Computer simulations show how fundamental particles can behave like electrons in a superconductor

The protons and neutrons that make up the nucleus of an atom are themselves made up of fundamental particles known as quarks. Under everyday conditions, quarks exist only in pairs or triplets called hadrons. In high-energy environments such as those at the center of neutron stars or in particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider, however, quarks can exist as semifree particles. Arata Yamamoto from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science has now used supercomputer simulations to show that quarks can behave like electrons in a superconductor.