The following excerpt is from the latest article on my blogspot site which I titled "
Mysteries of the Bose-Einstein Condensate".
Quote:
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Experiments on BEC's have for the most part involved the use of isotopes like rubidium-87 which naturally repel one another. They more readily produce BEC's. In one experiment of note the researchers at JILA altered the naturally attractive forces of rubidium-85 by using a magnetic field sweep to cause spin-flip collisions thereby inducing the Rb-85 atoms to repel one another. They were then able to form those atoms into a stable condensate. When the magnetic field strength was increased still further, the atoms reverted to attraction and the BEC cloud imploded and shrank beyond detection, then spontaneously exploded, releasing about two-thirds of its atoms. About half the atoms that made up the original BEC could not be located either in the remaining condensate or the expanding cloud of gas. Their strange disappearance has not as yet been satisfactorily explained and was not predicted by quantum theory although the physics community is not for want of ideas on the subject.
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Notwithstanding that this is almost plagiarized from the Wikipedia page on the subject of BEC's the experimental result begs the question.. "where did the Rb-85 atoms go?"
I am throwing this problem out to the community here at Toequest. I am looking for ideas, any idea at all, no matter how bizarre or esoteric. Put your minds to work on this one. I want to know what you all think. I am working on a library computer and I probably won't get back to you all until Monday morning EST. In the meantime, the ball is in your court.
What happened to those atoms?
"There is nothing permanent except change" 
Linear Mode
