The 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics was shared by Andre K. Geim and K. S. Novoselov. These papers are the text of the address given in conjunction with the award.
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 837] Published Wed Aug 03, 2011
]]>As the mass and complexity of objects, such as molecules and atoms, increase, they behave more classically than quantum mechanically. Certain small systems such as clusters and molecules are on the border line between the classical and quantum description. In this Colloquium, the developments in the...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 157] Published Wed Feb 08, 2012
]]>The formation of domains in thin films of ferroelectrics, ferromagnets, ferroelastics, or multiferroics can be thought of as a consequence of a finite-size effect driven by a minimization of a surface energy. This review, which focuses on ferroelectrics, describes the energetics of domain formation ...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 119] Published Fri Feb 03, 2012
]]>Since the discovery of charm mesons in 1974 precision measurements of their decay in fixed target and colliding beam experiments at particle accelerators have yielded a wealth of information on the weak and strong interactions of heavy flavor quarks. This review summarizes what is presently known ex...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 65] Published Mon Jan 23, 2012
]]>How does rotation change the evolution, end stages, and stellar winds as well as types of supernovae explosions? This question is not only of importance for the fate of individual stars in galaxies, but also for the populations of blue and red supergiants, Wolf-Rayet stars, the progenitors of supern...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 25] Published Tue Jan 17, 2012
]]>In classical mechanics the “vacuum” is empty (nothingness). In contrast, the vacuum of quantum mechanics is a volatile sea of ephemeral virtual particles. This Colloquium describes several processes in which these vacuum fluctuations are amplified into real observable particles, and how superconduct...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 1] Published Wed Jan 11, 2012
]]>[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1655] Published Fri Dec 23, 2011
]]>[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1653] Published Mon Dec 19, 2011
]]>Compounds containing iron are not normally thought of as candidates for superconductivity. Accordingly, the recent discovery of superconductivity in iron pnictides and chalcogenides has spawned much interest. This review gives an overview of the materials in this class known to date, their structure...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1589] Published Tue Dec 13, 2011
]]>The process of electron-positron annihilation into hadrons is very fundamental in quantum chromodynamics. This review discusses the existing precise experimental results for center-of-mass energies up to 4.5 GeV obtained using initial state radiation. These data serve, amongst other purposes, as cri...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1545] Published Tue Dec 06, 2011
]]>One-dimensional quantum systems have long played an important role as a test bed providing exactly solvable models and exotic states. Lately, they have become even more important with the experimental realization of systems that are effectively one dimensional, as well as with the advance of numeric...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1405] Published Thu Dec 01, 2011
]]>The phenomenon of nuclear shape coexistence manifests itself in the presence of close-lying nuclear states with different geometrical arrangements. Examples of coexistence are elongated fission isomers in actinides, alpha cluster structures such as the Hoyle state in carbon essential for the nucleos...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1467] Published Wed Nov 30, 2011
]]>The capability to simulate and mimic matter under the presence of magnetic fields allows the study of unusual effects which are hard to obtain or study in nature. In this Colloquium article the possibility of creating “pseudo” (or artificial) magnetic fields using lasers and neutral particles is inv...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1523] Published Wed Nov 30, 2011
]]>Technology ever more relies on creating and controlling new material properties through the complex combination and mixing of materials with known properties. In multiphase soft solids and fluids different phases meet at interfaces. Often, the interfaces themselves are responsible for novel behavior...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1367] Published Mon Nov 21, 2011
]]>Imagine a world where socks came out of the dryer together, or shirts came out neatly folded. Though the washer and dryer appear to toss, turn, and mix the clothes, is it possible to have an organized structure or pattern emerge from the wash? Pattern formation, demixing, and transport in rotating d...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1323] Published Thu Nov 17, 2011
]]>Strongly interacting systems, with a large number of degrees of freedom, are characterized by the emergence of different kinds of order, magnetic, superconducting, and hidden, that cannot be easily predicted or explained. Rare-earth and actinide systems are well known for their complexity. In this C...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1301] Published Wed Nov 16, 2011
]]>The analogy between quantitative genetics and thermodynamics has long been noted. Quantitative genetics deals with population-wide averages of traits that emerge from the selection and random drift acting on individuals, and thermodynamics deals with macroscopic states governed by simple laws that e...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1283] Published Thu Nov 10, 2011
]]>A major impediment to the human exploration of space is the high level of radiation exposure. The radiation in space is predominantly composed of higher energy and higher charge particles compared to the environment of the Earth, leading to great uncertainty in the radiation health risk. This articl...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1245] Published Tue Nov 08, 2011
]]>Beta decay of the free neutron is a fundamental process in physics. The Hamiltonian for beta decay was first written down by Fermi in 1934. Experiments and theory later showed that beta decay is governed by vector and axial vector interactions with respective coupling strengths, and a prime motivati...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1173] Published Thu Nov 03, 2011
]]>Graphene, with its relativistic electron dispersion relation, has led to many interesting developments recently. This review discusses the behavior in strong magnetic fields, and in particular the manifestation of the quantum Hall effect in a pseudorelativistic system. Due to electronic interactions...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1193] Published Thu Nov 03, 2011
]]>The neutron, a fundamental building block of the atomic nucleus, when free, is an unstable particle that undergoes beta decay with a lifetime of about 15 min. Modern experiments with cold and ultracold neutrons have reached a level of precision such that questions pertaining to scales beyond those o...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1111] Published Mon Oct 24, 2011
]]>Topological states of matter, i.e., states that are stabilized by topological properties, have met with tremendous interest recently. The paradigmatic example of a topological state is the quantum Hall state, and the realization that it provides just one example of a whole class of states has spawne...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1057] Published Fri Oct 14, 2011
]]>The first gamma-ray line ever detected from outside the Solar System witnesses electron-positron annihilation in the Galaxy. Its true origin is still not understood but after 30 years of research, gamma-ray observatories revealed a strong concentration of the emission towards the galactic bulge with...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1001] Published Thu Sep 29, 2011
]]>Experiments in physics are generally affected by a never perfect measuring apparatus and by a limited time in which a measurement is performed. On the other hand, the existence of additional information about the experiment and underlying physics remains frequently neglected. This review discusses B...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 943] Published Mon Sep 19, 2011
]]>Classical plasmas are highly correlated systems where interacting charged particles produce a series of nonlinear excitations. When the temperature of the plasma is below their Fermi energy, it becomes degenerate and responds quantum mechanically. In this Colloquium, the structure of such plasmas is...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 885] Published Wed Sep 07, 2011
]]>The discovery of cosmic rays - charged particles that originate outside the solar system - was made almost 100 years ago. Today the cosmic ray energy spectrum is known to extend more than 14 orders of magnitude, from 10(6) to above 10(20) eV. Nevertheless, after decades of research the physics behi...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 907] Published Wed Sep 07, 2011
]]>This Colloquium gives an overview of recent developments in the field of nonequilibrium dynamics of closed interacting quantum systems. It covers both the nonadiabatic response to slow changes of system parameters (in particular, the quantum Kibble-Zurek mechanism) and quantum quenches, i.e., the dy...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 863] Published Mon Aug 15, 2011
]]> The 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics was shared by Andre K. Geim and K. S. Novoselov. These papers are the text of the address given in conjunction with the award.
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 837] Published Wed Aug 03, 2011
]]> The 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics was shared by Andre K. Geim and K. S. Novoselov. These papers are the text of the address given in conjunction with the award.
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 851] Published Wed Aug 03, 2011
]]>This article surveys the behavior of perturbations of black holes. These perturbations play a role in the study of astrophysical effects of black holes and more recently have come to prominence in the study of quantum gravity and higher-dimensional models of particle physics. One of the central appl...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 793] Published Mon Jul 11, 2011
]]>The foundations for the statistical approach to thermodynamics were laid by the likes of Boltzmann, Gibbs, and Maxwell in the 19th century. With the advent of quantum mechanics, in the beginning of the 20th century, theorists were forced to re-examine the issue under a new light. As a result, new te...
[Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 771] Published Wed Jul 06, 2011
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