Posted on 06/20/2012 10:08:53 AM PDT by Kevmo
Got mass? Scientists observe electrons become both heavy and speedy
Electrons moving in certain solids can behave as if they are a thousand times more massive than free electrons, but at the same time act as superconductors. A new study led by Princeton scientists shows that this happens because of a process known as quantum entanglement that determines the mass of electrons moving in a crystal. The discovery can help improve understanding of how certain materials become superconducting, which may have applications in areas such as power network efficiency and computing speed. Credit: the Yazdani Group
A Princeton University-led team of scientists has shown how electrons moving in certain solids can behave as though they are a thousand times more massive than free electrons, yet at the same time act as speedy superconductors.
The observation of these seemingly contradictory changes in the electron properties is critical to the understanding of how certain materials become superconducting, in which electrons can flow without resistance. Such materials could dramatically increase the efficiency of electrical power networks and speed up computers.
The concept of "heavy" electrons seems counterintuitive. The tiny particles flit through silicon chips to process information rapidly in digital electronics, and they flow with ease through copper wires carrying electricity to your desk lamp. But the Princeton research has revealed that a hard-to-measure process known as quantum entanglement determines the mass of electrons moving in a crystal and the delicate tuning of this entanglement can strongly alter the properties of a material.
Cool the electrons to far below room temperature in certain types of solid materials, and these flighty particles gain mass, acting like much heavier particles. Surprisingly, further cooling close to absolute zero makes these solids become superconducting, where the electrons, despite their heaviness, make a kind of perfect fluid that can flow without wasting any electrical power.
This video displays heavy electrons at different energies and shows their standing wave patterns (like water in a pond) around individual atomic defects placed intentionally in a compound. The patterns in these images allowed the Princeton scientists to understand the formation of heavy electron waves and to identify a hard-to-measure quantum entanglement process that controls their mass. Credit: The Yazdani Group. In a study to appear in the June 14 issue of the journal Nature, the Princeton-led team, which included scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the University of California-Irvine, used direct imaging of electron waves in a crystal. The researchers did so not only to watch the electrons gain mass but also to show that the heavy electrons are actually composite objects made of two entangled forms of the electron. This entanglement arises from the rules of quantum mechanics, which govern how very small particles behave and allow entangled particles to behave differently than untangled ones. Combining experiments and theoretical modeling, the study is the first to show how the heavy electrons emerge from such entanglement.
Observations made over the last 30 years indicate that electrons in certain solids behave as particles with masses hundreds to thousands of times larger than that of electrons moving freely in a vacuum. Until now, however, researchers had been unable to understand how this happens and lacked the tools to explore the connection between this process and the superconductivity of heavy electrons.
The published study comes after several years of setting up the precise experimental conditions needed to visualize these heavy electrons. The team employed a custom-designed cryogenic scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), which allows visualization of electron waves in a crystal. The researchers used STM to look at crystals prepared in such a way that their surfaces contained a few atomic imperfections. As they lowered the temperature in the experiment, the researchers saw the emergence of patterns of electron waves spread around the defects in a way similar to how ripples of water form around rocks in a pond. (See video.)
"It is remarkable to watch electrons moving in a crystal evolve into more massive particles as we cool them down," said Ali Yazdani, a professor of physics at Princeton and head of the team that conducted the study.
Making this groundbreaking observation of electrons as they transition from light to heavy particles is only part of the story. The researchers also showed how the process can be understood based on quantum theories of electron behavior. Subatomic particles such as electrons can exhibit strange behavior because of quantum entanglement, which can mix diametrically opposite behaviors together. By comparing the data with theoretical calculations, the study shows that heavy electrons emerge from entanglement of two opposite behaviors of electrons, one in which they are localized around individual atoms and the other in which they are hopping freely from atom to atom in the crystal.
"This is the first time we have a precise picture of formation of heavy electrons, thanks to our ability to probe them with high resolution," Yazdani said.
The degree of such entanglement appears to be the key to understanding what the heavy electrons do once they are formed and cooled even further. Adjusting the crystal composition or structure can be used to tune the degree of entanglement and the heaviness of electrons. Make the electrons too heavy and they freeze into a magnetized state, stuck at each atom in the crystal while spinning in unison. But tweaking the crystal composition so that the electrons have just the right amount of entanglement turns these heavy electrons into superconductors when they are cooled.
"What is neat, and our studies confirm this, is that you really need to be on the verge of these two kinds of behaviors — sluggish and speedy — to get superconductivity," Yazdani said. "That is the circumstance most favorable to occurrence of heavy electron superconductivity."
Understanding superconducting behavior of exotic electrons is at the forefront of research in physics, where there are many examples of magnetic materials that turn superconducting with subtle changes in their composition or crystal structure.
The experiments may help physicists unravel the mysteries of high-temperature superconductivity, said Subir Sachdev, a theoretical physicist at Harvard University who was not involved with the work. Many physicists have argued that understanding this transition between magnetism and superconductivity, known as a quantum critical point, could help explain why the materials are superconducting. But physicists have lacked experimental evidence to prove their ideas.
"We have been waiting for observations like this for many years, so it is very exciting that such a beautiful experimental system has been found and characterized so well," Sachdev said.
Journal reference:Nature
Provided byPrinceton University
Notice how the article says they behave like they have more mass, not that they actually have more mass.
If electrons have 3 orders of magnitude more effective mass when they are within a matrix, then they can affect protons. Science is closing in on how the Coulomb barrier is overcome in LENR.
Funny how the article doesn't mention the Coulomb barrier, LENR, cold fusion, or fusion. You'd think they'd want to cover all bases for their Nobel prize.
Although Andrea’s Rossi e-Cat is already in the process of commercialization,
Is it really?
They’re making a commercial, to warn against fraud.
I'm not either. I hate exercise.
Energy and mass have a pretty direct relationship, right? E=mc2?
So they say. Even though there are 'violations' discovered all the time. 'Pretty direct' is probably about right.
If you cool the electrons, you are taking energy out of the system, right?
Well... maybe it's because cooling deprives the electrons of energy. If the electrons (like everything else on the planet) generate their own 'energy', then freezing them would limit their output. If they don't 'generate' their own 'energy' , where does it come from?
Regardless, we sure use a lot of energy to 'cool the electrons'. Seems like a mass loss on one end, and a mass gain on the other. Maybe that's how they balance the equation.
So how can the mass (which is basically energy) increase when you take energy out of the system?
Rather like saying that if you quit eating, you will get fat, isn't it?
My guess is that when you subject certain matter to extreme cold, it consumes a bunch of energy to produce a layer of fat, which causes it to 'slow down', so that the 'electron' can survive the blizzard. (I'm joking... maybe)
Either that or their observations are faulty. Why, wasn't it just this year that they discovered AN ERROR in the size of the PROTON???? Not that a tiny, tiny, miniscule error like that would make any difference in physics. : )
So... they waddle when they walk?
How many times does a person have to ask you to stop posting to them?
Please stop posting to me. Please stop stalking me.
“Do not post to me” Free Republic ^ | 8/28/07 | Admin Moderator Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 5:47:37 PM by Admin Moderator http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1888013/posts
Admin’s note: Trolls, troublemakers, disruptors, forum pests, malcontents, RINOs, liberals, stalkers, et al, would continue posting to (harassing) someone after being asked to stop. Conservative FReepers would not.
This will be my standard post to moonboy that says you’re not worth trying to have reasonable discussion, also says “buzz off” & doesn’t leave crickets. But if it offends you to the point that you get it removed like my prior innocuous citation then I’ll have to come up with some other ‘ignore button’ post.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/backroom/2800058/posts?page=55#55
To: Moonman62
This means I have nothing more to say to you about LENR. Bye.
55 posted on Sunday, October 30, 2011 4:41:07 PM by Kevmo (Caveat lurkor pro se ipso judicatis: Let the lurker decide for himself)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies | Report Abuse]
You know FR automatically puts in a username into the "reply" field. It's almost impossible to remember to take it out every time.
The lame content of your posts is worth questioning and responding to. I can't help it if you have the sensitivity of a three year old when your name accidentally appears in one of the replies.
This is what the admin has to say about guys like you — you’re Trolls, troublemakers, disruptors, forum pests, malcontents, RINOs, liberals, stalkers, et al,
He also says you aint no conservative.
Quit stalking me.
The only reason you're being a drama queen and claiming I'm stalking you is you'd like to have me banned, so you post that non-conservative junk science unhindered.
quit stalking me
I have asked several times
Now we have experimental validation of varying mass within electrons ~ depending on entanglement.
In the real world, as distinct from the "electrons in a vacuum", you really could produce a lot of electrons with mass sufficient to affect protons.
Then, to put a coda to the whole issue ""It is remarkable to watch electrons moving in a crystal evolve into more massive particles as we cool them down," said Ali Yazdani, a professor of physics at Princeton and head of the team that conducted the study."
EVOLVE INTO MORE MASSIVE PARTICLES?
This guy is the head of the team and he says INTO MORE MASSIVE PARTICLES
He didn't say they were pretending to be more massive, but that they were, in fact, more massive!
This has to do do with quantum physics and the behavior of electrons in a crystal lattice.
Bet you thought it was about breaded chicken bits in a bed of lettuce.
Bite me, idiot.
Study up on what "effective mass" means in solid state physics.
He's not saying what you said.
Caution…Mass is condensed matter physics is different from mass as it appears in other physics.
You have a problem ~ we get a neat article about some newly observed phenomenon, or finally after 30 years of observations somebody figures out what people have been seeing in their experiments, and you want to veer right off the article and have us read something else.
Your boys at Solyndra went down hard you know. Gentile is left. They aren't. So who was running a scam eh?
As far as non-conventional superconductivity is concerned, not cold fusion.
Yup, sho 'nuff. Read the article.
Why not read the original article, rather than the one geared to the general population?
Since I have to blow these articles up to about 14 pt type to read them, and they may require reformatting so they don't have the choppy line look, it takes time ~ I only do that once.
Another question for you though, what about that project with the Iranians to try a hot fusion project ~ you in on that one?
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