Electrons are not elementary particles?

[Nav]

http://www.nature.com/news/not-quite-so-elementary-my-dear-electron-1.10471
Scientists have split an electron into 3 quasiparticles in the lab, why isn't this updated on the standard model?

 

[e.bar.goum]

http://www.nature.com/news/not-quite-so-elementary-my-dear-electron-1.10471
Scientists have split an electron into 3 quasiparticles in the lab, why isn't this updated on the standard model?

It's says so right there in the second paragraph of your link:

Isolated electrons cannot be split into smaller components, earning them the designation of a fundamental particle.

See also, the definition of "quasi":

quasi- Being partly or almost: quasicrystalline

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/quasi-[/URL]

So these quasiparticles aren't actually 'real' particles in the standard model sense, but are emergent from the behaviour of electrons in solids or collections of atoms. There are a lot of quasiparticles - the notion of the 'phonon' is probably the most important/famous one - modes of vibration in the crystal lattice. [URL='[PLAIN]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_quasiparticles']https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_quasiparticles[/URL]
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ETA: wikipedia link [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasiparticle[/URL]

[QUOTE]In physics, [B]quasiparticles[/B] and [B]collective excitations[/B] (which are closely related) are emergent phenomena that occur when a microscopically complicated system such as a solid behaves [I]as if[/I] it contained different weakly interacting particles in free space. For example, as an electron travels through a semiconductor, its motion is disturbed in a complex way by its interactions with all of the other electrons and nuclei; however it [I]approximately[/I] behaves like an electron with a [I]different mass[/I] traveling unperturbed through free space. This "electron" with a different mass is called an "electron quasiparticle".[1] In another example, the aggregate motion of electrons in the valence band of a semiconductor is the same as if the semiconductor contained instead positively charged quasiparticles called holes. Other quasiparticles or collective excitations include phonons (particles derived from the vibrations of atoms in a solid), plasmons (particles derived from plasma oscillations), and many others.[/QUOTE]

Think of them as convenient ways to deal with quantum many body dynamics.

 

[guywithdoubts]

Well, these are called quasiparticles for a reason. This has more to do with the weirdness of the quantum world than the electron not being a fundamental particle. See this.

 

[Nugatory]

A recent thread on quasiparticles: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/quasiparticle-confusion.833572/

 

[Demystifier]

http://www.nature.com/news/not-quite-so-elementary-my-dear-electron-1.10471
Scientists have split an electron into 3 quasiparticles in the lab, why isn't this updated on the standard model?

To use an analogy from everyday life, this is not much different from spliting a man into a naked man and his clothes. The electron-experiment above has no more implications for the standard model than my man-experiment has for biology.