The 100 most-cited articles in Physical Review Letters, 2018

The use of machine learning methods for accelerating the design of crystalline materials usually requires manually constructed feature vectors or complex transformation of atom coordinates to input the crystal structure, which either constrains the model to certain crystal types or makes it difficult to provide chemical insights. Here, we develop a crystal graph convolutional neural networks framework to directly learn material properties from the connection of atoms in the crystal, providing a universal and interpretable representation of crystalline materials. Our method provides a highly accurate prediction of density functional theory calculated properties for eight different properties of crystals with various structure types and compositions after being trained with 10^{4} data points. Further, our framework is interpretable because one can extract the contributions from local chemical environments to global properties. Using an example of perovskites, we show how this information can be utilized to discover empirical rules for materials design.

On 17 August 2017, the LIGO and Virgo observatories made the first direct detection of gravitational waves from the coalescence of a neutron star binary system. The detection of this gravitational-wave signal, GW170817, offers a novel opportunity to directly probe the properties of matter at the extreme conditions found in the interior of these stars. The initial, minimal-assumption analysis of the LIGO and Virgo data placed constraints on the tidal effects of the coalescing bodies, which were then translated to constraints on neutron star radii. Here, we expand upon previous analyses by working under the hypothesis that both bodies were neutron stars that are described by the same equation of state and have spins within the range observed in Galactic binary neutron stars. Our analysis employs two methods: the use of equation-of-state-insensitive relations between various macroscopic properties of the neutron stars and the use of an efficient parametrization of the defining function p(ρ) of the equation of state itself. From the LIGO and Virgo data alone and the first method, we…

We introduce a scheme for molecular simulations, the deep potential molecular dynamics (DPMD) method, based on a many-body potential and interatomic forces generated by a carefully crafted deep neural network trained with ab initio data. The neural network model preserves all the natural symmetries in the problem. It is first-principles based in the sense that there are no ad hoc components aside from the network model. We show that the proposed scheme provides an efficient and accurate protocol in a variety of systems, including bulk materials and molecules. In all these cases, DPMD gives results that are essentially indistinguishable from the original data, at a cost that scales linearly with system size.

The bulk-boundary correspondence is among the central issues of non-Hermitian topological states. We show that a previously overlooked "non-Hermitian skin effect" necessitates redefinition of topological invariants in a generalized Brillouin zone. The resultant phase diagrams dramatically differ from the usual Bloch theory. Specifically, we obtain the phase diagram of the non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, whose topological zero modes are determined by the non-Bloch winding number instead of the Bloch-Hamiltonian-based topological number. Our work settles the issue of the breakdown of conventional bulk-boundary correspondence and introduces the non-Bloch bulk-boundary correspondence.

We reveal that metasurfaces created by seemingly different lattices of (dielectric or metallic) meta-atoms with broken in-plane symmetry can support sharp high-Q resonances arising from a distortion of symmetry-protected bound states in the continuum. We develop a rigorous theory of such asymmetric periodic structures and demonstrate a link between the bound states in the continuum and Fano resonances. Our results suggest the way for smart engineering of resonances in metasurfaces for many applications in nanophotonics and metaoptics.

We report on a search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) using 278.8 days of data collected with the XENON1T experiment at LNGS. XENON1T utilizes a liquid xenon time projection chamber with a fiducial mass of (1.30±0.01) ton, resulting in a 1.0 ton yr exposure. The energy region of interest, [1.4,10.6] keV_{ee} ([4.9,40.9] keV_{nr}), exhibits an ultralow electron recoil background rate of [82_{-3}^{+5}(syst)±3(stat)] events/(ton yr keV_{ee}). No significant excess over background is found, and a profile likelihood analysis parametrized in spatial and energy dimensions excludes new parameter space for the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent elastic scatter cross section for WIMP masses above 6 GeV/c^{2}, with a minimum of 4.1×10^{-47} cm^{2} at 30 GeV/c^{2} and a 90% confidence level.

Non-Hermitian systems exhibit striking exceptions from the paradigmatic bulk-boundary correspondence, including the failure of bulk Bloch band invariants in predicting boundary states and the (dis)appearance of boundary states at parameter values far from those corresponding to gap closings in periodic systems without boundaries. Here, we provide a comprehensive framework to unravel this disparity based on the notion of biorthogonal quantum mechanics: While the properties of the left and right eigenstates corresponding to boundary modes are individually decoupled from the bulk physics in non-Hermitian systems, their combined biorthogonal density penetrates the bulk precisely when phase transitions occur. This leads to generalized bulk-boundary correspondence and a quantized biorthogonal polarization that is formulated directly in systems with open boundaries. We illustrate our general insights by deriving the phase diagram for several microscopic open boundary models, including exactly solvable non-Hermitian extensions of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model and Chern insulators.

We demonstrate the effectiveness of using machine learning for model-free prediction of spatiotemporally chaotic systems of arbitrarily large spatial extent and attractor dimension purely from observations of the system's past evolution. We present a parallel scheme with an example implementation based on the reservoir computing paradigm and demonstrate the scalability of our scheme using the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation as an example of a spatiotemporally chaotic system.

We develop the topological band theory for systems described by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, whose energy spectra are generally complex. After generalizing the notion of gapped band structures to the non-Hermitian case, we classify "gapped" bands in one and two dimensions by explicitly finding their topological invariants. We find nontrivial generalizations of the Chern number in two dimensions, and a new classification in one dimension, whose topology is determined by the energy dispersion rather than the energy eigenstates. We then study the bulk-edge correspondence and the topological phase transition in two dimensions. Different from the Hermitian case, the transition generically involves an extended intermediate phase with complex-energy band degeneracies at isolated "exceptional points" in momentum space. We also systematically classify all types of band degeneracies.

The detection of gravitational waves originating from a neutron-star merger, GW170817, by the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations has recently provided new stringent limits on the tidal deformabilities of the stars involved in the collision. Combining this measurement with the existence of two-solar-mass stars, we generate a generic family of neutron-star-matter equations of state (EOSs) that interpolate between state-of-the-art theoretical results at low and high baryon density. Comparing the results to ones obtained without the tidal-deformability constraint, we witness a dramatic reduction in the family of allowed EOSs. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the maximal radius of a 1.4-solar-mass neutron star is 13.6 km, and that the smallest allowed tidal deformability of a similar-mass star is Λ(1.4 M_{⊙})=120.

The relation between chiral edge modes and bulk Chern numbers of quantum Hall insulators is a paradigmatic example of bulk-boundary correspondence. We show that the chiral edge modes are not strictly tied to the Chern numbers defined by a non-Hermitian Bloch Hamiltonian. This breakdown of conventional bulk-boundary correspondence stems from the non-Bloch-wave behavior of eigenstates (non-Hermitian skin effect), which generates pronounced deviations of phase diagrams from the Bloch theory. We introduce non-Bloch Chern numbers that faithfully predict the numbers of chiral edge modes. The theory is backed up by the open-boundary energy spectra, dynamics, and phase diagram of representative lattice models. Our results highlight a unique feature of non-Hermitian bands and suggest a non-Bloch framework to characterize their topology.

A second-order topological insulator in d dimensions is an insulator which has no d-1 dimensional topological boundary states but has d-2 dimensional topological boundary states. It is an extended notion of the conventional topological insulator. Higher-order topological insulators have been investigated in square and cubic lattices. In this Letter, we generalize them to breathing kagome and pyrochlore lattices. First, we construct a second-order topological insulator on the breathing Kagome lattice. Three topological boundary states emerge at the corner of the triangle, realizing a 1/3 fractional charge at each corner. Second, we construct a third-order topological insulator on the breathing pyrochlore lattice. Four topological boundary states emerge at the corners of the tetrahedron with a 1/4 fractional charge at each corner. These higher-order topological insulators are characterized by the quantized polarization, which constitutes the bulk topological index. Finally, we study a second-order topological semimetal by stacking the breathing kagome lattice.

We perform decoy-state quantum key distribution between a low-Earth-orbit satellite and multiple ground stations located in Xinglong, Nanshan, and Graz, which establish satellite-to-ground secure keys with ∼kHz rate per passage of the satellite Micius over a ground station. The satellite thus establishes a secure key between itself and, say, Xinglong, and another key between itself and, say, Graz. Then, upon request from the ground command, Micius acts as a trusted relay. It performs bitwise exclusive or operations between the two keys and relays the result to one of the ground stations. That way, a secret key is created between China and Europe at locations separated by 7600 km on Earth. These keys are then used for intercontinental quantum-secured communication. This was, on the one hand, the transmission of images in a one-time pad configuration from China to Austria as well as from Austria to China. Also, a video conference was performed between the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which also included a 280 km optical ground connection between…

We present a quantum key distribution system with a 2.5 GHz repetition rate using a three-state time-bin protocol combined with a one-decoy approach. Taking advantage of superconducting single-photon detectors optimized for quantum key distribution and ultralow-loss fiber, we can distribute secret keys at a maximum distance of 421 km and obtain secret key rates of 6.5 bps over 405 km.

Flexible long period moiré superlattices form in two-dimensional van der Waals crystals containing layers that differ slightly in lattice constant or orientation. In this Letter we show theoretically that isolated flat moiré bands described by generalized triangular lattice Hubbard models are present in twisted transition metal dichalcogenide heterobilayers. The hopping and interaction strength parameters of the Hubbard model can be tuned by varying the twist angle and the three-dimensional dielectric environment. When the flat moiré bands are partially filled, candidate many-body ground states at some special filling factors include spin-liquid states, quantum anomalous Hall insulators, and chiral d-wave superconductors.

We show how to generate tripartite entanglement in a cavity magnomechanical system which consists of magnons, cavity microwave photons, and phonons. The magnons are embodied by a collective motion of a large number of spins in a macroscopic ferrimagnet, and are driven directly by an electromagnetic field. The cavity photons and magnons are coupled via magnetic dipole interaction, and the magnons and phonons are coupled via magnetostrictive (radiation pressurelike) interaction. We show optimal parameter regimes for achieving the tripartite entanglement where magnons, cavity photons, and phonons are entangled with each other, and we further prove that the steady state of the system is a genuinely tripartite entangled state. The entanglement is robust against temperature. Our results indicate that cavity magnomechanical systems could provide a promising platform for the study of macroscopic quantum phenomena.

We explore in a parameterized manner a very large range of physically plausible equations of state (EOSs) for compact stars for matter that is either purely hadronic or that exhibits a phase transition. In particular, we produce two classes of EOSs with and without phase transitions, each containing one million EOSs. We then impose constraints on the maximum mass (M<2.16 M_{⊙}) and on the dimensionless tidal deformability (Λ[over ˜]<800) deduced from GW170817, together with recent suggestions of lower limits on Λ[over ˜]. Exploiting more than 10^{9} equilibrium models for each class of EOSs, we produce distribution functions of all the stellar properties and determine, among other quantities, the radius that is statistically most probable for any value of the stellar mass. In this way, we deduce that the radius of a purely hadronic neutron star with a representative mass of 1.4 M_{⊙} is constrained to be 12.00 375, again at a 2σ level. On the other hand, because EOSs with a phase transition allow for very compact stars on the so-called "twin-star" branch, small radii are possible…

We use gravitational-wave observations of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 to explore the tidal deformabilities and radii of neutron stars. We perform a Bayesian parameter estimation with the source location and distance informed by electromagnetic observations. We also assume that the two stars have the same equation of state; we demonstrate that, for stars with masses comparable to the component masses of GW170817, this is effectively implemented by assuming that the stars' dimensionless tidal deformabilities are determined by the binary's mass ratio $q$ by ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{1}/{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{2}={q}^{6}$. We investigate different choices of prior on the component masses of the neutron stars. We find that the tidal deformability and 90% credible interval is $\stackrel{\texttildelow{}}{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}={222}_{\ensuremath{-}138}^{+420}$ for a uniform component mass prior, $\stackrel{\texttildelow{}}{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}={245}_{\ensuremath{-}151}^{+453}$ for a component mass prior informed by radio observations of…

We identify a class of scalar-tensor theories with coupling between the scalar and the Gauss-Bonnet invariant that exhibit spontaneous scalarization for both black holes and compact stars. In particular, these theories formally admit all of the stationary solutions of general relativity, but these are not dynamically preferred if certain conditions are satisfied. Remarkably, black holes exhibit scalarization if their mass lies within one of many narrow bands. We find evidence that scalarization can occur in neutron stars as well.

This Letter reports the results from a haloscope search for dark matter axions with masses between 2.66 and 2.81 μeV. The search excludes the range of axion-photon couplings predicted by plausible models of the invisible axion. This unprecedented sensitivity is achieved by operating a large-volume haloscope at subkelvin temperatures, thereby reducing thermal noise as well as the excess noise from the ultralow-noise superconducting quantum interference device amplifier used for the signal power readout. Ongoing searches will provide nearly definitive tests of the invisible axion model over a wide range of axion masses.

Real-time spectroscopy access to ultrafast fiber lasers opens new opportunities for exploring complex soliton interaction dynamics. Here, we have reported the first observation, to the best of our knowledge, of the entire buildup process of soliton molecules (SMs) in a mode-locked laser. We have observed that the birth dynamics of a stable SM experiences five different stages, i.e., the raised relaxation oscillation (RO) stage, beating dynamics stage, transient single pulse stage, transient bound state, and finally the stable bound state. We have discovered that the evolution of pulses in the raised RO stage follows a law that only the strongest one can ultimately survive and, meanwhile, the pulses periodically appear at the same temporal positions for all lasing spikes during the same RO stage (named as memory ability) but they lose such ability between different RO stages. Moreover, we have found that the buildup dynamics of SMs is quite sensitive to both the polarization state of intracavity light and the fluctuation of pump power. These results provide new perspectives into the…

Self-bound quantum droplets are a newly discovered phase in the context of ultracold atoms. In this Letter, we report their experimental realization following the original proposal by Petrov [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 155302 (2015)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.115.155302], using an attractive bosonic mixture. In this system, spherical droplets form due to the balance of competing attractive and repulsive forces, provided by the mean-field energy close to the collapse threshold and the first-order correction due to quantum fluctuations. Thanks to an optical levitating potential with negligible residual confinement, we observe self-bound droplets in free space, and we characterize the conditions for their formation as well as their size and composition. This work sets the stage for future studies on quantum droplets, from the measurement of their peculiar excitation spectrum to the exploration of their superfluid nature.

Generative adversarial networks represent a powerful tool for classical machine learning: a generator tries to create statistics for data that mimics those of a true data set, while a discriminator tries to discriminate between the true and fake data. The learning process for generator and discriminator can be thought of as an adversarial game, and under reasonable assumptions, the game converges to the point where the generator generates the same statistics as the true data and the discriminator is unable to discriminate between the true and the generated data. This Letter introduces the notion of quantum generative adversarial networks, where the data consist either of quantum states or of classical data, and the generator and discriminator are equipped with quantum information processors. We show that the unique fixed point of the quantum adversarial game also occurs when the generator produces the same statistics as the data. Neither the generator nor the discriminator perform quantum tomography; linear programing drives them to the optimal. Since quantum systems are…

In the present Letter, we consider a class of extended scalar-tensor-Gauss-Bonnet (ESTGB) theories for which the scalar degree of freedom is excited only in the extreme curvature regime. We show that in the mentioned class of ESTGB theories there exist new black-hole solutions that are formed by spontaneous scalarization of the Schwarzschild black holes in the extreme curvature regime. In this regime, below certain mass, the Schwarzschild solution becomes unstable and a new branch of solutions with a nontrivial scalar field bifurcates from the Schwarzschild one. As a matter of fact, more than one branch with a nontrivial scalar field can bifurcate at different masses, but only the first one is supposed to be stable. This effect is quite similar to the spontaneous scalarization of neutron stars. In contrast to the standard spontaneous scalarization of neutron stars, which is induced by the presence of matter, in our case, the scalarization is induced by the curvature of the spacetime.

We report the first observation of lasing topological edge states in a 1D Su-Schrieffer-Heeger active array of microring resonators. We show that the judicious use of non-Hermiticity can promote single edge-mode lasing in such arrays. Our experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that, in the presence of chiral-time symmetry, this non-Hermitian topological structure can experience phase transitions that are dictated by a complex geometric phase. Our work may pave the way towards understanding the fundamental aspects associated with the interplay among non-Hermiticity, nonlinearity, and topology in active systems.

Out-of-plane ferroelectricity with a high transition temperature in ultrathin films is important for the exploration of new domain physics and scaling down of memory devices. However, depolarizing electrostatic fields and interfacial chemical bonds can destroy this long-range polar order at two-dimensional (2D) limit. Here we report the experimental discovery of the locking between out-of-plane dipoles and in-plane lattice asymmetry in atomically thin In_{2}Se_{3} crystals, a new stabilization mechanism leading to our observation of intrinsic 2D out-of-plane ferroelectricity. Through second harmonic generation spectroscopy and piezoresponse force microscopy, we found switching of out-of-plane electric polarization requires a flip of nonlinear optical polarization that corresponds to the inversion of in-plane lattice orientation. The polar order shows a very high transition temperature (∼700 K) without the assistance of extrinsic screening. This finding of intrinsic 2D ferroelectricity resulting from dipole locking opens up possibilities to explore 2D multiferroic physics and develop…

We report the first observation of the magnon-polariton bistability in a cavity magnonics system consisting of cavity photons strongly interacting with the magnons in a small yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere. The bistable behaviors emerged as sharp frequency switchings of the cavity magnon polaritons (CMPs) and related to the transition between states with large and small numbers of polaritons. In our experiment, we align, respectively, the [100] and [110] crystallographic axes of the YIG sphere parallel to the static magnetic field and find very different bistable behaviors (e.g., clockwise and counter-clockwise hysteresis loops) in these two cases. The experimental results are well fitted and explained as being due to the Kerr nonlinearity with either a positive or negative coefficient. Moreover, when the magnetic field is tuned away from the anticrossing point of CMPs, we observe simultaneous bistability of both magnons and cavity photons by applying a drive field on the lower branch.

Quantum information theorems state that it is possible to exploit collective quantum resources to greatly enhance the charging power of quantum batteries (QBs) made of many identical elementary units. We here present and solve a model of a QB that can be engineered in solid-state architectures. It consists of N two-level systems coupled to a single photonic mode in a cavity. We contrast this collective model ("Dicke QB"), whereby entanglement is genuinely created by the common photonic mode, to the one in which each two-level system is coupled to its own separate cavity mode ("Rabi QB"). By employing exact diagonalization, we demonstrate the emergence of a quantum advantage in the charging power of Dicke QBs, which scales like sqrt[N] for N≫1.

We consider a general Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theory with a coupling function f(ϕ). We demonstrate that black-hole solutions appear as a generic feature of this theory since a regular horizon and an asymptotically flat solution may be easily constructed under mild assumptions for f(ϕ). We show that the existing no-hair theorems are easily evaded, and a large number of regular black-hole solutions with scalar hair are then presented for a plethora of coupling functions f(ϕ).

We demonstrate experimentally that a photonic crystal made of Al_{2}O_{3} cylinders exhibits topological time-reversal symmetric electromagnetic propagation, similar to the quantum spin Hall effect in electronic systems. A pseudospin degree of freedom in the electromagnetic system representing different states of orbital angular momentum arises due to a deformation of the photonic crystal from the ideal honeycomb lattice. It serves as the photonic analogue to the electronic Kramers pair. We visualized qualitatively and measured quantitatively that microwaves of a specific pseudospin propagate only in one direction along the interface between a topological photonic crystal and a trivial one. As only a conventional dielectric material is used and only local real-space manipulations are required, our scheme can be extended to visible light to inspire many future applications in the field of photonics and beyond.

We propose how to create and manipulate one-way nonclassical light via photon blockade in rotating nonlinear devices. We refer to this effect as nonreciprocal photon blockade (PB). Specifically, we show that in a spinning Kerr resonator, PB happens when the resonator is driven in one direction but not the other. This occurs because of the Fizeau drag, leading to a full split of the resonance frequencies of the countercirculating modes. Different types of purely quantum correlations, such as single- and two-photon blockades, can emerge in different directions in a well-controlled manner, and the transition from PB to photon-induced tunneling is revealed as well. Our work opens up a new route to achieve quantum nonreciprocal devices, which are crucial elements in chiral quantum technologies or topological photonics.

We present results from an analysis of all data taken by the bicep2/Keck CMB polarization experiments up to and including the 2015 observing season. This includes the first Keck Array observations at 220 GHz and additional observations at 95 and 150 GHz. The Q and U maps reach depths of 5.2, 2.9, and 26 μK_{CMB} arcmin at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, respectively, over an effective area of ≈400 square degrees. The 220 GHz maps achieve a signal to noise on polarized dust emission approximately equal to that of Planck at 353 GHz. We take auto and cross spectra between these maps and publicly available WMAP and Planck maps at frequencies from 23 to 353 GHz. We evaluate the joint likelihood of the spectra versus a multicomponent model of lensed-ΛCDM+r+dust+synchrotron+noise. The foreground model has seven parameters, and we impose priors on some of these using external information from Planck and WMAP derived from larger regions of sky. The model is shown to be an adequate description of the data at the current noise levels. The likelihood analysis yields the constraint r_{0.05}<0.07 at 95%…

We present a theory of phonon-mediated superconductivity in near magic angle twisted bilayer graphene. Using a microscopic model for phonon coupling to moiré band electrons, we find that phonons generate attractive interactions in both s- and d-wave pairing channels and that the attraction is strong enough to explain the experimental superconducting transition temperatures. Before including Coulomb repulsion, the s-wave channel is more favorable; however, on-site Coulomb repulsion can suppress s-wave pairing relative to d wave. The pair amplitude varies spatially with the moiré period, and is identical in the two layers in the s-wave channel but phase shifted by π in the d-wave channel. We discuss experiments that can distinguish the two pairing states.

Ultraflatbands in twisted bilayers of two-dimensional materials have the potential to host strong correlations, including the Mott-insulating phase at half-filling of the band. Using first-principles density functional theory calculations, we show the emergence of ultraflatbands at the valence band edge in twisted bilayer MoS_{2}, a prototypical transition metal dichalcogenide. The computed band widths, 5 and 23 meV for 56.5° and 3.5° twist angles, respectively, are comparable to that of twisted bilayer graphene near "magic" angles. Large structural transformations in the moiré patterns lead to formation of shear solitons at stacking boundaries and strongly influence the electronic structure. We extend our analysis for twisted bilayer MoS_{2} to show that flatbands can occur at the valence band edge of twisted bilayer WS_{2}, MoSe_{2}, and WSe_{2} as well.

The historical first detection of a binary neutron star merger by the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration [B. P. Abbott et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 161101 (2017)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.119.161101] is providing fundamental new insights into the astrophysical site for the r process and on the nature of dense matter. A set of realistic models of the equation of state (EOS) that yield an accurate description of the properties of finite nuclei, support neutron stars of two solar masses, and provide a Lorentz covariant extrapolation to dense matter are used to confront its predictions against tidal polarizabilities extracted from the gravitational-wave data. Given the sensitivity of the gravitational-wave signal to the underlying EOS, limits on the tidal polarizability inferred from the observation translate into constraints on the neutron-star radius. Based on these constraints, models that predict a stiff symmetry energy, and thus large stellar radii, can be ruled out. Indeed, we deduce an upper limit on the radius of a 1.4M_{⊙} neutron star of R_{⋆}^{1.4}<13.76 km. Given the…

The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports results from an analysis of ν_{e} appearance data from 12.84×10^{20} protons on target in neutrino mode, an increase of approximately a factor of 2 over previously reported results. A ν_{e} charged-current quasielastic event excess of 381.2±85.2 events (4.5σ) is observed in the energy range 200<E_{ν}^{QE}<1250 MeV. Combining these data with the ν[over ¯]_{e} appearance data from 11.27×10^{20} protons on target in antineutrino mode, a total ν_{e} plus ν[over ¯]_{e} charged-current quasielastic event excess of 460.5±99.0 events (4.7σ) is observed. If interpreted in a two-neutrino oscillation model, ν_{μ}→ν_{e}, the best oscillation fit to the excess has a probability of 21.1%, while the background-only fit has a χ^{2} probability of 6×10^{-7} relative to the best fit. The MiniBooNE data are consistent in energy and magnitude with the excess of events reported by the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND), and the significance of the combined LSND and MiniBooNE excesses is 6.0σ. A two-neutrino oscillation interpretation of the data…

We show theoretically that both the intrinsic spin Hall effect (SHE) and orbital Hall effect (OHE) can arise in centrosymmetric systems through momentum-space orbital texture, which is ubiquitous even in centrosymmetric systems unlike spin texture. The OHE occurs even without spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and is converted into the SHE through SOC. The resulting spin Hall conductivity is large (comparable to that of Pt) but depends on the SOC strength in a nonmonotonic way. This mechanism is stable against orbital quenching. This work suggests a path for an ongoing search for materials with stronger SHE. It also calls for experimental efforts to probe orbital degrees of freedom in the OHE and SHE. Possible ways for experimental detection are briefly discussed.

Optical analog signal processing has been gaining significant attention as a way to overcome the speed and energy limitations of digital techniques. Metasurfaces offer a promising avenue towards this goal due to their efficient manipulation of optical signals over deeply subwavelength volumes. To date, metasurfaces have been proposed to transform signals in the spatial domain, e.g., for beam steering, focusing, or holography, for which angular-dependent responses, or nonlocality, are unwanted features that must be avoided or mitigated. Here, we show that the metasurface nonlocality can be engineered to enable signal manipulation in the momentum domain over an ultrathin platform. We explore nonlocal metasurfaces performing basic mathematical operations, paving the way towards fast and power-efficient ultrathin devices for edge detection and optical image processing.

A bound state in the continuum (BIC) is a localized state of an open structure with access to radiation channels, yet it remains highly confined with, in theory, an infinite lifetime and quality factor. There have been many realizations of such exceptional states in dielectric systems without loss. However, realizing BICs in lossy systems such as those in plasmonics remains a challenge. In this Letter, we explore the possibility of realizing BICs in a hybrid plasmonic-photonic structure consisting of a plasmonic grating coupled to a dielectric optical waveguide with diverging radiative quality factors. The plasmonic-photonic system supports two distinct groups of BICs: symmetry-protected BICs at the Γ point and off-Γ Friedrich-Wintgen BICs. The photonic waveguide modes are strongly coupled to the gap plasmons in the grating, leading to an avoided crossing behavior with a high value of Rabi splitting of 150 meV. Moreover, we show that the strong coupling significantly alters the band diagram of the hybrid system, revealing opportunities for supporting stopped light at an off-Γ wide…

Full control of multiple degrees of freedom of multiple particles represents a fundamental ability for quantum information processing. We experimentally demonstrate an 18-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger entanglement by simultaneous exploiting three different degrees of freedom of six photons, including their paths, polarization, and orbital angular momentum. We develop high-stability interferometers for reversible quantum logic operations between the photons' different degrees of freedom with precision and efficiencies close to unity, enabling simultaneous readout of 2^{18}=262 144 outcome combinations of the 18-qubit state. A state fidelity of 0.708±0.016 is measured, confirming the genuine entanglement of all 18 qubits.

Being motivated by the recent prediction of high-Q modes in subwavelength dielectric resonators inspired by bound states in the continuum (BIC), we study the second-harmonic generation from isolated subwavelength AlGaAs nanoantennas. We reveal that nonlinear effects at the nanoscale can be enhanced dramatically provided the resonator parameters are tuned to the BIC regime. We predict a record-high conversion efficiency for nanoscale resonators that exceeds by 2 orders of magnitude the conversion efficiency observed at the magnetic dipole Mie resonance, thus opening the way for highly efficient nonlinear metasurfaces and metadevices.

Attractive Bose-Einstein condensates can host two types of macroscopic self-bound states: bright solitons and quantum droplets. Here, we investigate the connection between them with a Bose-Bose mixture confined in an optical waveguide. We show theoretically that, depending on atom number and interaction strength, solitons and droplets can be smoothly connected or remain distinct states coexisting only in a bistable region. We measure their spin composition, extract their density for a broad range of parameters, and map out the boundary of the region separating solitons from droplets.

We present the results of a search for dark matter weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the mass range below 20 GeV/c^{2} using a target of low-radioactivity argon with a 6786.0 kg d exposure. The data were obtained using the DarkSide-50 apparatus at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. The analysis is based on the ionization signal, for which the DarkSide-50 time projection chamber is fully efficient at 0.1 keVee. The observed rate in the detector at 0.5 keVee is about 1.5 event/keVee/kg/d and is almost entirely accounted for by known background sources. We obtain a 90% C.L. exclusion limit above 1.8 GeV/c^{2} for the spin-independent cross section of dark matter WIMPs on nucleons, extending the exclusion region for dark matter below previous limits in the range 1.8-6 GeV/c^{2}.

We experimentally demonstrate topological edge states arising from the valley-Hall effect in two-dimensional honeycomb photonic lattices with broken inversion symmetry. We break the inversion symmetry by detuning the refractive indices of the two honeycomb sublattices, giving rise to a boron nitridelike band structure. The edge states therefore exist along the domain walls between regions of opposite valley Chern numbers. We probe both the armchair and zigzag domain walls and show that the former become gapped for any detuning, whereas the latter remain ungapped until a cutoff is reached. The valley-Hall effect provides a new mechanism for the realization of time-reversal-invariant photonic topological insulators.

As physical implementations of quantum architectures emerge, it is increasingly important to consider the cost of algorithms for practical connectivities between qubits. We show that by using an arrangement of gates that we term the fermionic swap network, we can simulate a Trotter step of the electronic structure Hamiltonian in exactly N depth and with N^{2}/2 two-qubit entangling gates, and prepare arbitrary Slater determinants in at most N/2 depth, all assuming only a minimal, linearly connected architecture. We conjecture that no explicit Trotter step of the electronic structure Hamiltonian is possible with fewer entangling gates, even with arbitrary connectivities. These results represent significant practical improvements on the cost of most Trotter-based algorithms for both variational and phase-estimation-based simulation of quantum chemistry.

We study a minimal Hubbard model for electronically driven superconductivity in a correlated flat miniband resulting from the superlattice modulation of a twisted graphene multilayer. The valley degree of freedom drastically modifies the nature of the preferred pairing states, favoring spin triplet d+id order with a valley singlet structure. We identify two candidates in this class, which are both topological superconductors. These states support half-vortices carrying half the usual superconducting flux quantum hc/(4e), and have topologically protected gapless edge states.

Entangled-photon sources with simultaneously near-unity heralding efficiency and indistinguishability are the fundamental elements for scalable photonic quantum technologies. We design and realize a degenerate telecommunication wavelength entangled-photon source from an ultrafast pulsed laser pumped spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), which shows simultaneously 97% heralding efficiency and 96% indistinguishability between independent single photons without narrow-band filtering. Such a beamlike and frequency-uncorrelated SPDC source allows generation of the first 12-photon genuine entanglement with a state fidelity of 0.572±0.024. We further demonstrate a blueprint of scalable scattershot boson sampling using 12 SPDC sources and a 12×12 mode interferometer for three-, four-, and five-boson sampling, which yields count rates more than 4 orders of magnitude higher than all previous SPDC experiments.

We combine tools from effective field theory and generalized unitarity to construct a map between on-shell scattering amplitudes and the classical potential for interacting spinless particles. For general relativity, we obtain analytic expressions for the classical potential of a binary black hole system at second order in the gravitational constant and all orders in velocity. Our results exactly match all known results up to fourth post-Newtonian order, and offer a simple check of future higher order calculations. By design, these methods should extend to higher orders in perturbation theory.

Individual neutral atoms excited to Rydberg states are a promising platform for quantum simulation and quantum information processing. However, experimental progress to date has been limited by short coherence times and relatively low gate fidelities associated with such Rydberg excitations. We report progress towards high-fidelity quantum control of Rydberg-atom qubits. Enabled by a reduction in laser phase noise, our approach yields a significant improvement in coherence properties of individual qubits. We further show that this high-fidelity control extends to the multi-particle case by preparing a two-atom entangled state with a fidelity exceeding 0.97(3), and extending its lifetime with a two-atom dynamical decoupling protocol. These advances open up new prospects for scalable quantum simulation and quantum computation with neutral atoms.

Heat engines should ideally have large power output, operate close to Carnot efficiency and show constancy, i.e., exhibit only small fluctuations in this output. For steady-state heat engines, driven by a constant temperature difference between the two heat baths, we prove that out of these three requirements only two are compatible. Constancy enters quantitatively the conventional trade-off between power and efficiency. Thus, we rationalize and unify recent suggestions for overcoming this simple trade-off. Our universal bound is illustrated for a paradigmatic model of a quantum dot solar cell and for a Brownian gyrator delivering mechanical work against an external force.

We investigate notions of complexity of states in continuous many-body quantum systems. We focus on Gaussian states which include ground states of free quantum field theories and their approximations encountered in the context of the continuous version of the multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz. Our proposal for quantifying state complexity is based on the Fubini-Study metric. It leads to counting the number of applications of each gate (infinitesimal generator) in the transformation, subject to a state-dependent metric. We minimize the defined complexity with respect to momentum-preserving quadratic generators which form su(1,1) algebras. On the manifold of Gaussian states generated by these operations, the Fubini-Study metric factorizes into hyperbolic planes with minimal complexity circuits reducing to known geodesics. Despite working with quantum field theories far outside the regime where Einstein gravity duals exist, we find striking similarities between our results and those of holographic complexity proposals.

We report a quantum simulation of the deuteron binding energy on quantum processors accessed via cloud servers. We use a Hamiltonian from pionless effective field theory at leading order. We design a low-depth version of the unitary coupled-cluster ansatz, use the variational quantum eigensolver algorithm, and compute the binding energy to within a few percent. Our work is the first step towards scalable nuclear structure computations on a quantum processor via the cloud, and it sheds light on how to map scientific computing applications onto nascent quantum devices.

Topological phases, such as Chern insulators, are defined in terms of additive indices that are stable against the addition of trivial degrees of freedom. Such topology presents an obstruction to any Wannier representation, namely, the representation of the electronic states in terms of symmetric, exponentially localized Wannier functions. Here, we address the converse question: Do obstructions to Wannier representation imply stable band topology? We answer this in the negative, pointing out that some bands can also display a distinct type of "fragile topology." Bands with fragile topology do not admit any Wannier representation by themselves, but such a representation becomes possible once certain additional trivial degrees of freedom are supplied. We construct a physical model of fragile topology on the honeycomb lattice that also helps resolve a recent puzzle in band theory. This model provides a counterexample to the assumption that splitting of an "elementary band representation" introduced in [B. Bradlyn et al., Topological quantum chemistry, Nature (London) 547, 298 (2017)]…

A flatband representing a highly degenerate and dispersionless manifold state of electrons may offer unique opportunities for the emergence of exotic quantum phases. To date, definitive experimental demonstrations of flatbands remain to be accomplished in realistic materials. Here, we present the first experimental observation of a striking flatband near the Fermi level in the layered Fe_{3}Sn_{2} crystal consisting of two Fe kagome lattices separated by a Sn spacing layer. The band flatness is attributed to the local destructive interferences of Bloch wave functions within the kagome lattices, as confirmed through theoretical calculations and modelings. We also establish high-temperature ferromagnetic ordering in the system and interpret the observed collective phenomenon as a consequence of the synergetic effect of electron correlation and the peculiar lattice geometry. Specifically, local spin moments formed by intramolecular exchange interaction are ferromagnetically coupled through a unique network of the hexagonal units in the kagome lattice. Our findings have important…

In the months since the publication of the first results, the noise performance of LISA Pathfinder has improved because of reduced Brownian noise due to the continued decrease in pressure around the test masses, from a better correction of noninertial effects, and from a better calibration of the electrostatic force actuation. In addition, the availability of numerous long noise measurement runs, during which no perturbation is purposely applied to the test masses, has allowed the measurement of noise with good statistics down to 20 μHz. The Letter presents the measured differential acceleration noise figure, which is at (1.74±0.05) fm s^{-2}/sqrt[Hz] above 2 mHz and (6±1)×10 fm s^{-2}/sqrt[Hz] at 20 μHz, and discusses the physical sources for the measured noise. This performance provides an experimental benchmark demonstrating the ability to realize the low-frequency science potential of the LISA mission, recently selected by the European Space Agency.

We present a first-principles lattice QCD+QED calculation at physical pion mass of the leading-order hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment. The total contribution of up, down, strange, and charm quarks including QED and strong isospin breaking effects is a_{μ}^{HVP LO}=715.4(18.7)×10^{-10}. By supplementing lattice data for very short and long distances with R-ratio data, we significantly improve the precision to a_{μ}^{HVP LO}=692.5(2.7)×10^{-10}. This is the currently most precise determination of a_{μ}^{HVP LO}.

The binary neutron star (BNS) merger GW170817 was the first astrophysical source detected in gravitational waves and multiwavelength electromagnetic radiation. The almost simultaneous observation of a pulse of gamma rays proved that BNS mergers are associated with at least some short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, the gamma-ray pulse was faint, casting doubt on the association of BNS mergers with the luminous, highly relativistic outflows of canonical short GRBs. Here we show that structured jets with a relativistic, energetic core surrounded by slower and less energetic wings produce afterglow emission that brightens characteristically with time, as recently seen in the afterglow of GW170817. Initially, we only see the relatively slow material moving towards us. As time passes, larger and larger sections of the outflow become visible, increasing the luminosity of the afterglow. The late appearance and increasing brightness of the multiwavelength afterglow of GW170817 allow us to constrain the geometry of its ejecta and thus reveal the presence of an off-axis jet pointing about…

The "magnetoelectric effect" arises from the coupling between magnetic and electric properties in materials. The Z_{2} invariant of topological insulators (TIs) leads to a quantized version of this phenomenon, known as the topological magnetoelectric (TME) effect. This effect can be realized in a new topological phase called an "axion insulator" whose surface states are all gapped but the interior still obeys time reversal symmetry. We demonstrate such a phase using electrical transport measurements in a quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) sandwich heterostructure, in which two compositionally different magnetic TI layers are separated by an undoped TI layer. Magnetic force microscopy images of the same sample reveal sequential magnetization reversals of the top and bottom layers at different coercive fields, a consequence of the weak interlayer exchange coupling due to the spacer. When the magnetization is antiparallel, both the Hall resistance and Hall conductance show zero plateaus, accompanied by a large longitudinal resistance and vanishing longitudinal conductance, indicating the…

The most general and versatile defining feature of quantum chaotic systems is that they possess an energy spectrum with correlations universally described by random matrix theory (RMT). This feature can be exhibited by systems with a well-defined classical limit as well as by systems with no classical correspondence, such as locally interacting spins or fermions. Despite great phenomenological success, a general mechanism explaining the emergence of RMT without reference to semiclassical concepts is still missing. Here we provide the example of a quantum many-body system with no semiclassical limit (no large parameter) where the emergence of RMT spectral correlations is proven exactly. Specifically, we consider a periodically driven Ising model and write the Fourier transform of spectral density's two-point function, the spectral form factor, in terms of a partition function of a two-dimensional classical Ising model featuring a space-time duality. We show that the self-dual cases provide a minimal model of many-body quantum chaos, where the spectral form factor is demonstrated to…

We establish the complete phase diagram of self-propelled hard disks in two spatial dimensions from the analysis of the equation of state and the statistics of local order parameters. The equilibrium melting scenario is maintained at small activities, with coexistence between active liquid and hexatic order, followed by a proper hexatic phase, and a further transition to an active solid. As activity increases, the emergence of hexatic and solid order is shifted towards higher densities. Above a critical activity and for a certain range of packing fractions, the system undergoes motility-induced phase separation and demixes into low and high density phases; the latter can be either disordered (liquid) or ordered (hexatic or solid) depending on the activity.

We report dissipative magnon-photon coupling caused by the cavity Lenz effect, where the magnons in a magnet induce a rf current in the cavity, leading to a cavity backaction that impedes the magnetization dynamics. This effect is revealed in our experiment as level attraction with a coalescence of hybridized magnon-photon modes, which is distinctly different from level repulsion with mode anticrossing caused by coherent magnon-photon coupling. We develop a method to control the interpolation of coherent and dissipative magnon-photon coupling, and observe a matching condition where the two effects cancel. Our work sheds light on the so-far hidden side of magnon-photon coupling, opening a new avenue for controlling and utilizing light-matter interactions.

We employed ab initio calculations to identify a class of crystalline materials of MSi (M=Fe, Co, Mn, Re, Ru) having double-Weyl points in both their acoustic and optical phonon spectra. They exhibit novel topological points termed "spin-1 Weyl point" at the Brillouin zone center and "charge-2 Dirac point" at the zone corner. The corresponding gapless surface phonon dispersions are two helicoidal sheets whose isofrequency contours form a single noncontractible loop in the surface Brillouin zone. In addition, the global structure of the surface bands can be analytically expressed as double-periodic Weierstrass elliptic functions.

In quantum-optics experiments with both natural and artificial atoms, the atoms are usually small enough that they can be approximated as pointlike compared to the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation with which they interact. However, superconducting qubits coupled to a meandering transmission line, or to surface acoustic waves, can realize "giant artificial atoms" that couple to a bosonic field at several points which are wavelengths apart. Here, we study setups with multiple giant atoms coupled at multiple points to a one-dimensional (1D) waveguide. We show that the giant atoms can be protected from decohering through the waveguide, but still have exchange interactions mediated by the waveguide. Unlike in decoherence-free subspaces, here the entire multiatom Hilbert space (2^{N} states for N atoms) is protected from decoherence. This is not possible with "small" atoms. We further show how this decoherence-free interaction can be designed in setups with multiple atoms to implement, e.g., a 1D chain of atoms with nearest-neighbor couplings or a collection of atoms with…

We present models of realistic globular clusters with post-Newtonian dynamics for black holes. By modeling the relativistic accelerations and gravitational-wave emission in isolated binaries and during three- and four-body encounters, we find that nearly half of all binary black hole mergers occur inside the cluster, with about 10% of those mergers entering the LIGO/Virgo band with eccentricities greater than 0.1. In-cluster mergers lead to the birth of a second generation of black holes with larger masses and high spins, which, depending on the black hole natal spins, can sometimes be retained in the cluster and merge again. As a result, globular clusters can produce merging binaries with detectable spins regardless of the birth spins of black holes formed from massive stars. These second-generation black holes would also populate any upper mass gap created by pair-instability supernovae.

We show that hydrodynamic diffusion is generically present in many-body, one-dimensional interacting quantum and classical integrable models. We extend the recently developed generalized hydrodynamic (GHD) to include terms of Navier-Stokes type, which leads to positive entropy production and diffusive relaxation mechanisms. These terms provide the subleading diffusive corrections to Euler-scale GHD for the large-scale nonequilibrium dynamics of integrable systems, and arise due to two-body scatterings among quasiparticles. We give exact expressions for the diffusion coefficients. Our results apply to a large class of integrable models, including quantum and classical, Galilean and relativistic field theories, chains, and gases in one dimension, such as the Lieb-Liniger model describing cold atom gases and the Heisenberg quantum spin chain. We provide numerical evaluations in the Heisenberg XXZ spin chain, both for the spin diffusion constant, and for the diffusive effects during the melting of a small domain wall of spins, finding excellent agreement with time-dependent density…

Superconducting qubits are an attractive platform for quantum computing since they have demonstrated high-fidelity quantum gates and extensibility to modest system sizes. Nonetheless, an outstanding challenge is stabilizing their energy-relaxation times, which can fluctuate unpredictably in frequency and time. Here, we use qubits as spectral and temporal probes of individual two-level-system defects to provide direct evidence that they are responsible for the largest fluctuations. This research lays the foundation for stabilizing qubit performance through calibration, design, and fabrication.

Extended scalar-tensor Gauss-Bonnet (ESTGB) gravity has been recently argued to exhibit spontaneous scalarization of vacuum black holes (BHs). A similar phenomenon can be expected in a larger class of models, which includes, e.g., Einstein-Maxwell scalar (EMS) models, where spontaneous scalarization of electrovacuum BHs should occur. EMS models have no higher curvature corrections, a technical simplification over ESTGB models that allows us to investigate, fully nonlinearly, BH scalarization in two novel directions. First, numerical simulations in spherical symmetry show, dynamically, that Reissner-Nordström (RN) BHs evolve into a perturbatively stable scalarized BH. Second, we compute the nonspherical sector of static scalarized BH solutions bifurcating from the RN BH trunk. Scalarized BHs form an infinite (countable) number of branches and possess a large freedom in their multipole structure. Unlike the case of electrovacuum, the EMS model admits static, asymptotically flat, regular on and outside the horizon BHs without spherical symmetry and even without any spatial isometries,…

Levitated optomechanics has great potential in precision measurements, thermodynamics, macroscopic quantum mechanics, and quantum sensing. Here we synthesize and optically levitate silica nanodumbbells in high vacuum. With a linearly polarized laser, we observe the torsional vibration of an optically levitated nanodumbbell. This levitated nanodumbbell torsion balance is a novel analog of the Cavendish torsion balance, and provides rare opportunities to observe the Casimir torque and probe the quantum nature of gravity as proposed recently. With a circularly polarized laser, we drive a 170-nm-diameter nanodumbbell to rotate beyond 1 GHz, which is the fastest nanomechanical rotor realized to date. Smaller silica nanodumbbells can sustain higher rotation frequencies. Such ultrafast rotation may be used to study material properties and probe vacuum friction.

Single atoms and atomlike defects in solids are ideal quantum light sources and memories for quantum networks. However, most atomic transitions are in the ultraviolet-visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, where propagation losses in optical fibers are prohibitively large. Here, we observe for the first time the emission of single photons from a single Er^{3+} ion in a solid-state host, whose optical transition at 1.5 μm is in the telecom band, allowing for low-loss propagation in optical fiber. This is enabled by integrating Er^{3+} ions with silicon nanophotonic structures, which results in an enhancement of the photon emission rate by a factor of more than 650. Dozens of distinct ions can be addressed in a single device, and the splitting of the lines in a magnetic field confirms that the optical transitions are coupled to the electronic spin of the Er^{3+} ions. These results are a significant step towards long-distance quantum networks and deterministic quantum logic for photons based on a scalable silicon nanophotonics architecture.

The observation of the standard model (SM) Higgs boson decay to a pair of bottom quarks is presented. The main contribution to this result is from processes in which Higgs bosons are produced in association with a W or Z boson (VH), and are searched for in final states including 0, 1, or 2 charged leptons and two identified bottom quark jets. The results from the measurement of these processes in a data sample recorded by the CMS experiment in 2017, comprising 41.3 fb^{-1} of proton-proton collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV, are described. When combined with previous VH measurements using data collected at sqrt[s]=7, 8, and 13 TeV, an excess of events is observed at m_{H}=125 GeV with a significance of 4.8 standard deviations, where the expectation for the SM Higgs boson is 4.9. The corresponding measured signal strength is 1.01±0.22. The combination of this result with searches by the CMS experiment for H→bb[over ¯] in other production processes yields an observed (expected) significance of 5.6 (5.5) standard deviations and a signal strength of 1.04±0.20.

The vortex, a fundamental topological excitation featuring the in-plane winding of a vector field, is important in various areas such as fluid dynamics, liquid crystals, and superconductors. Although commonly existing in nature, vortices were observed exclusively in real space. Here, we experimentally observed momentum-space vortices as the winding of far-field polarization vectors in the first Brillouin zone of periodic plasmonic structures. Using homemade polarization-resolved momentum-space imaging spectroscopy, we mapped out the dispersion, lifetime, and polarization of all radiative states at the visible wavelengths. The momentum-space vortices were experimentally identified by their winding patterns in the polarization-resolved isofrequency contours and their diverging radiative quality factors. Such polarization vortices can exist robustly on any periodic systems of vectorial fields, while they are not captured by the existing topological band theory developed for scalar fields. Our work provides a new way for designing high-Q plasmonic resonances, generating vector beams,…

A single-particle mobility edge (SPME) marks a critical energy separating extended from localized states in a quantum system. In one-dimensional systems with uncorrelated disorder, a SPME cannot exist, since all single-particle states localize for arbitrarily weak disorder strengths. However, in a quasiperiodic system, the localization transition can occur at a finite detuning strength and SPMEs become possible. In this Letter, we find experimental evidence for the existence of such a SPME in a one-dimensional quasiperiodic optical lattice. Specifically, we find a regime where extended and localized single-particle states coexist, in good agreement with theoretical simulations, which predict a SPME in this regime.

We investigate the current-induced switching of the Néel order in NiO(001)/Pt heterostructures, which is manifested electrically via the spin Hall magnetoresistance. Significant reversible changes in the longitudinal and transverse resistances are found at room temperature for a current threshold lying in the range of 10^{7} A/cm^{2}. The order-parameter switching is ascribed to the antiferromagnetic dynamics triggered by the (current-induced) antidamping torque, which orients the Néel order towards the direction of the writing current. This is in stark contrast to the case of antiferromagnets such as Mn_{2}Au and CuMnAs, where fieldlike torques induced by the Edelstein effect drive the Néel switching, therefore resulting in an orthogonal alignment between the Néel order and the writing current. Our findings can be readily generalized to other biaxial antiferromagnets, providing broad opportunities for all-electrical writing and readout in antiferromagnetic spintronics.

We introduce a general model for a network of quantum sensors, and we use this model to consider the following question: When can entanglement between the sensors, and/or global measurements, enhance the precision with which the network can measure a set of unknown parameters? We rigorously answer this question by presenting precise theorems proving that for a broad class of problems there is, at most, a very limited intrinsic advantage to using entangled states or global measurements. Moreover, for many estimation problems separable states and local measurements are optimal, and can achieve the ultimate quantum limit on the estimation uncertainty. This immediately implies that there are broad conditions under which simultaneous estimation of multiple parameters cannot outperform individual, independent estimations. Our results apply to any situation in which spatially localized sensors are unitarily encoded with independent parameters, such as when estimating multiple linear or nonlinear optical phase shifts in quantum imaging, or when mapping out the spatial profile of an unknown…

We report on rotating an optically trapped silica nanoparticle in vacuum by transferring spin angular momentum of light to the particle's mechanical angular momentum. At sufficiently low damping, realized at pressures below 10^{-5} mbar, we observe rotation frequencies of single 100 nm particles exceeding 1 GHz. We find that the steady-state rotation frequency scales linearly with the optical trapping power and inversely with pressure, consistent with theoretical considerations based on conservation of angular momentum. Rapidly changing the polarization of the trapping light allows us to extract the pressure-dependent response time of the particle's rotational degree of freedom.

The ratio of branching fractions R(D^{*-})≡B(B^{0}→D^{*-}τ^{+}ν_{τ})/B(B^{0}→D^{*-}μ^{+}ν_{μ}) is measured using a data sample of proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb^{-1}. For the first time, R(D^{*-}) is determined using the τ-lepton decays with three charged pions in the final state. The B^{0}→D^{*-}τ^{+}ν_{τ} yield is normalized to that of the B^{0}→D^{*-}π^{+}π^{-}π^{+} mode, providing a measurement of B(B^{0}→D^{*-}τ^{+}ν_{τ})/B(B^{0}→D^{*-}π^{+}π^{-}π^{+})=1.97±0.13±0.18, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The value of B(B^{0}→D^{*-}τ^{+}ν_{τ})=(1.42±0.094±0.129±0.054)% is obtained, where the third uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the branching fraction of the normalization mode. Using the well-measured branching fraction of the B^{0}→D^{*-}μ^{+}ν_{μ} decay, a value of R(D^{*-})=0.291±0.019±0.026±0.013 is established, where the third uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the branching fractions of the…

The realization of multiferroics in nanostructures, combined with a large electric dipole and ferromagnetic ordering, could lead to new applications, such as high-density multistate data storage. Although multiferroics have been broadly studied for decades, ferromagnetic ferroelectricity is rarely explored, especially in two-dimensional (2D) systems. Here we report the discovery of 2D ferromagnetic ferroelectricity in layered transition-metal halide systems. On the basis of first-principles calculations, we reveal that a charged CrBr_{3} monolayer exhibits in-plane multiferroicity, which is ensured by the combination of orbital and charge ordering as realized by the asymmetric Jahn-Teller distortions of octahedral Cr─Br_{6} units. As an example, we further show that (CrBr_{3})_{2}Li is a ferromagnetic ferroelectric multiferroic. The explored phenomena and mechanism of multiferroics in this 2D system not only are useful for fundamental research in multiferroics but also enable a wide range of applications in nanodevices.

In this work we introduce boundary time crystals. Here continuous time-translation symmetry breaking occurs only in a macroscopic fraction of a many-body quantum system. After introducing their definition and properties, we analyze in detail a solvable model where an accurate scaling analysis can be performed. The existence of the boundary time crystals is intimately connected to the emergence of a time-periodic steady state in the thermodynamic limit of a many-body open quantum system. We also discuss connections to quantum synchronization.

Statistical learning methods show great promise in providing an accurate prediction of materials and molecular properties, while minimizing the need for computationally demanding electronic structure calculations. The accuracy and transferability of these models are increased significantly by encoding into the learning procedure the fundamental symmetries of rotational and permutational invariance of scalar properties. However, the prediction of tensorial properties requires that the model respects the appropriate geometric transformations, rather than invariance, when the reference frame is rotated. We introduce a formalism that extends existing schemes and makes it possible to perform machine learning of tensorial properties of arbitrary rank, and for general molecular geometries. To demonstrate it, we derive a tensor kernel adapted to rotational symmetry, which is the natural generalization of the smooth overlap of atomic positions kernel commonly used for the prediction of scalar properties at the atomic scale. The performance and generality of the approach is demonstrated by…

Weoutline the program to apply modern quantum field theory methods to calculate observables in classical general relativity through a truncation to classical terms of the multigraviton, two-body, on-shell scattering amplitudes between massive fields. Since only long-distance interactions corresponding to nonanalytic pieces need to be included, unitarity cuts provide substantial simplifications for both post-Newtonian and post-Minkowskian expansions. We illustrate this quantum field theoretic approach to classical general relativity by computing the interaction potentials to second order in the post-Newtonian expansion, as well as the scattering functions for two massive objects to second order in the post-Minkowskian expansion. We also derive an all-order exact result for gravitational light-by-light scattering.

We present the first limits on inelastic electron-scattering dark matter and dark photon absorption using a prototype SuperCDMS detector having a charge resolution of 0.1 electron-hole pairs (CDMS HVeV, a 0.93 g CDMS high-voltage device). These electron-recoil limits significantly improve experimental constraints on dark matter particles with masses as low as 1 MeV/c^{2}. We demonstrate a sensitivity to dark photons competitive with other leading approaches but using substantially less exposure (0.49 g d). These results demonstrate the scientific potential of phonon-mediated semiconductor detectors that are sensitive to single electronic excitations.

Acoustic vortices can transfer angular momentum and trap particles. Here, we show that particles trapped in airborne acoustic vortices orbit at high speeds, leading to dynamic instability and ejection. We demonstrate stable trapping inside acoustic vortices by generating sequences of short-pulsed vortices of equal helicity but opposite chirality. This produces a "virtual vortex" with an orbital angular momentum that can be tuned independently of the trapping force. We use this method to adjust the rotational speed of particles inside a vortex beam and, for the first time, create three-dimensional acoustics traps for particles of wavelength order (i.e., Mie particles).

The fate of Cauchy horizons, such as those found inside charged black holes, is intrinsically connected to the decay of small perturbations exterior to the event horizon. As such, the validity of the strong cosmic censorship (SCC) conjecture is tied to how effectively the exterior damps fluctuations. Here, we study massless scalar fields in the exterior of Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter black holes. Their decay rates are governed by quasinormal modes of the black hole. We identify three families of modes in these spacetimes: one directly linked to the photon sphere, well described by standard WKB-type tools; another family whose existence and time scale is closely related to the de Sitter horizon; finally, a third family which dominates for near-extremally charged black holes and which is also present in asymptotically flat spacetimes. The last two families of modes seem to have gone unnoticed in the literature. We give a detailed description of linear scalar perturbations of such black holes, and conjecture that SCC is violated in the near extremal regime.

We reveal a one-dimensional topological insulating phase induced solely by gain and loss control in non-Hermitian optical lattices. The system comprises units of four uniformly coupled cavities, where the successive two have loss; the others experience gain, and they are balanced under two magnitudes. The gain and loss parts are effectively dimerized, and a bulk band gap, topological transition, midgap topological edge, and interface states in finite systems can all be achieved by controlled pumping. We also clarify non-Hermitian topological invariants and edge states in gapless conditions.

We introduce two-dimensional topological insulators in proximity to high-temperature cuprate or iron-based superconductors as high-temperature platforms of Majorana Kramers pairs of zero modes. The proximity-induced pairing at the helical edge state of the topological insulator serves as a Dirac mass, whose sign changes at the sample corner because of the pairing symmetry of high-T_{c} superconductors. This sign changing naturally creates at each corner a pair of Majorana zero modes protected by time-reversal symmetry. Conceptually, this is a topologically trivial superconductor-based approach for Majorana zero modes. We provide quantitative criteria and suggest candidate materials for this proposal.

We report 65 T magnetoabsorption spectroscopy of exciton Rydberg states in the archetypal monolayer semiconductor WSe_{2}. The strongly field-dependent and distinct energy shifts of the 2s, 3s, and 4s excited neutral excitons permits their unambiguous identification and allows for quantitative comparison with leading theoretical models. Both the sizes (via low-field diamagnetic shifts) and the energies of the ns exciton states agree remarkably well with detailed numerical simulations using the nonhydrogenic screened Keldysh potential for 2D semiconductors. Moreover, at the highest magnetic fields, the nearly linear diamagnetic shifts of the weakly bound 3s and 4s excitons provide a direct experimental measure of the exciton's reduced mass m_{r}=0.20±0.01m_{0}.

We model the newly synthesized magic-angle-twisted bilayer graphene superconductor with two p_{x,y}-like Wannier orbitals on the superstructure honeycomb lattice, where the hopping integrals are constructed via the Slater-Koster formulism by symmetry analysis. The characteristics exhibited in this simple model are well consistent with both the rigorous calculations and experiment observations. A van Hove singularity and Fermi-surface (FS) nesting are found in the doping levels relevant to the correlated insulator and unconventional superconductivity revealed experimentally, based on which we identify the two phases as weak-coupling FS instabilities. Then, with repulsive Hubbard interactions turned on, we performed random-phase-approximation based calculations to identify the electron instabilities. As a result, we find chiral d+id topological superconductivity bordering the correlated insulating state near half-filling, identified as noncoplanar chiral spin-density wave ordered state, featuring the quantum anomalous Hall effect. The phase diagram obtained in our approach is…

We directly monitor exciton propagation in freestanding and SiO_{2}-supported WS_{2} monolayers through spatially and time-resolved microphotoluminescence under ambient conditions. We find a highly nonlinear behavior with characteristic, qualitative changes in the spatial profiles of the exciton emission and an effective diffusion coefficient increasing from 0.3 to more than 30 cm^{2}/s, depending on the injected exciton density. Solving the diffusion equation while accounting for Auger recombination allows us to identify and quantitatively understand the main origin of the increase in the observed diffusion coefficient. At elevated excitation densities, the initial Gaussian distribution of the excitons evolves into long-lived halo shapes with μm-scale diameter, indicating additional memory effects in the exciton dynamics.

A discrete time crystal (DTC) is a robust phase of driven systems that breaks the discrete time translation symmetry of the driving Hamiltonian. Recent experiments have observed DTC signatures in two distinct systems. Here we show nuclear magnetic resonance observations of DTC signatures in a third, strikingly different system: an ordered spatial crystal. We use a novel DTC echo experiment to probe the coherence of the driven system. Finally, we show that interactions during the pulse of the DTC sequence contribute to the decay of the signal, complicating attempts to measure the intrinsic lifetime of the DTC.

We show that the equations of generalized hydrodynamics (GHD), a hydrodynamic theory for integrable quantum systems at the Euler scale, emerge in full generality in a family of classical gases, which generalize the gas of hard rods. In this family, the particles, upon colliding, jump forward or backward by a distance that depends on their velocities, reminiscent of classical soliton scattering. This provides a "molecular dynamics" for GHD: a numerical solver which is efficient, flexible, and which applies to the presence of external force fields. GHD also describes the hydrodynamics of classical soliton gases. We identify the GHD of any quantum model with that of the gas of its solitonlike wave packets, thus providing a remarkable quantum-classical equivalence. The theory is directly applicable, for instance, to integrable quantum chains and to the Lieb-Liniger model realized in cold-atom experiments.

We present a new effective description of macroscopic Kruskal black holes that incorporates corrections due to quantum geometry effects of loop quantum gravity. It encompasses both the "interior" region that contains classical singularities and the "exterior" asymptotic region. Singularities are naturally resolved by the quantum geometry effects of loop quantum gravity, and the resulting quantum extension of the full Kruskal space-time is free of all the known limitations of previous investigations of the Schwarzschild interior. We compare and contrast our results with these investigations and also with the expectations based on the AdS/CFT duality.

Lepton number as a fourth color is the intriguing theoretical idea of the famous Pati-Salam (PS) model. While in conventional PS models, the symmetry breaking scale and the mass of the resulting vector leptoquark are stringently constrained by ${K}_{L}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\mu}e$ and $K\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\mu}e$, the scale can be lowered to a few TeV by adding vectorlike fermions. Furthermore, in this case, the intriguing hints for lepton flavor universality violation in $b\ensuremath{\rightarrow}s{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ and $b\ensuremath{\rightarrow}c\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\nu}$ processes can be addressed. Such a setup is naturally achieved by implementing the PS gauge group in the five-dimensional Randall-Sundrum background. The PS symmetry is broken by boundary conditions on the fifth dimension, and the resulting massive vector leptoquark automatically has the same mass scale as the vectorlike fermions and all other resonances. We consider the phenomenology of this model in the context of the…

We propose an experimentally feasible method for enhancing the atom-field coupling as well as the ratio between this coupling and dissipation (i.e., cooperativity) in an optical cavity. It exploits optical parametric amplification to exponentially enhance the atom-cavity interaction and, hence, the cooperativity of the system, with the squeezing-induced noise being completely eliminated. Consequently, the atom-cavity system can be driven from the weak-coupling regime to the strong-coupling regime for modest squeezing parameters, and even can achieve an effective cooperativity much larger than 100. Based on this, we further demonstrate the generation of steady-state nearly maximal quantum entanglement. The resulting entanglement infidelity (which quantifies the deviation of the actual state from a maximally entangled state) is exponentially smaller than the lower bound on the infidelities obtained in other dissipative entanglement preparations without applying squeezing. In principle, we can make an arbitrarily small infidelity. Our generic method for enhancing atom-cavity…

Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) rely on detailed simulations of particle collisions to build expectations of what experimental data may look like under different theoretical modeling assumptions. Petabytes of simulated data are needed to develop analysis techniques, though they are expensive to generate using existing algorithms and computing resources. The modeling of detectors and the precise description of particle cascades as they interact with the material in the calorimeter are the most computationally demanding steps in the simulation pipeline. We therefore introduce a deep neural network-based generative model to enable high-fidelity, fast, electromagnetic calorimeter simulation. There are still challenges for achieving precision across the entire phase space, but our current solution can reproduce a variety of particle shower properties while achieving speedup factors of up to 100 000×. This opens the door to a new era of fast simulation that could save significant computing time and disk space, while extending the reach of physics searches and precision…

A measurement is reported of the ratio of branching fractions $\mathcal{R}(J/\ensuremath{\psi})=\mathcal{B}({B}_{c}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\tau}})/\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mathcal{B}({B}_{c}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}})$, where the ${\ensuremath{\tau}}^{+}$ lepton is identified in the decay mode ${\ensuremath{\tau}}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}{\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}$. This analysis uses a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to $3.0\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{fb}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ of integrated luminosity recorded with the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. A signal is found for the decay ${B}_{c}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}$ at a significance of 3 standard deviations corrected for systematic uncertainty, and the ratio of the…

We theoretically study the dynamics of a transverse-field Ising chain with power-law decaying interactions characterized by an exponent α, which can be experimentally realized in ion traps. We focus on two classes of emergent dynamical critical phenomena following a quantum quench from a ferromagnetic initial state: The first one manifests in the time-averaged order parameter, which vanishes at a critical transverse field. We argue that such a transition occurs only for long-range interactions α≤2. The second class corresponds to the emergence of time-periodic singularities in the return probability to the ground-state manifold which is obtained for all values of α and agrees with the order parameter transition for α≤2. We characterize how the two classes of nonequilibrium criticality correspond to each other and give a physical interpretation based on the symmetry of the time-evolved quantum states.

We observe the unconventional photon blockade effect in quantum dot cavity QED, which, in contrast to the conventional photon blockade, operates in the weak coupling regime. A single quantum dot transition is simultaneously coupled to two orthogonally polarized optical cavity modes, and by careful tuning of the input and output state of polarization, the unconventional photon blockade effect is observed. We find a minimum second-order correlation g^{(2)}(0)≈0.37, which corresponds to g^{(2)}(0)≈0.005 when corrected for detector jitter, and observe the expected polarization dependency and photon bunching and antibunching; close by in parameter space, which indicates the abrupt change from phase to amplitude squeezing.

We provide a unified renewal approach to the problem of random search for several targets under resetting. This framework does not rely on specific properties of the search process and resetting procedure, allows for simpler derivation of known results, and leads to new ones. Concentrating on minimizing the mean hitting time, we show that resetting at a constant pace is the best possible option if resetting helps at all, and derive the equation for the optimal resetting pace. No resetting may be a better strategy if without resetting the probability of not finding a target decays with time to zero exponentially or faster. We also calculate splitting probabilities between the targets, and define the limits in which these can be manipulated by changing the resetting procedure. We moreover show that the number of moments of the hitting time distribution under resetting is not less than the sum of the numbers of moments of the resetting time distribution and the hitting time distribution without resetting.

Characterizing out-of-equilibrium many-body dynamics is a complex but crucial task for quantum applications and understanding fundamental phenomena. A central question is the role of localization in quenching thermalization in many-body systems and whether such localization survives in the presence of interactions. Probing this question in real systems necessitates the development of an experimentally measurable metric that can distinguish between different types of localization. While it is known that the localized phase of interacting systems [many-body localization (MBL)] exhibits a long-time logarithmic growth in entanglement entropy that distinguishes it from the noninteracting case of Anderson localization (AL), entanglement entropy is difficult to measure experimentally. Here, we present a novel correlation metric, capable of distinguishing MBL from AL in high-temperature spin systems. We demonstrate the use of this metric to detect localization in a natural solid-state spin system using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). We engineer the natural Hamiltonian to controllably…

We analyze the universal radiative correction Δ_{R}^{V} to neutron and superallowed nuclear β decay by expressing the hadronic γW-box contribution in terms of a dispersion relation, which we identify as an integral over the first Nachtmann moment of the γW interference structure function F_{3}^{(0)}. By connecting the needed input to existing data on neutrino and antineutrino scattering, we obtain an updated value of Δ_{R}^{V}=0.02467(22), wherein the hadronic uncertainty is reduced. Assuming other standard model theoretical calculations and experimental measurements remain unchanged, we obtain an updated value of |V_{ud}|=0.97370(14), raising tension with the first row Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa unitarity constraint. We comment on ways current and future experiments can provide input to our dispersive analysis.