Research opens the door to new elementary particles: say hello to ‘paraparticles’

Two theoretical physicists from the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and Rice University in Houston have developed a mathematical model that reveals the existence of a new class of fundamental particles, far removed from the characteristics of fermions and bosons. The scientists behind the discovery predict that these ‘paraparticles’, in addition to suggesting new possible forms of matter, could have important implications for future technology.

Particle physicists are particularly bold. Playing with math can lead to results that, at first glance, seem counterintuitive. With enough research, those equations can lead to broadening the standard model.

For example, a tinkering with a negative sign in 1928 by physicist Paul Dirac led to the revelation of antimatter. It was also a crazy idea to explain insignificant energy losses that allowed us to find the elusive neutrinos. The existence of the famous ‘God particle’, the Higgs boson, took 50 years to be confirmed through the hadron collider.

Bosons, fermions and paraparticles

In the Standard Particle Model, all known fundamental elements can be classified into different categories based on their interactions. The most famous are fermions and bosons. In a prudent simplification for quantum mechanics enthusiasts, the category of fermions includes all those particles that constitute matter, such as quarks and leptons. In the category of bosons, however, are the fundamental elements that mediate forces between other particles, such as photons or gluons.

For specialized physicists, the difference between fermions and bosons is much more complex. Some particles cannot occupy the same quantum state simultaneously, while others can. The classic example is the comparison between electrons and photons. The former revolve around the atom, but each electron occupies a specific space and does not allow another to be in the same place at the same time. Photons, on the other hand, can share that state and move in synchrony. Thanks to this displacement rule, also known as the Pauli exclusion principle, the elements in the periodic table exist.

Here comes the complicated part. Physics does not describe the behavior of particles with metaphors or mental images, but with mathematical formulas. In the systems used to study elements, there are only two possible variations determined by a negative sign (-): that of fermions and that of bosons.

In this game with mathematical formulas, it is also possible to glimpse ‘new particles’ that theoretically behave differently from bosons and fermions, but, due to requiring exotic scenarios (such as a two-dimensional universe), the results have been considered only as mathematical curiosities or dead ends. Physics has a name for it: paraparticles.

The physicists who published their recent research in Nature created a framework based on advanced mathematics so that paraparticles can appear in specific physical systems. On paper, the behavior suggests that they have the potential to lead to new technological applications because the states change in complex ways when they are exchanged with each other. Quantum computers use similar physical principles to operate, and scientists hope to test their models with advanced computing equipment.

“This demonstrates the possibility of a new type of quasiparticle in condensed matter systems and, more speculatively, the potential for previously unconsidered types of elementary particles,” the report concludes. Nature.