New quasi-particle: the Wrinklon


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Quasi-Particle: phenomena that occur when a microscopically-complicated system (such as a solid or gas) behaves as if it contained weakly-interacting particles, but no such particles are actually present.

Examples are the phonon (an acoustic oscillation), plasmon (an oscillation in plasma), the charge holes in semiconductors etc.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/46313

Introducing the 'wrinklon'

A new quasiparticle called the "wrinklon" could help explain why materials as diverse as graphene and household curtains wrinkle in much the same way ? despite their very different length scales. The particle has been introduced by researchers in Belgium, France and the US as a result of measurements on a wide range of materials on length scales from micrometres to metres. While the work may not lead to more attractive curtains, wrinkles do turn out to affect the electronic properties of graphene and the analysis could therefore influence the development of graphene-based devices.

Wrinkles can appear whenever a sheet of material is fixed along one or more edges. In the case of a fabric curtain, the wrinkles are close together at the top and the space between wrinkles increases continuously further down the curtain. The emergence of wrinklons ? by Pascal Damman and colleagues at the universities of Mons, Paris and California Riverside, as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ? reflects this change and defines the patterns of wrinkles seen in such materials.

Self-similar patterns

Physicists have enjoyed great success in describing complex systems in terms of quasiparticles ? collective excitations that behave much like discrete particles. This latest wrinklon quasiparticle describes a localized region with a high degree of stretching where two wrinkles merge into one (see figure). Indeed, if you happen to be sitting next to a curtain, then you can probably see a few wrinklons, which may appear depending on the tension in the material and its physical properties such as thickness and elasticity.

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wrinklon.jpg

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Your skin is a sheet-like material, so it's likely the wrinklon could be used to describe them.

Quasi-particles aren't like real particles though - they are used to describe the group interactions of real particles and weak forces.

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