{"id":278044,"date":"2021-06-18T15:15:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T12:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/physicists-chilled-a-10-kilogram-object-to-the-edge-of-absolute-zero\/"},"modified":"2021-06-18T15:15:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T12:15:42","slug":"physicists-chilled-a-10-kilogram-object-to-the-edge-of-absolute-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/physicists-chilled-a-10-kilogram-object-to-the-edge-of-absolute-zero\/","title":{"rendered":"#Physicists chilled a 10-kilogram object to the edge of &#8216;absolute zero&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2535f64282f\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2535f64282f\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/physicists-chilled-a-10-kilogram-object-to-the-edge-of-absolute-zero\/#How_it_works\" >How it works<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/physicists-chilled-a-10-kilogram-object-to-the-edge-of-absolute-zero\/#Squeezed_light\" >Squeezed light<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/physicists-chilled-a-10-kilogram-object-to-the-edge-of-absolute-zero\/#What_does_it_all_mean\" >What does it all mean?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#Physicists chilled a 10-kilogram object to the edge of &#8216;absolute zero&#8217;<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>The <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ligo.caltech.edu\">LIGO gravitational wave observatory<\/a> in the United States is so sensitive to vibrations it can detect the tiny ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. These waves are caused by colliding black holes and other stellar cataclysms in distant galaxies, and they cause movements in the observatory much smaller than a proton.<\/p>\n<p>Now we have used this sensitivity to effectively chill a 10-kilogram mass down to less than one billionth of a degree above absolute zero.<\/p>\n<p>Temperature is a measure of how much, and how fast, the atoms and molecules that surround us (and that we are made of) are moving. When objects cool down, their molecules move less.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbsolute zero\u201d is the point where atoms and molecules stop moving entirely. However, quantum mechanics says the complete absence of motion is not really possible (due to the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/explainer-heisenbergs-uncertainty-principle-7512\">uncertainty principle<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Instead, in quantum mechanics the temperature of absolute zero corresponds to a \u201cmotional ground state\u201d, which is the theoretical minimum amount of movement an object can have. The 10-kilogram mass in our experiment is about 10 trillion times heavier than the previous heaviest mass cooled to this kind of temperature, and it was cooled to nearly its motional ground state.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center zoomable\">\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" class=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406467\/original\/file-20210615-22-jxtfky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fscience%2F2021%2F06%2F18%2Fphysicists-chilled-a-10-kilogram-object-absolute-zero-syndication%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state.Danny Sellers \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided\" data-title=\"Share One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state.Danny Sellers \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state.Danny Sellers \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state.Danny Sellers \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided<\/figcaption><\/figure><figcaption\/><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The work, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1126\/science.abh2634\">published yesterday in Science<\/a>, is an important step in the ongoing quest to understand the gap between quantum mechanics \u2014 the strange <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> that rules the universe at very small scales \u2014 and the macroscopic world we see around us.<\/p>\n<p>Plans are already under way to improve the experiment in more sensitive gravitational wave observatories of the future. The results may offer insight into the inconsistency between quantum mechanics and the theory of <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> relativity, which describes gravity and the behaviour of the universe at very large scales.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_it_works\"><\/span>How it works<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>LIGO detects <span id=\"urn:enhancement-165\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"http:\/\/data.thenextweb.com\/tnw\/entity\/gravitational_waves\">gravitational waves<\/span> using lasers fired down long tunnels and bounced between two pairs of 40-kilogram mirrors, then combined to produce an interference pattern. Tiny changes in the distance between the mirrors show up as fluctuations in the laser intensity.<\/p>\n<p>The motion of the four mirrors is controlled very precisely, to isolate them from any surrounding vibrations and even to compensate for the impact of the laser light bouncing off them.<\/p>\n<p>This part may be hard to get your head around, but we can show mathematically that the <em>differences<\/em> in the motion of the four 40-kilogram mirrors is equivalent to the motion of a single 10-kilogram mirror. What this means is that the pattern of laser intensity changes we observe in this experiment is the same as what we would see from a single 10-kilogram mirror.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center zoomable\">\n<p><figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" class=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406464\/original\/file-20210615-22-lyn95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fscience%2F2021%2F06%2F18%2Fphysicists-chilled-a-10-kilogram-object-absolute-zero-syndication%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state. Matt Heintze \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided\" data-title=\"Share One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state. Matt Heintze \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state. Matt Heintze \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state. Matt Heintze \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided<\/figcaption><\/figure><figcaption\/><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Although the temperature of the 10-kilogram mirror is defined by the motion of the atoms and molecules that make it up, we don\u2019t measure the motion of the individual molecules. Instead, and largely because it\u2019s how we measure gravitational waves, we measure the average motion of all the atoms (or the centre-of-mass motion).<\/p>\n<p>There are at least as many ways the atoms can move as there are atoms, but we only measure one of those ways, and that particular dance move of all the atoms together is the only one we cooled.<\/p>\n<p>The result is that while the four physical mirrors remain at room temperature and would be warm to the touch (if we let anyone touch them), the average motion of the 10-kilogram system is effectively at 0.77 nanokelvin, or less than one billionth of a degree above absolute zero.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Squeezed_light\"><\/span>Squeezed light<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Our contribution to Advanced LIGO, as members of Australia\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ozgrav.org\">OzGrav<\/a> gravitational wave research centre, was to design, install and test the \u201cquantum squeezed light\u201d system in the detector. This system creates and injects a specially engineered quantum field into the detector, making it more sensitive to the motion of the mirrors, and thus more sensitive to gravitational waves.<\/p>\n<p>The squeezed light system uses a special kind of crystal to produce pairs of highly correlated or \u201centangled\u201d photons, which reduce the amount of noise in the system.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center \">\n<p><figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"257\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=257&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=257&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=257&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=323&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=323&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=323&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fscience%2F2021%2F06%2F18%2Fphysicists-chilled-a-10-kilogram-object-absolute-zero-syndication%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: Australian National University scientists Nutsinee Kijbunchoo and Terry McRae build components for a quantum squeezed light source at LIGO Hanford Observatory in Washington, US.Nutsinee Kijbunchoo, Author provided\" data-title=\"Share Australian National University scientists Nutsinee Kijbunchoo and Terry McRae build components for a quantum squeezed light source at LIGO Hanford Observatory in Washington, US.Nutsinee Kijbunchoo, Author provided on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share Australian National University scientists Nutsinee Kijbunchoo and Terry McRae build components for a quantum squeezed light source at LIGO Hanford Observatory in Washington, US.Nutsinee Kijbunchoo, Author provided on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>Australian National University scientists Nutsinee Kijbunchoo and Terry McRae build components for a quantum squeezed light source at LIGO Hanford Observatory in Washington, US.Nutsinee Kijbunchoo, Author provided<\/figcaption><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"257\" class=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=257&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=257&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=257&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=323&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=323&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406911\/original\/file-20210617-19-zlv9gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=323&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure><figcaption\/><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_does_it_all_mean\"><\/span>What does it all mean?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Being able to observe one particular property of these mirrors <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roach a quantum ground state is a by-product of improving LIGO in the quest to do more and better gravitational wave astronomy, but it might also offer insights into the vexed question of quantum mechanics and gravity.<\/p>\n<p>At very small scales, quantum mechanics allows many strange phenomena, such as objects being both waves and particles, or seemingly existing in two places at the same time. However, even though the macroscopic world we see is built from tiny objects that must obey quantum phenomena, we don\u2019t see these quantum effects at larger scales.<\/p>\n<p>One theory about why this happens is the idea of <em>decoherence<\/em>. This suggests that heat and vibrations from a quantum system\u2019s surroundings disrupt its quantum state and make it behave like a familiar solid object.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center \">\n<p><figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fscience%2F2021%2F06%2F18%2Fphysicists-chilled-a-10-kilogram-object-absolute-zero-syndication%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state.Danny Sellers \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided\" data-title=\"Share One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state.Danny Sellers \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state.Danny Sellers \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>One of the four Advanced LIGO 40-kg mirrors that are cooled near their quantum ground state.Danny Sellers \/ Caltech \/ MIT \/ LIGO Lab, Author provided<\/figcaption><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" class=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/406465\/original\/file-20210615-15-a86of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure><figcaption\/><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In order to measure gravitational waves, LIGO is designed to not be affected by heat or vibrations from its surroundings, but LIGO test masses are heavy enough for gravity to be a possible cause of decoherence.<\/p>\n<p>Despite a century of searching, we have no way to reconcile gravity and quantum mechanics. Experiments like this, especially if they can get even closer to the ground state, might yield insight into this puzzle.<\/p>\n<p>As we improve LIGO over the next few years, we can re-do this quantum mechanics experiment and maybe see what happens when we cross over from the classical world into the quantum world with human-sized objects.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article by\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/david-ernest-mcclelland-414586\">David Ernest McClelland<\/a>, Distinguished\u00a0Professor and Director Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/australian-national-university-877\">Australian National University<\/a>; <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/robert-ward-521372\">Robert Ward<\/a>, Associate Investigator, OzGrav (ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery), Research Fellow in Physics, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/australian-national-university-877\">Australian National University<\/a>, and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/terry-mcrae-1242429\">Terry McRae<\/a>, Research fellow, gravitational wave detection, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/australian-national-university-877\">Australian National University,<\/a><\/em><em>\u00a0is republished from <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/approaching-zero-super-chilled-mirrors-edge-towards-the-borders-of-gravity-and-quantum-physics-162785\">original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/physicists-chilled-a-10-kilogram-object-absolute-zero-syndication\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Physicists chilled a 10-kilogram object to the edge of &#8216;absolute zero&#8217;&#8221; The LIGO gravitational wave observatory in the United States is so sensitive to vibrations it can detect the tiny ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. These waves are caused by colliding black holes and other stellar cataclysms in distant galaxies, and they cause movements&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":278045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/06\/LIGO-.jpeg&signature=6368b512fa49709b276e765787337664","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}