said<\/a> in a Florida State statement, \u201cwhich uses a 2D moir\u00e9 system and allows different crystalline shapes to form, like stripes or honeycomb crystals, unlike traditional Wigner crystals that only show a triangular lattice crystal.\u201d<\/p>\nIn other words, the \u2018typical\u2019 triangular Wigner crystal seen in a two-layer system can be twisted and tuned until its potential, and the potential energy in its system, is maximized. And under the right, weird conditions (and in the right, weird shapes), the system can \u201cbounce\u201d between states of matter like a pinball. This behavior was previously theorized, the researchers explain, but their more-realized computer model shows that the pinball state is plausible in real life… but maybe only inside a near-absolute-zero freezer.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur work addresses currently unresolved aspects of these experiments, contributing to the theoretical understanding of the moir\u00e9 TMD [twisted metal dichalcogenide] systems and presenting both zero-temperature and finite-temperature studies in a unified framework,\u201d the team wrote. \u201c[One] objective,\u201d they continued, \u201cis to understand the finite temperature melting of these [generalized Wigner crystals (GWCs)],\u201d and another was to probe the stability of the layered model that fosters the GWCs.<\/p>\n
The \u201cpartially melted\u201d or \u201cpinball liquid\u201d phase, they found, is unexpectedly stable (though, with quantum states at near absolute zero temperatures, stability is relative). In this phase, some electrons \u201cwant to freeze and others want to float around, which means that some are insulating and some are conducting electricity,\u201d Cyprian Lewandowski, one of the authors of this study, said in a press release. \u201cThis is the first time this unique quantum mechanical effect has been observed and reported for the electron density we studied in our work.\u201d<\/p>\n
And while it\u2019s less glamorous than the pinball state, in this paper, the researchers also found some ways that physicists studying GWCs can liken parts of their systems to other models in order to clarify their work. These imperfect or partial analogies could help shake loose further insights and paths of inquiry and are essential to science.<\/p>\n
The team behind this work knows that this line of research is far from over.\u201c[W]hen you think of turning a liquid into gas, you picture turning up a heat knob to get water to boil into steam,\u201d Lewandowski said in the statement. \u201cHere, it turns out there are other quantum knobs we can play with to manipulate states of matter, which can lead to impressive advances in experimental research.\u201d<\/p>\n
You Might Also Like<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.” Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":521205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[25],"tags":[232016,36577,232012,232017,492,232014,52961,159,933,232015,31066,67,132,68,232013],"class_list":["post-521204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-physics","tag-computer-model","tag-florida-state-university","tag-moire","tag-phase-transition","tag-physics","tag-pinball","tag-quantum-state","tag-science","tag-scientists","tag-state-of-matter","tag-thin-films","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wigner-crystal"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115906774825771605","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"visual](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/6ea6e0ee65bc5354c8e8879116075d96.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n