Tag Archive for 'Vacuum birefringence'

Two gold ions (red) move in opposite direction at 99.995% of the speed of light (v, for velocity, = approximately c, the speed of light). As the ions pass one another without colliding, two photons (γ) from the electromagnetic cloud surrounding the ions can interact with each other to create a matter-antimatter pair: an electron (e-) and positron (e+). Image credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Physicists Produce Matter and Antimatter from Photon Collisions

Aug 11, 2021 by News Staff

Physicists with the STAR Collaboration at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) have produced definitive evidence for...

This artist’s view shows how the light coming from the surface of a strongly magnetic neutron star (left) becomes linearly polarized as it travels through the vacuum of space close to the star on its way to the observer on Earth (right). The polarization of the observed light in the extremely strong magnetic field suggests that the empty space around the neutron star is subject to a quantum effect known as vacuum birefringence. The magnetic and electric field directions of the light rays are shown by the red and blue lines. Image credit: L. Calçada / ESO.

Astronomers Report First Observational Evidence for Vacuum Birefringence

Nov 30, 2016 by News Staff

By studying the light emitted from the very dense and strongly magnetic neutron star RX J1856.5-3754, a team of astronomers has found the strongest observational...