Finding the Universe's cosmological constant using something we can create in the lab
Those of you who know my writing will know that I don't use many analogies. Analogies have a very useful place in helping people understand difficult concepts, but they also have a tendency to be a end up strained beyond their limits. Now, imagine how I would react to a whole new field of physics that might be best described as "physics by analogy."
The whole field is based on the premise that, when two physically very different situations can be described using the same mathematical model, the conclusions drawn from one situation can be applied to the other. Unfortunately, this is usually applied in situations where the physics in one situation—black holes, for instance—are so extreme that it is difficult, if not impossible, to test any of the conclusions.
It appears I must adjust my attitude and admit that the field as a whole is not useless. I reached this conclusion after reading a paper that uses sound propagation in Bose Einstein condensates (BEC) to throw light on the origin of the largest discrepancy between two calculations ever seen.
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from Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/02/cosmological-constant-in-a-bose-e...
