![]() “QED is one of the most successful physics theories, but it had not been tested in such strong magnetic field conditions.” “In this observation of radiation from a faraway celestial object, we see a beautiful effect that is a manifestation of intricate, fundamental physics,” Lai said. ’63, Professor of Astrophysics in the College of Arts and Sciences. ’94, the Benson Jay Simon ’59, MBA ’62, and Mary Ellen Simon, M.A. ![]() The phenomenon can be naturally explained as a result of “photon metamorphosis” – a transformation of X-ray photons that has been theorized but never directly observed, said Dong Lai, Ph.D. The satellite later detected polarized X-rays from 4U 0142+61, a highly magnetized neutron star located in the Cassiopeia constellation.īut scientists were surprised when NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) satellite last year detected that lower- and higher-energy X-rays were polarized differently, with electromagnetic fields oriented at right angles to each other. This image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, the first object observed by NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) satellite, combines some of the first X-ray data collected by IXPE, shown in magenta, with high-energy X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, in blue. ![]()
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