Fractionalization

<p>In <a href="/facts/Quantum_mechanics/BRc3Mzgr">quantum mechanics</a>, fractionalization is the phenomenon whereby the <a href="/facts/Quasiparticle/Bpx2MNpb">quasiparticles</a> of a system cannot be constructed as combinations of its elementary constituents. One of the earliest and most prominent examples is the <a href="/facts/Fractional_quantum_Hall_effect/bkRtdmxX">fractional quantum Hall effect</a>, where the constituent particles are <a href="/facts/Electrons/L0KBo5cW">electrons</a> but the quasiparticles carry fractions of the electron <a href="/facts/Electric_charge/xxsBfmlB">charge</a>.  Fractionalization can be understood as <a href="/facts/Deconfinement/NdY4f3PM">deconfinement</a> of quasiparticles that together are viewed as comprising the elementary constituents. In the case of <a href="/facts/Spin%E2%80%93charge_separation/cFHHocmH">spin–charge separation</a>, for example, the electron can be viewed as a bound state of a '<a href="/facts/Spinon/vxA5Lhre">spinon</a>' and a '<a href="/facts/Holon_(physics)/9nBVMm1I">holon</a> (or <a href="/facts/Chargon/9nBVMm1I">chargon</a>)', which under certain conditions can become free to move separately.
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Fractionalization open-in-new

Fractionalization