We study the structural dynamics of photoexcited $[\mathrm{Co}(\text{terpy}{)}_2{]}^{2+}$ in an aqueous solution with ultrafast x-ray diffuse scattering experiments conducted at the Linac Coherent Light Source. Through direct comparisons with density functional theory calculations, our analysis shows that the photoexcitation event leads to elongation of the Co-N bonds, followed by coherent Co-N bond length oscillations arising from the impulsive excitation of a vibrational mode dominated by the symmetrical stretch of all six Co-N bonds. This mode has a period of 0.33 ps and decays on a subpicosecond time scale. We find that the equilibrium bond-elongated structure of the high spin state is established on a single-picosecond time scale and that this state has a lifetime of $\sim 7\mathrm{ps}$.

We present a particular type of one-dimensional nonlinear lattice that supports smoothly propagating discrete breathers. The lattice is constructed by imposing a particular symmetry on its potential function. This symmetry crucially affects the profile and motion of a traveling discrete breather. We show that any traveling discrete breather is truly localized with no tail and can smoothly propagate with a constant velocity. Theoretical analysis using an average Lagrangian explains this numerical observation.

A method for ab initio structure factor retrieval from large-angle rocking-beam electron diffraction data of thin crystals is described and tested with experimental and simulated data. No additional information, such as atomicity or information about chemical composition, has been made use of. Our numerical experiments show that the inversion of dynamical scattering works best, if the beam tilt range is large and the specimen not too thick, because for moderate multiple scattering, the large tilt amplitude effectively removes local minima in this global optimization problem.

A totally anisotropic peculiar Rashba-Bychkov (RB) splitting of electronic bands was found on the $\mathrm{Tl}/\mathrm{Si}(110)\text{−}(1\times 1)$ surface with $C_{1h}$ symmetry by angle- and spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and first-principles theoretical calculation. The constant energy contour of the upper branch of the RB split band has a warped elliptical shape centered at a $k$ point located between $\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}$ and the edge of the surface Brillouin zone, i.e., at a point without time-reversal symmetry. The spin-polarization vector of this state is in-plane and points almost the same direction along the whole elliptic contour. This novel nonvortical RB spin structure is confirmed as a general phenomenon originating from the $C_{1h}$ symmetry of the surface.

We study by first-principles calculations a densely packed island of organic molecules (${\mathrm{F}}_4\mathrm{TCNQ}$) adsorbed on graphene. We find that with electron doping the island naturally forms a $p\text{−}n$ junction in the graphene sheet. For example, a doping level of $\sim 3\times {10}^{13}\mathrm{electrons}\mathrm{per}{\mathrm{cm}}^2$ results in a $p\text{−}n$ junction with an 800 meV electrostatic potential barrier. Unlike in a conventional $p\text{−}n$ junction in graphene, in the case of the junction formed by an adsorbed organic molecular island we expect that the Klein tunneling is inhibited, even without an applied external magnetic field. Here Klein tunneling is inhibited by the ferromagnetic order that spontaneously occurs in the molecular island upon doping. We estimate that the magnetic barrier in the graphene sheet is around 10 mT.

We investigate the formation of a new type of composite topological excitation—the Skyrmion-vortex pair (SVP)—in hybrid systems consisting of coupled ferromagnetic and superconducting layers. Spin-orbit interaction in the superconductor mediates a magnetoelectric coupling between the vortex and the Skyrmion, with a sign (attractive or repulsive) that depends on the topological indices of the constituents. We determine the conditions under which a bound SVP is formed and characterize the range and depth of the effective binding potential through analytical estimates and numerical simulations. Furthermore, we develop a semiclassical description of the coupled Skyrmion-vortex dynamics and discuss how SVPs can be controlled by applied spin currents.

The electrical response of a two-dimensional electron gas to vibrations of a nanomechanical cantilever containing it is studied. Vibrations of perpendicularly oriented cantilevers are experimentally shown to oppositely change the conductivity near their bases. This indicates the piezoelectric nature of electromechanical coupling. A physical model is developed, which quantitatively explains the experiment. It shows that the main origin of the conductivity change is a rapid change in the mechanical stress on the boundary between suspended and nonsuspended areas, rather than the stress itself.

Coherently manipulating multipartite quantum correlations leads to remarkable advantages in quantum information processing. A fundamental question is whether such quantum advantages persist only by exploiting multipartite correlations, such as entanglement. Recently, Dale, Jennings, and Rudolph negated the question by showing that a randomness processing, quantum Bernoulli factory, using quantum coherence, is strictly more powerful than the one with classical mechanics. In this Letter, focusing on the same scenario, we propose a theoretical protocol that is classically impossible but can be implemented solely using quantum coherence without entanglement. We demonstrate the protocol by exploiting the high-fidelity quantum state preparation and measurement with a superconducting qubit in the circuit quantum electrodynamics architecture and a nearly quantum-limited parametric amplifier. Our experiment shows the advantage of using quantum coherence of a single qubit for information processing even when multipartite correlation is not present.

We study the statistics of increments in record values in a time series $\{x_0=0,x_1,x_2,\dots ,x_n\}$ generated by the positions of a random walk (discrete time, continuous space) of duration $n$ steps. For arbitrary jump length distribution, including Lévy flights, we show that the distribution of the record increment becomes stationary, i.e., independent of $n$ for large $n$, and compute it explicitly for a wide class of jump distributions. In addition, we compute exactly the probability $Q(n)$ that the record increments decrease monotonically up to step $n$. Remarkably, $Q(n)$ is universal (i.e., independent of the jump distribution) for each $n$, decaying as $Q(n)\sim \mathcal{A}/\sqrt{n}$ for large $n$, with a universal amplitude $\mathcal{A}=e/\sqrt{\pi }=1.53362\dots$.

Luttinger liquids (LLs) arise by coupling left- and right-moving particles through interactions in one dimension. This most natural partitioning of LLs is investigated by the momentum-space entanglement after a quantum quench using analytical and numerical methods. We show that the momentum-space entanglement spectrum of a LL possesses many universal features both in equilibrium and after a quantum quench. The largest entanglement eigenvalue is identical to the Loschmidt echo, i.e., the overlap of the disentangled and final wave functions of the system. The second largest eigenvalue is the overlap of the first excited state of the disentangled system with zero total momentum and the final wave function. The entanglement gap is universal both in equilibrium and after a quantum quench. The momentum-space entanglement entropy is always extensive and saturates fast to a time independent value after the quench, in sharp contrast to a spatial bipartitioning.

We incorporate gauge-invariant local composite operators into the twistor-space formulation of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. In this formulation, the interactions of the elementary fields are reorganized into infinitely many interaction vertices and we argue that the same applies to composite operators. To test our definition of the local composite operators in twistor space, we compute several corresponding form factors, thereby also initiating the study of form factors using the position twistor-space framework. Throughout this Letter, we use the composite operator built from two identical complex scalars as a pedagogical example; we treat the general case in a follow-up paper.

For spacetimes that are not asymptotic to anti–de Sitter (non AAdS) space, we adapt the Lewkowycz-Maldacena procedure to find the holographic entanglement entropy. The key observation, which to our knowledge is not very well appreciated, is that asymptotic boundary conditions play an essential role on extending the replica trick to the bulk. For non AAdS, we expect the following three main modifications: (1) the expansion near the special surface has to be compatible with the asymptotic expansion; (2) periodic conditions are imposed to coordinates on the phase space with diagonalized symplectic structure, not to all fields appearing in the action; (3) evaluating the entanglement functional using the boundary term method amounts to evaluating the presymplectic structure at the special surface, where some additional exact form may contribute. An explicit calculation is carried out for three-dimensional warped anti–de Sitter spacetime (${\mathrm{WAdS}}_3$) in a consistent truncation of string theory, the so-called $S$-dual dipole theory. It turns out that the generalized gravitational entropy in ${\mathrm{WAdS}}_3$ is captured by the least action of a charged particle in ${\mathrm{WAdS}}_3$ space, or equivalently, by the geodesic length in an auxiliary ${\mathrm{AdS}}_3$. Consequently, the bulk calculation agrees with the CFT results, providing another piece of evidence for the ${\mathrm{WAdS}}_3/{\mathrm{CFT}}_2$ correspondence.

The $\beta$-delayed neutron emission probabilities of neutron rich Hg and Tl nuclei have been measured together with $\beta$-decay half-lives for 20 isotopes of Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi in the mass region $N\gtrsim 126$. These are the heaviest species where neutron emission has been observed so far. These measurements provide key information to evaluate the performance of nuclear microscopic and phenomenological models in reproducing the high-energy part of the $\beta$-decay strength distribution. This provides important constraints on global theoretical models currently used in $r$-process nucleosynthesis.