Melting has long been used to join metallic materials, from welding to selective laser melting in additive manufacturing. In the same school of thought, localized melting has been generally perceived as an advantage, if not the main mechanism, for the adhesion of metallic microparticles to substrates during a supersonic impact. Here, we conduct the first in situ supersonic impact observations of individual metallic microparticles aimed at the explicit study of melting effects. Counterintuitively, we find that under at least some conditions melting is disadvantageous and hinders impact-induced adhesion. In the parameter space explored, i.e., $\sim 10\mu \mathrm{m}$ particle size and $\sim 1\mathrm{km}/\mathrm{s}$ particle velocity, we argue that the solidification time is much longer than the residence time of the particle on the substrate, so that resolidification cannot be a significant factor in adhesion.

Cation disorder is an important design criterion for technologically relevant transition-metal (TM) oxides, such as radiation-tolerant ceramics and Li-ion battery electrodes. In this Letter, we use a combination of first-principles calculations, normal mode analysis, and band-structure arguments to pinpoint a specific electronic-structure effect that influences the stability of disordered phases. We find that the electronic configuration of a TM ion determines to what extent the structural energy is affected by site distortions. This mechanism explains the stability of disordered phases with large ionic radius differences and provides a concrete guideline for the discovery of novel disordered compositions.

We present a finite-temperature extension of the retarded cumulant Green’s function for calculations of exited-state, correlation, and thermodynamic properties of electronic systems. The method incorporates a cumulant to leading order in the screened Coulomb interaction $W$, and improves on the $GW$ approximation of many-body perturbation theory. Results for the homogeneous electron gas are presented for a wide range of densities and temperatures, from cool to warm dense matter regimes, which reveal several hitherto unexpected properties. For example, correlation effects remain strong at high $T$ while the exchange-correlation energy becomes small; also the spectral function broadens and damping increases with temperature, blurring the usual quasiparticle picture. These effects are evident, e.g., in Compton scattering which exhibits many-body corrections that persist at normal densities and intermediate $T$. The approach also yields exchange-correlation energies and potentials in good agreement with existing methods.

We study the time evolution after a quantum quench in a family of models whose degrees of freedom are fermions coupled to spins, where quenched disorder appears neither in the Hamiltonian parameters nor in the initial state. Focusing on the behavior of entanglement, both spatial and between subsystems, we show that the model supports a state exhibiting combined area and volume-law entanglement, being characteristic of the quantum disentangled liquid. This behavior appears for one set of variables, which is related via a duality mapping to another set, where this structure is absent. Upon adding density interactions between the fermions, we identify an exact mapping to an $XXZ$ spin chain in a random binary magnetic field, thereby establishing the existence of many-body localization with its logarithmic entanglement growth in a fully disorder-free system.

As first demonstrated by Tang and Cohen in chiral optics, the asymmetry in the rate of electromagnetic energy absorption between left and right enantiomers is determined by an optical chirality density. Here, we demonstrate that this effect can exist in magnetic spin systems. By constructing a formal analogy with electrodynamics, we show that in antiferromagnets with broken chiral symmetry, the asymmetry in local spin-wave energy absorption is proportional to a spin-wave chirality density, which is a direct counterpart of optical zilch. We propose that injection of a pure spin current into an antiferromagnet may serve as a chiral symmetry breaking mechanism, since its effect in the spin-wave approximation can be expressed in terms of additional Lifshitz invariants. We use linear response theory to show that the spin current induces a nonequilibrium spin-wave chirality density.

The recent discovery of “polar metals” with ferroelectriclike displacements offers the promise of designing ferroelectrics with tunable energy gaps by inducing controlled metal-insulator transitions. Here we employ first-principles calculations to design a metallic polar superlattice from nonpolar metal components and show that controlled intermixing can lead to a true insulating ferroelectric with a tunable band gap. We consider a $2/2$ superlattice made of two centrosymmetric metallic oxides, ${\mathrm{La}}_{0.75}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{0.25}{\mathrm{MnO}}_3$ and ${\mathrm{LaNiO}}_3$, and show that ferroelectriclike displacements are induced. The ferroelectriclike distortion is found to be strongly dependent on the carrier concentration (Sr content). Further, we show that a metal-to-insulator (MI) transition is feasible in this system via disproportionation of the Ni sites. Such a disproportionation and, hence, a MI transition can be driven by intermixing of transition metal ions between Mn and Ni layers. As a result, the energy gap of the resulting ferroelectric can be tuned by varying the degree of intermixing in the experimental fabrication method.

We have examined the formation and dissolution of gels composed of intermediate volume-fraction nanoparticles with temperature-dependent short-range attractions using small-angle x-ray scattering, x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, and rheology to obtain nanoscale and macroscale sensitivity to structure and dynamics. Gel formation after temperature quenches to the vicinity of the rheologically determined gel temperature, $T_{\text{gel}}$, was characterized via the slowdown of dynamics and changes in microstructure observed in the intensity autocorrelation functions and structure factor, respectively, as a function of quench depth ($\mathrm{\Delta }T=T_{\text{quench}}-T_{\text{gel}}$), wave vector, and formation time $t_f$. We find the wave-vector-dependent dynamics, microstructure, and rheology at a particular $\mathrm{\Delta }T$ and $t_f$ map to those at other $\mathrm{\Delta }T\mathrm{s}$ and $t_f\mathrm{s}$ via an effective scaling temperature, $T_s$. A single $T_s$ applies to a broad range of $\mathrm{\Delta }T$ and $t_f$ but does depend on the particle size. The rate of formation implied by the scaling is a far stronger function of $\mathrm{\Delta }T$ than expected from the attraction strength between colloids. We interpret this strong temperature dependence in terms of cooperative bonding required to form stable gels via energetically favored, local structures.

The dynamical behavior of interacting systems plays a fundamental role for determining quantum correlations, such as entanglement. In this Letter, we describe temporal quantum effects of the inseparable evolution of composite quantum states by comparing the trajectories to their classically correlated counterparts. For this reason, we introduce equations of motions describing the separable propagation of any interacting quantum system, which are derived by requiring separability for all times. The resulting Schrödinger-type equations allow for comparing the trajectories in a separable configuration with the actual behavior of the system and, thereby, identifying inseparable and time-dependent quantum properties. As an example, we study bipartite discrete- and continuous-variable interacting systems. The generalization of our developed technique to multipartite scenarios is also provided.

The proof of the long-standing conjecture is presented that Markovian quantum master equations are at odds with quantum thermodynamics under conventional assumptions of fluctuation-dissipation theorems (implying a translation invariant dissipation). Specifically, except for identified systems, persistent system-bath correlations of at least one kind, spatial or temporal, are obligatory for thermalization. A systematic procedure is proposed to construct translation invariant bath models producing steady states that well approximate thermal states. A quantum optical scheme for the laboratory assessment of the developed procedure is outlined.

Current is a characteristic feature of nonequilibrium systems. In stochastic systems, these currents exhibit fluctuations constrained by the rate of dissipation in accordance with the recently discovered thermodynamic uncertainty relation. Here, we derive a conjugate uncertainty relationship for the first passage time to accumulate a fixed net current. More generally, we use the tools of large-deviation theory to simply connect current fluctuations and first passage time fluctuations in the limit of long times and large currents. With this connection, previously discovered symmetries and bounds on the large-deviation function for currents are readily transferred to first passage times.

We present results from a controlled numerical experiment investigating the effect of stellar density gas on the coalescence of binary black holes (BBHs) and the resulting gravitational waves (GWs). This investigation is motivated by the proposed stellar core fragmentation scenario for BBH formation and the associated possibility of an electromagnetic counterpart to a BBH GW event. We employ full numerical relativity coupled with general-relativistic hydrodynamics and set up a $30+30M_{\odot }$ BBH (motivated by GW150914) inside gas with realistic stellar densities. Our results show that at densities $\rho \gtrsim {10}^6–{10}^7{\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$ dynamical friction between the BHs and gas changes the coalescence dynamics and the GW signal in an unmistakable way. We show that for GW150914, LIGO observations appear to rule out BBH coalescence inside stellar gas of $\rho \gtrsim {10}^7{\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$. Typical densities in the collapsing cores of massive stars are in excess of this density. This excludes the fragmentation scenario for the formation of GW150914.

The first high harmonic spectrum containing only the odd orders was observed in experiments 30 years ago. However, a spectrum containing pure even harmonics has never been observed. We investigate the generation of pure even harmonics from oriented CO molecules in linearly polarized laser fields employing the time-dependent density-functional theory. We find that the even harmonics, with no odd orders, are generated with the polarization perpendicular to the laser polarization when the molecular axis of CO is perpendicular to the laser polarization. The generation of pure even harmonics reveals a type of dipole acceleration originating from the permanent dipole moment. This phenomenon exists in all systems with permanent dipole moments, including bulk crystal and polyatomic molecules.

Within a plane-wave approximation in scattering, an incoming wave packet’s Wigner function stays positive everywhere, which obscures such purely quantum phenomena as nonlocality and entanglement. With the advent of the electron microscopes with subnanometer-sized beams, one can enter a genuinely quantum regime where the latter effects become only moderately attenuated. Here we show how to probe negative values of the Wigner function in scattering of a coherent superposition of two Gaussian packets with a nonvanishing impact parameter between them (a Schrödinger’s cat state) by atomic targets. For hydrogen in the ground $1s$ state, a small parameter of the problem, a ratio $a/{\sigma }_{\perp }$ of the Bohr radius $a$ to the beam width ${\sigma }_{\perp }$, is no longer vanishing. We predict an azimuthal asymmetry of the scattered electrons, which is found to be up to 10%, and argue that it can be reliably detected. The production of beams with the not-everywhere-positive Wigner functions and the probing of such quantum effects can open new perspectives for noninvasive electron microscopy, quantum tomography, particle physics, and so forth.

We show that the inclusion of screened exchange via hybrid functionals provides a unified description of the electronic and vibrational properties of ${\mathrm{TiSe}}_2$. In contrast to local approximations in density functional theory, the explicit inclusion of exact, nonlocal exchange captures the effects of the electron-electron interaction needed to both separate the $\mathrm{Ti}\text{−}d$ states from the $\mathrm{Se}\text{−}p$ states and stabilize the charge-density-wave (CDW) (or low-$T$) phase through the formation of a $p\text{−}d$ hybridized state. We further show that this leads to an enhanced electron-phonon coupling that can drive the transition even if a small gap opens in the high-$T$ phase. Finally, we demonstrate that the hybrid functionals can generate a CDW phase where the electronic bands, the geometry, and the phonon frequencies are in agreement with experiments.

We study an accumulation mode $\mathrm{Si}/\mathrm{SiGe}$ double quantum dot (DQD) containing a single electron that is dipole coupled to microwave photons in a superconducting cavity. Measurements of the cavity transmission reveal dispersive features due to the DQD valley states in Si. The occupation of the valley states can be increased by raising the temperature or applying a finite source-drain bias across the DQD, resulting in an increased signal. Using the cavity input-output theory and a four-level model of the DQD, it is possible to efficiently extract valley splittings and the inter- and intravalley tunnel couplings.

In condensed matter physics, the term “chiral anomaly” implies the violation of the separate number conservation laws of Weyl fermions of different chiralities in the presence of parallel electric and magnetic fields. One effect of the chiral anomaly in the recently discovered Dirac and Weyl semimetals is a positive longitudinal magnetoconductance. Here we show that chiral anomaly and nontrivial Berry curvature effects engender another striking effect in Weyl semimetals, the planar Hall effect (PHE). Remarkably, the PHE manifests itself when the applied current, magnetic field, and the induced transverse “Hall” voltage all lie in the same plane, precisely in a configuration in which the conventional Hall effect vanishes. In this work we treat the PHE quasiclassically, and predict specific experimental signatures for type-I and type-II Weyl semimetals that can be directly checked in experiments.