{
  "id": 19531233,
  "title": "Physicists propose new quantum device to measure how Earth twists space-time",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/11/physicists-propose-new-quantum-device-to-measure-how-earth-twists",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-11-11T17:25:29.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Live Science",
    "slug": "live-science",
    "url": "https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/particle-physics/physicists-propose-new-quantum-device-to-measure-how-earths-spin-twists-space-time"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Scientists have proposed a new tabletop device capable of measuring the subtle way Earth's daily rotation twists the fabric of space-time — an effect predicted by Einstein's general relativity. The sensor, if built, could match the precision of the best satellite experiments but in a fraction of the time, according to the researchers who published their findings in Physical Review Letters on September 17. The study aimed to resolve a longstanding discrepancy in physics.\n\nPicture a ring of clocks attached to a spinning merry-go-round. Synchronizing each clock with its neighbor around the circle, then comparing the last clock with the first, reveals they don't match. This is due to the rotation, making it impossible to synchronize clocks in a rotating frame.\n\nEinstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a massive, spinning object like Earth drags space-time along with its motion, akin to a spoon twirling in honey. The effect is most noticeable around supermassive objects, such as black holes in the Milky Way. However, on Earth, the effect is extremely faint. Previously, scientists have measured Earth's frame dragging only from orbit by tracking the impact on gyroscopes or satellite paths. In 2011, NASA's Gravity Probe B satellite confirmed the prediction with an 18% margin of error. Subsequent satellite measurements have improved this accuracy, with the LARES-2 satellite reducing the margin of error to just 0.2% in July.\n\nMeasuring frame dragging more precisely serves as a way to stress-test general relativity. Alternative theories of gravity predict a slightly different amount of twisting, and a lab-based measurement would be free of the modeling assumptions that satellite experiments rely on. The new device proposed is a loop of superfluid helium-4 chilled to a state where it flows without friction, behaving like a single, giant quantum object. The loop has tiny holes that allow helium to pass through but not regular liquid helium, creating a quantum effect. When Earth spins and drags space-time, it nudges the quantum state of the helium flowing through the junction, shifting the frequency of the helium sloshing back and forth in the loop, which can be detected.",
  "summary": "A proposed tabletop quantum sensor could match the precision of the best satellite measurements of frame dragging, a subtle effect predicted by Einstein's general relativity.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}