NASA's IXPE May Have Proven 90-Year-Old Theory
Scientists using NASA's IXPE observatory have observed a magnetar exhibiting behavior consistent with the 90-year-old theory of vacuum birefringence. This phenomenon suggests that extreme magnetic fields can alter the vacuum of space, causing it to act like a lens for light.
Why it matters
This observation provides the first direct evidence for a long-standing quantum electrodynamics theory, deepening our understanding of extreme physics in space.
A first of its kind measurement of a magnetar may have captured empty space behaving in a way physicists have predicted for 90 years, but never directly observed. The results published Wednesday in Nature .
Scientists using NASA's IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) conducted more than 140 hours of observations of the magnetar 1E 1547-5408, between March and April 2025, alongside NASA's NICER (Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer) and Murriyang, CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope, owned and operated by Australia's national science agency. This was the first-ever coordinated radio and X-ray polarization measurement of a magnetar.
1E 1547-5408, spinning in a full rotation every 2 seconds, is a unique magnetar that consistently emits bright radio energy and X-ray light, for reasons scientists are still trying to understand.
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