Scientists have proved the existence of a strange, enigmatic new form of matter – excitonium – which was first theorised nearly half a century ago.
Researchers from the University of Illinois studied crystals of a transition metal – dichalcogenide titanium diselenide (1T-TiSe2) – and found what they described as a ‘smoking gun’.
Excitonium is made up from excitons, particles formed from a quantum mechanical pairing between an escaped electron and the ‘hole’ it leaves behind.
That hole behaves as though it were a particle with positive charge, and it attracts the escaped electron.
When the escaped electron with its negative charge, pairs up with the hole, the two remarkably form a composite particle, a boson—an exciton.
‘This result is of cosmic significance,’ says Professor of Physics Peter Abbamonte.
‘Ever since the term ‘excitonium’ was coined in the 1960s by Harvard theoretical physicist Bert Halperin, physicists have sought to demonstrate its… Read the full story
from Metro http://metro.co.uk/2017/12/11/scientists-find-new-form-matter-excitonium-breakthrough-cosmic-significance-7148694/
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