QuantumKnots
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Scientists tie quantum materials into infinite knots
As if quantum physics isn't knotty enough, scientists have now figured how to tie quantum materials into literal knots. A team from Finland's Aalto University, in collaboration with Amherst College, made a very fancy sailor's hitch with a quantum gas called a Bose-Eisenstein condensate (BEC). The material only exists at near absolute zero temperatures, but the team managed to tie it into a donut-shaped mass of loops called a Hopf fibration. It's not just an amusing parlor trick -- tying quantum materials into complex shapes may accelerate the development of ultra-fast, stable quantum computers.
