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Chao Kong

If a certain tiny bubble suddenly appeared somewhere in the cosmos, physicists say, it could expand and erase everything in its path.
Known as “false vacuum decay”, the scenario has been one of the most unsettling ideas in theoretical physics for nearly half a century.
Now, researchers at Tsinghua University say they have recreated the core mechanism behind the phenomenon using a programmable quantum simulator.
The results of the experiment were published in the journal Physical Review Letters on March 27 and could open up a new pathway in quantum computing.
The experiment simulated how a metastable “false vacuum” could tunnel into a lower-energy “true vacuum” through purely quantum effects, triggering the formation and expansion of destructive vacuum bubbles.

The research does not suggest the universe is about to collapse.
Instead, physicists say, it provides a rare experimental bridge between abstract quantum field theory and controllable quantum matter that could help deepen understanding of what could happen if the universe were eventually to come to an end.
According to lead researcher Wang Xiao, a theoretical physicist at Tsinghua: “We observed the nucleation and expansion of true vacuum bubbles directly.”
The hypothesis of false vacuum decay, formalised in the 1970s by physicist Sidney Coleman, predicts that quantum fluctuations could one day trigger a universe-sized nuclear bomb – the end of the universe.
Because any particle could randomly fall into the true vacuum and release massive amounts of energy, other particles near it could be prompted also to undergo such decay.
In modern physics, a false vacuum is a stable state but not one with the absolute lowest energy.
The Tsinghua team built a one-dimensional ring of highly excited rubidium-87 Rydberg atoms. The atoms naturally formed two degenerate antiferromagnetic states.
Researchers then used individually addressed lasers to raise the energy of one state, turning it into an artificial “false vacuum”, while the other became the “true vacuum”.
“The laser operations themselves are standard,” said Wang, who was trained at Oxford University. “The innovation was assigning them concrete physical meaning – using symmetry breaking to simulate the energy difference between false and true vacua.”


Global excitation lasers introduced quantum fluctuations that drove the system to decay from the false vacuum state into the true one.
Some theoretical estimates place such decay times at more than one quattuortrigintillion (10-to-the-105th-power) years. Wang stressed that the experiment did not determine whether the actual universe existed in a false vacuum.
“If the universe happens to be in a false vacuum state, then once decay begins, the bubble would indeed spread like combustion and become catastrophic,” he said.
“But our research does not answer whether the universe truly exists in a false vacuum, nor does it provide the actual decay time.”
Beyond cosmology, the work highlights the rapid rise of Rydberg atom arrays as a frontier technology for quantum computing.
Unlike universal quantum computers, neutral atom simulators do not need to control the interaction between every single pair of qubits. Rather, scientists set up a starting point and simply watch how the system naturally changes over time.
“Quantum simulation itself is a powerful experimental technology,” Wang said. “It is easier to realise than a universal quantum computer, but its scientific value is equally enormous.”
The field has become increasingly competitive internationally, with leading groups including those led by physicists Antoine Browaeys in France and Mikhail Lukin in the United States. Google has also entered the Rydberg quantum computing race.
“Quantum technology will fundamentally change humanity’s ability to control and understand nature,” Wang said. “I hope more people will participate in this process.”


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Researchers at Tsinghua University say they have recreated the core mechanism behind “false vacuum decay” using a programmable quantum simulator. Photo: Shutterstock

Schematic diagram of the experimental platform for simulating pseudo-vacuum decay in the circular Rydberg atomic array, where the blue dots represent 87Rb atoms. Illustration: Tsinghua University physics department 

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China

Tsinghua University team’s tackles one of most unsettling ideas in theoretical physics to possibly open a new pathway in quantum computing


Tsinghua University team’s tackles one of most unsettling ideas in theoretical physics to possibly open a new pathway in quantum computing.


Tsinghua University

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Did Chinese scientists simulate what could be the ‘end of the universe’?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Tsinghua University team’s tackles one of most unsettling ideas in theoretical physics to possibly open a new pathway in quantum computing

Tsinghua University team’s tackles one of most unsettling ideas in theoretical physics to possibly open a new pathway in quantum computing