A black hole analog could tell us something about the elusive radiation that a real hole theoretically emits. Using a chain of atoms in a single string to model the event horizon of a black hole, a team of physicists observed the equivalent of what we call Hawking radiation in 2022; These particles arose from distortions in quantum fluctuations caused by the explosion of a black hole. spare time.

They say this could help resolve contradictions between two currently irreconcilable frameworks for describing the universe: general relativity, which describes the behavior of gravity as a continuous field known as spacetime; and quantum mechanics, which describes the behavior of individual particles using probability mathematics.

For a single, universally applicable theory of quantum gravity, these two incompatible theories must somehow find a way to get along. This is where black holes emerge; Possibly the strangest, most extreme objects in the universe. These massive objects are so incredibly dense that at a certain distance from the black hole’s center of mass, no velocity in the universe is sufficient for escape. It’s not even the speed of light.

This distance, which varies depending on the mass of the black hole, is called the event horizon. We can only imagine what happens when an object crosses a boundary, because nothing returns with important information about its fate. But in 1974, Stephen Hawking proposed that the disruption of quantum fluctuations caused by the event horizon results in a type of radiation very similar to thermal radiation.

If this Hawking radiation exists, it is too weak for us to detect. We may never be able to figure it out from the hissing static of the universe. However, we can investigate the properties of black holes by creating analogs of them under laboratory conditions. This has been done before, but in November 2022, a team led by Lotte Mertens from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands tried something new.

A one-dimensional chain of atoms served as a path for electrons to “jump” from one location to another. By adjusting the ease with which this jump occurs, physicists can cause certain properties to disappear, effectively creating a kind of event horizon that interferes with the wave-like nature of electrons.

The effect of this false event horizon causes a temperature increase that matches the theoretical expectation of an equivalent black hole system, but this increase only occurs when part of the chain moves beyond the event horizon, the team said.

This could mean that the entanglement of particles crossing the event horizon plays an important role in the generation of Hawking radiation. The simulated Hawking radiation was thermal only for a certain range of jump amplitudes and in models that started by simulating an assumed “flat” spacetime. This shows that Hawking radiation can be thermal only in some cases, as well as when there is a change in the curvature of space-time due to the gravitational force.

It’s not clear what this means for quantum gravity, but the model offers a way to study the appearance of Hawking radiation in an environment unaffected by the crazy dynamics of black hole formation. Because it is so simple, it can be used in a wide variety of experimental settings, the researchers say.

“This could pave the way to explore fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics as well as gravity and distorted space-time in various condensed matter environments,” the researchers write. Source