Physicists wrangled electrons into a quantum fractal

Electrons within the structure behave as if they live in a fractional number of dimensions

Sierpinski triangle and quantum fractal

ELECTRONS GO FRACTAL  A fractal called a Sierpinski triangle (right) has been fashioned in the quantum realm (left), shown in an image indicating the density of electrons on the surface of copper.

S.N. Kempkes et al/Nature Physics

Physicists have created an oddity known as a quantum fractal, a structure that could reveal new and strange types of electron behaviors.