Physicists Confirm the Existence Of Two-Dimensional Particles Called ‘Anyons’
After decades of exploration in nature’s most minor domains, physicists have finally found proof that anyons exist. 1st predicted by theorists in the early 1980s, these particle-like objects arise in realms confined to two dimensions and then under certain circumstances– like at temperatures near absolute zero and in the existence of a solid magnetic field.
Physicists are excited about anyons not just because their discovery confirms years of theoretical work but also for practical motives. For instance, Anyons are at the heart of an effort by Microsoft to construct a working quantum computer.
This year brought 2 solid confirmations of the quasiparticles. The 1st arrived in April, in a paper featured on the cover of Science, from a team of researchers at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Using an approach proposed four years back, physicists sent an electron gas through a teeny-tiny particle collider to tease out weird behaviors– especially fractional electric charges– that only arise if anyons are around.
The 2nd confirmation came in July when a team at Purdue College in Indiana utilized an experimental configuration on an etched chip that screened out interactions that could obscure the anyon behavior.
MIT physicist Frank Wilczek, who predicted and also named anyons in the early 1980s, credits the 1st paper as the discovery but says the second lets the quasiparticles shine. “It is gorgeous work that makes the field blossom,” he states. Anyons are not like ordinary elementary particles; scientists will never be able to isolate one from the system where it forms.
They are quasiparticles, which means they have measurable properties like a particle– such as a location, maybe even a mass–. However, they are only observable due to the collective behavior of other conventional particles. (Think of the intricate geometric forms made by group behavior in nature, such as groups of birds flying in creation or schools of fish swimming as one).
The known universe contains just 2 varieties of elementary particles. One is the family of fermions, which involves electrons, as well as protons, neutrons, and the quarks that develop them. Fermions keep to themselves: No two can simultaneously exist in the same quantum state. If these particles really did not have this property, all matter could simply collapse to a single point. It is because of fermions that strong matter exists.
The rest of the particles in the universe are bosons, a team that includes particles like photons (the carriers of light and radiation) and gluons (which “glue” quarks together). Unlike fermions, two or more bosons can simultaneously exist in the same state.
They tend to clump together. Because of this clumping, we have lasers, which are streams of photons all occupying the same quantum state.
Anyons do not fit into either team. What makes anyons especially exciting for physicists is that they exhibit something analogous to particle memory. If a fermion orbits each other fermion, its quantum state stays unchanged. The same goes for a boson.
Anyons are different. If one moves around another, their collective quantum state changes. It could require three or even five or more revolutions before the anyons return to their original state. This slight change in the wave acts like a type of trip memory. This property makes them appealing items for quantum computers, which depend on quantum states that are notoriously fragile and prone to mistakes. Anyons suggest a more robust form to store information.
Wilczek points out that anyons represent a whole “kingdom” containing many varieties with exotic behaviors that could be explored and harnessed in the future. He began thinking about them about forty years ago in graduate school when he became frustrated with evidence that only established the existence of 2 kinds of particles.
He envisioned something else and also, when asked about their other properties or where to find these weird in-betweeners, half-jokingly said, “anything goes,”-– giving rise to the name.
Currently, he says, the new studies are just the beginning. Looking forward, he sees anyons as a device for finding exotic states of matter that, for now, remain wild ideas in physicists’ theories.
Read the original article on Astronomy.
