Though Nature Does Not
Allow Electrons To Split
Particle accelerators smash protons and other subatomic particles together to see what the components are for matter. But electrons can’t be smashed like that; they won’t break apart.
But there may be other ways of spliting electrons, though it hasn’t been done yet. The January 13, 2012, issue of Science describes a computer simulation of such electron splitting, an article that was summarized by Ashley Yaeger in Duke Today, the college newspaper in Durham, North Carolina.
Duke Universitry physicist Matthew Hastings, with Sergei Isakov of the University of Zurich and Roger Melko of the Universtity of Waterloo in Canada, have developed a virtual crystal by setting the temperatures very low in the computer model, where this cryastal turned into a quantum fluid (itself an exotic state of matter) from whence the electrons began to condense.
Various materials can form as electrons condense when chilled close to absolute zero (approximately minus four hundred fifty-nine degrees Fahrenheit). Particles stop moving at this temperature* and individual [subatomic] particles, such as electrons, can cooperate rather than repel each other.
The cooperating electrons behavior then becomes like individual particle behavior, much as a sound wave can act like a fundamental particle but is in reality the sum of motion from many atoms.
Under such ultra-cold condition, electrons act this way; collective motion is just like the movement of an individual particle. Unlike sound waves, though, electrons and other particles (called "collective excitations" or "quasiparticles") can to other astonishing things. Hastings and his colleagues placed a virtual particle with the charge of an electron into the simulated quantum fluid, where the particle fractured into two pieces, each taking half of the original particle’s negative charge.
The physicists continued to watch these new sub-particles and changed the constraints of the simulated environment. The article in Duke Today states "they were also able to "measure several universal numbers that characterize the motions of the electron fragments. The results provide scientists with information to look for signatures of electron pieces in other simulations, experiments and theoretical studies."
The article avers that there are other ways to "coax a particle to reveal itself" in addition to having physicists smash matter into pieces.
Summarized from:
http://today.duke.edu/2012/01/splitelectron
this reference itself cites a source:
CITATION: "Universal Signatures of Fractionalized Quantum Critical Points," by S.V. Isakov; R.G. Melko; M.B. Hastings. Science. 2012. 335: 193-195.
DOI: 10.1126/science.121220
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
* Note by the blog author: inter-molecular motion ceases at absolute zero, however, bond flexing within a molecule continues. So, ultimately, it is not strictly true that "all motion" ceases at absolute zero, a point not made clear in the Duke Today article.
Allow Electrons To Split
Particle accelerators smash protons and other subatomic particles together to see what the components are for matter. But electrons can’t be smashed like that; they won’t break apart.
But there may be other ways of spliting electrons, though it hasn’t been done yet. The January 13, 2012, issue of Science describes a computer simulation of such electron splitting, an article that was summarized by Ashley Yaeger in Duke Today, the college newspaper in Durham, North Carolina.
Duke Universitry physicist Matthew Hastings, with Sergei Isakov of the University of Zurich and Roger Melko of the Universtity of Waterloo in Canada, have developed a virtual crystal by setting the temperatures very low in the computer model, where this cryastal turned into a quantum fluid (itself an exotic state of matter) from whence the electrons began to condense.
Various materials can form as electrons condense when chilled close to absolute zero (approximately minus four hundred fifty-nine degrees Fahrenheit). Particles stop moving at this temperature* and individual [subatomic] particles, such as electrons, can cooperate rather than repel each other.
The cooperating electrons behavior then becomes like individual particle behavior, much as a sound wave can act like a fundamental particle but is in reality the sum of motion from many atoms.
Under such ultra-cold condition, electrons act this way; collective motion is just like the movement of an individual particle. Unlike sound waves, though, electrons and other particles (called "collective excitations" or "quasiparticles") can to other astonishing things. Hastings and his colleagues placed a virtual particle with the charge of an electron into the simulated quantum fluid, where the particle fractured into two pieces, each taking half of the original particle’s negative charge.
The physicists continued to watch these new sub-particles and changed the constraints of the simulated environment. The article in Duke Today states "they were also able to "measure several universal numbers that characterize the motions of the electron fragments. The results provide scientists with information to look for signatures of electron pieces in other simulations, experiments and theoretical studies."
The article avers that there are other ways to "coax a particle to reveal itself" in addition to having physicists smash matter into pieces.
Summarized from:
http://today.duke.edu/2012/01/splitelectron
this reference itself cites a source:
CITATION: "Universal Signatures of Fractionalized Quantum Critical Points," by S.V. Isakov; R.G. Melko; M.B. Hastings. Science. 2012. 335: 193-195.
DOI: 10.1126/science.121220
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
* Note by the blog author: inter-molecular motion ceases at absolute zero, however, bond flexing within a molecule continues. So, ultimately, it is not strictly true that "all motion" ceases at absolute zero, a point not made clear in the Duke Today article.
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