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Physicists Say Light Can Be Made From Nothing and Now They Have the Simulation to Prove It

An Oxford-led team simulation just brought one of physics' weirdest predictions to life.

“This is not just an academic curiosity — it is a major step toward experimental confirmation of quantum effects that until now have been mostly theoretical,” said Professor Peter Norreys, a co-author of the study published in Communications Physics. “A wide range of planned experiments at the most advanced laser facilities will be greatly assisted by our new computational method,” said Professor Luis Silva, co-author and physicist at Instituto Superior Técnico. “Having thoroughly benchmarked the simulation,” Zhang said, “we can now turn our attention to more complex and exploratory scenarios – including exotic laser beam structures and flying-focus pulses.”

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