http://www.sciencealert.com/we-just...f-a-strange-quantum-distortion-in-empty-space We just got the first real evidence of a strange quantum distortion in empty space It's taken us 80 years to witness this. For the first time, astronomers have observed a strange quantum phenomenon in action, where a neutron star is surrounded by a magnetic field so intense, it’s given rise to a region in empty space where matter spontaneously pops in and out of existence. Called vacuum birefringence, this bizarre phenomenon was first predicted back in the 1930s, but had only ever been observed on the atomic scale. Now scientists have finally seen it occur in nature, and it goes against everything that Newton and Einsteinhad mapped out. "This is a macroscopic manifestation of quantum field," Jeremy Heyl from the University of British Columbia in Canada, who was not involved in the research, told Science. "It’s manifest on the scale of a neutron star." An international team of astronomers led by Roberto Mignani from INAF Milan in Italy made the discovery while observing a neutron star called RX J1856.5-3754 that's 400 light-years from Earth. more at link.....
http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/465/1/492 Evidence for vacuum birefringence from the first optical-polarimetry measurement of the isolated neutron star RX J1856.5−3754 Abstract The ‘Magnificent Seven’ (M7) are a group of radio-quiet isolated neutron stars discovered in the soft X-rays through their purely thermal surface emission. Owing to the large inferred magnetic fields (B ≈ 1013 G), radiation from these sources is expected to be substantially polarized, independently of the mechanism actually responsible for the thermal emission. A large observed polarization degree (PD) is, however, expected only if quantum-electrodynamic (QED) polarization effects are present in the magnetized vacuum around the star. The detection of a strong linearly polarized signal would therefore provide the first observational evidence of QED effects in the strong-field regime. While polarization measurements in the soft X-rays are not feasible yet, optical polarization measurements are within reach also for quite faint targets, like the M7 which have optical counterparts with magnitudes ≈26–28. Here, we report on the measurement of optical linear polarization for the prototype, and brightest member, of the class, RX J1856.5−3754 (V ∼ 25.5), the first ever for one of the M7, obtained with the Very Large Telescope. We measured a PD = 16.43 ± 5.26 per cent and a polarization position angle PA = 145 .∘" role="presentation" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline-style: none; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; word-spacing: normal; word-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: relative;">∘..∘39 ± 9 .∘" role="presentation" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline-style: none; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; word-spacing: normal; word-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: relative;">∘..∘44, computed east of the North Celestial Meridian. The PD that we derive is large enough to support the presence of vacuum birefringence, as predicted by QED
Fascinating. If true, this gives me an idea about a means for probing fine structure smaller than quarks with a novel new twist on a collider.
It should be noted there are still a small group of scientists in the academia that still refuse to believe in the existence of vacuum fluctuations. A particular string theorist I speak with, who works in perturbation physics, will not listen to me when I try to explain to him why vacuum fluctuations have to exist. I still have this problem with him today. They are more than mathematical artifacts, they are products of spacetime uncertainty!!
