Ficus religiosa leaf (left) and zoomed-in image of its vein network (right). The scale bar is 0.5 cm.

When determining the authorship list for your next paper, be generous yet disciplined.

Experiments on a bed of plastic beads reveal a temperature-dependent stiffening over time, which appears to be related to molecular-scale deformations.

Focus story on:
Kasra Farain and Daniel Bonn
Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 028203 (2024)

Electron neutrinos produced by proton–proton collisions at the LHC have been experimentally observed.

Synopsis on:
Roshan Mammen Abraham et al. (FASER Collaboration)
Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 021802 (2024)

An optical lattice clock with a 19-digit frequency accuracy results from the precise evaluation of the dynamic component of the clock transition’s blackbody radiation shift.

A theoretical analysis suggests that higher derivative gravity theories display signs of UV completeness.

An irreversible algorithm utilizing collective particle swaps outperforms known Monte Carlo methods for configuration space sampling during the glassy slowing of dynamics in disordered systems.

A controlled bond expansion approach to simulate quantum dynamics resolves the numerical difficulty of the standard time-dependent variational principle method for matrix product states, where dominant projection errors spoil the numerical accuracy.

Dark matter that interacts with itself could extract significant momentum from a binary supermassive black hole system, causing the black holes to merge.

Synopsis on:
Gonzalo Alonso-Álvarez, James M. Cline, and Caitlyn Dewar
Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 021401 (2024)

Identification of a continuous phase transition between the plaquette valence-bond solid phase and the antiferromagnetic phase accompanied by an emergent O(4) symmetry strongly suggests a deconfined quantum critical point in the ground state phase diagram of the extended Shastry-Sutherland model.

The large exchange energy observed when flipping a spin in the ferromagnetic phase of MoS${}_2$, as determined from the optical emission spectrum, suggests very stable ferromagnetic ordering.

The flapping instability of the film squeezed between underwater colliding bubbles is the primary mechanism for submicron droplet formation.

A levitating microparticle is observed to recoil when a nucleus embedded in the particle decays—opening the door to future searches of invisible decay products.

Viewpoint on:
Jiaxiang Wang et al.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 023602 (2024)

Next in the PRL series of forward-looking Essays, Jun Ye and Peter Zoller envision exciting research paths at the intersection of AMO physics, quantum technologies, and fundamental physics.

APS has selected 156 Outstanding Referees for 2024 who have demonstrated exceptional work in the assessment of manuscripts published in the Physical Review journals. A full list of the Outstanding Referees is available online.