Most physics students are
surprised to learn that all
basic particles have
properties of both particles
and waves, but for the first
time physicists have
observed something even
stranger: a particle that is
both matter and its own
antimatter counterpart.
Known as the “Majorana
fermion” the subatomic
speck has been theorised
since the 1930s but never
definitely seen before. The
fermion “is expected to
emerge at the edge of
certain materials," says
Professor Ali Yazdani of
Princeton University, and
this is indeed where it has
been observed, sitting at
each end of a single-atom-
thick wire.
Antimatter was predicted in
1928, and confirmed in
1932, as particles with the
same mass as ordinary
matter but opposite in
charge. In 1937 Ettore
Majorana concluded that a
particle could be both
matter and antimatter, and
even more
astonishingly, stable in this
state. Mojorana
disappeared due to
mysterious circumstances
the following year, cutting
short what was already a
remarkable career.
Majorana's theory was
staggering because
normally when matter and
antimatter encounter each
other, both are destroyed,
releasing a lot of energy in
the process. However, the
mathematics he used to
make the claim appeared
unassailable. The
combination of matter and
antimatter properties make
the particle neutral so that,
gravity aside, it barely
interacts with the matter
around it. There has been
speculation that neutrinos
are actually Majorana
fermions .
In Science , Yazdani talked
about the production of an
iron wire sited on an
ultrapure
superconducting lead
crystal. At 1K (-272°C)
spectroscopic imaging
techniques revealed the
ends of the wire to be in
zero energy states. This is
what would be expected if
Majoranas had formed at
these ends. The appearance
of Majoranas at the ends of
superconducting wires was
predicted in 2001.
The authors describe their
Majoranas as "clean and
removed from any spurious
particles," unlike what
would occur if they had
been made in high energy
accelerators. A sighting of
possible Majoranas was
made in 2012, but Yazdani
says his is far more certain.
The microscope “shows
that this signal lives only at
the edge," says Yazdani,
which was not necessarily
the case for the previous
experiment. "That is the key
signature. If you don't have
that, then this signal can
exist for many other
reasons."
It is hoped that materials
incorporating the Majorana
would hold onto quantum
information in a more
stable manner, bolstering
the possibility of quantum
computing .

source: http://www.iflscience.com/particle-also-antiparticle-observed

science is beautiful, everyday more interesting things to discover.