physics

Physical Review B

Physical Review B is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Physical Review B rather than just read about it. In short: Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (also known as PRB) is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal, published by the American Physical Society (APS). The Lead Editor of PRB is Stephen E.

Key takeaways

Physical Review B belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Physical Review B to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Physical Review B from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (also known as PRB) is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal, published by the American Physical Society (APS). The Lead Editor of PRB is Stephen E. Nagler and the Chief Editor is Sarma Kancharla. It is part of the Physical Review family of journals. The current Editor in Chief is Randall Kamien. PRB currently publishes over 5000 papers a year, making it one of the largest physics journals in the world.

Scope The focus of this journal is on new results in condensed matter physics, which includes a wide variety of subject areas, such as semiconductors, superconductivity, magnetism, structure, phase transitions, ferroelectrics, nonordered systems, liquids, quantum solids, superfluidity, electronic structure, photonic crystals, mesoscopic systems, surfaces, clusters, fullerenes, graphene, nanoscience, etc.

History PRB was created in 1970 when the original Physical Review (founded in 1893) was subdivided into Physical Review A, B, C, and D, based on subject matter. Peter D. Adams was the Editor from inception until 2012 when Laurens W. Molenkamp took over. In 2023 Stephen E. Nagler replaced Molenkamp as the Lead Editor. Sarma Kancharla is currently the Chief Editor.

Features PRB has a reputation among professional physicists for publishing useful, comprehensive long papers in physics. It also contains short (four page) papers in its Letters section, previously named Rapid Communications, designed for research important enough to deserve special handling and speedy publication. The journal can be searched for free via PROLA. Titles and abstracts can be freely viewed but a journal subscription is needed to read the full text of papers. PRB and the other APS journals are available entirely free at many US public libraries. PRB has a staff of 11 full-time professional editors, and 7 part-time editors who are active researchers. The journal is available in print format (at University libraries) but the archival version is the online one. Authors can pay extra charges to make their papers open access. Such papers are published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (CC-BY), the most permissive of the CC licenses, which permits authors and others to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work, provided that proper credit is given. A small percentage of the PRB papers published are chosen (highlighted) as an Editors' Suggestions. Artistic images from papers in the journal are published as a feature named Kaleidoscope.

Abstracting and Indexing Physical Review B is indexed in the following bibliographic databases:

See also American Physical Society § APS journals Physical Review § Journals

References

External links PRB home page

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Physical Review B

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Physical Review B claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Physical Review B before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Physical Review B ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Physical Review B

In research: Physical Review B appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Physical Review B in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Physical Review B is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic journals established in 1970, American Physical Society academic journals, English-language journals, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Physical Review B outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Physical Review B in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Physical Review B means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Physical Review B out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Physical Review B in simple terms?

Why does Physical Review B matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Physical Review B?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Physical Review B.