Bose-Einstein Condensation
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Physics monitor The oldest galaxy, as seen by the European Southern Observatory's NTT telescope. The left picture shows the target quasar, with right, the quasar image removed to make the galaxy, situated just to the north-west of the quasar, easier to see. superfluidity. Condensates could also play an important role in particle physics and cosmology, explaining, for example, why the pion as a bound quark-antiquark state is so much lighter than the three-quark proton. A hunt to create a pure Bose- Einstein condensate has been underway for over 15 years, with different groups employing different techniques to cool their bosons. The two recent successes have been achieved by incorporating several techniques. In both cases, the bosons have been atoms. In Colo just 2 arcsec away from the quasar. led to Einstein's prediction. Unlike rado, rubidium-87 was used, whilst at This tiny angular separation corre fermions, which obey the Pauli Rice University, the condensate was sponds to a distance 'on the ground' exclusion principle of only one formed from lithium-7. Both teams of 40,000 light-years. resident particle per allowed quantum started with the technique of laser There are strong indications that state, any number of bosons can cooling. This works by pointing finely this galaxy contains all the necessary pack into an identical quantum state. tuned laser beams at the sample nuclei to produce the observed This led Einstein to suggest that such that any atoms moving towards absorption effects. Only hydrogen under certain conditions, bosons a beam are struck by a photon, which and helium were produced in the Big would lose their individual identities, slows them down. Bang, heavier nuclei having been condensing into a kind of This steadily lowers the tempera 'cooked' by thermonuclear reactions 'superboson'. ture to the microkelvin level, still too inside stars. The newly-observed This condensate forms when the high for the condensate to form. The galaxy is the oldest visible source yet quantum mechanical waves of next step is to ensnare the sample in of heavier nuclei. neighbouring bosons overlap, hiding a magnetic trap and allow the faster, the identity of the individual particles. hotter atoms to escape, a technique Such a condition is difficult to known as evaporative cooling. This New state of matter: achieve, since most long-lived produces temperatures cold enough Bose-Einstein bosons are composite particles which for a condensate, but achieving high tend to interact and stick together enough density is still a problem. condensation before a condensate can emerge. Conventional magnetic traps leak; Extremely low temperatures and high there is a point of zero field through ~7f\ years after work by the Indian densities are required to overcome which cold atoms can drain away. / \J physicist Satyendra Nath this problem. As bosons lose energy Both groups used innovative ar Bose led Einstein to predict the and cool down, their wavelengths rangements of magnets to plug the existence of a new state of matter, become longer, and they can be leak. the Bose-Einstein condensate has packed close enough together to The Colorado group saw the con finally been seen. The discovery was merge into a condensate. Up until densate when they opened up the made in July by a team from Colo now, however, the extreme condi trap and took a laser snapshot of its rado, and was followed one month tions needed have not been attain contents. They found that the faster later by a second sighting at Rice able. atoms quickly flew out, whilst the University at Houston, Texas. Nevertheless, hints of the Bose- colder ones, which had undergone It is Bose's theoretical framework Einstein condensate have been condensation, formed a dense governing the behaviour of the inferred in phenomena such as central core. From their measure particles we now call bosons which superconductivity and liquid helium ments, they deduce that the conden- 12 CERN Courier, November 1995 §EMAR S.A. flektrim CHEMAR S.A. ELEKTRIM S.A. Zaktady Urzqdzen Chemicznych ELEKTRIM S.A. i Armatury Przemystowej INSTYTUT FIZYKI JJ|DR0WEJ ul. Chatubihskiego 8,00-950 Warszawa, Poland Chemical Equipement and Industrial Fittings Works im. H. Niewodniczanskiego Phone: +482230 11 98 CHEMAR Joint Stock Company The H. Niewodniczahski Institute Fax: +48 22 30 0842 ul. Olszewskiego 6,25-953 Kielce, Poland of Nuclear Physics Phone: +4841 6752 13 Janusz Solinski ul. 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