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The Kick That Stops Molecules: A New Cold Record ⚡ экспресс

Original: "Delta-Kick Collimation of Heteronuclear Feshbach Molecules"
arXiv:2502.09437 · 2025-02-13 · CC BY · ⏱ 1 min · Quantum Physics Quantum Gases Atomic Physics
Physicists have figured out how to freeze molecular clouds to trillionths of a degree above absolute zero without destroying them.
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A single laser kick cools a cloud of molecules to near absolute zero without disrupting their fragile structure. This will allow testing, with unprecedented accuracy, whether all atoms fall equally—a fundamental principle of gravitational theory.

🎯 At a temperature of one picokelvin, molecules move so slowly that crossing the width of a human hair would take them a full minute.

Scientists
Christian DopplerD. B. McLaughlinDidier QuelozMichel MayorR. A. RossiterJacob Bekenstein
Tags
entropy spacetime curvature spectroscopy
Laws
second law of thermodynamicsDoppler effectBekenstein-Hawking entropyMaxwell's equationsPlanck's lawPlanck–Einstein relation
Original: arXiv:2502.09437 · CC BY · bridge42worlds