This is how Adobe AI imagines a black hole. Black holes are one of the great mysteries of the universe – and researchers have now come a little closer to them thanks to a model. (Symbol image; source: Pixabay)
How do I research the properties of a black hole as realistically as possible?
– Scientists from the University of Nottingham asked themselves this question. They created a cool
Model that acts like a black hole.
In their study from March 20, 2024, the researchers came to new insights in the world of quantum science. It is the first giant quantum vortex in a laboratory that will allow us to understand how black holes behave in space and interact with their environment.
Cooler
Vortex provides new insights
Don’t worry, this article doesn’t aim to explain quantum physics to you and you don’t have to understand it. Rather, it’s about an exciting experiment and scientists who make a tricky attempt to understand our world.
Back to the question: So what is the best way to conduct research on a black hole without danger? The researchers already had an idea for this in 2017:
Link to YouTube content
They created so-called in the water Quantenwirbel
which is created around black holes and thus mimics a tangible model visualization. Scientists now appear to have further developed this model.
Quantenwirbel: In simple terms, quantum vortices are small ones Tornados
in the quantum world, which can influence specific behavior of matter on a microscopic level. They play a crucial role in exploring new states of matter.
That is new: Instead of water, their newest model now uses superfluides Helium. It means that Helium cooled to minus 271 degrees Celsius becomes. That’s how she writes it University of Nottingham:
Scientists have created for the first time a giant quantum vortex that mimics a black hole in superfluid helium, allowing them to see more closely how analogous black holes behave and interact with their surroundings.
The result: According to the University of Nottingham, the experiment’s findings provided a basis for future research. Quote:
The researchers discovered fascinating parallels between the vortex flow and the gravitational influence of black holes on the surrounding space-time. This achievement opens new possibilities for simulations of quantum field theories at finite temperature in the complex region of curved spacetimes.
Less train station: Thanks to the super-cool helium, researchers can find explanations why certain phenomena occur around black holes without having to expose themselves or research satellites to the danger of a real black hole.
What is quantum research for? Basically, this research aims to explain phenomena that cause certain interactions or states to occur in matter.
A future application: To put it simply, any knowledge from the quantum level is useful to us, for example, in the development of new technologies such as a quantum computer. Such quantum computers potentially have significantly greater computing power than our current computers.
