Researchers find first experimental evidence for a graviton-like particle in a quantum material
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Light probing a chiral graviton mode in a fractional quantum Hall effect liquid. Credit: Lingjie Du, Nanjing University
A team of scientists from Columbia, Nanjing University, Princeton, and the University of Munster, writing in the journal Nature, have presented the first experimental evidence of collective excitations with spin called chiral graviton modes (CGMs) in a semiconducting material.
A CGM appears to be similar to a graviton, a yet-to-be-discovered elementary particle better known in high-energy quantum physics for hypothetically giving rise to gravity, one of the fundamental forces in the universe, whose ultimate cause remains mysterious.
The ability to study graviton-like particles in the lab could help fill critical gaps between quantum mechanics and Einstein's theories of relativity, solving a major dilemma in physics and expanding our understanding of the universe.
