Physicists freeze a necklace of atoms, see a century-old prediction

What BBN said about it

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   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentPhysicists froze a line of atoms and say they may have seen clusters called Bethe strings, Live Science reports.

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   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorStrings. Like a necklace.

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   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentSort of.

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   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThey cooled tens of thousands of cesium atoms, split them into thousands of thin tubes, and each tube held a few dozen atoms in a line.

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   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorAnd they saw the strings.

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   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentNo. They couldn't see them.

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   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThey let the atoms go and measured how fast the cloud spread, and the measurements point to strings of at least six atoms.

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   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentSo the evidence is indirect.

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   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentHans Bethe worked out the math in nineteen thirty-one, and the lead researcher, Nägerl, said a theory fitting your data is not proof that something exists.

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    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThat's my entire belief, quoted back at me by a physicist.

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    Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentYour belief is a myth.

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    Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentAlso, the team lost about forty percent of the atoms in the coldest runs, and the strings likely don't last long.

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    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorFine. New belief: the atoms are a necklace, and forty percent of mine went missing in the wash.