Most people leave high school with the basic knowledge that everything in the physical world consists of atoms — made up of protons, neutrons and electrons.

Professor of physics Yizhi You says the limited mobility of fractons makes them a promising option for advancing quantum hardware and building more efficient quantum computers.

We also know about the three common states of matter we encounter daily — solid, liquid and gas.

A theoretical physicist like Yizhi You, a professor at Northeastern University, studies the tiny world of subatomic particles. She examines how these particles interact with each other in materials.

These interactions can lead to unusual states of matter and phenomena, like quasiparticles — when groups of particles work together and behave as if they were a single particle.

Read more from Northeastern Global News.

Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University