Mimicking inflation with 2-fluid systems in a strong gradient magnetic field

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel fluid dynamics experiment using two immiscible fluids in a strong magnetic field to simulate the inflationary expansion of the universe, capturing key features of cosmological fluctuations.

Contribution

It introduces a new experimental setup that mimics inflationary dynamics using magnetic fluids, bridging cosmology and fluid physics.

Findings

Interface perturbations exhibit horizon crossing behavior.

The system demonstrates transition from oscillatory to frozen regimes.

Simulation captures essential inflationary fluctuation dynamics.

Abstract

In the standard cosmological picture the Universe underwent a brief period of near-exponential expansion, known as Inflation. This provides an explanation for structure formation through the amplification of perturbations by the rapid expansion of the fabric of space. Although this mech- anism is theoretically well understood, it cannot be directly observed in nature. We propose a novel experiment combining fluid dynamics and strong magnetic field physics to simulate cosmo- logical inflation. Our proposed system consists of two immiscible, weakly magnetised fluids moving through a strong magnetic field in the bore of a superconducting magnet. By precisely controlling the propagation speed of the interface waves, we can capture the essential dynamics of inflation- ary fluctuations: interface perturbations experience a shrinking effective horizon and are shown to transition from oscillatory to squeezed and frozen regimes at horizon crossing.