The experiment on Earth could help scientists understand what dark matter is really made of.
, as cosmology does, ultracold atomic physics describes the behavior of clouds of atoms such as rubidium, potassium and sodium gases, typically at millionths of a degree above absolute zero, to monitor quantum effects. To show that fuzzy dark matter essentially acts as a giant BEC, the team had to mimic gravitational attraction on a cosmic scale in the laboratory.
"I have always kept an open eye for interdisciplinary approaches in physics, and this has been a perfect problem to tackle from such an angle," Rigopoulos said."Establishing a common language took some time, but we could see from the beginning, even as we conceived this project, that there were rewards to be reaped when you go out of your comfort zone and try to see things from a new perspective.
The achievement is promising for future attempts to create laboratory settings that replicate aspects of matter distribution in the universe on a smaller scale, said Nikolaos Proukakis, a professor of quantum physics at Newcastle University and co-author of the study. The team's future work will focus on studying the theoretical properties of fuzzy dark matter to place the BEC-like model under scrutiny.
"Even as a theoretical playground, it is fantastic to have a new system to model, trying out extensive expertise gained from laboratory condensates, and hoping for future observational tests in cosmology," Proukakis said in the statement.
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