Astronomers spot signs of weird quantum distortion in space

Science Magazine and Daily Mail featured a prediction about quantum distortion made by Jeremy Heyl, a UBC astrophysicist.

Heyl and Nir Shaviv, an astrophysicist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, predicted that a neutron star’s ultra-intense magnetic field is distorting empty space through a quantum mechanical effect involving ghostly “virtual” particles. This phenomenon is usually seen only on the atomic scale.

“This is a macroscopic manifestation of quantum field,” Heyl said. “It’s manifest on the scale of a neutron star.”