Feature

Strings Link the Ultracold with the Superhot

Perfect liquids suggest theory’s math mirrors something real

By Tom Siegfried

- More than 2 years ago

Shadows live in a simple world. They glide effortlessly across any sort of surface, oblivious to the higher dimension of space in which 3-D bodies move, collide and sometimes block the paths of rays of light.

NEARLY “PERFECT LIQUID” | Researchers colliding gold particles at Brookhaven National Laboratory found stronger interactions among quarks and gluons (force lines shown in the simulation at right) than had been expected (left).