Physicists investigate electron fractionalization into not two, but three components
Thursday, August 12, 2010 - 09:56
in Physics & Chemistry
One of the many intriguing puzzles in physics is the strange behavior of the electron as it fractionalizes into two separate quasiparticles. These quasiparticles, called spinons and chargons (or holons), carry the electron`s spin and charge, respectively. In a new study, physicists Cenke Xu and Subir Sachdev of Harvard University have investigated this phenomenon, called spin-charge separation, and have developed a model that unifies two previous theories to propose a more complete electron fractionalization process.