We determine within lattice QCD the nucleon spin carried by valence and sea quarks and gluons. The calculation is performed using an ensemble of gauge configurations with two degenerate light quarks with mass fixed to approximately reproduce the physical pion mass. We find that the total angular momentum carried by the quarks in the nucleon is $J_{u+d+s}=0.408(61{)}_{\text{stat}}(48{)}_{\text{syst}}$ and the gluon contribution is $J_g=0.133(11{)}_{\text{stat}}(14{)}_{\text{syst}}$, giving a total of $J_N=0.54(6{)}_{\text{stat}}(5{)}_{\text{syst}}$ that is consistent with the spin sum. For the quark intrinsic spin contribution, we obtain $\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Delta }{\mathrm{\Sigma }}_{u+d+s}=0.201(17{)}_{\text{stat}}(5{)}_{\text{syst}}$. All quantities are given in the modified minimal subtraction scheme at 2 GeV. The quark and gluon momentum fractions are also computed and add up to $⟨x{⟩}_{u+d+s}+⟨x{⟩}_g=0.804(121{)}_{\text{stat}}(95{)}_{\text{syst}}+0.267(12{)}_{\text{stat}}(10{)}_{\text{syst}}=1.07(12{)}_{\text{stat}}(10{)}_{\text{syst}}$, thus satisfying the momentum sum.

Which density functional is the “best” for structure simulations of a particular material? A concise, first principles, approach to answer this question is presented. The random phase approximation (RPA)—an accurate many body theory—is used to evaluate various density functionals. To demonstrate and verify the method, we apply it to the hybrid perovskite ${\mathrm{MAPbI}}_3$, a promising new solar cell material. The evaluation is done by first creating finite temperature ensembles for small supercells using RPA molecular dynamics, and then evaluating the variance between the RPA and various approximate density functionals for these ensembles. We find that, contrary to recent suggestions, van der Waals functionals do not improve the description of the material, whereas hybrid functionals and the strongly constrained appropriately normed (SCAN) density functional yield very good agreement with the RPA. Finally, our study shows that in the room temperature tetragonal phase of ${\mathrm{MAPbI}}_3$, the molecules are preferentially parallel to the shorter lattice vectors but reorientation on ps time scales is still possible.

Complete sticking at low incidence energies and broad angular scattering distributions at higher energies are often observed in molecular beam experiments on gas-surface systems which feature a deep chemisorption well and lack early reaction barriers. Although CO binds strongly on Ru(0001), scattering is characterized by rather narrow angular distributions and sticking is incomplete even at low incidence energies. We perform molecular dynamics simulations, accounting for phononic (and electronic) energy loss channels, on a potential energy surface based on first-principles electronic structure calculations that reproduce the molecular beam experiments. We demonstrate that the mentioned unusual behavior is a consequence of a very strong rotational anisotropy in the molecule-surface interaction potential. Beyond the interpretation of scattering phenomena, we also discuss implications of our results for the recently proposed role of a precursor state for the desorption and scattering of CO from ruthenium.

The ac magnetoconductance of bulk InSb at THz frequencies in high magnetic fields, as measured by the transmission of THz radiation, shows a field-induced transmission, which at high temperatures ($\approx 100\mathrm{K}$) is well explained with classical magnetoplasma effects (helicon waves). However, at low temperatures (4 K), the transmitted radiation intensity shows magnetoquantum oscillations that represent the Shubnikov–de Haas effect at THz frequencies. At frequencies above 0.9 THz, when the radiation period is shorter than the Drude scattering time, an anomalously high transmission is observed in the magnetic quantum limit that can be interpreted as carrier localization at high frequencies.

Inspired by Kubo-Anderson Markov processes, we introduce a new class of transfer matrices whose largest eigenvalue is determined by a simple explicit algebraic equation. Applications include the free energy calculation for various equilibrium systems and a general criterion for perfect harmonicity, i.e., a free energy that is exactly quadratic in the external field. As an illustration, we construct a “perfect spring,” namely, a polymer with non-Gaussian, exponentially distributed subunits which, nevertheless, remains harmonic until it is fully stretched. This surprising discovery is confirmed by Monte Carlo and Langevin simulations.

The chemotactic motion of eukaryotic cells such as leukocytes or metastatic cancer cells relies on membrane protrusions driven by the polymerization and depolymerization of actin. Here we show that the response of the actin system to a receptor stimulus is subject to a threshold value that varies strongly from cell to cell. Above the threshold, we observe pronounced cell-to-cell variability in the response amplitude. The polymerization time, however, is almost constant over the entire range of response amplitudes, while the depolymerization time increases with increasing amplitude. We show that cell-to-cell variability in the response amplitude correlates with the amount of $\text{Arp}2/3$, a protein that enhances actin polymerization. A time-delayed feedback model for the cortical actin concentration is consistent with all our observations and confirms the role of $\text{Arp}2/3$ in the observed cell-to-cell variability. Taken together, our observations highlight robust regulation of the actin response that enables a reliable timing of cell movement.

Quantum coherence is an essential feature of quantum mechanics which is responsible for the departure between the classical and quantum world. The recently established resource theory of quantum coherence studies possible quantum technological applications of quantum coherence, and limitations that arise if one is lacking the ability to establish superpositions. An important open problem in this context is a simple characterization for incoherent operations, constituted by all possible transformations allowed within the resource theory of coherence. In this Letter, we contribute to such a characterization by proving several upper bounds on the maximum number of incoherent Kraus operators in a general incoherent operation. For a single qubit, we show that the number of incoherent Kraus operators is not more than 5, and it remains an open question if this number can be reduced to 4. The presented results are also relevant for quantum thermodynamics, as we demonstrate by introducing the class of Gibbs-preserving strictly incoherent operations, and solving the corresponding mixed-state conversion problem for a single qubit.

If the electroweak sector of the standard model is described by classically conformal dynamics, the early Universe evolution can be substantially altered. It is already known that—contrarily to the standard model case—a first-order electroweak phase transition may occur. Here we show that, depending on the model parameters, a dramatically different scenario may happen: A first-order, six massless quark QCD phase transition occurs first, which then triggers the electroweak symmetry breaking. We derive the necessary conditions for this dynamics to occur, using the specific example of the classically conformal $\mathcal{B}\text{−}\mathcal{L}$ model. In particular, relatively light weakly coupled particles are predicted, with implications for collider searches. This scenario is also potentially rich in cosmological consequences, such as renewed possibilities for electroweak baryogenesis, altered dark matter production, and gravitational wave production, as we briefly comment upon.

We propose a new class of tensor network state as a model for the $\mathrm{AdS}/\mathrm{CFT}$ correspondence and holography. This class is demonstrated to retain key features of the multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA), in that they describe quantum states with algebraic correlation functions, have free variational parameters, and are efficiently contractible. Yet, unlike the MERA, they are built according to a uniform tiling of hyperbolic space, without inherent directionality or preferred locations in the holographic bulk, and thus circumvent key arguments made against the MERA as a model for $\mathrm{AdS}/\mathrm{CFT}$. Novel holographic features of this tensor network class are examined, such as an equivalence between the causal cones $\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{R})$ and the entanglement wedges $\mathcal{E}(\mathcal{R})$ of connected boundary regions $\mathcal{R}$.

We study the effective theory of a generic class of hidden sectors where supersymmetry is broken together with an approximate $R$-symmetry at low energy. The light spectrum contains the gravitino and the pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson of the $R$-symmetry, the $R$-axion. We derive new model-independent constraints on the $R$-axion decay constant for $R$-axion masses ranging from GeV to TeV, which are of relevance for hadron colliders, lepton colliders, and $B$ factories. The current bounds allow for the exciting possibility that the first sign of supersymmetry will be the $R$-axion. We point out its most distinctive signals, providing a new experimental handle on the properties of the hidden sector and a solid motivation for searches of axionlike particles.

We present the first numerical computation of two-loop amplitudes based on the unitarity method. As a proof of principle, we compute the four-gluon process in the leading-color approximation. We discuss the new method, analyze its numerical properties, and apply it to reconstruct the analytic form of the amplitudes. The numerical method is universal, and can be automated to provide multiscale two-loop computations for phenomenologically relevant signatures at hadron colliders.

We convert a strongly interacting ultracold Bose gas into a mixture of atoms and molecules by sweeping the interactions from resonant to weak. By analyzing the decay dynamics of the molecular gas, we show that in addition to Feshbach dimers it contains Efimov trimers. Typically around 8% of the total atomic population is bound into trimers, identified by their density-independent lifetime of about $100\mu \mathrm{s}$. The lifetime of the Feshbach dimers shows a density dependence due to inelastic atom-dimer collisions, in agreement with theoretical calculations. We also vary the density of the gas across a factor of 250 and investigate the corresponding atom loss rate at the interaction resonance.

We construct a low energy effective theory of anisotropic fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states. We develop a formalism similar to that used in the bimetric approach to massive gravity, and apply it to describe Abelian anisotropic FQH states in the presence of external electromagnetic and geometric backgrounds. We derive a relationship between the shift, the Hall viscosity, and a new quantized coupling to anisotropy, which we term anisospin. We verify this relationship by numerically computing the Hall viscosity for a variety of anisotropic quantum Hall states using the density matrix renormalization group. Finally, we apply these techniques to the problem of nematic order and clarify certain disagreements that exist in the literature about the meaning of the coefficient of the Berry phase term in the nematic effective action.

We study the frequency-dependent conductivity of nodal line semimetals (NLSMs), focusing on the effects of carrier density and energy dispersion on the nodal line. We find that the low-frequency conductivity has a rich spectral structure which can be understood using scaling rules derived from the geometry of their Dupin cyclide Fermi surfaces. We identify different frequency regimes, find scaling rules for the optical conductivity in each, and demonstrate them with numerical calculations of the inter- and intraband contributions to the optical conductivity using a low-energy model for a generic NLSM.

We introduce a method for breaking Lorentz reciprocity based upon the noncommutation of frequency conversion and delay. The method requires no magnetic materials or resonant physics, allowing for the design of scalable and broadband nonreciprocal circuits. With this approach, two types of gyrators—universal building blocks for linear, nonreciprocal circuits—are constructed. Using one of these gyrators, we create a circulator with $>15\mathrm{dB}$ of isolation across the 5–9 GHz band. Our designs may be readily extended to any platform with suitable frequency conversion elements, including semiconducting devices for telecommunication or an on-chip superconducting implementation for quantum information processing.

We show that carbon nanotubes (CNT) can be driven through a topological phase transition using either strain or a magnetic field. This can naturally lead to Jackiw-Rebbi soliton states carrying fractionalized charges, similar to those found in a domain wall in the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, in a setup with a spatially inhomogeneous strain and an axial field. Two types of fractionalized states can be formed at the interface between regions with different strain: a spin-charge separated state with integer charge and spin zero (or zero charge and spin $\pm \hslash /2$), and a state with charge $\pm e/2$ and spin $\pm \hslash /4$. The latter state requires spin-orbit coupling in the CNT. We show that in our setup, the precise quantization of the fractionalized interface charges is a consequence of the symmetry of the CNT under a combination of a spatial rotation by $\pi$ and time reversal.

We explore the nonequilibrium evolution and stationary states of an open many-body system that displays epidemic spreading dynamics in a classical and a quantum regime. Our study is motivated by recent experiments conducted in strongly interacting gases of highly excited Rydberg atoms where the facilitated excitation of Rydberg states competes with radiative decay. These systems approximately implement open quantum versions of models for population dynamics or disease spreading where species can be in a healthy, infected or immune state. We show that in a two-dimensional lattice, depending on the dominance of either classical or quantum effects, the system may display a different kind of nonequilibrium phase transition. We moreover discuss the observability of our findings in laser driven Rydberg gases with particular focus on the role of long-range interactions.

We use a three-level artificial atom in the ladder configuration as a source of correlated, single microwave photons of different frequency. The artificial atom, a transmon-type superconducting circuit, is driven at the two-photon transition between ground and second-excited state, and embedded into an on-chip switch that selectively routes different-frequency photons into different spatial modes. Under continuous driving, we measure power cross-correlations between the two modes and observe a crossover between strong antibunching and superbunching, typical of cascade decay, and an oscillatory pattern as the drive strength becomes comparable to the radiative decay rate. By preparing the source in a superposition state using an excitation pulse, we achieve deterministic generation of entangled photon pairs, as demonstrated by nonvanishing phase correlations and more generally by joint quantum state tomography of the two itinerant photonic modes.

Although the title seems self-contradictory, it does not contain a misprint. The model we study is a seemingly minor modification of the “true self-avoiding walk” model of Amit, Parisi, and Peliti in two dimensions. The walks in it are self-repelling up to a characteristic time $T^{*}$ (which depends on various parameters), but spontaneously (i.e., without changing any control parameter) become self-trapping after that. For free walks, $T^{*}$ is astronomically large, but on finite lattices the transition is easily observable. In the self-trapped regime, walks are subdiffusive and intermittent, spending longer and longer times in small areas until they escape and move rapidly to a new area. In spite of this, these walks are extremely efficient in covering finite lattices, as measured by average cover times.