<i>Colloquium</i>: Fracton matter

Abstract

Fractons are exotic excitations originally conceived as platforms for reliable quantum memories. They are characterized by highly restricted mobilities. In the continuum, they are described by tensor fields with higher gauge symmetries. In this Colloquium, the focus is on a class of duality mappings between fracton models and elasticity theory, building the reader's intuition and understanding in a more familiar setting.