Superfluid Helium Feels How the Earth Spins ⚡ экспресс
The frame-dragging effect — one of the predictions of general relativity — is still difficult to measure locally. A lab experiment has been proposed using a gyroscope based on superfluid helium-4 and a Josephson junction, leveraging macroscopic quantum properties. At a temperature of 10 millikelvin, the expected noise level will be 5×10⁻¹⁷ rad/s/√Hz, allowing the dragging rate to be measured with 0.2% accuracy in one second. This sensitivity corresponds to detecting one rotation in 4 billion years, or a proper time difference of 10⁻³⁵ seconds — at the threshold of Planck scales.
According to Einstein's theory, Earth's rotation drags space-time itself along — like a spoon dragging thick honey. This effect is incredibly weak: about one revolution in billions of years. But it can be caught. Scientists propose a tabletop experiment: a sensitive detector is placed in superfluid helium — a liquid that flows without any friction. The rotation creates microscopic quantum vortices in the helium, and the device counts them with fantastic precision. Calculations show it will notice even a turn lasting four billion years — almost as long as Earth has existed. Such precision will allow testing gravity theory right in the lab, not just in space.
The device's sensitivity is such that it captures rotation trillions of times slower than the movement of a clock's hour hand. For comparison: around black holes, this same drag effect accelerates matter to near-light speeds.
🎯 The effect was predicted in 1918, but it was only measured in 2004 — with the help of satellites.
🎬 In "Interstellar", this effect twists space-time around a black hole so strongly that on Miller's planet, giant waves surge up.