Different Speeds of Light? Scientists Observe Wacky Behavior of Neutron Star

Scientists point towards a neutron star 400 light-years away that may literally shake the foundation of quantum physics. When polarized, light from that specific neutron star has proven that its ultraintense magnetic field is capable of distorting empty space through a quantum mechanical effect that involves "virtual" particles in the said vacuum. This was behavior only previously seen on the atomic level.

Hebrew University's Nir Shaviv and University of British Columbia's Jeremy Heyl originally predicted the astrophysical effect back in 2000. They were not involved in the current research but told Science magazine that not only was it "cool," but it's a macroscopic manifestation of a quantum field.

New Scientist explained that the photons that make up light are electromagnetic waves that ripple through space.This means if the light is polarized, then the photos oscillate back and forth in the same direction.

According to Science Magazine, the new observation appears to show that light from a nearby neutron star is significantly polarized.

Per Science Daily, Roberto Mignani, an astronomy at the Institute of Spatial Astrophysics in Milan, Italy, reported that the RX J1856.5-3754 neutron star gave off very strange effects to the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope array in Chile last 2015.

They found out that the light from the star was polarized to about 16.4 percent.

Measuring this in itself is hard as the neutron star shines brighter in x-rays than in visible light. Since there's no x-ray instrument available to measure the star's polarization, they opted to study its optical glow, akin to spotting a candle between the planet and the moon.

It can be remembered that since the invention of quantum theory in the 1920s, scientists have theorized that the vacuum of empty space is not static. Rather, quantum uncertainty guarantees that the vacuum has a lot of particle-antiparticle pairs that pop in and out of existence.

Physicists discovered in the 1930s that a very strong magnetic field can even force light to travel at different speeds depending on the polarization. This two-speed effect is known as birefringence and is used in a lot of optical devices.

However, this can only be observed in quantum effects. In 2000, Heyl and Shaviv predicted that the magnetic field of a neutron star can generate the same effect on a macroscopic level, which it did. Meaning the polarization of the neutron star changed the speed of light of the things around it.

However, further research would have to rule out effects such as dust particles and molecular clouds.