In a first-of-its-kind breakthrough, a team of researchers from the University of California in a joint venture with Stanford University scientists has tracked down an elusive ‘Angel Particle’ which is both its matter and anti-matter. Researchers term the discovery as ‘Quantum Physics’ Landmark Moment.’
It has been more than eight decades when the presence of such materials which are both matter and anti-matter was first suggested. The material, known as “Majorana fermions” – a material which is its antiparticle, was first put forward by famous Italian physicist Ettore Majorana in 1937. Now, after decades, the first-of-its-kind breakthrough concluded the 80-year-old quest and confirmed that such materials which are both matter and anti-matter do exist.
The research team, led by Associate Professor of UC-Irvine Jing Xia and UCLA Professor Kang Wang, and tagged with a blueprint, suggested by a professor of physics at Stanford University, Shoucheng Zhang and colleagues. As the official paper about the research highlights, during a series of laboratory experiments on the exotic materials, researchers came across the ‘Angle Material’ that is both matter and anti-matter.
The research paper, giving detailed information about the discovery, published in the journal Science last week highlighted that researchers found the evidence about the existence of a rare particle, which is termed as ‘type-II Weyl fermion.’ The material was discovered in a combination of aluminum, germanium, and lanthanum.
For the study, researchers employed two materials which acted like a superconductor and a quantum anomalous Hall insulator (QAHI) and combining both of them; they managed to create the third material, known as a topological superconductor. All three materials feature some specific electrical properties which are governed by the limitation of quantum mechanics.
As per the researchers, it is the very first evidence of the angle particles and can completely transform the quantum physics. The discovery is also expected to pave paths from scientists to introduce a quantum computing rebellion, which may allow them to produce more powerful quantum computers shortly.
