Scientists confirm quantum vacuum birefringence in magnetar's extreme magnetic field

Polarization measurements of magnetar 1E 1547.0−5408 have provided strong observational evidence for vacuum birefringence — a quantum electrodynamics (QED) effect in which extreme magnetic fields alter how X-rays travel through space. The findings, published in Nature, offer one of the most direct tests yet of QED under conditions impossible to replicate on Earth. The magnetar's ultra-strong magnetic field acts as a natural laboratory for fundamental physics.

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