Physicists Discover Strange Array of Links and Knots in Quantum Matter

"As physicists dig deeper into the quantum realm, they are discovering an infinitesimally small world composed of a strange and surprising array of links, knots, and winding. Some quantum materials exhibit magnetic whirls called skyrmions — unique configurations sometimes described as “subatomic hurricanes.” Others host a form of superconductivity that twists into vortices.

Now, in an article published in the journal Nature, a Princeton-led team of scientists has discovered that electrons in quantum matter can link one another in strange new ways. The work brings together ideas in three areas of science – condensed matter physics, topology, and knot theory – in a new way, raising unexpected questions about the quantum properties of electronic systems."

Physicists Discover Strange Array of Links and Knots in Quantum Matter by Princeton University.

Reference: “Observation of a linked-loop quantum state in a topological magnet,” by Ilya Belopolski, Guoqing Chang, Tyler A. Cochran, Zi-Jia Cheng, Xian P. Yang, Cole Hugelmeyer, Kaustuv Manna, Jia-Xin Yin, Guangming Cheng, Daniel Multer, Maksim Litskevich, Nana Shumiya, Songtian S. Zhang, Chandra Shekhar, Niels B. M. Schröter, Alla Chikina, Craig Polley, Balasubramanian Thiagarajan, Mats Leandersson, Johan Adell, Shin-Ming Huang, Nan Yao, Vladimir N. Strocov, Claudia Felser and M. Zahid Hasan, 27 April 2022, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04512-8