
Study unveils new half-light half-matter quantum particles - lelf
http://phys.org/news/2014-12-unveils-half-light-half-matter-quantum-particles.html
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gwillen
As usual for wild-eyed headlines like this, it's not quite what it sounds
like. This is condensed-matter physics: These aren't "particles" in the usual
sense, and they don't exist by themselves in free space. They are more like
"particle analogs", which exist as excitations of some underlying matter.

These are "particles" in the same way that we talk about "holes" in
semiconductors like they're particles. I.e. "sort of, and for all practical
purposes within the relevant domain, but not exactly."

~~~
lisper
What you say is true, but it should be noted that what we call particles
aren't really particles either, and they also don't exist by themselves in
free space. A single electron (for example) by itself in free space behaves
like a wave, not a particle. What we call particles only behave like particles
when they interact with a large system of other "particles" and decohere.

~~~
TTPrograms
In the context of modern physics a particle, including as referenced in
condensed matter physics, refers to all of the quantum wave phenomena that you
just described. So to call it a particle in this context is perfectly
accurate.

~~~
lisper
Yes, that's true, but it misses the point, which is that referring to
"particle analogs" as "particles" is not at all misleading. In fact, if
anything is misleading, it is distinguishing between the two in a way that
implies that "particle analogs" are somehow "less real" than "real" particles.
"Particle analogs" are "excitations in the state of some underlying matter",
but the underlying matter is just excitations in the state of some underlying
wave function. The only difference is that the states of particle analogs are
more complicated than the states of "real particles" but that is a difference
of degree, not of kind.

~~~
evanb
Just for future reference for everybody involved, these "particle analog"
phenomena have a name: quasiparticles.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasiparticle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasiparticle)

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briantakita
Here's a link to the abstract:

[http://arxiv.org/abs/1406.4826](http://arxiv.org/abs/1406.4826)

Here's a link to the paper:

[http://arxiv.org/pdf/1406.4826v1.pdf](http://arxiv.org/pdf/1406.4826v1.pdf)

