Weyl fermion discovered

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
Very interesting article. I wonder what the manufacturing challenges will be to make a commercially available device anytime soon.
 

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Kermit2

Joined Feb 5, 2010
4,162
Well, you know, the universe doesn't know it is dead yet! Entropy dontcha know. But as soon as someone finds out that protons only have a billion year half life then the whole simulation will blue screen and God will reboot us... :)
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
as soon as someone finds out that protons only have a billion year half life
I'm under the impression that that theory has not been verified through direct observation yet, although it's predicted under certain variants of the standard model, if I'm not mistaken
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,086
Like the article said this a materials science quasiparticle much like a 'hole' is a quasiparticle that helps to explain and design semiconductors not a fundamental particle discovery. If we can actually use this interesting new material in a device that would be great but being able to revolutionize electronics sounds a bit like hype.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
I'm under the impression that that theory has not been verified through direct observation yet, although it's predicted under certain variants of the standard model, if I'm not mistaken
Yebut... the lower limit on the half-life is currently about 10^33 years.

If it were a billion years, then about 99.997% of the protons would have already decayed and we would be seeing it all around us (we have many radioisotopes with half lives well in excess of that and are very easily characterizable).
 

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Kermit2

Joined Feb 5, 2010
4,162
I couldn't help but think of the superman movies and the slender crystal pieces they inserted into a panel that "read" them in some fashion. The claims of increased performance seem like a logical step if they can cobble together a way make them function inside silicon crystal.
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
I couldn't help but think of the superman movies and the slender crystal pieces they inserted into a panel that "read" them in some fashion. The claims of increased performance seem like a logical step if they can cobble together a way make them function inside silicon crystal.
Just be very careful when handling those crystals and don't get them wet! :eek:
 
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