Breaking the rules of reality with particles that shouldn't exist

Space · Published 26 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: For decades, physicists believed every particle in our universe fell into one of two buckets: bosons or fermions. But by shrinking dimensions and cooling matter to extremes, scientists have discovered a third category of 'in-between' particles that defy standard rules of physics.

In our three-dimensional world, identical quantum particles are governed by indistinguishability. When you swap two identical particles, the system either remains unchanged (bosons) or flips its sign (fermions). Because no other outcomes have ever been observed in 3D space, this binary classification was long considered a fundamental law of nature. However, these rules begin to break down in lower-dimensional systems, such as one-atom thick semiconductors.

Since the 1970s, theorists predicted 'anyons'—particles that exist somewhere between bosons and fermions. In 2020, researchers experimentally observed anyons at the boundaries of supercooled, strongly magnetized two-dimensional semiconductors. OIST and University of Oklahoma researchers lately discovered one-dimensional frameworks that host such entities, which might enable experts to adjust their characteristics via previously unattainable methods.

These are 'emergent' quasiparticles, meaning they aren't fundamental building blocks like electrons but arise from complex interactions within condensed matter. For example, when electrons interact strongly rather than weakly, it becomes nearly impossible to describe the system by looking at individual electrons alone. Instead, new entities emerge, such as six-flux composite fermions discovered by Purdue University researchers.

The discovery of these particles is more than a curiosity; it has profound implications for technology. Non-Abelian anyons, specifically, are being explored as a pathway toward fault-tolerant topological quantum computing. By manipulating these exotic states of matter on quantum chips, scientists hope to create computers that are inherently protected from the errors that plague current quantum systems.

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