Hunting Quantum Tornadoes with X-rays

2021-07-14T10:34:47-06:00
11/05
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Superfluid helium droplets

In a unique state of matter called a superfluid, tiny "tornadoes" form that may play an important role in nanotechnology, superconductivity, and other applications. Just as tornadoes are invisible air currents that become visible when they suck debris into their cores, the quantum vortices in superfluids attract atoms that make the vortices visible. Quantum vortices are so small they can only be imaged using very short-wavelength x-rays, however.

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Hunting Quantum Tornadoes with X-rays2021-07-14T10:34:47-06:00

The Turbulent Tangle of Quantum Vortices

2021-07-14T10:50:38-06:00
02/14
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Ultracold turbulence
by Daniel Lathrop, Daniel Serrano

You may know helium as the gas that can make balloons and blimps float. At the University of Maryland, scientists are using this element to study the exotic physics of quantum vortices: the tornadoes or bathtub-drain whirls of the quantum world. Knowing how quantum vortices work could help us better understand other turbulent events (like wind and ocean currents), as well as the complex physical behavior of superconductors and neutron stars.

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The Turbulent Tangle of Quantum Vortices2021-07-14T10:50:38-06:00

Superfluid helium and black holes

2021-07-14T10:53:26-06:00
09/05
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An entangled connection

At low temperatures, helium—the same substance that makes balloons float—becomes a special type of liquid known as a superfluid, which has zero viscosity. It's like the anti-molasses! The properties of superfluids are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. More specifically, the atoms in superfluid helium are “entangled” with each other, allowing them to share information and influence each other’s behavior in ways that are totally foreign to our everyday experience, and which Einstein famously described as "spooky action at a distance." Better still, scientists have recently discovered that the law controlling entanglement between different parts of a helium superfluid is the same as that governing the exotic behavior of black holes in outer space.

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Superfluid helium and black holes2021-07-14T10:53:26-06:00
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