The metal-insulator transition depends on the mass of the Dirac electrons

Scientists from the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Kobe, Japan, have used the powerful K computer, along with a number of other supercomputers, to perform a large-scale analysis of the behavior of electrons in a material transitioning from a metal to an insulator phase. Their analysis, just published in Physical Review X, confirmed that there is a direct movement between the two phases, and that the behavior is tied to the loss of mass of the electrons—called