Atoms reach record temperature, colder than Absolute Zero

[Vodsel]

I thought I got my thermodynamics right, but seems it's not the case... either.

Absolute zero is often thought to be the coldest temperature possible. But now researchers show they can achieve even lower temperatures for a strange realm of "negative temperatures."

Oddly, another way to look at these negative temperatures is to consider them hotter than infinity, researchers added.

To comprehend the negative temperatures scientists have now devised, one might think of temperature as existing on a scale that is actually a loop, not linear. Positive temperatures make up one part of the loop, while negative temperatures make up the other part. When temperatures go either below zero or above infinity on the positive region of this scale, they end up in negative territory. (...)

At absolute zero, atoms would occupy the lowest energy state. At an infinite temperature, atoms would occupy all energy states. Negative temperatures then are the opposite of positive temperatures — atoms more likely occupy high-energy states than low-energy states.

"The inverted Boltzmann distribution is the hallmark of negative absolute temperature, and this is what we have achieved," said researcher Ulrich Schneider, a physicist at the University of Munich in Germany. "Yet the gas is not colder than zero kelvin, but hotter. It is even hotter than at any positive temperature — the temperature scale simply does not end at infinity, but jumps to negative values instead."

:surprised

 

[cyb]

:surprised :surprised x 274

(Kelvin will be p*ssed)

 

[daedaloops]

well, f*ck me.

let me guess, next they're gonna say that dimensions and time are looping as well..

and next thing we'll know we'll have old bruce willis universes getting their loops closed by young punk universes..

 

[Parshvik Chintan]

what the shit?

how can a range of motion be cyclical? (seriously.. wut?)

man i can't wrap my head around this, maybe i need to smoalk moar....

thanks for posting.

 

[spinCycle]

Makes perfect sense. :?

 

[Jees]

Do not believe. Next thing they gonna say is that the earth is not flat, that when you go west you end up east, impossible rubbish. Blasphemy !

 

[nen888]

..woah!, interesting Vosdel..thanks..

you quoted:

the temperature scale simply does not end at infinity, but jumps to negative values instead."

..this has been suggested by serious cosmologists for 'space' of the universe,
under the concepts 'Circular Scale', and 'curvature of the space/time brane'
i.e. keep going long enough and you come back to where you started..!

circular scale has also been suggested for all 'scale', i.e. get small enough and arrive at the big picture..
.

 

[Parshvik Chintan]

Makes perfect sense. :?

exactly, you move at an infinite amount, and then move more, and then your movements are negative and more still than perfect stillness itself.

i see no reason this would be hard to understand :roll:

 

[InfiniteFacticity]

http://www.nature.com/news/quantum-gas-goes-below-absolute-zero-1.12146

Another article, more clear and informed imo.

 

[olympus mon]

..woah!, interesting Vosdel..thanks..

you quoted:

the temperature scale simply does not end at infinity, but jumps to negative values instead."

..this has been suggested by serious cosmologists for 'space' of the universe,
under the concepts 'Circular Scale', and 'curvature of the space/time brane'
i.e. keep going long enough and you come back to where you started..!

circular scale has also been suggested for all 'scale', i.e. get small enough and arrive at the big picture..
.

I just watched a lecture by Lawrence Krauss explaining how cosmologists fund a way to measure and have confirmed the universe is flat. I'll dig it up tomorrow and post it. It was fascinating although I still can't picture or comprehend how a 3 dimensional universe could be flat. Damn physicists are smart SOB's!

 

[Vodsel]

http://www.nature.com/news/quantum-gas-goes-below-absolute-zero-1.12146

Another article, more clear and informed imo.

Thanks for sharing. Just this paragraph is quite explanatory.

Technically, you read off the temperature of a system from a graph that plots the probabilities of its particles being found with certain energies. Normally, most particles have average or near-average energies, with only a few particles zipping around at higher energies. In theory, if the situation is reversed, with more particles having higher, rather than lower, energies, the plot would flip over and the sign of the temperature would change from a positive to a negative absolute temperature.

Plus the idea that these "peaks and valleys" energy configuration leads to behaviors that reverse gravity, the way dark energy supposedly does, is fascinating.

Btw Olympus Mon, looking forward to that link.

This year is starting great, guys

 

[zombicyckel]

I just watched a lecture by Lawrence Krauss explaining how cosmologists fund a way to measure and have confirmed the universe is flat!

Haha, feels like history repeating itself first the earth was flat, then it was round. Now its the universe! Cant help but to see similarities hehe

 

[spinCycle]

Haha, feels like history repeating itself first the earth was flat, then it was round. Now its the universe! Cant help but to see similarities hehe

And woe unto he who falls off the edge of the universe, for there be dragons. :!:

 

[vardlokkur]

I always wondered if absolute zero would exhibit the quality of time having stopped, as in electrons are almost frozen in orbit. I guess it's more complicated than this, but it still seems like actually reaching absolute zero is not possible in the lab, though the comparison to dark energy in this experiment with "negative absolute zero" is really interesting, because as far as I know dark matter (which I am not completely sure is related to the notion of dark energy) has been completely unproven, and is presented as a 'fudge factor' used to explain observations that we truly have not been able to explain any way other than to say "it must be something we cannot perceive, let's call it dark matter". It's great to see there's so much uncharted territory, especially since the mundane day to day tends to disenchant the magic of reality for some. Wonder what the distant future holds in terms of application.