Reviews of Modern Physics

Reviews of Modern Physics

Recent articles in Reviews of Modern Physics
Searches for supersymmetry at high-energy colliders Author(s): Jonathan L. Feng, Jean-François Grivaz, and Jane Nachtman This review summarizes the state of the art in searches for supersymmetry at colliders on the eve of the Large Hadron Collider era. Supersymmetry is unique among extensions of the standard model in being motivated by naturalness, dark matter, and force unification, both with and without gravity. At ... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 699] Published Thu Mar 11, 2010 Nonlocality and communication complexity Author(s): Harry Buhrman, Richard Cleve, Serge Massar, and Ronald de Wolf Quantum information processing is the emerging field that defines and realizes computing devices that make use of quantum mechanical principles such as the superposition principle, entanglement, and interference. Until recently the common notion of computing was based on classical mechanics and did ... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 665] Published Thu Mar 11, 2010 Magnetic reconnection Author(s): Masaaki Yamada, Russell Kulsrud, and Hantao Ji The fundamental physics of magnetic reconnection in laboratory and space plasmas is reviewed by discussing results from theory, numerical simulations, observations from space satellites, and recent results from laboratory plasma experiments. After a brief review of the well-known early work, represe... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 603] Published Fri Mar 05, 2010 Axions and the strong CP problem Author(s): Jihn E. Kim and Gianpaolo Carosi Current upper bounds on the neutron electric dipole moment constrain the physically observable quantum chromodynamic (QCD) vacuum angle \|θ [over ¯] \|≲10^{−11} . Since QCD explains a great deal of experimental data from the 100MeV to the TeV scale, it is desirable to explain this smallness of \|... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 557] Published Thu Mar 04, 2010 Failure processes in elastic fiber bundles Author(s): Srutarshi Pradhan, Alex Hansen, and Bikas K. Chakrabarti The fiber bundle model describes a collection of elastic fibers under load. The fibers fail successively and, for each failure, the load distribution among the surviving fibers changes. Even though very simple, this model captures the essentials of failure processes in a large number of materials an... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 499] Published Mon Mar 01, 2010 f(R) theories of gravity Author(s): Thomas P. Sotiriou and Valerio Faraoni Modified gravity theories have received increased attention lately due to combined motivation coming from high-energy physics, cosmology, and astrophysics. Among numerous alternatives to Einstein’s theory of gravity, theories that include higher-order curvature invariants, and specifically the par... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 451] Published Mon Mar 01, 2010 Colloquium: Structural, electronic, and transport properties of silicon nanowires Author(s): Riccardo Rurali In this Colloquium the theory of silicon nanowires is reviewed. Nanowires with diameters below 10nm are the focus, where quantum effects become important and the properties diverge significantly from those of bulk silicon. These wires can be treated within electronic structure simulation methods and... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 427] Published Thu Feb 25, 2010 Heavy-ion tumor therapy: Physical and radiobiological benefits Author(s): Dieter Schardt, Thilo Elsässer, and Daniela Schulz-Ertner High-energy beams of charged nuclear particles (protons and heavier ions) offer significant advantages for the treatment of deep-seated local tumors in comparison to conventional megavolt photon therapy. Their physical depth-dose distribution in tissue is characterized by a small entrance dose and a... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 383] Published Fri Feb 19, 2010 The dark Universe Author(s): Matthias Bartelmann For a few years now, cosmology has a standard model. By this term, we mean a consistent theoretical background which is at the same time simple and broad enough to offer coherent explanations for the vast majority of cosmological phenomena. This review will briefly summarize the cosmological model, ... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 331] Published Thu Feb 18, 2010 Colloquium: Electronic instabilities in self-assembled atom wires Author(s): Paul C. Snijders and Hanno H. Weitering Many quasi-one-dimensional (1D) materials are experimental approximations to the textbook models of Peierls instabilities and collective excitations in 1D electronic systems. The recently observed self-assembly of atom wires on solid surfaces has provided fascinating new insights into the nature of ... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 307] Published Fri Feb 12, 2010 Colloquium: Area laws for the entanglement entropy Author(s): J. Eisert, M. Cramer, and M. B. Plenio Physical interactions in quantum many-body systems are typically local: Individual constituents interact mainly with their few nearest neighbors. This locality of interactions is inherited by a decay of correlation functions, but also reflected by scaling laws of a quite profound quantity: the entan... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 277] Published Thu Feb 04, 2010 Optical excitations in electron microscopy Author(s): F. J. García de Abajo This review discusses how low-energy valence excitations created by swift electrons can render information on the optical response of structured materials with unmatched spatial resolution. Electron microscopes are capable of focusing electron beams on subnanometer spots and probing the target respo... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 209] Published Wed Feb 03, 2010 Influence of global cosmological expansion on local dynamics and kinematics Author(s): Matteo Carrera and Domenico Giulini Attempts to estimate the influence of global cosmological expansion on local systems are reviewed. Here “local” is taken to mean that the sizes of the considered systems are much smaller than cosmologically relevant scales. For example, such influences can affect orbital motions as well as confi... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 169] Published Thu Jan 28, 2010 Magnetic pyrochlore oxides Author(s): Jason S. Gardner, Michel J. P. Gingras, and John E. Greedan Within the past 20years or so, there has occurred an explosion of interest in the magnetic behavior of pyrochlore oxides of the type A_{2} ^{3+} B_{2} ^{4+} O_{7} , where A is a rare-earth ion and B is usually a transition metal. Both the A and B sites form a network of corner-sharing tetrahedra whi... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 53] Published Tue Jan 26, 2010 Ginzburg-Landau theory of type II superconductors in magnetic field Author(s): Baruch Rosenstein and Dingping Li Thermodynamics of type II superconductors in electromagnetic field based on the Ginzburg-Landau theory is presented. The Abrikosov flux lattice solution is derived using an expansion in a parameter characterizing the “distance” to the superconductor-normal phase transition line. The expansion al... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 109] Published Tue Jan 26, 2010 Quantum algorithms for algebraic problems Author(s): Andrew M. Childs and Wim van Dam Quantum computers can execute algorithms that dramatically outperform classical computation. As the best-known example, Shor discovered an efficient quantum algorithm for factoring integers, whereas factoring appears to be difficult for classical computers. Understanding what other computational pro... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 1] Published Fri Jan 15, 2010 Publisher's Note: The physics of the intergalactic medium [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1405 (2009)] Author(s): Avery A. Meiksin [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1943] Published Thu Dec 31, 2009 New physics at a Super Flavor Factory Author(s): Thomas E. Browder, Tim Gershon, Dan Pirjol, Amarjit Soni, and Jure Zupan The potential of a Super Flavor Factory (SFF) for searches of new physics is reviewed. While very high luminosity B physics is assumed to be at the core of the program, its scope for extensive charm and τ studies are also emphasized. The possibility to run at the Υ(5S) is also discussed; in princi... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1887] Published Tue Dec 29, 2009 The Casimir force between real materials: Experiment and theory Author(s): G. L. Klimchitskaya, U. Mohideen, and V. M. Mostepanenko The physical origin of the Casimir force is connected with the existence of zero-point and thermal fluctuations. The Casimir effect is very general and finds applications in various fields of physics. This review is limited to the rapid progress at the intersection of experiment and theory that has ... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1827] Published Mon Dec 21, 2009 Modern theory of nuclear forces Author(s): E. Epelbaum, H.-W. Hammer, and Ulf-G. Meißner Effective field theory allows for a systematic and model-independent derivation of the forces between nucleons in harmony with the symmetries of quantum chromodynamics. The foundations of this approach are reviewed and its application for light nuclei at various resolution scales is discussed. The e... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1773] Published Mon Dec 21, 2009 Colloquium: Star-branched polyelectrolytes: The physics of their conformations and interactions Author(s): Arben Jusufi and Christos N. Likos Recent progress in the field of a versatile and common system in soft matter physics, namely, star-shaped polyelectrolytes, is reviewed. These charged macromolecules combine in their properties aspects of polymer physics, colloidal science, and the rich physics of charged matter, rendering them into... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1753] Published Tue Dec 15, 2009 Colloquium: The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox: From concepts to applications Author(s): M. D. Reid, P. D. Drummond, W. P. Bowen, E. G. Cavalcanti, P. K. Lam, H. A. Bachor, U. L. Andersen, and G. Leuchs This Colloquium examines the field of the Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) gedanken experiment, from the original paper of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, through to modern theoretical proposals of how to realize both the continuous-variable and discrete versions of the EPR paradox. The relationsh... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1727] Published Thu Dec 10, 2009 Colloquium: Statistical mechanics of money, wealth, and income Author(s): Victor M. Yakovenko and J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. This Colloquium reviews statistical models for money, wealth, and income distributions developed in the econophysics literature since the late 1990s. By analogy with the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution of energy in physics, it is shown that the probability distribution of money is exponential for certa... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1703] Published Wed Dec 02, 2009 Nonequilibrium fluctuations, fluctuation theorems, and counting statistics in quantum systems Author(s): Massimiliano Esposito, Upendra Harbola, and Shaul Mukamel Fluctuation theorems (FTs), which describe some universal properties of nonequilibrium fluctuations, are examined from a quantum perspective and derived by introducing a two-point measurement on the system. FTs for closed and open systems driven out of equilibrium by an external time-dependent force... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1665] Published Wed Dec 02, 2009 X-ray Thomson scattering in high energy density plasmas Author(s): Siegfried H. Glenzer and Ronald Redmer Accurate x-ray scattering techniques to measure the physical properties of dense plasmas have been developed for applications in high energy density physics. This class of experiments produces short-lived hot dense states of matter with electron densities in the range of solid density and higher whe... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1625] Published Tue Dec 01, 2009 Superconducting phases of f -electron compounds Author(s): Christian Pfleiderer Intermetallic compounds containing f -electron elements display a wealth of superconducting phases, which are prime candidates for unconventional pairing with complex order parameter symmetries. For instance, superconductivity has been found at the border of magnetic order as well as deep within fer... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1551] Published Wed Nov 25, 2009 Spin mapping at the nanoscale and atomic scale Author(s): Roland Wiesendanger The direct observation of spin structures with atomic-scale resolution, a long-time dream in condensed matter research, recently became a reality based on the development of spin-sensitive scanning probe methods, such as spin-polarized scanning-tunneling microscopy (SP-STM) and magnetic exchange for... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1495] Published Wed Nov 18, 2009 Colloquium: Phase transitions in polymers and liquids in electric fields Author(s): Yoav Tsori The structure and thermodynamic state of a system changes under the influence of external electric fields. Neutral systems are characterized by their dielectric constant ε , while charged ones also by their charge distribution. In this Colloquium several phenomena occurring in soft-matter systems i... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1471] Published Wed Oct 21, 2009 The physics of the intergalactic medium Author(s): Avery A. Meiksin Intergalactic space is filled with a pervasive medium of ionized gas, the intergalactic medium (IGM). A residual neutral fraction is detected in the spectra of quasistellar objects at both low and high redshifts, revealing a highly fluctuating medium with temperatures characteristic of photoionized ... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1405] Published Mon Oct 05, 2009 Complex plasmas: An interdisciplinary research field Author(s): Gregor E. Morfill and Alexei V. Ivlev Complex (dusty) plasmas are composed of a weakly ionized gas and charged microparticles and represent the plasma state of soft matter. Complex plasmas have several remarkable features: Dynamical time scales associated with microparticles are “stretched” to tens of milliseconds, yet the micropart... [Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1353] Published Fri Oct 02, 2009

[ Back ]

Main Menu
Home Problems and Answers Physics Tools Physical Data Physics Equations Computational Publication Simulations Resources Physics Videos Physics Jobs Latest Physics News Physics Events APS - Journals Physical Review Letters Physical Review A Physical Review B Physical Review C Physical Review D Physical Review E Physical Review ST Accel. and Beams Physical Review ST Phys. Educ. Res. Reviews of Modern Physics IOP - Journals Products & Press Newsgroups Free Web Contents Contact Us Advertising

Main Menu