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fermion

fermion

1 9.9
A very small particle like an electron or proton that cannot occupy the same quantum state as another
  • noun
  • /ˈfɜrmiˌɒn/
  • Specialized
: fermión
  • In another regime, the fermions can associate in widely spaced pairs.
  • fermions and bosons
  • fermion pairs
  • Majorana fermions

He starts with the already known fermions and their conserve charges.

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Examples

  • Once researchers knew that electrons could pair in a superconductor, they began thinking about how fermions might pair in other condensed matter systems.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Now, there's great interest in forming molecules from fermions.

    Academic text (2003)
  • You could also do something with fermions here.

  • Then we look at the fermions and we see what G is.

  • These are called the fermions, and these are the bosons.

  • But atoms with half-integer spins—fermions—are excluded from occupying the same quantum states.

    Academic text (2003)
  • A prominent example is supersymmetry, in which each standard-model boson is partnered with a new fermion—and vice versa.

    Academic text (2012)
  • Thus, the low-density gas might give interesting insight into other strongly interacting systems of fermions, such as the electrons in high-Tc superconductors or the quarks in a quark-gluon plasma.

    Academic text (2005)
  • Electrons, neutrinos, and a host of other subatomic particles belong to a family called fermions.

  • On the other side stand the fermions, the particles that react to those forces: electrons, quarks, and the like.

Surface Forms

fermion singular
fermions plural

Morphology

fermion = Fermi (semi-transparent) = Fermi + on

The suffix '-on' marks particle names (so learners familiar with words like 'electron' or 'proton' can guess it's a particle), but the specific statistical property (obeying Fermi-Dirac statistics) is specialized and not inferable from the base.

Etymology

The word fermion is 'named after' the Italian scientist Fermi plus the common particle ending -on, the same ending seen in electron and proton. So a fermion is a tiny particle like an electron, proton, or neutron, and the name helps you remember it is in the group of particles that cannot occupy the same quantum state.