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Researchers Create New Form of Matter (phys.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: MIT physicists have created a new form of matter, a supersolid, which combines the properties of solids with those of superfluids. By using lasers to manipulate a superfluid gas known as a Bose-Einstein condensate, the team was able to coax the condensate into a quantum phase of matter that has a rigid structure -- like a solid -- and can flow without viscosity -- a key characteristic of a superfluid. Studies into this apparently contradictory phase of matter could yield deeper insights into superfluids and superconductors, which are important for improvements in technologies such as superconducting magnets and sensors, as well as efficient energy transport. The researchers report their results this week in the journal Nature. The team used a combination of laser cooling and evaporative cooling methods, originally co-developed by Ketterle, to cool atoms of sodium to nanokelvin temperatures. Atoms of sodium are known as bosons, for their even number of nucleons and electrons. When cooled to near absolute zero, bosons form a superfluid state of dilute gas, called a Bose-Einstein condensate, or BEC. To create the supersolid state, the team manipulated the motion of the atoms of the BEC using laser beams, introducing "spin-orbit coupling." In their ultrahigh-vacuum chamber, the team used an initial set of lasers to convert half of the condensate's atoms to a different quantum state, or spin, essentially creating a mixture of two Bose-Einstein condensates. Additional laser beams then transferred atoms between the two condensates, called a "spin flip."
Bose-Einstein condensates
Just remember that if ghost-like warriors are created with this technology, they can be beat with iron.
lucm, indeed.
Does this mean they made a frictionless solid? Or a solid that can change shape?
I never played with it because it was unknown where I grew up, but my child has played with silly putty.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
For those who facepalmed when they saw that Sodium is a boson in TFS ... technically, its most common isotope (Na23) is in fact a composite boson, because the total number of fermion particles is even: 11 protons + 12 neutrons + 11 electrons = 34 fermions, each with spin 1/2. So, the composite Na23 atom is net integer spin, and thus a boson.
http://theworldofsmall.blogspo...
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Surfers disagree.
#DeleteFacebook
Here's an example of Trump spending money on a couple of elitist eggheads' meaningless mind masturbation. At the same time he's going to take the Obamaphones away from the brothas! This is one nigga that damn sure wants his Obamaphone. I don't give a damn fuck what some lily white MIT cracker wants. The white boys be taking my Obamaphone.
If people in authority (cough, cough) listened to the likes of you, humanity would never have invented the wheel, the lever, the steam engine, the electric motor, the vacuum tube, the transistor, the laser, the internet ...
Next time, post with both hands. That is all.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Bad haircut cancellation?
OK, I'm leaving.
This is the kinda news I come to slashdot for :)
This is bullshit. Discuss.
You might sound more intelligent if you tried posting with your penis.
Matter doesnt matter
A note to researchers: You know why the Bohr Model of the atom persists in education even though it's wrong? Because it provides a simple starting point that anyone can immediately grasp and then build upon.
If we (the scientific community) want laypeople to stop rolling their eyes whenever quantum mechanics is mentioned we need to start communicating better. You spent tons of money and years of research to create a supersolid, but you can't make a simple gif animation conveying what it is?
This is why we have to fight tooth and nail for every cent that goes to NASA while the military can waste hundreds of billions on planes that don't work.
Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
It flows with zero viscosity onto every nearby surface while at the same time phase-shifting to a solid form that takes 3 days to wear off of your fingers.
And about the time some scientist figures out how to combine it with glitter and those little prickly-pear thorns, we'll need to re-write the standard model to allow for what may turn out to be the most annoying substance known to man.
The next generation of premium Apple headphones, for which we'll need another dongle.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
The media has no idea what is science and what is not. Whenever psychologists or doctors perform a purely statistical study, it gets called "science", whenever physicists perform actual experiments it is called "research". See how that works?
Gee, I wonder why anyone would want to confuse the public about what is science and what is not? What could the motivations possibly be? Hmmm...
The article said one group of scientist was using mirrors. Now all they have to introduce smoke to the equation Then it will prove my theorem that it is all done with smoke and mirrors. Somewhere down the road I'm sure there is a practical application for all this. I just hope it is not a fluid metal terminator..
No we have not yet seen this form of matter. It was claimed to have been observed a while ago but this was disproved. Let's hope the same thing does not happen again.
Dude, that's basically why we stopped going to the moon. People started asking why millions were spent on rocket science but not a penny for feeding the poor.
Selling newspapers mainly
But does it really count if it only existed for a femtosecond and no one manages to reproduce it?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
People who made Bose-Einstein condensates and other derivatives thereof have Nobel prizes, heck half of the Higgs "Boson" is even named after him. But they didn't give Nobel prize to Satyendar Nath Bose himself who laid the mathematical and theoretical foundation for all of this.
been there, done that, MIT in general rocks. keep up the good work.
Funny how all the money saved didn't go to feeding the poor, though.
Funny how all the money saved didn't go to feeding the poor, though.
It is funny though that there always are more idiots saying this "Whyyy oh why can't we feed the poor before going to space???? WHAAAAAYYYYYYY!?!?!?!"
And we notice that nature keeps printing up more and more poor people and more and more stupid idiots to say why aren't we feeding the poor people first?
Fuck the poor and fuck these stupid people, if they matter they should be able to feed themselves, Survival of the fittest being the rule.
Very few details provided, probably no where close to production. Tell me about it when I can buy the damn thing.
and get back to work on the important stuff like Rovables, Scratch, and duoskin
"And we notice that nature keeps printing up more and more poor people and more and more stupid idiots to say why aren't we feeding the poor people first?"
THIS factor, not economic theoretics, is the primary reason we need private space programs.
As a physicist, I've always preferred the term "boffin".
And it's important to call it, oddly, a boson because that sounds like Bose in Bose-Einstein condensate.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Actually, increased standard of living is strongly associated with lower birth rates, so your analogy falls flat. It has nothing to do with helping the poor, and everything to do with things such as the military industrial complex.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
for Skynet to be able to build the T1000.
What's the matter?
Well the military-industrial complex has provided the funding that has moved theoretical science from the white board to reality. The US is not possess the only military-industrial complex. China and Russia have their own complex and their complex has one thing the US doesn't, freedom to do anything they want without putting up with their citizens constantly complaining in that area. And as long as Russia and China have their own MIC I think the US should make theirs better.
It does collapse.
And it's important to call it, oddly, a boson because that sounds like Bose in Bose-Einstein condensate.
Why "oddly"? It "sounds like Bose" because bosons are named for Bose. Or was that your point, and it was just too oblique (or I'm too dense today) for me to get it?
AIUI, not all composite bosons can form Bose-Einstein condensates. More generally, while an atom (an electrically-neutral one, not an ion) containing an even number of fermions (electrons and neucleons in this case) is a composite boson, they don't always follow exactly the Bose statistics of an elementary boson. When the wave functions of two composite bosons interact strongly, for example, other factors become significant.
But for many purposes, composite bosons behave like elementary bosons, and if you want to whip up a Bose-Einstein condensate, you'll want to start with bosons.