Researchers at Monash University have predicted an unusual new type of quantum matter that could challenge long-held ideas about how ultracold particles behave, according to ScienceDaily.
Their calculations suggest that two very different kinds of quantum particles, bosons and fermions, may be able to form stable, self-bound “quantum droplets” under the right conditions. Scientists had previously thought such droplets were unlikely in strongly interacting Bose-Fermi systems.
Lead author Sam Foster, a PhD candidate in Monash’s School of Physics and Astronomy, said the work opens the door to exploring entirely new quantum states. He said the particles can balance each other in a way that allows the droplet to hold itself together.
The team said the droplets differ from ordinary liquid drops because their stability comes from quantum mechanics, with attractive forces balanced by pressure from the fermions. The calculations also suggest these droplets could be tested using existing ultracold atom experiments, and the work points to other unusual behavior that resembles a liquid-gas transition.
The study was carried out by Foster, Associate Professor Jesper Levinsen and Professor Meera Parish, along with collaborators at Heidelberg University. The paper, “Quantum droplets in a resonant Bose-Fermi mixture,” was published in Physical Review Letters.
