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Can empty space interact with light — and even change its properties?

Nature作者：Ekaterina Sokolova-Lapa2026年8月5日正文已收录本站
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Observations of a magnetized stellar core indicate that in an ultra-strong magnetic field, empty space can polarize light.

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  1. Ekaterina Sokolova-Lapa

    1. Ekaterina Sokolova-Lapa is in the Dr. Karl Remeis-Sternwarte and ECAP, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Bamberg 96049, Germany.

  2. Joern Wilms

    1. Joern Wilms is in the Dr. Karl Remeis-Sternwarte and ECAP, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Er-langen-Nürnberg, Bamberg 96049, Germany.

The extreme conditions of outer space give astronomers the opportunity to study light and matter under conditions far beyond the reach of the most advanced terrestrial laboratories. For example, it has long been predicted that empty space (a vacuum) can modify the properties of light if it is permeated by a very strong magnetic field. Such fields have been found only around young neutron stars (a type of collapsed stellar core), the most magnetized of which belong to a rare subclass called magnetars. Writing in Nature, Stewart et al.1 report observations of a magnetar that indicate that light from the star becomes more polarized as it passes through the magnetar’s magnetic field because of interaction with the vacuum.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02289-8

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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