撰文 | Frank Wilczek

翻译 | 胡风、梁丁当

中语版

基本粒子不错阔别的念念法曾被觉得十分罅隙，如今，它正激发新兴界限的霸术高涨。

电子是最基本的一种粒子。在基础物理学中，电子被视作莫得结构的点，具有质地、电荷和角动量（或“自旋”）。证实量子力学和相对论的严格国法，这个看上去有些简短的刻画成为了构建化学和电子学的基础元素。

在不久之前，把电子注入特定物资使其阔别如故一个近乎荒诞的念念法。就像哥白尼时间的当然玄学家齐觉得日心说极其荒唐同样，关于多数严谨的物理学家而言，电子会阔别成其他物资的念念法也短长常离谱的。

但地球确乎在绕着太阳动掸，而电子也确乎粗略阔别。早在20世纪80年代，这个令东说念主战抖的可能性就已初现条理。其时，物理学家发现了一种被称为分数目子霍尔效应的奇异物资态 ：要是把极其薄且并驾齐驱的特定半导体镶嵌到特定的绝缘体中，在超强磁场和极低温度下，就会发陌生数目子霍尔效应。

霍尔效应（Hall effect）率先是由19世纪的物理学家埃德温 · 霍尔（Edwin Hall）发现并以他的名字定名的。霍尔效应指的是在垂直于外磁场的方针对导体施加电流，在垂直于磁场和电流的方针会产生电势差，也即是霍尔电压。这种应许为电效应与磁效应之间的退换提供了一种极为简单的姿色，是瞎想速率计和防抱死刹车系统等迢遥常见仪器的中枢理制。

在分数目子霍尔效应中，电流非常的小，却也非常踏实。这些特征意味着造成电流的粒子具有奇怪的属性 ：它们的流动呈现出不同寻常的有序性，且每个粒子只佩戴很少的电荷。在最粗陋的情况下，这种粒子佩戴的灵验电荷唯有电子电荷的三分之一，这标明薄层材料中的电子阔别成了三个尽头的部分。

直到不久前，东说念主们对分数电子的霸术还仅仅纯正受意思心运行的学术性霸术。分数电子得手地挑战了科学家对物资的传统剖释，因此激发了高度温雅。但要念念罢了这种效应需要极其尖刻的实验条目，因此它的实践应用似乎仅仅空中楼阁。

有关词，最近科学家对分数电子的意思暴涨，因为他们发现分数电子具有一种稀奇的集体系念。更具体地讲 ：要是你使一个分数电子围绕着另一个分数电子移动，那么证实绕转的姿色，两个分数电子自后的四肢也会有所不同。由于这种“系念力”，分数电子——一种任意子——有望成为构建、存储量子信息以及罢了量子计较机的基本单位。

量子信息诚然具有丰富的后劲，但也极其脆弱。要是念念要设置它的实践用途，咱们需要能会通量子信息的复杂性与物理可操作性的决策。运用任意子，咱们有望罢了这个策画。现在，科学家正在奋勉于研发更容易罢了的任意子，学习若何灵验地缠绕它们、并测量它们的四肢——也即是若何给它们赋予特定的系念并使其呈现所需的效果。事实上，这项霸术依然突出了纯正的学术界限，微软和谷歌等企业齐深度参与其中。

任意子的故事是彰显意思心所运行的基础霸术价值的一个典型例子。探索新奇的应许会给探索者带来深化的喜悦。这本人就很有价值。但有的时刻，它的价值会辐照更广的界限。正如唯有少部分勇于冒险的创业者不错赢得重大的得手，也唯有少数自便的智商冒险最终会发展成冲突性技艺。不管哪种情况，得手齐是荒原的，失败才是大多数。尽管如斯，基础霸术可能带来的多数陈述仍然使得对它的大量投资天值地值。

MSC的一位资深调查员解释说，监管机构收到了当地人的投诉，他的调查结果发现了许多危险信号和与描述不一致之处。监管机构还强调，投资者应确定投资及其服务是否已注册。

英文版

皇冠体育

The Surprise of Splitting Electrons

The once-outrageous idea that the most elementary particles can break apart is spurring furious research into the new field of ‘anyonics’

Nobel and Templeton Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek explores the secrets of the cosmos. Read previous columns here.

Electrons are the most elementary of elementary particles. In fundamental physics they appear as structureless points where definite amounts of mass, electric charge, and angular momentum (or “spin”) reside. From that meager description, the stringent rules of quantum mechanics and relativity produce the splendid building block that dominates chemistry and-of course-electronics.

Not long ago, the outrageous idea that electrons, when injected into the right sort of material, would break into other objects seemed as far-fetched to most right-thinking physicists as the idea that the Earth moves seemed to sober natural philosophers in the time of Copernicus.

Yet the Earth moves-and electrons do break apart. That shocking possibility emerged in the 1980s, in studies of an exotic state of matter known as the fractional quantum Hall effect. This effect occurs when extremely pure, thin layers of the right semiconductors, embedded within the right insulators, are subjected to extremely high magnetic fields at extremely low temperatures.

The original Hall effect, named after the 19th-century physicist Edwin Hall, refers to the appearance of a sideways electric current in response to an applied voltage in this kind of setup. It provides a convenient way to translate between electrical effects and magnetic ones, and is at the heart of the operation of many useful devices including speedometers and anti-lock brakes.

In the fractional quantum Hall effect, the currents are both unusually small and unusually stable. Those features indicate that the particles that make the current have weird properties: their flow is unusually orderly, yet each one carries little charge. In the simplest case, the apparent charge is one-third that of an electron, which indicates that electrons injected into the material layer have fragmented into three equal pieces.

Until quite recently, electron fractionalization had the air of a scientific curiosity. Because it challenged traditional wisdom successfully, professional physicists paid close attention. But practical applications seemed remote, because the effect was visible only in difficult experiments.

Recently, however, interest in fractionated electrons has exploded, because it turns out that they have a kind of collective memory. To put this more concretely: After you move them around one another, their subsequent behavior reliably reflects how you treated them. Because of this “memory,” fractional electrons-known as anyons-are promising ingredients for building up and storing quantum information, and ultimately for making quantum computers.

Quantum information, while potentially very rich, is also very delicate. To use it for practical purposes, we need embodiments that combine complexity with physical toughness. Anyons could fit the bill. People are making progress by making them in more user-friendly forms, learning how to move them around efficiently, and probing their behavior-in essence, giving them things to remember and getting them to display the results. This work has expanded beyond the borders of academia; Microsoft and Google are heavily involved.

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The anyon story is a lovely example of the value of curiosity-driven research. Exploring surprising phenomena for their own sake gives profound joy to the people who do it. That is valuable in itself. But there’s sometimes (much) more. Just as only a small proportion of adventurous startups make it big, few wild intellectual adventures blossom into breakthrough technologies. In either case, lots of things can go wrong or fizzle out. But big payoffs from pure research, even though they are rare, make big investment in it profitable overall.

Frank Wilczek

弗兰克·维尔切克是麻省理工学院物理学讲明、量子色能源学的奠基东说念主之一。因发现了量子色能源学的渐近摆脱应许，他在2004年赢得了诺贝尔物理学奖。

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