title: Realization of a sonic black hole analog in a Bose-Einstein condensate.
abstract: We have created an analog of a black hole in a Bose-Einstein condensate. In this sonic black hole, sound waves, rather than light waves, cannot escape the event horizon. A steplike potential accelerates the flow of the condensate to velocities which cross and exceed the speed of sound by an order of magnitude. The Landau critical velocity is therefore surpassed. The point where the flow velocity equals the speed of sound is the sonic event horizon. The effective gravity is determined from the profiles of the velocity and speed of sound. A simulation finds negative energy excitations, by means of Bragg spectroscopy.
authors.affiliation: Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Oren
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lahav
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Itah
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blumkin
authors.forename: Carmit
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: Shahar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rinott
authors.forename: Alona
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zayats
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steinhauer