4 ms·
Device creates particles with negative mass, and a novel way to generate lasers
- thrill 9y agoDupe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16114250 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16114250
- deepnotderp 9y agoThey created roton- like quasiparticles, not exotic matter. The polariton laser is cool though.
- tritium 9y agoSee also: Excitonium https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15885404 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15885404 Sounds like polaritons and excitons are part of the same area of study, that a number of groups are looking at right now.
- deepnotderp 9y agoCondensed matter physics.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- arkades 9y agoI appreciate people posting novel scientific findings on HN. This isn’t that: this is a typically overblown press release from a uni press office. I’m not sure such explicit marketing material masquerading as a science article is a value-add here.
- ascientist 9y agoAs a scientist in a related field, I totally disagree. I feel this is a very balanced article. From my own experience being interviewed by popular press (and in some cases, with my work being overblown to my dismay), I particularly appreciate how Prof Vamivakas was cautious to say that applications are "down the road." This is a press release, to be sure, but not overblown. This is legitimately an interesting result. (Full disclosure: I am in no way connected to this work.)
- lulmerchant 9y agoIt's still a clickbait headline, no matter how interesting it otherwise is. "Negative mass" and "negative effective mass" change the implications quite a lot. One potentially means wormholes, warp drives, quantum gravity, faster than light travel, and time travel. The other does not.
- candiodari 9y agoAren't even things like air bubbles in water things with "negative" mass, in some of the same ways these particles described here would be ?
- ISL 9y agoTo address the inevitable complaint: There exists a concept called "effective mass", which can be negative. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_mass_(solid-state_physics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_mass_(solid-state_ph...
- deepnotderp 9y agoYes, but "negative mass " evokes the idea of non-Baryonic exotic matter. It's a nontrivial difference since exotic matter has applications for things like Alcubierre drives.
- dTal 9y agoThank you for clarifying - my immediate reaction was "oh shit, do we have warp drives now?"
- lambdasquirrel 9y agoCould someone explain to a layman if this is the kind of negative mass you’d need for an Alcubierre drive? ;P
- ajkjk 9y agoIt's not.
- mywittyname 9y agoWhat are the technological implications of this? Is there hope that this could be the future of semiconductors as a replacement for NMOS?