MIT Physicists Create Superfluid from Fermions
Physicists classify all elementary particles as either bosons (which have an integer quantum spin) or fermions (which have a half-integer spin). Ten years ago, researchers at the University of Colorado and MIT cooled bosons to temperatures so low that they formed a superfluid – a completely frictionless or zero-viscosity state sometimes known as a Bose-Einstein condensate, since it was predicted in the 1920s by Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein. In the June 23 issue of Nature, an MIT team led by Wolfgang Ketterle reports that they’ve done the same for fermions.
The researchers cooled atoms of a lithium-6 isotope to 50 billionths of one degree Kelvin above absolute zero, then trapped the atoms inside the electric and magnetic fields produced by infrared laser beams. When they set the gas spinning using another laser, a latticework of tiny vortices appeared; these vortices are one signature of a superfluid.
The ability to create superfluids from fermions in the lab could be key to understanding a related phenomenon, superconductivity, in which metals are cooled to temperatures so low that flowing electrons encounter zero resistance. It could also shed light on the workings of neutron stars and quark-gluon plasmas, which are thought to have pervaded the universe shortly after the big bang.
The work is described at length in MIT News and a commentary in Nature.
Deep Dive
Uncategorized

It will soon be easy for self-driving cars to hide in plain sight. We shouldn’t let them.
If they ever hit our roads for real, other drivers need to know exactly what they are.

Maximize business value with data-driven strategies
Every organization is now collecting data, but few are truly data driven. Here are five ways data can transform your business.

Cryptocurrency fuels new business opportunities
As adoption of digital assets accelerates, companies are investing in innovative products and services.

Yann LeCun has a bold new vision for the future of AI
One of the godfathers of deep learning pulls together old ideas to sketch out a fresh path for AI, but raises as many questions as he answers.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.