Showing papers in "Science China-physics Mechanics & Astronomy in 2016"

New omega vortex identification method

Abstract: A new vortex identification criterion called W -method is proposed based on the ideas that vorticity overtakes deformation in vortex. The comparison with other vortex identification methods like Q -criterion and l 2-method is conducted and the advantages of the new method can be summarized as follows: (1) the method is able to capture vortex well and very easy to perform; (2) the physical meaning of W is clear while the interpretations of iso-surface values of Q and l 2 chosen to visualize vortices are obscure; (3) being different from Q and l 2 iso-surface visualization which requires wildly various thresholds to capture the vortex structure properly, W is pretty universal and does not need much adjustment in different cases and the iso-surfaces of W =0.52 can always capture the vortices properly in all the cases at different time steps, which we investigated; (4) both strong and weak vortices can be captured well simultaneously while improper Q and l 2 threshold may lead to strong vortex capture while weak vortices are lost or weak vortices are captured but strong vortices are smeared; (5) W =0.52 is a quantity to approximately define the vortex boundary. Note that, to calculate W , the length and velocity must be used in the non-dimensional form. From our direct numerical simulation, it is found that the vorticity direction is very different from the vortex rotation direction in general 3-D vortical flow, the Helmholtz velocity decomposition is reviewed and vorticity is proposed to be further decomposed to vortical vorticity and non-vortical vorticity.

Large unsaturated positive and negative magnetoresistance in Weyl semimetal TaP

Abstract: After successfully growing single-crystal TaP, we measured its longitudinal resistivity ($\rho_{xx}$) and Hall resistivity ($\rho_{yx}$) at magnetic fields up to 9 T in the temperature range of 2-300 K. At 8 T, the magnetoresistance (MR) reached 3.28 $\times$ 10$^5$$\%$ at 2 K, 176$\%$ at 300 K. Neither value appeared saturated. We confirmed that TaP is a hole-electron compensated semimetal with a low carrier concentration and high hole mobility of $\mu_{\mathrm{h}}$=3.71 $\times$ $10^5$ cm$^2$/V s, and found that a magnetic-field-induced metal-insulator transition occurs at room temperature. Remarkably, because a magnetic field (H) was applied in parallel to the electric field (E), a negative MR due to a chiral anomaly was observed and reached $-$3000$\%$ at 9 T without any sign of saturation, either, which is in contrast to other Weyl semimetals (WSMs). The analysis of the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations superimposed on the MR revealed that a nontrivial Berrys phase with a strong offset of 0.3958, which is the characteristic feature of charge carriers enclosing a Weyl node. These results indicate that TaP is a promising candidate not only for revealing fundamental physics of the WSM state but also for some novel applications.

Tests of gravitational symmetries with radio pulsars

Abstract: Symmetries play important roles in modern theories of physical laws. In this paper, we review several experimental tests of important symmetries associated with the gravitational interaction, including the universality of free fall for self-gravitating bodies, time-shift symmetry in the gravitational constant, local position invariance and local Lorentz invariance of gravity, and spacetime translational symmetries. Recent experimental explorations for post-Newtonian gravity are discussed, of which, those from pulsar astronomy are highlighted. All of these tests, of very different aspects of gravity theories, at very different length scales, favor to very high precision the predictions of the strong equivalence principle (SEP) and, in particular, general relativity which embodies SEP completely. As the founding principles of gravity, these symmetries are motivated to be promoted to even stricter tests in future.

Study of the cavity-magnon-polariton transmission line shape

Abstract: We experimentally and theoretically investigate the microwave transmission line shape of the cavity-magnon-polariton (CMP) created by inserting a low damping magnetic insulator into a high quality 3D microwave cavity. While fixed field measurements are found to have the expected Lorentzian characteristic, at fixed frequencies the field swept line shape is in general asymmetric. Such fixed frequency measurements demonstrate that microwave transmission can be used to access magnetic characteristics of the CMP, such as the field line width $\\Delta H$. By developing an effective oscillator model of the microwave transmission we show that these line shape features are general characteristics of harmonic coupling. At the same time, at the classical level the underlying physical mechanism of the CMP is electrodynamic phase correlation and a second model based on this principle also accurately reproduces the experimental line shape features. In order to understand the microscopic origin of the effective coupled oscillator model and to allow for future studies of CMP phenomena to extend into the quantum regime, we develop a third, microscopic description, based on a Greens function formalism. Using this method we calculate the transmission spectra and find good agreement with the experimental results.

Recent developments of rare-earth-free hard-magnetic materials

Abstract: Recent advances in rare-earth-free hard-magnetic materials including magnetic bulk, thin films, nanocomposites and nanostructures are introduced. Since the costs of the rare-earth metals boosts up the price of the high-performance rare-earth permanent magnets, there is a much revived interest in various types of hard-magnetic materials based on rare-earth-free compounds. The 3d transition metals and their alloys with large coercivity and high Curie temperatures (working temperatures) are expected to overcome the disadvantages of rare-earth magnets. Making rare-earth-free magnets with a large energy product to meet tomorrow’s energy needs is still a challenge.

Improved multiparty quantum key agreement in travelling mode

Abstract: The need to simultaneously balance security and fairness in quantum key agreement (QKA) makes it challenging to design a flawless QKA protocol, especially a multiparty quantum key agreement (MQKA) protocol. When designing an MQKA protocol, two modes can be used to transmit the quantum information carriers: travelling mode and distributed mode. MQKA protocols usually have a higher qubit efficiency in travelling mode than in distributed mode. Thus, several travelling mode MQKA protocols have been proposed. However, almost all of these are vulnerable to collusion attacks from internal betrayers. This paper proposes an improved MQKA protocol that operates in travelling mode with Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pairs. More importantly, we present a new travelling mode MQKA protocol that uses single photons, which is more feasible than previous methods under current technologies.

Concentrating partially entangled W-class states on nonlocal atoms using low- Q optical cavity and linear optical elements

Abstract: Entanglement plays an important role in quantum information science, especially in quantum communications. Here we present an efficient entanglement concentration protocol (ECP) for nonlocal atom systems in the partially entangled W-class states, using the single-photon input-output process regarding low-$Q$ cavity and linear optical elements. Compared with previously published ECPs for the concentration of non-maximally entangled atomic states, our protocol is much simpler and more efficient as it employs the Faraday rotation in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) and the parameter-splitting method. The Faraday rotation requires the cavity with low-$Q$ factor and weak coupling to the atom, which makes the requirement for entanglement concentration much less stringent than the previous methods, and achievable with current cavity QED techniques. The parameter-splitting method resorts to linear-optical elements only. This ECP has high efficiency and fidelity in realistic experiments, and some imperfections during the experiment can be avoided efficiently with currently available techniques.

Progress of Jinping Underground laboratory for Nuclear Astrophysics (JUNA)

Abstract: Jinping Underground laboratory for Nuclear Astrophysics (JUNA) will take the advantage of the ultra-low background of CJPL lab and high current accelerator based on an ECR source and a highly sensitive detector to directly study for the first time a number of crucial reactions occurring at their relevant stellar energies during the evolution of hydrostatic stars. In its first phase, JUNA aims at the direct measurements of 25Mg(p,γ)26Al, 19F(p,α)16O, 13C(α,n)16O and 12C(α,γ)16O reactions. The experimental setup, which includes an accelerator system with high stability and high intensity, a detector system, and a shielding material with low background, will be established during the above research. The current progress of JUNA will be given.

Experimental quantum simulation of Avian Compass in a nuclear magnetic resonance system

Abstract: Avian magnetoreception is the capacity for avians to sense the direction of the Earths magnetic field. Discovered more than forty years ago, it has attracted intensive studies over the years. One promising model for describing this capacity in avians is the widely used reference-and-probe model where radical pairs within the eyes of bird combines to form singlet and triplet quantum states. The yield depends on the angle between the Earths magnetic field and the molecules axis, hence the relative value of yield of the singlet state or triplet state enables avians to sense the direction. Here we report the experimental demonstration of avian magnetoreception in a nuclear magnetic resonance quantum information processor. It is shown clearly from the experiment that the yield of the singlet state attains maximum when it is normal to the Earths magnetic field, and the experimental results agree with theory very well.

Anti- (conjugate) linearity

Abstract: This is an introduction to antilinear operators. In following Wigner the terminus antilinear is used as it is standard in Physics. Mathematicians prefer to say conjugate linear. By restricting to finite-dimensional complex-linear spaces, the exposition becomes elementary in the functional analytic sense. Nevertheless it shows the amazing differences to the linear case. Basics of antilinearity is explained in sects. 2, 3, 4, 7 and in sect. 1.2: Spectrum, canonical Hermitian form, antilinear rank one and two operators, the Hermitian adjoint, classification of antilinear normal operators, (skew) conjugations, involutions, and acq-lines, the antilinear counterparts of 1-parameter operator groups. Applications include the representation of the Lagrangian Grassmannian by conjugations, its covering by acq-lines. As well as results on equivalence relations. After remembering elementary Tomita-Takesaki theory, antilinear maps, associated to a vector of a two-partite quantum system, are defined. By allowing to write modular objects as twisted products of pairs of them, they open some new ways to express EPR and teleportation tasks. The appendix presents a look onto the rich structure of antilinear operator spaces.

A perspective on high-order methods in computational fluid dynamics

Abstract: There has been an intensive international effort to develop high-order Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods into design tools in aerospace engineering during the last one and half decades. These methods offer the potential to significantly improve solution accuracy and efficiency for vortex dominated turbulent flows. Enough progresses have been made in algorithm development, mesh generation and parallel computing that these methods are on the verge of being applied in a production design environment. Since many review papers have been written on the subject, I decide to offer a personal perspective on the state-of-the-art in high-order CFD methods and the challenges that must be overcome.

A brief review on one-dimensional topological insulators and superconductors

Abstract: Recently one-dimensional topological phases are gaining increasing attentions. Like two- and three-dimensional ones, Onedimensional systems are important in a complete understanding of the topological properties. One-dimensional topological phases have been realized using current experimental setups. Specially the signatures of Majorana fermions have been observed in onedimensional topological superconductors engineered with Rashiba nanowires. From the many studies, the paper reviews typical theoretical models of one-dimensional topological insulators and superconductors. For one-dimensional topological insulators, we introduce the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger, superlattices and Creutz models, while for topological superconductors the Kitaev model and Rashiba nanowire are introduced. These models not only provide an overview of one-dimensional topological phases, but also are the starting points for further studies.

A direct probe of the evolutionary history of the primordial universe

Abstract: Since Hubble and Lamaitre's discovery of the expanding universe using galaxies till the recent discovery of the accelerating universe using standard candles, direct measurements of the evolution of the scale factor of the universe a(t) have played central roles in establishing the standard model of cosmology. In this letter, we show that such a measurement may be extended to the primordial universe using massive fields as standard clocks, providing a direct evidence for the scenario responsible for the Big Bang. This is a short and non-technical introduction to the idea of classical and quantum primordial standard clocks.

Effects of oxygen vacancies on polarization stability of barium titanate

Abstract: Oxygen vacancy, a kind of native point defects in ferroelectric ceramics, usually causes an increase of the dielectric loss. Based on experimental observations, it is believed that all of the oxygen vacancies are an unfavorable factor for energy saving. By using molecular dynamics simulations, we show that the increase of coercive and saturated electric fields is due to the difficulty to switch local polarization near an oxygen vacancy, and so that a ferroelectric device has to sustain the rising consumption of energy. The simulation results also uncover how oxygen vacancies influence ferroelectric properties.

Dynamics and entanglement of a membrane-in-the-middle optomechanical system in the extremely-large-amplitude regime

Abstract: The study of optomechanical systems has attracted much attention, most of which are concentrated in the physics in the small-amplitude regime. While in this article, we focus on optomechanics in the extremely-large-amplitude regime and consider both classical and quantum dynamics. Firstly, we study classical dynamics in a membrane-in-the-middle optomechanical system in which a partially reflecting and flexible membrane is suspended inside an optical cavity. We show that the membrane can present self-sustained oscillations with limit cycles in the shape of sawtooth-edged ellipses and exhibit dynamical multistability. Then, we study the dynamics of the quantum fluctuations around the classical orbits. By using the logarithmic negativity, we calculate the evolution of the quantum entanglement between the optical cavity mode and the membrane during the mechanical oscillation. We show that there is some synchronism between the classical dynamical process and the evolution of the quantum entanglement.

Understanding the structure of $d^*(2380)$ in chiral quark model

Abstract: The structure and decay properties of d* have been detailedly investigated in both the chiral SU(3) quark model and the extended chiral SU(3) quark model that describe the energies of baryon ground states and the nucleon-nucleon (NN) scattering data satisfactorily. By performing a dynamical coupled-channels study of the system of ΔΔ and hidden-color channel (CC) with quantum numbers I(J P ) = 0(3+) in the framework of the resonating group method (RGM), we find that the d* has a mass of about 2.38-2.42 GeV and a root-mean-square radius (RMS) of about 0.76-0.88 fm. The channel wave function is extracted by a projection of the RGM wave function onto the physical basis, and the fraction of CC component in the d* is found to be about 66%-68%, which indicates that the d* is a hexaquark-dominated exotic state. Based on this scenario the partial decay widths of d* → d π 0 π 0 and d∗ → d π + π − are further explicitly evaluated and the total width is then obtained by use of the branching ratios extracted from the measured cross sections of other possible decay channels. Both the mass and the decay width of d* calculated in this work are compatible with the data (M ≈ 2380 MeV, Γ ≈ 70 MeV) reported by WASA-at-COSY Collaboration.

Applications of two-way satellite time and frequency transfer in the BeiDou navigation satellite system

Abstract: A two-way satellite time and frequency transfer (TWSTFT) device equipped in the BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) can calculate clock error between satellite and ground master clock. TWSTFT is a real-time method with high accuracy because most system errors such as orbital error, station position error, and tropospheric and ionospheric delay error can be eliminated by calculating the two-way pseudorange difference. Another method, the multi-satellite precision orbit determination (MPOD) method, can be applied to estimate satellite clock errors. By comparison with MPOD clock estimations, this paper discusses the applications of the BDS TWSTFT clock observations in satellite clock measurement, satellite clock prediction, navigation system time monitor, and satellite clock performance assessment in orbit. The results show that with TWSTFT clock observations, the accuracy of satellite clock prediction is higher than MPOD. Five continuous weeks of comparisons with three international GNSS Service (IGS) analysis centers (ACs) show that the reference time difference between BeiDou time (BDT) and golbal positoning system (GPS) time (GPST) realized IGS ACs is in the tens of nanoseconds. Applying the TWSTFT clock error observations may obtain more accurate satellite clock performance evaluation in the 104 s interval because the accuracy of the MPOD clock estimation is not sufficiently high. By comparing the BDS and GPS satellite clock performance, we found that the BDS clock stability at the 103 s interval is approximately 10−12, which is similar to the GPS IIR.

Experimental simulation of the Unruh effect on an NMR quantum simulator

Abstract: The Unruh effect is one of the most fundamental manifestations of the fact that the particle content of a field theory is observer dependent. However, there has been so far no experimental verification of this effect, as the associated temperatures lie far below any observable threshold. Recently, physical phenomena, which are of great experimental challenge, have been investigated by quantum simulations in various fields. Here we perform a proof-of-principle simulation of the evolution of fermionic modes under the Unruh effect with a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) quantum simulator. By the quantum simulator, we experimentally demonstrate the behavior of Unruh temperature with acceleration, and we further investigate the quantum correlations quantified by quantum discord between two fermionic modes as seen by two relatively accelerated observers. It is shown that the quantum correlations can be created by the Unruh effect from the classically correlated states. Our work may provide a promising way to explore the quantum physics of accelerated systems.

High-efficiency Gaussian key reconciliation in continuous variable quantum key distribution

Abstract: Efficient reconciliation is a crucial step in continuous variable quantum key distribution. The progressive-edge-growth (PEG) algorithm is an efficient method to construct relatively short block length low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. The qua-sicyclic construction method can extend short block length codes and further eliminate the shortest cycle. In this paper, by combining the PEG algorithm and qua-si-cyclic construction method, we design long block length irregular LDPC codes with high error-correcting capacity. Based on these LDPC codes, we achieve high-efficiency Gaussian key reconciliation with slice recon-ciliation based on multilevel coding/multistage decoding with an efficiency of 93.7%.

Quantum state and process tomography via adaptive measurements

Abstract: We investigate quantum state tomography (QST) for pure states and quantum process tomography (QPT) for unitary channels via adaptive measurements. For a quantum system with a d-dimensional Hilbert space, we first propose an adaptive protocol where only 2d − 1 measurement outcomes are used to accomplish the QST for all pure states. This idea is then extended to study QPT for unitary channels, where an adaptive unitary process tomography (AUPT) protocol of d 2+d−1 measurement outcomes is constructed for any unitary channel. We experimentally implement the AUPT protocol in a 2-qubit nuclear magnetic resonance system. We examine the performance of the AUPT protocol when applied to Hadamard gate, T gate (π/8 phase gate), and controlled-NOT gate, respectively, as these gates form the universal gate set for quantum information processing purpose. As a comparison, standard QPT is also implemented for each gate. Our experimental results show that the AUPT protocol that reconstructing unitary channels via adaptive measurements significantly reduce the number of experiments required by standard QPT without considerable loss of fidelity.

Effect of impurity scattering on superconductivity in K 2 Cr 3 As 3

Abstract: Impurity scattering in a superconductor may serve as an important probe for the nature of superconducting pairing state. Here we report the impurity effect on superconducting transition temperature $T_\mathrm{c}$ in the newly discovered Cr-based superconductor K$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$. The resistivity measurements show that the crystals prepared using high-purity Cr metal ($\geq$99.99\%) have an electron mean free path much larger than the superconducting coherence length. For the crystals prepared using impure Cr that contains various nonmagnetic impurities, however, the $T_\mathrm{c}$ decreases significantly, in accordance with the generalized Abrikosov-Gorkov pair-breaking theory. This finding supports a non-$s$-wave superconductivity in K$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$.

Large deflection of clamped circular plate and accuracy of its approximate analytical solutions

Abstract: A different set of governing equations on the large deflection of plates are derived by the principle of virtual work (PVW), which also leads to a different set of boundary conditions. Boundary conditions play an important role in determining the computation accuracy of the large deflection of plates. Our boundary conditions are shown to be more appropriate by analyzing their difference with the previous ones. The accuracy of approximate analytical solutions is important to the bulge/blister tests and the application of various sensors with the plate structure. Different approximate analytical solutions are presented and their accuracies are evaluated by comparing them with the numerical results. The error sources are also analyzed. A new approximate analytical solution is proposed and shown to have a better approximation. The approximate analytical solution offers a much simpler and more direct framework to study the plate-membrane transition behavior of deflection as compared with the previous approaches of complex numerical integration.

A potential application in quantum networks --- Deterministic quantum operation sharing schemes with Bell states

Abstract: In this paper, we propose certain different design ideas on a novel topic in quantum cryptography — quantum operation sharing (QOS). Following these unique ideas, three QOS schemes, the “HIEC” (The scheme whose messages are hidden in the entanglement correlation), “HIAO” (The scheme whose messages are hidden with the assistant operations) and “HIMB” (The scheme whose messages are hidden in the selected measurement basis), have been presented to share the single-qubit operations determinately on target states in a remote node. These schemes only require Bell states as quantum resources. Therefore, they can be directly applied in quantum networks, since Bell states are considered the basic quantum channels in quantum networks. Furthermore, after analyse on the security and resource consumptions, the task of QOS can be achieved securely and effectively in these schemes.

Pulsar braking: magnetodipole vs. wind

Abstract: Pulsars are good clocks in the universe. One fundamental question is that why they are good clocks? This is related to the braking mechanism of pulsars. Nowadays pulsar timing is done with unprecedented accuracy. More pulsars have braking indices measured. The period derivative of intermittent pulsars and magnetars can vary by a factor of several. However, during pulsar studies, the magnetic dipole braking in vacuum is still often assumed. It is shown that the fundamental assumption of magnetic dipole braking (vacuum condition) does not exist and it is not consistent with the observations. The physical torque must consider the presence of the pulsar magnetosphere. Among various efforts, the wind braking model can explain many observations of pulsars and magnetars in a unified way. It is also consistent with the up-to-date observations. It is time for a paradigm shift in pulsar studies: from magnetic dipole braking to wind braking. As one alternative to the magnetospheric model, the fallback disk model is also discussed.

Diagnosing ΛHDE model with statefinder hierarchy and fractional growth parameter

Abstract: Recently, a new dark energy model called ΛHDE was proposed. In this model, dark energy consists of two parts: cosmological constant Λ and holographic dark energy (HDE). Two key parameters of this model are the fractional density of cosmological constant ΩΛ0, and the dimensionless HDE parameter c. Since these two parameters determine the dynamical properties of DE and the destiny of universe, it is important to study the impacts of different values of ΩΛ0 and c on the ΛHDE model. In this paper, we apply various DE diagnostic tools to diagnose ΛHDE models with different values of ΩΛ0 and c; these tools include statefinder hierarchy {S 3 (1) , S 4 (1) }, fractional growth parameter ϵ, and composite null diagnostic (CND), which is a combination of {S 3 (1) , S 4 (1) } and ϵ. We find that: (1) adopting different values of ΩΛ0 only has quantitative impacts on the evolution of the ΛHDE model, while adopting different c has qualitative impacts; (2) compared with S 3 (1) , S 4 (1) can give larger differences among the cosmic evolutions of the ΛHDE model associated with different ΩΛ0 or different c; (3) compared with the case of using a single diagnostic, adopting a CND pair has much stronger ability to diagnose the ΛHDE model.

Complex fields in heterogeneous materials under shock: modeling, simulation and analysis

Abstract: In this mini-review we summarize the progress of modeling, simulation and analysis of shock responses of heterogeneous materials in our group in recent years. The basic methodology is as below. We first decompose the problem into different scales. Construct/ Choose a model according to the scale and main mechanisms working at that scale. Perform numerical simulations using the relatively mature schemes. The physical information is transferred between neighboring scales in such a way: The statistical information of results in smaller scale contributes to establishing the constitutive equation in larger one. Except for the microscopic Molecular Dynamics (MD) model, both the mesoscopic and macroscopic models can be further classified into two categories, solidic and fluidic models, respectively. The basic ideas and key techniques of the MD, material point method and discrete Boltzmann method are briefly reviewed. Among various schemes used in analyzing the complex fields and structures, the morphological analysis and the home-built software, GISO, are briefly introduced. New observations are summarized for scales from the larger to the smaller.

GaN-based LEDs for light communication

Abstract: Rapid improvement in the efficiency of GaN-based LEDs not only speed up its applications for general illumination, but offer the possibilities for data transmission. This review is to provide an overview of current progresses of GaN-based LEDs for light communications. The modulation bandwidth of GaN-based LEDs has been first improved by optimizing the LED epilayer structures and the modulation bandwidth of 73 MHz was achieved at the driving current density of 40 A/cm2 by changing the multi-quantum well structures. After that, in order to increase the current density tolerance, different parallel flip-chip micro-LED arrays were fabricated. With a high injected current density of ~7900 A/cm2, a maximum modulation bandwidth of ~227 MHz was obtained with optical power greater than 30 mW. Besides the increase of carrier concentrations, the radiative recombination coefficient B was also enhanced by modifying the photon surrounding environment based on some novel nanostructures such as resonant cavity, surface plasmon, and photonic crystals. The optical 3 dB modulation bandwidth of GaN-based nanostructure LEDs with Ag nanoparticles was enhanced by 2 times compared with GaN-based nanostructure LEDs without Ag nanoparticles. Our results demonstrate that using the QW-SP coupling can effectively help to enhance the carrier spontaneous emission rate and also increase the modulation bandwidth for LEDs, especially for LEDs with high intrinsic IQE. In addition, we discuss the progress of the faster color conversion stimulated by GaN-based LEDs.

The formation of liquid bridge in different operating modes of AFM

Abstract: The liquid bridge is one of the principal factors that cause artifacts in ambient-pressure atomic force microscope (AFM) images. Additionally, it is the main component of the adhesion force in ambient conditions. To understand the AFM imaging mechanism and the sample characteristics, it is essential to study the liquid bridge. This study interprets the physical mechanism involved in liquid bridge formation, which is composed of three different physical processes: the squeezing process, capillary condensation, and liquid film flow. We discuss the contributions of these three mechanisms to the volume and the capillary force of the liquid bridge in different AFM operation modes.

Lagrangian view of time irreversibility of fluid turbulence

Abstract: A turbulent flow is maintained by an external supply of kinetic energy, which is eventually dissipated into heat at steep velocity gradients. The scale at which energy is supplied greatly differs from the scale at which energy is dissipated, the more so as the turbulent intensity (the Reynolds number) is larger. The resulting energy flux over the range of scales, intermediate between energy injection and dissipation, acts as a source of time irreversibility. As it is now possible to follow accurately fluid particles in a turbulent flow field, both from laboratory experiments and from numerical simulations, a natural question arises: how do we detect time irreversibility from these Lagrangian data? Here we discuss recent results concerning this problem. For Lagrangian statistics involving more than one fluid particle, the distance between fluid particles introduces an intrinsic length scale into the problem. The evolution of quantities dependent on the relative motion between these fluid particles, including the kinetic energy in the relative motion, or the configuration of an initially isotropic structure can be related to the equal-time correlation functions of the velocity field, and is therefore sensitive to the energy flux through scales, hence to the irreversibility of the flow. In contrast, for singleparticle Lagrangian statistics, the most often studied velocity structure functions cannot distinguish the “arrow of time”. Recent observations from experimental and numerical simulation data, however, show that the change of kinetic energy following the particle motion, is sensitive to time-reversal. We end the survey with a brief discussion of the implication of this line of work.