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Wow! There’s Mounting Evidence for Anyons, a Third Kingdom of Particles.
For a long time (but not in a galaxy far far away) physicists believed there were only two types of particles in the universe – fermions and bosons.
Now, though, they’re finding the first examples of a theorized third particle kingdom – the anyon.
Anyons don’t behave like fermions or bosons, but fall somewhere in between, and the recently published paper in Science explains the evidence they’ve uncovered.
Image Credit: iStock
“We had bosons and fermions, and now we’ve got this third kingdom. It’s absolutely a milestone.”
Understanding quantum kingdoms can be complicated, but the bottom line is that even though there is only a small difference between the final states of fermions and bosons, there are profound physical differences in how they affect the world around them.
Fermions are the basis of all chemistry and the variety of the periodic table, while the more social bosons give us things like photons (and light rays).
Anyons exist in two dimensions, and are sort of everything that the other two families of particles are not. They’re in between, and make up “everything else,” which can make them hard to pin down (for physicists).
Image Credit: 5W INFOGRAPHICS
Frank Wilczek, a Nobel prize-winning physicist from MIT, explains the experiment that has physicists everywhere so excited.
“The topological argument was the first indication that these anyons could exist. What was left to find was physical systems.”
In 1984, Wilczek and two of his cohorts, Daniel Arovas and John Robert Schrieffer, cooled a bunch of electrons (fermions) to absolute zero and then put them next to a strong magnetic field. That they observed was a “fractional quantum Hall effect,” and believed the resulting quasiparticles were anyons.
They were not, however, able to observe the behavior of these particles, or to document what made them unique.
Image Credit: iStock
This new study, though, allowed those same three physicists to set up a tiny particle collider in two dimensions and smash anyons together to observe what happened – which turned out to be exactly what they theorized, confirms uninvolved physicist Dmitri Feldman.
“Everything fits with the theory so uniquely, there are no questions. That’s very unusual for this field, in my experience.”
As for Wilczek and his friends, they couldn’t be more thrilled.
“There’s been a lot of evidence for a long time. But if you ask: Is there a specific phenomenon you can point to and say the anyons are responsible for that phenomenon and you can’t explain it in any other way? I think is pretty clearly at a different level.”
Which is all to say, congrats to everyone involved. It sounds like a pretty big deal.
And listen – any time absolutely everything goes your way in the disordered world of science, it’s clearly time to celebrate.
The post Wow! There’s Mounting Evidence for Anyons, a Third Kingdom of Particles. appeared first on UberFacts.
The Flat Particle That Could Be The Key to Unlocking Quantum Computing
We don’t hear much on the news or in our daily lives about quantum computing per se, but the majority of the technological advances that have changed our lives over the past several decades are thanks to increased computer power.
Now, physicists have confirmed the existence of a particle they’re calling an anyon, and it could be the key to unlocking many more computing possibilities in the future, says Discover.
“These particle-like objects only arise in realms confined to two dimensions, and then only under certain circumstances – like at temperatures near absolute zero and in the presence of a strong magnetic field.”
Physicists have theorized that these anyons exist since the 1980s, but their nature has made them hard to pin down.
Those same qualities would make them very valuable to quantum research and computers, though, so scientists haven’t stopped trying to prove they exist.
Image Credit: YouTube
Purdue University talked about their many potential uses in a recent press release.
“Anyons have characteristics not seen in other subatomic particles, including exhibiting fractional charge and fractional statistics that maintain a ‘memory’ of their interactions with other quasiparticles by inducing quantum mechanical phase changes.
Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek, professor of physics at MIT, gave these quasiparticles the tongue-in-cheek name ‘anyon’” due to their strange behavior because unlike other types of particles, they can adopt ‘any’ quantum phase when their positions are exchanged.”
Researchers were able to train a miniature particle accelerator to “sort” particles and notice anyons, then came up with a maze that would phase out all of the other particles in order to end up with only the mysterious particles they were searching for at the start.
Image Credit: Cornell Chronicle
What they found was that it worked so well because, like electrons and photons, anyons “braid” – and this is good news for quantum computing, says researcher Mikael Rechtsman.
“Braiding is a topological phenomenon that has been traditionally associated with electronic devices.
We hope to show that a whole class of topological phenomena can be useful not only for electronic devices, but also photonic devices, such as lasers, medical imaging, telecommunications, and others.
We also expect that this new type of topological physics could be applied to quantum information systems, particularly those based on photons.”
With more particles in their toolkit, physicists are sure advances are to come – and we have the anyons to thank.
Who knew?
The post The Flat Particle That Could Be The Key to Unlocking Quantum Computing appeared first on UberFacts.
The Flat Particle That Could Be The Key to Unlocking Quantum Computing
We don’t hear much on the news or in our daily lives about quantum computing per se, but the majority of the technological advances that have changed our lives over the past several decades are thanks to increased computer power.
Now, physicists have confirmed the existence of a particle they’re calling an anyon, and it could be the key to unlocking many more computing possibilities in the future, says Discover.
“These particle-like objects only arise in realms confined to two dimensions, and then only under certain circumstances – like at temperatures near absolute zero and in the presence of a strong magnetic field.”
Physicists have theorized that these anyons exist since the 1980s, but their nature has made them hard to pin down.
Those same qualities would make them very valuable to quantum research and computers, though, so scientists haven’t stopped trying to prove they exist.
Image Credit: YouTube
Purdue University talked about their many potential uses in a recent press release.
“Anyons have characteristics not seen in other subatomic particles, including exhibiting fractional charge and fractional statistics that maintain a ‘memory’ of their interactions with other quasiparticles by inducing quantum mechanical phase changes.
Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek, professor of physics at MIT, gave these quasiparticles the tongue-in-cheek name ‘anyon’” due to their strange behavior because unlike other types of particles, they can adopt ‘any’ quantum phase when their positions are exchanged.”
Researchers were able to train a miniature particle accelerator to “sort” particles and notice anyons, then came up with a maze that would phase out all of the other particles in order to end up with only the mysterious particles they were searching for at the start.
Image Credit: Cornell Chronicle
What they found was that it worked so well because, like electrons and photons, anyons “braid” – and this is good news for quantum computing, says researcher Mikael Rechtsman.
“Braiding is a topological phenomenon that has been traditionally associated with electronic devices.
We hope to show that a whole class of topological phenomena can be useful not only for electronic devices, but also photonic devices, such as lasers, medical imaging, telecommunications, and others.
We also expect that this new type of topological physics could be applied to quantum information systems, particularly those based on photons.”
With more particles in their toolkit, physicists are sure advances are to come – and we have the anyons to thank.
Who knew?
The post The Flat Particle That Could Be The Key to Unlocking Quantum Computing appeared first on UberFacts.
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The post According to the new study, there’s a 50-50 chance we’re living in a simulation… appeared first on Crazy Facts.
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