David J. Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz were distinguished by their descriptions of the states of exotic matter
STOCKHOLM.- The british David J. Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz, members of american colleges and universities were honored today with the Nobel Prize in Physics for the description of the states of exotic matter, which may have applications in fields such as electronics.
“they Opened the door to an unknown world in which matter can assume states of strangers,” he explained in a statement the Royal Academy of Sciences of Sweden . “They used mathematical methods advanced for the study phases or states unusual matter, such as superconductors, superfluidos or layers of thin magnetic”, he added.
The most popular states of matter are solid, liquid and gas. But in extreme conditions, the art can also adopt other states and to develop unusual properties. This is the case, for example, of superconductors, through which electricity flows very easily. The theories developed by the new Nobel prize for Physics helped explain such phenomena.
“Thanks to his pioneering work opened the hunt for new and exotic phases of matter. Many people expect future applications in materials science such as in the electronics”, explained the Royal Academy.
“In the last decade this field has driven cutting-edge research in physics of matter condesada, among other things by the hope that the materials topological can be used in new generations of superconductors and (components) electronic or quantum computers,” added the Royal Academy.
The prize is endowed with eight million Swedish crowns (about 930.000 dollars), of which Thouless you will receive one-half and Haldane and Kosterlitz the other.
The topology is a branch of mathematics that describes properties that change only slowly, that is to say, remain intact when an object is stretched, twisted and deformed, but not when it divides. Its use in physics was key to the discoveries awarded.
Kosterlitz and Thouless studied the phenomena that occur in a flat world, on surfaces, or within thin layers that can be considered two-dimensional, while Haldane studied the matter that forms threads so fine that it can be considered one-dimensional.
At the beginning of the 70′s, Kosterlitz and Thouless refuted the theory proposed that superconductivity and superfluidez could not occur in thin layers. Both showed that the conductivity can occur at low temperatures and explained the mechanism that causes superconductivity to disappear at higher temperatures.
This mechanism is called a transition, Kosterlitz-Thouless and is considered as one of the most important discoveries of the TWENTIETH century in the physics of condensed matter. In the 80′s, Thouless and Haldane presented revolutionary works that modified previous theories, including the theory of quantum mechanics to determine which materials conduct electricity.
“As in many discoveries, you meet with them and you have to realize that you have found something very interesting,” he said today Haldane by telephone to the journalists present at the announcement of the winners. The british researcher of 82-year-old was “very, very surprised and very pleased” by the news. Haldane is a professor of Physics at Princeton University, in the united States.
Thouless, born in 1934 in Bearsden, Scotland , is professor emeritus at the University of Washington, Seattle, in the united States . Kosterlitz was born in 1942 in Aberdeen, in Scotland, and is professor of Physics at the University of Providence, also in the united States.
last year the Nobel prize for Physics goes to the japanese Takaaki Kajita, and the canadian Arthur B McDonald for his discovery of the oscillations of the neutrino, which showed that these subatomic particles have mass, contrary to what was believed until then.
The Physics is the second Nobel Prize that is being given this year. The of Medicine was awarded Monday to japanese Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries of the mechanism of autophagy, a process essential for the degradation and recycling of cellular components unnecessary.
AP
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