So-called “exotic phases of matter” are currently a major focus of scientific research. There are two reasons for this. From the perspective of basic science, they represent a largely unexplored frontier of quantum physics. From the perspective of applied science, they are the foundation of emerging technologies, including robust quantum computing.
A recent study by an international team of researchers revealed that the heavy fermion compound CeRu₄Sn₆ exhibits an entirely new electronic state: a topological semimetal stabilized not in spite of, but thanks to, quantum criticality. (Brief descriptions of the main physical concepts mentioned in this article are available in the glossary at the end of the text.) An article on the subject was published in Nature Physics.
“The work expands the repertoire of exotic phases of matter and suggests that quantum critical points may act as ‘nurseries’ for strongly correlated topological states,” says Julio Larrea Jiménez, a physicist, professor at the University of São Paulo’s Physics Institute (IF-USP) in Brazil, co-founder and head of the institute’s Laboratory for Quantum Matter under Extreme Conditions (LQMEC), and one of the authors of the paper.
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