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The contact formalism describes short-range correlations, which play a crucial role in nuclear systems. Initially introduced for ultracold atoms, its generalization to the nuclear case was now validated by ab initio calculations.
Effects of nucleon–nucleon correlations are studied with the generalized contact formalism and ab initio quantum Monte Carlo calculations. For nuclei from deuteron to 40Ca, the many-body nuclear wave function is shown to factorize at short distances.
Scaling arguments provide valuable analysis tools across physics and complex systems yet are often employed as one generic method, without explicit reference to the various mathematical concepts underlying them. A careful understanding of these concepts empowers us to unlock their full potential.
In first-century China, emperor Wang Mang standardized weights and
measures in his newly established dynasty. Noa Hegesh tells the story of sound as
the basis for this standardization.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 has been awarded to Roger Penrose for his work on black hole formation, and to Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel for their observation of a supermassive compact object at the Galactic Centre.
Observing accreting black holes in the early Universe allows precise comparison of clocks over intercontinental distances on Earth. This is achieved with a novel observation strategy using the next generation of very long baseline interferometry systems.
The coherence of a close-to-ideal laser beam can be quadratically better than what was believed to be the quantum limit. This new Heisenberg limit could be attained with circuit quantum electrodynamics.
Recently, a framework was introduced to model three-dimensional physical networks, such as brain or vascular ones, in a way that does not allow link crossings. Here the authors combine concepts from knot theory and statistical mechanics to be able to distinguish between physical networks with identical wiring but different layouts.