We study experimentally the effect of linear plasma density gradients on the self-modulation of a 400 GeV proton bunch. Results show that a positive or negative gradient increases or decreases the number of microbunches and the relative charge per microbunch observed after 10 m of plasma. The measured modulation frequency also increases or decreases. With the largest positive gradient we observe two frequencies in the modulation power spectrum. Results are consistent with changes in wakefields’ phase velocity due to plasma density gradients adding to the slow wakefields’ phase velocity during self-modulation growth predicted by linear theory.

Photon bursts with a wavelength smaller than the plasma interparticle distance can drive plasma wakes via Compton scattering. We investigate this fundamental process analytically and numerically for different photon frequencies, photon flux, and plasma magnetization. Our results show that Langmuir and extraordinary modes are driven efficiently when the photon energy density lies above a certain threshold. The interaction of photon bursts with magnetized plasmas is of distinguished interest as the generated extraordinary modes can convert into pure electromagnetic waves at the plasma-vacuum boundary. This could possibly be a mechanism for the generation of radio waves in astrophysical scenarios in the presence of intense sources of high energy photons.

We report gapless quantum spin liquid behavior in the layered triangular ${\mathrm{Sr}}_3{\mathrm{CuSb}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_9$ system. X-ray diffraction shows superlattice reflections associated with atomic site ordering into triangular Cu planes well separated by Sb planes. Muon spin relaxation measurements show that the $S=\frac{1}{2}$ moments at the magnetically active Cu sites remain dynamic down to 65 mK in spite of a large antiferromagnetic exchange scale evidenced by a large Curie-Weiss temperature ${\theta }_{\mathrm{CW}}\simeq -143\mathrm{K}$ as extracted from the bulk susceptibility. Specific heat measurements also show no sign of long-range order down to 0.35 K. The magnetic specific heat ($C_m$) below 5 K reveals a $C_m=\gamma T+\alpha T^2$ behavior. The significant $T^2$ contribution to the magnetic specific heat invites a phenomenology in terms of the so-called Dirac spinon excitations with a linear dispersion. From the low-$T$ specific heat data, we estimate the dominant exchange scale to be $\sim 36\mathrm{K}$ using a Dirac spin liquid ansatz which is not far from the values inferred from microscopic density functional theory calculations ($\sim 45\mathrm{K}$) as well as high-temperature susceptibility analysis ($\sim 70\mathrm{K}$). The linear specific heat coefficient is about $18\mathrm{mJ}/\mathrm{mol}{\mathrm{K}}^2$ which is somewhat larger than for typical Fermi liquids.

Current models of phoretic transport rely on molecular forces creating a “diffuse” particle-fluid interface. We investigate theoretically an alternative mechanism, in which a diffuse interface emerges solely due to a nonvanishing correlation length of the surrounding solution. This mechanism can drive self-motility of a chemically active particle. Numerical estimates indicate that the velocity can reach micrometers per second. The predicted phenomenology includes a bilinear dependence of the velocity on the activity and a possible double velocity reversal upon varying the correlation length.

We study hydrodynamic interactions and clustering mechanisms of active membrane inclusions within lipid bilayers. Pairs of inclusions display unique oscillatory dynamics that disappear when the 3D fluid adjacent to the membrane is confined. We reduce the governing equations to a coupled dynamical system whose phase behavior reveals the striking role of bulk confinement in enhancing cluster formation within the membrane. Using numerical simulations, we then extend this finding to demonstrate the role of confinement in controlling large-scale aggregation of membrane inclusions.

Migration of immune cells within the human body allows them to fulfill their main function of detecting pathogens. We present experimental evidence showing the optimality of the search strategy of these cells, which is of crucial importance to achieve an efficient immune response. We find that the speed and directional persistence of migrating dendritic cells in our in vitro experiments are highly correlated, which enables them to reduce their search time. We introduce theoretically a new class of random search optimization problems by minimizing the mean first-passage time (MFPT) with respect to the strength of the coupling between influential parameters. We derive an analytical expression for the MFPT in a confined geometry and verify that the correlated motion enhances the search efficiency if the mean persistence length is sufficiently shorter than the confinement size. Our correlated search optimization approach provides an efficient searching recipe and predictive power in a broad range of correlated stochastic processes.

The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) employs variational states generated by a parameterized quantum circuit to maximize the expected value of a Hamiltonian encoding a classical cost function. Whether or not the QAOA can outperform classical algorithms in some tasks is an actively debated question. Our work exposes fundamental limitations of the QAOA resulting from the symmetry and the locality of variational states. A surprising consequence of our results is that the classical Goemans-Williamson algorithm outperforms the QAOA for certain instances of MaxCut, at any constant level. To overcome these limitations, we propose a nonlocal version of the QAOA and give numerical evidence that it significantly outperforms the standard QAOA for frustrated Ising models.

We propose a way to observe the chiral magnetic effect in noncentrosymmetric Weyl semimetals under the action of a strong electric field, via the nonlinear part of their $I\text{−}V$ characteristic that is odd in the external magnetic field, or odd-in-magnetic field voltages in electrically open circuits. This effect relies on valley-selective heating in such materials, which, in general, leads to nonequilibrium valley population imbalances. In the presence of an external magnetic field, such a valley-imbalanced Weyl semimetal will, in general, develop an electric current along the direction of the magnetic field—the chiral magnetic effect. We also discuss a specific experimental setup to observe the chiral magnetic effect of hot electrons.

The Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes in a nonrelativistic system can be classified into two types from their characteristic features: being of either an odd (type I) or an even (type II) power energy-momentum dispersion. Conventionally, the type-II NG modes may universally arise from spontaneous breaking of noncommutative symmetry pairs. Here, we predict a novel type of quadratically dispersed NG modes that emerges in mixed $s$ and $p$ band Bose superfluids in an optical lattice and, unlike the conventional type-II NG modes, cannot be solely interpreted with the celebrated symmetry-based argument. Instead, we show that the existence of such modes has a profound connection to the topological transition on projective complex order-parameter space. The detection scheme is also proposed. Our Letter reveals a new universal mechanism for emergence of type-II NG modes, which bridges intrinsically the Landau symmetry-breaking and topological theories.

The observation of forward proton scattering in association with lepton pairs ($e^{+}{e}^{-}+p$ or ${\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}+p$) produced via photon fusion is presented. The scattered proton is detected by the ATLAS Forward Proton spectrometer, while the leptons are reconstructed by the central ATLAS detector. Proton-proton collision data recorded in 2017 at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$ are analyzed, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $14.6{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. A total of 57 (123) candidates in the $ee+p$ ($\mu \mu +p$) final state are selected, allowing the background-only hypothesis to be rejected with a significance exceeding 5 standard deviations in each channel. Proton-tagging techniques are introduced for cross-section measurements in the fiducial detector acceptance, corresponding to ${\sigma }_{ee+p}=11.0\pm 2.6(\mathrm{stat})\pm 1.2(\mathrm{syst})\pm 0.3(\mathrm{lumi})$ and ${\sigma }_{\mu \mu +p}=7.2\pm 1.6(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.9(\mathrm{syst})\pm 0.2(\mathrm{lumi})\mathrm{fb}$ in the dielectron and dimuon channel, respectively.

We present the first calculation of the $x$ dependence of the proton generalized parton distributions (GPDs) within lattice QCD. Results are obtained for the isovector unpolarized and helicity GPDs. We compute the appropriate matrix elements of fast-moving protons coupled to nonlocal operators containing a Wilson line. We present results for proton momenta 0.83,1.25,1.67 GeV, and momentum transfer squared 0.69,$1.38{\mathrm{GeV}}^2$. These combinations include cases with zero and nonzero skewness. The calculation is performed using one ensemble of two degenerate mass light quarks, a strange quark, and a charm quark of maximally twisted mass fermions with a clover term. The lattice results are matched to the light-cone GPDs using one-loop perturbation theory within the framework of large momentum effective theory. The final GPDs are given in the $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}$ scheme at a scale of 2 GeV.

Fully inverted atoms placed at exactly the same location synchronize as they deexcite, and light is emitted in a burst (known as “Dicke’s superradiance”). We investigate the role of finite interatomic separation on correlated decay in mesoscopic chains and provide an understanding in terms of collective jump operators. We show that the superradiant burst survives at small distances, despite Hamiltonian dipole-dipole interactions. However, for larger separations, competition between different jump operators leads to dephasing, suppressing superradiance. Collective effects are still significant for arrays with lattice constants of the order of a wavelength, and lead to a photon emission rate that decays nonexponentially in time. We calculate the two-photon correlation function and demonstrate that emission is correlated and directional, as well as sensitive to small changes in the interatomic distance. These features can be measured in current experimental setups, and are robust to realistic imperfections.

We study the ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ Bose-Hubbard model, a chain of interacting bosons the tunneling of which is dressed by a dynamical ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ field. The interplay between spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) and topological symmetry protection gives rise to interesting fractional topological phenomena when the system is doped to certain incommensurate fillings. In particular, we hereby show how topological defects in the ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ field can appear in the ground state, connecting different SSB sectors. These defects are dynamical and can travel through the lattice carrying both a topological charge and a fractional particle number. In the hardcore limit, this phenomenon can be understood through a bulk-defect correspondence. Using a pumping argument, we show that it survives also for finite interactions, demonstrating how boson fractionalization induced by topological defects can occur in strongly correlated bosonic systems. Our results indicate the possibility of observing this phenomenon, which appears for fermionic matter in solid-state and high-energy physics, using ultracold atomic systems.

Quantum critical points in quasiperiodic magnets can realize new universality classes, with critical properties distinct from those of clean or disordered systems. Here, we study quantum phase transitions separating ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases in the quasiperiodic $q$-state Potts model in $2+1\mathrm{D}$. Using a controlled real-space renormalization group approach, we find that the critical behavior is largely independent of $q$, and is controlled by an infinite-quasiperiodicity fixed point. The correlation length exponent is found to be $\nu =1$, saturating a modified version of the Harris-Luck criterion.

Density functional calculations can fail for want of an accurate exchange-correlation approximation. The energy can instead be extracted from a sequence of density functional calculations of conditional probabilities ($CP$ DFT). Simple $CP$ approximations yield usefully accurate results for two-electron ions, the hydrogen dimer, and the uniform gas at all temperatures. $CP$ DFT has no self-interaction error for one electron, and correctly dissociates ${\mathrm{H}}_2$, both major challenges. For warm dense matter, classical $CP$ DFT calculations can overcome the convergence problems of Kohn-Sham DFT.

Exquisite polarization control using optical metasurfaces has attracted considerable attention thanks to their ability to manipulate multichannel independent wavefronts with subwavelength resolution. Here we present a new class of metasurface polarization optics, which enables imposition of two arbitrary and independent amplitude profiles on any pair of orthogonal states of polarization. The implementation method involves a polarization-dependent interference mechanism achieved by constructing a metasurface composed of an array of nanoscale birefringent waveplates. Based on this principle, we experimentally demonstrate chiral grayscale metasurface and chiral shadow rendering of structured light. These results illustrate a general approach interlinking amplitude profiles and orthogonal states of polarization and expands the scope of metasurface polarization shaping optics.

The existing microscopic theories for elasticity of nematics are challenged by recent findings on systems, whether bent molecules or semiflexible polymers, which do not comply with the model of rigid rodlike particles. Here, we propose an extension of Onsager-Straley second-virial theory, based on a model for the orientational distribution function that, through explicit account of the director profile along a particle, changes in the presence of deformations. The elastic constants reveal specific effects of particle morphology, which are not captured by the existing theories. This paves the way to microscopic modeling of the elastic properties of semiflexible liquid crystal polymers, which is a longstanding issue.