Researchers confirm universal principles of phase transitions
08-Nov-2016
- USA
New research conducted at the University of Chicago has confirmed a decades-old theory describing the dynamics of continuous phase transitions.
An optical lattice lines up gaseous cesium atoms. As the lattice is shaken, the atoms are driven across a ferromagnetic phase transition.
The authors.
The findings provide the first clear demonstration of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism for a quantum phase transition in both space and time. Prof. Cheng Chin and his team of UChicago physicists observed the transition in gaseous cesium atoms at temperatures near absolute zero.
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