Researchers reveal signatures of supersymmetry that could open new doors to quantum computing and our understanding of the universe.
For decades, particle physicists have been searching to no avail for hints of supersymmetry. But could it lie closer to home than we think ?
New findings resulting from a collaboration between UNIGE theoretical researchers in the group of Thierry Giamarchi and other institutions researchers, reveal supersymmetric behaviour in a quantum material, demonstrating that it can emerge naturally in condensed matter. This has promising practical implications for making stable qubits for quantum computing. The results are published in Nature Communications.
The theory of supersymmetry tells us that every matter (fermion) particle should have a supersymmetric force-carrying (boson) partner. If proven relevant to the physics of our universe, this would provide crucial evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model, with implications for unresolved mysteries in physics such as dark matter. Yet, despite decades of experiments at the large hadron collider (LHC) at CERN, no direct evidence of its existence has been found.
Although supersymmetry has yet to – and may never – be discovered at the high energies where new particles are created and destroyed, its mathematical structure can still emerge in materials at lower energies, governing the behaviour of quantum states, as shown by this new research led by PSI researchers and emerging in collaboration with researchers from the University of Geneva and other institutions.
See the article published in Nature Communications.