Anyon

For other uses, see Anyon (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with anion, a negatively charged ion.
Statistical mechanics
Particle statistics
Thermodynamic ensembles
Models
Potentials
Scientists

In physics, an anyon is a type of quasiparticle so far observed only in two-dimensional systems. In three-dimensional systems, only two kinds of elementary particles are seen: fermions and bosons. Anyons have statistical properties intermediate between fermions and bosons.[1] In general, the operation of exchanging two identical particles, although it may cause a global phase shift, cannot affect observables. Anyons are generally classified as abelian or non-abelian. Abelian anyons, detected by two experiments in 2020,[2] play a major role in the fractional quantum Hall effect.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bartolomei2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Ornes, Stephen (12 December 2020). "Physicists Prove Anyons Exist, a Third Type of Particle in the Universe – Physicists give us an early view of a third kingdom of quasiparticles that only arise in two dimensions". Discover. Retrieved 12 December 2020. This year brought two solid confirmations of the quasiparticles. The first arrived in April, in a paper featured on the cover of Science, from a group of researchers at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris ... The second confirmation came in July, when a group at Purdue University in Indiana used an experimental setup on an etched chip that screened out interactions that might obscure the anyon behavior.