# Spinon
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Spinon
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Spinon.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinon
> Source revision: 1247930669
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{Short description|Quasiparticle in an extremely cold solid}}
'''Spinons''' are one of three [quasiparticle](/source/quasiparticle)s, along with [holon](/source/holon_(physics))s and [orbiton](/source/orbiton)s, that [electron](/source/electron)s in solids are able to split into during the process of [spin–charge separation](/source/spin%E2%80%93charge_separation), when extremely tightly confined at temperatures close to [absolute zero](/source/absolute_zero).[
{{cite web
| title = Discovery About Behavior Of Building Block Of Nature Could Lead To Computer Revolution
| url = https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090730141607.htm
| date = 31 July 2009
| work = [ScienceDaily](/source/ScienceDaily)
| accessdate = 2009-08-01
}}] The electron can always be theoretically considered as a [bound state](/source/bound_state) of the three, with the spinon carrying the [spin](/source/Spin_(physics)) of the electron, the [orbiton](/source/orbiton) carrying the [orbital location](/source/Atomic_orbital) and the [holon](/source/Holon_(physics)) carrying the [charge](/source/Electric_charge), but in certain conditions they can behave as independent [quasiparticle](/source/quasiparticle)s.
The term spinon is frequently used in discussions of experimental facts within the framework of both [quantum spin liquid](/source/quantum_spin_liquid) and [strongly correlated quantum spin liquid](/source/strongly_correlated_quantum_spin_liquid).[{{cite book | author=Amusia, M., Popov, K., Shaginyan, V., Stephanovich, V. | title=Theory of Heavy-Fermion Compounds - Theory of Strongly Correlated Fermi-Systems | volume=182 | publisher=Springer | year=2014 | isbn=978-3-319-10825-4| doi=10.1007/978-3-319-10825-4 | series=Springer Series in Solid-State Sciences }}]
==Overview==
Electrons, being of like charge, repel each other. As a result, in order to move past each other in an extremely crowded environment, they are forced to modify their behavior. Research published in July 2009 by the [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge) and the [University of Birmingham](/source/University_of_Birmingham) in [England](/source/England) showed that electrons could jump from the surface of the metal onto a closely located [quantum wire](/source/quantum_wire) by [quantum tunneling](/source/quantum_tunneling), and upon doing so, will separate into two [quasiparticle](/source/quasiparticle)s, named spinons and holons by the researchers.[
{{cite journal
| author = Y. Jompol| year = 2009
| title = Probing Spin-Charge Separation in a Tomonaga-Luttinger Liquid
| journal = [Science](/source/Science_(journal))
| volume = 325 | issue = 5940 | pages = 597–601
| doi = 10.1126/science.1171769
| pmid = 19644117
|bibcode = 2009Sci...325..597J |arxiv = 1002.2782 | s2cid = 206193
|display-authors=etal}}]
The orbiton was predicted theoretically by [van den Brink](/source/Jeroen_van_den_Brink), [Khomskii](/source/Daniel_I._Khomskii) and Sawatzky in 1997–1998.[
{{cite journal
| author = H.F. Pen, J. van den Brink, D. I. Khomskii and G.A. Sawatzky
| year = 1997
| title = Orbitally ordered, triangular spin singlet phase in LiVO2
| journal = Physical Review Letters
| volume = 78 | issue = 7
| pages = 1323–1326
|bibcode = 1997PhRvL..78.1323P |doi = 10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.1323 | s2cid = 120734299
}}][{{cite journal
| author = J. van den Brink, W. Stekelenburg, D.I. Khomskii, G.A. Sawatzky and K.I. Kugel
| year = 1998
| title = Spin and orbital excitations in magnetic insulators with Jahn-Teller ions
| journal = Physical Review B
| volume = 58 | issue = 16
| pages = 10276–10282
|bibcode = 1998PhRvB..5810276V |doi = 10.1103/PhysRevB.58.10276 | s2cid = 55650675
}}]
Its experimental observation as a separate quasiparticle was reported in paper sent to publishers in September 2011.[{{cite journal
|title=Spin–orbital separation in the quasi-one-dimensional Mott insulator Sr2CuO3
|date=18 April 2012
|doi=10.1038/nature10974
|arxiv = 1205.1954 |bibcode = 2012Natur.485...82S
|pmid=22522933
|volume=485
|issue=7396
|journal=Nature
|pages=82–5|last1=Schlappa
|first1=J
|last2=Wohlfeld
|first2=K
|last3=Zhou
|first3=K. J
|last4=Mourigal
|first4=M
|last5=Haverkort
|first5=M. W
|last6=Strocov
|first6=V. N
|last7=Hozoi
|first7=L
|last8=Monney
|first8=C
|last9=Nishimoto
|first9=S
|last10=Singh
|first10=S
|last11=Revcolevschi
|first11=A
|last12=Caux
|first12=J. S
|last13=Patthey
|first13=L
|last14=Rønnow
|first14=H. M
|last15=Van Den Brink
|first15=J
|last16=Schmitt
|first16=T
|s2cid=205228324
}}][{{cite journal
|title=Not-quite-so elementary, my dear electron
|date=18 April 2012
|doi=10.1038/nature.2012.10471
|url=http://www.nature.com/news/not-quite-so-elementary-my-dear-electron-1.10471
|last1=Merali
|first1=Zeeya
|journal=Nature
}}]
The research states that by firing a beam of [X-ray](/source/X-ray) [photon](/source/photon)s at a single electron in a one-dimensional sample of strontium [cuprate](/source/cuprate), this will excite the electron to a higher orbital, causing the beam to lose a fraction of its energy in the process. In doing so, the electron will be separated into a spinon and an orbiton. This can be traced by observing the energy and momentum of the X-rays before and after the collision.
==See also==
*[Condensed matter physics](/source/Condensed_matter_physics)
*[Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid](/source/Tomonaga%E2%80%93Luttinger_liquid)
==References==
{{reflist}}
Category:Quasiparticles
{{particle-stub}}
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Spinon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinon) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinon?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.