Cosmic Simulation: Researchers Create Curved Spacetime in Lab

Scientists have created a simulation of an entire family of universes with curvature using ultracold quantum gases.

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity states that space and time are intertwined. In our Universe, the curvature of spacetime is relatively small and unchanging. However, researchers from Heidelberg University have successfully created a laboratory experiment in which the structure of spacetime can be manipulated.

The researchers used ultracold quantum gases to simulate a range of curved universes to explore various cosmological scenarios. They then compared these simulations with predictions from a quantum field theoretical model. The research findings were published in the journal Nature.

The emergence of space and time on cosmic time scales from the Big Bang to the present is the subject of current research that can only be based on the observation of our single Universe. The expansion and curvature of space are essential to cosmological models. In a flat space like our current Universe, the shortest distance between two points is always a straight line. “It is conceivable, however, that our Universe was curved in its early phase.

Studying the consequences of a curved spacetime is therefore a pressing question in research,” states Professor Markus Oberthaler, a researcher at the Kirchhoff Institute for Physics at Heidelberg University. With his “Synthetic Quantum Systems” research group, he developed a quantum field simulator for this purpose.

The quantum field simulator created in the lab consists of a cloud of potassium atoms cooled to just a few nanokelvins above absolute zero. This produces a Bose-Einstein condensate – a special quantum mechanical state of the atomic gas that is reached at very cold temperatures.

Professor Oberthaler explains that the Bose-Einstein condensate is a perfect background against which the smallest excitations, i.e. changes in the energy state of the atoms, become visible. The form of the atomic cloud determines the dimensionality and the properties of spacetime on which these excitations ride like waves. In our Universe, there are three dimensions of space as well as a fourth: time.

Mimicking Cosmic Phenomena with Atoms

In the experiment conducted by the Heidelberg physicists, the atoms are trapped in a thin layer. The excitations can therefore only propagate in two spatial directions – the space is two-dimensional. At the same time, the atomic cloud in the remaining two dimensions can be shaped in almost any way, whereby it is also possible to realize curved spacetimes. The interaction between the atoms can be precisely adjusted by a magnetic field, changing the propagation speed of the wavelike excitations on the Bose-Einstein condensate.

“For the waves on the condensate, the propagation speed depends on the density and the interaction of the atoms. This gives us the opportunity to create conditions like those in an expanding universe,” explains Professor Stefan Flörchinger. The researcher, who previously worked at Heidelberg University and joined the University of Jena at the beginning of this year, developed the quantum field theoretical model used to quantitatively compare the experimental results.

Using the quantum field simulator, cosmic phenomena, such as the production of particles based on the expansion of space, and even the spacetime curvature can be made measurable. “Cosmological problems normally take place on unimaginably large scales. To be able to specifically study them in the lab opens up entirely new possibilities in research by enabling us to experimentally test new theoretical models,” states Celia Viermann, the primary author of the Nature article.

“Studying the interplay of curved spacetime and quantum mechanical states in the lab will occupy us for some time to come,” says Markus Oberthaler, whose research group is also part of the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence at Ruperto Carola.

Reference: “Quantum field simulator for dynamics in curved spacetime” by Celia Viermann, Marius Sparn, Nikolas Liebster, Maurus Hans, Elinor Kath, Álvaro Parra-López, Mireia Tolosa-Simeón, Natalia Sánchez-Kuntz, Tobias Haas, Helmut Strobel, Stefan Floerchinger and Markus K. Oberthaler, 9 November 2022, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05313-9

The work was conducted as part of Collaborative Research Centre 1225, “Isolated Quantum Systems and Universality in Extreme Conditions” (ISOQUANT), of Heidelberg University.

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