The dynamic circulation of dust particles in a cylindrical complex plasma is studied experimentally. A levitated cloud of charged dust particles rotates around an axis in an ion flow induced by the coupling of applied magnetic field with the electric field due to plasma density gradient. The vertical and horizontal cross sections of the cloud reveal the dynamic circulation with helical trajectories of dust particles with meridional ascending motion near the axis. The dust particles in the center bottom in the cloud remain near a stagnation point and act like tea leaves in a teacup as described by Einstein in 1926.

Cavitation and sulcification of soft elastomers are two examples of thresholdless, nonlinear instabilities that evade detection by linearization. I show that the onset of such instabilities can be understood as a kind of phase coexistence between multiple scale-invariant states, and I constructively enumerate the possible scale-invariant states of incompressible rubber in two dimensions. Whereas true phases (like the affine deformations of rubber) are homogeneous, the alternatives are inhomogeneous. In terms of the thermodynamics of solids, both classes of states must generally be given equal consideration.

We consider quasi-one-dimensional Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) systems in proximity to an $s$-wave superconductor. We show that a $2k_F$ peak in the spin susceptibility of the superconductor in the one-dimensional limit supports helical order of localized magnetic moments via RKKY interaction, where $k_F$ is the Fermi wave vector. The magnetic helix is equivalent to a uniform magnetic field and very strong spin-orbit interaction (SOI) with an effective SOI length $1/2k_F$. We find the conditions to establish such a magnetic state in atomic chains and semiconducting nanowires with magnetic atoms or nuclear spins. Generically, these systems are in a topological phase with Majorana fermions. The inherent self-tuning of the helix to $2k_F$ eliminates the need to tune the chemical potential.

The Berezinski-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition is a unique two-dimensional phase transition, separating two phases with exponentially and power-law decaying correlations, respectively. In disordered systems, these correlations propagate along favorable paths, with the transition marking the point where global coherence is lost. Here we propose an experimental method to probe locally these particular paths in superconducting thin films, which exhibit this transition, and demonstrate theoretically that close to the transition the coherence propagates along a ramified network, reminiscent of a percolation transition. We suggest and calculate experimentally accessible quantities that can shed light on the spatial correlations in the system as it approaches the critical point. This approach can be applicable to a variety of phase transitions in disordered systems.

The simple structure of ${\mathrm{HgBa}}_2{\mathrm{CuO}}_{4+\delta }$ (Hg1201) is ideal among cuprates for study of the pseudogap phase as a broken symmetry state. We have performed ${}^{17}\mathrm{O}$ nuclear magnetic resonance on an underdoped Hg1201 crystal with a transition temperature of 74 K to look for circulating loop currents proposed theoretically and inferred from neutron scattering. The narrow spectra preclude static local fields in the pseudogap phase at the apical site, suggesting that the moments observed with neutrons are fluctuating. The nuclear magnetic resonance frequency shifts are consistent with a dipolar field from the ${\mathrm{Cu}}^{2+}$ site.

The Dirac spin liquid ground state of the spin $1/2$ Heisenberg kagome antiferromagnet has potential instabilities. This has been suggested as the reason why it does not emerge as the ground state in large-scale numerical calculations. However, previous attempts to observe these instabilities have failed. We report on the discovery of a projected BCS state with lower energy than the projected Dirac spin liquid state which provides new insight into the stability of the ground state of the kagome antiferromagnet. The new state has three remarkable features. First, it breaks spatial symmetry in an unusual way that may leave spinons deconfined along one direction. Second, it breaks the $U(1)$ gauge symmetry down to $Z_2$. Third, it has the spatial symmetry of a previously proposed “monopole” suggesting that it is an instability of the Dirac spin liquid. The state described herein also shares a remarkable similarity to the distortion of the kagome lattice observed at low Zn concentrations in Zn-paratacamite and in recently grown single crystals of volborthite suggesting it may already be realized in these materials.

Microwave emission from a parametrically pumped ferrimagnetic film of yttrium iron garnet was studied versus the magnon density evolution, which was detected by Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy. It has been found that the shutdown of external microwave pumping leads to an unexpected effect: The conventional monotonic decrease of the population of parametrically injected magnons is accompanied by an explosive behavior of electromagnetic radiation at the magnon frequency. The developed theory shows that this explosion is caused by a nonlinear energy transfer from parametrically driven short-wavelength dipolar-exchange magnons to a long-wavelength dipolar magnon mode effectively coupled to an electromagnetic wave.

We show that the entanglement between the internal (spin) and external (position) degrees of freedom of a qubit in a random (dynamically disordered) one-dimensional discrete time quantum random walk (QRW) achieves its maximal possible value asymptotically in the number of steps, outperforming the entanglement attained by using ordered QRW. The disorder is modeled by introducing an extra random aspect to QRW, a classical coin that randomly dictates which quantum coin drives the system’s time evolution. We also show that maximal entanglement is achieved independently of the initial state of the walker, study the number of steps the system must move to be within a small fixed neighborhood of its asymptotic limit, and propose two experiments where these ideas can be tested.

We study nonequilibrium thermodynamics of complex information flows induced by interactions between multiple fluctuating systems. Characterizing nonequilibrium dynamics by causal networks (i.e., Bayesian networks), we obtain novel generalizations of the second law of thermodynamics and the fluctuation theorem, which include an informational quantity characterized by the topology of the causal network. Our result implies that the entropy production in a single system in the presence of multiple other systems is bounded by the information flow between these systems. We demonstrate our general result by a simple model of biochemical adaptation.

Using the observed rate of short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) it is possible to make predictions for the detectable rate of compact binary coalescences in gravitational-wave detectors. We show that the nondetection of mergers in the existing LIGO/Virgo data constrains the beaming angles and progenitor masses of gamma-ray bursts, although these limits are fully consistent with existing expectations. We make predictions for the rate of events in future networks of gravitational-wave observatories, finding that the first detection of a neutron-star–neutron-star binary coalescence associated with the progenitors of short GRBs is likely to happen within the first 16 months of observation, even in the case of only two observatories (e.g., LIGO-Hanford and LIGO-Livingston) operating at intermediate sensitivities (e.g., advanced LIGO design sensitivity, but without signal recycling mirrors), and assuming a conservative distribution of beaming angles (e.g., all GRBs beamed within ${\theta }_j=30°$). Less conservative assumptions reduce the waiting time until first detection to a period of weeks to months, with an event detection rate of $\gtrsim 10/\mathrm{yr}$. Alternatively, the compact binary coalescence model of short GRBs can be ruled out if a binary is not seen within the first two years of operation of a LIGO-Hanford, LIGO-Livingston, and Virgo network at advanced design sensitivity. We also demonstrate that the gravitational wave detection rate of GRB triggered sources (i.e., those seen first in gamma rays) is lower than the rate of untriggered events (i.e., those seen only in gravitational waves) if ${\theta }_j\lesssim 30°$, independent of the noise curve, network configuration, and observed GRB rate. The first detection in gravitational waves of a binary GRB progenitor is therefore unlikely to be associated with the observation of a GRB.

We present new limits on the allowed masses of a dark matter (DM) halo consisting of primordial black holes (PBH) (or any other massive compact halo object). We analyze two years of data from the Kepler satellite, searching for short-duration bumps caused by gravitational microlensing. After removing background events consisting of variable stars, flare events, and comets or asteroids moving through the Kepler field, we find no microlensing candidates. We measure the efficiency of our selection criteria by adding millions of simulated microlensing lensing events into the Kepler light curves. We find that PBH DM with masses in the range $2\times {10}^{-9}{M}_{\odot }$ to ${10}^{-7}{M}_{\odot }$ cannot make up the entirety of the DM in the Milky Way. At the low-mass end, this decreases the allowed mass range by more than an order of magnititude.

We present a novel approach to the inference of spectral functions from Euclidean time correlator data that makes close contact with modern Bayesian concepts. Our method differs significantly from the maximum entropy method (MEM). A new set of axioms is postulated for the prior probability, leading to an improved expression, which is devoid of the asymptotically flat directions present in the Shanon-Jaynes entropy. Hyperparameters are integrated out explicitly, liberating us from the Gaussian approximations underlying the evidence approach of the maximum entropy method. We present a realistic test of our method in the context of the nonperturbative extraction of the heavy quark potential. Based on hard-thermal-loop correlator mock data, we establish firm requirements in the number of data points and their accuracy for a successful extraction of the potential from lattice QCD. Finally we reinvestigate quenched lattice QCD correlators from a previous study and provide an improved potential estimation at $T=2.33T_C$.

The Dirac and Klein-Gordon equations are solved on a space-time grid to study the strong-field induced pair creation process for bosons and fermions from the vacuum. If the external field is sufficiently strong to induce bound states that are embedded in the negative energy continuum, a complex scaling technique of the Hamiltonian can predict the longtime behavior of the dynamics. In the case of multiple bound states this technique predicts the occurrence of a new collective time scale. The longtime behavior of the pair creation is not determined by a single (most important) channel, but collectively by the sum of all individual widths of the embedded states.

More than 4 orders of magnitude of cavity-linewidth narrowing in a rare-earth-ion-doped crystal cavity, emanating from strong intracavity dispersion caused by off-resonant interaction with dopant ions, is demonstrated. The dispersion profiles are engineered using optical pumping techniques creating significant semipermanent but reprogrammable changes of the rare-earth absorption profiles. Several cavity modes are shown within the spectral transmission window. Several possible applications of this phenomenon are discussed.

Cavitation bubbles occur in fluids subjected to rapid changes in pressure. We use billion-atom reactive molecular dynamics simulations on a 163 840-processor BlueGene/P supercomputer to investigate damage caused by shock-induced collapse of nanobubbles in water near an amorphous silica surface. Collapse of an empty bubble generates a high-speed nanojet, which causes pitting on the silica surface. We find pit radii are close to bubble radii, and experiments also indicate linear scaling between them. The gas-filled bubbles undergo partial collapse and, consequently, the damage on the silica surface is mitigated.

The dynamics of a laser ablation plasma expanding in an external magnetic field have been investigated with imaging interferometry and shadowgraphy. The diagnostics reveal a new interaction mechanism, namely, the redirection of the explosive plasma expansion into a converging flow. A comparison with three-dimensional ideal magnetohydrodynamic simulation results supports the observation that the efficient lateral plasma confinement causes the plasma to converge on the axis and initiate a directed flow. The resulting collimated flow propagates across the magnetic field in a kinetic regime, which cannot be modeled within the same framework.

We create an artificial graphene system with tunable interactions and study the crossover from metallic to Mott insulating regimes, both in isolated and coupled two-dimensional honeycomb layers. The artificial graphene consists of a two-component spin mixture of an ultracold atomic Fermi gas loaded into a hexagonal optical lattice. For strong repulsive interactions, we observe a suppression of double occupancy and measure a gapped excitation spectrum. We present a quantitative comparison between our measurements and theory, making use of a novel numerical method to obtain Wannier functions for complex lattice structures. Extending our studies to time-resolved measurements, we investigate the equilibration of the double occupancy as a function of lattice loading time.

We present predictions on the equilibrium behavior of solutions of living polymers confined in a gap between surfaces, including the ensuing potential of mean force between those surfaces (the disjoining potential). We highlight the occurrence of a transition upon narrowing the gap, which arises from a cooperative simultaneous increase of the local density and degree of polymerization. At this transition, many properties of the confined solution, including the disjoining potential, change by orders of magnitude over a minute change of the surface separation. These results were obtained owing to two extensions to a previously introduced self-consistent field–propagator formalism. (i) We derive this formalism from a free-energy functional of the distribution of chain lengths and configurations. This enables evaluation of thermodynamic properties, including the disjoining potential. (ii) We solved for a system confined between two surfaces.

Two-dimensional lattice models subjected to an external effective magnetic field can form nontrivial band topologies characterized by nonzero integer band Chern numbers. In this Letter, we investigate such a lattice model originating from the Hofstadter model and demonstrate that the band topology transitions can be realized by simply introducing tunable longer-range hopping. The rich phase diagram of band Chern numbers is obtained for the simple rational flux density and a classification of phases is presented. In the presence of interactions, the existence of fractional quantum Hall states in both $|C|=1$ and $|C|>1$ bands is confirmed, which can reflect the band topologies in different phases. In contrast, when our model reduces to a one-dimensional lattice, the ground states are crucially different from fractional quantum Hall states. Our results may provide insights into the study of new fractional quantum Hall states and experimental realizations of various topological phases in optical lattices.

We have measured universal conductance fluctuations in the metallic spin glass $\mathrm{Ag}\mathrm{\text{:}}\mathrm{Mn}$ as a function of temperature and magnetic field. From this measurement, we can access the phase coherence time of the electrons in the spin glass. We show that this phase coherence time increases with both the inverse of the temperature and the magnetic field. From this, we deduce that decoherence mechanisms are still active even deep in the spin glass phase.