Einstein ’s famous equation , E = mc2 , taught us that matter can be plow into energy . This happen by nature in the universe , although we ’ve also mastered it in places like nuclear reactors . The equation also tells us that the opposite word is true . It should be potential to produce affair out of energy , and that ’s exactly what scientists at Imperial College London are endeavor to do .
The team , head by Professor Steven Rose , are trying to achieve their goal by making two powerful optical maser – one with 1,000 times and the other with 1 million times the vim of visible light – strike the same target bedroom simultaneously . The advance is based on the Breit - Wheeler process , first put forward in 1934 , which exhibit that in possibility , you’re able to get an electron and a positron ( its antimatter Gemini ) out of two colliding photon .
So far , nobody has been able-bodied to recreate this , and multitude have begin adding other get-up-and-go mote to endeavor to make it materialise . But in 2014 , Professor Rose offer a method to create the Breit - Wheeler process without the affair of any other particles . This is the approach that is currently being tested .
“ This would be a gross demonstration of Einstein ’s noted equality that relates energy and mass : E = mc2 , which tells us how much energy is produce when matter is turn to zip , " Professor Rose pronounce in astatement . " What we are doing is the same but backwards : move around photon energy into mass , i.e. m = E / c2 . ”
This is not the only squad ferment hard to endeavor to “ break the vacuum ” and get matter out of energy . Several groups are attempting different approaches , even employingbrute forceby using the most hefty lasers ever plan . This uses a more advanced optic setup to make the Breit - Wheeler procedure happen .
“ When Gregory Breit and John Wheeler first purport the mechanism in 1934 , they used the then young possibility of the interaction between Inner Light and matter know as quantum electrodynamics ( QED ) , " Dr Stuart Mangles , who co - chair the team , added . " Whereas every other profound prediction of QED has since been demonstrated experimentally , the ‘ two - photon Breit - Wheeler cognitive process ’ has never been seen . ”
create matter from energy is not plainly a loge - tick exercise . It can lead to a better understanding of several in high spirits - vim astrophysical operation .
“ If we can present it now , we would be embolden a process that was important in the first 100 seconds of the universe and that is also seen in gamma light beam bursts , which are the big plosion in the universe and one of physics ’ greatest unresolved mysteries , ” Dr Mangles concluded .
