Many physical phenomena can be modeled with relatively simple math. But, in the quantum world there are a vast number of intriguing phenomena that emerge from the interactions of multiple particles—”many bodies” – which are notoriously difficult to model and simulate, even with powerful computers. Examples of quantum many body states with no classical analogue include superconductivity, superfluids, Bose-Einstein condensation, quark-gluon plasmas etc. As a result, many “quantum many-body” models remain theoretical, with little experimental backing. Now, scientists from EPFL and the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) have realized experimentally a new quantum many body state in a material representing a famous theoretical model called the “Shastry-Sutherland” model. The work is published in Nature Physics.