Astronomers discovered that the phenomenon was contrary to what Newton and Einstein had drawn

A quantum phenomenon takes place with a giant scale of a cosmic star.

For the first time in history, astronomers discovered and observed a quantum phenomenon occurring in nature . That's when a neutron star is surrounded by a magnetic field so strong that it creates a singular region of the universe, an area in which matter exists and then naturally disappears.

Illustration for a neutron star.

Called vacuum birefringence (birefringence is a phenomenon that occurs when light rays passing through certain types of crystals are split into two light rays: ordinary rays and unusual rays - superior rays), periodic phenomena. This strange was first predicted in the 1930s, but was only observed at the atomic scale. Now, scientists have for the first time seen this phenomenon happen in nature and more strangely, it goes against everything that Newton and Einstein have drawn.

Light passing through the calcite crystal creates two images of the underlying letter, corresponding to ordinary and unusual rays.

" This is a very obvious event in the field of quantum, a macro event," said Jeremy Heyl from British Columbia University, who is not part of the research project. "Its degree of clarity is about the size of a neutron star ."

A group of international astronomers, led by Professor Roberto Mignani from Italy, discovered this phenomenon, when they observed neutron stars named RX J1856.5-3754 , 400 meters from our Earth. light year.

Neutron stars are cores crushed from a giant star "collapsed" by its own weight, a "collapse" phenomenon that occurs when the star runs out of energy and explodes in the form of a supernova . Although its formation and properties are quite similar to that of a black hole , it is still lacking in magnitude to become the "death" of the universe.

They are made up of one of the most dense materials in the Universe. Only a spoonful of this material weighs 1 billion tons when placed on Earth, its outer layer is 10 billion times stronger than steel.

Neutron stars RX J1856.5-3754.

And yet, neutron stars also possess one of the most powerful magnetic fields in the Universe . Astronomers predict that neutron stars with the strongest magnetic field will be 100 trillion times larger than Earth.

These magnetic fields are so ridiculous that they can affect the empty space around a neutron star.

In the basic physics we learned from Newton and Einstein , the space is completely empty , but the theory of quantum mechanics does not think so.

According to QED quantum electric dynamics - a quantum theory that explains how light and matter come into contact with each other - predict, the universe is full of virtual particles that constantly exist and disappear, affecting to the activity of photon light particles when these photons move through the universe.

These virtual particles are not like ordinary physical particles (like electrons, photons) that we still know. They are unusual points in the field of quantum physics but still have the same properties as ordinary particles. The biggest difference of these virtual particles is that they do not really exist, they can appear and disappear at any time in time and space.

In ordinary aerospace, photons will not be affected by these virtual particles, they will move without problems. But in the aerospace affected by the intense magnetic field from the neutron star, those virtual particles will be excited and they greatly affect the photons of light passing through it.

" According to the quantum electric dynamics, the magnetic field that is affected by the magnetic field acts as a prism with the transmitted light, which is known as vacuum birefringence ," Mignani explained in a meeting. newspaper announced this phenomenon.

" This effect can only be observed in an extremely strong magnetic field, such as a magnetic field involving neutron stars ," added team member Roberto Turolla from the University of Padua, Italy. .

The researchers used the world's most advanced ground telescope , the Southern Europe Observatory's Very Large Telescope , to observe after the neutron mentioned above. There, they discovered the polarization phenomenon of light in the space around the neutron star.

" This is very strange, because the theory of relativity states that light will be allowed to move freely through the void without being affected ," one of the researchers said.

" This polarization phenomenon (an accurate 16-degree angle number) is the only explanation for the theory of quantum electric dynamics and the influence of virtual particles . "

The light coming out of the surface of the neutron star (left) becomes polarized as it passes through the space and finally reaches our eyes (right).

The next step of this study is to observe and analyze clearly, is this really a vacuum birefringence event that occurs on the scale of an entire star? If so, we will have a new strange phenomenon to study in the field of quantum mechanics.