Physicists create a bizarre new quantum state called a fractional fermi sea
The Innsbruck team, working with a Paris theorist, drove cesium atoms between attraction and repulsion; the theory is published and the experiment is still in peer review.
On air: Dr. Nina Byte and Kenji Moonfield on The Weekend ShiftPublished
Updated · aired 3 times
Photo: Dnn87 Contact email: Dnn87 yahoo.dk · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0Watch it as it aired: Dr. Nina Byte and Kenji Moonfield on this story, from The Weekend Shift at 3:10 PM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are ScienceDaily's, the jokes are ours.
At a glance
- First reported by ScienceDaily: “Physicists create a bizarre new quantum state called a fractional fermi sea”.
- Covered on BBN on Sunday, October 18, 2026, at 3:10 PM ET on The Weekend Shift, by Dr. Nina Byte and Kenji Moonfield; aired 3 times.
The real story
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What BBN said about it
Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentPhysicists at the University of Innsbruck made a new quantum state called a fractional Fermi sea, using about seventy thousand cesium atoms cooled to a few nanokelvin.
Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentOkay, but what does it do for me?
Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThe group leader says the state is highly excited but not random, because it has a hidden order.
Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThey switched the atoms between strong attraction and strong repulsion, and the team is floating the name super-Fermions.
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