An early universe analog built in a lab in Germany

Bob Yirka is a research scientist at Phys.org.

A group of researchers at Universitt Heidelberg have created an early universe analogue using chilled potassium atoms. The group describes their simulation in a paper published in the journal Nature. Silke Weinfurtner wrote a piece about the work done by the team in Germany in the same journal issue.

The lack of evidence makes it hard to understand what happened during the first few moments after the Big bang. There is no theory to describe what might have happened. Scientists have built models to give credence to their theories. In this new effort, the researchers used a new approach to build a physical model in their lab to see how things would have been if there had been a big bang.

The researchers wanted to create a quantum field simulator after they believed that the Big bang gave rise to an expanding universe. The researchers created an environment that was very cold in order to prove that the early universe was very cold. The universe they were trying to simulation was represented by the addition of potassium atoms.

A type of superfluid called a Bose-Einstein condensate was formed when the atoms were chilled to just above absolute zero. The researchers used a projector to illuminate the atoms. Superfluid excitons can be seen in two directions.

The researchers were able to mimic the wave propagation that took place in the early universe. The superfluid's behavior was similar to the physics that governed spacetime and the production of particles just after the Big bang, according to their theory.

The expansion of the early universe was mimicked in one of the first experiments conducted using the simulation.

There is more information about Quantum field simulator for dynamics in curved space time.

Silke Weinfurtner is a Superfluid system host.

Journal information: Nature

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