Researchers from Columbia University and Pennsylvania State University have discovered a particle called a semi-Dirac fermion.
Discovery process
- Selected material: The researchers studied zirconium silicon sulfide (ZrSiS), a layered crystal material, and chose it as the host for the unusual particles.
- Research findings: When a strong magnetic field was applied to ZrSiS, the energy of the electrons (cyclotron energy) increased on the B²/³ scale, a feature associated with semi-Dirac fermions. This was different from the energy scaling of materials such as graphene, where the energy increases on the B¹/² scale.
- Quasiparticles: Semi-Dirac fermions are quasiparticles made up of many smaller particles and behave like particles, although they have abnormal mass in different directions.
1.Semi-Dirac Fermions: Semi-Dirac fermions are particles that have mass in one direction, while being massless in a perpendicular direction. This unique feature was discovered in a crystalline material called zirconium silicon sulfide (ZrSiS).
2.Dirac Fermions vs. Semi-Dirac Fermions:
Dirac Fermions
- Have mass in all directions.
- Are different from their anti-particles.
Semi-Dirac Fermions
- Have mass in certain direction axes.
- Behave differently under different conditions due to interactions with electric and magnetic forces in particular materials.
3. Quasi-particles
- Semi-Dirac fermions are quasi-particles that:Behave like a single particle under specific conditions.They are made up of many energy packets or particles (such as protons).
Standard Model of Particle Physics
- The Standard Model (SM) is a theoretical framework in particle physics that describes three of the four known fundamental forces in the universe – electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions – and classifies all known elementary particles.
- Developed in the early 1970s, it has been instrumental in explaining a wide range of experimental results and predicting new phenomena.
Fermions and Bosons
Fermions
- Fermions (quarks + leptons) are fundamental particles with half-integer spin.
- Fermions are the fundamental building blocks of matter.
Examples
- Electron (leptons)
- Proton (quarks)
Bosons
- Bosons are the particles that transmit the fundamental forces.
- Each fundamental force has its own corresponding force transmitter (boson).
Examples
- Photon: Transmitter of electromagnetic force
- Glyon: Transmitter of strong force
- W and Z bosons: Transmitter of weak force
Gravitational force
- This is a suggested force transmitter that would transmit the gravitational force, but it has not been discovered yet.