5 ms·

Physicists spot quantum tornadoes twirling in a ‘supersolid’

113 points by elsewhen 2y ago

tigerlily 2y ago
An eddy in the spacetime continuum? (apologies to Douglas Adams)
- ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
  You should apologise. The line is supposed to be "Eddies in the space-time continuum", but putting "eddy" ruins the joke as it can't be parsed as "Eddy's".
- itishappy 2y ago
  And this is his sofa, is it?
jodacola 2y ago
I’m way out of my depth in this subject, but I find this incredibly fascinating. I had to read up on supersolids; still not fully understanding. I once had a naïve perspective that we’d figured out all the “big” stuff in science, but I’m now of the perspective that we’re still only scratching the surface.
- blooalien 2y ago
  > ... "but I’m now of the perspective that we’re still only scratching the surface." The problem with learning new stuff is that it opens a whole 'nother box of brand-shiny-new questions. :)
  - jajko 2y ago
    And often moves old hard truths into 'maybe, sort of, in some conditions' territory
- stronglikedan 2y ago
  Everything goes as deep as the Planck length (theoretically). The only thing we've figured out is that we still don't know much more than we know.
  - brummm 2y ago
    Deeper. The only significance of the Planck length is that at that scale quantum effects and gravitational effects matter equally. Essentially that's where our current theories break down. Beyond that, the Planck length means nothing. It's not the smallest length possible, it's just that we don't know how to describe anything smaller at the moment.
    - UltraSane 2y ago
      My understanding is that it is impossible to probe anything smaller than a Planck length because the required energy to probe such a small distance would create a black hole. So it is almost as if the universe conspires to prevent probing anything smaller.
- ben_w 2y ago
  """Aristotle said a bunch of stuff that was wrong. Galileo and Newton fixed things up. Then Einstein broke everything again. Now, we’ve basically got it all worked out, except for small stuff, big stuff, hot stuff, cold stuff, fast stuff, heavy stuff, dark stuff, turbulence, and the concept of time""" - Zach Weinersmith, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9666621-aristotle-said-a-bunch-of-stuff-that-was-wrong-galileo https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9666621-aristotle-said-a-bu...
- gus_massa 2y ago
  > we’re still only scratching the surface We can explain 99% of the world with solid, liquid and gas. Add plasma for another 9. Weird stuff like superfuids and supersolids are very unusual. They may be interesting for some aplications in the future. (I guess that when superconductivity was discovered that every major city would have a few superconductivity devices in it. (Google says 50.000 MRI worldwide.)) Even simple solids (specially semiconductors) have a lot of applications that use quantum mechanics, and there are many rabbit holes with more rabbit holes at their bottom. Most of them are explored or partially explored, but there are still many to explore in the future.
supermarket2 2y ago
[flagged]
tetris11 2y ago
there were missing waffles, next to the gnocci and spaghetti
daniel-thompson 2y ago
The actual paper is hidden behind a Nature paywall. There is a preprint on arxiv here https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.18510 https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.18510
- westurner 2y ago
  "Observation of vortices in a dipolar supersolid" (2024) https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.18510 https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.18510 - "Topological gauge theory of vortices in type-III superconductors" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41803662 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41803662 - "Observation of current whirlpools in graphene at room temperature" (2024) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj2167 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj2167 .. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40360691 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40360691 ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41442489 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41442489 ) - Aren't there electron vortices in rhombohedral trilayer graphene? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40919385 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40919385 - And isn't edge current chirality vortical, too? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41765192 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41765192
  - westurner 2y ago
    > isn't edge current chirality vortical, too? - /? valley vortex edge modes chiral: https://www.google.com/search?q=Valley+vortex+edge+modes+chiral&oq=Valley+vortex+edge+modes+chiral https://www.google.com/search?q=Valley+vortex+edge+modes+chi... - "Active particle manipulation with valley vortex phononic crystal" (2024) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0375960124003232 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03759... : > The valley vortex state presents an emerging domain in condensed matter physics. As a new information carrier with orbital angular momentum, it demonstrates remarkable ability for reliable, non-contact particle manipulation. In this paper, an acoustic system is constructed to exhibit the acoustic valley state, and traps particles using acoustic radiation force generated by the acoustic valley. Considering temperature effect on the acoustic system, the band structures for temperature fluctuations are discussed. An active controlled method for manipulating particle movement is proposed. Numerical simulations confirm that the particles can be captured by acoustic valley state, and can be repositioned through alterations in temperature, while maintaining a constant excitation frequency.
impish9208 2y ago
Obligatory in mice, right?

113 points by elsewhen 2y ago

tigerlily 2y ago

An eddy in the spacetime continuum? (apologies to Douglas Adams)

ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
You should apologise. The line is supposed to be "Eddies in the space-time continuum", but putting "eddy" ruins the joke as it can't be parsed as "Eddy's".
itishappy 2y ago
And this is his sofa, is it?

jodacola 2y ago

I’m way out of my depth in this subject, but I find this incredibly fascinating. I had to read up on supersolids; still not fully understanding. I once had a naïve perspective that we’d figured out all the “big” stuff in science, but I’m now of the perspective that we’re still only scratching the surface.

blooalien 2y ago
> ... "but I’m now of the perspective that we’re still only scratching the surface." The problem with learning new stuff is that it opens a whole 'nother box of brand-shiny-new questions. :)
- jajko 2y ago
  And often moves old hard truths into 'maybe, sort of, in some conditions' territory
stronglikedan 2y ago
Everything goes as deep as the Planck length (theoretically). The only thing we've figured out is that we still don't know much more than we know.
- brummm 2y ago
  Deeper. The only significance of the Planck length is that at that scale quantum effects and gravitational effects matter equally. Essentially that's where our current theories break down. Beyond that, the Planck length means nothing. It's not the smallest length possible, it's just that we don't know how to describe anything smaller at the moment.
  - UltraSane 2y ago
    My understanding is that it is impossible to probe anything smaller than a Planck length because the required energy to probe such a small distance would create a black hole. So it is almost as if the universe conspires to prevent probing anything smaller.
ben_w 2y ago
"""Aristotle said a bunch of stuff that was wrong. Galileo and Newton fixed things up. Then Einstein broke everything again. Now, we’ve basically got it all worked out, except for small stuff, big stuff, hot stuff, cold stuff, fast stuff, heavy stuff, dark stuff, turbulence, and the concept of time""" - Zach Weinersmith, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9666621-aristotle-said-a-bunch-of-stuff-that-was-wrong-galileo https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9666621-aristotle-said-a-bu...
gus_massa 2y ago
> we’re still only scratching the surface We can explain 99% of the world with solid, liquid and gas. Add plasma for another 9. Weird stuff like superfuids and supersolids are very unusual. They may be interesting for some aplications in the future. (I guess that when superconductivity was discovered that every major city would have a few superconductivity devices in it. (Google says 50.000 MRI worldwide.)) Even simple solids (specially semiconductors) have a lot of applications that use quantum mechanics, and there are many rabbit holes with more rabbit holes at their bottom. Most of them are explored or partially explored, but there are still many to explore in the future.

supermarket2 2y ago

[flagged]

tetris11 2y ago

there were missing waffles, next to the gnocci and spaghetti

daniel-thompson 2y ago

The actual paper is hidden behind a Nature paywall. There is a preprint on arxiv here https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.18510 https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.18510

westurner 2y ago
"Observation of vortices in a dipolar supersolid" (2024) https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.18510 https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.18510 - "Topological gauge theory of vortices in type-III superconductors" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41803662 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41803662 - "Observation of current whirlpools in graphene at room temperature" (2024) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj2167 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj2167 .. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40360691 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40360691 ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41442489 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41442489 ) - Aren't there electron vortices in rhombohedral trilayer graphene? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40919385 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40919385 - And isn't edge current chirality vortical, too? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41765192 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41765192
- westurner 2y ago
  > isn't edge current chirality vortical, too? - /? valley vortex edge modes chiral: https://www.google.com/search?q=Valley+vortex+edge+modes+chiral&oq=Valley+vortex+edge+modes+chiral https://www.google.com/search?q=Valley+vortex+edge+modes+chi... - "Active particle manipulation with valley vortex phononic crystal" (2024) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0375960124003232 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03759... : > The valley vortex state presents an emerging domain in condensed matter physics. As a new information carrier with orbital angular momentum, it demonstrates remarkable ability for reliable, non-contact particle manipulation. In this paper, an acoustic system is constructed to exhibit the acoustic valley state, and traps particles using acoustic radiation force generated by the acoustic valley. Considering temperature effect on the acoustic system, the band structures for temperature fluctuations are discussed. An active controlled method for manipulating particle movement is proposed. Numerical simulations confirm that the particles can be captured by acoustic valley state, and can be repositioned through alterations in temperature, while maintaining a constant excitation frequency.

impish9208 2y ago

Obligatory in mice, right?