New Particle Discovered After 80 Years Of Hunting - Majorana fermion

New Particle Discovered After 80 Years Of Hunting

It's not everyday that scientists observe a brand new particle, but today is one of those rare breakthroughs in history.

A team of physicists at Princeton University and the University of Texas at Austin announced on October 2 that they have observed a new particle that has eluded detection for nearly 80 years! It only took scientists 48 years to detect the Higgs boson. No one really knew how they would go about searching for this particle until 2001, which is why it's taken the better half of a century to detect it.

Meet the Majorana fermion. This new particle was first predicted by Italian physicist Ettore Majorana in 1937, and is unique because it is the only particle in existence that can adopt both matter and antimatter characteristics simultaneously without annihilating itself in the process.

In fact, the Majorana fermion is surprisingly stable but also extremely elusive.

Normally when particles of matter come into contact with their antimatter counterparts, the result is an intense explosion of energy. Some think that these antimatter annihilations would be a good way to power rockets and spacecraft. So, a particle that can take on matter and antimatter properties simultaneously would, one might think, be incredibly unstable. But that's not the case with Majoranas.

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It takes on the matter / anti matter properties but does not annihilate itself. I am curious what use can be found for this particle. The properties alone are interesting enough. The team suggest possible use with Quantum computing.

Particle Physics is beyond my knowledge so I will leave it here for my comments. Thought I would share the article for those who are interested.

It's beyond me as well but this sounds very interesting on a few levels.

a reply to: Xcathdra

Lol i totally misread the name of the new particle.....Mary Jane particle...

Anyways....I'm thinking new weaponry or warp-drive.

originally posted by: EA006
a reply to: Xcathdra

Lol i totally misread the name of the new particle.....Mary Jane particle...

Anyways....I'm thinking new weaponry or warp-drive.

Lol I think the discovery of that "particle" occurred more than 80 years ago.

I was thinking the same about the warp drive however its a stable mix of the 2. we would need to find a way to break the particle to create the reaction / energy release. If that's even possible.

My other thought would be energy supplies on earth. I think from this point out there should be a requirement that any new discovery that can affect the entire globe should be made available to the entire globe.

I think its time we see each other as fellow humans instead of enemies.

Nice find Ex ! I am always trying to keep up with these guys discoveries lately......
Seems that Cern is not the end all, and its good to see the scientists over here stretch out to prove their worth......
The Tevitron (sic) is not obsolete by any means either.......
One thing im wondering though....How small will these particle discoveries get?
The levels of quantum existence have turned out to be a labyrinth.....

I'm guessing they will somehow make it into a bomb. That is what usually happens with great discoveries like this. If they can use this technology to build rockets, they can also use it to build things that explode.

Do we really need more weapons of mass destruction? The ones that desire power do

Hi, particle fans!

It IS doing THAT !!??:

only particle in existence that can adopt both matter and antimatter
characteristics simultaneously

Maybe "Majorana" could make the perfect containers for the matter AND the antimatter of a
matter/antimatter rocket engine ? [ à la Star Trek ? ]

Blue skie.

originally posted by: rickymouse
I'm guessing they will somehow make it into a bomb. That is what usually happens with great discoveries like this. If they can use this technology to build rockets, they can also use it to build things that explode.

Do we really need more weapons of mass destruction? The ones that desire power do

Then how about you start a new thread in the WWIII forums for your wmd hypothesis on the topic.

a reply to: Xcathdra

Its ok, almost every thread about something new that rickymouse comments on always includes something about "They will weaponize it" despite not understanding what it is or how the research was done.


It is a pretty awesome discovery and paves the way for other searches of the same type of particle elsewhere in the standard model. It is still a big question.