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EPJ Plus Focus Point Issue: Machine Learning for Materials Physics: From Pitfalls to Best Practices
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- Published on 02 September 2025
Guest Editors: Domenico Di Sante and Anirvan M. Sengupta
The fusion of machine learning (ML) and materials science is opening unprecedented opportunities in research and innovation. As traditional methods struggle to face the complexity of modern materials and their vast datasets, ML is intervening to accelerate discovery, optimize properties, and shed light on intricate phenomena.
In the Focus Point "Machine Learning for Materials Physics: From Pitfalls to Best Practices" six studies showcase how ML is permeating this field. From modeling quantum many-body systems to predicting new superconducting materials, these papers highlight how ML algorithms are driving efficiency, enhancing precision, and offering new possibilities. This Focus Point also addresses key challenges, such as interpretability and scalability, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary collaboration between ML experts and materials scientists.
Dive into this special issue to explore the cutting-edge innovations reshaping materials science—and see how ML is revolutionizing our understanding of the physical world.
All articles are available here and are freely accessible until 31 October 2025. For further information, read the Editorial.
EPJ Plus Focus Point Issue: Higher Derivatives in Quantum Gravity: Theory, Tests, Phenomenology
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- Published on 29 August 2025
Guest Editors: Luca Buoninfante, Andrea Giusti, Aaron Held, Benjamin Knorr & Alessia Platania
Quantizing General Relativity using standard perturbative quantum field theory results in a perturbatively non-renormalizable theory. This has led to a variety of alternative approaches to quantum gravity, each based on different assumptions, ideas, and quantization techniques. A common feature in many of these approaches is the appearance of higher-derivative operators, alongside the Einstein-Hilbert action, which play a crucial role in classifying quantum-gravitational effects in an effective field theory fashion. This focus point issue brings together different perspectives on the role of higher derivatives in quantum gravity. It explores their theoretical role and implications in different approaches as well as their impact on phenomenology. The issue collects perspectives on how higher-derivative terms appear in quantum gravity theories and what insights they may offer into the fundamental nature of spacetime.
All articles are available here and are freely accessible until 31 October 2025. For further information, read the Editorial.
EPJ B Highlight - Unlocking next-gen optoelectronic with InSb/WSSe heterostructures
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- Published on 22 August 2025
Alternating layers of the 2D semiconductors could yield materials with advanced optical absorption properties—especially in the visible range
Due to their unique geometries and quantum properties, atom-thick 2D semiconductors have transformed the landscape of materials science, placing them at the forefront of fields including electronics, photonics, and energy conversion. Recently, these capabilities have been extended by stacking different 2D semiconductors into van der Waals heterostructures, which exhibit light-detecting and controlling abilities not seen in bulk materials.
In new research published in EPJ B, Weibin Zhang and colleagues at Yunnan Normal University demonstrate that heterostructures made from alternating layers of InSb and WSSe are highly suited for light absorption. If confirmed experimentally, these properties could make the material a valuable platform for harvesting light across a broad range of wavelengths—potentially paving the way for next-generation optoelectronic devices.
EPJ D Highlight - Improving simulations of the PIII process
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- Published on 22 August 2025
New simulation approach can better account for ion dynamics in the thin outer layer of plasma – offering a better understanding of the Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation process
Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation (PIII) is a surface treatment technique where a material is immersed in plasma, then subjected to high-voltage pulses. This accelerates ions from the plasma into the material surface, altering its properties and composition in a highly controlled way. PIII is now widely used to enhance the mechanical, physical, and electrical properties of materials ranging from semiconductors to biocompatible substances. So far, however, researchers have rarely considered how its performance can be affected by the evolving dynamics of ions in the plasma ‘sheath’: the thin layer near the plasma boundary, where electrons escape more readily than ions.
Through new research published in EPJ D, Mohammadreza Sattari and Jalal Ghasemi at the University of Zanjan, Iran, present an improved approach to simulating ion dynamics within the sheath.
EPJ Plus Highlight - Readying photoacoustic spectroscopy for studies of advanced nanostructures
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- Published on 22 August 2025
Innovations to the existing photoacoustic spectroscopy setup could make the technique far better suited to studying advanced, specially engineered nanostructures
When a material sample absorbs light, its resulting thermal expansion can generate an acoustic wave in the surrounding air. Named the photoacoustic effect, this phenomenon is now widely exploited in experimental physics to measure the wavelengths absorbed by materials via the sound waves they emit. This technique is called photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS), and has now been applied across fields from gas sensing and biomedical imaging to observations of ultrafast reactions. So far, however, PAS has proven less reliable when studying photoacoustic responses in specially engineered nanostructures.
Through new research published in EPJ Plus, Emilija Petronijevic and colleagues at Sapienza University of Rome introduce several improvements to the PAS setup, making it better suited to measuring intricate nanoscale structures. Their innovations could lead to powerful new methods for measuring features like single and aggregated nanoparticles, ultra-thin films and metasurfaces, and nanowire assemblies – currently at the leading edge of experimental physics.
EPJ D Highlight - Describing resonance in multi-layered spherical particles
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- Published on 19 August 2025
New mathematical expressions make it far easier to model the resonant frequencies of multi-layer spherical particles
Multi-layered spherical particles feature an intricate relationship between their physical structure and resonant frequency. Named the ‘morphology-dependent resonance’ (MDR), this relationship is highly sensitive to a variety of properties, making it especially useful in measurement.
However, since these relationships are so complex, most existing models of MDRs will only focus on the outermost layers of these particles, severely limiting their accuracy.
Through new research published in EPJ D, Lufang Guo and colleagues at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology have created new mathematical expressions for the MDRs of multi-layered particles, which make the relationship far easier to model.
EPJ Web of Conferences Highlight – XLVI Symposium on Nuclear Physics 2025
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- Published on 05 August 2025
The XLVI Symposium on Nuclear Physics (SNP) took place in Cocoyoc, Mexico from January 6-9, 2025 with an attendance of about 90 participants from 15 different countries.
The SNP meeting has been organized every year since its beginning in 1978 with the exception of the COVID years, 2021 and 2022.
EPJ D Roadmap - Roadmap on carbon molecular nanostructures in space
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- Published on 05 August 2025
A new Roadmap is published in EPJD
The roadmap on carbon molecular nanostructures in space contains forty contributions from leading scientists in observational astronomy, laboratory astrophysics/chemistry, spectroscopy, theoretical chemistry, astrobiology, molecular reaction dynamics, graph theory and materials science. It highlights a rapidly developing, interdisciplinary field of research that is benefiting from recent technical advances in both observational astronomy and laboratory infrastructure combined with new powerful machine learning approaches to data analysis and modelling. The rapidly expanding inventory of carbon molecular nanostructures found in space is opening up many fundamental questions concerning their origin, astrochemical relevance and significance for the origin of life. The roadmap documents the state-of-the-art in observational and laboratory studies along with the current theoretical and experimental challenges to be overcome in order to achieve a greater understanding of the physics and chemistry of cosmic carbon molecular nanostructures. New insights are being made into the properties and resilience of these fascinating molecular species that are not only of fundamental importance for understanding the chemistry of space but have wider terrestrial relevance and impact in nanotechnology and catalysis.
EPJ E Highlight - Acanthamoeba castellanii offers a simplified model for density-driven cell migration
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- Published on 24 July 2025
New analysis reveals that the motion of this unicellular amoeba is governed solely by cell–cell collisions, providing a useful model for isolating the effects of density on migration
Cell migration is vital to numerous biological processes. While often guided by long-range biochemical cues, it can also be influenced by direct physical collisions, which trigger biochemical signals within the affected cells. When studying this behaviour, it is important for researchers to consider how individual cell motions are affected by overall cell density. However, experiments have been complicated by the many interacting factors involved, making it difficult to isolate the specific impact of direct cell–cell collisions.
In new research published in EPJ E, a team led by Jean-Paul Rieu at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 demonstrates how one unicellular amoeba species, Acanthamoeba castellanii (Ac), migrates in ways that are unaffected by long-range biochemical signalling – making it a promising model for studying how density influences cell migration. By using Ac, the researchers aim to gain deeper insights into the mechanisms of cell motion relevant to diverse biological processes, including immune responses, cancer cell invasion, and tissue development.
EPJ ST Highlight - Functional brain networks disrupted in major depression
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- Published on 23 July 2025
A detailed analysis of functional brain networks from individuals with and without major depressive disorder using graph theory has revealed subtle but significant differences between these groups that could aid early diagnosis of this devastating condition.
Severe depression or major depressive disorder (MDD) is the commonest serious mental disorder, and its high and growing prevalence – it is thought to affect over 300 million people worldwide – represents a major societal challenge. Many studies have shown some characteristic patterns in brain structure and activity in depressed individuals, but the details and the likely reasons are unknown. Now, however, an interdisciplinary group of researchers led by Mengmeng Du of Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, China, have used the mathematical technique of graph theory to analyse networks of brain activity in different regions and at different scales. This work has been published in the journal EPJ Special Topics (EPJ ST).
