Question

Fractionalization of this quantity was demonstrated in a 2018 paper by Kasahara et al. which predicted that a non-abelian state of matter could be found by measuring half-integer thermal quantum Hall fluctuations. This quantity fractionalizes into Majorana (“mye-uh-RAH-nuh”) fermions in certain honeycomb lattice compounds modeled with interactions named after Alexei Kitaev (“kih-TAH-yeff”). Dysprosium titanate is an example (10[1])of a substance (10[1])named (10[1])for this quantity (10[1])that (10[1])exhibits magnetic (10[1])frustration. Substances (10[1])named (10[1])for (10[1])this (10[1])quantity (10[1])are modeled using randomly aligned (10[1])magnetic (10[1])dipoles (10[2])on integer grids. (10[1])Three two-by-two Hermitian (10[1])(“her-MISH-ian”) matrices (10[2])used to represent this quantity are named for Wolfgang (10[1])Pauli (10[1])and denoted sigma-sub-i. For 10 points, what quantity gives its name to a kind of “glass” and takes (10[1])half-integer values for fermions? ■END■

ANSWER: spin [accept Kitaev spin liquids or spin ices or spin glasses or quantum spin systems or Pauli spin matrices; accept intrinsic angular momentum; prompt on angular momentum]
<Physics>
= Average correct buzz position

Summary

2025 ACF Nationals04/19/2025Y22100%0%0%74.14

Buzzes

PlayerTeamOpponentBuzz PositionValue
Richard NiuCornell AHarvard5410
Jason ZhangToronto CIllinois A5710
Calvin BostlemanOhio StateStanford5810
Liam KusalikWaterloo ALSE6110
Benjamin ChapmanToronto ANorth Carolina B6210
Adam FineChicago AMinnesota6410
Bryan UgazArizona StateUC Berkeley A6610
Colin VeeversOttawaMaryland6710
Karan GurazadaTexasColumbia B6810
Rasheeq AzadNorth Carolina AVanderbilt6910
June YinWUSTL BToronto B7010
Geoffrey WuColumbia AMichigan7510
Shardul ParthasarathyIllinois BIndiana7610
Ezra SantosChicago BRutgers7710
Yrwin BatanMITYale7710
Matthew WangBritish ColumbiaWinona State8010
Leo LawFloridaCornell B8310
Jeremy CummingsWUSTL AIowa State8410
Ryan RosenbergNYUVirginia8410
Amogh KulkarniGeorgia StateUC Berkeley B9310
Shiva TegullaUCFVirginia Tech9410
Cade ReinbergerRITPenn State11210