We reveal how symmetry-protected nodal points in topological semimetals may be promoted to pairs of generically stable exceptional points (EPs) by symmetry-breaking fluctuations at the onset of long-range order. This intriguing interplay between non-Hermitian (NH) topology and spontaneous symmetry breaking is exemplified by a magnetic NH Weyl phase spontaneously emerging at the surface of a strongly correlated three-dimensional topological insulator, when entering the ferromagnetic regime from a high-temperature paramagnetic phase. Here, electronic excitations with opposite spin acquire significantly different lifetimes, thus giving rise to an anti-Hermitian structure in spin that is incompatible with the chiral spin texture of the nodal surface states, and hence facilitate the spontaneous formation of EPs. We present numerical evidence of this phenomenon by solving a microscopic multiband Hubbard model nonperturbatively in the framework of dynamical mean-field theory.

We show that a chiral spin liquid spontaneously emerges in partially amorphous, polycrystalline, or ion-irradiated Kitaev materials. In these systems, time-reversal symmetry is broken spontaneously due to a nonzero density of plaquettes with an odd number of edges $n_{\text{odd}}$. This mechanism opens a sizable gap, at small $n_{\text{odd}}$ compatible with that of typical amorphous materials and polycrystals, and which can alternatively be induced by ion irradiation. We find that the gap is proportional to $n_{\text{odd}}$, saturating at $n_{\text{odd}}\sim 40\%$. Using exact diagonalization, we find that the chiral spin liquid is approximately as stable to Heisenberg interactions as Kitaev’s honeycomb spin-liquid model. Our results open up a significant number of noncrystalline systems where chiral spin liquids can emerge without external magnetic fields.

We discover a deep connection between parity-time symmetric optical systems and quantum transport in one-dimensional fermionic chains in a two-terminal open system setting. The spectrum of one dimensional tight-binding chain with periodic on-site potential can be obtained by casting the problem in terms of $2\times 2$ transfer matrices. We find that these non-Hermitian matrices have a symmetry exactly analogous to the parity-time symmetry of balanced-gain-loss optical systems, and hence show analogous transitions across exceptional points. We show that the exceptional points of the transfer matrix of a unit cell correspond to the band edges of the spectrum. When connected to two zero temperature baths at two ends, this consequently leads to subdiffusive scaling of conductance with system size, with an exponent 2, if the chemical potential of the baths are equal to the band edges. We further demonstrate the existence of a dissipative quantum phase transition as the chemical potential is tuned across any band edge. Remarkably, this feature is analogous to transition across a mobility edge in quasiperiodic systems. This behavior is universal, irrespective of the details of the periodic potential and the number of bands of the underlying lattice. It, however, has no analog in absence of the baths.

Searching for key nodes and edges in a network is a long-standing problem. Recently cycle structure in a network has received more attention. Is it possible to propose a ranking algorithm for cycle importance? We address the problem of identifying the key cycles of a network. First, we provide a more concrete definition of importance—in terms of Fiedler value (the second smallest Laplacian eigenvalue). Key cycles are those that contribute most substantially to the dynamical behavior of the network. Second, by comparing the sensitivity of Fiedler value to different cycles, a neat index for ranking cycles is provided. Numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness of this method.

It has been postulated that the brain operates in a self-organized critical state that brings multiple benefits, such as optimal sensitivity to input. Thus far, self-organized criticality has typically been depicted as a one-dimensional process, where one parameter is tuned to a critical value. However, the number of adjustable parameters in the brain is vast, and hence critical states can be expected to occupy a high-dimensional manifold inside a high-dimensional parameter space. Here, we show that adaptation rules inspired by homeostatic plasticity drive a neuro-inspired network to drift on a critical manifold, where the system is poised between inactivity and persistent activity. During the drift, global network parameters continue to change while the system remains at criticality.

We study the signal and background that arise in nuclear magnetic resonance searches for axion dark matter, finding key differences with the existing literature. We find that spin-precession instruments are much more sensitive than what has been previously estimated in a sizable range of axion masses, with sensitivity improvement of up to a factor of 100 using a ${}^{129}\mathrm{Xe}$ sample. This improves the detection prospects for the QCD axion, and we estimate the experimental requirements to reach this motivated target. Our results apply to both the axion electric and magnetic dipole moment operators.

Light scalars can in principle couple to both bulk matter and fermion spin, with hierarchically disparate strengths. Storage ring measurements of fermion electromagnetic moments via spin precession can be sensitive to such a force, sourced by Earth. We discuss how this force could lead to the current deviation of the measured muon anomalous magnetic moment, $g-2$, from the standard model prediction. Due to its different parameters, the proposed J-PARC muon $g-2$ experiment can provide a direct test of our hypothesis. A future search for the proton electric dipole moment can have good sensitivity for the coupling of the assumed scalar to nucleon spin. We also argue that supernova constraints on the axion-muon coupling may not be applicable in our framework.

We investigate the quantum anomalous Hall plateau transition in the presence of independent out-of-plane and in-plane magnetic fields. The perpendicular coercive field, zero Hall plateau width, and peak resistance value can all be systematically controlled by the in-plane magnetic field. The traces taken at various fields almost collapse into a single curve when the field vector is renormalized to an angle as a geometric parameter. These results can be explained consistently by the competition between magnetic anisotropy and in-plane Zeeman field, and the close relationship between quantum transport and magnetic domain structure. The accurate control of zero Hall plateau facilitates the search for chiral Majorana modes based on the quantum anomalous Hall system in proximity to a superconductor.

Excitonic Bose-Einstein condensation (EBEC) has drawn increasing attention recently with the emergence of 2D materials. A general criterion for EBEC, as expected in an excitonic insulator (EI) state, is to have negative exciton formation energies in a semiconductor. Here, using exact diagonalization of a multiexciton Hamiltonian modeled in a diatomic kagome lattice, we demonstrate that the negative exciton formation energies are only a prerequisite but insufficient condition for realizing an EI. By a comparative study between the cases of both conduction and valence flat bands (FBs) versus that of a parabolic conduction band, we further show that the presence and increased FB contribution to exciton formation provide an attractive avenue to stabilize the excitonic condensate, as confirmed by calculations and analyses of multiexciton energies, wave functions, and reduced density matrices. Our results warrant a similar many-exciton analysis for other known and/or new candidates of EIs and demonstrate the FBs of opposite parity as a unique platform for studying exciton physics, paving the way to material realization of spinor BEC and spin superfluidity.

We study the electronic structure of the ferromagnetic spinel $\mathrm{Hg}{\mathrm{Cr}}_2{\mathrm{Se}}_4$ by soft-x-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SX-ARPES) and first-principles calculations. While a theoretical study has predicted that this material is a magnetic Weyl semimetal, SX-ARPES measurements give direct evidence for a semiconducting state in the ferromagnetic phase. Band calculations based on the density functional theory with hybrid functionals reproduce the experimentally determined band gap value, and the calculated band dispersion matches well with ARPES experiments. We conclude that the theoretical prediction of a Weyl semimetal state in $\mathrm{Hg}{\mathrm{Cr}}_2{\mathrm{Se}}_4$ underestimates the band gap, and this material is a ferromagnetic semiconductor.

The annihilation of two intermediate-coupling renormalization-group (RG) fixed points is of interest in diverse fields from statistical mechanics to high-energy physics, but has so far only been studied using perturbative techniques. Here we present high-accuracy quantum Monte Carlo results for the SU(2)-symmetric $S=1/2$ spin-boson (or Bose-Kondo) model. We study the model with a power-law bath spectrum $\propto {\omega }^s$ where, in addition to a critical phase predicted by perturbative RG, a stable strong-coupling phase is present. Using a detailed scaling analysis, we provide direct numerical evidence for the collision and annihilation of two RG fixed points at $s^{*}=0.6540(2)$, causing the critical phase to disappear for $s<s^{*}$. In particular, we uncover a surprising duality between the two fixed points, corresponding to a reflection symmetry of the RG beta function, which we utilize to make analytical predictions at strong coupling which are in excellent agreement with numerics. Our work makes phenomena of fixed-point annihilation accessible to large-scale simulations, and we comment on the consequences for impurity moments in critical magnets.

Axionlike particles are among the most studied extensions of the standard model. In this Letter we study the bounds that the ArgoNeuT experiment can put on the parameter space of two specific scenarios: leptophilic axionlike particles and Majorons. We find that such bounds are currently the most constraining ones in the (0.2–1.7) GeV mass range.

We report on the first demonstration of transport of a multispecies ion crystal through a junction in a rf Paul trap. The trap is a two-dimensional surface-electrode trap with an $\mathsf{X}$ junction and segmented control electrodes to which time-varying voltages are applied to control the shape and position of potential wells above the trap surface. We transport either a single ${{}^{171}\mathrm{Yb}}^{+}$ ion or a crystal composed of a ${{}^{138}\mathrm{Ba}}^{+}$ ion cotrapped with the ${{}^{171}\mathrm{Yb}}^{+}$ ion to any port of the junction. We characterize the motional excitation by performing multiple round-trips through the junction and back to the initial well position without cooling. The final excitation is then measured using sideband asymmetry. For a single ${{}^{171}\mathrm{Yb}}^{+}$ ion, transport with a $4\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$ average speed induces between $0.013\pm 0.001$ and $0.014\pm 0.001$ quanta of excitation per round-trip, depending on the exit port. For a Ba-Yb crystal, transport at the same speed induces between $0.013\pm 0.001$ and $0.030\pm 0.002$ quanta per round-trip of excitation to the in-phase axial mode. Excitation in the out-of-phase axial mode ranges from $0.005\pm 0.001$ to $0.021\pm 0.001$ quanta per round-trip.

We experimentally demonstrate strong coupling between a one-dimensional (1D) single-atom array and a high-finesse miniature cavity. The atom array is obtained by loading single atoms into a 1D optical tweezer array with dimensions of $1\times 11$. Therefore, a deterministic number of atoms is obtained, and the atom number is determined by imaging the atom array on a CCD camera in real time. By precisely controlling the position and spacing of the atom array in the high finesse Fabry-Perot cavity, all the atoms in the array are strongly coupled to the cavity simultaneously. The vacuum Rabi splitting spectra are discriminated for deterministic atom numbers from 1 to 8, and the $\sqrt{N}$ dependence of the collective enhancement of the coupling strength on atom number $N$ is validated at the single-atom level.

We propose a concept called acoustic amplifying diode combining signal isolation and amplification in a single device. The signal is exponentially amplified in one incident direction with no reflection and is perfectly absorbed in another. The reflection is eliminated from the device in both directions with impedance matching, preventing backscattering to the signal source. Here, we demonstrate the amplifying diode using an active metamaterial with nonreciprocal Willis coupling. We also discuss the situation with the presence of both reciprocal and nonreciprocal Willis couplings for more flexibility in implementation. The coexistence of both amplifier and perfect absorber in opposite incident directions extends the regime of sound isolation and further enables applications in sensing and communication, in which nonreciprocity can play an important role.

The electrical conductivity of a macroscopic assembly of nanomaterials is determined through a complex interplay of electronic transport within and between constituent nano-objects. Phonons play dual roles in this situation: their increased populations tend to reduce the conductivity via electron scattering, while they can boost the conductivity by assisting electrons to propagate through the potential-energy landscape. We identified a phonon-assisted coherent electron transport process between neighboring nanotubes in temperature-dependent conductivity measurements on a macroscopic film of armchair single-wall carbon nanotubes. Through atomistic modeling of electronic states and calculations of both electronic and phonon-assisted junction conductances, we conclude that phonon-assisted conductance is the dominant mechanism for observed high-temperature transport in armchair carbon nanotubes. The unambiguous manifestation of coherent intertube dynamics proves a single-chirality armchair nanotube film to be a unique macroscopic solid-state ensemble of nano-objects promising for the development of room-temperature coherent electronic devices.

The Moore-Read state, one of the leading candidates for describing the fractional quantum Hall effect at filling factor $\nu =5/2$, is a paradigmatic $p$-wave superconductor with non-Abelian topological order. Among its many exotic properties, the state hosts two collective modes: a bosonic density wave and a neutral fermion mode that arises from an unpaired electron in the condensate. It has recently been proposed that the descriptions of the two modes can be unified by postulating supersymmetry (SUSY) that relates them in the long-wavelength limit. Here we extend the SUSY description to construct wave functions of the two modes on closed surfaces, such as the sphere and torus, and we test the resulting states in large-scale numerical simulations. We demonstrate the equivalence in the long-wavelength limit between SUSY wave functions and previous descriptions of collective modes based on the Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman ansatz, Jack polynomials, and bipartite composite fermions. Leveraging the first-quantized form of the SUSY wave functions, we study their energies using the Monte Carlo method and show that realistic $\nu =5/2$ systems are close to the putative SUSY point, where the two collective modes become degenerate in energy.

The mechanism on ferroelectric phase transitions is mainly attributed to the displacive and/or order-disorder transition of internal components since the discovery of the ferroelectricity in 1920, rather than the breaking and recombination of chemical bonds. Here, we demonstrate how to utilize the chemical bond rearrangement in a diarylethene-based crystal to realize the light-driven $mm2\mathrm{F}1$-type ferroelectric phase transition. Such a photoinduced phase transition is entirely driven by switchable covalent bonds with breaking and reformation, enabling the reversible light-controllable ferroelectric polarization switching, dielectric and nonlinear optical bistability. Moreover, light as quantized energy can achieve contactless, nondestructive, and remote-control operations. This work proposes a new mechanism of ferroelectric phase transition, and highlights the significance of photochromic molecules in designing new ferroelectrics for photocontrol data storage and sensing.