https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202023811008
Cosmology analogues in optical systems
1 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
2 Centre for Quantum Dynamics, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
* Corresponding author: eric.howard@mq.edu.au
Published online: 20 August 2020
We discuss the possibility of exploiting polariton-exciton physics as an analogue experimental tool to study challenging ideas and existing problems arising in the context of gravity theory and theoretical cosmology. We search for cosmology analogues with specific focus on simulating non-equilibrium dynamics across cosmological phase transitions in laboratory as well as employing optical analogue horizons in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and signatures of white hole radiation to study gravitational and cosmological processes. Our analysis aims to uncover conceptual similarities between condensed matter systems and various phenomena in the Early Universe such as the symmetry breaking of the vacuum energy, spontaneous production of particles, false vacuum and cosmic inflation together with a number of unsolved cosmological problems.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2020
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
