A multi-institutional team exploring the physics of collective behavior has developed and measured a model nanomagnetic array in which the behavior can be best understood as that of a set of wiggling strings. The strings, which are composed of connected points of high energy among the lattice, can stretch and shrink, but also reconnect. What makes these strings special is that they are limited to certain endpoints and must connect to those endpoints in particular ways. These constraints on the strings’ behavior are an example of what physicists call topological behavior, which is related to a wide range of topics from the shape of a donut to how electrons travel through certain cutting-edge semiconductors. The results were recently published in a paper in Science.
Full article @ Yale SEAS News.