By tracing the origins of an unusual, short-lived particle, researchers have gathered some of the strongest evidence yet that mass can emerge from fluctuations in the vacuum
Particle collisions inside the STAR detector at the Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC, known as STARA pair of rare particles produced in high-energy proton collisions may be the clearest evidence yet that mass can emerge from empty space.
The finding could shed light on one of the biggest puzzles in physics: how particles acquire their mass. According to quantum chromodynamics – widely considered to be our best theory for describing the strong force, which binds quarks inside protons and neutrons – even a perfect vacuum isn’t truly empty. Instead, it is filled with short-lived disturbances in the underlying energy of space that flicker in and out of existence, known as virtual particles. Among them are quark-antiquark pairs. Under normal conditions, these fleeting pairs vanish almost as soon as they appear. But if enough energy is injected into a vacuum, QCD predicts they can be promoted into real, detectable particles with measurable mass. Now, the STAR collaboration – an international team of physicists working at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York state – has observed this process for the first time. The team smashed together high-energy protons in a vacuum, producing a spray of particles. Some of these particles should be quark-antiquark pairs pulled directly from the vacuum itself, but quarks can never exist alone and immediately combine into composite particles. Luckily for the team, these particular particles hold a clue as to their origins. Quarks and antiquarks are born with their spins correlated — a shared quantum alignment inherited from the vacuum.Sign up to Lost in Space-Time Untangle mind-bending physics, maths and the weirdness of reality with our monthly, special-guest-written newsletter.The researchers found that this link persists even after the quarks and antiquarks become part of larger particles called hyperons, which decay in less than a tenth of a billionth of a second. Spotting these spin-aligned hyperons in the aftermath of the proton collisions allowed the researchers to confirm that the quarks within them came from the vacuum.“I’m very happy to see this measurement,” saysat the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, who wasn’t involved with the work. He says there are still many mysteries about quarks, such as why they can’t exist alone. “This is what makes this experiment especially interesting.” Tu thinks that the work opens a new way to examine the properties of the vacuum directly, hopefully allowing scientists to study how particles acquire mass. The theory of QCD predicts that quarks gain more of their heft by interacting with the vacuum itself, but how they do so is unclear. at the University of Pavia in Italy says the result isn’t yet definitive, as reconstructing events from particle collisions can be complex. Researchers must first exhaustively exclude other possibilities that could have led to the same signal, he says.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Exclusive — FDA Commissioner Makary: Animal Testing ‘Not Very Good,’ FDA Beagle Kennels Now EmptySource of breaking news and analysis, insightful commentary and original reporting, curated and written specifically for the new generation of independent and conservative thinkers.
Read more »
Flight passengers slam airlines for pushing early bag checks even with empty bins on boardFox News Channel offers its audiences in-depth news reporting, along with opinion and analysis encompassing the principles of free people, free markets and diversity of thought, as an alternative to the left-of-center offerings of the news marketplace.
Read more »
Dark Winds closes season 4 with a showcase for Zahn McClarnon'I blinked, and the table was empty.'
Read more »
Porsche Teases New 911 Variant That Promises 'Pure Driving Pleasure'Porsche appears to be doing its best impression of Dr. Robert Oppenheimer by splitting the 911 lineup into ever smaller particles.
Read more »
10K empty seats: Poudre School District begins community meetings amid declining enrollmentSophia Villalba joined the Denver7 news team in October 2025.
Read more »
Report: DHS Under Kristi Noem Overpaid for Empty Warehouse Intended as Immigration Detention CenterA report reveals that the Department of Homeland Security, under then-Secretary Kristi Noem, overpaid significantly for an empty warehouse in Utah intended to be an immigration detention center. The purchase price of $145.4 million was nearly 50% more than the property's assessed value. The deal was finalized shortly before Noem left office, and her replacement, Markwayne Mullin, paused the conversion plans.
Read more »