May 27, 2021
New quantum material discovered
Posted by Scott Bleackley in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics
## SCIENCE ADVANCES • MAY 24, 2021 # *by Vienna University of Technology*
In everyday life, phase transitions usually have to do with temperature changes--for example, when an ice cube gets warmer and melts. But there are also different kinds of phase transitions, depending on other parameters such as magnetic field. In order to understand the quantum properties of materials, phase transitions are particularly interesting when they occur directly at the absolute zero point of temperature. These transitions are called "quantum phase transitions" or a "quantum critical points."
Such a quantum critical point has now been discovered by an Austrian-American research team in a novel material, and in an unusually pristine form. The properties of this material are now being further investigated.