Spin-Charge Separation Graph
Credit: Nature, Schlappa et al
Until now, standard physics generally accepted that an Electron was a fundamental particle – that it was not made of smaller components.
However, as early as 1980 theorists had predicted an electron could be made of three smaller pieces: A “Spinon” (providing spin) an “Orbitron” (providing the orbit) and a “Holon” (carrying the charge).
In 1996, physicists seemed to split an electron into a holon and spinon.
This year Swiss and German researchers1 led by experimenter Thorsten Schmitt fired a tightly focused X-ray beam at a copper-oxide compound called “strontium cuprate,” special because particles in it can only move in one-dimension, one degree of freedom – forward or backwards.
They observed an electron split into two of the three predicted parts – a Spinon and an Orbitron.
What solidified their observation is finding distinct properties for the two parts. “These quasiparticles can move with different speeds and even in different directions in the material,” said Jeroen van den Brink, a condensed-matter physicist at the Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics in Dresden, Germany.
For more here is a news report in Nature Journal “Not-quite-so elementary, my dear electron”
The original paper: Spin–orbital separation in the quasi-one-dimensional Mott insulator [strontium cuprate]
1. Electron Splitting Research Team: J. Schlappa, K. Wohlfeld, K. J. Zhou, M. Mourigal, M. W. Haverkort, V. N. Strocov, L. Hozoi, C. Monney, S. Nishimoto, S. Singh, A. Revcolevschi, J.-S. Caux, L. Patthey, H. M. Rønnow, J. van den Brink & T. Schmitt
Do I hear a Nobel Prize ringing ? :-)
Related articles: “Why Don’t Three Quarks Add Up to One Proton? (and its not even close)”
Till our pseudo “”science”" won’t realize that ,
Quantum Theory is just plain silly ..
there would be always plenty of new imaginary particle discovery …
the fact is ..
THERE’s NO PARTICLE AT ALL …
everything went wrong since double-slit misinterpretation …
Of course the electron is made up of something else; everything is!
Naively wondering recently which ‘part’ interacts with photons etc….
Probably curled up energy paves (Particle-waves as we have no nearer human concept)
Shunyata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C5%ABnyat%C4%81) will no doubt prevail.
Some more useful links to this story:
http://www.nature.com/news/not-quite-so-elementary-my-dear-electron-1.10471
http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/04/electrons-like-gaul-come-in-three-parts/
Numbers are the Supreme Court of science. However Godel proved that we may not prove everything using numbers. Physics needs numbers. There must be Physics Foibles. Always more to prove. Is physics diverging?
This is excellent news, I’ve been recently considering the idea the electrons are not fundamental particles, it explains the double slit experiment, electrons do not appear in two places at once or for that matter teleport from one place to another. What could be occurring is the electron loosing enough mass to be a measurable negative charge and at the same time a different electron gaining enough mass to show a measurable charge. Surely the acknowledgement of entropic effects to energy in a closed system should have destroyed any possibility of an electron being a fundamental particle.
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