Dimensions are not always whole numbers, they can be fractions too. Electrons are not always one single indivisible entity, but apparently they can be fractions of themselves. You too, the illusion of a persistent subjective self, fractions.
Fractal photonic anomalous Floquet topological insulators to generate multiple quantum chiral edge states
Dec 2023, phys.org
Fractal photonics - stable carriers for high-capacity quantum information transmission by carry multiple topologically protected quantum chiral edge states
Chinese Academy of Science: Meng Li et al, Fractal photonic anomalous Floquet topological insulators to generate multiple quantum chiral edge states, Light: Science & Applications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41377-023-01307-y
Image credit: AI Art - Deep Within Synapses - 2023
Study finds no evidence for fractal scaling in canopy surfaces across a diverse range of forest types
Jan 2024, phys.org
The way trees grow together do not resemble how branches grow on a single tree (called self-similarity or fractality).
Airborne laser scanning data from nine sites spread across Australia's Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. "We found that forest canopies are not fractal, but they are very similar in how they deviate from fractality, irrespective of what ecosystem they are in. Most ecosystems, like forests, will hit an upper limit—most likely determined by the maximum size of its organisms—beyond which their structure cannot vary freely anymore.
So it's scale, but not fractals.
via University of Bristol: Fabian Jörg Fischer et al, No evidence for fractal scaling in canopy surfaces across a diverse range of forest types, Journal of Ecology (2023). DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.14244
Electrons become fractions of themselves in graphene
Feb 2024, phys.org
"This five-layer graphene (pentalayer graphene) is a material system where many good surprises happen"In very special states of matter, electrons can splinter into fractions of their whole. This phenomenon is known as "fractional charge", and known to physicists as the "fractional quantum Hall effect," is rare.When five sheets of graphene are stacked like steps on a staircase, the resulting structure inherently provides just the right conditions for electrons to pass through as fractions of their total charge, with no need for any external magnetic field.The results are the first evidence of the "fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect"The pentalayer structure were aligned with hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) to produce a moiré superlattice that could slow electrons down in ways that mimic a magnetic field."The day we saw it, we didn't recognize it at first," says first author Lu. "Then we started to shout as we realized, this was really big. It was a completely surprising moment."
via Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Long Ju, Fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect in multilayer graphene, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-07010-7.
Discovery of the first fractal molecule in nature
Apr 2024, phys.org
The first regular molecular fractal in nature. They discovered a microbial enzyme - citrate synthase from a cyanobacterium - that spontaneously assembles into a pattern known as the Sierpinski triangle."We stumbled on this structure completely by accident and almost couldn't believe what we saw when we first took images of it using an electron microscope"
via Max Planck Institute in Marburg and the Philipps University in Marburg: Franziska L. Sendker et al, Emergence of fractal geometries in the evolution of a metabolic enzyme, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07287-2
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