Irreversibility and symmetry breaking in the creation and annihilation of defects in active living matter

This study reveals that defect creation and annihilation in diverse active living systems exhibit spatial symmetry breaking and irreversibility driven by a dualism between nematic structure and polar forces, challenging conventional active nematic theories and highlighting these processes as major sources of entropy production.

Avraham Beer, Efraim Dov Neimand, Yuv Agarwal + 4 more2026-03-05🔬 physics

Preparation and optimization of high-temperature superconducting Ruddlesden-Popper nickelate thin films

This study establishes a systematic gigantic-oxidative atomic-layer-by-layer epitaxy approach to grow phase-pure, high-quality Ln3Ni2O7 thin films that exhibit superconductivity with an onset transition temperature of 50 K without post-annealing, while identifying four critical factors—precise cation stoichiometry, complete atomic layer coverage, optimized interface reconstruction, and accurate oxygen content regulation—that govern their crystalline quality and superconducting properties.

Wei Lv, Zihao Nie, Heng Wang + 4 more2026-03-05🔬 physics

On the attenuation of waves through broken ice of randomly-varying thickness on water of finite depth

This paper extends a theoretical model of wave attenuation through broken floating ice of random thickness to finite water depths, utilizing multiple scales analysis to derive an explicit attenuation expression that predicts an eighth-power frequency dependence at low frequencies and shows strong agreement with numerical simulations and field measurements.

Lloyd Dafydd, Richard Porter2026-03-05🔬 physics

Signature of high temperature superconductivity with giant pressure effect in networks of boron doped ultra-thin carbon nanotubes

This paper reports the fabrication of boron-doped, ultra-thin carbon nanotube networks within zeolite pores that exhibit characteristic signatures of high-temperature superconductivity with a critical temperature between 220 and 250 K, alongside a giant pressure effect that further elevates this transition temperature.

Yibo Wang, Tsin Hei Koo, Runqing Huang + 9 more2026-03-05🔬 physics

A HHO formulation for variable density incompressible flows where the density is purely advected

This paper presents a Hybrid High-Order (HHO) formulation for variable density incompressible flows that ensures exact volume conservation and pure density advection through a combination of hybrid spatial discretization and ESDIRK time stepping, demonstrating robustness, pressure-independence, and high-order accuracy in simulating immiscible fluid mixtures and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities.

Lorenzo Botti, Francesco Carlo Massa2026-03-05🔬 physics

Quantum Corrections to η/sη/s from JT Gravity

This paper demonstrates that incorporating quantum fluctuations via Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity in a holographic model of near-extremal black branes generates a non-universal, temperature-dependent shear viscosity to entropy ratio (η/s\eta/s) that dips below the KSS bound in the semi-classical regime before rising above it at lower temperatures, a result that aligns with the quantum-corrected absorption cross-section.

Sera Cremonini, Li Li, Xiao-Long Liu + 1 more2026-03-05🔬 physics