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Scientists created a giant vortex made of tiny quantum pieces to bring black hole physics down to Earth.
Thanks to immense gravitational forces, the regions around black holes are violent and turbulent environments driven by physics that cannot be found anywhere else in the universe. In fact, black holes are so influential that, when they rotate, they drag the very fabric of space along with them. In other words, near a black hole, nothing stands still. Nothing at all.
Clearly, black holes can't be dragged down to Earth, so these effects can be studied in the lab — but a research team, led by University of Nottingham scientists, has done the next best thing. The researchers created, for the first time, a swirling "quantum vortex" in a helium superfluid chilled to ultracold temperatures. This apparatus essentially mimics a black hole right on our planet.
This is because the quantum tornado generated tiny waves on the surface of the superfluid, which is a material capable of displaying frictionless flow (or incredibly low viscosity) and other exotic behaviors observed at temperatures near absolute zero. These are behaviors that mimic conditions found near rotating black holes.
"Using superfluid helium has allowed us to study tiny surface waves in greater detail and accuracy than with our previous experiments in water," Patrik Svancara, team leader and a researcher at the University of Nottingham, said in a statement. "As the viscosity of superfluid helium is extremely small, we were able to meticulously investigate their interaction with the superfluid tornado and compare the findings with our own theoretical projections."
www.space.com
Thanks to immense gravitational forces, the regions around black holes are violent and turbulent environments driven by physics that cannot be found anywhere else in the universe. In fact, black holes are so influential that, when they rotate, they drag the very fabric of space along with them. In other words, near a black hole, nothing stands still. Nothing at all.
Clearly, black holes can't be dragged down to Earth, so these effects can be studied in the lab — but a research team, led by University of Nottingham scientists, has done the next best thing. The researchers created, for the first time, a swirling "quantum vortex" in a helium superfluid chilled to ultracold temperatures. This apparatus essentially mimics a black hole right on our planet.
This is because the quantum tornado generated tiny waves on the surface of the superfluid, which is a material capable of displaying frictionless flow (or incredibly low viscosity) and other exotic behaviors observed at temperatures near absolute zero. These are behaviors that mimic conditions found near rotating black holes.
"Using superfluid helium has allowed us to study tiny surface waves in greater detail and accuracy than with our previous experiments in water," Patrik Svancara, team leader and a researcher at the University of Nottingham, said in a statement. "As the viscosity of superfluid helium is extremely small, we were able to meticulously investigate their interaction with the superfluid tornado and compare the findings with our own theoretical projections."
'Quantum tornado' allows scientists to mimic a black hole on Earth
Scientists created a giant vortex made of tiny quantum pieces to bring black hole physics down to Earth.
www.space.com
