On Friday, a team of physicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology succeeded in successfully capturing the sound of a perfect liquid.
The sound, which until now was only heard in neutron stars, makes this success a great achievement. A team of six physicists, part of the MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, published their findings in the journal Science.
A perfect liquid is a perfect flow characteristic, which, in simple terms, refers to a liquid that offers minimal friction or lace to the soundwave flow. It offers the least heat or resistance to any pipe that ignites.
Talking to MIT’s News website, Martin Zverlin expressed his happiness and the impact of his team’s achievement. “It’s very difficult to hear a neutron star,” says Martin Zuverlin, a Thomas A. Frank professor of physics at MIT. But now you can use the atom to mimic it, shake and listen to the atomic soup, and know how a neuron star will sound, ”he said.
To do this, they first developed a gas of strongly interacting fermions. A fermion, like an electron and a proton, is a kind of elementary particle. They are, however, different from electrons and protons in that they have a half-complete spin, meaning that they assume a different state after a full spin, and that ensures that the two do not collide.
The researchers identified the lithium-6 atom as ferruginous fermions and trapped them with the help of a laser system. Lasers form a box in which any atom that tries to get out of it bounces back inside. They then persuade the Fermins to clash; Communicate with each other, and become a perfect fluid in the process.
“We had to make a fluid of uniform density, and only then could we tap on one side, listen on the other side, and learn from it,” Xavierlin said. “It was really difficult to get to a place where we could use sound with this seemingly natural sound.”
Then they sent sound waves from one side of the box to the other. This was repeated a thousand times, varying in the frequency and types of sound waves, and seeing the different types of waves generated in the process. Zaverlin explained that the quality of the echo gave them an idea of the difference in liquid visibility or sound.
“If a liquid has low viscosity, it can make a very loud sound wave and can be very loud, if hit at the right frequency. If it is a very viscous liquid, it has a good resonance. Is not. ” .
Their data showed that they were able to hear clear echoes at low frequencies. With this he estimated and concluded that his gas was a perfect liquid and omnipresent in nature. It also leads them to believe that the propagation of sound, which is proportional to the viscosity of a liquid, was at its lowest possible limit defined by a quantum mechanic.
However, the range is not limited to Flash Neutron stars. “This work is directly related to the resistance in the material,” says Xavierlin. “Finding out what the least resistance you can get from a gas tells us what can happen to electrons in matter, and how one can create a material where electrons can flow properly. It’s interesting, “he said.
