How do you study a phenomenon that cannot be replicated on Earth? You study one that has nothing to do with it, but looks incredibly similar mathematically. Matthew R Francis examines how these analogue systems are being used to study monopoles and black holes
Some experiments simply can’t be done. It’s a hard truth that physicists learn to face at an early stage in their careers. Some phenomena we want to study require conditions that are out of reach with our current techniques and technologies.
This is especially true when physicists make predictions about the very early universe. Theories hypothesize, for example, that certain particles may have been created during this high-energy period, but our colliders are just not powerful enough to replicate those conditions, which means we cannot create the particles ourselves. The physics that exists only in or around black holes poses a similar problem. Since these massive objects are very far away (the closest known is thousands of light-years distant) and would require hitherto unfeasible amounts of energy to make in the lab, we’re not able to test our theories about them.
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