Review Articles

Gaussian process regression (GPR) is a powerful, non-parametric and robust technique for uncertainty quantification and function approximation that can be applied to optimal and autonomous data acquisition. This Review introduces the basics of GPR and discusses several use cases from different fields.

The Higgs boson is central to our understanding of the structure of matter in high-energy particle physics: the origin of mass, stability of the vacuum and key issues in cosmology. Here we review recent progress in experiment and theory and the prospects for future discoveries.

Phonon heat conduction at the microscale and the nanoscale exhibits rich phenomena beyond the predictions of Fourier’s law, rivalling the phenomena of electrons. This Review discusses phonon heat conduction regimes, including the Casimir–Knudsen size effect, hydrodynamic transport, coherent transport (from quantization and localization) and divergence.

Majorana zero modes are non-Abelian anyons that hold promise for realizing topologically protected quantum computation. This Review discusses how scanning tunnelling microscopy can identify Majorana zero modes and investigate their properties, and outlines future research direction of the field.

The interconnectedness of the financial system is increasing over time, and modelling it as a network captures key interactions between financial institutions. This Review surveys the most successful applications of statistical physics and complex networks to the description and understanding of financial networks.

Quantum annealing is a widely used heuristic algorithm for optimization and sampling, implemented in commercial processors. This Review provides a critical assessment of the field and points to new opportunities for a quantum advantage via recently developed alternative quantum annealing protocols.

The rapidly developing field of physics-informed learning integrates data and mathematical models seamlessly, enabling accurate inference of realistic and high-dimensional multiphysics problems. This Review discusses the methodology and provides diverse examples and an outlook for further developments.

The chiral anomaly, originally studied in pion decay, leads to related effects in Dirac and Weyl semimetals. This Review surveys recent experiments that address the appearance of the anomaly in parallel electric and magnetic fields.

Present-day understanding of planet formation has strongly been influenced by laboratory work under microgravity. This Review discusses the numerous experiments on the processes involved, from the onset of planet formation in sticking collisions to erosion of planetesimal surfaces.

Low-energy neutrons are key for understanding fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics and physics beyond the standard model. This Review addresses topics such as matter-wave interferometry, quantum mechanical relations and hypothetical dark sector models and interactions.

Spin currents, which are generated by chiral structures, can be used to manipulate chiral topological magnetic excitations. This Review brings together advances in chiral molecules, chiral magnetic structures and chiral topological matter to provide an outlook towards potential applications.

The search for topological phases of matter is evolving towards strongly interacting systems, including magnets and superconductors. This Review discusses the proof-of-principle methodologies applied to probe topological magnets and superconductors with scanning tunnelling microscopy.

A clock using the excitation of a low-energy excited state in the ²²⁹Th nucleus promises high accuracy and sensitivity to new physics. The recently measured properties of this nucleus will lead to nuclear laser spectroscopy with trapped Th ions and Th-doped crystals.

Semiconductor qubits are expected to have diverse future quantum applications. This Review discusses semiconductor qubit implementations from the perspective of an ecosystem of applications, such as quantum simulation, sensing, computation and communication.

Geometric insights into the structure and function of complex networks have led to exciting developments in network science. This Review Article summarizes progress in network geometry, its theory, and applications to biological, sociotechnical and other real-world networks.

Conventional solar cells suffer from the thermalization energy loss of hot carriers, which sets the Shockley–Queisser limit. This Review highlights the insightful mechanisms of slow hot carrier cooling dynamics and efficient carrier transport/extraction in 2D van der Waals heterojunctions, following opportunities in practical hot carrier solar cells.

Economic complexity methods predict changes in the geography of economic activities and explain differences in economic growth, inequality, greenhouse emissions and labour market outcomes. This Review summarizes a decade of research on economic complexity and its applications.

Viruses display fascinating dynamics during their life cycle. Only recently has it become possible to probe viral dynamics at the single-particle level. This Review discusses dynamical properties of viruses and recent developments in physical virology approaches to probe such dynamics.

Strong correlations may produce states of matter that do not have non-interacting counterparts, with new types of quantum criticality, superconductivity, and topological phases being recent highlights. This Review describes the physics underlying these correlated states and points to their potential for quantum applications.

Since the first measurement of the spin structure of the proton, there has been significant theoretical and experimental progress in understanding the origins of the proton spin. This Review discusses what we have learned so far, what is still missing and what to expect from the upcoming experiments.