The Quest to Prove the Existence of a New Type of Quantum Particle
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Summary
In 2021, physicist Zhiyuan Wang, then a graduate student at Rice University, discovered a possible theoretical basis for a new kind of particle, which he called a paraparticle with his adviser, professor Kaden Hazzard.
Unlike bosons, which are force-carrying particles, and fermions, which make up all matter in the universe, paraparticles could exist in three rather than two dimensions, and have unusual qualities that could allow them to be distinguished from other particles.
In February 2022, physicist Markus Müller from the Vienna Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information used paraparticles in a thought experiment to show that quantum mechanics imposes strict limitations on the properties of particles.
Later that month, Hazzard and Wang published a paper arguing that paraparticles were a real, though limited, possibility, provided they were not truly indistinguishable from other particles.
Taken together, these two developments are reopening a physics mystery that was believed to be solved decades ago and are prompting reevaluation of the fundamental characteristics of particles.
