Nature Physics December Issue

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Advertisement Focus on topological semimetals Dirac and Weyl topological semimetals have recently been realized. Nature Materials presents a Focus highlighting the quantum phenomena at the macroscale that these materials allow to be studied, their possible technological use and the experimental challenges ahead. Read the Focus TABLE OF CONTENTS December 2016 Volume 12, Issue 12 Editorial Thesis Feature Research Highlights News and Views Correction Letters Articles Measure for Measure Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Editorial Top Fantastic beasts   p1083 doi:10.1038/nphys3991 Elementary particles are the building blocks of matter, but there is also a zoo of quasiparticles that are crucial for understanding how this matter behaves. Thesis Top Zero-sum game   p1084 Mark Buchanan doi:10.1038/nphys3980 Feature Top The quasiparticle zoo   pp1085 - 1089 Liesbeth Venema, Bart Verberck, Iulia Georgescu, Giacomo Prando, Elsa Couderc et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3977 Quasiparticles are an extremely useful concept that provides a more intuitive understanding of complex phenomena in many-body physics. As such, they appear in various contexts, linking ideas across different fields and supplying a common language. Research Highlights Top Ultracold atoms: Bound together | Biomechanics: Optimal backpacking | Cosmology: Printed Universe | Active matter: Spin city | Quantum gases: Cold-atom assemblers News and Views Top Cell biophysics: How to eat on the go   p1091 Herbert Levine doi:10.1038/nphys3866 Dendritic cells use components of their cytoskeleton to both move and ingest pieces of infected cells. This competition for protein resources can give rise to a complex set of states that may be understood with an advection-diffusion model. See also: Article by Lavi et al. Space plasmas: A journey through scales   pp1092 - 1093 Alessandro Retinò doi:10.1038/nphys3976 Direct satellite observations of energy transfer between large and small space plasma scales contribute to our understanding of how matter in the Universe gets hot. See also: Article by Moore et al. Physics JOBS of the week Senior Faculty Position in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics University of British Columbia (UBC) Winton Scholarships for PhD Studentships in Physics of Sustainability University of Cambridge Postdoctoral Associate in Physics New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Professor in experimental materials physics (869444) Aarhus University More Science jobs from Physics EVENT 2017 Joint ICTP-IAEA School on Atomic Processes in Plasmas 27.02.17 Trieste, Italy More science events from Correction Top Correction   p1093 doi:10.1038/nphys3961 See also: Measure for Measure by Myers News and Views Top Nuclear fusion: Stellar fieldwork   p1094 Bart Verberck doi:10.1038/nphys3982 Letters Top Many-body interferometry of a Rydberg-dressed spin lattice   pp1095 - 1099 Johannes Zeiher, Rick van Bijnen, Peter Schauß, Sebastian Hild, Jae-yoon Choi et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3835 The control of long-range interactions is an essential ingredient for the study of exotic phases of matter using atoms in optical lattices. Such control is demonstrated using Rydberg dressing: the coupling of ground state atoms to Rydberg states. Dirac fermions in an antiferromagnetic semimetal   pp1100 - 1104 Peizhe Tang, Quan Zhou, Gang Xu and Shou-Cheng Zhang doi:10.1038/nphys3839 The prediction of an antiferromagnetic semimetal that breaks both time-reversal and inversion symmetry but respects their combination could provide a platform for studying the interplay between Dirac fermions and magnetism. Experimental observation of topological Fermi arcs in type-II Weyl semimetal MoTe2   pp1105 - 1110 Ke Deng, Guoliang Wan, Peng Deng, Kenan Zhang, Shijie Ding et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3871 Observations of topological surface states provide strong evidence that MoTe2 is a type-II Weyl semimetal, hosting Weyl fermions that have no counterpart in high-energy physics. Gaps induced by inversion symmetry breaking and second-generation Dirac cones in graphene/hexagonal boron nitride   pp1111 - 1115 Eryin Wang, Xiaobo Lu, Shijie Ding, Wei Yao, Mingzhe Yan et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3856 Images of the second-generation Dirac cones that form when graphene is placed on hexagonal boron nitride show the potential of using superlattices to engineer the electronic band structure of van der Waals heterostructures. Contribution of quasar-driven outflows to the extragalactic gamma-ray background   pp1116 - 1118 Xiawei Wang and Abraham Loeb doi:10.1038/nphys3837 The interaction between the outflow of gas from a quasar and the interstellar medium can boost protons to relativistic energies. Collisions between such protons can explain a significant fraction of the unexplained extragalactic gamma-ray background. Large anomalous Hall effect in a half-Heusler antiferromagnet   pp1119 - 1123 T. Suzuki, R. Chisnell, A. Devarakonda, Y.-T. Liu, W. Feng et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3831 The anomalous Hall effect is usually associated with ferromagnets but a large anomalous Hall response can be found in topologically non-trivial half-Heusler antiferromagnets thanks to Berry phase effects associated with symmetry breaking. Acoustic topological insulator and robust one-way sound transport   pp1124 - 1129 Cheng He, Xu Ni, Hao Ge, Xiao-Chen Sun, Yan-Bin Chen et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3867 The acoustic analogue of a topological insulator is shown: a metamaterial exhibiting one-way sound transport along its edge. The system — a graphene-like array of stainless-steel rods — is a promising new platform for exploring topological phenomena. Breakdown of elasticity in amorphous solids   pp1130 - 1133 Giulio Biroli and Pierfrancesco Urbani doi:10.1038/nphys3845 The response of amorphous solids to external stress is not very well understood. A study now shows that certain glasses, upon decreasing temperature, undergo a phase transition characterized by diverging nonlinear elastic moduli. A micrometre-sized heat engine operating between bacterial reservoirs   pp1134 - 1138 Sudeesh Krishnamurthy, Subho Ghosh, Dipankar Chatterji, Rajesh Ganapathy and A. K. Sood doi:10.1038/nphys3870 A colloidal particle connected to suspensions of motile bacteria forms a model system for studying microscale engines in contact with active baths. The engine outperforms its passive counterparts due to the presence of non-Gaussian fluctuations. Articles Top Anti-parity–time symmetry with flying atoms   pp1139 - 1145 Peng Peng, Wanxia Cao, Ce Shen, Weizhi Qu, Jianming Wen et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3842 Parity–time symmetry in optics is studied in a warm atomic vapour, where its counterpart, anti-parity–time symmetry, as well as refractionless propagation, can also be observed. Deterministic patterns in cell motility   pp1146 - 1152 Ido Lavi, Matthieu Piel, Ana-Maria Lennon-Duménil, Raphaël Voituriez and Nir S. Gov doi:10.1038/nphys3836 Cell motility is typically described as a random walk due to the presence of noise. But a dynamical model suggests that dendritic cells move deterministically, alternating between fast and slow motility, and exhibiting periodic polarity reversals. See also: News and Views by Levine Local equilibrium in bird flocks   pp1153 - 1157 Thierry Mora, Aleksandra M. Walczak, Lorenzo Del Castello, Francesco Ginelli, Stefania Melillo et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3846 Animals moving in groups are expected to differ from their many-body counterparts in equilibrium. A method based on maximum entropy shows that the interactions in starling flocks rearrange slowly enough to permit an equilibrium description locally. Magnetotail energy dissipation during an auroral substorm   pp1158 - 1163 E. V. Panov, W. Baumjohann, R. A. Wolf, R. Nakamura, V. Angelopoulos et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3879 Substorms in the Earth's magnetosphere lead to bright aurorae, releasing energy into the surrounding ionosphere. Ground- and space-based observations now reveal how that energy is dissipated and controlled by strong electric currents. Cross-scale energy transport in space plasmas   pp1164 - 1169 T. W. Moore, K. Nykyri and A. P. Dimmock doi:10.1038/nphys3869 Processes in (space) plasmas occur on different levels — fluid, ion and electron. Now, from satellite data and simulations, an energy-transfer mechanism between the fluid and ion scales is reported: fluid velocity shear is converted into ion heating. See also: News and Views by Retinò The age structure of the Milky Way's halo   pp1170 - 1176 D. Carollo, T. C. Beers, V. M. Placco, R. M. Santucci, P. Denissenkov et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3874 A high-resolution age map of the Milky Way picks out structures that validate the most widely accepted cosmological theory, lambda cold dark matter. The chronographic data are also used to probe the chemodynamical formation history of our Galaxy. Measure for Measure Top One more second   p1178 Felicitas Arias doi:10.1038/nphys3975 Every now and then, an extra second is added to an earthly year — a cause for trouble and debate, as Felicitas Arias has been witnessing. 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