Spontaneous Vortices Formed in Bose-Einstein Condensates

摘要

An international collaboration has demonstrated that vortices can form spontaneously within Bose-Einstein condensates, the coldest (and arguably strangest) state of matter. The discovery is significant in advancing our understanding of matter in extreme states, and may offer insight into how the Big Bang occurred.rnA Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) occurs when atoms are cooled to the point where they behave like waves, with a single cloud of matter acting in ways usually associated with subatomic particles. Although it was predicted by Satyendra Bose and Albert Einstein in 1924, the first condensate was only created in 1995 so it forms an exciting new toy for physicists attempting to unravel the behaviour of matter under the most extreme conditions.