We study the mass dependence for identified particle average transverse momentum and harmonic flow coefficients in proton-lead ($p$-Pb) collisions, recently measured at the LHC. The collective mechanism in the $p$-Pb system predicts a specific mass ordering in these observables: the growth of the average transverse momentum with the particle mass and a mass splitting of the elliptic flow coefficient, i.e., smaller differential elliptic flow of protons than pions for $p_T<2\mathrm{GeV}$. This provides an opportunity to distinguish between the collective scenario and the mechanism based on the initial gluon dynamics in the evolution of the $p$-Pb system.

Theoretical confirmation of the experimentally observed phenomenon [Knudsen et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 213201 (2010)] of target structure-induced suppression of the ionization cross section for low-energy antiproton-molecular hydrogen collisions is given. To this end a novel time-dependent convergent close-coupling approach to the scattering problem that accounts for all possible orientations of the molecular target, has been developed. The approach is applied to study single ionization of molecular hydrogen on the wide energy range from 1 keV to 2 MeV with a particular emphasis on low energies. Results for the orientation-averaged total single ionization cross section are compared with available experimental data and good agreement is found at low ($<20\mathrm{keV}$) and high ($>90\mathrm{keV}$) energies. A minor discrepancy is found within a small energy gap near the maximum of the cross section.

We investigate the instabilities of a flat elastic ribbon subject to twist under tension and develop an integrated phase diagram of the observed shapes and transitions. We find that the primary buckling mode switches from being localized longitudinally along the length of the ribbon to transverse above a triple point characterized by a crossover tension that scales with ribbon elasticity and aspect ratio. Far from threshold, the longitudinally buckled ribbon evolves continuously into a self-creased helicoid with focusing of the curvature along the triangular edges. Further twist causes an anomalous transition to loops compared with rods due to the self-rigidity induced by the creases. When the ribbon is twisted under high tension, transverse wrinkles are observed due to the development of compressive stresses with higher harmonics for greater width-to-length ratios. Our results can be used to develop functional structures using a wide range of elastic materials and length scales.

The boundary condition for gas flow at the solid-gas interface can be altered by in situ control of the state of a thin film adsorbed to the solid. A monolayer of ocatadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) reversibly undergoes a meltinglike transition. When the temperature of an OTS-coated particle and plate is moved through the range of OTS “melting” temperatures, there is a change in the lubrication force between the particle and plate in 1 atm of nitrogen gas. This change is interpreted in terms of a change in the flow of gas mediated by the slip length and tangential momentum accommodation coefficient (TMAC). There is a minimum in slip length (290 nm) at $18°\mathrm{C}$, which corresponds to a maximum in TMAC (0.44). The slip length increases to 590 nm at $40°\mathrm{C}$ which corresponds to a TMAC of 0.25. We attribute the decrease in TMAC with increasing temperature to a decrease in roughness of the monolayer on melting, which allows a higher fraction of specular gas reflections, thereby conserving tangential gas momentum. The importance of this work is that it demonstrates the ability to control gas flow simply by altering the interface for fixed geometry and gas properties.

We report the electronic and transport properties of the triangular antiferromagnet ${\mathrm{PdCrO}}_2$ at high magnetic fields up to 33 T, using measurements of the de Haas–van Alphen oscillations and the Hall resistivity. The de Haas–van Alphen oscillations below the magnetic ordering temperature $T_N$ reveal several two-dimensional Fermi surfaces of smaller size than those found in nonmagnetic ${\mathrm{PdCoO}}_2$, consistent with the band structure calculations. This evidences Fermi surface reconstruction due to the 120° helical ordering of the localized Cr spins, suggesting significant coupling of the itinerant electrons to the underlying spin texture. This induces the nonlinear Hall resistivity at low temperatures via the magnetic breakdown in the reconstructed Fermi surface. Furthermore, such a coupling leads to the unconventional anomalous Hall effects near $T_N$ due to the field-induced spin chirality at high magnetic fields.

The surface magnetic property plays a key role in determining magnetic related quantum phenomena of magnetic topological insulators. Using spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy, we investigate the surface magnetism and anisotropy of a Cr doped topological insulator: ${\mathrm{Cr}}_{0.05}{\mathrm{Sb}}_{1.95}{\mathrm{Te}}_3$. It is found that the topological surface state of ${\mathrm{Cr}}_{0.05}{\mathrm{Sb}}_{1.95}{\mathrm{Te}}_3$ is spin polarized in the surface plane while the bulk shows a ferromagnetism with an out-of-plane easy axis. The upper and lower branch of the helical Dirac cone harbors the opposite spin polarization and the polarization at the Dirac point is zero. Our results show the complexity of surface magnetism of magnetic doped topological insulators.

Palladium hydrides display the largest isotope effect anomaly known in the literature. Replacement of hydrogen with the heavier isotopes leads to higher superconducting temperatures, a behavior inconsistent with harmonic theory. Solving the self-consistent harmonic approximation by a stochastic approach, we obtain the anharmonic free energy, the thermal expansion, and the superconducting properties fully ab initio. We find that the phonon spectra are strongly renormalized by anharmonicity far beyond the perturbative regime. Superconductivity is phonon mediated, but the harmonic approximation largely overestimates the superconducting critical temperatures. We explain the inverse isotope effect, obtaining a $-0.38$ value for the isotope coefficient in good agreement with experiments, hydrogen anharmonicity being mainly responsible for the isotope anomaly.

We measure the anomalous spectral diffusion of single colloidal quantum dots over eight temporal decades simultaneously by combining single-molecule spectroscopy and photon-correlation Fourier spectroscopy. Our technique distinguishes between discrete and continuous dynamics and directly reveals that the quasicontinuous spectral diffusion observed using conventional spectroscopy is composed of rapid, discrete spectral jumps. Despite their multiple time scales, these dynamics can be captured by a single mechanism whose parameters vary widely between dots and over time in individual dots.

We present tight-binding calculations in the random-phase approximation of the optical response of Silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) ideally doped with large concentrations of phosphorus (P) atoms. A collective response of P-induced electrons is demonstrated, leading to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) when a Si NC contains more than $\approx 10\mathrm{P}$ atoms. The LSPR energy varies not only with doping concentration but also with NC size due to size-dependent screening by valence electrons. The simple Drude-like behavior is recovered for NC size above 4 nm. Si NCs containing a large number of deep defects in place of hydrogenic impurities do not give rise to LSPR.

We present the first experimental microwave realization of the one-dimensional Dirac oscillator, a paradigm in exactly solvable relativistic systems. The experiment relies on a relation of the Dirac oscillator to a corresponding tight-binding system. This tight-binding system is implemented as a microwave system by a chain of coupled dielectric disks, where the coupling is evanescent and can be adjusted appropriately. The resonances of the finite microwave system yield the spectrum of the one-dimensional Dirac oscillator with and without a mass term. The flexibility of the experimental setup allows the implementation of other one-dimensional Dirac-type equations.

We implement arbitrary maps between pure states in the 16-dimensional Hilbert space associated with the ground electronic manifold of ${}^{133}\mathrm{Cs}$. This is accomplished by driving atoms with phase modulated radio-frequency and microwave fields, using modulation waveforms found via numerical optimization and designed to work robustly in the presence of imperfections. We evaluate the performance of a sample of randomly chosen state maps by randomized benchmarking, obtaining an average fidelity $>99\%$. Our protocol advances state-of-the-art quantum control and has immediate applications in quantum metrology and tomography.

Forbidden (slow) $\beta$ decays offer new opportunities to test the invariance of the weak interaction under Lorentz transformations. Within a general effective field theory framework we analyze and reinterpret the only two relevant experiments, performed in the 1970s, dedicated to search for a preferred direction in space in first- and second-forbidden $\beta$ decays. We show that the results of these experiments put strong and unique limits on Lorentz violation, and in particular on the presence of several interactions in the modern Lorentz-violating standard model extension. We discuss prospects to improve on these limits.

We present solutions in the gauged $\mathrm{U}(1)\times \mathrm{U}(1)$ model of Witten describing vortons—spinning flux loops stabilized against contraction by the centrifugal force. Vortons were heuristically described many years ago; however, the corresponding field theory solutions were not obtained and so the stability issue remained open. We construct explicitly a family of stationary vortons characterized by their charge and angular momentum. Most of them are unstable and break in pieces when perturbed. However, thick vortons with a small radius preserve their form in the $3+1$ nonlinear dynamical evolution. This gives the first ever evidence of stable vortons and impacts several branches of physics where they could potentially exist. These range from cosmology, since vortons could perhaps contribute to dark matter, to QCD and condensed matter physics.

Here, we report orbital-free density-functional theory (OF DFT) molecular dynamics simulations of the dynamic ion structure factor of warm solid density aluminum at $T=0.5\mathrm{eV}$ and $T=5\mathrm{eV}$. We validate the OF DFT method in the warm dense matter regime through comparison of the static and thermodynamic properties with the more complete Kohn-Sham DFT. This extension of OF DFT to dynamic properties indicates that previously used models based on classical molecular dynamics may be inadequate to capture fully the low frequency dynamics of the response function.

We demonstrate rotational excitation spectroscopy with the scanning tunneling microscope for physisorbed ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ and its isotopes HD and ${\mathrm{D}}_2$. The observed excitation energies are very close to the gas phase values and show the expected scaling with the moment of inertia. Since these energies are characteristic for the molecular nuclear spin states we are able to identify the para and ortho species of hydrogen and deuterium, respectively. We thereby demonstrate nuclear spin sensitivity with unprecedented spatial resolution.

Under high pressures the hydrogen bonds were predicted to transform from a highly asymmetric soft $\mathrm{O}\mathrm{\text{−}}\mathrm{H}\cdots \mathrm{O}$ to a symmetric rigid configuration in which the proton lies midway between the two oxygen atoms. Despite four decades of research on hydroxyl containing compounds, pressure induced hydrogen bond symmetrization remains elusive. Following single crystal x-ray diffraction, Mössbauer and Raman spectroscopy measurements supported by ab initio calculations, we report the H-bonds symmetrization in iron oxyhydroxide, FeOOH, resulting from the ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{3+}$ high-to-low spin crossover at above 45 GPa.

The phase diagram and equation of state of dense nitrogen are of interest in understanding the fundamental physics and chemistry under extreme conditions, including planetary processes, and in discovering new materials. We predict several stable phases of nitrogen at multi-TPa pressures, including a $P4/nbm$ structure consisting of partially charged $N_2^{\delta +}$ pairs and $N_5^{\delta -}$ tetrahedra, which is stable in the range 2.5–6.8 TPa. This is followed by a modulated layered structure between 6.8 and 12.6 TPa, which also exhibits a significant charge transfer. The $P4/nbm$ metallic nitrogen salt and the modulated structure are stable at high pressures and temperatures, and they exhibit strongly ionic features and charge density distortions, which is unexpected in an element under such extreme conditions and could represent a new class of nitrogen materials. The $P\mathrm{\text{−}}T$ phase diagram of nitrogen at TPa pressures is investigated using quasiharmonic phonon calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations.

We show that time reversal symmetry-breaking $p_x+i{p}_y$ wave superconductors undergo several phase transitions subjected to an external magnetic field or supercurrent. In such a system, the discrete $Z_2$ symmetry can recover before a complete destruction of the order parameter. The domain walls associated with $Z_2$ symmetry can be created in a controllable way by a magnetic field or current sweep according to the Kibble-Zurek scenario. Such domain wall generation can take place in exotic superconductors like ${\mathrm{Sr}}_2{\mathrm{RuO}}_4$, thin films of superfluid ${}^3\mathrm{He}\mathrm{\text{−}}A$, and some heavy fermion compounds.

There is growing evidence that for a range of dynamical systems featuring complex interactions between large ensembles of interacting elements, mutual information peaks at order-disorder phase transitions. We conjecture that, by contrast, information flow in such systems will generally peak strictly on the disordered side of a phase transition. This conjecture is verified for a ferromagnetic 2D lattice Ising model with Glauber dynamics and a transfer entropy-based measure of systemwide information flow. Implications of the conjecture are considered, in particular, that for a complex dynamical system in the process of transitioning from disordered to ordered dynamics (a mechanism implicated, for example, in financial market crashes and the onset of some types of epileptic seizures); information dynamics may be able to predict an imminent transition.

We prove an upper bound on the maximal rate at which a Hamiltonian interaction can generate entanglement in a bipartite system. The scaling of this bound as a function of the subsystem dimension on which the Hamiltonian acts nontrivially is optimal and is exponentially improved over previously known bounds. As an application, we show that a gapped quantum many-body spin system on an arbitrary lattice satisfies an area law for the entanglement entropy if and only if any other state with which it is adiabatically connected (i.e., any state in the same phase) also satisfies an area law.