• Education
    • Higher Education
    • Scholarships & Grants
    • Online Learning
    • School Reforms
    • Research & Innovation
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Home & Living
    • Relationships & Family
  • Technology & Startups
    • Software & Apps
    • Startup Success Stories
    • Startups & Innovations
    • Tech Regulations
    • Venture Capital
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cybersecurity
    • Emerging Technologies
    • Gadgets & Devices
    • Industry Analysis
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
Today Headline
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
Today Headline
No Result
View All Result
Home Science & Environment

Physicists Find Particle That Only Has Mass When Moving in One Direction : ScienceAlert todayheadline

December 14, 2024
in Science & Environment
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
0
Semi-Dirac Fermion
6
SHARES
13
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Scientists have made a satisfying and intriguing physics discovery some 16 years after it was first predicted to be a possibility: a quasiparticle (a group of particles behaving as one) that only has an effective mass when moving in one direction.


In physics, mass generally refers to a property of particles that relates to things like their energy and resistance to movement. Yet not all mass is built the same – some describes the energy of a particle at rest, for example, while mass may also take into account the energy of a particle’s motion.


In this case, the effective mass describes the quasiparticle’s response to forces, which varies depending on whether the movement through the material is up and down, or back and forth.


Whereas regular quasiparticles have the same mass no matter what their direction of travel, the semi-Dirac fermion (to give it its technical name) being studied here doesn’t seem to play by the normal rules.


It’s a discovery that could make a fundamental difference in fields such as quantum physics and electronic sensors.


The new quasiparticle was discovered by an international team of scientists inside a ZrSiS semi-metal crystal, cooled down to -452 degrees Fahrenheit (or -269 degrees Celsius) – an extreme set of conditions for an extremely rare quasiparticle.

An illustration of the ZrSiS structure near a crossing point – with the semi-Dirac a black sphere. (Shao et al., Physical Review X, 2024)

Particles can generally be described as bosons or fermions, depending on a measure of a property called spin. Dirac fermions – in both typical and quasiparticle form – have properties that come in opposing particle and antiparticle forms.


This semi-Dirac fermion detailed in the new study is a strange beast of a thing that only existed in theory up until now, operating under very different guidelines of energy in perpendicular directions.


“This was totally unexpected,” says condensed matter physicist Yinming Shao, from Pennsylvania State University. “We weren’t even looking for a semi-Dirac fermion when we started working with this material, but we were seeing signatures we didn’t understand.”


“It turns out we had made the first observation of these wild quasiparticles that sometimes move like they have mass and sometimes move like they have none.”


The researchers were using a scientific analysis method known as magneto-optical spectroscopy when they made the discovery. It’s where materials are studied via the infrared light reflections they give off, under the influence of a strong magnetic field.


And we do mean strong: some 900,000 times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field, courtesy of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida. These are the exotic conditions scientists use to study the rarest interactions at the smallest scales.


From there, the semi-Dirac fermion activity was observed and identified, with the help of some numerical modeling: being massless in one direction (with all its energy described by its movement), but having effective mass in another. Fortunately for the non-physicists, the researchers provide an analogy.


“Imagine the particle is a tiny train confined to a network of tracks, which are the material’s underlying electronic structure,” says Shao.


“Now, at certain points the tracks intersect, so our particle train is moving along its fast track, at light speed, but then it hits an intersection and needs to switch to a perpendicular track.


“Suddenly, it experiences resistance, it has mass. The particles are either all energy or have mass depending on the direction of their movement along the material’s ‘tracks’.”


It’s a notable moment in physics, including for those who first hypothesized the phenomena back in 2008. There’s still a lot to explore here though – including figuring out how to extract single layers from the multi-layered ZrSiS crystal – before we can start thinking about its full implications and any practical uses.


“The most thrilling part of this experiment is that the data cannot be fully explained yet,” says Shao.


“There are many unsolved mysteries in what we observed, so that is what we are working to understand.”

The research has been published in Physical Review X.

Previous Post

Lessons from the past may improve the future for manatees

Next Post

Sri Lanka President accepts Asoka Ranwala’s resignation as Speaker todayheadline

Related Posts

A toy truck is seen outside a children's cafe damaged by a Russian artillery shell strike in Malokaterynivka village, Zaporizhzhia region, southeastern Ukraine, on August 20, 2024.

How 3 years of war have ravaged Ukraine’s forests, and the people who depend on them todayheadline

June 5, 2025
6
a white tangled web of threads on a blue background

Magnetic fields are old as the universe, but what created them?

June 5, 2025
4
Next Post

Sri Lanka President accepts Asoka Ranwala’s resignation as Speaker todayheadline

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

April 2, 2025
Pioneering 3D printing project shares successes

Product reduces TPH levels to non-hazardous status

November 27, 2024

Hospital Mergers Fail to Deliver Better Care or Lower Costs, Study Finds todayheadline

December 31, 2024

Police ID man who died after Corso Italia fight

December 23, 2024
Harris tells supporters 'never give up' and urges peaceful transfer of power

Harris tells supporters ‘never give up’ and urges peaceful transfer of power

0
Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend's Mother

Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend’s Mother

0

Trump ‘looks forward’ to White House meeting with Biden

0
Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

0
Pakistan PM, PPP chief praise Trump for role in India-Pakistan de-escalation, want him to facilitate dialogue with India

Pakistan PM, PPP chief praise Trump for role in India-Pakistan de-escalation, want him to facilitate dialogue with India

June 5, 2025
Big investors shift away from US markets

Big investors shift away from US markets

June 5, 2025
Fact check: Will ‘big beautiful bill’ really allow Trump to delay election?

Fact check: Will ‘big beautiful bill’ really allow Trump to delay election?

June 5, 2025
Israel recovers bodies of Canadian Israeli Judih Weinstein-Haggai and husband held by Hamas

Israel recovers bodies of Canadian Israeli Judih Weinstein-Haggai and husband held by Hamas

June 5, 2025

Recent News

Pakistan PM, PPP chief praise Trump for role in India-Pakistan de-escalation, want him to facilitate dialogue with India

Pakistan PM, PPP chief praise Trump for role in India-Pakistan de-escalation, want him to facilitate dialogue with India

June 5, 2025
4
Big investors shift away from US markets

Big investors shift away from US markets

June 5, 2025
5
Fact check: Will ‘big beautiful bill’ really allow Trump to delay election?

Fact check: Will ‘big beautiful bill’ really allow Trump to delay election?

June 5, 2025
5
Israel recovers bodies of Canadian Israeli Judih Weinstein-Haggai and husband held by Hamas

Israel recovers bodies of Canadian Israeli Judih Weinstein-Haggai and husband held by Hamas

June 5, 2025
4

TodayHeadline is a dynamic news website dedicated to delivering up-to-date and comprehensive news coverage from around the globe.

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Basketball
  • Business & Finance
  • Climate Change
  • Crime & Justice
  • Cybersecurity
  • Economic Policies
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Environmental Policies
  • Europe
  • Football
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Health
  • Medical Research
  • Mental Health
  • Middle East
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Politics
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Science & Environment
  • Software & Apps
  • Space Exploration
  • Sports
  • Stock Market
  • Technology & Startups
  • Tennis
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Us & Canada
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • World News

Recent News

Pakistan PM, PPP chief praise Trump for role in India-Pakistan de-escalation, want him to facilitate dialogue with India

Pakistan PM, PPP chief praise Trump for role in India-Pakistan de-escalation, want him to facilitate dialogue with India

June 5, 2025
Big investors shift away from US markets

Big investors shift away from US markets

June 5, 2025
  • Education
  • Lifestyle
  • Technology & Startups
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy

© 2024 Todayheadline.co

Welcome Back!

OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Business & Finance
  • Corporate News
  • Economic Policies
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Market Trends
  • Crime & Justice
  • Court Cases
  • Criminal Investigations
  • Cybercrime
  • Legal Reforms
  • Policing
  • Education
  • Higher Education
  • Online Learning
  • Entertainment
  • Awards & Festivals
  • Celebrity News
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Health
  • Fitness & Nutrition
  • Medical Breakthroughs
  • Mental Health
  • Pandemic Updates
  • Lifestyle
  • Fashion & Beauty
  • Food & Drink
  • Home & Living
  • Politics
  • Elections
  • Government Policies
  • International Relations
  • Legislative News
  • Political Parties
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Middle East
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cybersecurity
  • Emerging Technologies
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Industry Analysis
  • Basketball
  • Football
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Climate Change
  • Environmental Policies
  • Medical Research
  • Science & Environment
  • Space Exploration
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • Sports
  • Tennis
  • Technology & Startups
  • Software & Apps
  • Startup Success Stories
  • Startups & Innovations
  • Tech Regulations
  • Venture Capital
  • Uncategorized
  • World News
  • Us & Canada
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Travel
  • Research & Innovation
  • Scholarships & Grants
  • School Reforms
  • Stock Market
  • TV & Streaming
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
  • About us
  • Contact

© 2024 Todayheadline.co