News Physics

Physicists have ‘braided’ strange quasiparticles called anyons

Looping the structures around one another strengthens the case that anyons really exist

braided rope

Anyons, which show up within 2-D materials, can be looped around one another like rope. Now physicists have observed this “braiding” effect.

Belchonock/iStock/Getty Images Plus

By Emily Conover

- More than 2 years ago

Physicists have captured their first clear glimpse of the tangled web woven by particles called anyons.

The observed effect, known as braiding, is the most striking evidence yet for the existence of anyons — a class of particle that can occur only in two dimensions.