This result is very very solid. If Einstein were here he would be absolutely ecstatic. The math is very simple (the velocity profile ends up being a bessel function) and the reason why the Newtonian virial theorem fails in the case of galaxies is clearly explained: the problem is not at all linear.
Physics people all over the world are kicking themselves right now.
Light actually stops all the time. The remarkable thing in this case was that although the laser beam was completely absorbed by the atoms, they were able to make the atoms spit it back out again. Basically it works so neatly because the atoms are so 'cold' that they never collide with each other and therefore do not cause the photons to be ejected at random times. The really remarkable discovery would be how to keep things so cold that they behave quantum-mechanically, but without having big tanks of liquid helium (and worse.)
1) You save on electricity by using a power grid that does not dissipate electricity.
2) You can have new kinds of memories, where instead of storing charge, you store a current, because you once you start a current going in a loop it keeps going forever.
3) If you can make chips out of semiconductors and superconductors, then they won't warm up so much and you can use enormous clock speeds.
4) You can make magnets that sustain fantastic magnetic fields without having to be cooled with liquid helium, thus reducing their cost dramatically. These are used in many scientific applications.
Slashdot Mirror
This result is very very solid. If Einstein were here he would be absolutely ecstatic. The math is very simple (the velocity profile ends up being a bessel function) and the reason why the Newtonian virial theorem fails in the case of galaxies is clearly explained: the problem is not at all linear. Physics people all over the world are kicking themselves right now.
Light actually stops all the time. The remarkable thing in this case was that although the laser beam was completely absorbed by the atoms, they were able to make the atoms spit it back out again. Basically it works so neatly because the atoms are so 'cold' that they never collide with each other and therefore do not cause the photons to be ejected at random times. The really remarkable discovery would be how to keep things so cold that they behave quantum-mechanically, but without having big tanks of liquid helium (and worse.)
1) You save on electricity by using a power grid that does not dissipate electricity.
2) You can have new kinds of memories, where instead of storing charge, you store a current, because you once you start a current going in a loop it keeps going forever.
3) If you can make chips out of semiconductors and superconductors, then they won't warm up so much and you can use enormous clock speeds.
4) You can make magnets that sustain fantastic magnetic fields without having to be cooled with liquid helium, thus reducing their cost dramatically. These are used in many scientific applications.