Martensitic transformation was successfully introduced to bulk metallic glasses as the reinforcement micromechanism. In this Letter, it was found that the twinning property of the reinforcing crystals can be dramatically improved by reducing the stacking fault energy through microalloying, which effectively alters the electron charge density redistribution on the slipping plane. The enhanced twinning propensity promotes the martensitic transformation of the reinforcing austenite and, consequently, improves plastic stability and the macroscopic tensile ductility. In addition, a general rule to identify effective microalloying elements based on their electronegativity and atomic size was proposed.

A field theory of the Anderson transition in two-dimensional disordered systems with spin-orbit interactions and time-reversal symmetry is developed, in which the proliferation of vortexlike topological defects is essential for localization. The sign of vortex fugacity determines the $Z_2$ topological class of the localized phase. There are two distinct fixed points with the same critical exponents, corresponding to transitions from a metal to an insulator and a topological insulator, respectively. The critical conductivity and correlation length exponent of these transitions are computed in an $N=1-ϵ$ expansion in the number of replicas, where for small $ϵ$ the critical points are perturbatively connected to the Kosterlitz-Thouless critical point. Delocalized states, which arise at the surface of weak topological insulators and topological crystalline insulators, occur because vortex proliferation is forbidden due to the presence of symmetries that are violated by disorder, but are restored by disorder averaging.

In this Letter we investigate a low dimensional semiconductor system, in which the light-matter interaction is enhanced by the cooperative behavior of a large number of dipolar oscillators, at different frequencies, mutually phase locked by Coulomb interaction. We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate that, owing to this phenomenon, the optical response of a semiconductor quantum well with several occupied subbands is a single sharp resonance, associated with the excitation of a bright multisubband plasmon. This effect illustrates how the whole oscillator strength of a two-dimensional system can be concentrated into a single resonance independently from the shape of the confining potential. When this cooperative excitation is tuned in resonance with a cavity mode, their coupling strength can be increased monotonically with the electronic density, allowing the achievement of the ultrastrong coupling regime up to room temperature.

A new orthorhombic phase of the multiferroic ${\mathrm{BiFeO}}_3$ has been created via strain engineering by growing it on a ${\mathrm{NdScO}}_3(110{)}_o$ substrate. The tensile-strained orthorhombic ${\mathrm{BiFeO}}_3$ phase is ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic at room temperature. A combination of nonlinear optical second harmonic generation and piezoresponse force microscopy revealed that the ferroelectric polarization in the orthorhombic phase is along the in-plane $⟨110{⟩}_{\mathrm{pc}}$ directions. In addition, the corresponding rotation of the antiferromagnetic axis in this new phase was observed using x-ray linear dichroism.

Using the surface enhanced ellipsometric contrast microscopy, we follow the last stage of the spreading of egg phosphatidylcholine nanodroplets on a hydrophilic substrate in a humid atmosphere, focusing on the vanishing trilayer in terraced droplets reduced to coexisting monolayer and trilayer. We find that the line interface between them exhibits two coexisting states, one mobile and one fixed. From there, it is possible to elucidate the internal structure and the spreading mechanism of the stratified liquid in a case of asymmetric wetting, i.e., where the lipid film is made of an odd number of leaflets.

A suspension of microswimmers, the simplest realization of active matter, exhibits novel material properties: the emergence of collective motion, reduction in viscosity, increase in diffusivity, and extraction of useful energy. Bacterial dynamics in dilute suspensions suggest that hydrodynamic interactions and collisions between the swimmers lead to collective motion at higher concentrations. On the example of aerobic bacteria Bacillus subtilis, we report on spatial and temporal correlation functions measurements of collective state for various swimming speeds and concentrations. The experiments produced a puzzling result: while the energy injection rate is proportional to the swimming speed and concentration, the correlation length remains practically constant upon small speeds where random tumbling of bacteria dominates. It highlights two fundamental mechanisms: hydrodynamic interactions and collisions; for both of these mechanisms, the change of the swimming speed or concentration alters an overall time scale.

We report a quantitative measurement of traction stress exerted by dividing eukaryotic cells. The stress field was highly dynamic and sequentially changed as follows: (1) strong and localized as two spots, (2) weak and broadly distributed, and (3) strong and localized as four spots. At the final stage of cytokinesis, the dividing cells exerted strong tensile force on the intercellular bridge. The asymmetry of the traction stress and the orientation of the division axis matched throughout the division process, suggesting the possible role of the mechanical force as a “store” of the orientational information.

The dynamics in polymer monolayers where chains are strongly confined and adopt 2D conformations are drastically different to those in the bulk. It is shown that viscoelastic hydrodynamic interactions play a major role defining the anomalous chain diffusion properties in such systems where chains cannot cross each other. We developed a quantitative analytical theory of polymer subdiffusion in 2D systems revealing a complex behavior controlled by a delicate interplay of inertial, viscoelastic hydrodynamic interactions, finite-box-size and frictional effects. The theory is fully supported by extensive momentum-conserving and Langevin molecular-dynamics simulation data explaining the highly cooperative character of 2D polymer motions.

Pulsar glitches are traditionally viewed as a manifestation of vortex dynamics associated with a neutron superfluid reservoir confined to the inner crust of the star. In this Letter we show that the nondissipative entrainment coupling between the neutron superfluid and the nuclear lattice leads to a less mobile crust superfluid, effectively reducing the moment of inertia associated with the angular momentum reservoir. Combining the latest observational data for prolific glitching pulsars with theoretical results for the crust entrainment, we find that the required superfluid reservoir exceeds that available in the crust. This challenges our understanding of the glitch phenomenon, and we discuss possible resolutions to the problem.

We report the strictest observational verification of $CPT$ invariance in the photon sector, as a result of $\gamma$-ray polarization measurement of distant gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which are the brightest stellar-sized explosions in the Universe. We detected $\gamma$-ray polarization of three GRBs with high significance levels, and the source distances may be constrained by a well-known luminosity indicator for GRBs. For the Lorentz- and $CPT$-violating dispersion relation $E_{\pm }^2=p^2\pm 2\xi p^3/M_{Pl}$, where $\pm$ denotes different circular polarization states of the photon, the parameter $\xi$ is constrained as $|\xi |<O({10}^{-15})$. Barring precise cancellation between quantum gravity effects and dark energy effects, the stringent limit on the $CPT$-violating effect leads to the expectation that quantum gravity presumably respects the $CPT$ invariance.

We show that subterahertz transmission of the superconducting metamaterial, an interlinked two-dimensional network of subwavelength resonators connected by a continuous superconducting wire loop, can be dynamically modulated by passing electrical current through it. We have identified the main mechanisms of modulation that correspond to the suppression of the superconductivity in the network by magnetic field and heat dissipation. Using the metamaterial fabricated from thin niobium film, we were able to demonstrate a transmission modulation depth of up to 45% and a bandwidth of at least 100 kHz. The demonstrated approach may be implemented with other superconducting materials at frequencies below the superconducting gap in the THz and subterahertz bands.

A quantitative theory of attosecond pulse generation in relativistically driven overdense plasma slabs is presented based on an explicit analysis of synchrotron-type electron trajectories. The subcycle, field-controlled release, and subsequent nanometer-scale acceleration of relativistic electron bunches under the combined action of the laser and ionic potentials give rise to coherent radiation with a high-frequency cutoff, intensity, and radiation pattern explained in terms of the basic laws of synchrotron radiation. The emerging radiation is confined to time intervals much shorter than the half-cycle of the driver field. This intuitive approach will be instrumental in analyzing and optimizing few-cycle-laser-driven relativistic sources of intense isolated extreme ultraviolet and x-ray pulses.

Macroscopic ensembles of weakly interacting argon nanoclusters are studied using x-ray diffraction in low vacuum. As the clusters grow by fusion with increasing temperature, their structure transforms from essentially face-centered cubic (fcc) to hexagonal close packed as the cluster size approaches $\sim {10}^5$ atoms. The transformation involves intermediate orthorhombic phases. These data confirm extant theoretical predictions. They also indicate that growth kinetics and spatial constraints might play an important role in the formation of the fcc structure of bulk rare-gas solids, which still remains puzzling.

Theory predicts for the two-dimensional electron gas with only a Rashba spin-orbit interaction a vanishing spin Hall conductivity and at the same time a finite inverse spin Hall effect. We show how these seemingly contradictory results are compatible with the Onsager relations: The latter do hold for spin and particle (charge) currents in the two-dimensional electron gas, although (i) their form depends on the experimental setup and (ii) a vanishing bulk spin Hall conductivity does not necessarily imply a vanishing spin Hall effect. We also discuss the situation in which extrinsic spin orbit from impurities is present and the bulk spin Hall conductivity can be different from zero.

A genetic toggle switch was studied experimentally and theoretically. We have found an additional kinetic stable state where all the genes express very lowly, which is predicted to be unstable by dynamical systems theory. It can also stably coexist with the other two known stable states, although this coexistence is forbidden in a deterministic dynamical system. We analyze that this nontrivial phenomenon results from the discrete and fluctuate nature in such a small system, by comparing experimental results with modeling results of exact stochastic simulations and differential equations.

Using the method of maximal cuts, we construct the complete $D$-dimensional integrand of the five-loop four-point amplitude of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory, including nonplanar contributions. In the critical dimension where this amplitude becomes ultraviolet divergent, we present a compact explicit expression for the nonvanishing ultraviolet divergence in terms of three vacuum integrals. This construction provides a crucial step towards obtaining the corresponding amplitude of $\mathcal{N}=8$ supergravity required to resolve the general ultraviolet behavior of supergravity theories.

The PHENIX experiment has measured electrons and positrons at midrapidity from the decays of hadrons containing charm and bottom quarks produced in $d+\mathrm{Au}$ and $p+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200\mathrm{GeV}$ in the transverse-momentum range $0.85\le p_T^e\le 8.5\mathrm{GeV}/c$. In central $d+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions, the nuclear modification factor $R_{dA}$ at $1.5<p_T<5\mathrm{GeV}/c$ displays evidence of enhancement of these electrons, relative to those produced in $p+p$ collisions, and shows that the mass-dependent Cronin enhancement observed at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider extends to the heavy $D$ meson family. A comparison with the neutral-pion data suggests that the difference in cold-nuclear-matter effects on light- and heavy-flavor mesons could contribute to the observed differences between the ${\pi }^0$ and heavy-flavor-electron nuclear modification factors $R_{\mathrm{AA}}$.

We report the first experimental observation of the cavity-QED microlaser spectrum, specifically the unconventional frequency pulling brought by a strong atom-cavity coupling at off resonance. The pulling is enhanced quadratically by the atom-cavity coupling to result in a sensitive response to the number of pumping atoms (2.1 kHz per atom maximally). Periodic variation of the pulling due to the coherent Rabi oscillation is also observed as the number of pumping atoms is increased across multiple thresholds.

We study the thermodynamics of a two-species Feshbach-resonant atomic Fermi gas in a periodic potential, focusing in a deep optical potential where a tight binding model is applicable. We show that for a more than half-filled band the gas exhibits a reentrant crossover with decreased detuning (increased attractive interaction), from a paired BCS superfluid to a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of molecules of holes, back to the BCS superfluid, and finally to a conventional BEC of diatomic molecules. This behavior is associated with the nonmonotonic dependence of the chemical potential on detuning and the concomitant Cooper-pair or molecular size, larger in the BCS and smaller in the BEC regimes. For a single filled band we find a quantum phase transition from a band insulator to a BCS-BEC superfluid, and map out the corresponding phase diagram.

Sound velocities of vitreous silica are measured under He compression in the pressure range of 0–6 GPa by Brillouin light scattering. It is found that the well-known anomalous maximum in the pressure dependence of the compressibility is suppressed by He incorporation into the silica network. This shows that the elastic anomaly relates to the collapse of the largest interstitial voids in the structure. The huge difference between the static and the acoustic compressibilities indicates that the amount of incorporated helium still increases at 6 GPa.