Have you ever wondered if “nothing” can give birth to “something”? Physicists have been wrestling with this question for decades. Back in 1951, Julian Schwinger proposed that under an unimaginably strong electric field, the vacuum itself could split open and release pairs of particles — electrons and their antimatter twins, positrons. A breathtaking idea, but far out of reach: no lab on Earth could generate fields strong enough to test it.
Now, a group of researchers from the University of British Columbia has shown that we might not need cosmic-sized electric fields after all. Instead, we can turn to an unlikely ally: superfluid helium-4 films just a few atoms thick.
Welcome to a journey where liquid helium becomes a window into the mysteries of the quantum vacuum. Stay with us — by the end, you’ll see how vortices in a quantum fluid may reshape one of the most audacious ideas in physics.
What Does It Mean for “Nothing” to Create “Something”?
Schwinger’s proposal, known as the Schwinger effect, predicted that vacuum could “tunnel” into producing matter. The key mechanism is quantum tunneling, where particles slip through barriers they shouldn’t classically cross.
- Original version: An electric field rips apart the vacuum, spawning electron–positron pairs.
- The problem: The required field strength is so enormous it’s practically impossible to achieve on Earth.
For decades, this remained a beautiful but untouchable theory. Until helium entered the story.
How Superfluid Helium Mimics the Quantum Vacuum
In the UBC experiment, physicists studied two-dimensional superfluid helium-4 films. These fluids are extraordinary: they flow without friction, and at a few atomic layers thick, they behave like a laboratory-scale quantum vacuum.
Here’s the clever analogy:
- Vacuum → superfluid helium
- Electric field → the flowing motion of the superfluid
- Electron–positron pairs → vortex–antivortex pairs
When the flow becomes strong enough, vortices — tiny whirlpools in the fluid — appear spontaneously, always in pairs that spin in opposite directions. This is the superfluid equivalent of the Schwinger effect.
Why This Discovery Is More Than Just a Metaphor
At first glance, this might sound like a neat analogy and nothing more. But the researchers found something deeper. They showed that the mass of a vortex isn’t fixed — it changes depending on its motion.
This revelation is huge. It forces us to rethink how vortices behave not only in helium but also in other quantum systems. And it hints at corrections to Schwinger’s original theory itself. In the words of coauthor Philip Stamp: “We’re using a simplified system to rewrite the original theory.”
A New Experimental Window Into the Cosmos
Why does this matter? Because physics is often trapped between theory and experiment. We can write elegant equations about black holes, quantum vacuums, or the first instants of the universe, but we can’t usually test them directly. Superfluid helium offers a rare bridge:
- It allows experiments at accessible scales.
- It reveals new physics of vortex dynamics.
- It provides analogues of cosmic phenomena we may never reach otherwise.
It’s not science fiction. No one’s creating matter out of thin air. But by observing how vortices pop into existence in a liquid film, we’re learning how the vacuum itself might behave in extreme conditions.
Conclusion: A Reminder to Never Let Reason Sleep
This breakthrough is more than a physics curiosity. It shows us that even “impossible” theories can find their stage in clever analog systems. With superfluid helium, researchers are not only testing ideas once reserved for the cosmos but also discovering entirely new physics along the way.
At FreeAstroScience.com, we believe that science teaches us to never turn off our minds. As Francisco Goya warned, “The sleep of reason breeds monsters.” By staying curious, by questioning even the fabric of nothingness, we uncover truths that make the universe feel less distant — and more alive.
So next time you pour a glass of water, think of the helium vortices whispering in the lab. They may be showing us how “nothing” itself creates the seeds of reality.
Rif: “Vacuum tunneling of vortices in two-dimensional 4He superfluid films” M. J. Desrochers, D. J. J. Marchand e P. C. E. Stamp PNAS – 1 settembre 2025
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2421273122
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