Ben Turner is a U.K. based staff writer at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, among other topics like tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist.
Scientists have created a giant quantum tornado inside a helium superfluid, and they want to use it to probe the enigmatic nature of black holes.
"Using superfluid helium has allowed us to study tiny surface waves in greater detail and accuracy than with our previous experiments in water," lead author Patrik Svancara, a physicist at the University of Nottingham in the U.K., said in a statement."As the viscosity of superfluid helium is extremely small, we were able to meticulously investigate their interaction with the superfluid tornado and compare the findings with our own theoretical projections.
In the absence of a cataclysmic space-time rupture on Earth, the team behind the new study looked to a model system that could simulate some of the extreme eddies that exist around black holes. After supercooling liquid helium to a few fractions above absolute zero, they placed it inside a tank with a propeller at the bottom to stir up a vortex inside the fluid.
RELATED STORIES—James Webb telescope spots galaxies from the dawn of time that are so massive, they 'shouldn't exist'—What's the biggest black hole in the universe?
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