The article touches on your first comment: > Fractons are quasiparticles — particle-like entities that emerge out of complicated interactions between many elem

The article touches on your first comment: > Fractons are quasiparticles — particle-like entities that emerge out of complicated interactions between many elementary particles inside a material. Quasiparticles are common models in physics. Sound waves in solid matter are sometimes modeled as phonons, for example. Do they exist? Sure. But they're not what you probably think when you hear the word "particle".