Astrophysicists from the University of Heidelberg have created an analogue of the early Universe in their laboratory,
Understand what happened in the first fewmoments after the Big Bang, is difficult due to the lack of any evidence. As a result, astrophysicists only have guesses. To confirm them, scientists build models that only work theoretically. Now the study authors have used a new approach to create a physical model in the lab. The goal is to understand what happened immediately after the Big Bang.
Scientists have created a quantum field simulator.According to the leading theory, the temperature of the early Universe was close to absolute zero, so researchers created a very cold environment. Then they added potassium atoms.
They were cooled just above absolute zero and slowed down using lasers, resulting in the formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate. Previously, Hi-Tech described in detail what it is.
Fifth state of matter created: how physicists did it
The scientists then used light from speciallya designed projector to nudge the atoms into the correct arrangement. In this setup, superfluid excitons, known as phonons, propagate in two directions.
By controlling their speed, astrophysicists simulatedtheoretical wave propagation in the early Universe. Scientists speculate that their behavior in the superfluid was somewhat similar to the physics that governed space-time and particle formation in the moments immediately after the Big Bang.
One of the first experiments conducted using the simulator was simulating the expansion of the early Universe. Scientists have observed how atoms move in waves in a superfluid liquid.
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