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Researchers Make Coldest Quantum Gas of Molecules (phys.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: JILA researchers have made a long-lived, record-cold gas of molecules that follow the wave patterns of quantum mechanics instead of the strictly particle nature of ordinary classical physics. The creation of this gas boosts the odds for advances in fields such as designer chemistry and quantum computing. As featured on the cover of the Feb. 22 issue of Science, the team produced a gas of potassium-rubidium (KRb) molecules at temperatures as low as 50 nanokelvin (nK). That's 50 billionths of a Kelvin, or just a smidge above absolute zero, the lowest theoretically possible temperature. The molecules are in the lowest-possible energy states, making up what is known as a degenerate Fermi gas.
In a quantum gas, all of the molecules' properties are restricted to specific values, or quantized, like rungs on a ladder or notes on a musical scale. Chilling the gas to the lowest temperatures gives researchers maximum control over the molecules. The two atoms involved are in different classes: Potassium is a fermion (with an odd number of subatomic components called protons and neutrons) and rubidium is a boson (with an even number of subatomic components). The resulting molecules have a Fermi character. Before now, the coldest two-atom molecules were produced in maximum numbers of tens of thousands and at temperatures no lower than a few hundred nanoKelvin. JILA's latest gas temperature record is much lower than (about one-third of) the level where quantum effects start to take over from classical effects, and the molecules last for a few seconds -- remarkable longevity. These new ultra-low temperatures will enable researchers to compare chemical reactions in quantum versus classical environments and study how electric fields affect the polar interactions, since these newly created molecules have a positive electric charge at the rubidium atom and a negative charge at the potassium atom. Some practical benefits could include new chemical processes, new methods for quantum computing using charged molecules as quantum bits, and new precision measurement tools such as molecular clocks.
In a quantum gas, all of the molecules' properties are restricted to specific values, or quantized, like rungs on a ladder or notes on a musical scale. Chilling the gas to the lowest temperatures gives researchers maximum control over the molecules. The two atoms involved are in different classes: Potassium is a fermion (with an odd number of subatomic components called protons and neutrons) and rubidium is a boson (with an even number of subatomic components). The resulting molecules have a Fermi character. Before now, the coldest two-atom molecules were produced in maximum numbers of tens of thousands and at temperatures no lower than a few hundred nanoKelvin. JILA's latest gas temperature record is much lower than (about one-third of) the level where quantum effects start to take over from classical effects, and the molecules last for a few seconds -- remarkable longevity. These new ultra-low temperatures will enable researchers to compare chemical reactions in quantum versus classical environments and study how electric fields affect the polar interactions, since these newly created molecules have a positive electric charge at the rubidium atom and a negative charge at the potassium atom. Some practical benefits could include new chemical processes, new methods for quantum computing using charged molecules as quantum bits, and new precision measurement tools such as molecular clocks.
rubidium is a boson (with an even number of subatomic components)
Not Even Wrong.
From now on, my response to this type of headline is only going to be something along these lines: "How many times did you replicate these results, vs. how many times did you fail to do so? Additionally, how many times has a completely different team, hopefully completely unconnected, in any way, also been able to replicate the "exact" same results?" Until then, I would like science reporters to not publish headlines like this, unless you provide the answers to these questions, in your reporting. Thanks, babes. Haven't RTFA, or the paper. Probably can't read the paper, paywalls, etc. The current state of science is embarrassing. And dangerous.
That is... SO COOL!
I think I'm hilarious.
A short time ago in Saskatoon I farted and it created a quantum effect. The methane froze in my guanch and became super conductive. I had made the mistake of eating Tex-Mex made in Canada. ELECTRIC FARTS BRRRR!!!
Ok. Genuine curiosity. I thought Fermions and Bosons refered to elemental particles and quasiparticles in the standard model. But these are Atoms, a large (by comparison) structures comprised of subatomic particles.
Am I missing something fundamental here? I'm sure I am, but I'm failing to understand it.
Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
Read up on composite bosons. The behaviour of a very, very cold arrangement of identical atoms non-obviously differs depending on whether the atoms contain an odd or even number of neutrons.
https://www.learner.org/courses/physics/unit/text.html?unit=6&secNum=5
...when you only fund science that is sufficiently flashy (due to how the grant process works). Only the flashy scientists get money to do their thing, only these scientists train PhD students and postdocs, and evolution tells us that science as a whole has to evolve in the direction of flashiness.
Lene Hau wasn't as cool, but what she did was astoning, and if she were a man, she would have won a Noble. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
Aw, you're still crying that APK made you EAT YOUR WORDS as always again https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... ?
APK eats dick daily at the glory hole in the Pilot Travel Center off of I-85 near his $1 house that his parents gave to him so he wouldn't have to live on the streets when his mom went back to Poland to live out her retirement dream of not having to care for her retarded man child of a son. His natural immunity to AIDS is a great benefit with his chosen career.
You may ask, how cold was it, this potassium-rubidium gas?
And the answer was None. None more cold!