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The electron is responsible for charge and spin transport in conventional metals. In contrast, the existence of well-defined electronic excitations in the metallic state of high-temperature superconductors is highly debated.
Quantum entanglement is a vital resource in quantum information science. A theoretical framework now provides a better understanding of how these non-classical correlations decay in a real environment.
The relationship between high-temperature superconductivity and the pseudogap state is further probed by an atomic-scale study that shows that what was believed to be a signature of the superconducting state exists in both states.
Synchrotron radiation generated using an electron beam from a laser-driven accelerator opens the possibility of building an X-ray free-electron laser hundreds of times smaller than conventional facilities currently under construction.
It is 25 years since the workshop that marked the birth of the inflationary Universe and the laying of the theoretical foundations of modern cosmology. Following a flood of data, the inflationary scenario is on its way to being established.
The rates of chemical reactions in a cell are limited by the time it takes the reactants to find each other through brownian motion. Thus diffusion determines the timescales of life — but can some reactions beat the diffusion limit?
For high-temperature superconductors, results from more refined experiments on better-quality samples are issuing fresh challenges to theorists. It could be that a new state of matter is at play, with unconventional excitations.
The 'spin-transfer torque effect' could provide a powerful means of controlling the orientation of spins with electric currents rather than magnetic fields in future spintronic devices. Quantitative measurements of this effect represent an important next step.
Ab initio computer simulations of a shocked cluster of nitromethane molecules provide a glimpse of the evolution of the molecular and electronic structure of an explosive undergoing detonation.
In a polaron, an electron and the lattice distortion that it induces in a crystal form a 'quasiparticle'. But a strong electric field can displace the two constituents with respect to each other, giving a glimpse at the polaron's internal dynamics.
