Sunday, February 14, 2021

Physicists capture the sound of a perfect fluid

Amazing stuff! Don't miss to listen to a sound recording!

"... For physicists, a perfect flow is more specific, referring to a fluid that flows with the smallest amount of friction, or viscosity, allowed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Such perfectly fluid behavior is rare in nature, but it is thought to occur in the cores of neutron stars and in the soupy plasma of the early universe. ...
This fundamental value confirmed that the strongly interacting fermion gas behaves as a perfect fluid, and is universal in nature. The results, published today in the journal Science, demonstrate the first time that scientists have been able to measure sound diffusion in a perfect fluid."

"... Transport of strongly interacting fermions is crucial for the properties of modern materials, nuclear fission, the merging of neutron stars, and the expansion of the early Universe. Here, we observe a universal quantum limit of diffusivity in a homogeneous, strongly interacting atomic Fermi gas by studying sound propagation and its attenuation through the coupled transport of momentum and heat. ..."

Physicists capture the sound of a “perfect” fluid | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology The results should help scientists study the viscosity in neutron stars, the plasma of the early universe, and other strongly interacting fluids.

Here is the link to the journal reference:

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