Vortices in a Quantum Frozen Fog express

Original: "Vortex dynamics in rotating dipolar supersolids across Josephson and self-trapping regimes"
arXiv:2606.07266 · 2026-06-05 · CC BY 4.0 · 1 min
Physicists control the birth and motion of vortices in a material that is both solid and flowing.

A supersolid is matter that is both crystalline and fluid. It is created from atoms cooled almost to absolute zero. In new work, physicists obtained such a substance as a triangular lattice of droplets. Each droplet oscillates in its own rhythm. When the rhythms of neighboring droplets slightly diverge, a quantum vortex is born in the gaps between them, like a dancer stepping into a gap in a round dance. Slow divergences give birth to vortices at the corners, and when the rhythms speed up and synchronize, the vortices come into ordered motion, colliding and vanishing. Similar to a pulsar with its strict pulses, the phase rhythm dictates the appearance of vortices. Remarkably, just three droplets are enough — the minimal ensemble for a quantum dance. The effect, predicted by Landau for superfluids, gains new life here. In the future, such rhythm control will pave the way for controlling quantum systems.

It wasn't until 2017 that the supersolid state was achieved in the lab using dysprosium atoms — before that it was considered merely a theoretical curiosity.

The birth of vortices from emptiness recalls the folded navigations from Dune, but here it's lab reality.

Scientists
Ludwig BoltzmannRudolf ClausiusJacob BekensteinStephen HawkingJames Clerk MaxwellEdward Witten
Concepts
vortex lattice superfluid vortex obstacle vorticity microorganism swimming dynamics fluid dynamics in porous media josephson current Josephson effect turbulent coagulation Navier-Stokes equations turbulence rotation fluctuation-dissipation theorem superfluid vortices electrolyte transport