Making magnetic monopoles, and other exotica, in the lab

[bananas]

http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2009/01/29/making-magnetic-monopoles-and-other-exotica-in-the-lab/

Making magnetic monopoles, and other exotica, in the lab
January 29, 2009 | 2:00 pm

Physicist Shou-Cheng Zhang has proposed a way to physically realize the magnetic monopole. In a paper published online in the January 29 issue of Science Express, Zhang and post-doctoral collaborator Xiao-Liang Qi predict the existence of a real-world material that acts as a magic mirror, in which the never-before-observed monopole appears as the image of an ordinary electron. If his prediction is confirmed by experiments, this could mean the opening of condensed matter as a new venue for observing the exotica of high-energy physics.

<snip>

Although Zhang works as a theorist, he has close ties to experimental physics. In 2007, his prediction of the quantum spin Hall effect in mercury telluride was confirmed experimentally, earning his work praise in Science as a runner-up breakthrough of that year. “As a theorist you’re always motivated by the math, but it’s a testament to our understanding that we can predict real-world materials,” Zhang says. “Before, new materials were more or less found by accident.” Now other SIMES researchers will be using the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at SLAC to closely study two specific materials, bismuth selenide and bismuth telluride, that Zhang has predicted will exhibit this strange mirror behavior. They hope to confirm the prediction experimentally some time this year.

<snip>

By Lauren Schenkman, symmetry intern

Update: You can hear some discussion of this on the fun This Week in Science podcast.
http://www.twis.org/audio/2009/02/03/343/

[Ian David]

1. Will this lead to cheap MagLev trains? n/t

[phantom power]

3. It might finally give us fusion.

The strength of a dipole magnetic field falls off roughly as the inverse cube of distance. A monopole field falls off as the linear inverse. Much stronger as distance increases. In theory, it would allow new "shapes" of magnetic fields to be generated, and stronger.

[Ian David]

4. Plus we'll be able to fit more porn on our hard drives. n/t

[phantom power]

5. Also true. And retrieve it faster.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. Oh shit, Bill Gates has bought the right to magnetism?

Ah, you said monopoles. Never mind.

[Sandrine for you]

6. Someone can explain to me: I simply dont understand this phrase:

real-world material that acts as a magic mirror, in which the never-before-observed monopole appears as the image of an ordinary electron. If his prediction is confirmed by experiments, this could mean the opening of condensed matter as a new venue for observing the exotica of high-energy physics.

[phantom power]

7. I'll take a stab at it...

If you construct materials with just the right properties, you can get phenomena emerging from those materials that "act like" particles. So, physicists would be able to study their behavior. Instead of creating them with a particle accelerator, they create these materials, and study their behavior in the material. That's what they mean by condensed-matter as a venue for high-energy physics.

[Sandrine for you]

8. Thank's !!