Physical Review E

The DSNP Dissertation Award Selection Committee presents the 2025 Award sponsored by Physical Review E.

This paper develops a kinetic theory for a generalized multispecies Vicsek model of active matter with antialignment interactions. Using this theory, the authors explain the origin and stability of the coexistence phases reported in the companion paper. In addition, the kinetic theory framework provides a foundation for understanding emergent phases in multispecies active systems more generally.

#TechnicalAdvancement #TimelyTopic #BiophysicsSpotlight

This paper proposes an optimal control strategy to cool an antiproton plasma in a time much shorter than that required by an adiabatic process. The authors examine the length and stability of the plasma, in addition to its duration. The work suggests that optimal control techniques may be useful for experiments with plasmas, in particular with antimatter plasmas, which need to be confined and cooled before significant losses and annihilation occur.

#TimelyTopic #TechnicalAdvancement #ClearMotivation

Active nematic models typically assume fixed layer thickness. A long-wavelength theory shows that evolving thickness couples active stresses to curvature, explaining how internal forces drive tissue invagination.

#BiophysicsSpotlight #TechnicalAdvancement

In neurons, postsynaptic domains are critical protein clusters that trap neurotransmitter receptors to regulate synaptic strength during learning and memory. By reducing a complex reaction-diffusion model to a lower-dimensional system, this study directly links the radii of these interacting clusters to bulk protein concentrations. This mathematical reduction reveals the conditions required for multicluster stability.

#BiophysicsSpotlight #TechnicalAdvancement

The authors study a model of heat conduction with a bulk driving mechanism resembling the effect of an external field. They find that they can induce the spontaneous formation of traveling energy condensates that exhibit robust long-range temporal order reminiscent of continuous time crystals.

This paper presents a predictive framework to scale granular flow from Earth to other gravitational environments, and shows that low gravity dramatically increases the probability of clogging. These findings explain previous contradictory results and establish a foundation for predicting and controlling granular flow in space.

#UniversalBehavior #ClearMotivation

We are happy to share the winning entries of the Fifth Gallery of Soft Matter in this PRE Guest Editorial. They feature images and videos of avalanching photoelastic grains, swelling seeds that wrinkle as they raft on water, self-assembled networks of DNA and starch, and biodegradable yarns knitted from algae.

Using a variational neural annealing approach to solve constrained portfolio optimization problems, the authors establish a connection between phase transitions in physics and computational complexity in finance. They demonstrate scaling behavior in financial optimization problems analogous to critical phenomena in spin glasses.

#Interdisciplinary #UniversalBehavior

Microgravity experiments reveal how toggled magnetic fields drive paramagnetic colloids past kinetic arrest into dynamic, highly anisotropic phases that are sustained by continuous energy dissipation.

#SoftMatterSpotlight #ElegantVisuals #ClearMotivation

This paper provides a systematic investigation into composition-dependent properties of side-chain acrylate liquid crystal elastomers. The work shows how small changes in mesogenic content can induce a phase transition and suggests design approaches for customization of material properties.

#ClearMotivation #TimelyTopic

Reframing bacterial biofilms through soft matter physics connects microscopic structural dynamics to macroscopic deformation. This framework helps identify key physical variables governing complex nonlinear behaviors such as detachment and adaptation.

The authors present a study of critical phenomena in neural systems. They present evidence that cortical networks display criticality flexibly through arousal tuning. The work points out that arousal should be treated as an experimental control parameter, not as a source of noise.

#BiophysicsSpotlight #TimelyTopic

Velocity distributions in dense granular systems are difficult to measure because optical particle-tracking methods are hindered by opacity at high particle densities. In this work, a fiber Bragg grating sensor is introduced and shown to accurately recover granular velocity distributions by detecting collision-induced strain in an optical fiber, offering a viable alternative to existing methods for high volume fractions.

#ClearMotivation #TechnicalAdvancement

The authors demonstrate fusion ignition in a hohlraum modified with diagnostic windows that burn through prior to ignition. This provides a platform for laboratory-astrophysics experiments previously inaccessible. The x-ray flux escaping the holraum during and after ignition is the brightest radiation source available in the laboratory.

#TechnicalAdvancement #TimelyTopic

Geometric ideas play a role in areas such as stochastic thermodynamics, spectral graph theory, and optimal transport. In this Letter, the authors link a thermodynamic friction metric that governs dissipation in slowly driven systems with two graph-theoretic geometries, the commute-time and resistance distances.

#TechnicalAdvancement #AdvancingField

The leadership of the APS Division of Computational Physics presents its 2025 Rahman and Metropolis Awards.