{"id":489211,"date":"2026-05-17T12:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/489211\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T12:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:52:13","slug":"did-chinese-scientists-simulate-what-could-be-the-end-of-the-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/489211\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Chinese scientists simulate what could be the \u2018end of the universe\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">If a certain tiny bubble suddenly appeared somewhere in the cosmos, physicists say, it could expand and erase everything in its path.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Known as \u201cfalse vacuum decay\u201d, the scenario has been one of the most unsettling ideas in theoretical physics for nearly half a century.<\/p>\n<p>Now, researchers at <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/tsinghua-university?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tsinghua University<\/a> say they have recreated the core mechanism behind the phenomenon using a programmable quantum simulator.The results of the experiment were published in the journal Physical Review Letters on March 27 and could open up a new pathway in <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/quantum-computing?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">quantum computing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The experiment simulated how a metastable \u201cfalse vacuum\u201d could tunnel into a lower-energy \u201ctrue vacuum\u201d through purely quantum effects, triggering the formation and expansion of destructive vacuum bubbles.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Schematic diagram of the experimental platform for simulating pseudo-vacuum decay in the circular Rydberg atomic array, where the blue dots represent 87Rb atoms. Illustration: Tsinghua University physics department\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/05b91b85-a3ff-460c-989a-23f5bec05956_1cdff940.jpg\" title=\"Schematic diagram of the experimental platform for simulating pseudo-vacuum decay in the circular Rydberg atomic array, where the blue dots represent 87Rb atoms. Illustration: Tsinghua University physics department\"\/>Schematic diagram of the experimental platform for simulating pseudo-vacuum decay in the circular Rydberg atomic array, where the blue dots represent 87Rb atoms. Illustration: Tsinghua University physics department<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The research does not suggest the universe is about to collapse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If a certain tiny bubble suddenly appeared somewhere in the cosmos, physicists say, it could expand and erase&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[77],"tags":[213451,18,213454,823,19,17,213455,13862,751,61291,213453,213450,133,213449,2636,384,5610,213452],"class_list":["post-489211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-antoine-browaeys","tag-eire","tag-false-vacuum-decay","tag-google","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mikhail-lukin","tag-physical-review-letters","tag-quantum-computing","tag-quantum-fluctuations","tag-quantum-simulator","tag-rydberg-atom-arrays","tag-science","tag-sidney-coleman","tag-tsinghua-university","tag-united-states","tag-universe","tag-wang-xiao"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}