Chinese scientists have reportedly cooled atoms to temperatures close to absolute zero, the coldest conditions physics allows, in an experiment carried out in space. The achievement has been described as a record-breaking result for this kind of work.
Reaching such extreme cold matters because atoms move least at these temperatures, which allows physicists to observe quantum behavior that is hard to see under ordinary conditions. Ultracold atoms are used in precision measurement, and experiments in orbit can run without some of the disturbances that limit similar work on Earth, such as gravity pulling atoms downward during observation.
The reporting, which appeared in Live Science, gives only a limited account of the experiment. Details such as the exact temperature reached, the date of the work, the mission involved, and the names of the researchers and institutions were not available in the material reviewed, so the scale of the record cannot yet be independently confirmed.
Credit. Based on reporting by Elizabeth Howell for Live Science. Is this your work? Write to us.
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