Nature Physics September Issue

TABLE OF CONTENTS September 2013 Volume 9, Issue 9 Editorial Thesis Books and Arts Research Highlights News and Views Letters Articles Erratum Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement Nature Photonics focus: Terahertz optics Describing the interaction mechanism between terahertz radiation and matter. Topics covered include on- and off-resonant control using intense terahertz pulses and terahertz wave engineering using quantum cascade lasers and superconducting terahertz emitters, which are promising sources of sub-THz and THz radiation.  Selected content free online for a limited time    Editorial Top The Hubbard model at half a century   p523 doi:10.1038/nphys2759 Models are abundant in virtually all branches of physics, with some achieving iconic status. The Hubbard model, celebrating its golden jubilee this year, continues to be one of the most popular contrivances of theoretical condensed-matter physics. Thesis Top Brain teaser   p525 Mark Buchanan doi:10.1038/nphys2736 Books and Arts Top Exhibition: The great rogue wave   p526 Iulia Georgescu doi:10.1038/nphys2746 The human side of genius   pp526 - 527 Liesbeth Venema reviews Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein by Mario Livio doi:10.1038/nphys2745 Research Highlights Top Ice baby | Mind the map | Acceleration from within | Kinky strings | Comeback comets News and Views Top Quantum optics: Micro meets macro   p529 Fabio Sciarrino doi:10.1038/nphys2704 A microscopic one-photon subsystem can be entangled with a macroscopic subsystem of thousands of photons: such hybrid micro-macro entanglement, now efficiently produced and verified, should be useful for quantum metrology and for fundamental tests of quantum mechanics. See also: Letter by Lvovsky et al. | Letter by Bruno et al. Quantum point contacts: Double or nothing?   pp530 - 531 Adam Micolich doi:10.1038/nphys2740 The role that quasi-bound spins play in the '0.7 anomaly' is controversial. One study suggests that two or more quasi-bound spins may be involved; another advocates that the 0.7 anomaly is a density-of-states effect, needing neither a quasi-bound spin nor spontaneous spin polarization. Free-electron lasers: Twisted light from an electron beam   pp531 - 532 Marie-Emmanuelle Couprie doi:10.1038/nphys2742 A relativistic electron beam travelling on an undulating path interacts with a laser and emits light carrying orbital angular momentum. The wavelengths of these bright twisted-light beams can go down to those of hard X-rays. See also: Letter by Hemsing et al. Spintronics: Gate control of spin-valley coupling   pp532 - 533 Alberto F. Morpurgo doi:10.1038/nphys2706 An electrically controllable spin–orbit interaction at the surface of transition-metal dichalcogenides highlights the wealth of unexpected physics that two-dimensional systems can offer. See also: Article by Yuan et al. Neuronal networks: Focus amidst the noise   pp533 - 534 John M. Beggs doi:10.1038/nphys2707 High-resolution imaging of neuronal networks reveals that spontaneous bursts of collective activity are a consequence of an implosive concentration of noise. See also: Article by Orlandi et al. Zero-temperature classical liquids: A cool liquid that does not freeze   pp535 - 536 Jeppe C. Dyre doi:10.1038/nphys2730 A simulation study of a model that mimics certain colloidal particles reveals a surprising low-temperature triumph of entropy, whereby the liquid state persists down to zero temperature. See also: Letter by Smallenburg & Sciortino Quantum materials: Shape resonances in superstripes   pp536 - 537 Antonio Bianconi doi:10.1038/nphys2738 The significance of 'stripes' in certain high-temperature superconductors has been hotly debated for decades. Now a consensus is emerging that there may, in fact, be two networks of different stripes in which shape resonances play a key role in the superconductivity. Quantum dots: To the source of the noise   pp538 - 539 Hendrik Bluhm doi:10.1038/nphys2721 Distinguishing between different sources of noise in quantum dots could help to develop single-photon devices that are suitable for long-range entanglement. See also: Article by Kuhlmann et al. Physics JOBS of the week Postdoctoral Researcher in Computational Physics Tampere University of Technology (TUT) Post-doctoral researcher position in experimental physics Prof. Dr. Christoph Becher, Department of Experimental Physics, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany PhD student in physics University of Basel Postdoctoral position in theoretical fusion plasma physics Chalmers University of Technology Postdoctoral Fellowship in Thermofluids CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation) More Science jobs from Physics EVENT The Physics of Soft and Biological Matter 14th April 2014 Cambridge, UK More science events from Letters Top Observation of micro-macro entanglement of light   pp541 - 544 A. I. Lvovsky, R. Ghobadi, A. Chandra, A. S. Prasad and C. Simon doi:10.1038/nphys2682 Schrodinger's cat paradox embodies the open question of whether quantum effects can survive at macroscopic scales. A quantum optics experiment explores this question by creating entanglement between a microscopic and a macroscopic system. See also: Letter by Bruno et al. | News and Views by Sciarrino Displacement of entanglement back and forth between the micro and macro domains   pp545 - 548 N. Bruno, A. Martin, P. Sekatski, N. Sangouard, R. T. Thew et al. doi:10.1038/nphys2681 Does quantum theory still apply at macroscopic scales? Looking for new insights into this open problem, an experiment in the spirit of Schroedinger's cat gedanken experiment investigates the entanglement between microscopic and macroscopic domains. See also: Letter by Lvovsky et al. | News and Views by Sciarrino Coherent optical vortices from relativistic electron beams   pp549 - 553 Erik Hemsing, Andrey Knyazik, Michael Dunning, Dao Xiang, Agostino Marinelli et al. doi:10.1038/nphys2712 The interaction between light and a relativistic electron beam can be used to generate optical vortices in a free electron laser, providing a way to engineer bright orbital angular momentum light at shorter X-ray wavelengths. See also: News and Views by Couprie Liquids more stable than crystals in particles with limited valence and flexible bonds   pp554 - 558 Frank Smallenburg and Francesco Sciortino doi:10.1038/nphys2693 Patchy colloidal systems consist of particles with attractive patches on them. If the bonds between particles are allowed to be flexible, a colloidal liquid state may be observed as the system approaches zero temperature. See also: News and Views by Dyre Articles Top Demonstration of genuine multipartite entanglement with device-independent witnesses   pp559 - 562 Julio T. Barreiro, Jean-Daniel Bancal, Philipp Schindler, Daniel Nigg, Markus Hennrich et al. doi:10.1038/nphys2705 Experimentally verifying that quantum states are indeed entangled is not always straightforward. With the recently proposed device-independent entanglement witnesses, genuine multiparticle entanglement of six ions has now been demonstrated. Zeeman-type spin splitting controlled by an electric field   pp563 - 569 Hongtao Yuan, Mohammad Saeed Bahramy, Kazuhiro Morimoto, Sanfeng Wu, Kentaro Nomura et al. doi:10.1038/nphys2691 A magnetic field can lift the spin degeneracy of electrons. This Zeeman effect is an important route to generating the spin polarization required for spintronics. It is now shown that such polarization can also be achieved without the need for magnetism. The unique crystal symmetry of tungsten selenide creates a Zeeman-like effect when a monolayer of the material is exposed to an external electric field. See also: News and Views by Morpurgo Charge noise and spin noise in a semiconductor quantum device   pp570 - 575 Andreas V. Kuhlmann, Julien Houel, Arne Ludwig, Lukas Greuter, Dirk Reuter et al. doi:10.1038/nphys2688 Charge noise and spin noise lead to decoherence of the state of a quantum dot. A fast spectroscopic technique based on resonance fluorescence can distinguish between these two deleterious effects, enabling a better understanding of how to minimize their influence. See also: News and Views by Bluhm Observation and spectroscopy of a two-electron Wigner molecule in an ultraclean carbon nanotube   pp576 - 581 S. Pecker, F. Kuemmeth, A. Secchi, M. Rontani, D. C. Ralph et al. doi:10.1038/nphys2692 A Wigner molecule—a localized pair of interacting electrons—is now created in a carbon nanotube. The high-quality, electronically pristine tubes enable a full characterization of the energy spectrum, laying the groundwork for future studies of interacting fermion systems in one and two dimensions. Noise focusing and the emergence of coherent activity in neuronal cultures   pp582 - 590 Javier G. Orlandi, Jordi Soriano, Enrique Alvarez-Lacalle, Sara Teller and Jaume Casademunt doi:10.1038/nphys2686 Neuronal networks can spontaneously exhibit periodic bursts of collective activity. High-resolution calcium imaging and computer modelling of in vitro cultures now reveal that this behaviour is a consequence of noise focusing—an implosive concentration of spontaneous activity due to the interplay between network topology and intrinsic neuronal dynamics. See also: News and Views by Beggs Molecular motors robustly drive active gels to a critically connected state   pp591 - 597 José Alvarado, Michael Sheinman, Abhinav Sharma, Fred C. MacKintosh and Gijsje H. Koenderink doi:10.1038/nphys2715 A study of an actomyosin active gel now demonstrates the importance of the crosslinking density of actin polymers in enabling myosin motors to internally drive contraction and rupture the network into clusters. These results could help us to better understand the role of the cytoskeleton in cell division and tissue morphogenesis. Erratum Top Coherent phonon manipulation in coupled mechanical resonators   p598 Hajime Okamoto, Adrien Gourgout, Chia-Yuan Chang, Koji Onomitsu, Imran Mahboob et al. doi:10.1038/nphys2749 Top Advertisement Nature Publishing Index 2012 Global  The Nature Publishing Index (NPI) ranks institutions and countries according to the number of primary research articles they publish in the Nature family of journals in a one-year period. The Nature Publishing Index 2012 Global supplement provides league tables and commentary based on articles published between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2012.  Where does your institution rank?    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. 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