EPJD has appointed new Editor-in-Chief Almut Beige

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Published on 19 January 2021

The publishers of European Physical Journal D: Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics are delighted to announce the appointment of a new Editor-in-Chief, Dr Almut Beige, Head of the Theoretical Physics Group at the University of Leeds, UK, effective January 2021. She will be responsible for the fields of photonics, quantum optics and quantum information of the journal, and succeeds Prof Tommaso Calarco, who steps down after three years in this role.

Dr Almut Beige is an expert in Quantum Optics and Quantum Photonics. Since completing her PhD in Goettingen, she has been fascinated with the often very strange implications of quantum physics. Applications of her research range from quantum computing to quantum metrology and quantum sensing. She has been a member of the Editorial Board for EPJD since 2015.

EPJ C Highlight - Tracking the evolution Maxwell knots

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Published on 15 January 2021

New research investigates the properties of particular solutions of Maxwell equations, tracking their evolution over time and determining a route to combine them with other systems.

Maxwell equations govern the evolution of electromagnetic fields with light being a particular solution of these equations in spaces devoid of electric charge. A new study published in EPJ C by Alexei Morozov and Nikita Tselousov, from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Institute of Transmission Problems, Russia, respectively, details peculiar solutions to the Maxwell equations—so-called Maxwell knots. The research could have applications in the fields of mathematical physics and string theory.

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EPJ Plus Focus Point on Solitons, Integrability, Nonlinear Waves: Theory and Applications

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Published on 15 January 2021

Nonlinear waves have long been at the research focus of both physicists and mathematicians, in diverse settings ranging from electromagnetic waves in nonlinear optics to matter waves in Bose-Einstein condensates, from Langmuir waves in plasma to internal and rogue waves in hydrodynamics. The study of physical phenomena by means of mathematical models often leads to nonlinear evolution equations known as integrable systems. One of the distinguished features of integrable systems is that they admit soliton solutions, i.e., stable, localized traveling waves which preserve their shape and velocity in the interaction. Other fundamental properties are their universal nature, and the fact that they can be effectively linearized, e.g., via the inverse scattering transform, or reduced to appropriate Riemann-Hilbert problems. Moreover, solutions can often be derived by the Zakharov-Shabat dressing method, by Backlund or Darboux transformations, or by Hirota’s method. Prototypical examples of such integrable equations in 1+1 dimensions are the nonlinear Schrödinger equation and its multicomponent generalizations, the sine-Gordon equation, the Korteweg-de Vries and the modified KdV equations, etc. In 2+1 dimensions the most notable examples are the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP) equations, and the Davey-Stewartson equations. The aim of this special issue is to present the latest developments in the theory of nonlinear waves and integrable systems, and their various applications.

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