hao Zheng, and Jinfeng Jia

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186201 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Bridging Marcus–Landauer Transport Regimes in Orbital-Gated Molecular Junctions

Minwoo Song, Jongwoo Nam, Hyemin Lee, Changjun Lee, Donguk Kim, Ryong-Gyu Lee, Minsu Jeong, Yong-Hoon Kim, Keehoon Kang, and Takhee Lee

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186301 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Odd-Even Parity of Nonlinear Hall Effects in Bilayer Graphene

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186302 (2026) - Published 29 October, 2026

Experiments reveal a potentially useful odd–even dichotomy in the nonlinear Hall response of bilayer graphene.

Exciton-Based Sensing of Remote Electron Correlations in 2D Heterostructures

Tobias M. R. Wolf, Tian Xie, Chenhao Jin, and Allan H. MacDonald

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186501 (2026) - Published 26 October, 2026

Microscopic Geometric Theory for Gapped Excitations in Fractional Topological Fluids

Yuzhu Wang and Bo Yang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186502 (2026) - Published 26 October, 2026

Quantum Monte Carlo Studies of U(1) Lattice Gauge Models of Kondo Breakdown

Gaopei Pan and Fakher F. Assaad

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186503 (2026) - Published 29 October, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Brewster-Anomaly Delocalization for Free-Electron Radiation

Zheng Gong, Xiangfeng Xi, Hongsheng Chen, Owen D. Miller, Stefan Rotter, and Xiao Lin

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186903 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

Researchers have proposed that structural disorder can be harnessed to generate coherent, directional light from the passage of a charged particle.

Chiral Casimir-Polder Force from Chiral Anomaly in Weyl Semimetals

Liang Chen, Xu-Feng Zhao, Xun-Lei Ding, and Kai Chang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186904 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Nonrelativistic Optically Induced Spin Torque in Noncollinear Magnets

Zhiyuan Li and Jian Zhou

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186905 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Plasmascopy of Ultrafast Hot Charge Carriers

Dmitry A. Zimin, Raja Sen, Muhammad Qasim, Jelena Sjakste, and Vladislav S. Yakovlev

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186906 (2026) - Published 30 October, 2026

Statistical Physics; Classical, Nonlinear, and Complex Systems

Escape from Heterogeneous Diffusion

Hwai-Ray Tung and Sean D. Lawley

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 187101 (2026) - Published 27 October, 2026

Consistent Time Reversal and Reliable and Accurate Inference in the Presence of Memory

Tassilo Schwarz, Anatoly B. Kolomeisky, and Aljaž Godec

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 187401 (2026) - Published 29 October, 2026

Polymers, Chemical Physics, Soft Matter, and Biological Physics

Curvature Potential Formulation for Thin Elastic Sheets

Yael Cohen, Animesh Pandey, Yafei Zhang, Cy Maor, and Michael Moshe

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 188201 (2026) - Published 29 October, 2026

Using the Force Landscape of an Active Solid to Predict Plastic Deformation

Tyler Hain, Edan Lerner, and M. Lisa Manning

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 188301 (2026) - Published 26 October, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Compositional Proofreading through Critical Self-Tuning

Omer Karin

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 188401 (2026) - Published 28 October, 2026