Quite reasonably, we will have different quantum states around the
average we call absolute zero. The point
here is that we are successfully working at this and seeing interesting
results.
It also reminds us that absolute zero is arbitrarily attached to atoms
and not elementary particles who all like to beat about at a fraction of light
speed. There is a whole new concept of
temperatures in these realms that is surely lower that absolute zero so we
certainly have not seen the last of this or possibly even the beginning.
CONJECTURE: Absolute zero for elementary particles can be
described as the rest state of dark matter in the form of neutral neutrinos not
reacting with other such particles and not retaining non bounded curvature (my
definition in unpublished paper) and denoted usefully as ABSfp.
How to relate that to an atom containing thousands of such elementary
particles buzzing about at fractional light speed I leave as a problem for the
diligent student since I have not thought about it yet.
Quantum Gas Temperature Drops Below Absolute Zero
BY WIRED UK
By Philippa Warr, Wired UK
Physicists have created a
quantum gas capable of reaching temperatures below absolute zero, paving the
way for future quantum inventions.
The chilly substance was
composed of potassium atoms which were held in a lattice arrangement using a
combination of lasers and magnetic fields. According to a news report in
the journal Nature, by tweaking the magnetic fields the research team were able
to force the atoms to attract rather than repel one another and reveal the
sub-absolute zero properties of the gas.
“This suddenly shifts the
atoms from their most stable, lowest-energy state to the highest possible
energy state, before they can react,” said Ulrich Schneider of the Ludwig Maximilian
University in Munich
Schneider’s findings
were published Jan. 3 in Science.
Previously
absolute zero was considered to be the theoretical lower limit of temperature
as temperature correlates with the average amount of energy of the
substance’s particles. At absolute zero particles were thought to have zero
energy.
Moving into the sub-absolute
zero realm, matter begins to display odd properties. Clouds of atoms drift
upwards instead of down, while the atomic matrix’s ability to resist collapsing
in on itself echoes the forces causing the universe to expand outwards rather
than contracting under the influence of gravity.
The ability to produce a
relatively stable substance at several billionths of a Kelvin below absolute
zero will allow physicists to better study and understand this curious state,
possibly leading to other innovations.
“This may be a way to create
new forms of matter in the laboratory,” said Wolfgang Ketterle, a Nobel
laureate at MIT, commenting in Nature on the results.
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