A novel description of black-hole microstates as quantum superpositions of objects with geometric semiclassical descriptions explains the origin of black-hole entropy.

A new calculation of the entropy of an expanding universe suggests the microscopic building blocks of space and time reside on a sort of cosmic holographic screen.

A new theoretical framework of chaotic, thermalizing quantum many-body systems unifies several extant, disjoint descriptions and points toward unexpected connections between quantum chaos and quantum gravity.

A new theoretical scheme of studying the 3D Ising transition—a celebrated phase transition in a model of ferromagnetism—provides insights into the conformal symmetry long conjectured to emerge.

The derivative expansion is a key organizational principle of relativistic hydrodynamics. A collective excitation lurking in the high-order terms of this expansion offers a new conceptual approach to exploring this subject.

In a class of quantum critical phases of matter, heat diffusion competes with another process for heat conduction, an insight that may offer clues as to how diffusion arises from microscopic dynamics.

A mathematical framework for organizing correlators in conformal field theory (CFT) and corresponding scattering amplitudes in anti–de Sitter (AdS) space greatly enhances the computing power of AdS/CFT for analyzing quantum gravity.

A quantum code that is covariant with respect to a continuous symmetry can approximately correct the loss of a “letter” in that code, circumventing earlier no-go theorems in certain regimes.

String theory provides a microscopic description of the entropy of certain theoretical black holes—an important step toward understanding black hole thermodynamics.

Neural networks enable an important calculation in a popular approach to unifying quantum theory with general relativity.

The boundary of a discrete spacetime is itself a discrete structure now dubbed a conformal quasicrystal, a fundamental new insight into ideas from holography that attempt to reconcile the conflict between general relativity and quantum physics.

A mathematical tool provides a way to translate descriptions of objects in the language of quantum gravity into the language of purely quantum-mechanical systems without gravity.

A new analysis of quantum-mechanical models that describe interactions in large ensembles of Majorana fermions reveals richer phenomena in these complex systems, providing a potential path towards physical applications.

Bosons and fermions, once thought to be distinct entities, can actually be exchanged via the attachment of flux. This observation is used to relate different theories that have applications in fields as diverse as condensed matter physics and string theory.

Topological defects can occur during the transition from disorder to order. Researchers quantitatively predict the formation rate of defects using scaling ideas, linear response, and insights from gravity.