False vacuum in a ring of atoms ⚡ экспресс
Emptiness isn't always empty: it can hide energy, like supercooled water hides ice. Physicists call this false vacuum — a state that only needs a nudge to cascade into the true one. In the experiment, the role of water was played by a ring of Rydberg atoms — giant particles that respond to electric fields like antennas.
By varying an external field, scientists triggered the birth of true vacuum bubbles. The decay rate followed a strict law, universal for atoms and the cosmos — predicted by Alan Guth. But the moment a tiny flaw in calibration crept in, the pattern shattered. It turned out bubbles can also form through resonance: when the frequency of the nudges matched the energy difference between the old and new states.
If such a transition happened in space, a true vacuum bubble would expand at the speed of light, instantly rewriting the laws of nature. Our vacuum is stable for now, but for the first time, the experiment lets us peer into the doomsday scenario — and grasp just how far our cosmic 'water' is from freezing.
🎯 Rydberg atoms are so large that two such atoms a hundred micrometers apart interact — it's as if two people felt attraction across a football field.
🎬 The idea of false vacuum inspired Greg Egan's novel 'Schild's Ladder' — in it, a physics experiment accidentally triggers the transition of the entire universe into a new state.