4 research outputs found
Large language models shape and are shaped by society: A survey of arXiv publication patterns
There has been a steep recent increase in the number of large language model
(LLM) papers, producing a dramatic shift in the scientific landscape which
remains largely undocumented through bibliometric analysis. Here, we analyze
388K papers posted on the CS and Stat arXivs, focusing on changes in
publication patterns in 2023 vs. 2018-2022. We analyze how the proportion of
LLM papers is increasing; the LLM-related topics receiving the most attention;
the authors writing LLM papers; how authors' research topics correlate with
their backgrounds; the factors distinguishing highly cited LLM papers; and the
patterns of international collaboration. We show that LLM research increasingly
focuses on societal impacts: there has been an 18x increase in the proportion
of LLM-related papers on the Computers and Society sub-arXiv, and authors newly
publishing on LLMs are more likely to focus on applications and societal
impacts than more experienced authors. LLM research is also shaped by social
dynamics: we document gender and academic/industry disparities in the topics
LLM authors focus on, and a US/China schism in the collaboration network.
Overall, our analysis documents the profound ways in which LLM research both
shapes and is shaped by society, attesting to the necessity of sociotechnical
lenses.Comment: Working pape
Atomic-Scale Strain Manipulation of a Charge Density Wave
A charge density wave (CDW) is one of the fundamental instabilities of the
Fermi surface occurring in a wide range of quantum materials. In dimensions
higher than one, where Fermi surface nesting can play only a limited role, the
selection of the particular wave vector and geometry of an emerging CDW should
in principle be susceptible to controllable manipulation. In this work, we
implement a simple method for straining materials compatible with
low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S), and use it
to strain-engineer new CDWs in 2H-NbSe2. Our STM/S measurements combined with
theory reveal how small strain-induced changes in the electronic band structure
and phonon dispersion lead to dramatic changes in the CDW ordering wave vector
and geometry. Our work unveils the microscopic mechanism of a CDW formation in
this system, and can serve as a general tool compatible with a range of
spectroscopic techniques to engineer novel electronic states in any material
where local strain or lattice symmetry breaking plays a role.Comment: to appear in PNAS (2018