Massless Particle Discovery Could Radically Accelerate Electronics

Massless particle discovery could radically accelerate electronics
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Massless particle discovery could

radically accelerate electronics
By Colin Jeffrey
- July 20,
Kepler discovers "Earth's

bigger, older cousin"
http://www.gizmag.com/massless-particle-weyl-fermion-princeton/38527/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=f6db720ff9-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-f6db720ff9-90566321[26/07/2015 9:20:32 PM]
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Scientists lead by Princeton professor M. Zahid Hasan have discovered the

Weyl fermion, a particle theorized more than 85 years ago that may open up
whole new areas of high-speed electronics and
quantum computing
(Credit:
Danielle Alio/Princeton University)
Image Gallery (3 images)
An exotic particle theorized more than 85 years ago has finally been discovered.
Dubbed the "Weyl fermion", it is a strange but stable particle that has no mass,
behaves as both matter and anti-matter
inside a crystal, and is claimed to be
able to create completely massless electrons. Scientists believe that this new
particle may result
in super-fast electronics and significant inroads into novel
areas of quantum computing.
There are
two types of particles that make up the universe and everything in it:
fermions
and bosons. In simple terms, fermions are all the particles that make
up matter
(for example, electrons), and bosons are all the particles that carry
force
(for example, photons). Ordinarily, fermions such as electrons can collide
with
each other, losing energy, and no two fermions can share the same state
at the same
position at the same time. Weyl fermions being massless,
however, have no such
restrictions.
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Weyl fermions were first

mooted in 1929 by physicist and mathematician
Hermann Weyl, who theorized that

massless fermions able to carry an electric
charge could exist. Without mass,
he believed, electrons created from Weyl
fermions would be able to move
electric charge in a circuit much more quickly
than ordinary electrons. In
fact, according to this latest research, electric current
carried by Weyl electrons
in a test medium is able to move at least twice as fast
as that carried by
electrons in graphene and at least 1,000 times faster than in
ordinary
semiconductors.
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The international team led by Princeton University scientists used the Princeton
Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) and

Laboratory
for Topological Quantum Matter and Spectroscopy to look into many
dozens of
crystal arrangements before alighting upon the asymmetrical tantalum
arsenide
crystal (a semi-metal
that has the properties of both a conductor and an
insulator) as
a prime candidate in the hunt for the theorized particle.
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Over-sized crystals of the tantalum arsenide were first

placed in a scanning
tunneling spectromicroscope cooled to near absolute zero to

determine if they
matched the hypothetical specifications for accommodating
a Weyl fermion.
Then, once the crystals had passed that test, the team took them
to the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California where high-energy photon
beams fired from a particle accelerator were shone through them. This test
finally confirmed the presence of the existence of the long sought after Weyl
fermion.
"The
nature of this research and how it emerged is really different and more
exciting than most of other work we have done before," said Su-Yang Xu, a
postdoctoral research associate at Princeton. "Usually, theorists tell us

that
some compound might show some new or interesting properties, then we as
experimentalists grow that sample and perform experiments to test the
prediction. In this case, we came up with the theoretical prediction ourselves
and then performed the experiments. This makes the final success even more
exciting and satisfying than before."
Massless particle
discovery could radically
accelerate electronics
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As a quasiparticle that is, a particle that exists inside a solid (in

this instance)
but acts as if it were a weakly interacting particle in free
space the Weyl
fermion is massless and has a high degree of
mobility. This is because, as the
particle's spin is both in the same direction as its
motion (known in physics as
"right-handed") and in the opposite direction in which it moves ("left-handed"), it
is able to traverse
through and around obstacles that impede ordinary
electrons.
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"It's
like they have their own GPS and steer themselves without scattering,"
said
Princeton University physicist Zahid Hasan, who lead the research team."They
will move and move only in one direction since they are
either right-handed or
left-handed and never come to an end because they
just
tunnel through. These
are very fast electrons that behave
like unidirectional light beams and can be
used for new types of quantum
computing."
Weyl originally posited his
fermion as part of an alternate model to the theory of
relativity proposed by
his associate Albert Einstein.
And, though Weyl's
hypothesis lost out to
Einsteins, the idea of his theoretical particle continued
to
tantalize physicists for many years afterward. However, as a merely
"theoretical" particle, even when inklings of the Weyl fermion were uncovered
over the decades, they were mistakenly thought to be evidence of neutrinos. In
hindsight, the evidence was actually for Weyl fermions,
for in 1998 neutrinos
were actually discovered to have a small amount of mass.
"People figured that although Weyl's theory was not applicable to
relativity or
neutrinos, it is the most basic form of fermion and had all other
kinds of weird
and beautiful properties that could be useful," said Hasan.
"After more than 80
years, we found that this fermion was already there,
waiting. It is the most basic
building block of all electrons. It is exciting
that we could finally make it come
out following Weyl's 1929 theoretical
recipe."
The team included researchers from Princeton's Department of
Physics, Peking
University, the National Taiwan University, the National University of Singapore,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and Northeastern University.
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The results of this work were recently published in the journal Science.
Source: Princeton University
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About the Author

Colin discovered technology at an early age, pulling apart clocks,
radios, and the family TV. Despite his father's remonstrations that
he never put anything back together, Colin went on to become an
electronics engineer. Later he decided to get a degree in
anthropology, and used that to do all manner of interesting things
masquerading as work. Even later he took up sculpting, moved to the coast,

and never learned to surf.
All articles by Colin Jeffrey
Tags
Peking University Bosons Physics Princeton University
Particle physics
12 Comments
The real challenge is to get that Weyl fermion generator on a chip!
tucsonics
Dear BillyMayfield... I agrre please write to me (steve aveva) email:

asanjeevomatic@gmail.com.
steve02
"massless" - does this mean 'no substance' as in 'non-materiality'? Plato

argued for non-material substance which was non-extended. Others have
argued for non-material substances that were extended. Today science (and
philosophy) I think would not even consent to the concept of non-materiality
(except maybe around coffee-table discussions where everything goes).
starship
Billy Mayfield..."shoot them on a bosom"... really? I'm not sure which website
you think you are on.
Quax... I was wondering... "electrons created from Weyl fermions"... is there a
new kind (or species) of electron? I must have missed that- of course, now
that I am in my dotage, maybe I just forgot....
Kpar
Oh well, based on the comments here, the concept of quasi-particle is

nevertheless not sinking in at all.
These are not "massless" electrons. These things are excitations in the
crystal structure that allow electrons to shed resistive mass (i.e. the
additional drag caused by the surrounding matter). Quasi-particles obey the
same quantum mechanical laws as the real thing but are collective
interaction phenomena.
quax
this is the missing particle i need for my transporter beam. i need larger
dylithium crystal.convert my fermions into wyels them shoot them on a
bosom then reconvert into fermions. i am transported.
BillyMayfield
dose this have any thing to do with Tesla's experiments and transmitting
electricity instantly or 500 times
faster then the speed of light?
NoahCowper
Thankfully, real scientists never say

'the science is settled'. If they did, they
would never look for or find particles like the Wyel.
Infact, real scientists are still studying, testing, and questioning the theory of
gravity and other theories that most people consider as 'settled science.'
robo
If it is massless and barely interacts, how is it useful for computing or memory

devices? Photons are
massless, but have momentum and energy. These
Weyl fermions sound similar in some ways. But are photons used in
computer devices? Photons certainly are used in communication devices as
they can be created in bunches as pulses and then detected. But the article
was not clear for me on how Weyl fermions can be used in a practical way,
even if they can
help us better understand the substructure of electrons.
tsvieps
Confusing, ok a fermion makes up matter so has mass, and a boson carries

force, got that. However Weyl fermions have no mass, and can make up
massless electrons. If they have no mass but presumable have force due to
having a charge, aren't they bosons rather than fermions?
Maybe I need to hit the physics books!
Brian M
Best account on a popular science site I've seen yet. Much better than
phys.org for instance. Most science journo's don't even seem to grasp the
difference between a elementary and a quasi-particle. Kudos!
quax
and these mass-less electrons... what would those be made up of... this could
mean that anything can be made mass-less.... Sweet!!!!
Michiel Mitchell
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MORE TOP STORIES

2015 MacBook Back-to-School Buying

Honda's legendary Africa Twin returns

Most powerful rocket ever edges

Samsung Galaxy S6 vs. HTC One M9:

Under the microscope