A famous quantum effect can finally be predicted in real materials
Scientists have developed a powerful new way to calculate the Kondo effect, a strange quantum phenomenon that appears when magnetic atoms are embedded in metals.
Scientists have developed a powerful new way to calculate the Kondo effect, a strange quantum phenomenon that appears when magnetic atoms are embedded in metals.
The short version
- Instead of relying on simplified models, the method uses the real atomic and electronic structures of materials, allowing researchers to predict their behavior with far greater accuracy.
- Scientists at Caltech and Yale University have developed a way to precisely calculate the Kondo effect in specific real materials, something that had not previously been possible.
- For decades, researchers have largely depended on simplified models that capture the phenomenon only approximately.
What happened
The new approach instead works directly from a material's true atomic and electronic structure. The advance could help pave the way for realistic computer simulations of more complicated quantum materials, including high-temperature superconductors.
Why it matters
In these materials, the behavior of any one electron is strongly influenced by what nearby electrons are doing, making the system difficult to describe with conventional approximations.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at ScienceDaily — Top Science via the links above and below.