Pub Date : 2025-04-03DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00824-6
This April, we reflect on the varied and surprisingly close connection between physics and cats.
{"title":"The physics of cats","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00824-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00824-6","url":null,"abstract":"This April, we reflect on the varied and surprisingly close connection between physics and cats.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"165-165"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-025-00824-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-26DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00813-9
Martín Larocca, Supanut Thanasilp, Samson Wang, Kunal Sharma, Jacob Biamonte, Patrick J. Coles, Lukasz Cincio, Jarrod R. McClean, Zoë Holmes, M. Cerezo
Variational quantum computing offers a flexible computational approach with a broad range of applications. However, a key obstacle to realizing their potential is the barren plateau (BP) phenomenon. When a model exhibits a BP, its parameter optimization landscape becomes exponentially flat and featureless as the problem size increases. Importantly, all the moving pieces of an algorithm — choices of ansatz, initial state, observable, loss function and hardware noise — can lead to BPs if they are ill-suited. As BPs strongly impact on trainability, researchers have dedicated considerable effort to develop theoretical and heuristic methods to understand and mitigate their effects. As a result, the study of BPs has become a thriving area of research, influencing and exchanging ideas with other fields such as quantum optimal control, tensor networks and learning theory. This article provides a review of the current understanding of the BP phenomenon. Barren plateaus are widely considered as one of the main limitations for variational quantum algorithms. This Review summarizes the latest understandings of barren plateaus, indicating its causes, architecture that will suffer from this phenomenon, and discusses strategies that can — and cannot — avoid it.
{"title":"Barren plateaus in variational quantum computing","authors":"Martín Larocca, Supanut Thanasilp, Samson Wang, Kunal Sharma, Jacob Biamonte, Patrick J. Coles, Lukasz Cincio, Jarrod R. McClean, Zoë Holmes, M. Cerezo","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00813-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00813-9","url":null,"abstract":"Variational quantum computing offers a flexible computational approach with a broad range of applications. However, a key obstacle to realizing their potential is the barren plateau (BP) phenomenon. When a model exhibits a BP, its parameter optimization landscape becomes exponentially flat and featureless as the problem size increases. Importantly, all the moving pieces of an algorithm — choices of ansatz, initial state, observable, loss function and hardware noise — can lead to BPs if they are ill-suited. As BPs strongly impact on trainability, researchers have dedicated considerable effort to develop theoretical and heuristic methods to understand and mitigate their effects. As a result, the study of BPs has become a thriving area of research, influencing and exchanging ideas with other fields such as quantum optimal control, tensor networks and learning theory. This article provides a review of the current understanding of the BP phenomenon. Barren plateaus are widely considered as one of the main limitations for variational quantum algorithms. This Review summarizes the latest understandings of barren plateaus, indicating its causes, architecture that will suffer from this phenomenon, and discusses strategies that can — and cannot — avoid it.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"174-189"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-26DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00817-5
Andrea Gabrielli, Diego Garlaschelli, Subodh P. Patil, M. Ángeles Serrano
The renormalization group (RG) is a powerful theoretical framework. It is used on systems with many degrees of freedom to transform the description of their configurations, along with the associated model parameters and coupling constants, across different levels of resolution. The RG also provides a way to identify critical points of phase transitions and study the system’s behaviour around them. In traditional physical applications, the RG largely builds on the notions of homogeneity, symmetry, geometry and locality to define metric distances, scale transformations and self-similar coarse-graining schemes. More recently, efforts have been made to extend RG concepts to complex networks. However, in such systems, explicit geometric coordinates do not necessarily exist, different nodes and subgraphs can have different statistical properties, and homogeneous lattice-like symmetries are absent — all features that make it complicated to define consistent renormalization procedures. In this Technical Review, we discuss the main approaches, important advances, and the remaining open challenges for network renormalization. The renormalization group (RG) is a theoretical framework to transform systems across scales and identify critical points of phase transitions. In recent years, efforts have extended RG to complex networks, which challenge traditional assumptions. This Technical Review covers key approaches and open challenges.
{"title":"Network renormalization","authors":"Andrea Gabrielli, Diego Garlaschelli, Subodh P. Patil, M. Ángeles Serrano","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00817-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00817-5","url":null,"abstract":"The renormalization group (RG) is a powerful theoretical framework. It is used on systems with many degrees of freedom to transform the description of their configurations, along with the associated model parameters and coupling constants, across different levels of resolution. The RG also provides a way to identify critical points of phase transitions and study the system’s behaviour around them. In traditional physical applications, the RG largely builds on the notions of homogeneity, symmetry, geometry and locality to define metric distances, scale transformations and self-similar coarse-graining schemes. More recently, efforts have been made to extend RG concepts to complex networks. However, in such systems, explicit geometric coordinates do not necessarily exist, different nodes and subgraphs can have different statistical properties, and homogeneous lattice-like symmetries are absent — all features that make it complicated to define consistent renormalization procedures. In this Technical Review, we discuss the main approaches, important advances, and the remaining open challenges for network renormalization. The renormalization group (RG) is a theoretical framework to transform systems across scales and identify critical points of phase transitions. In recent years, efforts have extended RG to complex networks, which challenge traditional assumptions. This Technical Review covers key approaches and open challenges.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"203-219"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-26DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00814-8
Yong-Su Na, T. S. Hahm, P. H. Diamond, A. Di Siena, J. Garcia, Z. Lin
Along with high temperature and density, magnetic fusion requires good confinement and a degree of transport control for thermal plasmas. Meanwhile, fast ions are generated by the external heating used to raise plasma temperature and by the fusion reactions. As a result, the fusion plasmas are effectively rendered into systems with two coexisting populations of main interest — namely, the fast ions and the thermal plasma. Interestingly, several recent experiments indicate that the fast-ion population can improve the confinement of the thermal plasmas by mitigating turbulence. In this Review, we describe the physical mechanisms that underpin the improved confinement and discuss recent experimental results in terms of these mechanisms. Experiments have shown that fast ions generated in fusion plasmas improve confinement by mitigating plasma turbulence. This Review explores possible physical mechanisms to explain these experimental observations.
{"title":"How fast ions mitigate turbulence and enhance confinement in tokamak fusion plasmas","authors":"Yong-Su Na, T. S. Hahm, P. H. Diamond, A. Di Siena, J. Garcia, Z. Lin","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00814-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00814-8","url":null,"abstract":"Along with high temperature and density, magnetic fusion requires good confinement and a degree of transport control for thermal plasmas. Meanwhile, fast ions are generated by the external heating used to raise plasma temperature and by the fusion reactions. As a result, the fusion plasmas are effectively rendered into systems with two coexisting populations of main interest — namely, the fast ions and the thermal plasma. Interestingly, several recent experiments indicate that the fast-ion population can improve the confinement of the thermal plasmas by mitigating turbulence. In this Review, we describe the physical mechanisms that underpin the improved confinement and discuss recent experimental results in terms of these mechanisms. Experiments have shown that fast ions generated in fusion plasmas improve confinement by mitigating plasma turbulence. This Review explores possible physical mechanisms to explain these experimental observations.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"190-202"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787367","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-26DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00820-w
Josephine Hunout, Shey Dylan Lovett, Jessica Wade, Isabella von Holstein
The UK’s quantum strategy prioritizes quantum sensing, but hiring trends focus on quantum computing and communication. To meet targets, the UK must realign hiring and education with its immediate needs.
{"title":"Assessing the skills gap for the UK’s quantum missions","authors":"Josephine Hunout, Shey Dylan Lovett, Jessica Wade, Isabella von Holstein","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00820-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00820-w","url":null,"abstract":"The UK’s quantum strategy prioritizes quantum sensing, but hiring trends focus on quantum computing and communication. To meet targets, the UK must realign hiring and education with its immediate needs.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"171-173"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-25DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00821-9
Sara Bassanelli, Carringtone Kinyanjui, Simone Turchetti
Despite its benefits, globalized science also has problems, including asymmetric data sharing. Understanding the origin of these imbalances can help mitigate their long-term impacts.
{"title":"Mapping inequalities in the global availability of physics data over time","authors":"Sara Bassanelli, Carringtone Kinyanjui, Simone Turchetti","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00821-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00821-9","url":null,"abstract":"Despite its benefits, globalized science also has problems, including asymmetric data sharing. Understanding the origin of these imbalances can help mitigate their long-term impacts.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"168-170"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-07DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00815-7
Nature Reviews Physics publishes short opinion articles each month. How can you write a compelling one?
{"title":"Tips for writing opinion articles","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00815-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00815-7","url":null,"abstract":"Nature Reviews Physics publishes short opinion articles each month. How can you write a compelling one?","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 3","pages":"129-129"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-025-00815-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143571438","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-28DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00816-6
Hope Bretscher, Núria Muñoz Garganté
To avoid a replication crisis in physics, physicists need to understand how ever-changing social forces shape scientific practice — and even the underlying notions of replicability and objectivity.
{"title":"Replicability and the evolution of scientific norms","authors":"Hope Bretscher, Núria Muñoz Garganté","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00816-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00816-6","url":null,"abstract":"To avoid a replication crisis in physics, physicists need to understand how ever-changing social forces shape scientific practice — and even the underlying notions of replicability and objectivity.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"166-167"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-21DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00811-x
Saadbin Khan, Anne E. Staples
Insect respiration is characterized by the rapid transport of respiratory gases within the organism and efficient exchange with the external environment. The unique respiratory system of insects comprises a network of tracheal tubes that directly supply oxygen to the cells throughout the body of an insect, eliminating the need for blood as an intermediate oxygen carrier. The remarkable diversity of insects and their exceptionally high aerobic scope, possibly the highest in the animal kingdom, demonstrate the success of their respiratory strategy. Microfluidic technology, particularly in the domain of gas microfluidics, also stands to benefit from emulating the mechanical proficiency demonstrated by insects in manipulating fluids at the microscale. Despite this significance, current understanding of the fundamental principles underlying insect respiration is incomplete. This Review presents an overview of insect respiratory physics and identifies promising areas for future investigations. This Review summarizes the fundamental physical mechanisms of insect respiration, in which specialized tracheal networks enable highly efficient direct oxygen delivery and gas exchange. It discusses how these principles may inform bioinspired innovations in microscale gas transport technology.
{"title":"Mechanisms of insect respiration","authors":"Saadbin Khan, Anne E. Staples","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00811-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00811-x","url":null,"abstract":"Insect respiration is characterized by the rapid transport of respiratory gases within the organism and efficient exchange with the external environment. The unique respiratory system of insects comprises a network of tracheal tubes that directly supply oxygen to the cells throughout the body of an insect, eliminating the need for blood as an intermediate oxygen carrier. The remarkable diversity of insects and their exceptionally high aerobic scope, possibly the highest in the animal kingdom, demonstrate the success of their respiratory strategy. Microfluidic technology, particularly in the domain of gas microfluidics, also stands to benefit from emulating the mechanical proficiency demonstrated by insects in manipulating fluids at the microscale. Despite this significance, current understanding of the fundamental principles underlying insect respiration is incomplete. This Review presents an overview of insect respiratory physics and identifies promising areas for future investigations. This Review summarizes the fundamental physical mechanisms of insect respiration, in which specialized tracheal networks enable highly efficient direct oxygen delivery and gas exchange. It discusses how these principles may inform bioinspired innovations in microscale gas transport technology.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 3","pages":"135-148"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143571439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-20DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00812-w
Philip Phillips
There is a natural though unexpected resonance between the concept of intersectionality — the simultaneous and compounded impact of two or more axes of discrimination — and that of emergence in physics.
{"title":"Intersectionality, physics and emergence","authors":"Philip Phillips","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00812-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00812-w","url":null,"abstract":"There is a natural though unexpected resonance between the concept of intersectionality — the simultaneous and compounded impact of two or more axes of discrimination — and that of emergence in physics.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 3","pages":"132-133"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143571432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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