Scientists find evidence of anti-particle

A team of researchers from the Netherlands could of made big laboratory news by finding evidence of the Majorana fermion, which is a particle that could be its own anti-particle.

Majorana fermion was first predicted 75 years ago, but there has been no evidence to support the hypothesis until now. Dutch researchers have devised an exotic and minute circuitry to test for the Majorana's existence, and they believe their results show the fermion to be real.

Leo Kouwenhoven from the Delft University of Technology was understandably optimistic about the results, saying: "It opens up some very interesting ideas." This is because Majoranas behave very differently to matter particles, such as electrons, and evidence of their existence opens up many new lines of study.

The particles were hypothesised by Italian Ettore Majorana, who said that a particle existed that might be equal to its anti-particle. Proving this theory has been the work of many scientists, but until now, most have failed to find evidence.

A lot of recent interest has been outside giant accelerators, with many laboratories using small electronic devices where lengths are measured on the order of just billionths of a metre (nanometres). Prof Kouwenhoven's group fabricated just such a device with the help of colleagues from the Eindhoven University of Technology, using a phenomenally thin wire in contact with a semiconductor and a superconductor.

Posted by Ben Evans