Issues

The relation between the E₈ Lie group and the mass excitations in the Ising model was predicted more than 20 years ago, but seeing it is an experimental coup.

When light is obstructed by a small sphere, diffraction creates a bright spot at the center of the sphere’s shadow. Psychoacousticians are studying the acoustic analogue of that bright spot.

Using techniques from mathematics and optical wavefront engineering, researchers demonstrate that lines of zero intensity in a light beam can be shaped into links and loops of arbitrary topology.

The process by which human societies collectively decide which segments of the visible spectrum get their own names can be studied by computer simulation.

From windmills to green roofs, the European Spallation Source may be setting a trend for major scientific facilities.

Publishers and subscribers urge agencies to freely distribute scientific journal articles based on federally sponsored research.

Publishers and subscribers urge agencies to freely distribute scientific journal articles based on federally sponsored research.

In its range and depth, physics in China is much like physics in other big, technologically advanced countries. The historical, political, and social contexts, however, are China’s own.

The ability to tune atomic interactions has inspired theorists and experimentalists to investigate those properties of few-particle systems that hold universally, regardless of the specific nature of the interparticle force.

By ionizing cold atoms or molecules with a laser, researchers get a glimpse of one of nature’s extreme regimes, in which many usual rules and approximations no longer apply.

The quest to precisely compare cold antihydrogen and hydrogen atoms should enable physicists to test our understanding of one of reality’s fundamental symmetries.