Physical Review X

A new study shows that simple, local measurements –– exponentially fewer than needed by previous methods — can be enough to certify a quantum system. The approach is robust to noise and fixes a bottleneck in developing larger quantum computers. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4kcYSc4

Neutron scattering experiments with DyPtBi show that applying uniaxial stress alignes magnetic domains, eliminating conductive domain walls and driving a 14% increase in resistivity below the transition temperature. Read more: https://go.aps.org/47NQpVp

How does energy limit what chemical networks can do? To find out, researchers derived bounds on chemical concentrations and reaction driving forces, helping explain biological function and guide the design of lifelike artificial systems. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4i2S4fK

Using the most recent LIGO-Virgo gravitational wave data, a study places new constraints on a number of high-energy particle physics models at energy scales that can’t be reached by current particle accelerators. Read the study: https://go.aps.org/47DmaAt

How do you find topological phases that symmetry indicators can't capture? A new paper constructs topological invariants systematically from the Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence, fully classifying superconductors in 159 of 230 space groups. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4eRPNBV

Quantum entanglement can give precision sensing a major edge, finds a new study. Researchers show quantum speedups for learning classical signals, opening new possibilities for electromagnetic sensing and gravitational wave detection. 📄 https://go.aps.org/4iaoUKl

Sharp edges and strange physics: Superconductor FeTe0.55Se0.4 shows a conductance plateau that only shows up on clean crystal edges and disappears near the temperature where the material turns spontaneously magnetic. Read more: https://go.aps.org/48eQJwp

How can researchers overcome current limits to studying complex dynamics in open quantum systems? A study introduces a scalable tensor-network framework that uses complex-time evolution to calculate steady states and low-lying Lindbladian eigenstates. 🔗 https://go.aps.org/4jzegPU

A new framework extends the classical Bogoliubov–Born–Green–Kirkwood–Yvon hierarchy for many-body systems to encompass both weakly-interacting particles and systems with strong, short-range, integrable interactions. Check it out: https://go.aps.org/3UF3OvZ

🌀 What happens when you squeeze a moiré superlattice? A study shows hydrostatic pressure pushes WSe₂/WS₂ moiré superlattices into a strong-moiré regime, offering a new strategy for excitonic wavefunction engineering. Read more: https://go.aps.org/3U5YyBo

Researchers zapped MgO with a laser hard enough to mimic the pressures and temps deep inside planets. They found that crystal orientation changes how the material transforms and melts, helping refine models of matter under such extreme conditions. More: https://go.aps.org/3UvJDR4

New work shows nonsymmorphic symmetries, like glides or screws, can host time-reversal-doubled axion insulator phases. It proposes measurable topological spin responses and predicts synthesizable material candidates. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4jYu26M

Non-Abelian quantum signal processing is a new framework that enables noise-resilient control directly at the oscillator level for hybrid quantum processors. The results are compatible with superconducting-circuit and trapped-ion platforms. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4eeSdKB

What’s hidden inside hematite? Applying an electric field breaks its inversion symmetry, unmasking multipolar order that’s normally hidden. New research traces this to a magnetic toroidal octupole and quadrupole. Read the paper: https://go.aps.org/3TVGc5O

🧲 Why is spin 3/2 special in frustrated magnets? A new study uses local conservation rules on the lattice to explain why it undergoes an abrupt phase transition while other spin values exhibit continuous transitions. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4zACrSL

When a Haar random state splits into two subsystems, they are highly entangled. But when divided into three, a new paper shows that bipartite entanglement cannot be distilled unless one subsystem holds at least half the total qubits. Read the study: https://go.aps.org/4yn3wrf

A new study defines mixed-state phase equivalence based on locally reversible channel circuits. This new definition could help physicists understand which kinds of order and information storage can persist when there is noise and dissipation. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4zpZHCI

A new way to study how memory forms in complex networks indicates that memory can emerge in a fluid network without built-in bistability or external controls. Read the paper: https://go.aps.org/4e5fONN

Auxiliary circuit modes trigger multiphoton resonances that break down Kerr-cat qubit coherence under strong driving, an explanation for the sudden reduction of tunneling time and the qubit’s robustness in certain electromagnetic environments. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4hFbpna

Researchers built a next-generation cavity-array microscope with 600 tiny light-trapping cavities designed to interface with large atom arrays. The advance could enable faster, larger-scale quantum networks. 📄 https://go.aps.org/47HldH8

A new effective field theory captures the universal behavior of out-of-time-order correlators in the hydrodynamic regime, providing a controlled and quantitative framework that extends these theories beyond regular transport. Read the paper: https://go.aps.org/4hBaGTR

A study proposes a hybrid qubit-boson quantum processor to simulate interacting fermions, bosons, and lattice gauge fields that is efficient enough to simulate strongly-correlated quantum problems without error correction. Read the study: https://go.aps.org/4j5kIxG

⚡ A record-setting superconductor: A new study shows that under pressure, UTe2 shows a temperature fluctuation region 100x wider than any known 3D superconductor. It could serve as a clean-limit platform for high-inductance devices. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4dZchAz

Congratulations to @nobelprize.org in #Physics winner Francis Halzen “for decisive contributions to @icecubeneutrino.bsky.social and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin." Read his 2025 Perspective on the state of neutrino astronomy: https://go.aps.org/44AZSNJ

🧠 Is remembering the past always useful for agents? When agents act on their environments, prediction and energy efficiency can conflict, a new study shows. Efficient agents may need to forget parts of past actions. Read the paper: https://go.aps.org/3TJ8vEt

⚙️ Moving parts generate a lot of heat, but sliding interfaces are hard to control. In a new study, a gold-graphite interface stays "structurally superlubric" while conducting heat orders of magnitude better than conventional moving contacts. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4y1V0xI

“Scrooge ensembles” are maximally entropic distributions of pure states consistent with physical constraints. A new paper introduces Scrooge k-designs, providing an experimental route to generate universal quantum randomness. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4hqbBGD

Classifying topological states is foundational to quantum physics, but there is a gap in our understanding of open systems. A new paper proposes three axioms that constitute a fixed point of topological mixed states. Learn more: https://go.aps.org/4dMQ0Ww

Scientists discovered a high-temperature spin-nematic phase in YbMnBi2. By coupling it to scalar spin chirality, they produced an anomalous Hall effect without needing ferromagnetism — offering new paths to room-temp spintronics. Read the paper: https://go.aps.org/4AKSxdL

Using Rydberg atom arrays, researchers show dipolar interactions bind atoms into self-bound states, enabling clean topological pumping along a synthetic lattice. Learn more: https://go.aps.org/4iZrtky

A new study in @physrevx.aps.org reveals vortex-like skyrmions hiding in 2D quasicrystalline wave patterns. Read the synopsis for more: https://go.aps.org/4xRj4DA

Researchers found that microscopic particles moving in a liquid can save over 30% of transport energy by taking curved paths instead of straight ones. This could provide a route to more energy-efficient control of microscopic systems. 📄 https://go.aps.org/4rHiQ0q

Scientists observed hydrodynamic skyrmions in quasicrystals. Skyrmion orientation and shape evolved due to phason-like motions, but global topology remained stable. The platform could potentially offer control over particle dynamics. Read the paper: https://go.aps.org/4hwuXZv

A novel simulation framework based on automatic differentiation achieves a new level of accuracy and scalability — tackling a key challenge in simulation of open quantum many-body bosonic systems in the deep quantum regime. Read the paper: https://go.aps.org/4d6TFOO

A new paper presents one of the first solvable models of chaotic many-body dynamics with a time-independent Hamiltonian — showing energy spreads diffusively, directly controlling the spectral form factor. 🔗 https://go.aps.org/4yX0ECo

How well can quantum information hold up against noise? A new study finds that in some fractional quantum Hall states, information stored in non-Abelian anyons stays fully recoverable under decoherence. Read the paper: https://go.aps.org/4hCWgT8

🧲 Competing magnetic interactions in the pyrochlore lattice can freeze into a new “mixed” magnetic order — or into a spin nematic phase with none at all, just broken rotational symmetry. Read the study: https://go.aps.org/4xvbG0l

🧠 This carbon nanotube foam remembers exactly how it was squeezed — like a hard drive, but mechanical. A new paper shows the first clean case of return point memory in a soft, elastic material, driven by nanoscale friction between nanotubes. Check it out: https://go.aps.org/4h8P0Nq

💎 Why do two forms of La3Ni2O7 exhibit very different superconductivity? A new study on the monolayer-trilayer phase says it comes down to interlayer coupling of bilayer NiO6 units. Check it out: https://go.aps.org/4Ai1T0j

🔬 Is a tracked particle's motion truly "ergodic"? The standard test used in single-particle tracking can be fooled, but this new paper proposes a fix: Swap the usual displacement measure for the mean-squared increment. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4yIE68e

🌀 A new paper tackles a weak point in neural-network quantum simulations by introducing blurred sampling, which restores stable optimization and accurate real-time dynamics with minimal overhead. Check it out: https://go.aps.org/4xqC8bo

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy and theoretical modeling reveals a new mechanism that flattens the mixed-type saddle point of a Kagome lattice on the surface of Co3Sn2S2 into a higher-order van Hove singularity. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4y2LbAK

A new study shows that active cavity feedback cuts polariton decay rates by more than 10x, boosting cooperativity and enabling strong photon-magnon-phonon coupling. These results overcome a major material limit for hybrid quantum systems. Read more: https://go.aps.org/3TsHhlu

Flexible filaments under oscillatory shear don’t just bend and bounce back: they settle into one of two coexisting attractor states and randomly hop between them. New study combines actin experiments with simulations. Read more: https://go.aps.org/4hdIOnw

A new study shows that the surface of antiferromagnets can develop 2D altermagnetism, greatly increasing the number of materials that might have this useful property. The finding provides a new way to create very thin, 2D magnetic materials. 📄 https://go.aps.org/3Toh73i

This paper finds that angular momentum imposes crucial constraints on configuration space of quantum quadrupoles, opening the door to a new wave of investigations exploring multipoles in pyrochlore materials. Get the details: https://go.aps.org/4yyDBxu

A new study presents a theoretical framework showing that isolated quantum systems never fully erase their past. Instead, they leave behind quantum birthmarks — persistent memories of a system's initial state and early dynamics. Learn more: https://go.aps.org/4xn5lnV

Contrary to established wisdom, a new study reveals that kagome superconductors possess local magnetic moments that influence their electronic properties and provide an explanation for observed broken time-reversal symmetry. Read the paper: https://go.aps.org/4r5jWTm

In a general quantum-circuit framework for Wigner’s friend scenarios, all Frauchiger-Renner-like paradoxes are resolved while remaining consistent with causality principles — overcoming key challenges in these scenarios without altering the Born rule. 🔗 https://go.aps.org/4hgE6X4

🧪 A new asymmetric interface turns platinum into a quantum filter for spin currents, producing the orientations needed for field-free magnetic bit switching. Read the Synopsis: https://go.aps.org/4x8Vf9Z