Events

Abstract: The recently developed gravity simulator in our laboratory employs surface waves propagating on the interface of superfluid helium, a quantum liquid with tuneable dissipation. To emulate rotating curved spacetimes indicative of astrophysical black holes, it is crucial to stabilise large-scale vortex flow in this system. In my talk, I will detail how this can be achieved and illustrate how the background velocity field couples to the dynamics of micrometre-scale waves observed in the experiment, leading to unique observations of bound states and black hole ringdown signatures. These findings underscore the potential of superfluid helium as an effective finite temperature quantum field theory simulator for studying rotating curved spacetimes.
Based on P. Svancara et al., Nature 628, 66–70 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07176-8