Mar 20, 2024 05:36 PM
https://www.sciencealert.com/light-speed...first-time
EXCERPTS: A team of physicists led by Ryuhei Oka of Ehime University has measured what are known as Dirac electrons in a superconducting polymer called bis(ethylenedithio)-tetrathiafulvalene. These are electrons that exist under conditions that effectively make them massless, allowing them to behave more like photons and oscillate at the speed of light.
This discovery, the researchers say, will allow a better understanding of topological materials – quantum materials that behave as an electronic insulator on the inside and conductor on the outside.
[...] Formulated from the equations of the theoretical physicist Paul Dirac nearly a century ago, we now know they're out there – they've been detected in graphene, as well as other topological materials.
In order to harness the potential of Dirac electrons, however, we need to understand them better, and this is where physicists run into a snag. Dirac electrons coexist with standard electrons, which means detecting and measuring one type is very hard to do unambiguously.
[...] The team found that, in order to fully understand it, the Dirac electron needs to be described in four dimensions. There's the standard three spatial dimensions, the x, y, and z axes; and then there's the energy level of the electron, which constitutes a fourth dimension.
"As 3D band structures cannot be depicted in a four-dimensional space," the researchers explain in their paper, "the analysis method proposed herein provides a general way to present important and easy-to-understand information of such band structures that cannot be obtained otherwise."
By analyzing the Dirac electron based on these dimensions, the researchers were able to figure out something we didn't know before. Their speed of their motion isn't constant; rather, it's dependent on temperature and magnetic field angle within in the material... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: A team of physicists led by Ryuhei Oka of Ehime University has measured what are known as Dirac electrons in a superconducting polymer called bis(ethylenedithio)-tetrathiafulvalene. These are electrons that exist under conditions that effectively make them massless, allowing them to behave more like photons and oscillate at the speed of light.
This discovery, the researchers say, will allow a better understanding of topological materials – quantum materials that behave as an electronic insulator on the inside and conductor on the outside.
[...] Formulated from the equations of the theoretical physicist Paul Dirac nearly a century ago, we now know they're out there – they've been detected in graphene, as well as other topological materials.
In order to harness the potential of Dirac electrons, however, we need to understand them better, and this is where physicists run into a snag. Dirac electrons coexist with standard electrons, which means detecting and measuring one type is very hard to do unambiguously.
[...] The team found that, in order to fully understand it, the Dirac electron needs to be described in four dimensions. There's the standard three spatial dimensions, the x, y, and z axes; and then there's the energy level of the electron, which constitutes a fourth dimension.
"As 3D band structures cannot be depicted in a four-dimensional space," the researchers explain in their paper, "the analysis method proposed herein provides a general way to present important and easy-to-understand information of such band structures that cannot be obtained otherwise."
By analyzing the Dirac electron based on these dimensions, the researchers were able to figure out something we didn't know before. Their speed of their motion isn't constant; rather, it's dependent on temperature and magnetic field angle within in the material... (MORE - missing details)