Pub Date : 2024-08-22DOI: 10.1038/s42254-024-00747-8
May Chiao
In 2021, physicist and writer, Carlo Rovelli, helped launch an open letter to the world’s politicians calling for a small proportion of military funding to address climate change, poverty and pandemics — the Global Peace Dividend. He discusses the pressing need for global cooperation on common interests.
{"title":"The difficult but necessary role of political engagement for scientists","authors":"May Chiao","doi":"10.1038/s42254-024-00747-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-024-00747-8","url":null,"abstract":"In 2021, physicist and writer, Carlo Rovelli, helped launch an open letter to the world’s politicians calling for a small proportion of military funding to address climate change, poverty and pandemics — the Global Peace Dividend. He discusses the pressing need for global cooperation on common interests.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142137902","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 : 2024-08-20DOI: 10.1038/s42254-024-00746-9
Heather Lewtas
With more public and private funding in fusion, the expectations in terms of spillover benefits are increasing, but these can only happen through enhanced cross-sector collaboration.
{"title":"In fusion, collaboration is both a necessity and an opportunity","authors":"Heather Lewtas","doi":"10.1038/s42254-024-00746-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-024-00746-9","url":null,"abstract":"With more public and private funding in fusion, the expectations in terms of spillover benefits are increasing, but these can only happen through enhanced cross-sector collaboration.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142137898","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}
Thermal transport is a fundamental mechanism of energy transfer process quite distinct from wave propagation phenomena. It can be manipulated well beyond the possibilities offered by natural materials with a new generation of artificial metamaterials: thermal metamaterials. Topological physics, a focal point in contemporary condensed matter physics, has been intertwined with thermal metamaterials in recent years. Inspired by topological photonics and topological acoustics in wave metamaterials, a new research field emerged recently, which we dub ‘topological thermotics’, which encompasses three primary branches: topological thermal conduction, convection and radiation. For topological thermal conduction, we discuss recent advances in both 1D and higher-dimensional thermal topological phases. For topological thermal convection, we discuss the implementation of thermal exceptional points with their unique properties and non-Hermitian thermal topological states. Finally, we review the most recent demonstration of topological effects in the near-field and far-field radiation. Anticipating future developments, we conclude by discussing potential directions of topological thermotics, including the expansion into other diffusion processes such as particle dynamics and plasma physics, and the integration with machine-learning techniques. This Perspective summarizes the recent progress of topological physics in thermal metamaterials and thus proposes a new research field, ‘topological thermotics’, which is inspired by topological photonics and topological acoustics in wave metamaterials.
{"title":"Topological thermal transport","authors":"Zhoufei Liu, Peng Jin, Min Lei, Chengmeng Wang, Fabio Marchesoni, Jian-Hua Jiang, Jiping Huang","doi":"10.1038/s42254-024-00745-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-024-00745-w","url":null,"abstract":"Thermal transport is a fundamental mechanism of energy transfer process quite distinct from wave propagation phenomena. It can be manipulated well beyond the possibilities offered by natural materials with a new generation of artificial metamaterials: thermal metamaterials. Topological physics, a focal point in contemporary condensed matter physics, has been intertwined with thermal metamaterials in recent years. Inspired by topological photonics and topological acoustics in wave metamaterials, a new research field emerged recently, which we dub ‘topological thermotics’, which encompasses three primary branches: topological thermal conduction, convection and radiation. For topological thermal conduction, we discuss recent advances in both 1D and higher-dimensional thermal topological phases. For topological thermal convection, we discuss the implementation of thermal exceptional points with their unique properties and non-Hermitian thermal topological states. Finally, we review the most recent demonstration of topological effects in the near-field and far-field radiation. Anticipating future developments, we conclude by discussing potential directions of topological thermotics, including the expansion into other diffusion processes such as particle dynamics and plasma physics, and the integration with machine-learning techniques. This Perspective summarizes the recent progress of topological physics in thermal metamaterials and thus proposes a new research field, ‘topological thermotics’, which is inspired by topological photonics and topological acoustics in wave metamaterials.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2024-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142137875","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 : 2024-08-08DOI: 10.1038/s42254-024-00743-y
Johannes Buchner, Sotiria Fotopoulou
Large, freely available, well-maintained data sets have made astronomy a popular playground for machine learning (ML) projects. Nevertheless, robust insights gained to both ML and physics could be improved by clarity in problem definition and establishing workflows that critically verify, characterize and calibrate ML models. We provide a collection of guidelines to setting up ML projects that are less time-consuming and resource-intensive and more likely to lead to robust and useful scientific insights. We draw examples and experience from astronomy, but the advice is potentially applicable to other areas of science. This Expert Recommendation provides a guide to setting up machine learning projects that are less time-consuming and more likely to lead to robust and useful scientific insights.
免费提供、维护良好的大型数据集已使天文学成为机器学习（ML）项目的热门场所。然而，通过明确问题定义和建立严格验证、描述和校准机器学习模型的工作流程，可以提高机器学习和物理学的强大洞察力。我们提供了一系列指导原则，以建立耗时少、资源密集型的 ML 项目，从而更有可能获得可靠而有用的科学见解。我们借鉴了天文学的实例和经验，但这些建议也可能适用于其他科学领域。本 "专家建议 "为建立机器学习项目提供了指南，这些项目耗时较少，更有可能带来可靠、有用的科学见解。
{"title":"How to set up your first machine learning project in astronomy","authors":"Johannes Buchner, Sotiria Fotopoulou","doi":"10.1038/s42254-024-00743-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-024-00743-y","url":null,"abstract":"Large, freely available, well-maintained data sets have made astronomy a popular playground for machine learning (ML) projects. Nevertheless, robust insights gained to both ML and physics could be improved by clarity in problem definition and establishing workflows that critically verify, characterize and calibrate ML models. We provide a collection of guidelines to setting up ML projects that are less time-consuming and resource-intensive and more likely to lead to robust and useful scientific insights. We draw examples and experience from astronomy, but the advice is potentially applicable to other areas of science. This Expert Recommendation provides a guide to setting up machine learning projects that are less time-consuming and more likely to lead to robust and useful scientific insights.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141926281","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 : 2024-08-05DOI: 10.1038/s42254-024-00740-1
Yang-Hui He (, )
The past five years have seen a dramatic increase in the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in pure mathematics and theoretical sciences. This might appear counter-intuitive as mathematical sciences require rigorous definitions, derivations and proofs, in contrast to the experimental sciences, which rely on the modelling of data with error bars. In this Perspective, we categorize the approaches to mathematical and theoretical discovery as ‘top-down’, ‘bottom-up’ and ‘meta-mathematics’. We review the progress over the past few years, comparing and contrasting both the advances and the shortcomings of each approach. We believe that although the theorist is not in danger of being replaced by AI systems in the near future, the combination of human expertise and AI algorithms will become an integral part of theoretical research. Advances in artificial-intelligence-assisted mathematical investigations suggest that human–machine collaboration will be an integral part of future theoretical research.
{"title":"AI-driven research in pure mathematics and theoretical physics","authors":"Yang-Hui He \u0000 (, )","doi":"10.1038/s42254-024-00740-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-024-00740-1","url":null,"abstract":"The past five years have seen a dramatic increase in the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in pure mathematics and theoretical sciences. This might appear counter-intuitive as mathematical sciences require rigorous definitions, derivations and proofs, in contrast to the experimental sciences, which rely on the modelling of data with error bars. In this Perspective, we categorize the approaches to mathematical and theoretical discovery as ‘top-down’, ‘bottom-up’ and ‘meta-mathematics’. We review the progress over the past few years, comparing and contrasting both the advances and the shortcomings of each approach. We believe that although the theorist is not in danger of being replaced by AI systems in the near future, the combination of human expertise and AI algorithms will become an integral part of theoretical research. Advances in artificial-intelligence-assisted mathematical investigations suggest that human–machine collaboration will be an integral part of future theoretical research.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2024-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141936385","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 : 2024-08-05DOI: 10.1038/s42254-024-00744-x
How did the scientific article evolve to the universally-recognizable format it has today? This month we ask why and how did the scientific article evolve to its current universally-recognizable format.
{"title":"The scientific article as a master finding system","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s42254-024-00744-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-024-00744-x","url":null,"abstract":"How did the scientific article evolve to the universally-recognizable format it has today? This month we ask why and how did the scientific article evolve to its current universally-recognizable format.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2024-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-024-00744-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141936380","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 : 2024-07-29DOI: 10.1038/s42254-024-00738-9
Camilla Pellegrini, Antonio Sanna
Modern ab initio theories of superconductivity allow characterizing and predicting phonon-mediated superconductors. In this Technical Review, we analyse Eliashberg theory, density functional theory for superconductors as well as McMillan and Allen–Dynes equations, providing a summary of the underlying approximations and capabilities. We highlight in simple terms and with examples the many sources of error, which may lead to inaccurate predictions, including limitations on the applicability of the methods, subtle convergence aspects and improper practices often adopted to simplify the treatment of Coulomb interactions. Additionally, we compare the accuracy of the various methods by computing the critical temperature (Tc) for a broad range of superconductors and benchmarking against experimental results. We find that even the simple McMillan and Allen–Dynes formulas give Tc distributions centred on the experimental values. The Eliashberg theory and density functional theory for superconductors yield more peaked distributions, strongly reducing the possibility of incorrect predictions. Ab initio theories of superconductivity allow characterizing and predicting phonon-mediated superconductors. This Technical Review provides an analysis of the different theories, highlighting the main sources of error, either due to inherent approximations or arising from improper practices, and provides a comparison against experimental results.
{"title":"Ab initio methods for superconductivity","authors":"Camilla Pellegrini, Antonio Sanna","doi":"10.1038/s42254-024-00738-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-024-00738-9","url":null,"abstract":"Modern ab initio theories of superconductivity allow characterizing and predicting phonon-mediated superconductors. In this Technical Review, we analyse Eliashberg theory, density functional theory for superconductors as well as McMillan and Allen–Dynes equations, providing a summary of the underlying approximations and capabilities. We highlight in simple terms and with examples the many sources of error, which may lead to inaccurate predictions, including limitations on the applicability of the methods, subtle convergence aspects and improper practices often adopted to simplify the treatment of Coulomb interactions. Additionally, we compare the accuracy of the various methods by computing the critical temperature (Tc) for a broad range of superconductors and benchmarking against experimental results. We find that even the simple McMillan and Allen–Dynes formulas give Tc distributions centred on the experimental values. The Eliashberg theory and density functional theory for superconductors yield more peaked distributions, strongly reducing the possibility of incorrect predictions. Ab initio theories of superconductivity allow characterizing and predicting phonon-mediated superconductors. This Technical Review provides an analysis of the different theories, highlighting the main sources of error, either due to inherent approximations or arising from improper practices, and provides a comparison against experimental results.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141866534","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 : 2024-07-19DOI: 10.1038/s42254-024-00739-8
Lee A. Rozema, Teodor Strömberg, Huan Cao, Yu Guo, Bi-Heng Liu, Philip Walther
In the past decade, the toolkit of quantum information has been expanded to include processes in which the basic operations do not have definite causal relations. Originally considered in the context of the unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity, these causally indefinite processes have been shown to offer advantages in a wide variety of quantum-information processing tasks, ranging from quantum computation to quantum metrology. Here, we overview these advantages and the experimental efforts to realize them. We survey both the experimental techniques employed and the theoretical methods developed in support of the experiments, before discussing the interpretations of current experimental results and giving an outlook on the future of the field. Quantum superpositions of orders of operations can be used to create an indefinite causal order. This Review covers experimental implementations of such processes, focusing on characterization techniques, and discusses their applications and limitations.
{"title":"Experimental aspects of indefinite causal order in quantum mechanics","authors":"Lee A. Rozema, Teodor Strömberg, Huan Cao, Yu Guo, Bi-Heng Liu, Philip Walther","doi":"10.1038/s42254-024-00739-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-024-00739-8","url":null,"abstract":"In the past decade, the toolkit of quantum information has been expanded to include processes in which the basic operations do not have definite causal relations. Originally considered in the context of the unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity, these causally indefinite processes have been shown to offer advantages in a wide variety of quantum-information processing tasks, ranging from quantum computation to quantum metrology. Here, we overview these advantages and the experimental efforts to realize them. We survey both the experimental techniques employed and the theoretical methods developed in support of the experiments, before discussing the interpretations of current experimental results and giving an outlook on the future of the field. Quantum superpositions of orders of operations can be used to create an indefinite causal order. This Review covers experimental implementations of such processes, focusing on characterization techniques, and discusses their applications and limitations.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141737645","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 : 2024-07-19DOI: 10.1038/s42254-024-00735-y
Morgan Facchin, Saba N. Khan, Kishan Dholakia, Graham D. Bruce
Speckle patterns are a powerful tool for high-precision metrology because they enable remarkable performance in relatively simple setups. Nonetheless, researchers in this field follow rather distinct approaches owing to underappreciated general principles underlying speckle phenomena. For example, speckle can be produced from a simple scatterer or from more complex, multiple scattering geometries. In this Expert Recommendation, we propose a standardization of metrics to quantify intrinsic speckle sensitivity that enables direct comparison between all scattering geometries. Moreover, we provide a general criterion that allows one to predict where multiple scattering is truly advantageous for a given task. This standardization and criterion will catalyse progress in speckle metrology but will also translate to other domains of disordered optics which are undergoing rapid developments at present. Speckle can be harnessed for a wide variety of metrology applications. This Expert Recommendation proposes a standardized metric to allow comparisons of the intrinsic sensitivity of different approaches, and it clarifies when multiple scattering can be beneficial in increasing sensitivity of measurements.
{"title":"Determining intrinsic sensitivity and the role of multiple scattering in speckle metrology","authors":"Morgan Facchin, Saba N. Khan, Kishan Dholakia, Graham D. Bruce","doi":"10.1038/s42254-024-00735-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-024-00735-y","url":null,"abstract":"Speckle patterns are a powerful tool for high-precision metrology because they enable remarkable performance in relatively simple setups. Nonetheless, researchers in this field follow rather distinct approaches owing to underappreciated general principles underlying speckle phenomena. For example, speckle can be produced from a simple scatterer or from more complex, multiple scattering geometries. In this Expert Recommendation, we propose a standardization of metrics to quantify intrinsic speckle sensitivity that enables direct comparison between all scattering geometries. Moreover, we provide a general criterion that allows one to predict where multiple scattering is truly advantageous for a given task. This standardization and criterion will catalyse progress in speckle metrology but will also translate to other domains of disordered optics which are undergoing rapid developments at present. Speckle can be harnessed for a wide variety of metrology applications. This Expert Recommendation proposes a standardized metric to allow comparisons of the intrinsic sensitivity of different approaches, and it clarifies when multiple scattering can be beneficial in increasing sensitivity of measurements.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141737646","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 : 2024-07-18DOI: 10.1038/s42254-024-00742-z
Kimberly S. Budil, Ian T. Chapman
After breaking world records for inertial and magnetic fusion energy at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and the Joint European Torus (JET) respectively, the Directors of the host organizations – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the UK Atomic Energy Authority – reflect on the bold decisions taken to build these facilities and the consistent support needed to allow scientists and engineers to overcome difficult technical problems. The successes of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and the Joint European Torus (JET) showcase how fusion energy research requires bold decisions, teamwork and strong partnership with funders.
{"title":"Delivering fusion energy needs bold decisions and sustained commitment","authors":"Kimberly S. Budil, Ian T. Chapman","doi":"10.1038/s42254-024-00742-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-024-00742-z","url":null,"abstract":"After breaking world records for inertial and magnetic fusion energy at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and the Joint European Torus (JET) respectively, the Directors of the host organizations – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the UK Atomic Energy Authority – reflect on the bold decisions taken to build these facilities and the consistent support needed to allow scientists and engineers to overcome difficult technical problems. The successes of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and the Joint European Torus (JET) showcase how fusion energy research requires bold decisions, teamwork and strong partnership with funders.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141737647","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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