The editors and the editorial board of PRX are happy to introduce a new article type, “Perspectives.” We inaugurate this new content with a piece by Mark J. Bowick, Nikta Fakhri, M. Cristina Marchetti, and Sriram Ramaswamy that provides an outlook on the vibrant field of active matter from the perspectives of symmetry, thermodynamics, and topology.
Physics research is constantly expanding in size and topical diversity, and the physics community is becoming increasingly multidisciplinary. To an individual, however, making sense of this wide and fast changing scene can often seem overwhelming: How do I begin or orient my own research? Where and how do I find inspiration for explorations outside my comfort zone? What is worth reading for my continued general learning? We want PRX Perspectives to help answer these questions. We want this new content to embody PRX’s spirit, offering intellectual perceptiveness and coherence, scientific depth, diverse viewpoints, and trustworthy quality.
Our editorial concept for Perspectives is this: Each Perspective is invited by the editors. Its authors are asked to view their topical domain with a forward-looking “lens” that is unique to them. Through that lens, they judiciously survey and synthesize existing knowledge. Based on that synthesis, they paint a creative and credible research landscape that the topical domain could develop into in the next few years. The article will inform and inspire both topical specialists and general readers.
Implementing this concept in practice is deeply challenging. We think the inaugural article has met this challenge. The article is first and foremost a reflection of its authors’ knowledge, insights, and hard work. It has benefited from the constructive feedback from the referees who reviewed it. We also feel gratified for having contributed to it with our editorial input. We hope our readers will enjoy the article as much as we do and find in it the knowledge and inspiration they need.
Stay tuned for publications of more PRX Perspectives in the near future.
The Editors and the Editorial Board
Published 11 February 2022
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.12.010001
