Nature Physics December Issue

Advertisement NPG Asia Materials | Monthly reviews by leading materials researchers from the Asia-Pacific region. Latest review: Metamaterials and metaoptics | Full list of reviews Recent highlights: Physical chemistry: Trapping a single water molecule | Photonic crystals: Laser action squeezed out Call for papers NPG Asia Materials is now accepting submissions of original research articles for 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS December 2011 Volume 7, Issue 12 Editorials Thesis Research Highlights News and Views Corrections Letters Articles Recommend to your library Web feed Available online only Subscribe Advertisement Job opportunity Nature Physics seeks an Associate Editor to join its editorial team in our London office. The ideal candidate will have completed a Ph.D. in a physics discipline, and postdoctoral experience is preferred (but not required). Key elements of the position include the selection of manuscripts for publication, as well as commissioning, editing and writing for the journal. Read the full advert Closing date: 19 December 2011   Editorials Top End of the line? p919 doi:10.1038/nphys2176 The Higgs boson is running out of places to hide. Full Text | PDF Hard times p919 doi:10.1038/nphys2177 Investment in science must be part of Europe's plan to rebuild its economies. Full Text | PDF Thesis Top Simple, but not so simple p921 Mark Buchanan doi:10.1038/nphys2164 Full Text | PDF Research Highlights Top Let it flow | Family matters | Diamond cavities | Putting it together | Dots work together News and Views Top Materials physics: Bending Maxwell's rule pp923 - 924 Erik van der Giessen doi:10.1038/nphys2146 Fibre networks inspire an update to a century-old criterion for mechanical integrity — showing that a little bending resistance can go a long way. Full Text | PDF See also: Article by Broedersz et al. | Self-similarity: The answer, my friend p924 Abigail Klopper doi:10.1038/nphys2168 Full Text | PDF Graphene: Tri and tri again pp925 - 926 Amir Yacoby doi:10.1038/nphys2166 Monolayer graphene is a semimetal with no bandgap, and bilayer graphene is a semiconductor with a tunable gap. A trio of studies now shows that trilayer graphene can be either, depending on how its layers are stacked — behaviour that could support exotic new electronic states. Full Text | PDF See also: Letter by Lui et al. | Letter by Bao et al. | Letter by Zhang et al. | Dark matter: Star sign pp926 - 927 Anne Green doi:10.1038/nphys2158 The realization that primordial black holes produce oscillations when they pass through stars brings us one step closer to observing traces of this dark-matter candidate that formed in the early Universe. Full Text | PDF Quantum physics: Environmental effects controlled pp927 - 928 Julio T. Barreiro doi:10.1038/nphys2150 An open quantum system loses its 'quantumness' when information about the state leaks into its surroundings. Researchers now show how this decoherence can be controlled between two incompatible regimes in the case of a single photon. Full Text | PDF See also: Letter by Liu et al. | Quantum computing: Snapshots of diamond spins pp929 - 930 John J. L. Morton and Simon C. Benjamin doi:10.1038/nphys2148 Defects in diamond crystals possess rare physical properties that can enable new forms of technology. Unlocking this potential requires rapid quantum-state measurement, a 'quantum snapshot', which has now been achieved. Full Text | PDF Musical rhythms: Perfecting imperfection p930 Andreas Trabesinger doi:10.1038/nphys2169 Full Text | PDF Physics JOBS of the week Research assistant Meteorological and Hydrological Service Research positions in Mathematics / Mathematical Physics Centro de Matemática da Universidade do Porto Research Associate-Microbiology & Physiological Systems UMass Medical School Postdocs (m / f) Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY - Helmholtz Association Postdoc in Transport Properties of Novel Membrane Materials Aarhus University - Denmark More Science jobs from Physics EVENT Chemistry, Astronomy and Physics of H3+ 9th Feb - 10th Feb 2012 Buckinghamshire, UK More science events from Corrections Top Correction p930 doi:10.1038/nphys2151 Full Text | PDF Correction p930 doi:10.1038/nphys2152 Full Text | PDF Letters Top Experimental control of the transition from Markovian to non-Markovian dynamics of open quantum systems pp931 - 934 Bi-Heng Liu, Li Li, Yun-Feng Huang, Chuan-Feng Li, Guang-Can Guo, Elsi-Mari Laine, Heinz-Peter Breuer and Jyrki Piilo doi:10.1038/nphys2085 An open quantum system loses its 'quantumness' when information about the state leaks into its surroundings. Researchers now control this so-called decoherence in a single photon. By rotating an optical filter, the information flow between the photon and its environment can be tuned. This concept could be harnessed for future quantum technologies. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF See also: News and Views by Barreiro | Strong back-action of a linear circuit on a single electronic quantum channel pp935 - 938 F. D. Parmentier, A. Anthore, S. Jezouin, H. le Sueur, U. Gennser, A. Cavanna, D. Mailly and F. Pierre doi:10.1038/nphys2092 At the nanoscale, the conductance of a coherent conductor is reduced by the back-action of the circuit in which it is inserted. The effect has been primarily studied for cases where it is small, but these authors explore the regime of strong back-action—with conductance reductions of up to 90%—and propose a generalized expression for the conductance of quantum channels embedded in linear circuits. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Spatial fluctuations of helical Dirac fermions on the surface of topological insulators pp939 - 943 Haim Beidenkopf, Pedram Roushan, Jungpil Seo, Lindsay Gorman, Ilya Drozdov, Yew San Hor, R. J. Cava and Ali Yazdani doi:10.1038/nphys2108 Helical Dirac fermion states in topological insulators could enable dissipation-free spintronics and robust quantum information processors. A study of the influence of disorder on these states shows that although they are resilient against backscattering by magnetic impurities, fluctuations caused by charge impurities could cause problems for such applications. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Observation of an electrically tunable band gap in trilayer graphene pp944 - 947 Chun Hung Lui, Zhiqiang Li, Kin Fai Mak, Emmanuele Cappelluti and Tony F. Heinz doi:10.1038/nphys2102 Monolayer graphene has no electronic band gap. Bilayer graphene does, and can be controlled by an electric field. And for trilayer graphene, infrared transmission measurements indicate both situations are possible depending on the stacking of the layers. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF See also: Letter by Zhang et al. | Letter by Bao et al. | News and Views by Yacoby | Stacking-dependent band gap and quantum transport in trilayer graphene pp948 - 952 W. Bao, L. Jing, J. Velasco, Jr, Y. Lee, G. Liu, D. Tran, B. Standley, M. Aykol, S. B. Cronin, D. Smirnov, M. Koshino, E. McCann, M. Bockrath and C. N. Lau doi:10.1038/nphys2103 The electronic properties of graphene depends on how many layers are involved. Monolayer graphene is a zero-gapped semi-metal. Bilayer graphene is a small-gapped semiconductor. Magnetotransport measurements indicate trilayer graphene can be both, depending on its stacking. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF See also: Letter by Lui et al. | Letter by Zhang et al. | News and Views by Yacoby | The experimental observation of quantum Hall effect of l=3 chiral quasiparticles in trilayer graphene pp953 - 957 Liyuan Zhang, Yan Zhang, Jorge Camacho, Maxim Khodas and Igor Zaliznyak doi:10.1038/nphys2104 Soon after the isolation of graphene, it was discovered that the charge carriers in monolayer and bilayer sheets exhibit exotic Berry phases of π and 2π respectively. Now, magnetotransport measurements suggest the sequence continues in trilayer graphene, with charge carriers that exhibit a Berry phase of 3π. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF See also: Letter by Lui et al. | Letter by Bao et al. | News and Views by Yacoby | Tunable metal-insulator transition in double-layer graphene heterostructures pp958 - 961 L. A. Ponomarenko, A. K. Geim, A. A. Zhukov, R. Jalil, S. V. Morozov, K. S. Novoselov, I. V. Grigorieva, E. H. Hill, V. V. Cheianov, V. I. Fal'ko, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi and R. V. Gorbachev doi:10.1038/nphys2114 Disorder-induced Anderson localization usually causes conducting materials to become insulating at low temperature. Graphene is a notable exception. But by increasing the carrier density in one graphene layer, a metal-insulator transition can be induced in an isolated second layer stacked above it. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF A gravitational wave observatory operating beyond the quantum shot-noise limit pp962 - 965 The LIGO Scientific Collaboration doi:10.1038/nphys2083 'Squeezed light' enables quantum noise in one aspect of light to be reduced by increasing the noise, or more accurately the quantum uncertainty, of a complementary aspect. This has now been used to push the detectors at the heart of the GEO600 gravitational wave observatory to unprecedented levels of sensitivity. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Optimization hardness as transient chaos in an analog approach to constraint satisfaction pp966 - 970 Mária Ercsey-Ravasz and Zoltán Toroczkai doi:10.1038/nphys2105 Constraint-satisfaction problems are among the computationally hardest tasks: solutions are efficiently checkable, but no efficient algorithms are known to compute those solutions. Fresh insight might come from physics. A study mapping optimization hardness onto the phenomena of turbulence and chaos suggests that constraint-satisfaction problems can be tackled using analog devices. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Articles Top Topology by dissipation in atomic quantum wires pp971 - 977 Sebastian Diehl, Enrique Rico, Mikhail A. Baranov and Peter Zoller doi:10.1038/nphys2106 So-called topological properties can make quantum systems robust to a wide class of microscopic perturbations. Theoretical work now shows that topological features and phenomena occur not only in closed systems, but also in open quantum systems with appropriately engineered dissipation. Abstract | Full Text | PDF Bilayer manganites reveal polarons in the midst of a metallic breakdown pp978 - 982 F. Massee, S. de Jong, Y. Huang, W. K. Siu, I. Santoso, A. Mans, A. T. Boothroyd, D. Prabhakaran, R. Follath, A. Varykhalov, L. Patthey, M. Shi, J. B. Goedkoop and M. S. Golden doi:10.1038/nphys2089 Understanding the origin of colossal magnetoresistance in the manganites has proved to be one of the more difficult challenges in condensed-matter physics. An unexpected discovery of polarons in the metallic ground state of bilayer manganites could be an important clue. Abstract | Full Text | PDF Criticality and isostaticity in fibre networks pp983 - 988 Chase P. Broedersz, Xiaoming Mao, Tom C. Lubensky and Frederick C. MacKintosh doi:10.1038/nphys2127 In fibre networks, mechanical stability relies on the fibres' bending resistance—in contrast to rubbers, where entropic stretching is the key. The extent to which the mechanics of fibre networks is controlled by bending is, however, an open question. The study of a general lattice-based model of fibrous networks now reveals two rigidity critical points, one of which controls a rich crossover from stretching-dominated to bending-dominated behaviour. Abstract | Full Text | PDF See also: News and Views by van der Giessen | Top Advertisement Light: Science & Applications (LSA) - Launching in 2012 Nature Publishing Group is excited to introduce a new open access journal focusing on the best and most important research in optics and photonics from around the world. 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