The trilepton nucleon decay modes $p\to e^{+}\nu \nu$ and $p\to {\mu }^{+}\nu \nu$ violate $|\mathrm{\Delta }(B-L)|$ by two units. Using data from a 273.4 kt yr exposure of Super-Kamiokande a search for these decays yields a fit consistent with no signal. Accordingly, lower limits on the partial lifetimes of ${\tau }_{p\to e^{+}\nu \nu }>1.7\times 10^{32}$ years and ${\tau }_{p\to {\mu }^{+}\nu \nu }>2.2\times 10^{32}$ years at a 90% confidence level are obtained. These limits can constrain Grand Unified Theories which allow for such processes.

We present new data for the transverse target asymmetry $T$ and the very first data for the beam-target asymmetry $F$ in the $\overrightarrow{\gamma }\overrightarrow{p}\to \eta p$ reaction up to a center-of-mass energy of $W=1.9\mathrm{GeV}$. The data were obtained with the Crystal-Ball/TAPS detector setup at the Glasgow tagged photon facility of the Mainz Microtron MAMI. All existing model predictions fail to reproduce the new data indicating a significant impact on our understanding of the underlying dynamics of $\eta$ meson photoproduction. The peculiar nodal structure observed in existing $T$ data close to threshold is not confirmed.

We perform a fully differential measurement on strong-field double ionization of Xe by 25 fs, 790 nm laser pulses in intensity region $(0.4–3)\times {10}^{14}\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2$. We observe that the two-dimensional correlation momentum spectra along the laser polarization direction show a nonstructured distribution for double ionization of Xe when decreasing the laser intensity from $3\times {10}^{14}$ to $4\times {10}^{13}\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2$. The electron correlation behavior is remarkably different with the low-$Z$ rare gases, i.e., He, Ne, and Ar. We find that the electron energy cutoffs increase from $2.9U_p$ to $7.8U_p$ when decreasing the laser intensities from the sequential double ionization to the nonsequential double ionization regime. The experimental observation indicates that multiple rescatterings play an important role for the generation of high energy photoelectrons. We have further studied the shielding effect on the strong-field double ionization of high-$Z$ atoms.

In nonhydrogenic atoms in a dc electric field, the finite size of the ionic core introduces a coupling between quasibound Stark states that leads to avoided crossings between states that would otherwise cross. Near an avoided crossing, the interacting states may have decay amplitudes that cancel each other, decoupling one of the states from the ionization continuum. This well-known interference narrowing effect, observed as a strongly electric field-dependent decrease in the ionization rate, was previously observed in several atoms. Here we use photoionization microscopy to visualize interference narrowing in helium atoms, thereby explicitly revealing the mechanism by which Stark states decay. The interference narrowing allows measurements of the nodal patterns of red Stark states, which are otherwise not observable due to their intrinsic short lifetime.

We study the time evolution of Ginibre matrices whose elements undergo Brownian motion. The non-Hermitian character of the Ginibre ensemble binds the dynamics of eigenvalues to the evolution of eigenvectors in a nontrivial way, leading to a system of coupled nonlinear equations resembling those for turbulent systems. We formulate a mathematical framework allowing simultaneous description of the flow of eigenvalues and eigenvectors, and we unravel a hidden dynamics as a function of a new complex variable, which in the standard description is treated as a regulator only. We solve the evolution equations for large matrices and demonstrate that the nonanalytic behavior of the Green’s functions is associated with a shock wave stemming from a Burgers-like equation describing correlations of eigenvectors. We conjecture that the hidden dynamics that we observe for the Ginibre ensemble is a general feature of non-Hermitian random matrix models and is relevant to related physical applications.

Observations of magnetic reconnection between colliding plumes of magnetized laser-produced plasma are presented. Two counterpropagating plasma flows are created by irradiating oppositely placed plastic (CH) targets with 1.8-kJ, 2-ns laser beams on the Omega EP Laser System. The interaction region between the plumes is prefilled with a low-density background plasma and magnetized by an externally applied magnetic field, imposed perpendicular to the plasma flow, and initialized with an $X$-type null point geometry with $B=0$ at the midplane and $B=8\mathrm{T}$ at the targets. The counterflowing plumes sweep up and compress the background plasma and the magnetic field into a pair of magnetized ribbons, which collide, stagnate, and reconnect at the midplane, allowing the first detailed observations of a stretched current sheet in laser-driven reconnection experiments. The dynamics of current sheet formation are in good agreement with first-principles particle-in-cell simulations that model the experiments.

We study a crystalline epitaxial alumina thin film with the characteristics of a spinel-type transition ${\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3(100)$ surface by using atom-resolved noncontact atomic force microscopy and density functional theory. It is shown that the films are terminated by an Al-O layer rich in Al vacancies, exhibiting a strong preference for surface hydroxyl group formation in two configurations. The transition alumina films are crystalline and perfectly stable in ambient atmospheres, a quality which is expected to open the door to new fundamental studies of the surfaces of transition aluminas.

We study the single-orbital Hubbard model on the $1/5$-depleted square-lattice geometry, which arises in such diverse systems as the spin-gap magnetic insulator ${\mathrm{CaV}}_4{\mathrm{O}}_9$ and ordered-vacancy iron selenides, presenting new issues regarding the origin of both magnetic ordering and superconductivity in these materials. We find a rich phase diagram that includes a plaquette singlet phase, a dimer singlet phase, a Néel and a block-spin antiferromagnetic phase, and stripe phases. Quantum Monte Carlo simulations show that the dominant pairing correlations at half filling change character from $d$ wave in the plaquette phase to extended $s$ wave upon transition to the Néel phase. These findings have intriguing connections to iron-based superconductors, and suggest that some physics of multiorbital systems can be captured by a single-orbital model at different dopings.

A quantum phase transition is usually achieved by tuning physical parameters in a Hamiltonian at zero temperature. Here, we show that the ground state of a topological phase itself encodes critical properties of its transition to a trivial phase. To extract this information, we introduce an extensive partition of the system into two subsystems both of which extend throughout the bulk in all directions. The resulting bulk entanglement spectrum has a low-lying part that resembles the excitation spectrum of a bulk Hamiltonian, which allows us to probe a topological phase transition from a single wave function by tuning either the geometry of the partition or the entanglement temperature. As an example, this remarkable correspondence between the topological phase transition and the entanglement criticality is rigorously established for integer quantum Hall states.

Black phosphorus exhibits a high degree of band anisotropy. However, we find that its in-plane static screening remains relatively isotropic for momenta relevant to elastic long-range scattering processes. On the other hand, the collective electronic excitations in the system exhibit a strong anisotropy. Band nonparabolicity, due to interband couplings, leads to a plasmon frequency which scales as $n^{\beta }$, where $n$ is the carrier concentration, and $\beta <\frac{1}{2}$. Screening and charge distribution in the out-of-plane direction are also studied using a nonlinear Thomas-Fermi model.

The competition between superconductivity and charge density wave (CDW) order in underdoped cuprates has now been widely reported, but the role of disorder in this competition has yet to be fully resolved. A central question is whether disorder sets the length scale of the CDW order, for instance by pinning charge density fluctuations or disrupting an otherwise long-range order. Using resonant soft x-ray scattering, we investigate the sensitivity of CDW order in ${\mathrm{YBa}}_2{\mathrm{Cu}}_3{\mathrm{O}}_{6+x}$ (YBCO) to varying levels of oxygen disorder. We find that quench cooling ${\mathrm{YBCO}}_{6.67}$ (${\mathrm{YBCO}}_{6.75}$) crystals to destroy their o-V and o-VIII (o-III) chains decreases the intensity of the CDW superlattice peak by a factor of 1.9 (1.3), but has little effect on the CDW correlation length, incommensurability, and temperature dependence. This reveals that while quenched oxygen disorder influences the CDW order parameter, the spatial extent of the CDW order is insensitive to the level of quenched oxygen disorder and may instead be a consequence of competition with superconductivity.

Low-energy magnon excitations in multiferroic ${\mathrm{BiFeO}}_3$ were measured in detail as a function of temperature around several Brillouin zone centers by inelastic neutron scattering experiments on single crystals. Unique features around 1 meV are directly associated with the interplay of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and a small single-ion anisotropy. The temperature dependence of these and the exchange interactions were determined by fitting the measured magnon dispersion with spin-wave calculations. The spectra best fit an easy-axis type magnetic anisotropy and the deduced exchange and anisotropy parameters enable us to determine the anharmonicity of the magnetic cycloid. We then draw a direct connection between the changes in the parameters of spin Hamiltonian with temperature and the physical properties and structural deformations of ${\mathrm{BiFeO}}_3$.

Many-body localization occurs in isolated quantum systems when Anderson localization persists in the presence of finite interactions. Despite strong evidence for the existence of a many-body localization transition, a reliable extraction of the critical disorder strength is difficult due to a large drift with system size in the studied quantities. In this Letter, we explore two entanglement properties that are promising for the study of the many-body localization transition: the variance of the half-chain entanglement entropy of exact eigenstates and the long time change in entanglement after a local quench from an exact eigenstate. We investigate these quantities in a disordered quantum Ising chain and use them to estimate the critical disorder strength and its energy dependence. In addition, we analyze a spin-glass transition at large disorder strength and provide evidence for it being a separate transition. We, thereby, give numerical support for a recently proposed phase diagram of many-body localization with localization protected quantum order [Huse et al., Phys. Rev. B 88, 014206 (2013)].

The impact of a primary positron onto a surface may lead to the emission of a correlated positron-electron pair. By means of a lab-based positron beam we studied this pair emission from various surfaces. We analyzed the energy spectra in a symmetric emission geometry. We found that the available energy is shared in an unequal manner among the partners. On average the positron carries a larger fraction of the available energy. The unequal energy sharing is a consequence of positron and electron being distinguishable particles. We provide a model which explains the experimental findings.

Circadian rhythms are acquired through evolution to increase the chances for survival through synchronizing with the daylight cycle. Reliable synchronization is realized through two trade-off properties: regularity to keep time precisely, and entrainability to synchronize the internal time with daylight. We find by using a phase model with multiple inputs that achieving the maximal limit of regularity and entrainability entails many inherent features of the circadian mechanism. At the molecular level, we demonstrate the role sharing of two light inputs, phase advance and delay, as is well observed in mammals. At the behavioral level, the optimal phase-response curve inevitably contains a dead zone, a time during which light pulses neither advance nor delay the clock. We reproduce the results of phase-controlling experiments entrained by two types of periodic light pulses. Our results indicate that circadian clocks are designed optimally for reliable clockwork through evolution.

Phenotypic heterogeneity is a strategy commonly used by bacteria to rapidly adapt to changing environmental conditions. Here, we study the interplay between phenotypic heterogeneity and genetic diversity in spatially extended populations. By analyzing the spatiotemporal dynamics, we show that the level of mobility and the type of competition qualitatively influence the persistence of phenotypic heterogeneity. While direct competition generally promotes persistence of phenotypic heterogeneity, specialization dominates in models with indirect competition irrespective of the degree of mobility.

We investigate the propagation and scattering of polaritons in a planar GaAs microcavity in the linear regime under resonant excitation. The propagation of the coherent polariton wave across an extended defect creates phase and intensity patterns with identical qualitative features previously attributed to dark and half-dark solitons of polaritons. We demonstrate that these features are observed for negligible nonlinearity (i.e., polariton-polariton interaction) and are, therefore, not sufficient to identify dark and half-dark solitons. A linear model based on the Maxwell equations is shown to reproduce the experimental observations.