BTW, “magnon” is a fundamental element of magnetism, apparently equivalent to an electron in normal circuitry. I looked it up, and I figure I’m unlikely to be the only one never to have previously encountered the term.
Cro-Magnon man knew about it long time ago!
“BTW, “magnon” is a fundamental element of magnetism, apparently equivalent to an electron in normal circuitry.”
Seems odd to me, since magnetism and electricity are fundamentally linked, so you would think the fundamental element would be the same for both of them.
I mean, what’s the mass of a “magnon”? Do molecules that are magnetically attracted exchange and share magnons? Wouldn’t that mean the magnetic charge of one would be dropping and the other increasing?
Hmm, I looked it up too, and it’s not actually a “fundamental particle”, it’s a quasiparticle, like a soliton.
So it’s an emergent effect that can behave and be treated mathematically like a particle, but it’s just composed of the combined effects of waves from “real” particles.