In Borromean rings, each circle holds the pattern together by passing through the other 2 circles. Credit: Alexandr Kakinen/ Aalto University
A Peculiar Protected Structure Links Viking Knots With Quantum Vortices
A vortex structure that is impervious to decay has been determined through mathematical analysis.
In a brand-new research study, researchers at Aalto University in Finland have actually demonstrated how 3 vortices can be linked in a way that prevents them from being dismantled. Curiously, the structure of the links looks like a pattern used by Vikings and other ancient cultures.
Postdoctoral researcher Toni Annala uses strings and water vortices to explain the phenomenon: “If you make a link structure out of, state, 3 unbroken strings in a circle, you cant decipher it since the string cant go through another string. If, on the other hand, the same circular structure is made in water, the water vortices can merge and clash if they are not secured.”
” In a Bose-Einstein condensate, the link structure is someplace in between the 2,” says Annala, who started dealing with this in Professor Mikko Möttönens research study group at Aalto University before returning to the University of British Columbia and after that to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Roberto Zamora-Zamora, a postdoctoral scientist in Möttönens group, was also associated with the study.
The scientists mathematically showed the existence of a structure of connected vortices that can not break apart since of their essential residential or commercial properties. This indicates that the structure can not quickly break down,” states Möttönen.
The valknut is a symbol including three interlocked triangles and appears on a range of items from the archaeological record of the ancient Germanic peoples. Scholars have actually proposed a range of descriptions for the sign, in some cases associating it with the god Odin.
From antiquity to cosmic hairs
The structure is conceptually similar to the Borromean rings, a pattern of three interlinked circles which has actually been widely used in symbolism and as a coat of arms. Each component therefore connects its two partners, stabilizing the structure as a whole.
The mathematical analysis in this research demonstrates how similarly robust structures could exist in between knotted or connected vortices. Such structures may be observed in particular kinds of liquid crystals or condensed matter systems and might affect how those systems behave and establish.
” To our surprise, these topologically protected knots and links had actually not been created before. This is probably since the link structure needs vortices with 3 different types of circulation, which is much more complicated than the formerly considered two-vortex systems,” says Möttönen.
These findings may one day aid make quantum computing more precise. In topological quantum computing, the rational operations would be performed by intertwining different types of vortices around each other in various methods. “In regular liquids, knots decipher, however in quantum fields there can be knots with topological security, as we are now discovering,” says Möttönen.
Annala adds that “the very same theoretical design can be used to explain structures in several systems, such as cosmic strings in cosmology.” The topological structures used in the study also represent the vacuum structures in quantum field theory. The outcomes might for that reason also have ramifications for particle physics.
Next, the researchers prepare to in theory show the existence of a knot in a Bose-Einstein condensate that would be topologically protected versus dissolving in an experimentally practical situation. “The existence of topologically secured knots is one of the essential concerns of nature. After a mathematical evidence, we can carry on to simulations and experimental research study,” says Möttönen.
Reference: “Topologically safeguarded vortex knots and links” 12 December 2022, Communications Physics.DOI: 10.1038/ s42005-022-01071-2.
Strangely enough, the structure of the links resembles a pattern utilized by Vikings and other ancient cultures. The scientists mathematically demonstrated the presence of a structure of connected vortices that can not break apart because of their fundamental residential or commercial properties. The structure is conceptually comparable to the Borromean rings, a pattern of 3 interlinked circles which has actually been commonly used in importance and as a coat of arms. Each element hence links its 2 partners, stabilizing the structure as a whole.
The topological structures used in the research study likewise correspond to the vacuum structures in quantum field theory.