E8 is a mathematical formula that gives math types a woodie.
New Scientist claims E8, which was first discovered in the late 1800's, has finally been observed in the lab.
Quote:
Radu Coldea of the University of Oxford and his colleagues chilled a crystal made of cobalt and niobium to 0.04 °C above absolute zero. Atoms in the crystal are arranged in long, parallel chains. Because of a quantum property called spin, electrons attached to the atom chains act like tiny bar magnets, each of which can only point up or down.
Strange things occurred when the experimenters applied a powerful 5.5-Tesla magnetic field perpendicular to the direction of these electron "magnets". Patterns appeared spontaneously in the electron spins in the chains – in a simplified example with three electrons, the spins could read up-up-down or down-up-down, among other possibilities. Each distinct pattern has a different energy associated with it.
The ratio of these different energy levels showed that the electron spins were ordering themselves according to mathematical relationships in E8 symmetry.
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You'll have to take their word for it, as I haven't had time to duplicate their findings in my basement shop, but the E8 illustrations sure are purty.
