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Quantum gases

The cold reality of exclusion

Nature Physics volume 6, pages 643–644 (2010)Cite this article

Real-space visualizations of the Pauli exclusion principle in clouds of cold fermions show quantum mechanics at work, and suggest a new tool for measuring nanokelvin temperatures.

The consequences of the Pauli exclusion principle are seen ubiquitously in nature. Pauli exclusion affects how quarks combine into protons and neutrons, and how those in turn stack up to form atomic nuclei. It forces the electrons orbiting the nucleus to occupy different orbits and is thus at the heart of all chemistry. It can decide whether some solid-state material is an insulator or a conductor. On astronomical scales, it keeps white-dwarf and neutron stars from collapsing. Writing in Physical Review Letters, Torben Müller and colleagues1, and Christian Sanner and colleagues2 now report independent experiments in which striking effects of Pauli exclusion are observed in dilute gases of atoms cooled down to less than a millionth of a degree above absolute zero. These atomic clouds, 1011 times larger than atomic nuclei and 1011 times smaller than white dwarfs, can serve as a platform for studying under well-controlled conditions the same fundamental physics that occurs in those seemingly very disparate systems.

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Figure 1: Fermion anti-bunching.

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  1. Zoran Hadzibabic is in the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK. zh10001@cam.ac.uk,

    Zoran Hadzibabic

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  1. Zoran Hadzibabic
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Hadzibabic, Z. The cold reality of exclusion. Nature Phys 6, 643–644 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1770

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1770

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