Although nanodispersive precipitation-hardened alloys have been intensively studied over decades as important structural materials, the possibility that these alloys may have superfunctional properties has been completely overlooked. As shown in this Letter, they may have giant low-hysteretic strain responses to external stimuli if the nanosized single-domain precipitates can switch their orientation variants under applied fields. We demonstrate that the misfit-generated coherency stress can significantly reduce the variant switching barriers and may drastically decrease or even eliminate the hysteresis of the strain super responses to external stress and/or magnetic fields. These alloys can thus be functionalized as shape memory, superelastic, and/or supermagnetostrictive materials. The conditions of such functionalization are established by the interpretation-transparent analytical calculations, and confirmed by computer prototyping. In particular, the obtained results pave the way for the engineering of rare-earth free alloys with excellent magnetomechanical and good mechanical properties.

We mapped the relaxation times of inter- and intramolecular correlations in $o$-terphenyl by a quasielastic scattering method using nuclear resonant scattering of synchrotron radiation. From the obtained map, we found that the slow $\beta$ process is decoupled from the $\alpha$ process at 278 K, and this temperature is clearly below the previous decoupling temperature of 290 K, at which the $\alpha$-relaxation dynamics changes. Then, it was also concluded that sufficient solidlike condition achieved by further cooling from 290 K is required to decouple the slow $\beta$ process from the $\alpha$ process and, due to the difference of the length scales between the $\alpha$ and the slow $\beta$ processes, these two averaged relaxation times $⟨\tau ⟩$ are concluded not to cross as an extrapolation assumed so far. Furthermore, evidence of the restricted dynamics of the slow $\beta$ process could be obtained as an anomalous momentum transfer ($q$) dependence of $⟨\tau ⟩(⟨\tau ⟩\propto q^{-2.9})$ at 265 K, observed at $q$ values of $18–48{\mathrm{nm}}^{-1}$.

We report on a pressure-induced evolution of exotic superconductivity and spin correlations in $\mathrm{CeIr}({\mathrm{In}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Cd}}_x{)}_5$ by means of in-nuclear-quadrupole-resonance (NQR) studies. Measurements of an NQR spectrum and nuclear-spin-lattice-relaxation rate $1/T_1$ have revealed that antiferromagnetism induced by Cd doping emerges locally around Cd dopants, but superconductivity is suddenly induced at $T_c=0.7$ and 0.9 K at 2.34 and 2.75 GPa, respectively. The unique superconducting characteristics with a large fraction of the residual density of state at the Fermi level which increases with $T_c$ differ from those for anisotropic superconductivity mediated by antiferromagnetic correlations. By incorporating the pressure dependence of the NQR frequency pointing to the valence change of Ce, we suggest that unconventional superconductivity in the $\mathrm{CeIr}({\mathrm{In}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Cd}}_x{)}_5$ system may be mediated by valence fluctuations.

The mechanism of magnetization reversal has been studied in a model system of self-assembled cobalt nanowires with a 3 nm diameter. The structure, orientation and size of grains within the nanowires could be determined by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The magnetic properties were probed using static and dynamic magnetization measurements. Micromagnetic modeling based on the structural analysis allows us to correlate the structure and the magnetic behavior of the wires, revealing competition between shape anisotropy, magnetocrystalline anisotropy and exchange in the localized reversal within Co hcp oriented grains. These results provide direct experimental evidence of the link between anisotropy fluctuations and reversal localization in nanowires.

We employ the combination of the density functional theory and the dynamical mean-field theory to investigate the electronic structure and magnetic properties of ${\mathrm{SrCoO}}_3$, monocrystals of which were prepared recently. Our calculations lead to a ferromagnetic metal in agreement with experiment. We find that, contrary to some suggestions, the local moment in ${\mathrm{SrCoO}}_3$ does not arise from intermediate spin state, but is a result of coherent superposition of many different atomic states. We discuss how the attribution of magnetic response to different atomic states in solids with local moments can be quantified.

${\mathrm{Ca}}_2{\mathrm{Y}}_2{\mathrm{Cu}}_5{\mathrm{O}}_{10}$ is built up from edge-shared ${\mathrm{CuO}}_4$ plaquettes forming spin chains. From inelastic neutron scattering data we extract an in-chain nearest-neighbor exchange $J_1\approx -170\mathrm{K}$ and the frustrating next-neighbor $J_2\approx 32\mathrm{K}$ interactions, both significantly larger than previous estimates. The ratio $\alpha =|J_2/J_1|=0.19\pm 0.01$ places the system close to the critical point ${\alpha }_c=0.25$ of the $J_1\mathrm{\text{−}}{J}_2$ chain but in the 1D ferromagnetic regime. We establish that the vicinity to criticality only marginally affects the dispersion and coherence of the spin-wave-like magnetic excitations but instead results in a dramatic $T$ dependence of high-energy Zhang-Rice singlet excitation intensities.

Although orbital degrees of freedom are a factor of fundamental importance in strongly correlated transition-metal compounds, orbital correlations and dynamics remain very difficult to access, in particular by neutron scattering. Via a direct calculation of scattering amplitudes we show that instead magnetic resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) does reveal orbital correlations. In contrast to neutron scattering, the intensity of the magnetic excitations in RIXS depends very sensitively on the symmetry of the orbitals that spins occupy and on photon polarizations. We show in detail how this effect allows magnetic RIXS to distinguish between alternating orbital-ordered and ferro-orbital (or orbital liquid) states.

The impact of individual slow highly charged ions (HCI) on alkaline earth halide and alkali halide surfaces creates nano-scale surface modifications. For different materials and impact energies a wide variety of topographic alterations have been observed, ranging from regularly shaped pits to nanohillocks. We present experimental evidence for the creation of thermodynamically stable defect agglomerations initially hidden after irradiation but becoming visible as pits upon subsequent etching. A well defined threshold separating regions with and without etch-pit formation is found as a function of potential and kinetic energies of the projectile. Combining this novel type of surface defects with the previously identified hillock formation, a phase diagram for HCI induced surface restructuring emerges. The simulation of the energy deposition by the HCI in the crystal provides insight into the early stages of the dynamics of the surface modification and its dependence on the kinetic and potential energies.

Understanding the interaction of electric fields with the complex anatomy of biological excitable media is key to optimizing control strategies for spatiotemporal dynamics in those systems. On the basis of a bidomain description, we provide a unified theory for the electric-field-induced depolarization of the substrate near curved boundaries of generalized shapes, resulting in the localized recruitment of control sites. Our findings are confirmed in experiments on cardiomyocyte cell cultures and supported by two-dimensional numerical simulations on a cross section of a rabbit ventricle.

Experimental and computational dynamic force spectroscopy is widely used to determine the mechanical properties of single biomolecules. Whereas so far the focus has mainly been on rupture or unfolding forces, recent force-probe molecular dynamics simulations have revealed a strong loading rate dependence of biomolecular elasticities, which cannot be explained by the established one-dimensional transition-state treatments. We show that this nonequilibrium behavior can be explained by a theory that includes relaxation effects. For three structurally and mechanically quite diverse systems, a single relaxation mode suffices to quantitatively describe their loading-rate-dependent elastic behavior. Atomistic simulations of these systems revealed the microscopic nature of the respective relaxation modes. This result suggests a new type of “elasticity spectroscopy” experiment, which should render nonequilibrium properties of structured macromolecules accessible to single-molecule force spectroscopy.

Non-Brownian suspensions present a transition from Newtonian behavior in the zero-shear limit to a shear thickening behavior at a large shear rate, none of which is clearly understood so far. Here, we carry out numerical simulations of such an athermal dense suspension under shear, at an imposed confining pressure. This setup is conceptually identical to recent experiments of Boyer, Guazzelli, and Pouliquen [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 188301 (2011)]. Varying the interstitial fluid viscosities, we recover the Newtonian and Bagnoldian regimes and show that they correspond to a dissipation dominated by viscous and contact forces, respectively. We show that the two rheological regimes can be unified as a function of a single dimensionless number, by adding the contributions to the dissipation at a given volume fraction.

This Letter presents the complete QED contribution to the electron $g-2$ up to the tenth order. With the help of the automatic code generator, we evaluate all 12 672 diagrams of the tenth-order diagrams and obtain $9.16(58)(\alpha /\pi {)}^5$. We also improve the eighth-order contribution obtaining $-1.9097(20)(\alpha /\pi {)}^4$, which includes the mass-dependent contributions. These results lead to $a_e(\mathrm{\text{theory}})=1159652181.78(77)\times {10}^{-12}$. The improved value of the fine-structure constant ${\alpha }^{-1}=137.035999173(35)$ [0.25 ppb] is also derived from the theory and measurement of $a_e$.

We report the result of our calculation of the complete tenth-order QED terms of the muon $g-2$. Our result is $a_{\mu }^{(10)}=753.29$ (1.04) in units of $(\alpha /\pi {)}^5$, which is about 4.5 s.d. larger than the leading-logarithmic estimate 663(20). We also improve the precision of the eighth-order QED term of $a_{\mu }$, obtaining $a_{\mu }^{(8)}=130.8794$ (63) in units of $(\alpha /\pi {)}^4$. The new QED contribution is $a_{\mu }(\mathrm{QED})=116584718951(80)\times {10}^{-14}$, which does not resolve the existing discrepancy between the standard-model prediction and measurement of $a_{\mu }$.

The ALICE Collaboration has measured the inclusive production of muons from heavy-flavor decays at forward rapidity, $2.5<y<4$, in $pp$ and Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76\mathrm{TeV}$. The $p_t$-differential inclusive cross section of muons from heavy-flavor decays in $pp$ collisions is compared to perturbative QCD calculations. The nuclear modification factor is studied as a function of $p_t$ and collision centrality. A weak suppression is measured in peripheral collisions. In the most central collisions, a suppression of a factor of about 3–4 is observed in $6<p_t<10\mathrm{GeV}/c$. The suppression shows no significant $p_t$ dependence.

The $\beta$ decays of neutron-rich nuclei near the doubly magic ${}^{78}\mathrm{Ni}$ were studied at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility using an electromagnetic isobar separator. The half-lives of ${}^{82}\mathrm{Zn}$ ($228\pm 10\mathrm{ms}$), ${}^{83}\mathrm{Zn}$ ($117\pm 20\mathrm{ms}$), and ${}^{85}\mathrm{Ga}$ ($93\pm 7\mathrm{ms}$) were determined for the first time. These half-lives were found to be very different from the predictions of the global model used in astrophysical simulations. A new calculation was developed using the density functional model, which properly reproduced the new experimental values. The robustness of the new model in the ${}^{78}\mathrm{Ni}$ region allowed us to extrapolate data for more neutron-rich isotopes. The revised analysis of the rapid neutron capture process in low entropy environments with our new set of measured and calculated half-lives shows a significant redistribution of predicted isobaric abundances strengthening the yield of $A>140$ nuclei.

Positron binding to molecules is compared to the analogous electron-molecule bound states. For both, the bound lepton density is diffuse and remains outside the valence shell. Positron binding energies are found to be one to two orders of magnitude larger than those of the negative ions due to two effects: the orientation of the molecular dipole moment allows the positron to approach it more closely and, for positrons, lepton correlations (e.g., via dipole polarizability) contribute more strongly.

We investigate how the orbital angular momentum of a paraxial light beam is affected upon reflection at a planar interface. Theoretically, the unavoidable angular spread of the beam leads to orbital angular momentum sidebands, which are found to be already significant for a modest beam spread (0.05). In analogy to the polarization Fresnel coefficients, we develop an analytical theory based upon spatial Fresnel coefficients; this allows a straightforward prediction of the strength of the sidebands. We confirm this by experiment and numerical simulation.

We study theoretically the propagation of relatively long pulses with ionizing intensities in a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber filled with a Raman-inactive noble gas. Because of photoionization, an extremely asymmetric self-phase modulation and a new kind of “universal” plasma-induced modulational instability appear in both normal and anomalous dispersion regions. We also show that it is possible to spontaneously generate a plasma-induced continuum of blueshifting solitons, opening up new possibilities for pushing supercontinuum generation towards shorter and shorter wavelengths.

Slow light induced by coherent population oscillations and cavity dispersive nonlinear response are combined achieving 2 orders of magnitude enhancement of the group delay and an equivalent decreasing of the spectral linewidth of a $L3$ two-dimensional photonic crystal nanocavity.

The nonlinear optical response to high fields is absolutely measured for the noble gas atoms He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe. We find that the response is quadratic in the laser field magnitude up to the ionization threshold of each gas. Its size and quadratic dependence are well predicted by a Kramers-Kronig analysis employing known ionization probabilities, and the results are consistent with calculations using the time-dependent Schrödinger equation.