On the fission of elementary particles and the evidence for fractional electrons in liquid helium

We consider the possibility that as a result of interactions between an ele mentary particle and a suitably designed classical system, the particle may be divided into two or more pieces that act as though they are fractions o f the original particle. We work out in detail the mechanics of this proces s for an electron interacting with liquid helium. It is known that when an electron is injected into liquid helium, the lowest energy configuration is with the electron localized in a 1s state inside a spherical cavity from w hich helium atoms are excluded. These electron bubbles have been studied in many experiments. We show that if the electron is optimally excited from t he 1s to the 1p state, the bubble wall will be set into motion, and that th e inertia of the liquids surrounding the bubble can be sufficient to lead t o the break-up of the bubble into two pieces. We call the electron fragment s "electrons." We then show that there is a substantial amount of experimen tal data in the published literature that gives support to these theoretica l ideas. The electron bubble theory provides a natural explanation for the photoconductivity experiments of Northy, Zipfel, Sanders Grimes and Adams, and possibly also the ionic mobility measurements of Ihas, Sanders, Eden an d McClintock. Previously, these experimental results have not had a satisfa ctory explantation. In a final section, we describe some further experiment s that could test our theory and consider the broader implications of these results on fractional particles.