The Quantum Gas Experiment creates the coldest temperature ever
Physicists at the University of Bremen, Germany produced the coldest temperature ever recorded, an incredibly accurately measured 38 trillion of a degree above absolute zero. They did so as part of an experiment that involved dropping a quantum gas and slowing its movement with magnets, a report from New Atlas explains.
Absolute zero is measured as -459.67 ° F (-273.15 ° C) and is the coldest possible temperature on the thermodynamics scale. For an object to reach that temperature, there must be zero atomic motion or kinetic energy in its atoms, which means that it is impossible for scientists to ever really reach absolute zero. However, experiments such as those performed aboard the International Space Station’s Cold Atom Lab have been as cold as 100 nanoKelvin, or 100 millionths of a degree above absolute zero.
The lowest temperature ever recorded
However, the University of Bremen team has broken previous records by recording a temperature of 38 picoKelvin, or 38 trillion of a degree above absolute zero, during their trials. In a press release, the team explained that “while examines the wave properties of atoms, one of the “coldest places in the universe” [was] created in a few seconds at the Center for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) at the University of Bremen. “
For their experiments, the team captured a gas cloud consisting of 100,000 rubidium atoms in a magnetic field in a vacuum chamber. This was then cooled to make it a quantum gas called a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). As quantum gases acting uniformly as if they were a large atom, scientists use them in experiments to observe unusual quantum effects on the macro scale in order to expand their knowledge of quantum mechanics.
Future space experiments may be written in the stars
To reach the required temperature, the researchers dropped BEC on the research facility in the Bremen Drop Tower. While dropping the gas 120 meters down the tower, they also turned on and off the magnetic field containing the gas several times. When the magnetic field is extinguished, the gas begins to expand and when it is returned to its contracts. The shift slows the expansion of the gas to an almost complete standstill, significantly reducing the temperature due to the reduced molecular velocity.
The scientists were only able to maintain the record temperature for 2 seconds, even though they performed simulations that suggest that it could be maintained for about 17 seconds in a weightless environment like the International Space Station. In space, scientists can limit atoms using much weaker forces, as they do not need to be supported by the effects of gravity. This means that ffurther study may eventually take place in the ISS’s Cold Atom Lab (CAL), where astronomers last year reported the creation of a “fifth state” during BEC experiments. CAL was transported to space by a SpaceX rocket in 2018, and it has since been used to observe quantum phenomena that would not be detectable on Earth.
Source: heromag.net
Researchers design new experiments to map and test the mysterious quantum realm
Researchers design new experiments to map and test the mysterious quantum realm
The Quantum Gas Experiment creates the coldest temperature ever