Nature Physics December Issue

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Advertisement Nature Physics and Nature Materials Insight explores the physics of quantum materials, their discovery and development, the control over their properties, and potential future applications  Access the Insight free online for six months >>  Produced with support from:  Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation  Simons Foundation TABLE OF CONTENTS December 2017 Volume 13, Issue 12 Editorial Thesis Books and Arts Research Highlights News and Views Letters Articles Errata Measure for Measure   Advertisement Nature Collection: 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics    Access this collection of articles from Nature Research to celebrate the award of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics to Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne - who are recognized "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves".   Access the collection here >>    Produced with support from:  Coherent Inc.    Advertisement NATURE INDEX 2017 SCIENCE CITIES  Exploring high-quality research in the natural sciences being produced by cities around the world.   Editorial   Heisenberg's uncertain legacy    p1143 doi:10.1038/nphys4330 Thesis   Energy transitions    p1144 Mark Buchanan doi:10.1038/nphys4329 Books and Arts   Portraits of physicists    pp1145 - 1146 Marco Bentivenga, Richard Brierley & Nina Meinzer doi:10.1038/nphys4324 Research Highlights   Flocking: Cloud of bugs    p1147 Federico Levi doi:10.1038/nphys4332 Condensed-matter physics: Weyl metamaterials    p1147 David Abergel doi:10.1038/nphys4333 Ice nucleation: Rain before six    p1147 Andreas H. Trabesinger doi:10.1038/nphys4334 Quantum spin liquids: To be or not to be    p1147 Yun Li doi:10.1038/nphys4335 Biomaterials: Spidey sense    p1147 Abigail Klopper doi:10.1038/nphys4336 News and Views   Quantum computing: Quantum advantage deferred    p1148 Andrew M. Childs doi:10.1038/nphys4272 Self-assembly: Misfits unite    pp1149 - 1150 Gregory M. Grason doi:10.1038/nphys4201 Physics JOBS of the week Tenure-track assistant professor of experimental high-energy physics EPFL Lausanne Faculty Positions in the Department of Physics of SUSTech Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Lecturer in Experimental Solid State Physics Imperial College London Professor and Physics Chair Khalifa University of Science and Technology More Science jobs from Physics EVENT " 6th Annual International Conference on Physics" 23.07.18 Athens, Greece More science events from Letters   Classical boson sampling algorithms with superior performance to near-term experiments    pp1153 - 1157 Alex Neville, Chris Sparrow, Raphaël Clifford, Eric Johnston, Patrick M. Birchall et al. doi:10.1038/nphys4270 A classical algorithm solves the boson sampling problem for 30 bosons with standard computing hardware, suggesting that a much larger experimental effort will be needed to reach a regime where quantum hardware outperforms classical methods. Efficient tomography of a quantum many-body system    pp1158 - 1162 B. P. Lanyon, C. Maier, M. Holzäpfel, T. Baumgratz, C. Hempel et al. doi:10.1038/nphys4244 Traditionally quantum state tomography is used to characterize a quantum state, but it becomes exponentially hard with the system size. An alternative technique, matrix product state tomography, is shown to work well in practical situations. Faithful conversion of propagating quantum information to mechanical motion    pp1163 - 1167 A. P. Reed, K. H. Mayer, J. D. Teufel, L. D. Burkhart, W. Pfaff et al. doi:10.1038/nphys4251 Combining micrometre-sized mechanical resonators with superconducting quantum circuits, quantum information encoded with photons now can be converted to the motion of a macroscopic object. Berry phase and anomalous transport of the composite fermions at the half-filled Landau level    pp1168 - 1172 W. Pan, W. Kang, K. W. Baldwin, K. W. West, L. N. Pfeiffer et al. doi:10.1038/nphys4231 Experimental signatures of a Berry phase for composite fermions in the fractional quantum Hall effect provide support for the predictions that these composite fermions are Dirac particles. Molecules cooled below the Doppler limit    pp1173 - 1176 S. Truppe, H. J. Williams, M. Hambach, L. Caldwell, N. J. Fitch et al. doi:10.1038/nphys4241 Magneto-optical trapping and sub-Doppler cooling of atoms has been instrumental for research in ultracold atomic physics. This regime has now been reached for a molecular species, CaF. Current-phase relations of few-mode InAs nanowire Josephson junctions    pp1177 - 1181 Eric M. Spanton, Mingtang Deng, Saulius Vaitiekenas, Peter Krogstrup, Jesper Nygård et al. doi:10.1038/nphys4224 Semiconductor nanowires with superconducting leads are considered promising for quantum computation. The current-phase relation is systematically explored in gate-tunable InAs Josephson junctions, and is shown to provide a clean handle for characterizing the transport properties of these structures. Superballistic flow of viscous electron fluid through graphene constrictions    pp1182 - 1185 R. Krishna Kumar, D. A. Bandurin, F. M. D. Pellegrino, Y. Cao, A. Principi et al. doi:10.1038/nphys4240 Graphene systems are clean platforms for studying electron-electron (e-e) collisions. Electron transport in graphene constrictions is now found to behave anomalously due to e-e interactions: conductance values exceed the maximum free-electron value. Instability in dynamic fracture and the failure of the classical theory of cracks    pp1186 - 1190 Chih-Hung Chen, Eran Bouchbinder & Alain Karma doi:10.1038/nphys4237 Understanding crack formation is important for improving the mechanical performance of materials. A new theory is now presented for the description of cracks propagating at high speeds, with elastic nonlinearity as the underlying principle. Advertisement npj Microgravity is a new open access journal specifically dedicated to publishing research which enables space exploration and research that is enabled by spaceflight and ground-based spaceflight analogues. npj Microgravity is published in cooperation the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, and is part of the Nature Partner Journals series. Find out more >>>   Articles   Determining the quantum expectation value by measuring a single photon    pp1191 - 1194 Fabrizio Piacentini, Alessio Avella, Enrico Rebufello, Rudi Lussana, Federica Villa et al. doi:10.1038/nphys4223 A photonic experiment demonstrates protective measurements, a type of weak measurements. These make it possible to determine the expectation value of the polarization of a photon from a single measurement. Four-body ring-exchange interactions and anyonic statistics within a minimal toric-code Hamiltonian    pp1195 - 1200 Han-Ning Dai, Bing Yang, Andreas Reingruber, Hui Sun, Xiao-Fan Xu et al. doi:10.1038/nphys4243 Ring-exchange interactions are basic elements needed for realizing topological quantum computation. These interactions and anyonic statistics have been engineered using ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. Influence of apical oxygen on the extent of in-plane exchange interaction in cuprate superconductors    pp1201 - 1206 Y. Y. Peng, G. Dellea, M. Minola, M. Conni, A. Amorese et al. doi:10.1038/nphys4248 A detailed resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) study of a series of well-known cuprate superconductors reveals a correlation between the number of apical oxygens in these systems, and the strength of their in-plane exchange interaction. Electron-hole collision limited transport in charge-neutral bilayer graphene    pp1207 - 1214 Youngwoo Nam, Dong-Keun Ki, David Soler-Delgado & Alberto F. Morpurgo doi:10.1038/nphys4218 Whether ballistic transport can occur in a system is usually governed by the number of impurities, but a ballistic transport regime is seen in charge-neutral graphene that is limited not by impurities or phonons, but electron-hole collisions. Spontaneous formation and dynamics of half-skyrmions in a chiral liquid-crystal film    pp1215 - 1220 doi:10.1038/nphys4245 Spontaneous formation of a half-skyrmion lattice is observed in a thin-film chiral liquid crystal. The dynamics are shown to be thermally driven - presenting a platform to study the thermal fluctuations of topological defects. Active tension network model suggests an exotic mechanical state realized in epithelial tissues    pp1221 - 1226 doi:10.1038/nphys4219 Determining how cellular activity affects the collective properties of growing tissues is key to understanding morphogenesis. An epithelial tissue model shows how active tension can give rise to striking mechanical behaviours seen in experiments. Thermonuclear reactions probed at stellar-core conditions with laser-based inertial-confinement fusion    pp1227 - 1231 D. T. Casey, D. B. Sayre, C. R. Brune, V. A. Smalyuk, C. R. Weber et al. doi:10.1038/nphys4220 Nuclear reactions taking place in stars are not straightforward to study in laboratories on Earth. Now, inertial-confinement fusion implosion experiments are reported that mimic the conditions for the hydrogen-burning phase in main-sequence stars. Advertisement npj Quantum Materials is a new open access journal that is now open for submissions. The journal publishes broad coverage of quantum materials, their fundamental properties, fabrication and applications. Sign up for article e-alerts >>>   Errata   Erratum: Structural and quantum-state phase transitions in van der Waals layered materials    p1232 Heejun Yang, Sung Wng Kim, Manish Chhowalla & Young Hee Lee doi:10.1038/nphys4315 Erratum: Structural and quantum-state phase transitions in van der Waals layered materials    p1232 Heejun Yang, Sung Wng Kim, Manish Chhowalla & Young Hee Lee doi:10.1038/nphys4328 Measure for Measure   A matter of time    p1234 Helen Margolis doi:10.1038/nphys4327 Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. The contents of the Natureevents Directory are now live. The digital version is available here. Find the latest scientific conferences, courses, meetings and symposia on natureevents.com. For event advertising opportunities across the Nature Publishing Group portfolio please contact natureevents@nature.com More Nature Events

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