The researchers have cooled matter to within a billionth of a degree of absolute zero, far away from any stars.
Interstellar space doesn't get cold due to the fact that it is evenly filled with the Cosmic Microwave Background, a form of radiation left over from an event that occurred shortly after the Big bang. The Boomerang Nebula, located 3000 light-years from Earth, has a temperature of just one degree above absolute zero.
The experiment was done at the University of Kyoto in Japan and used fermions, which are particles that make up matter. The atoms of ytterbium were cooled to around a billionth of a degree above absolute zero.
Rice University researcher Kaden Hazzard, who took part in the study, said in a statement that "unless an alien civilization is doing experiments like these right now, it is making the coldest fermions in the universe."
Did this particle form the universe?
The team was able to cool the matter by using lasers. A model of quantum physics was proposed in 1963. The Hubbard model allows atoms to demonstrate quantum properties, such as superconduction, which is able to conduct electricity without energy loss.
The physics change when you get this cold. You can see new phenomena when the physics becomes more mechanical.
Interstellar space can't get cold because of the CMB. This evenly spread and uniform radiation was created by an event after the Big bang.
The first atoms of the lightest element hydrogen were formed during the last scattering. The universe lost its electrons after this atom formation. The universe was dark before the last scattering. The electrons and protons in the first hydrogen atoms could make the universe transparent to light. The last scattering was the last time fermions had the same temperature.
As a result of the last scattering, the universe was filled at a specific temperature of 2.73Kelvin, which is minus 454.76 degrees F, which is just 0.7 degrees above absolute zero.
There is a cloud of gas surrounding a dying star in the constellation of Centaurus, which is even colder than the rest of the universe. Astronomers believe the Boomerang Nebula is being cooled by a dying star at its center. The Ytterbium atom is hotter than the Boomerang Nebula in the experiment.
The first tools that can measure the behavior that arises a billionth of a degree above absolute zero are currently being developed.
The hope is that we can identify the key ingredients that need to be there in real materials by studying and understanding these systems.
The team's research is published in a journal.
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