Physicists describe exotic ‘paraparticles’ that defy categorisation

Theoretical physicists have proposed a new type of particle. This ‘paraparticle’ doesn’t fit into the conventional classification system that labels all subatomic particles either fermions or bosons. The study comes after another group recently provided the first experimental demonstration of an ‘anyon’, another kind of particle that doesn’t fit the fermion or boson mould, in a one-dimensional virtual universe. The unusual behaviour of paraparticles and anyons could one day play a part making quantum computers less error-prone.