CURVED SPACETIME IN A QUANTUM SIMULATOR

hen trying to explain cosmicscale events like the gravitational waves produced when black holes meet, the theory of relativity does a good job. When explaining particlescale events like the behaviour of individual electrons in an atom, quantum theory performs well But there hasn't yet been a fully suitable solution to combine the two One of the important scientific problems that haven’t been fully answered is the hunt for a "quantum theory of gravity " This is partially due to the challenging mathematics involved in this discipline. However, it might be challenging to conduct appropriate experiments. It would be necessary to design scenarios in which both quantum effects such as the dual particle and wave nature of light and phenomena from the theory

Wof relativity such as a spacetime warped by massive bodies play significant roles. In order to do this, a novel strategy has now been devised at the TU Wien in Vienna, Austria: To answer these problems, a so called "quantum simulator" is employed: Instead of directly examining the system of interest (quantum particles in curved spacetime), one develops a "model system" from which one can then draw analogies to learn more about the real system of interest The scientists have now demonstrated that their quantum simulator performs flawlessly Scientists from the University of Crete, Nanyang Technological University, and FU Berlin worked together to conduct this multinational study, and the results have just been published in the scholarly publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS)

Learning from one system about another

The quantum simulator's fundamental principle is straight forward: Physical systems are frequently similar. Even if they are completely distinct sorts of particles or physical systems operating on various sizes that appear to have nothing in common at first look, these systems may, at a deeper level, be subject to the same laws and equations This implies that studying another system can teach us anything about a given system.

Prof. Jorg Schmiedmayer of the Atomic Institute at the Technical University of Vienna explains, "We pick a quantum system that we know we can control and adapt extremely effective in experiments ” In our scenario, an atom chip with electromagnetic fields is holding and controlling ultracold atomic clouds. Consider setting up these atomic clouds appropriately so that their characteristics may be transferred to another quantum system. As a result, by measuring the atomic cloud model system, you can infer information about the other system. This is similar to how you can infer information about the oscillation of a pendulum from the oscillation of a mass attached to a metal spring, despite the fact that they are two distinct physical systems

Gravitational lensing effect

According to Mohammadamin Tajik, the first author of the present work from the Vienna Centre for Quantum Science and Technology ( VCQ ) at the Technical University of Vienna, "We have now been able to demonstrate that we can produce effects in this way that can be used to mimic the curvature of spacetime." Light travels along a supposedly "light cone" in the vacuum Since light moves at a constant speed, it covers the same distance in both directions at all times. However, these light cones are twisted if the light is affected by large bodies, such as the gravitational pull of the sun In curved space periods, the light's trajectories are no longer entirely straight The "gravitational lens effect" describes this

Atomic clouds may now demonstrate the same. One looks at the speed of sound rather than the speed of light.

According to Mohammadamin Tajik, "We now have a system in which there is an effect that corresponds to gravitational lensing or space-time curvature, but at the same time, it is a quantum system that you can describe with quantum field theories " With this, we have a whole new instrument to investigate how relativity and quantum theory relate to one another.

A model system for quantum gravity

According to the tests, it is possible to demonstrate in these atomic clouds the form of light cones, lensing effects, reflections, and other phenomena precisely as predicted in relativistic cosmic systems. Solid-state physics and the hunt for novel materials also come into topics that have a similar structure and may thus be answered by such experiments, making this intriguing for producing fresh data for fundamental

Theoretical Study

We now aim to better manage these atomic clouds to gather even more extensive data Jorg Schmiedmayer illustrates that it is still possible to modify particle interactions in a very specific manner. In this approach, the quantum simulator may simulate physical scenarios that are so complex that even super computers are unable to calculate them

In addition to theoretical calculations, computer simulations, and direct experiments, the quantum simulator therefore provides a fresh, extra source of knowledge for quantum research The research team is interested in discovering novel events that may have been completely unknown until now and occur on a cosmic, relativistic scale, but might never have been found without looking at small particles