撰文 | Frank Wilczek美高梅是何超琼的吗

翻译 | 胡风、梁丁当

汉文版

基本粒子不错区分的思法曾被合计十分造作，如今，它正激发新兴领域的缱绻激越。

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，具有质料、电荷和角动量（或“自旋”）。凭据量子力学和相对论的严格规章，这个看上去有些节略的描绘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区分如故一个近乎乖张的思法。就像哥白尼时期的当然形而上学家齐合计日心说极其荒唐相似，关于多数严谨的物理学家而言，电子会区分成其他物资的思法也口舌常离谱的。

但地球如简直绕着太阳动弹，而电子也如实概况区分。早在20世纪80年代，这个令东谈主惊怖的可能性就已初现脉络。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 ：若是把极其薄且结拜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，就会发目生数目子霍尔效应。

霍尔效应（Hall effect）起初是由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处所对导体施加电流，在垂直于磁场和电流的处所会产生电势差，也等于霍尔电压。这种自得为电效应与磁效应之间的调养提供了一种极为方便的神志，是联想速率计和防抱死刹车系统等稠密常见仪器的中枢计制。

在分数目子霍尔效应中，电流荒谬的小，却也荒谬巩固。这些特征意味着酿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。在最通俗的情况下，这种粒子佩戴的有用电荷惟有电子电荷的三分之一，这标明薄层材料中的电子区分成了三个终点的部分。

直到不久前，东谈主们对分数电子的缱绻还仅仅隧谈受钦慕心启动的学术性缱绻。分数电子到手地挑战了科学家对物资的传统瓦解，因此激发了高度珍爱。但要思完毕这种效应需要极其尖刻的实践要求，因此它的实质应用似乎仅仅空中楼阁。

但是，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非凡的集体记挂。更具体地讲 ：若是你使一个分数电子围绕着另一个分数电子迁移，那么凭据绕转的神志，两个分数电子后来的举止也会有所不同。由于这种“记挂力”，分数电子——一种大肆子——有望成为构建、存储量子信息以及完毕量子臆想机的基本单位。

量子信息固然具有丰富的后劲，但也极其脆弱。若是思要树立它的实质用途，咱们需要能和会量子信息的复杂性与物理可操作性的决策。期骗大肆子，咱们有望完毕这个倡导。当今，科学家正在奋力于研发更容易完毕的大肆子，学习何如有用地缠绕它们、并测量它们的举止——也等于何如给它们赋予特定的记挂并使其呈现所需的效果。事实上，这项缱绻照旧越过了隧谈的学术范围，微软和谷歌等企业齐深度参与其中。

大肆子的故事是彰显钦慕心所启动的基础缱绻价值的一个典型例子。探索新奇的自得会给探索者带来长远的兴奋。这自身就很有价值。但有的时期，它的价值会发射更广的领域。正如惟有少部分勇于冒险的创业者不错取得无边的到手，也惟有少数荒诞的才智冒险最终会发展成冲突性本领。不论哪种情况，到手齐是惨酷的，失败才是大多数。尽管如斯，基础缱绻可能带来的无数报恩仍然使得对它的多量投资物美价廉。

英文版

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.

在南京浦口区，浦口市场监管局江浦分局召开中考保障工作部署会，对7个中考考点的保障人员进行工作动员。会议对检查要点进行再强调、再细化，要求保障人员按时间节点摸排掌握各考点就餐人员人数、菜单、校园周边餐饮经营户等情况，并于考前完成全覆盖检查。此前，江浦分局还主动与教育局进行了对接，全面掌握辖区考点设置、考生人数等情况，提前介入，依据全区中考保障工作方案对考点食堂负责人员进行专题培训。

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熟悉、量子色能源学的奠基东谈主之一。因发现了量子色能源学的渐近解放自得，他在2004年取得了诺贝尔物理学奖。

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