– We present a numerical study of magnetic phases of the 2D electron gas near freezing. The calculations are performed by diffusion Monte Carlo in the fixed node approximation. At variance with the 3D case we find no evidence for the stability of a partially polarized phase. With plane wave nodes in the trial function, the polarization transition takes place at rs = 20, whereas the best availab...

Photosynthesis is the biological process that feeds the biosphere with reduced carbon. The assimilation of CO2 requires the fine tuning of two co-existing functional modes: linear electron flow, which provides NADPH and ATP, and cyclic electron flow, which only sustains ATP synthesis. Although the importance of this fine tuning is appreciated, its mechanism remains equivocal. Here we show that ...

The complex interplay between the electron and lattice degrees of freedom produces multiple nearly degenerate electronic states in correlated electron materials. The competition between these degenerate electronic states largely determines the functionalities of the system, but the invoked mechanism remains in debate. By imaging phase domains with electron microscopy and interrogating individua...

An ab initio approach is developed to determine the photon-electron and electron-vibration coupling rates, for ion-doped materials related to laser cooling of solids. The ground and excited state energies are determined, and the corresponding geometries optimized. Using the first-principle wavefunctions, the electric transition dipole moment co necting the ground and excited states is calculate...

With the advent of coherent x rays provided by the x-ray free-electron laser (FEL), strong interest has been kindled in sophisticated diffraction imaging techniques. In this Letter, we exploit such techniques for the diagnosis of the density distribution of the intense electron beams typically utilized in an x-ray FEL itself. We have implemented this method by analyzing the far-field coherent t...

The unique opportunity to study and control electron-nuclear quantum dynamics in coupled potentials offered by the resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) technique is utilized to unravel an anomalously strong two-electron one-photon transition from core-excited to Rydberg final states in the CO molecule. High-resolution RIXS measurements of CO in the energy region of 12-14 eV are presented ...