Pub Date : 2026-01-15DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03149-4
A recently proposed class of magnets, so-called altermagnets, combine features of ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. We discuss the scientific appeal of altermagnets, current controversies and challenges for their practical use.
{"title":"An alternate chapter in magnetism","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03149-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03149-4","url":null,"abstract":"A recently proposed class of magnets, so-called altermagnets, combine features of ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. We discuss the scientific appeal of altermagnets, current controversies and challenges for their practical use.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"1-1"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-03149-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145984093","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 : 2026-01-15DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03151-w
Mark Buchanan
{"title":"A star of contradictions","authors":"Mark Buchanan","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03151-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03151-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"5-5"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145984098","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 : 2026-01-15DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03124-z
Rinsuke Yamada, Daichi Kurebayashi, Yukako Fujishiro, Shun Okumura, Daisuke Nakamura, Fehmi S. Yasin, Taro Nakajima, Tomoyuki Yokouchi, Akiko Kikkawa, Yasujiro Taguchi, Yoshinori Tokura, Oleg A. Tretiakov, Max Hirschberger
The dynamic motion of topological defects in magnets induces an emergent electric field, as exemplified by the continuous flow of skyrmion vortices. However, the electrodynamics underlying this emergent field remains poorly understood. In this context, magnetic domain walls—one-dimensional topological defects with two collective modes, sliding and spin-tilt—offer a promising platform for exploration. Here we demonstrate that the dissipative motion of domain walls under oscillatory current excitation generates an emergent electric field. We image domain patterns and quantify the domain-wall length under applied magnetic fields in mesoscopic devices based on the magnetic Weyl semimetal NdAlSi. These devices exhibit exceptionally strong domain-wall scattering and a pronounced emergent electric field, as observed in the imaginary component of the complex impedance. Spin dynamics simulations reveal that domain-wall sliding dominates over spin-tilting, in which the phase delay of the domain-wall motion with respect to the driving force impacts the emergent electric field. Our findings establish domain-wall dynamics as a platform for studying emergent electromagnetic fields and motivate further investigations of the coupled motion of magnetic solitons and conduction electrons. The emergent electric field induced by pinned magnetic solitons remains poorly understood. Now the dissipative motion of magnetic domain walls under an alternating current in Weyl magnet NdAlSi devices is shown to induce a large emergent electric field.
{"title":"Emergent electric field induced by dissipative sliding dynamics of domain walls in a Weyl magnet","authors":"Rinsuke Yamada, Daichi Kurebayashi, Yukako Fujishiro, Shun Okumura, Daisuke Nakamura, Fehmi S. Yasin, Taro Nakajima, Tomoyuki Yokouchi, Akiko Kikkawa, Yasujiro Taguchi, Yoshinori Tokura, Oleg A. Tretiakov, Max Hirschberger","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03124-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03124-z","url":null,"abstract":"The dynamic motion of topological defects in magnets induces an emergent electric field, as exemplified by the continuous flow of skyrmion vortices. However, the electrodynamics underlying this emergent field remains poorly understood. In this context, magnetic domain walls—one-dimensional topological defects with two collective modes, sliding and spin-tilt—offer a promising platform for exploration. Here we demonstrate that the dissipative motion of domain walls under oscillatory current excitation generates an emergent electric field. We image domain patterns and quantify the domain-wall length under applied magnetic fields in mesoscopic devices based on the magnetic Weyl semimetal NdAlSi. These devices exhibit exceptionally strong domain-wall scattering and a pronounced emergent electric field, as observed in the imaginary component of the complex impedance. Spin dynamics simulations reveal that domain-wall sliding dominates over spin-tilting, in which the phase delay of the domain-wall motion with respect to the driving force impacts the emergent electric field. Our findings establish domain-wall dynamics as a platform for studying emergent electromagnetic fields and motivate further investigations of the coupled motion of magnetic solitons and conduction electrons. The emergent electric field induced by pinned magnetic solitons remains poorly understood. Now the dissipative motion of magnetic domain walls under an alternating current in Weyl magnet NdAlSi devices is shown to induce a large emergent electric field.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 2","pages":"239-244"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145968745","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}
{"title":"An anniversary annum","authors":"Stefanie Reichert","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03152-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03152-9","url":null,"abstract":"As our metrology column turns ten years, there is no better way to celebrate than to look at the definitions of a year, finds Stefanie Reichert.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"172-172"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145984095","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}
How proteins — sequences of amino acids — fold determines their function. We discuss efforts towards the establishment of metrics traceable to the International System of Units that link the sequence of a protein to its structure and function.
{"title":"Traceability for protein sequence to function","authors":"Amandine Boeuf, Gustavo Martos, Claudia Swart, Liqing Wu, Maxim G. Ryadnov","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03130-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03130-1","url":null,"abstract":"How proteins — sequences of amino acids — fold determines their function. We discuss efforts towards the establishment of metrics traceable to the International System of Units that link the sequence of a protein to its structure and function.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"2-4"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145984096","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 : 2026-01-14DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03135-w
D. M. Kirschbaum, L. Chen, D. A. Zocco, H. Hu, F. Mazza, M. Karlich, M. Lužnik, D. H. Nguyen, J. Larrea Jiménez, A. M. Strydom, D. Adroja, X. Yan, A. Prokofiev, Q. Si, S. Paschen
The electronic topology of a material is generally described by its Bloch states and the associated band structure, and can be altered by electron–electron interactions. In metallic systems, the interactions are usually treated through the concept of quasiparticles. Here we investigate what happens if no well-defined quasiparticles are present and show that a topological semimetal phase can emerge from the material’s quantum critical state. Using the non-centrosymmetric heavy-fermion compound CeRu4Sn6, which is intrinsically quantum critical, we show that the topological phase exhibits a dome structure as a function of the magnetic field and pressure. To understand these results, we study a Weyl–Kondo semimetal model at a Kondo destruction quantum critical point. Indeed, it exhibits features in the spectral function that can define topological crossings beyond the quasiparticle picture. Our results outline the importance of the interplay of quantum critical fluctuations and symmetry to search for other emergent topological phases. Examples of materials with non-trivial band topology in the presence of strong electron correlations are rare. Now it is shown that quantum fluctuations near a quantum phase transition can promote topological phases in a heavy-fermion compound.
{"title":"Emergent topological semimetal from quantum criticality","authors":"D. M. Kirschbaum, L. Chen, D. A. Zocco, H. Hu, F. Mazza, M. Karlich, M. Lužnik, D. H. Nguyen, J. Larrea Jiménez, A. M. Strydom, D. Adroja, X. Yan, A. Prokofiev, Q. Si, S. Paschen","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03135-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03135-w","url":null,"abstract":"The electronic topology of a material is generally described by its Bloch states and the associated band structure, and can be altered by electron–electron interactions. In metallic systems, the interactions are usually treated through the concept of quasiparticles. Here we investigate what happens if no well-defined quasiparticles are present and show that a topological semimetal phase can emerge from the material’s quantum critical state. Using the non-centrosymmetric heavy-fermion compound CeRu4Sn6, which is intrinsically quantum critical, we show that the topological phase exhibits a dome structure as a function of the magnetic field and pressure. To understand these results, we study a Weyl–Kondo semimetal model at a Kondo destruction quantum critical point. Indeed, it exhibits features in the spectral function that can define topological crossings beyond the quasiparticle picture. Our results outline the importance of the interplay of quantum critical fluctuations and symmetry to search for other emergent topological phases. Examples of materials with non-trivial band topology in the presence of strong electron correlations are rare. Now it is shown that quantum fluctuations near a quantum phase transition can promote topological phases in a heavy-fermion compound.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 2","pages":"218-224"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-03135-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145968744","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 : 2026-01-13DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03141-y
Máté Farkas, Jurij Volčič, Sigurd A. L. Storgaard, Ranyiliu Chen, Laura Mančinska
Many scientific and security protocols rely on sources of unpredictable and private random numbers. Device-independent quantum random number generation is a framework that makes use of the intrinsic randomness of quantum processes to generate numbers that are fundamentally unpredictable according to our current understanding of physics. However, the difficulty of controlling quantum systems makes it challenging to carry out device-independent protocols in practice. It is, therefore, desirable to harness the full power of the quantum degrees of freedom that one can control. It is known that no more than 2 log(d) bits of private device-independent randomness can be extracted from a quantum system of local dimension d. Here we demonstrate that this bound can be achieved for all d by providing a family of explicit protocols. To obtain our result, we develop certification techniques that may be of wider interest in device-independent applications for scenarios in which complete certification by self-testing is impossible or impractical. The laws of quantum mechanics make it possible to design device-independent security protocols that do not need trusted equipment. Now, explicit protocols are provided that achieve the optimal rate of device-independent random number generation.
{"title":"Maximal device-independent randomness in every dimension","authors":"Máté Farkas, Jurij Volčič, Sigurd A. L. Storgaard, Ranyiliu Chen, Laura Mančinska","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03141-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03141-y","url":null,"abstract":"Many scientific and security protocols rely on sources of unpredictable and private random numbers. Device-independent quantum random number generation is a framework that makes use of the intrinsic randomness of quantum processes to generate numbers that are fundamentally unpredictable according to our current understanding of physics. However, the difficulty of controlling quantum systems makes it challenging to carry out device-independent protocols in practice. It is, therefore, desirable to harness the full power of the quantum degrees of freedom that one can control. It is known that no more than 2 log(d) bits of private device-independent randomness can be extracted from a quantum system of local dimension d. Here we demonstrate that this bound can be achieved for all d by providing a family of explicit protocols. To obtain our result, we develop certification techniques that may be of wider interest in device-independent applications for scenarios in which complete certification by self-testing is impossible or impractical. The laws of quantum mechanics make it possible to design device-independent security protocols that do not need trusted equipment. Now, explicit protocols are provided that achieve the optimal rate of device-independent random number generation.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 2","pages":"319-324"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145956272","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 : 2026-01-09DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03145-8
Yijing Huang, Nick Abboud, Yinchuan Lv, Penghao Zhu, Azel Murzabekova, Changjun Lee, Emma A. Pappas, Dominic Petruzzi, Jason Y. Yan, Dipanjan Chaudhuri, Peter Abbamonte, Daniel P. Shoemaker, Rafael M. Fernandes, Jorge Noronha, Fahad Mahmood
In systems of charged chiral fermions out of equilibrium, an electric current parallel to a magnetic field can generate a dynamic instability that amplifies electromagnetic waves. Whether this mechanism also operates in chiral solid-state systems has remained uncertain. Here we observe signatures of a dynamic magneto-chiral instability in elemental tellurium, a structurally chiral crystal, using time-domain terahertz emission spectroscopy. Under transient photoexcitation in a moderate magnetic field, we observe terahertz radiation with coherent modes that grow in amplitude over time. We present a theoretical model that describes this behaviour based on a dynamic instability of electromagnetic waves interacting with infrared-active oscillators of acceptor states in tellurium, giving rise to an amplifying polariton. These results demonstrate that magneto-chiral instabilities can emerge in solid-state systems and establish a mechanism for terahertz-wave amplification in chiral materials. Instabilities in chiral plasmas can amplify electromagnetic waves, raising the question of whether chiral solids behave similarly. Now a magneto-chiral instability is demonstrated in tellurium, observed as growing terahertz emission after photoexcitation.
{"title":"Dynamic magneto-chiral instability in photoexcited tellurium","authors":"Yijing Huang, Nick Abboud, Yinchuan Lv, Penghao Zhu, Azel Murzabekova, Changjun Lee, Emma A. Pappas, Dominic Petruzzi, Jason Y. Yan, Dipanjan Chaudhuri, Peter Abbamonte, Daniel P. Shoemaker, Rafael M. Fernandes, Jorge Noronha, Fahad Mahmood","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03145-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03145-8","url":null,"abstract":"In systems of charged chiral fermions out of equilibrium, an electric current parallel to a magnetic field can generate a dynamic instability that amplifies electromagnetic waves. Whether this mechanism also operates in chiral solid-state systems has remained uncertain. Here we observe signatures of a dynamic magneto-chiral instability in elemental tellurium, a structurally chiral crystal, using time-domain terahertz emission spectroscopy. Under transient photoexcitation in a moderate magnetic field, we observe terahertz radiation with coherent modes that grow in amplitude over time. We present a theoretical model that describes this behaviour based on a dynamic instability of electromagnetic waves interacting with infrared-active oscillators of acceptor states in tellurium, giving rise to an amplifying polariton. These results demonstrate that magneto-chiral instabilities can emerge in solid-state systems and establish a mechanism for terahertz-wave amplification in chiral materials. Instabilities in chiral plasmas can amplify electromagnetic waves, raising the question of whether chiral solids behave similarly. Now a magneto-chiral instability is demonstrated in tellurium, observed as growing terahertz emission after photoexcitation.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 2","pages":"202-208"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145938212","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 : 2026-01-08DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03103-4
Robert G. Endres
Bacteria appear to be masters of chemotaxis, but it is unclear how well they process chemical information. A study now argues that cells squander most sensory information, making chemotaxis far less efficient than established physical limits allow.
{"title":"Bacteria may not be good at chemotaxis","authors":"Robert G. Endres","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03103-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03103-4","url":null,"abstract":"Bacteria appear to be masters of chemotaxis, but it is unclear how well they process chemical information. A study now argues that cells squander most sensory information, making chemotaxis far less efficient than established physical limits allow.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"8-9"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145937524","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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