Quasiparticle
In physics, quasiparticles and collective excitations
(which are closely related) are emergent phenomena that
occur when a microscopically complicated system such
as a solid behaves as if it contained dierent 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 approximately
behaves like an electron with a dierent mass (eective
mass) traveling unperturbed through free space. This
electron with a dierent mass is called an electron
quasiparticle.[1] In another example, the aggregate mo-
tion of electrons in the valence band of a semiconductor is
the same as if the semiconductor instead contained pos-
itively charged quasiparticles called holes. Other quasi-
particles or collective excitations include phonons (par-
ticles derived from the vibrations of atoms in a solid),
plasmons (particles derived from plasma oscillations),
and many others. 1.2 Relation to many-body quantum me-
These particles are typically called quasiparticles if chanics
they are related to fermions, and called collective excita-
tions if they are related to bosons,[1] although the precise
distinction is not universally agreed upon.[2] Thus, elec-
trons and holes are typically called quasiparticles, while
phonons and plasmons are typically called collective ex-
citations.
The quasiparticle concept is most important in condensed
matter physics since it is one of the few known ways of
simplifying the quantum mechanical many-body prob-
lem.
1 Overview
1.1 General introduction
Solids are made of only three kinds of particles:
Electrons, protons, and neutrons. Quasiparticles are none
of these; instead, they are an emergent phenomenon that
occurs inside the solid. Therefore, while it is quite possi-
ble to have a single particle (electron or proton or neutron)
oating in space, a quasiparticle can instead only exist in-
side the solid.
Motion in a solid is extremely complicated: Each elec-
tron and proton is pushed and pulled (by Coulombs law)
by all the other electrons and protons in the solid (which
may themselves be in motion). It is these strong interac-
tions that make it very dicult to predict and understand
the behavior of solids (see many-body problem). On the
other hand, the motion of a non-interacting particle is
quite simple: In classical mechanics, it would move in a
straight line, and in quantum mechanics, it would move in
a superposition of plane waves. This is the motivation for
the concept of quasiparticles: The complicated motion
of the actual particles in a solid can be mathematically
transformed into the much simpler motion of imagined
quasiparticles, which behave more like non-interacting
particles.
In summary, quasiparticles are a mathematical tool for
simplifying the description of solids. They are not real
particles inside the solid. Instead, saying A quasiparticle
is present or A quasiparticle is moving is shorthand
for saying A large number of electrons and nuclei are
moving in a specic coordinated way.
Energy Excited States
Ground State
Any system, no matter how complicated, has a ground state along
with an innite series of higher-energy excited states.
The principal motivation for quasiparticles is that it is
almost impossible to directly describe every particle in
a macroscopic system. For example, a barely-visible
(0.1mm) grain of sand contains around 1017 nuclei and
1018 electrons. Each of these attracts or repels every
other by Coulombs law. In quantum mechanics, a system
is described by a wavefunction, which, if the particles are
interacting (as they are in our case), depends on the posi-
tion of every particle in the system. So, each particle adds
three independent variables to the wavefunction, one for
each coordinate needed to describe the position of that
1
2 1 OVERVIEW

particle. Because of this, directly approaching the many- sally agreed upon.[2]
body problem of 1018 interacting electrons by straightfor- There is a dierence in the way that quasiparticles
wardly trying to solve the appropriate Schrdinger equa- and collective excitations are intuitively envisioned.[2] A
tion is impossible in practice, since it amounts to solving a quasiparticle is usually thought of as being like a dressed
partial dierential equation not just in three dimensions, particle: It is built around a real particle at its core, but
but in 3x1018 dimensions one for each component of the behavior of the particle is aected by the environ-
the position of each particle. ment. A standard example is the electron quasiparticle":
One simplifying factor is that the system as a whole, A real electron particle, in a crystal, behaves as if it had
like any quantum system, has a ground state and vari- a dierent mass. On the other hand, a collective excita-
ous excited states with higher and higher energy above tion is usually imagined to be a reection of the aggregate
the ground state. In many contexts, only the low-lying behavior of the system, with no single real particle at its
excited states, with energy reasonably close to the ground core. A standard example is the phonon, which charac-
state, are relevant. This occurs because of the Boltzmann terizes the vibrational motion of every atom in the crystal.
distribution, which implies that very-high-energy thermal However, these two visualizations leave some ambiguity.
uctuations are unlikely to occur at any given tempera- For example, a magnon in a ferromagnet can be consid-
ture. ered in one of two perfectly equivalent ways: (a) as a mo-
Quasiparticles and collective excitations are a type of bile defect (a misdirected spin) in a perfect alignment of
low-lying excited state. For example, a crystal at absolute magnetic moments or (b) as a quantum of a collective
zero is in the ground state, but if one phonon is added to spin wave that involves the precession of many spins. In
the crystal (in other words, if the crystal is made to vibrate the rst case, the magnon is envisioned as a quasiparticle,
slightly at a particular frequency) then the crystal is now in in the second case, as a collective excitation. However,
a low-lying excited state. The single phonon is called an both (a) and (b) are equivalent and correct descriptions.
elementary excitation. More generally, low-lying excited As this example shows, the intuitive distinction between a
states may contain any number of elementary excitations quasiparticle and a collective excitation is not particularly
(for example, many phonons, along with other quasipar- important or fundamental.
ticles and collective excitations).[3]
The problems arising from the collective nature of quasi-
When the material is characterized as having several ele- particles have also been discussed within the philoso-
mentary excitations, this statement presupposes that the phy of science, notably in relation to the identity condi-
dierent excitations can be combined together. In other tions of quasiparticles and whether they should be con-
words, it presupposes that the excitations can coexist si- sidered real by the standards of, for example, entity re-
multaneously and independently. This is never exactly alism.[4][5]
true. For example, a solid with two identical phonons
does not have exactly twice the excitation energy of a
solid with just one phonon, because the crystal vibration 1.4 Eect on bulk properties
is slightly anharmonic. However, in many materials, the
elementary excitations are very close to being indepen- By investigating the properties of individual quasiparti-
dent. Therefore, as a starting point, they are treated as cles, it is possible to obtain a great deal of information
free, independent entities, and then corrections are in- about low-energy systems, including the ow properties
cluded via interactions between the elementary excita- and heat capacity.
tions, such as phonon-phonon scattering". In the heat capacity example, a crystal can store energy by
Therefore, using quasiparticles / collective excitations, in- forming phonons, and/or forming excitons, and/or form-
stead of analyzing 1018 particles, one needs to deal with ing plasmons, etc. Each of these is a separate contribution
only a handful of somewhat-independent elementary ex- to the overall heat capacity.
citations. It is, therefore, a very eective approach to
simplify the many-body problem in quantum mechanics.
This approach is not useful for all systems, however: In 1.5 History
strongly correlated materials, the elementary excitations
are so far from being independent that it is not even useful The idea of quasiparticles originated in Lev Landaus the-
as a starting point to treat them as independent. ory of Fermi liquids, which was originally invented for
studying liquid helium-3. For these systems a strong
similarity exists between the notion of quasiparticle and
1.3 Distinction between quasiparticles and dressed particles in quantum eld theory. The dynam-
collective excitations ics of Landaus theory is dened by a kinetic equation
of the mean-eld type. A similar equation, the Vlasov
Usually, an elementary excitation is called a quasiparti- equation, is valid for a plasma in the so-called plasma
cle if it is a fermion and a collective excitation if it is approximation. In the plasma approximation, charged
a boson.[1] However, the precise distinction is not univer- particles are considered to be moving in the electromag-
2.2 More specialized examples
netic eld collectively generated by all other particles,
and hard collisions between the charged particles are ne-
glected. When a kinetic equation of the mean-eld type
is a valid rst-order description of a system, second-order
corrections determine the entropy production, and gen-
erally take the form of a Boltzmann-type collision term,
in which gure only far collisions between virtual par-
ticles. In other words, every type of mean-eld kinetic
equation, and in fact every mean-eld theory, involves a
quasiparticle concept.
2 Examples of quasiparticles and
collective excitations
This section contains examples of quasiparticles and col-
lective excitations. The rst subsection below contains
common ones that occur in a wide variety of materials un-
der ordinary conditions; the second subsection contains
examples that arise only in special contexts.
2.1 More common examples
See also: List of quasiparticles
In solids, an electron quasiparticle is an electron
as aected by the other forces and interactions in
the solid. The electron quasiparticle has the same
charge and spin as a normal (elementary particle)
electron, and like a normal electron, it is a fermion.
However, its mass can dier substantially from that
of a normal electron; see the article eective mass.[1]
Its electric eld is also modied, as a result of
electric eld screening. In many other respects, es-
pecially in metals under ordinary conditions, these
so-called Landau quasiparticles closely resemble fa-
miliar electrons; as Crommies "quantum corral"
showed, an STM can clearly image their interference
upon scattering.
A hole is a quasiparticle consisting of the lack of
an electron in a state; it is most commonly used in
the context of empty states in the valence band of a
semiconductor.[1] A hole has the opposite charge of
an electron.
A phonon is a collective excitation associated with
the vibration of atoms in a rigid crystal structure. It
is a quantum of a sound wave.
A magnon is a collective excitation[1] associated
with the electrons spin structure in a crystal lattice.
It is a quantum of a spin wave.
A roton is a collective excitation associated with the
rotation of a uid (often a superuid). It is a quan-
tum of a vortex.
3
In materials, a photon quasiparticle is a photon as
aected by its interactions with the material. In par-
ticular, the photon quasiparticle has a modied rela-
tion between wavelength and energy (dispersion re-
lation), as described by the materials index of re-
fraction. It may also be termed a polariton, espe-
cially near a resonance of the material. For exam-
ple, an exciton-polariton is a superposition of an
exciton and a photon; a phonon-polariton is a su-
perposition of a phonon and a photon.
A plasmon is a collective excitation, which is the
quantum of plasma oscillations (wherein all the elec-
trons simultaneously oscillate with respect to all the
ions).
A polaron is a quasiparticle which comes about
when an electron interacts with the polarization of
its surrounding ions.
An exciton is an electron and hole bound together.
A plasmariton is a coupled optical phonon and
dressed photon consisting of a plasmon and photon.
2.2 More specialized examples
Composite fermions arise in a two-dimensional sys-
tem subject to a large magnetic eld, most famously
those systems that exhibit the fractional quantum
Hall eect.[6] These quasiparticles are quite unlike
normal particles in two ways. First, their charge can
be less than the electron charge e. In fact, they have
been observed with charges of e/3, e/4, e/5, and
e/7.[7] Second, they can be anyons, an exotic type
of particle that is neither a fermion nor boson.[8]
Stoner excitations in ferromagnetic metals
Bogoliubov quasiparticles in superconductors.
Superconductivity is carried by Cooper pairs
usually described as pairs of electronsthat move
through the crystal lattice without resistance.
A broken Cooper pair is called a Bogoliubov
quasiparticle.[9] It diers from the conventional
quasiparticle in metal because it combines the
properties of a negatively charged electron and a
positively charged hole (an electron void). Physical
objects like impurity atoms, from which quasi-
particles scatter in an ordinary metal, only weakly
aect the energy of a Cooper pair in a conventional
superconductor. In conventional superconductors,
interference between Bogoliubov quasiparticles is
tough for an STM to see. Because of their complex
global electronic structures, however, high-Tc
cuprate superconductors are another matter. Thus
Davis and his colleagues were able to resolve
distinctive patterns of quasiparticle interference in
Bi-2212.[10]
4 5 FURTHER READING
A Majorana fermion is a particle which equals its
own antiparticle, and can emerge as a quasiparti-
cle in certain superconductors, or in a quantum spin
liquid.[11]
Magnetic monopoles arise in condensed matter sys-
tems such as spin ice and carry an eective mag-
netic charge as well as being endowed with other
typical quasiparticle properties such as an eective
mass. They may be formed through spin ips in frus-
trated pyrochlore ferromagnets and interact through
a Coulomb potential.
Skyrmions
Spinon is represented by quasiparticle produced as
a result of electron spin-charge separation, and can
form both quantum spin liquid and strongly cor-
related quantum spin liquid in some minerals like
Herbertsmithite.[12]
Angulons can be used to describe the rotation of
molecules in solvents. First postulated theoretically
in 2015,[13] the existence of the angulon was con- [11] Banerjee, A.; Bridges, C. A.; Yan, J.-Q.; et al. (4 April
rmed in February 2017, after a series of experi-
ments spanning 20 years. Heavy and light species
of molecules were found to rotate inside superuid
helium droplets, in good agreement with the angulon
theory.[14][15] [12] Shaginyan, V. R.; et al.
3 See also
Fractionalization
List of quasiparticles
Mean eld theory
Pseudoparticle
4 References
[1] E. Kaxiras, Atomic and Electronic Structure of Solids,
ISBN 0-521-52339-7, pages 6569.
[2] A guide to Feynman diagrams in the many-body problem,
by Richard D. Mattuck, p10. As we have seen, the quasi-
particle consists of the original real, individual particle,
plus a cloud of disturbed neighbors. It behaves very much
like an individual particle, except that it has an eective
mass and a lifetime. But there also exist other kinds of
ctitious particles in many-body systems, i.e. 'collective
excitations. These do not center around individual parti-
cles, but instead involve collective, wavelike motion of all
the particles in the system simultaneously.
[3] Principles of Nanophotonics by Motoichi Ohtsu, p205
google books link
[4] A. Gelfert, 'Manipulative Success and the Unreal', In-
ternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science Vol. 17,
2003, 245263
[5] B. Falkenburg, Particle Metaphysics (The Frontiers Col-
lection), Berlin: Springer 2007, esp. pp. 24346
[6] Physics Today Article
[7] Cosmos magazine June 2008 Archived 9 June 2008 at the
Wayback Machine.
[8] Fractional quantum Hall eect: A game of ve halves.
Nature Physics. 3 (8): 517. doi:10.1038/nphys681.
[9] Josephson Junctions. Science and Technology Review.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
[10] J. E. Homan; McElroy, K; Lee, DH; Lang, KM;
Eisaki, H; Uchida, S; Davis, JC; et al. (2002). Imaging
Quasiparticle Interference in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+".
Science. 297 (5584): 114851. arXiv:cond-
mat/0209276 . Bibcode:2002Sci...297.1148H.
doi:10.1126/science.1072640. PMID 12142440.
2016). Proximate Kitaev quantum spin liquid behaviour
in a honeycomb magnet. Nature Materials. 15: 733740.
doi:10.1038/nmat4604. PMID 27043779. (Subscription
required (help)).
(2012). Identica-
tion of Strongly Correlated Spin Liquid in Herbert-
smithite. EPL. 97 (5): 56001. arXiv:1111.0179
. Bibcode:2012EL.....9756001S. doi:10.1209/0295-
5075/97/56001.
[13] Schmidt, Richard; Lemeshko, Mikhail (18 May 2015).
Rotation of Quantum Impurities in the Presence of
a Many-Body Environment. Physical Review Let-
ters. 114 (20). Bibcode:2015PhRvL.114t3001S.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.203001. Retrieved 1
March 2017.
[14] Lemeshko, Mikhail (27 February 2017).
Quasiparticle Approach to Molecules Interacting
with Quantum Solvents. Physical Review Let-
ters. 118 (9). Bibcode:2017PhRvL.118i5301L.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.095301.
[15] Existence of a new quasiparticle demonstrated.
Phys.org. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
5 Further reading
L. D. Landau, Soviet Phys. JETP. 3:920 (1957)
L. D. Landau, Soviet Phys. JETP. 5:101 (1957)
A. A. Abrikosov, L. P. Gor'kov, and I. E.
Dzyaloshinski, Methods of Quantum Field Theory in
Statistical Physics (1963, 1975). Prentice-Hall, New
Jersey; Dover Publications, New York.
 5

D. Pines, and P. Nozires, The Theory of Quan-

tum Liquids (1966). W.A. Benjamin, New York.
Volume I: Normal Fermi Liquids (1999). Westview
Press, Boulder.
J. W. Negele, and H. Orland, Quantum Many-
Particle Systems (1998). Westview Press, Boulder

6 External links
PhysOrg.com Scientists nd new 'quasiparticles
Curious 'quasiparticles bae physicists by Jacqui
Hayes, Cosmos 6 June 2008. Accessed June 2008
6 7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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