Stranger things: Aussie helps crack cosmic cold case
Australian astronomers have potentially confirmed a 1936 theory by Werner Heisenberg regarding vacuum birefringence using data from a magnetar. The discovery suggests that empty space can polarize light, opening new possibilities for understanding quantum physics.
Why it matters
This finding validates a long-standing physics theory and enhances our fundamental understanding of the universe's structure.
Marcus Lower helped analyse a rare neuron star, called a magnetar, as part of his research. (PR IMAGE PHOTO) Nobel Prize winner Werner Heisenberg once wrote: "Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think."
The words of the German quantum physicist ring true many decades on as scientists use supercomputers and cutting-edge telescopes to try and confirm his most elusive theory.
An Australian astronomer is among a team of researchers who may have observed a complex phenomenon called vacuum birefringence, theorised by Heisenberg in 1936.
Their finding could open a "new cosmic window" in quantum physics and improve understanding of the universe, according to research published in the international journal Nature on Thursday.
Known as a physics "cold case", astronomers have long been chasing Heisenberg and his student Hans Euler's theory that seemingly empty space can alter the path of light.
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