The answer to the question How far can one send a photon? depends heavily on what one means by a photon and on what one intends to do with that photon. For direct quantum communication, the limit is approximately 500 km. For terrestrial quantum communication, near-future technologies based on quantum teleportation and quantum memories will soon enable quantum repeaters that will turn the development of a world-wide-quantum-web (WWQW) into a highly non-trivial engineering problem. For Device-Independent Quantum Information Processing, near-future qubit amplifiers (i.e., probabilistic heralded amplification of the probability amplitude of the presence of photonic qubits) will soon allow demonstrations over a few tens of kilometers.

We present a short overview of studies of the transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions of the nucleon. The aim of such studies is to provide three-dimensional imaging of the nucleon and a comprehensive description of semi-inclusive high-energy reactions. By summarizing what we have done in constructing the theoretical framework for inclusive deep inelastic lepton–nucleon scattering and one-dimensional imaging of the nucleon, we try to sketch out an outline of what we need to do to construct such a comprehensive theoretical framework for semi-inclusive processes in terms of three-dimensional gauge-invariant parton distributions. Next, we present an overview of what we have alr ady achieved, with an emphasis on the theoretical framework for semi-inclusive reactions in leading-order perturbative quantum chromodynamics but with leading and higher twist contributions. We summarize in particular the results for the differential cross section and azimuthal spin asymmetries in terms of the gauge-invariant transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions. We also briefly summarize the available experimental results on semi-inclusive reactions and the parameterizations of transverse-momentum-dependent parton distributions extracted from them and present an outlook for future studies.

With its unique data samples at energies of 3.8–4.6 GeV, the BESIII experiment made a significant contribution to the study of charmonium and charmonium-like states, i.e., the XYZ states.We review the results for observations of the Z_c(3900) and Z_c(4020) states, the X(3872) in e⁺e⁻ annihilation, and charmonium ψ(1³D₂) state, as well as measurements of the cross-sections of ωχ_cJ and ηJ/ψ, and the search for e⁺e⁻→ γχ_cJ and γY (4140). We also present data from BESIII that may further strengthen the study of the XYZ and conventional charmonium states, and discuss perspectives on future experiments.

Both the PHENIX and STAR experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory are running polarized proton–proton collisions at s= 200 and 500 GeV. The main goal of the RHIC spin physics program is to gain deeper insight into the spin structure of the nucleon. We will give an overview of recent spin results from RHIC, particularly the study of gluon polarization via jet/hadron production and sea quark polarization via W boson production in longitudinally polarized proton–proton collisions.

This is essentially an update of Ref. [1] [H. Y. Cheng, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 24 (Suppl. 1), 593 (2009)], a review of charmed baryon physics around 2007. Topics covered in this review include the spectroscopy, strong decays, lifetimes, nonleptonic and semileptonic weak decays, and electromagnetic decays of charmed baryons.

It is well known that noncentral nuclear forces, such as the spin–orbital coupling and the tensor force, play important roles in understanding many interesting features of nuclear structures. However, their dynamical effects in nuclear reactions are poorly known because only the spin-averaged observables are normally studied both experimentally and theoretically. Realizing that spin-sensitive observables in nuclear reactions may convey useful information about the in-medium properties of noncentral nuclear interactions, besides earlier studies using the time-dependent Hartree–Fock approach to understand the effects of spin–orbital coupling on the threshold energy and spin polarization in fusion reactions, some efforts have been made recently to explore the dynamical effects of noncentral nuclear forces in intermediate-energy heavy-ion collisions using transport models. The focus of these studies has been on investigating signatures of the density and isospin dependence of the form factor in the spin-dependent single-nucleon potential. Interestingly, some useful probes were identified in the model studies but so far there are still no data to compare with. In this brief review, we summarize the main physics motivations as well as the recent progress in understanding the spin dynamics and identifying spin-sensitive observables in heavy-ion reactions at intermediate energies. We hope the interesting, important, and new physics potentials identified in the spin dynamics of heavy-ion collisions will stimulate more experimental work in this direction.

By considering the nonmonotonic d-wave gap effect, the energy and momentum dependence of quasiparticle scattering interference is studied in the presence of a single impurity. It is shown that the pattern of the quasiparticle scattering peaks in the full Brillouin zone of electron-doped cuprate superconductors is very different from that in the hole-doped case described by the Octet model. This difference is the result of the nonmonotonic d-wave superconducting gap in the electron-doped case. As the energy increases, the position of the local peaks in the Brillouin zone moves rapidly. In particular, the characteristic peaks of the electron-doped cuprate superconductors appear between the antinodal and nodal directions, unlike in the hole-doped case.

PbTiO₃ is a simple but very important ferroelectric oxide that has been extensively studied and widely used in various technological applications. However, most previous studies and applications were based on the bulk material or the conventional [001]-orientated films. There are few studies on PbTiO₃ films grown along other crystalline axes. In this study, a first-principles calculation was performed to compute the polarization of PbTiO₃ films strained by SrTiO₃ and LaAlO₃ substrates. Our results show that the polarization of PbTiO₃ films strongly depends on the growth orientation as well as the monoclinic angles. Further, it is suggested that the ferroelectricity of PbTiO₃ mainly depends on the tetragonality of the lattice, instead of the simple strain.

Owing to the renewed interest in dark matter after the upgrade of the large hadron collider and its dedication to dark-matter research, it is timely to reassess the whole problem. Considering dark matter is one way to reconcile the discrepancy between the velocity of matter in the outer regions of galaxies and the observed galactic mass. Thus far, no credible candidate for dark matter has been identified. Here, we develop a model accounting for observations by rotations and interactions between rotating objects analogous to magnetic fields and interactions with moving charges. The magnitude of these fields is described by a fundamental constant on the order of 10⁻⁴¹kg⁻¹. The same interactions can be observed in the solar system, where they lead to small changes in planetary orbits.