Article Image

IPFS News Link • Science, Medicine and Technology

Majorana fermion, a particle that's its own antiparticle

• nextbigfuture.com by brian wang

In 1937, another brilliant physicist, Ettore Majorana, introduced a new twist: He predicted that in the class of particles known as fermions, which includes the proton, neutron, electron, neutrino and quark, there should be particles that are their own antiparticles.

Stanford scientists have found the first firm evidence of such a Majorana fermion. It was discovered in a series of lab experiments on exotic materials at the University of California in collaboration with Stanford University. The experimental team was led by UCLA Professor Kang Wang, and precise theoretical predictions were made by Stanford Professor Shoucheng Zhang's group.

Although the search for the famous fermion seems more intellectual than practical, he added, it could have real-life implications for building robust quantum computers, although this is admittedly far in the future.


thelibertyadvisor.com/declare