Experimental observation of violent relaxation and the formation of out-of-equilibrium quasi-stationary states [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2205.10948


Large scale structures in the Universe, ranging from globular clusters to entire galaxies, are the manifestation of relaxation to out-of-equilibrium states that are not described by standard statistical mechanics at equilibrium. Instead, they are formed through a process of a very different nature, i.e. violent relaxation. However, astrophysical time-scales are so large that it is not possible to directly observe these relaxation dynamics and therefore verify the details of the violent relaxation process. We develop a table-top experiment and model that allows us to directly observe effects such as mixing of phase space, and violent relaxation, leading to the formation of a table-top analogue of a galaxy. The experiment allows us to control a range of parameters, including the nonlocal (gravitational) interaction strength and quantum effects, thus providing an effective test-bed for gravitational models that cannot otherwise be directly studied in experimental settings.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Lovisetto, M. Braidotti, R. Prizia, et. al.
Tue, 24 May 22
44/92

Comments: 7 pages, 5 figures; Supplementary Information 9 pages and 7 figures