Unlike water, which can spin at a continuous range of speeds, the helium vortex can only swirl at certain fixed values. At this temperature, helium begins to demonstrate quantum effects. In the new setup, the black hole is represented by a tiny vortex inside a bell jar of superfluid helium, cooled to -271C. “The idea is that we want to understand how quantum physics behaves, on what we call a curved space time geometry.”

“We have a great understanding of both individually, but it turns out extremely hard to combine these two theories,” says Weinfurtner. The superfluid helium setup for the black hole simulator. Gravitational and quantum theories work well individually – and this is often sufficient to describe the world around us because at large scales gravity tends to dominate, while at atomic scales quantum effects rule.īut in black holes, where a lot of mass is crammed into a very small region of space, these worlds collide and there is no theoretical framework that unifies the two.

This has been arguably the central quest in physics for the past century.

Weinfurtner believes the parallels between the two situations be exploited to explore what happens when gravitational fields and quantum fields interact. There is a whole class of systems that possess the same physical processes.” “To me, the analogues are a gift from nature. And if the maths is the same, the physics ought to be the same,” Weinfurtner says. It’s a set of mathematical models that are very universal. The basic idea is that the flow of fluid down a plughole mimics, in a mathematical sense, the curving of space time itself by the extreme gravitational field of a black hole. “For example, does a black hole evaporate or will it just stay there for eternity?” “All these effects are tremendously beautiful and of fundamental importance,” she says. The flow of fluid down a plughole mimics, in a mathematical sense, the curving of space-time by the extreme gravitational field of a black hole.

Instaling Black Hole Battle - Eat All