Electron's negativity cut in half by supercomputer
January 12, 2012 by Ashley Yeager
This illustration shows the arrangement of electrons and magnetic field lines that cause the particles to have fractional negative charge. Courtesy of Science and T. S. Duff and T. Kovacs, AT&T Bell Laboratories
(PhysOrg.com) -- While physicists at the Large Hadron Collider smash together thousands of protons and other particles to see what matter is made of, they're never going to hurl electrons at each other. No matter how high the energy, the little negative particles won't break apart. But that doesn't mean they are indestructible.
Using several massive supercomputers, a team of physicists has split a simulated electron perfectly in half. The results, which were published in the Jan. 13 issue of Science, are another example of how tabletop experiments on ultra-cold atoms and other condensed-matter materials can provide clues about the behavior of fundamental particles.
In the simulations, Duke University physicist Matthew Hastings and his colleagues, Sergei Isakov of the University of Zurich and Roger Melko of the University of Waterloo in Canada, developed a virtual crystal. Under extremely low temperatures in the computer model, the crystal turned into a quantum fluid, an exotic state of matter where electrons begin to condense.
Many different types of materials, from superconductors to superfluids, can form as electrons condense and are chilled close to absolute zero, about −459 degrees Fahrenheit. That's approximately the temperature at which particles simply stop moving. It's also the temperature region where individual particles, such as electrons, can overcome their repulsion for each other and cooperate.
The cooperating particles' behavior eventually becomes indistinguishable from the actions of an individual. Hastings says the phenomenon is a lot like what happens with sound. A sound is made of sound waves. Each sound wave seems to be indivisible and to act a lot like a fundamental particle. But a sound wave is actually the collective motion of many atoms, he says.
Under ultra-cold conditions, electrons take on the same type of appearance. Their collective motion is just like the movement of an individual particle. But, unlike sound waves, cooperating electrons and other particles, called collective excitations or quasiparticles, can "do things that you wouldn't think possible," Hastings says.
The quasiparticles formed in this simulation show what happens if a fundamental particle were busted up, so an electron can't be physically smashed into anything smaller, but it can be broken up metaphorically, Hastings says.
He and his colleagues divided one up by placing a virtual particle with the fundamental charge of an electron into their simulated quantum fluid. Under the conditions, the particle fractured into two pieces, each of which took on one-half of the original's negative charge.
As the physicists continued to observe the new sub-particles and change the constraints of the simulated environment, 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.
Successfully simulating an electron split also suggests that physicists don't necessarily have to smash matter open to see what's inside; instead, there could be other ways to coax a particle to reveal itself.
More information: "Universal Signatures of Fractionalized Quantum Critical Points," Science. 2012. 335: 193-195. DOI: 10.1126/science.121220
Journal reference:
Science
Provided by
Duke University
-
From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor,
32 comments
-
Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments,
3 comments
-
SpaceX private rocket blasts off for space station (Update),
42 comments
-
Climate scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea,
31 comments
-
SpaceX capsule has 'new car' smell, astronauts say (Update),
4 comments
-
Why does a boiled egg rotates while a raw egg doesn't?
2 hours ago
-
Lightning strike in mindair
2 hours ago
-
Why does light move?
4 hours ago
-
How to calculate the repulsion force between a permanent and an electromagnet?
5 hours ago
-
Why does light allow us to see things?
5 hours ago
-
Room temperature superconductivity
5 hours ago
- More from Physics Forums - General Physics
More news stories
Is a classical electrodynamics law incompatible with special relativity?
(Phys.org) -- The laws of classical electromagnetism that were developed in the 19th century are the same laws that scientists use today. They include Maxwell’s four equations along with the Lorentz la ...
Landmark calculation clears the way to answering how matter is formed
(Phys.org) -- An international collaboration of scientists, including Thomas Blum, associate professor of physics, is reporting in landmark detail the decay process of a subatomic particle called a kaon ...
May 25, 2012 |
4.3 / 5 (22) |
52
|
Lying in wait for WIMPs: Researchers seek to dramatically increase sensitivity of Large Underground Xenon detector
Although it's invisible, dark matter accounts for at least 80 percent of the matter in the universe. No one knows what it is, but most scientists would bet on weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.
May 23, 2012 |
4 / 5 (7) |
18
|
Hawaii lab turns laser-powered bubbles into microrobots
(Phys.org) -- A team of scientists from the University of Hawaii are working on microrobots created from bubbles of air in a saline solution. The bubbles take on their title of robots as a laser ...
Sound increases the efficiency of boiling
Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology achieved a 17-percent increase in boiling efficiency by using an acoustic field to enhance heat transfer. The acoustic field does this by efficiently removing vapor bubbles ...
May 24, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
2
Stunning image of smallest possible five-ringed structure
Scientists have created and imaged the smallest possible five-ringed structure about 100,000 times thinner than a human hair and you'll probably recognise its shape.
'Unzipped' carbon nanotubes could help energize fuel cells, batteries
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, according to scientists at ...
Change in developmental timing was crucial in the evolutionary shift from dinosaurs to birds: study
At first glance, it's hard to see how a common house sparrow and a Tyrannosaurus Rex might have anything in common. After all, one is a bird that weighs less than an ounce, and the other is a dinosaur that ...
Computer model used to pinpoint prime materials for efficient carbon capture
When power plants begin capturing their carbon emissions to reduce greenhouse gases and to most in the electric power industry, it's a question of when, not if it will be an expensive undertaking.
T cells 'hunt' parasites like animal predators seek prey, study shows
By pairing an intimate knowledge of immune-system function with a deep understanding of statistical physics, a cross-disciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania has arrived at a surprising finding: T cells use a movement ...
Land and sea species differ in climate change response: study
(Phys.org) -- Marine and terrestrial species will likely differ in their responses to climate warming, new research by Simon Fraser University and Australia’s University of Tasmania has found.
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.2 / 5 (26)
http://www.aether...sate.gif
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.1 / 5 (24)
http://www.aether...ctor.gif
IMO even more interesting such device could be, if we would compress the protons and initiate cold fusion in such way. The main problem of this concept is the choice of sufficiently resistant insulator, because ordinarily material are rather permeable for tiny charged particles.
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.4 / 5 (14)
Folks in the 1800s believed that a society's strength and developement related directly to the amount of energy that it could control and generate. It is still true whether out of fashion...or not!
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.1 / 5 (26)
http://www.aether...rons.gif http://www.aether...uark.gif
The internal structure of electron was revealed with electron/proton collisions already (HERA experiment at DESY).
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 4.7 / 5 (22)
It's turtles all the way down...
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 3.8 / 5 (17)
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.1 / 5 (20)
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 4.8 / 5 (10)
That is essentially the basis of string theory, sorta. Strings are just vibrating packets of energy.
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.1 / 5 (24)
http://www1.chem....co24.jpg
In accordance with it, the string theory has been originally proposed for description of gluons inside of dense atom nuclei, where the energy spreads along linear paths, rather than through bulk volume ("bosonic string theory"). Apparently the density fluctuations of nuclear fluid are behaving like the "strings" here - but the whole behavior of this model cannot be explained without having the dense particle character of atom nuclei on mind.
http://www.aether...foam.gif
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.8 / 5 (5)
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 3.7 / 5 (3)
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.1 / 5 (17)
Lord Kelvin worked on this idea extensively, too.
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.2 / 5 (18)
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 4 / 5 (14)
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.4 / 5 (19)
http://www.aether...memo.gif
And please, don't tell me, you're an exception. Most of proponents of mainstream science are behaving in the same way.
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.4 / 5 (5)
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 4.6 / 5 (14)
No knowledge but infinite amounts of unsubstantiated theories - not even mathematically substantiated.
What a waste of (everybody's) time.
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 1.1 / 5 (7)
Jan 12, 2012
Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
Excellent. Now just think of everything in waves instead of "strings"... and "11 Dimensions"
Jan 13, 2012
Rank: 4 / 5 (6)
Jan 13, 2012
Rank: 4.9 / 5 (11)
Before you have an idea on such fundamental stuff it is indispensable to STUDY such stuff in the first place. THEN you may make a contribution that is worthhile. Any other approach is just wasted time.
Jan 13, 2012
Rank: 4.5 / 5 (8)
Jan 13, 2012
Rank: 4.3 / 5 (32)
Then why doesn't U(1) X SU(2) work for quarks?
Jan 13, 2012
Rank: 1 / 5 (4)
http://www.aether...tral.gif
When you increase the frequency of jumping, then the inertia or rotating matter cannot be neglected anymore, so that symmetry breaking will occur and the mattress will start undulate in accordance to U(1) X SU(2) gauge group (shear and rotation) in another set of dimensions too (labelled with red color at the animation bellow):
http://www.aether...rged.gif
But when the energy density increases even more, then the packing geometry of resulting vortices cannot be neglected anymore, because the vacuum foam is behaving like the massive body at the place, where its deform takes place
Jan 13, 2012
Rank: 1 / 5 (4)
http://www.aether...roup.gif
Such vortices will get various mixing angles at each level of nesting, as described with Cabbibo matrix.
http://www.aether..._lie.gif
Jan 13, 2012
Rank: 1 / 5 (6)
Mainstream physicists are very innovative in proving, vacuum is composed of nothing. But we know, in many aspects the vacuum doesn't differ from water surface, being observed with its own waves. So, without matter concept the energy concept remains abstract, biased and incomplete and it lack many important clues, which are helping in the another predictions. It's just these predictions, which can help to move the whole physics forward.
Jan 14, 2012
Rank: 4.3 / 5 (6)
All of science is in a SECRET anonymous conspiracy headquartered in Milan to keep Ecat Wonder Generators from destroying their vile monopoly of science funding so that AWITSBS can never proved to be math free and fancied by women everywhere so that Zephir can't get laid by those nasty Czech girls that move to the US to make porn movies instead giving BJs to the secret genius that knows more about science than anyone else because Zephir's three Czech blogs say he is the wonder of the Age of Aquarius which is playing at Petrik Palace Czech Republic.
Zephir's real name is in there. Somewhere. But not in two consecutive words.
Ethelred
Jan 14, 2012
Rank: 2 / 5 (12)
Like most late 20th century pseudo physics, its probably because you are watching as an observer and with all the smoke and mirrors the emperor still has no clothes.
Jan 16, 2012
Rank: not rated yet
Can't get the rating up with one 5 against 6 new registered 1s, but i like your comment :)
Jan 16, 2012
Rank: 1 / 5 (5)
Jan 16, 2012
Rank: 3.7 / 5 (3)
It is impossible to have variations in density when the density is infinite. You need to use less nonsense.
Now if only he wasn't the one that has no clothes and using bullshit and nonsense. And lying a lot about real scientists.
Ethelred
Jan 16, 2012
Rank: 1 / 5 (3)
In this way, the hypothetical "outer" black hole would be of infinite density for being able to maintain all possible members of this infinitely nested hierarchy. Why such model appears impossible for you?I never mix my publicly available nick names with my private data in any way.
Jan 17, 2012
Rank: 4 / 5 (4)
So you lied to the ISPs then. Just like you lied about your frequent use of sockpuppets to uprate and downrate.
Ethelred
Jan 17, 2012
Rank: 1 / 5 (3)
Jan 17, 2012
Rank: not rated yet
If you had certain densities with unique variations of properties (ie.quantum), wouldn't you essentially have a Variation of Density similar to phase variation (ie. Phases)?
Jan 17, 2012
Rank: 3.7 / 5 (3)
I never lied. I use a handle like almost everyone else here. YOU lied about your use of sockpuppets.
You would not have the infinite density he claimed. Not even if you were Polish like Zephyr claimed for one handle.
I am assuming that this was not another Zephyr sockpuppet.
Zephir's theory is not only vague and ambiguous the only two parts he was recently willing to be clear on were both so wrong none of the rest can have any value.
Ethelred Hardrede