Something Out Of Nothing: New Approach Mimics Matter Creation Using Superfluid Helium

When matter and antimatter collide, they turn into pure energy. Energy can also spontaneously turn into matter and antimatter pairs. If this happens in a vacuum under a strong electric field, this is known as the Schwinger effect. Researchers have now found a way to simulate this fascinating phenomenon in a much easier way. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

There are ways to create a pair of particles, but they involve high-energy setups. Breakthroughs in the last few years have shown that we can look at some of these processes directly; this is not the case for the Schwinger effect. The electrical field required is just beyond what we can do in a lab. Researchers were looking for an analogous setup that could provide a