Low-energy acoustic plasmons at metal surfaces

Nearly two-dimensional (2D) metallic systems formed in charge inversion layers and artificial layered materials permit the existence of low-energy collective excitations, called 2D plasmons, which are not found in a three-dimensional (3D) metal. These excitations have caused considerable interest because their low energy allows them to participate in many dynamical processes involving electrons and phonons, and because they might mediate the formation of Cooper pairs in high-transition-temperature superconductors. Metals often support electronic states that are confined to the surface, forming a nearly 2D electron-density layer. However, it was argued that these systems could not support low-energy collective excitations because they would be screened out by the underlying bulk electrons. Rather, metallic surfaces should support only conventional surface plasmons-higher-energy modes that depend only on the electron density. Surface plasmons have important applications in microscopy and sub-wavelength optics, but have no relevance to the low-energy dynamics. Here we show that, in contrast to expectations, a low-energy collective excitation mode can be found on bare metal surfaces. The mode has an acoustic (linear) dispersion, different to the dependence of a 2D plasmon, and was observed on Be(0001) using angle-resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy. First-principles calculations show that it is caused by the coexistence of a partially occupied quasi-2D surface-state band with the underlying 3D bulk electron continuum and also that the non-local character of the dielectric function prevents it from being screened out by the 3D states. The acoustic plasmon reported here has a very general character and should be present on many metal surfaces. Furthermore, its acoustic dispersion allows the confinement of light on small surface areas and in a broad frequency range, which is relevant for nano-optics and photonics applications.     

Adaptive subwavelength control of nano-optical fields

Adaptive shaping of the phase and amplitude of femtosecond laser pulses has been developed into an efficient tool for the directed manipulation of interference phenomena, thus providing coherent control over various quantum-mechanical systems. Temporal resolution in the femtosecond or even attosecond range has been demonstrated, but spatial resolution is limited by diffraction to approximately half the wavelength of the light field (that is, several hundred nanometres). Theory has indicated that the spatial limitation to coherent control can be overcome with the illumination of nanostructures: the spatial near-field distribution was shown to depend on the linear chirp of an irradiating laser pulse. An extension of this idea to adaptive control, combining multiparameter pulse shaping with a learning algorithm, demonstrated the generation of user-specified optical near-field distributions in an optimal and flexible fashion. Shaping of the polarization of the laser pulse provides a particularly efficient and versatile nano-optical manipulation method. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of this concept experimentally, by tailoring the optical near field in the vicinity of silver nanostructures through adaptive polarization shaping of femtosecond laser pulses and then probing the lateral field distribution by two-photon photoemission electron microscopy. In this combination of adaptive control and nano-optics, we achieve subwavelength dynamic localization of electromagnetic intensity on the nanometre scale and thus overcome the spatial restrictions of conventional optics. This experimental realization of theoretical suggestions opens a number of perspectives in coherent control, nano-optics, nonlinear spectroscopy, and other research fields in which optical investigations are carried out with spatial or temporal resolution.     

Universalities of earthquake-network characteristics

The scale-free and small-world properties are studied in detail for the complex earthquake networks constructed from the seismic data sets taken from California (USA), Japan, Iran and Chile. It is found that, in all these geographical regions, both the exponent / of the power-law connectivity distribution and the clustering coefficient C take the universal invariant values /≈1 and C≈0.85, respectively, as the cell size, which is the scale of coarse graining needed for construction of network, becomes larger than a certain value. A possible physical interpretation is given to the emergence of such remarkable invariance.     

Genome sequence and analysis of the tuber crop potato

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the world's most important non-grain food crop and is central to global food security. It is clonally propagated, highly heterozygous, autotetraploid, and suffers acute inbreeding depression. Here we use a homozygous doubled-monoploid potato clone to sequence and assemble 86% of the 844-megabase genome. We predict 39,031 protein-coding genes and present evidence for at least two genome duplication events indicative of a palaeopolyploid origin. As the first genome sequence of an asterid, the potato genome reveals 2,642 genes specific to this large angiosperm clade. We also sequenced a heterozygous diploid clone and show that gene presence/absence variants and other potentially deleterious mutations occur frequently and are a likely cause of inbreeding depression. Gene family expansion, tissue-specific expression and recruitment of genes to new pathways contributed to the evolution of tuber development. The potato genome sequence provides a platform for genetic improvement of this vital crop.     

Evidence for a spin-aligned neutron-proton paired phase from the level structure of (92)Pd

Shell structure and magic numbers in atomic nuclei were generally explained by pioneering work that introduced a strong spin-orbit interaction to the nuclear shell model potential. However, knowledge of nuclear forces and the mechanisms governing the structure of nuclei, in particular far from stability, is still incomplete. In nuclei with equal neutron and proton numbers (N = Z), enhanced correlations arise between neutrons and protons (two distinct types of fermions) that occupy orbitals with the same quantum numbers. Such correlations have been predicted to favour an unusual type of nuclear superfluidity, termed isoscalar neutron-proton pairing, in addition to normal isovector pairing. Despite many experimental efforts, these predictions have not been confirmed. Here we report the experimental observation of excited states in the N = Z = 46 nucleus (92)Pd. Gamma rays emitted following the (58)Ni((36)Ar,2n)(92)Pd fusion-evaporation reaction were identified using a combination of state-of-the-art high-resolution γ-ray, charged-particle and neutron detector systems. Our results reveal evidence for a spin-aligned, isoscalar neutron-proton coupling scheme, different from the previous prediction. We suggest that this coupling scheme replaces normal superfluidity (characterized by seniority coupling) in the ground and low-lying excited states of the heaviest N = Z nuclei. Such strong, isoscalar neutron-proton correlations would have a considerable impact on the nuclear level structure and possibly influence the dynamics of rapid proton capture in stellar nucleosynthesis.     

Gravity modes as a way to distinguish between hydrogen- and helium-burning red giant stars

Red giants are evolved stars that have exhausted the supply of hydrogen in their cores and instead burn hydrogen in a surrounding shell. Once a red giant is sufficiently evolved, the helium in the core also undergoes fusion. Outstanding issues in our understanding of red giants include uncertainties in the amount of mass lost at the surface before helium ignition and the amount of internal mixing from rotation and other processes. Progress is hampered by our inability to distinguish between red giants burning helium in the core and those still only burning hydrogen in a shell. Asteroseismology offers a way forward, being a powerful tool for probing the internal structures of stars using their natural oscillation frequencies. Here we report observations of gravity-mode period spacings in red giants that permit a distinction between evolutionary stages to be made. We use high-precision photometry obtained by the Kepler spacecraft over more than a year to measure oscillations in several hundred red giants. We find many stars whose dipole modes show sequences with approximately regular period spacings. These stars fall into two clear groups, allowing us to distinguish unambiguously between hydrogen-shell-burning stars (period spacing mostly ～ 50 seconds) and those that are also burning helium (period spacing ～ 100 to 300 seconds).