[ad_1]
Einstein’s famous equation E = mc2 was first published on November 21, 1905 and derives from his special theory of relativity. It states that if you smash two sufficiently energetic photons, or particles of light, into each other, you should be able to create matter in the form of an electron and its opposite antimatter, a positron. This has long been difficult to observe, until now, according to findings published in the Journal Physical Review Letters.
Physicists at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York claim to have created matter from pure light for the very first time.
Using the lab’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), they were able to produce measurements that closely match the predictions of the act of strange transformation.
They did so by taking an alternative approach to their experience.
Instead of accelerating the photons directly, the researchers “accelerated the heavy ions” in a large loop, before sending them against each other in a near collision.
Since ions are charged particles moving very close to the speed of light, they also carry an electromagnetic field with them, inside of which are a bunch of “virtual” photons.
These are particles that only appear very briefly as disturbances in the fields that exist between real particles.
In their experiment, when the ions crossed each other, they created a true electron-positron pair that the scientists observed.
To verify the behavior of virtual photons, physicists detected and analyzed the angles between more than 6,000 electron-positron pairs produced by their experiment.
READ MORE: UK to wipe landline phones in digital upheaval, sparking fears for elderly and vulnerable
When two real particles collide, the side products must be produced at different angles than if they were made by two virtual particles.
But in this experiment, the side products of the virtual particles bounced at the same angles as the side products of the real particles.
This means that the researchers were able to verify that the particles they saw behaved as if they were the result of an actual interaction.
Daniel Brandenburg, a physicist at Brookhaven, said: “They are consistent with theoretical calculations of what would happen with real photons. “
In 1905, a year sometimes described as his annus mirabilis, Einstein published four groundbreaking articles.
These exposed the theory of the photoelectric effect, explained Brownian motion, introduced special relativity and demonstrated the mass-energy equivalence.
The mass-energy equivalence arose from special relativity as a paradox described by the French polymath Henri Poincaré.
Einstein was the first to propose the equivalence of mass and energy as a general principle and a consequence of the symmetries of space and time.
The famous German physicist died in 1955 at the age of 76, but his legacy lives on.
[ad_2]
Source link