Majorana fermions predicted in a superconducting material
A low-temperature material made from the elements praseodymium, osmium, and antimony should be able to host subatomic particles known as Majorana fermions, MIT researchers have shown in a theoretical analysis. Majorana fermions, first predicted by physicists in 1937, can be thought of as electrons split into two parts, each of which behaves as independent particles. These fermions do not exist as elementary particles in nature but can emerge in certain superconducting materials near absolute zero temperature. In superconducting materials, electrons flow without resistance generating little or no heat. The new analysis by graduate student Vladyslav Kozii, postdoc Jörn Venderbos, and Lawrence C. (1944) and Sarah W. Biedenharn Career Development Assistant Professor Liang Fu predicts this special state should occur in a praseodymium, osmium and antimony compound, PrOs4Sb12, and similar materials made of heavy metals. Physicists describe electrons by their energy, momentum, and spin. An electron can occupy a possible energy level, and an unoccupied level is called a hole. In the new analysis,...