physicists predicted that electrons in a one-dimensional chain of atoms could be split into three quasiparticles: a %u2018holon%u2019 carrying the electron%u2019s charge, a %u2018spinon%u2019 carrying its spin (an intrinsic quantum property related to magnetism) and an %u2018orbiton%u2019 carrying its orbital location

Researchers were puzzled when they discovered that the same familiar interference patterns were observed with large-scale molecules, and not exclusively with subatomic particles.