
Quantum Matter Orbits Earth - headalgorithm
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01653-6
======
andrewflnr
> Bose–Einstein condensates have been created on board the International Space
> Station

~~~
Florin_Andrei
That's a much better title, though less catchy.

One could retort to the original title saying all matter is, in fact,
"quantum".

~~~
djaque
> One could retort to the original title saying all matter is, in fact,
> "quantum".

Quantum matter has a specific meaning in condensed matter physics. It's
anything where you can't approximate the system's behavior with classical
physics at a macroscopic level. IE, the optical properties of metals are
classical, but the electrical properties of topological insulators are not.

It is a bit like saying that all ecologists are chemists. Animals are, in
fact, big sacks of chemicals, but that's not really the point.

~~~
castratikron
So is a permanent magnet also quantum matter? Classical physics says the net
magnetization of a solid is zero.

~~~
djaque
That is a good point, because the way I was taught it is that ferromagnetism
is one of the few purely quantum mechanical phenomena we see in everyday life.
However, people don't really refer to it as "quantum matter". I think you
could argue that people have had some sort of heuristic description since long
before quantum was known about.

------
rubidium
[https://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov/news/](https://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov/news/)
has some history of the project. Started collecting data in 2018 it appears
from the website. Haven't read the research article yet...

I created and studied BEC's for my PhD. It's a fascinating field of research.
Not having to deal with gravity enables a range of experiments that weren't
accessible before. Will be fun to see continued studies.

~~~
andrewflnr
So you picked your username based on your favorite element? ;)

------
m4r35n357
The ISS is in free-fall, so that should be zero-g, not microgravity.

~~~
asplake
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-
g_environment](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-g_environment)

~~~
User23
Gravimeters[1] are an incredibly cool technology. I'm given to understand that
the most sensitive ones can actually track a person moving around the room
it's in.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravimeter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravimeter)

~~~
carapace
Yeah, and there's no known way to shield gravity so such a detector can see
though walls.

~~~
BurningFrog
You just need another person doing an offsetting walk on the opposite side of
the sensor.

