If you think normal tornados are scary, buckle up: scientists have now created one so strong that it resembles a black hole. Why? The giant vortex mimics black holes so well that it could unlock huge possibilities in black hole research.
Published in journal Nature, the experimental study created something never been seen before: a quantum tornado. Essentially, while a regular tornado rips up and circulates trees and houses, a quantum tornado circulates atoms and particles.
To get the tornado to mimic a black hole, the researchers had to use helium in its ‘superfluid’ state – meaning it had low viscosity and could flow without any resistance. These properties allow scientists to closely observe how the helium interacts with its surroundings.
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This led them to discover that the tiny waves on the liquid’s surface simulate the gravitational conditions around rotating black holes.
So how did they do it? First, the team – led by the University of Nottingham – had to achieve the right properties in the liquid. This involved chilling several litres of superfluid helium to the lowest possible temperatures – lower than -271°C.
Usually, tiny objects inside liquid helium called ‘quantum vortices’ spread apart from each other. But, at this new ultra-cold temperature, liquid helium takes on quantum properties which stabilise them.
Using a new cryogenic device, the researchers managed to confine tens of thousands of these tiny objects to create a ‘vortex flow’ resembling a tornado.
The successful experiment unlocks new possibilities for scientists to simulate their theories about curved spacetime and gravity, as researchers will be able to compare the interactions in the simulated black hole to their own theoretical projections.
“When we first observed clear signatures of black hole physics in our initial analogue experiment back in 2017, it was a breakthrough moment for understanding some of the bizarre phenomena that are often challenging, if not impossible, to study otherwise,” said Prof Silke Weinfurtner, who leads the work in the Black Hole Laboratory where this experiment was developed.
“Now, with our more sophisticated experiment, we have taken this research to the next level, which could eventually lead us to predict how quantum fields behave in curved spacetimes around astrophysical black holes.”
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