Due to its ubiquitous presence, turbulence is often invoked to explain the origin of nonthermal particles in astrophysical sources of high-energy emission. With particle-in-cell simulations, we study decaying turbulence in magnetically dominated (or, equivalently, “relativistic”) pair plasmas. We find that the generation of a power-law particle energy spectrum is a generic by-product of relativistic turbulence. The power-law slope is harder for higher magnetizations and stronger turbulence levels. In large systems, the slope attains an asymptotic, system-size-independent value, while the high-energy spectral cutoff increases linearly with system size; both the slope and the cutoff do not depend on the dimensionality of our domain. By following a large sample of particles, we show that particle injection happens at reconnecting current sheets; the injected particles are then further accelerated by stochastic interactions with turbulent fluctuations. Our results have important implications for the origin of nonthermal particles in high-energy astrophysical sources.

Making kirigami-inspired cuts into a sheet has been shown to be an effective way of designing stretchable materials with metamorphic properties where the 2D shape can transform into complex 3D shapes. However, finding the optimal solutions is not straightforward as the number of possible cutting patterns grows exponentially with system size. Here, we report on how machine learning (ML) can be used to approximate the target properties, such as yield stress and yield strain, as a function of cutting pattern. Our approach enables the rapid discovery of kirigami designs that yield extreme stretchability as verified by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We find that convolutional neural networks, commonly used for classification in vision tasks, can be applied for regression to achieve an accuracy close to the precision of the MD simulations. This approach can then be used to search for optimal designs that maximize elastic stretchability with only 1000 training samples in a large design space of $\sim 4\times {10}^6$ candidate designs. This example demonstrates the power and potential of ML in finding optimal kirigami designs at a fraction of iterations that would be required of a purely MD or experiment-based approach, where no prior knowledge of the governing physics is known or available.

We show that chemistry can be used to trigger a nanofaceting transition. In particular, the segregation of Ag to an asymmetric tilt grain boundary in Cu is investigated. Aberration-corrected electron microscopy reveals that annealing the bicrystal results in the formation of nanometer-sized facets composed of preferentially Ag-segregated symmetric $\mathrm{\Sigma }5\{210\}$ segments and Ag-depleted $\{230\}/\{100\}$ asymmetric segments. Our observations oppose an anticipated trend to form coarse facets. Atomistic simulations confirm the nanofacet formation observed in the experiment and demonstrate a concurrent grain boundary phase transition induced by the anisotropic segregation of Ag.

Emergent order at mesoscopic length scales in condensed matter can provide fundamental insight into the underlying competing interactions and their relationship with the order parameter. Using spectromicroscopy, we show that mesoscopic stripe order near the metal-insulator transition (MIT) of strained ${\mathrm{VO}}_2$ represents periodic modulations in both crystal symmetry and V—V dimerization. Above the MIT, we unexpectedly find the long-range order of V—V dimer strength and crystal symmetry become dissociated beyond $\approx 200\mathrm{nm}$, whereas the conductivity transition proceeds homogeneously in a narrow temperature range.

We demonstrate the Josephson effect in a serial double quantum dot defined in a nanowire with epitaxial superconducting leads. The supercurrent stability diagram adopts a honeycomb pattern. We observe sharp discontinuities in the magnitude of the critical current, $I_c$, as a function of dot occupation, related to doublet to singlet ground state transitions. Detuning of the energy levels offers a tuning knob for $I_c$, which attains a maximum at zero detuning. The consistency between experiment and theory indicates that our device is a faithful realization of the two-impurity Anderson model.

We present measurements of quantized conductance in electrostatically induced quantum point contacts in bilayer graphene. The application of a perpendicular magnetic field leads to an intricate pattern of lifted and restored degeneracies with increasing field: at zero magnetic field the degeneracy of quantized one-dimensional subbands is four, because of a twofold spin and a twofold valley degeneracy. By switching on the magnetic field, the valley degeneracy is lifted. Because of the Berry curvature, states from different valleys split linearly in magnetic field. In the quantum Hall regime fourfold degenerate conductance plateaus reemerge. During the adiabatic transition to the quantum Hall regime, levels from one valley shift by two in quantum number with respect to the other valley, forming an interweaving pattern that can be reproduced by numerical calculations.

We report a study of one-dimensional subband splitting in a bilayer graphene quantum point contact in which quantized conductance in steps of $4e^2/h$ is clearly defined down to the lowest subband. While our source-drain bias spectroscopy measurements reveal an unconventional confinement, we observe a full lifting of the valley degeneracy at high magnetic fields perpendicular to the bilayer graphene plane for the first two lowest subbands where confinement and Coulomb interactions are the strongest and a peculiar merging or mixing of $K$ and $K^{\prime }$ valleys from two nonadjacent subbands with indices $(N,N+2)$, which are well described by our semiphenomenological model.

We study a network of unidirectionally coupled rotators with independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) frequencies and i.i.d. coupling coefficients. Similar to biological networks, this system can attain an asynchronous state with pronounced temporal autocorrelations of the rotators. We derive differential equations for the self-consistent autocorrelation function that can be solved analytically in limit cases. For more involved scenarios, its numerical solution is confirmed by simulations of networks with Gaussian or sparsely distributed coupling coefficients. The theory is finally generalized for pulse-coupled units and tested on a standard model of computational neuroscience, a recurrent network of sparsely coupled exponential integrate-and-fire neurons.

Bipartite quantum interactions have applications in a number of different areas of quantum physics, reaching from fundamental areas such as quantum thermodynamics and the theory of quantum measurements to other applications such as quantum computers, quantum key distribution, and other information processing protocols. A particular aspect of the study of bipartite interactions is concerned with the entanglement that can be created from such interactions. In this Letter, we present our work on two basic building blocks of bipartite quantum protocols, namely, the generation of maximally entangled states and secret key via bipartite quantum interactions. In particular, we provide a nontrivial, efficiently computable upper bound on the positive-partial-transpose-assisted quantum capacity of a bipartite quantum interaction. In addition, we provide an upper bound on the secret-key-agreement capacity of a bipartite quantum interaction assisted by local operations and classical communication. As an application, we introduce a cryptographic protocol for the readout of a digital memory device that is secure against a passive eavesdropper.

We unveil the stable ($d+1$)-dimensional topological structures underlying the quench dynamics for all of the Altland-Zirnbauer classes in $d=1$ dimension, and we propose to detect such dynamical topology from the time evolution of entanglement spectra. Focusing on systems in classes BDI and D, we find crossings in single-particle entanglement spectra for quantum quenches between different symmetry-protected topological phases. The entanglement-spectrum crossings are shown to be stable against symmetry-preserving disorder and faithfully reflect both $\mathbb{Z}$ (class BDI) and ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ (class D) topological characterizations. As a by-product, we unravel the topological origin of the global degeneracies temporarily emerging in the many-body entanglement spectrum in the quench dynamics of the transverse-field Ising model. These findings can experimentally be tested in ultracold atoms and trapped ions with the help of cutting-edge tomography for quantum many-body states. Our work paves the way towards a systematic understanding of the role of topology in quench dynamics.

This Letter reports the first scientific results from the observation of antineutrinos emitted by fission products of ${}^{235}\mathrm{U}$ at the High Flux Isotope Reactor. PROSPECT, the Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment, consists of a segmented 4 ton ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$-doped liquid scintillator detector covering a baseline range of 7–9 m from the reactor and operating under less than 1 m water equivalent overburden. Data collected during 33 live days of reactor operation at a nominal power of 85 MW yield a detection of $25461\pm 283(\mathrm{stat})$ inverse beta decays. Observation of reactor antineutrinos can be achieved in PROSPECT at $5\sigma$ statistical significance within 2 h of on-surface reactor-on data taking. A reactor model independent analysis of the inverse beta decay prompt energy spectrum as a function of baseline constrains significant portions of the previously allowed sterile neutrino oscillation parameter space at 95% confidence level and disfavors the best fit of the reactor antineutrino anomaly at $2.2\sigma$ confidence level.

Superpositions of rotational states in polar molecules induce strong, long-range dipolar interactions. Here we extend the rotational coherence by nearly 1 order of magnitude to 8.7(6) ms in a dilute gas of polar ${}^{23}\mathrm{Na}{}^{40}\mathrm{K}$ molecules in an optical trap. We demonstrate spin-decoupled magic trapping, which cancels first-order and reduces second-order differential light shifts. The latter is achieved with a dc electric field that decouples nuclear spin, rotation, and trapping light field. We observe density-dependent coherence times, which can be explained by dipolar interactions in the bulk gas.

Cooper pairing caused by an induced interaction represents a paradigm in our description of fermionic superfluidity. Here, we present a strong coupling theory for the critical temperature of $p$-wave pairing between spin polarized fermions immersed in a Bose-Einstein condensate. The fermions interact via the exchange of phonons in the condensate, and our self-consistent theory takes into account the full frequency and momentum dependence of the resulting induced interaction. We demonstrate that both retardation and self-energy effects are important for obtaining a reliable value of the critical temperature. Focusing on experimentally relevant systems, we perform a systematic analysis varying the boson-boson and boson-fermion interaction strength as well as their masses, and identify the most suitable system for realizing a $p$-wave superfluid. Our results show that such a superfluid indeed is experimentally within reach using light bosons mixed with heavy fermions.

We use first-principles theory to show that the ingredients assumed to be essential to the occurrence of negative thermal expansion (NTE)—rigid unit phonon modes with negative Grüneisen parameters—are neither sufficient nor necessary for a material to undergo NTE. Instead, we find that NTE in ${\mathrm{PbTiO}}_3$ involves a delicate interplay between the phonon properties of a material (Grüneisen parameters) and its anisotropic elasticity. These unique insights open new avenues in our fundamental understanding of the thermal properties of materials and in the search for NTE in new materials classes.

We show three-dimensional images of phase ordering in a ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{55}{\mathrm{Al}}_{45}$ alloy obtained by coherent x-ray diffraction Bragg ptychography. Fe-Al alloys display ordered phases where the atoms organize on sublattices resulting in the emergence of otherwise forbidden superlattice reflections. The degeneracy of the ordering results in antiphase domain boundaries that, in addition to the general lattice strain, provide phase shifts of the diffracted beam depending on the reflection. The reconstructed phase images can be separated into components originating from $B2$ phase domains and lattice strain by performing Bragg ptychography on both the (002) fundamental and the (001) superlattice reflections.

The chiral Majorana fermion is a massless self-conjugate fermionic particle that could arise as the quasiparticle edge state of a two-dimensonal topological state of matter. Here we propose a new platform for a chiral topological superconductor (TSC) in two dimensions with multiple $N$ chiral Majorana fermions from a quantized anomalous Hall insulator in proximity to an $s$-wave superconductor with nontrivial band topology. A concrete example is that a $N=3$ chiral TSC is realized by coupling a magnetic topological insulator to the ion-based superconductor such as ${\mathrm{FeTe}}_{0.55}{\mathrm{Se}}_{0.45}$. We further propose the electrical and thermal transport experiments to detect the Majorana nature of three chiral edge fermions. A smoking gun signature is that the two-terminal electrical conductance of a quantized anomalous Hall-TSC junction obeys a unique distribution averaged to $(2/3)e^2/h$, which is due to the random edge mode mixing of chiral Majorana fermions and is distinguished from possible trivial explanations. The homogenous system proposed here provides an ideal platform for studying the exotic physics of chiral Majorana fermions.

On the quest towards full control over wave propagation, the development of compact devices that allow asymmetric response is a challenge. In this Letter, we introduce a new paradigm for the engineering of asymmetry in planar structures, revealing and exploiting unilateral excitation of evanescent waves. We test the idea with the design and experimental characterization of a metasurface for angular-asymmetric absorption. The results show that the contrast ratio of absorption (the asymmetry level) can be arbitrarily engineered from zero to infinity for waves coming from two oppositely tilted angles. We demonstrate that the revealed asymmetry effects cannot be realized using conventional diffraction gratings, reflectarrays, and phase-gradient metasurfaces. This Letter opens up promising possibilities for wave manipulation via evanescent waves engineering with applications in one-side detection and sensing, angle-encoded steganography, flat nonlinear devices, and shaping the scattering patterns of various objects.

We present measurements of one-dimensional superconductor-semiconductor Coulomb islands, fabricated by gate confinement of a two-dimensional InAs heterostructure with an epitaxial Al layer. When tuned via electrostatic side gates to regimes without subgap states, Coulomb blockade reveals Cooper-pair mediated transport. When subgap states are present, Coulomb peak positions and heights oscillate in a correlated way with magnetic field and gate voltage, as predicted theoretically, with (anti)crossings in (parallel) transverse magnetic field indicating Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling. Overall results are consistent with a picture of overlapping Majorana zero modes in finite wires.