Electrons 'Split' in New Form of Matter

摘要

PHYSICISTS HAVE FOUND a new state of matter. That's both over- and understating it: The solid-liquid-gas trifecta still holds strong. What's important about this new type of matter happens at the quantum scale - magnetically, the electrons behave as though they are split in two. Researchers detected the behavior in a crystal of ruthenium trichloride at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. They used a huge particle accelerator to shoot neutrons at the sample and observed the patterns that formed when those neutrons bounced off and splattered on a detector.